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diff --git a/79409-0.txt b/79409-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d7aa8e --- /dev/null +++ b/79409-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8146 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79409 *** +[Illustration] + + + ABEOKUTA + AND + THE CAMAROONS MOUNTAINS. + + An Exploration. + + BY + RICHARD F. BURTON, + VICE PRES. ANTHROP. SOC. OF LONDON; GOLD MEDALLIST, GEOG. SOCS., PARIS + AND LONDON; + F.R.G.S. LONDON; M.A.S.; M.A.S. BOMBAY; M. ETHNO. S. LONDON. + + “Geography, though an earthly study, is a heavenly subject.”—_Burke._ + + _IN TWO VOLUMES._ + + VOL. I. + + LONDON: + TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18 CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. + 1863. + + [_The right of Translation is reserved._] + + + LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING + CROSS. + + + TO + MY BEST FRIEND, + MY WIFE, + THESE PAGES ARE LOVINGLY INSCRIBED. + + + Sic ego desertis possim bene vivere sylvis. + + Quo nulla humano sit via trita pede. + + Tu mihi curarum requies, in nocte vel atrâ + + Lumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis. + + + + + PREFACE. + + * * * * * + + +It is an explorer’s duty to record as well as to receive impressions of +what appears novel to him. Amongst the English, Robert Bruce and Mungo +Park; Adanson and the Abbé Rochon amongst the French; and amongst the +Germans, Humboldt, the ‘Prince of Travellers,’ were so mindful of this +obligation, that they spent long years in polishing their journals; and +they owe at least as much—if not more—of their enduring celebrity to +their admirable descriptions as to the extent of their discoveries and +the accuracy of their observations. Let us follow—however humbly—in +their wake without repining. Such, however, is by no means the case with +contemporaries: in these days every little leader of an expedition, +forgetting that ‘_scribere est agere_,’ finds a ready salve for sore +vanity by writing as it were under protest, and by assuming the +superiority of one who boasts that it is his peculiar province to do—not +to write. + +But, _quorsum hæc tam putida tendunt?_ Abeokuta—Understone—the present +capital of the Egba or Aku race, and without comparison the most +important position in the broad lands which we know by the name of +Yoruba, is, as might be expected, a ‘_trita via_.’ Four volumes upon the +subject have been alluded to in the following pages. Two of these are by +the weaker sex; and the authoresses, who are not travellers, have +produced neat little drawing-room sketches, all _couleur de rose_; the +African as you see him upon the walls of the Royal Academy, now dressed +up and _musqué_, now subjected to the old stock horrors—slave-driving, +for instance—which he is made to endure with all the gestures of a +Briton: it is, in fact, Ethiopia viewed through European eyes—Africa by +the ‘own artist’ of the ‘Illustrated News.’ The other two are in the +missionary-African line; they, of course, run in a well-known groove. +Without quoting the old saw, ‘_semper aliquid novi ex Africâ_,’ there is +still much to say upon the well-worn subject of Abeokuta. And the tale +of an unenthusiastic traveller, who tells the truth as far as truth lies +in him, cannot fail, even when treating of Yoruba, to convey some novel +facts. + +The land which for fifteen years has interested us by its rumoured +progress—the reverend and learned author of ‘Westward Ho!’ speaks of the +blood-stained hosts of Dahome being rolled back by ‘Christian Abeokuta’ +at a time when there was about one convert, or ‘professor,’ to one +thousand of the heathenry—and by the equally fanciful reports that it +will supply our idle looms with cotton, has now entered into fresh and +closer relations with the British empire. Lagos, distant about sixty +miles from the head-quarters of the Egbas, has become an English colony, +and will necessarily influence, for weal or for woe, all adjacent +countries. It may extend its moral force throughout Yoruba, and become +valuable, not only as a depôt of, and an outlet for, trade, but also, by +aiding to abolish slave exportation, and by causing human sacrifice and +petty wars to cease, it may save our country a considerable portion of +the million sterling annually expended upon the West African ‘coffin- +squadron.’ As yet, however, our steps have _not_ been in the right +direction. It will presently appear that we have petted our bantling +Abeokuta, and that the spoiled child has waxed fat and kicked—as the +proverb says—against the foreign pricks. We have aroused the ever +wakeful suspicions of the barbarian, and he has not been slow in +entering upon energetic measures: of this, however, more hereafter. + +I have attempted to point out in these pages the simple measures—our +West African policy has hitherto erred rather by commission than by +omission—which, in my humble opinion, will secure our influence upon the +sea-board of Yoruba. + +The Second Part of this work has been made a pendant to the First, and +the reader will readily perceive the reason. The Camaroons Mountains, +partially familiar to geographers for the last four hundred years, have +remained, as far as exploration is concerned, virgin ground with a +virgin flora, a virgin climate; in fact, virginal all. Captain John +Adams (p. 178, ‘Remarks on the Country extending from Cape Palmas to the +River Congo.’ London: 1823) may be quoted to prove this: ‘A few leagues +to the southward of Del Rey there are some moderately high hills, called +the high land of Camaroons, the altitudes of which have been much +magnified by some travellers, who were probably deceived in consequence +of the surrounding country being a few feet only above the level of the +sea, which gave them, in their eyes, a degree of consequence they would +not have merited had they been placed in an elevated country.’ Of late, +two stout-hearted attempts have been made to scale these glorious +heights, but by force of circumstances neither of them proved +successful. I could not but break a lance with a foe so formidable; and +fate willed the trial not to end in failure. + +It was hardly, however, the mere ambition of leaving my mark, to _faire +époque_ on Western Africa, that impelled me to the task. The desire of +adventure was subsidiary to higher views. I need not now here enlarge +upon the movement lately set on foot in British India; suffice it to +say, there will not be, we progressists fondly believe, a single +European regiment stationed permanently, twenty years hence, on the +plains. If it be found advisable in comparatively salubrious Hindostan +to establish hill sanitaria, it becomes a necessity for the yellow-fever +haunted coast of Western Africa. And I hope to make it evident that the +Camaroons Mountains tract is admirably adapted, not only for a +sanitarium, but for a convict station, where those expecting tickets of +leave can undergo a fair trial, and where the incurables can be employed +in expiating, by useful labour, the outrages which they have committed +upon society. And, finally, a colony, selected from the 45,000 negroes, +who, instead of loafing about Canada—a Canadian once told me that if +anything could reconcile him to slavery it was the presence of these +fugitives—might here do valuable work in lumber cutting, cacao growing, +exporting the fibre and meal of the plaintain, and expressing cocoa-nut +and palm oil. + +In the conclusion to Vol. II., I have attempted to suggest the readiest +and most efficient method of attaining a result so truly advisable. + +The _personnel_ of our ‘international expedition,’ as we called it, +numbered six members, D. Calvo Atilano Iturburu, of Fernando Po; Messrs. +Saker and Smith, of the ‘Camaroons Mission;’ M. Gustav Mann, Government +botanist in West Africa; my factotum Selim Aga, and myself. We assumed +the right, concessible only in a ‘no man’s land,’ of christening the +several peaks: the loftiest was honoured with the name of our Most +Gracious Sovereign, and, from the highest Lady in the kingdom, we +gradually descended to friends and relatives. + +The brief and popular notices of the vegetation upon the Camaroons +Mountains are exclusively the work of M. Mann. To the kindness of Sir +William Hooker I owe the list of specimens collected during our visit to +that interesting region; and Dr. Gray has obliged me with the names of +the small animals that were stuffed by Selim Aga. These important +additions are inserted in the Appendix, and I here record my gratitude +for all favours received. + +The daily thermometric observations were registered by M. Mann, and +during his illness by Selim Aga under my inspection. Many of the +bearings taken for the map, which was protracted by Mr. George, of the +Royal Geographical Society, are the work of the Rev. A. Saker, whose +energetic assistance was one of the main causes of our success. Without +the aid of that gentleman, and of Messrs. Johnson and Pinnock, of +Victoria, our progress would indeed have been slow. Unfortunately we +were badly provided with instruments; neither chronometer, anemometer, +sympiesometer, nor mercurial barometer for correcting aneroids were in +the camp: I had applied for them, but they had not arrived. As in the +Hydrographic Office chart the main points visible from the sea have been +laid down by a satisfactory triangulation, we confined ourselves to the +prismatic compass; and I taped the road with a line supplied by Lieut. +Stokes, R.N., H.M.S. ‘Bloodhound.’ A pathway up the mountains is now, we +may say, permanently opened; Victoria Bay is within a few hours’ sail of +Fernando Po; and I may venture to promise that, if any questions of +interest are forwarded to me from Europe, they shall be answered to the +best of my power—life and health enduring—in the course of the next dry +season. + +I assume nothing on this occasion beyond the modest character of a +reconnoitrer. A writer in the ‘Times’ has lately given to my last +African explorations in Harar and the Lake Regions the title of +reconnaissances. _C’est bien le mot_. I accept it as the best +description of my scanty contributions towards the extension of +geographical knowledge in the ‘dark continent,’ and accordingly it is +prefixed to the Second Part of this work. + +It may be satisfactory to my friends to know that, on this occasion, +favoured by his own good fortune, or rather by the misfortunes of +others, an Englishman was the first who, standing upon Victoria +Mountain, gazed into the gigantic black chasm that yawned at his feet. +And—here I speak for my companions—it is also pleasant to reflect that +the name of Europeans will hereafter be respected in the region through +which we travelled. + +The Appendices are— + + 1st. A description of the Ambozes, or Camaroons Country, by M. J. + Grazilhier, who in 1699 made a voyage to Old Calabar—extracted from + Barbot. + + 2nd. The journal of the late Mr. Merrick, of the Camaroons Mission, + who, as far as is known, first attempted to ascend the mountain: it is + borrowed from the ‘Baptist Missionary Herald.’ + + 3rd. Sir William Hooker’s list of the botanical specimens collected + upon the Camaroons Mountains by M. Gustav Mann. + + 4th. Dr. Gray’s descriptions of the animals forwarded to the British + Museum, at the end of the Camaroons explorations. + + 5th. Letters, official reports, and memorandum, on the high land of + Camaroons, by the late Mr. M‘Gregor Laird and the Rev. A. Saker + (reprinted from the Blue Book of 1857). + + 6th. Meteorological observations, by M. Gustav Mann and Selim Aga. + + 7th. Hypsometrical table. + +With the firm expectation of seeing, _quam primum_, a sanitarium for the +feverish denizens of Lagos, the Oil Rivers, and Fernando Po, established +in this region of health and future plenty, and hoping that the public +will honour my labours with its approval, I relieve the reader from the +tedium of a longer preface. + + RICHARD F. BURTON. + +_Fernando Po_, 1863. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + * * * * * + + + CHAPTER I. + + PAGE + + FROM LAGOS TO ABEOKUTA 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + ENTRÉE INTO ABEOKUTA 61 + + CHAPTER III. + + PRESENTED AT COURT 99 + + CHAPTER IV. + + TOUCHING MATTERS RELIGIOUS AT ABEOKUTA 158 + + CHAPTER V. + + THE USUAL SKETCH—GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL 222 + + CHAPTER VI. + + OUR SECOND VISIT TO THE KING 249 + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE KING’S RETURN VISIT 275 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE DE OMNIBUS AND COTTON CHAPTER 299 + + + + + ABEOKUTA + AND + THE CAMAROONS MOUNTAINS. + + * * * * * + + CHAPTER I. + + FROM LAGOS TO ABEOKUTA. + + +After a flying survey of the ‘Oil Rivers’ in the amene delta of the +lovely Niger, I found myself stranded at Fernando Po Island, Bight of +Biafra, Gulf of Guinea, Western Intertropical Africa, and divided by the +thinnest of party-walls from Anti-Paradise. Nothing to do, and no +prospect of doing anything, which pleasant state of things endured +(_ohimè!_) from Wednesday the 2nd to Wednesday the 9th of October, +1861—a long, long, a very long week. + +On the day last mentioned the commodore and senior officer of the West +African squadron compassionately offered me a lift to Lagos, the nearest +point where certain necessaries—a ‘cook-boy’ and a _batterie de +cuisine_, a carpenter, a diwan—the mention of this article nearly +revolutionized the colonist part of the island of Fernando Po—and many +other things were procurable. Before the next mail could arrive there +would be ample time to reach Abeokuta, and after enforced rest, the +prospect of such a visit was a joy. I had read much and heard more about +the ‘Town under the Stone,’ and the glowing hues in which the subject +had been depicted had conjured up in my mind a host of doubts that could +be laid only by means of that accurate organ, the eye. A nautico- +diplomatico-missionary visitation was, it had been rumoured, about to +take place, so there remained only to go and ‘see the fun.’ May the +reader find it as funny as I did! + +About sunset-time of Thursday, H.M.S. ‘Arrogant,’ with, besides her +usual equipage, a certain person on board, glided out of the little cove +called Clarence, where she had anchored, past the Adelaide Islands, +alias Islas de Santa Isabel; past Cockburn, popularly called Kokpo Cove, +and more prettily Enseñada de Venus; past dwarf cliffs of red clay, with +a tall, thick capping of tangled trees; past Coal Bay, alias Bahia de +Carbon; past Point Bullen, alias Punta de los Frailes, with its _chevaux +de frise_ of tree trunks and its thick back-wall of blackish verdure; +and finally heading W.N.W. out into the open, where we once more +welcomed the bounding waves and the breathable atmosphere of old +Neptune’s domains. It may be here observed, that there are at present +three known names for every part and portion of the island. The +Portuguese and the older Iberian nomenclature having, as might be +expected, fallen into complete oblivion, the English settlers naturally +called things after their own fashion, neglecting the Bubis, or +_indigènes_, who, as usual with barbarians, have a profusion of +terminology for every feature that attracts the eye; whilst, in their +turn, the Spaniards equally and naturally preferred Castilian to the +‘harsh Runic’ of their predecessors. + +Fernando Po still haunted us with its presence next morning, though we +had run upwards of one hundred miles: at times it may be distinctly seen +from Corisco Island, distant some forty-five leagues. To us the only +sign of its existence was a mysterious pile of slaty-blue nimbus looming +on the horizon, based broadly upon the main, and towering and tapering +high into the heavens. Such, doubtless, was the spectacle, Tristaõ vaz +Teyxeyra, called by the king for honour ‘O Tristaõ,’ which terrified the +crew whom stout-hearted Da Camera, surnamed Zargo, commanded.[1] The +days sped swiftly among the hospitable ‘Arrogants.’ On Monday the 14th +we were rocking and swinging in the eternal roll of the Lagos roadstead, +and on Tuesday the certain person, after kindly farewells, transferred +himself on board H.M.S. ‘Prometheus,’ Commander Bedingfield, R.N. + +The day after—it was nearly full moon—brought forth a phenomenon whereat +I had reason to rejoice. All ‘old hands’ tell you that the sooner +‘seasoning fever’ introduces himself, the better. After long delay, he +appears in the shape of a bilious remittent, which probably will see the +last of you, and must, even, if merciful, leave you in a sad state of +what is popularly called ‘pull-down.’ The attack came on at 8 A.M. +Preceded by full head, dry skin, blue nails, cold finger tips, and other +normal symptoms, it was succeeded by nausea, by a rigor that lasted +barely thirty minutes, and by the pyrectic stage, which after an hour +and a half passed off in a profuse perspiration. There is nothing +unpleasant in these attacks; rather the contrary. The excitement of the +nerves is like the intoxication produced by a plentiful supply of strong +green tea; the brain becomes uncommonly active, peopled with a host of +visions, and the imagination is raised almost to Parnassus. There are +persons who rhyme under the inspiration of Musa Quartana, and M. +Alexandre Dumas _père_, in the wildest of his romances, the ‘_Voyage au +Caucase_,’ declares that his artist’s most dashing sketch was done with +a pulse beating higher than a hundred. Of course, the patient pays for +it when the fit passes off. The treatment adopted by Mr. Eales, surgeon +of H.M.S. ‘Prometheus,’ was simple, and so successful that I am induced +to publish it for the benefit of future feverists.[2] + +At 8 A.M. on the morrow, the attack did not return—it is a favourable +sign when it defers itself: it delayed twelve hours, and then appeared +precisely in the same way, but not nearly so agreeably, pain in the +temples being now a decided characteristic, and it continued till 12 +noon, causing a sleepless night. Next day showed its effects in a +surprising weakness and languor, which endured for a full week, making +one feel much in the condition of a pony that has passed its third year +in Sierra Leone. The vigorous treatment completely expelled the fiend: +it did not show on the third day, which, with the fifth, the seventh, +and the ninth, is held to be critical. Such attacks are by no means so +dangerous as an English bronchitis or influenza, but the debility +induced by them often leads to frequent relapses, and people will act up +to the bad old nursery rule, ‘starve a fever and feed a cold.’ My +experience in East Africa long ago untaught me that tenet, and I have +ever since preferred to support exhausted nature with essence of meat, +beef-tea, and, when such things are procurable, with champagne, brandy- +cum-soda, and ‘ye oldest hoc in ye cellar,’ _non sine_ tobacco if it can +be enjoyed. The Anglo-Indian superstition touching recurrence at ‘the +springs’ is here unknown, yet inveterate habit will make me careful to +prepare for _luna piena_ with a prophylactic—a fortnight of chinchonized +wine. + +We were in the depth of the tornado season, and we were made to feel it. +Hardly had we returned to the ‘Prometheus’ on the night of the 21st, +than rain from the masses gathering in the north-east—here as in +Fernando Po it is _the_ quarter—began to fall in the usual sheets and +columns. Then came a premonitory thunder-crash, single, and sounding as +if the _fractus orbis_ were falling in. These solitary outbreaks of +violence are common on the coast, but they appear strange to Europeans. +After a few moments, a flash of lightning filled the firmament with +liquid blue fire, and a queer whizzing, like the shock of an aëriform +mass, or the ‘whistling Jack’ of a Lancaster gun, was succeeded by the +deafening booming report of a battery of Armstrongs, and detached noises +like the upsetting of stone waggons by the thousand. The bolt or fluid +had struck the fore-topmast; neglecting the vane, it had run down the +conductor, which it ripped away from its bearings—what would Sir S. H. +think of this?—and passing along the wire forestay, had separated into +two currents. One traversed the port nightheads, the other, following +the starboard chain-cable into the locker, filled the deck with rust- +dust, and gambolling playfully within three feet of the powder magazine, +that contained some two tons, made the men on watch think that they saw +smoke, and levant ‘in short metre.’ After taking this improper liberty, +the storm-king hauled off, and we heard him in the distance grumbling +like an old man-of-war’s man. A splinter from the foremast made a very +neat paper-knife for my wife. + +The period between the 23rd and the 28th of October was passed—under the +hospitable but not water-tight roof of my friend Mr. M‘Coskry, then +acting-governor of Lagos—in various preparations for travel, and in the +enjoyment of Moslem society. ‘A small knot of us gathered to interchange +pleasant communings, whilst grace gave a fresh intenseness of longing.’ +Yet El Islam is under a cloud in these regions: the young and vigorous +creed has still the proportions of a child. The number of converts has +been stated at 2000; it can hardly exceed 800. The mosque is still a +hut, the musical call of the Muezzin—how much more human and heart- +stirring than the clang of the brazen-tongued bell![3]—is yet unheard, +and the women of the Kafirs are allowed to display their bosoms in the +market-place. There were, however, several of the Safe Faith[4] who had +pilgrimaged to Meccah, and one man, a servant of the ‘Caboceer’ Kosoko, +had resided a dozen years at El Medinah, and had returned to infidel +Ekko, viâ Sawakin, Kordofan, Darfur, Wádái, Burnu, and Rabba. Many had +also travelled over the northern line from Kano and Sokoo to Tarabulus +or Tripoli. There were books amongst those Moslems, a Koran of Bombay +lithography, and sundry _risálát_ (treatises) of the Maliki school, to +which they all belong. Their manuscripts are written in the curious +semi-Cufic character, which is to them like what the Tondo-Mezzo-Gotico +is to these sheets. The ‘Allamah,’ or most learned, was the Muallim +Dáudá, who knew a little of the grammatical sciences, but who had not +reached the height of interpreting the Koran. + +As our journey was to be by water, few impediments were necessary—a +collection of pots and pans, and supplies for the way. Only one servant +was required, and he was found in the person of Selim Aga. A native of +Tegullet, he had been carried when of tender years to Egypt, where he +had found a patron in my old friend, the benevolent Mr. Robert Thurburn +of Alexandria, now deceased. He had lived twelve and a half years in +Europe—where he had forgotten his mother-tongue—chiefly at a Scotch +school near Murtho, Aberdeenshire, and he returned to Africa in 1857 +with that failure of failures, the Niger expedition. He proved himself +perfection; a Figaro, but—un-Figaro-like—honest, civil, and unpresuming: +he could cook, doctor, shave, ‘valet,’ garden, carpenter, shoot and +stuff birds, collect spirit specimens—in fact, he took all the trouble +of life off my hands. I at once made him my factotum, regretting to see +such a man wasted upon the barbarism of Lagos. Some years hence, when we +also shall have topographical engineers, and when exploration shall +become a profession, not, as at present, an affair of mere amateurship, +Selim Agas will be useful in cutting a path for the European pioneer +through outer Asia and Central Africa.[5] + +After a fortnight all was ready for departure. The little party +consisted of Commander Bedingfield,—who, with that condescension which +characterizes every truly great man, had permitted me to form part of +his suite or train—Mr. Eales, and myself. The dog Sancho must precede +Mr. Williams, a ‘sassy,’ half-educated Egba interpreter to the +Government at Lagos, who, in his quality of interpreter, went on in a +canoe, preferring, _more Africano_, lying at full length to sitting +upright, and who intrigued like a black Talleyrand throughout the week. +Commander Bedingfield, who, and who only, believing in his own +omniscience touching African affairs, had, as will appear, sundry +affairs to settle, and was destined not to succeed in all and every of +them. The second, Mr. Eales, added to the natural wish of sight-seeing, +the _idée fixe_ that unicorns abound in Northern Yoruba. He had heard of +the animal from certain merchants resident at Lagos—one of them had +promised to provide him with a specimen—and he had read of it in the +matter-of-fact and highly imaginative pages of Mr. Bowen.[6] The tales +reported by this missionary-militant remind one of the Chinese tiger +with nine human heads, the ‘intelligent creature of a thousand souls,’ +the dog-headed rhinoceros with six horns, the five-headed crocodile, the +bird with one eye, and the horse-like deer with leopard’s spots, white +head, and red tail. We read in ‘Central Africa’ of the Alakere, a tribe +three feet high, who surround their towns—as England is investing her +ships—with iron walls. Beyond them, and eastward of the Niger, are the +Alabiru, also clever smiths, and manufacturers of all the finest Sudan +blades: having inflexible tails, about six inches long, before sitting +down to work they with sharp sticks dig holes in the ground. Mr. Barnum +may save himself the 100,000 dollars which, as the story runs, he has +offered to a certain African traveller who told him how easy it would be +to engraft a simian termination to the human frame. There is also the +ashori-tree, a upas, under which plants will not grow, and which kills +birds when flying too near. Of course the gorilla exists, and is called +‘nákí.’ The Yorubans declare that it tears asunder the fingers of +captives, even as the Mpongwe of the Gaboon River make it pull the nails +from the human victims’ fingers and toes. The chimpanzee is certainly +found in dense forests, and being four feet high, is feared by the +people; as yet, however, we are so ignorant of the anthropoid apes that +the nákí may be a new and more formidable species of troglodytes. There +are subterranean races, humans, with four eyes, living south of Mandara; +and, finally, the Alabiwo, men-unicorns, with a small goat-like horn +projecting from the middle of the forehead. They are black, very +intelligent, and when captured, becoming ashamed of what some men wear +with such complacency, they hide the formation under a kerchief. + +Yet after all the unicorn, like the great sea-serpent, has its +advocates; and it is not a little curious that many African tribes have +a distinct name for it.[7] However it may be, Mr. Eales left Abeokuta +_sans_ unicorn, and he has not yet, I believe, found it. + +Three lines of road on the west of the Ogun River connect Abeokuta with +the youngest of our colonies, Lagos. The shortest, _viâ_ Ota and +Agbameya, is laid down at sixty-five miles in length. It is rugged, and +unfit for beasts of burden. Further west is the middle path, also swampy +and comparatively useless. The westernmost is the best, and can at times +be travelled on horseback. All of these routes, however, are flooded +during the rains, when the waters cut deep ruts in the hard clay. Even +at this season the best is hardly passable, mud and morass forming the +chief obstacles: it however opens in December, and remains so till +March. It would be worth while to explore for some line to the east of +the Ogun, which might reduce the land journey from sixty-five to forty- +eight miles. All attempts at road-making, however, in the present state +of independent Africa must fail; the people, assisted by their climate, +would in a few months reduce the finest macadam to a mere bridle path—a +long, deep cunette threading grassy banks. Moreover, the Abeokutans are +by no means anxious for a more direct route, which they have been +persuaded would soon deliver them into the hands of the great devourer. +They have coquetted with us for years on this point; and although they +must eventually yield to civilized pressure, they will defer the bad day +as long as possible. + +We therefore determined to take the usual line from Lagos to Abeokuta, +across the Ikoradu Water, through the Agboi Creek, and thence up the +Ogun River. + +At 9·15 A.M. on Tuesday, the 29th October, 1861, we left our temporary +homes in highest spirits, and were duly escorted to the beach by Mr. +M‘Coskry and M. Maser, a most worthy member of what calls itself _The_ +Church Missionary Society. Our conveyances were the first and second +gigs of H.M.S. ‘Prometheus,’ manned by Krumen, who, demoralized by an +education at Sierra Leone, and by the overpay and the over-kindness of a +fighting craft, proved the idlest and the unhandiest of their tribe. In +the state of nature they will row forty miles without other refreshment +but a ‘snack,’ eaten whilst lying upon their oars. Artificialized, they +must halt, ‘chop water,’ and cook after every third hour; otherwise they +will dawdle, give answers, or, with far-protruded lips, sulk. Our +fellows once saw their captain standing alone on the river bank awaiting +his breakfast, and yet they sat down to ‘yam.’ I could not pity him, it +was his own doing. But one cannot wonder that no merchant vessel will +employ a Kruboy who has been known to serve on board a man-of-war. + +And so we rowed up the Osa, or Victoria Water, connecting the Ikoradu or +Cradoo Lagoon with the sea, along the pestilent island of Lagos, which, +probably founded by driftage, and finished with eddy-carried sand, rises +a few feet above sea-level.[8] Our course after leaving the beach lay +westwards, through slack water, along the densely-wooded “Takpa’s” +Point, where, in 1851, El Re Kosoko’s premier had erected _chevaux de +frise_ to prevent the landing of the assaulting Briton. On our right lay +Lagos, which in this, its city end, showed a disorderly mass of hut and +house with mud walls and lumber walls, barred casements and holes for +windows, and huge sloping roofs of dry palm-leaf, inevitably capital +tinder. Then came Fetish Point, where a growth of gigantic trees—the +Egbas still, like the Canaanites of old, worship in the bush—notes that +the land is ‘holy ground.’ Fetish Point has, like the trans-Temple Bar +region, London, a government all its own, an _imperium in imperio_, not +subject to the more aristocratic Lagos: the chief must never be a fetish +or reverend man, and his state is kept up by the voluntary contributions +of the river fishermen, who, at this moment, are in palaver, having +refused to pay church rates. The unlovely channel was scummed over with +a whitish froth, borne along by the strong embrace of the tide: the +surface was broken by long walls of shrimp baskets, sharp, tapering +cones of bamboo strips, attached to strongly-driven poles, and so placed +that the animals, once inside the _camera di morte_, cannot escape by +reason of the violent current. This is a conspicuous feature upon the +smoother surface of the lake beyond: the produce, sun-dried and packed, +is a lucrative branch of native trade, and penetrates inland far north +of Abeokuta. The old travellers remarked the quantity of shrimps +produced in these streams, and gave their name, Camaroẽs—Anglicè, +Camaroons—to a river, and to the magnificent mountain pile which will +form the subject of future pages. As we emerged from the gut, +conspicuous on our right hand, and boldly heading the body of Lagos, was +the mediatized King Dosumo’s ‘palace,’ a red-tiled and partially +whitewashed barn, backed by trees of the noblest stature, and fronted by +water perilously deep, from three to four fathoms, where gunboats have +been known to trust themselves. In equally sunken soundings, and a +little off the town, lay detached ‘pontons,’ or lumps of land, once +mangrove-drifts, then sand-banks, and now clumps of bush: they are +three, and presently they will be four. These are called the ‘Sacrifice +Islands,’ from the executions common in the good old times: the victim +to Oro—of whom more anon—was fastened to a rude cross, clubbed, and +impaled. The latter operation seems to have been a favourite: the +travellers of the last generation describe the ‘horrid custom of +impaling alive a young female,’ and this annual sacrifice, which took +place about the vernal equinox, was supposed to breed plenty in the +land.[9] But Lagos has learned to hide her horrors. We no longer observe +male dogs which, banished to the towns beyond, have ventured to revisit +their homes, strangled as fetish against evil influences, ‘split, +trimmed like sheep, and hung up at the door of some great man, where +rows of the putrid carcases of their canine brethren are often to be +seen;’ nor at the east end of the town do we find large trees covered +with the heads of malefactors, ‘the skulls nailed to the trunks and +large limbs, and presenting a very appalling spectacle.’[10] On the +left, and nearly opposite ‘Sacrifice Islands,’ lies Bruce’s,[11] more +modernly termed Picnic, Island, garden soil beautifully clad in the +green ceiba, or bombax-tree, dotted with the rose-shaped yellow blossoms +of the African mallow. Between this ‘cay’ and the mainland runs a narrow +channel, crossed by a ferry-boat, and on its banks a yellow line of clay +points out the terminus of the nearest western route to Abeokuta. + +Presently we emerged from the river into the mirrory expanse of the Lake +glistening in the bright sunshine. North-eastward lay a sea horizon +fringed with dots, denoting tall groves distance-dwarfed and raised in +the air by force of mirage; whilst some ten miles distant, Point +Lambassa, fronted by its own islet, was poised between sea and sky. The +lagoon is called in our maps the Cradoo Waters, doubtless a corruption +of Ikoradu, a town near its banks, and readily visited by Europeans. +Though unsurveyed, it is believed to be of considerable extent, and to +connect the Benin with the Volta River:[12] the formation, however, is +simple; it is merely a general reservoir for the numerous streams, which +rapidly pouring down from the mainland, and lacking watershed near the +coast, here collect within two miles of the surf, and when swollen by +the rains force a tumultuous passage into the Atlantic. According to +some it is connected with the Ardrah Lake near Whydah, which they say +can thus be made from Lagos by water: others declare that the continuity +of its arm, the Osa,[13] or Victoria Lagoon, is broken at Godemé, a +place beyond Porto Novo. It is shallow, but intersected by channels, +some of which are known to be eight fathoms deep: in a setting of +mountain land it would be beautiful; its low shores and its clay- +coloured water, however, render it tame and uninteresting. The bottom is +alternately muddy and sandy. It produces oysters, differing from the +mangrove species, before which every fresh African traveller stands with +open mouth; and amongst the variety of its fishes, one locally called +the mullet stands unrivalled. + +We advanced steadily, hugging, as much as the shallows would allow, the +right bank of the long ‘flash,’ or river-bay, where the amphibious +vegetation was indented with covelets, upon whose dwarf precipices of +red clay sprang another and already a less malarious growth. Presently +we descried the market-place of Ikoradu town, in the land of the Ijebu +Remo.[14] This is a people with a chief, but without a king, bordered +eastward by rivals and cognates, the Ijebu Ode, so called because their +Awajáli, or monarch, resides at the city of Ode.[15] In happier times +the Ibadans of the interior made at Ikoradu their barters of gunpowder +and similar necessaries for ivory and palm-oil. They, however, no longer +visit the coast: the war with Abeokuta prevents their taking the western +road, and the eastern, that abuts at Ekpe, besides being indirect, lies +through the lands of their enemies the Ijebu Ode, who have fraternized +with Abeokuta. The market-place on the Lake shows a few ragged sheds at +the bottom of a deep indentation bounded by projecting points, and +looking like the estuary of a considerable stream—which, as will be +seen, it is not. Opposite us was a tall and uniform forest of mangroves, +in whose dark depths a line of lighter-tinged green, backed by a deeper +hue than usual, was the only sign that a channel ran through it. Selim +was the only one of the party who knew the way by experience, and with +his aid we shot into the Agboi Creek at 11·20 A.M., after two hours of +rowing. The entrance of this normal short cut must be set down at a +distance somewhat shorter than that usually assigned to it, twelve +miles—our Krumen assuredly did not exceed five knots an hour. + +Before entering the Agboi Creek, a word or two concerning the land +formation which we leave behind us. The coasts of the world have been +divided into the rocky (exclusively or alternating), the coralline, and +the alluvial. The two former are exemplified in Eastern Africa about the +latitudes where we now are: Zanzibar is essentially coralline, the Ajan +is stony. This portion of the West African coast is at present + + + ‘Neither sea + + Nor good dry land.’ + + +Essentially alluvial, it is a false coast, a mass of continental islands +fringing the continent, the gift of the rivers, hardly habitable now, +but destined in the progress of time to become fitted by secular +upheaval for human occupation. It wants only altitude. The material is +the finer sand of an immense drift, whose coarser particles have been +left, and will be met with inland. The presence of saline matter by no +means affects the soil, which mainly requires clearing, and in parts +much of the ground is as reclaimable as the alluvial flats of the Nile. + +The Agboi Creek, I have said, is a short cut. It is a chord running +directly from the north, whereas the Ogun River, our destination to-day, +bends round in an arc from north-west to east, and eventually south- +east. This narrow ditch is an excellent study of mangroves. The tree, +whose only object in life seems to be emergence and escape from ‘the +briny,’ rises tall, feathery, white-bolled, overarching the wave, based +upon a cone of aërial root and rootlet, infinitely intricate and cage- +like, and steadied by dropping long suckers, which, taking the ground, +rise for themselves in independent sprigs or shoots, whose cap of green +leaves nods over the flow of the graveolent tide. I could not hear that +the fruit is here used as an article of human diet; the trunk, however, +makes excellent firewood, and the bark is used for tanning. Its +complications of bole and branch are further complicated by huge +llianas, chiefly cucurbitaceous, whose ropes, sometimes sixty feet long, +are so fragile that, as we shoot the natural bridges of inclined or +fallen trunks, a brush with the gig’s awning-stanchions brings down the +long length upon our heads. The colour of the ditch-water is that of +cocoa-nibs and milk, whilst here and there tufted leaves, like enormous +water-cresses, float down the stream. Animal life is scarce. At times a +sandpiper starts with its wild twitter, a beautiful little blue marten +(_Cypselus_) flutters over us, screaming hornbills (_Buceros_)—here +their heads are worth half a dollar for charms—form a cross high in the +air, or a pair of glorious purple-robed halcyons (_A. Senegalensis_) +occupies a stump to peer curiously below, and presently to take a +‘header,’ like a handful of gems, into the clayey tide. Now a jumper +fish springs up and flashes in the sunbeams; then a monkey, with +wonderful agility, falls as if shot from one bough to another; then a +crab, with brightly painted claws, scuttles over the dull brown mud. We +pass, however, numerous canoes ascending with empty and descending with +filled oil puncheons, the master seated upon a box amidships, astern the +mistress or mistresses squatting under a mat-awning, whilst the more +than three-quarter-naked boatmen cease poling, doff their head-gear, +whatever it may be, and salute us with word and gesture courteously, as +if they had taken lessons of Madame Michaud, who teaches ladies from the +country to curtsy at court. + +The water-way became so narrow that the oars were presently stowed in +and the straight-bladed paddles of the Krumen—poles would have been +better—were called into requisition. After a little more than a mile we +reached a fork of the creek, upon which are built the cocoa-dotted +settlements; Agboi on the right, and to the left Oruba. The villages +were Lagos on a reduced scale; roofs of dried palm-leaf and walls of +African ‘post and plaster,’ swish supported by a framework, in small +squares, of stout cocoa-rib wattling. The foundations, raised but a few +feet above water-level, must become in the rainy season a bed of soppy +treacle-like mire. Yet these people, thus living in the midst of miasma, +are said not to suffer: they look fat and well, they have children at +their desire, and they breed dogs, sheep and goats, pigs and poultry. +They appear but little surprised at our appearance, merely looking up +for a moment from their work, which they resume a minute afterwards. +They are an industrious race: pottery is abundant, nets are hung +everywhere, canoes are numerous; the men have studded the little creek +with fish-traps—open-topped squares of bamboo splints, each with its +trap-door up-current—the women ply the paddle—in every other part of +Egba-land a disgrace to women—and both sexes show a serious turn of mind +by striking the jaw-bone of a sheep upon a stake. Truly it is said that +one half the world knows not how the other half lives. + +As we advanced, taking the left, or western, division of the Agboi +Creek, the outfall became heavy against us. It is no tidal stream, and +the current runs some three knots an hour, sweeping the boats round at +the acute angles. At times we tremble for the awning, and we always keep +a sharp look out for the dangerous snags. Our visitors are not pleasant. +The huge ‘mangrove-fly,’ supposed by the people to have eyes under the +wings, draws blood when it can with its sharp stilet; the black +mangrove-ant, showered down by the brushed foliage, as unpleasant to man +as it is fatal to cockroaches; gadflies, like the English horse-fly—they +may be the tsetse, hitherto most ignorantly limited to the southern +regions of intertropical Africa[16]—and the microscopic but vicious +sand-flies attack the ankles, and employ the Krumen in long diversions +of scratching and slapping. _Pour comble de bonheur_, a jagged line of +black nimbus, raising its bosom high above an ominous mass of lurid- +white, cloudy substance, charges across the sky from the north-west, and +warns us to prepare for an African shower. + +Presently it came on. A fierce rattling of thunder, a red flicker of +lightning, a volley of drops like shot from above, pitting the creek’s +face, bore down upon us with the speed of the wind, and ended with a +cross between a douche and a shower-bath. The canvas awning, though at +once tilted up, was wet through after the first five minutes, the +waterproof struggled hard but in vain against the intruder, and the boat +began to fill apace. We landed for facility of baling, and, saved by +umbrellas from the distillings of the trees, we guarded against the +dangers of cold fresh water with a liquid considered a panacea in these +lands. The tornado passed off after half an hour, but it departed under +protest as it were, growling, and occasionally returning to bespatter +us. The odour of the vegetation waxed faint and sickly. Briefly, we +experienced many of the proverbial advantages of a ‘short cut.’ + +Two or three miles more brought us to a change of scenery. The Agboi’s +stream, flowing swiftly, often jammed us against the well-wooded banks; +the snags and sawyers became more frequent, and the creek broader and +shallower. Our men were frequently obliged to dislodge the boat—it drew +about thirteen inches—and, ‘tumbling out,’ to shove her by main force +over the bars that connected the deeper waters, which were seldom more +than four feet. Gradually the mangrove belt disappeared, giving way to +wild bananas, dwarf flabellate palms (_P. spinosa_?), the calamus, with +black prickly stem and long green lines like snakes, and various wild +fruit trees, the African hog-plum (_Spondias Birrea_), and others that +not inaptly simulated cherries. Contrasting with the deep, dark, dense +foliage of the bush, the water-lily of virgin white—the nymphæa, which +ancient Egypt borrowed from the Hindu and then allowed to die +out—floated upon its cradle of emerald green, and, in embayed places, +formed dwarf prairies that rose and fell as the paddles plunged into the +water. Rushes and enormous grasses of the lightest leek tint in places +secured the soil and afforded a third shade of colour. After so much of +Rhizophoræ and Bruguieræ, the banks became to us sylvan glades, with +avenues like those of the old French post road. They were crowned in +places with trees whose towering stature would shame the giants of Bushy +Park: upon them the most ambitious of schoolboys might look with +despair, and from their topmost branches the birds gaze down with +perfect safety at the levelled shot-gun. Here and there a curl of +blueish smoke argued a fishing village in the bush. We had been told +that the creek was two miles long, and after two hours and three- +quarters of hard work, five or six miles in space, we began to wonder if +these truly German _meile_ were ever coming to an end. Presently, +however, the sides widened farther out, the depth became less, we +sighted, in front of us, a grove even larger than its neighbours, and +then we emerged into the River Ogun, which event we duly inaugurated +with a ceremony which I will classically describe as a libation to +Bacchus. + +The Ogun,[17] or Abeokuta River, is said to rise in a latitudinal range +of mountains whose northern watershed is to the Kwara.[18] The source is +supposed to be three thousand feet above sea level, and the upper part +of the bed is rendered useless by rocks. Like other streams in this +mythological land, a deity,[19] or rather a god, the younger brother of +the divinity Shango, is attached to it. The Ogun fell into the hands of +the Egbas, or Abeokutans, about 1852, and free communication with Lagos +has added greatly to their influence and their development. + +As yet, however, Yoruba has but little inland navigation. It is well +fitted for tramways, hard wood being everywhere procurable and the land +level. Until their day comes, the rivers should be utilized, and the +first step ought to be a survey. The Oshun, in the Ijebu country, near +Ekpe, extends, according to some authorities, within nine hours’ march +of Ibadan; others declare that it cannot be navigated by canoes; others, +that the people have a superstition which permits boats to cross, but +not to ascend or to descend it. West of the Ogun is the Ota Creek, and +beyond this the Yerewa, leading to the market-towns of Okeadon and Ado—a +water-line as yet little known, but said to have thirty miles clear for +canoes. Beyond this again, and more important still, is the Okpara, +which enters the Lagoon between Porto Novo and Badagry.[20] + +Father Ogun, at the confluence of the Agboi Creek, is a goodly stream, +little less than one hundred yards broad, deep, smooth, sluggish, and +scarcely affected by the tide. Here it aspires to the honours of what +the Africans call ‘a ship made of iron, and moved by fire,’ _i.e._, a +steamer—if possible flat-bottomed. We were all deceived in our +expectations. We had pictured to ourselves—heaven knows why—a clear and +rapid river running through a high and dry land, with tall and rocky +marge. We found a broad, placid surface, milky with potters’ clay, and +low banks, whose last watermark showed a considerable fall, bearing +walls of verdure broken by the tall white trunks of various unknown +trees, with creeks, landing-places, and hollows, like bowers, between. +Presently, however, we saw rises of reddish earth, here favourite sites +for settlements. We passed two villages, Orichá and Isheri; the latter, +which is considerable, was backed by plantains and fronted by canoes. We +were told by a negro, habited in European toilette, that a better +nighting-place lay close ahead, and we somewhat reluctantly left Isheri +behind. It was, as suspicion suggested it would be, dark night before we +passed the landing-place, and, guided by the sounds of song and drum, +set foot within the next collection of huts—Igaon. Our day’s journey had +been eight hours, halts not included, and the distance covered must have +been twenty-five to twenty-six miles. + +It is hardly worth while to describe these places; straggling +settlements, surrounded by bush on all sides except the river, which +they overlook from banks more or less elevated, they compare favourably +with many a fishing village in England, and are more comfortable than +some manufacturing townlets in Lancashire. Igaon is subject to the Alake +or chief of Abeokuta, and numbers perhaps two hundred souls. It is well +known as being the terminus of river navigation in the ‘dries;’ beyond +which travellers must journey through the wet and feverish bush. + +Ascending a rugged clay bank, about one hundred and fifty feet high, we +entered the village, and found entertainment at the house of Mr. +Johnson, a Sierra Leone Egbanized Christian black, habited in white +man’s clothing, excepting coat and shoes. He expressed in a little +English his pleasure at seeing us, but his manner was at variance with +his words. We presently discovered the reason of his expatriation to +Igaon, which he explained to be for facility of buying palm-oil—half a +dozen summonses were awaiting him at Lagos. However that may be, he made +us comfortable in his verandah and upon the hut floor, where, after a +copious feed—sitting in a boat is most appetizing work—we and Sancho, +despite the tom-tom and the clammy cold, slept like the Seven Idlers of +Ephesus, and Kitmir their dog. In the morning all was settled with a +dollar; Mr. Johnson was satisfied, ‘and so,’ I hope, ‘was Mrs. Johnson.’ + +The second day saw us afoot at 5 A.M., and after the initiatory +preserved chocolate, called cocoa—most valuable of tins on these +occasions—we found ourselves afloat at the end of another hour. A dense +and dripping fog from the river almost concealed the water, and this was +a never-failing feature of the morning, which during the day yielded to +something worse. The irregularity of the seasons is not more conspicuous +in Eastern than in Western Africa. The tornados and rains of the year +should now cease, whereas the land still thirsts, and the storms are +apparently setting in. Under cover of the mist, we passed on the right +hand the shallow Akisa Creek, which, joining the Ogun River at Isheri of +the Ijebu Remo, islandizes the situation of Igaon. There we began to +suffer from an annoyance that lasted till the end of the +journey—numerous fishing-ropes of calamus and reeds stretching from bank +to bank. Five or six lengths, joined with a shroud-knot, are secured to +trees or posts on the bank, and are stayed with stout stakes about mid- +stream. Exceedingly tough and strong, they serve to attach wicker cones, +traps for fish; and at times some elderly and idle African Izaak Walton +lashes his canoe to them, and squats upon his hunkers, with an umbrella +hat on his head, peaceably bobbing for the smallest bite, like those, to +me, inexplicable beings in punts who find excitement in hooking minnows +upon the Thames. Where these ropes are thick, boats can be lifted over +them with the oar, without catching the rudder: near the mouth of the +Ogun they are small, and cause accidents. The other way is to shoot +them, passing under either end—no convenient thing when the rush of the +water is like a mill-race, and where there is often not quite room to +row. At the present season the central sag is a foot under water; in the +‘dries,’ laden canoes will pass beneath it. + +On this day and the next we enjoyed a fine opportunity of studying +African river scenery, so impressive at first, and, until the eye +becomes accustomed to it, so greatly diversified. But presently it waxes +palling and monotonous: it is the face of an Irish beauty—every feature +faultless, too faultless, and the whole expressionless and inanimate. +The trees were externally of three aspects,—the feathery, the densely +foliaged, and the creeper-clad. In the stream lay logs, snags above and +below, and sawyers dancing upon the wavelet; here a vast trunk, like +some dead plesiosaurus cumbered the bed, causing slack water to leeward; +there stood a stub, upon which baby alligators stretched and sunned +themselves; here a fallen tree, supported by the stream, had shot up +fresh shoots, themselves trees—the very fishing-ropes had in places put +forth _bourgeons_; there a green-robed patriarch was beginning to totter +upon the water-mined bank that showed a cave beneath. The wild plantain, +with wind-torn leaves, bent its purple flowers earthwards. The palms +were of many kinds, the cocoa-nut, the palmetto, the wine-palm (_R. +vinifera_), and chiefly the spiny flabellate species, which haunted the +lower levels, whilst the others waved their tall plumed heads on the +higher ground. The date and the _ronnier_, or _Palmyra nobilis_, were +not yet seen; they are signs of an improvement in the climate. The +ratan, however, grew everywhere. We detected, I thought, a real bamboo, +which, however, must be an importation into these lands;[21] and, +rustling above the others, the African locust, or acacia, whose enormous +pods are used in ‘palaver-sauce,’ claimed a conspicuous place. The +river-sides were solid walls of trees, sweeping in glorious folds +towards the water’s edge, a boundless continuity of shade, many- +coloured, from the darkest spinach—the prevalent hue—to the lightest +green. The dense bank of foliage threw softened summits athwart the +bluest of skies, and the mid height was broken by tall, straight +shafts—they looked limed or whitewashed—shining like the bark of the +silver beech, and ghastly enough in the shades of evening. The African +oak was there, and the stunted kola nut (_C. acuminata_); no one, +however, could point out to us the ashori, or egginha, the local upas; +or the iroko, called the ‘sassa wood,’ and worshipped in Yoruba because +it cracks soundingly at night. The monarchs of the forest were the +bombax, or silk-cotton trees—many of them were one hundred feet high, +and ten in diameter, upright canoes, ready for felling—with boles, near +which the tall and tapering palm, straight as an arrow, attempted +rivalry, but in vain. They were girt below and often about the waist +with anfractuosities, fluted and channelled like Doric columns; these +buttresses show that the timber, being weak, demands support. Many of +these ceibas were intensely green and densely leaved; others were bare +and twiggy; for here, as in other lands, the seasons affect what appear +to be non-deciduous trees, and not a few bore what a European would +hardly expect from so large a growth, a spangling of beautiful blossoms, +white as the snow on Camaroons. The same may be said of the bigonia, +locally called ‘tulip-tree,’—Who would be prepared to see, pinned to +those sombre, yew-like forms, flowers like tiger-lilies, and at a +distance looking as if red-hot cinders had been scattered upon them? The +llianas were especially eccentric, varying from the thickness of twine +to cable; here straight, there arched; now twisted by the wind into +cordage; then forming a ‘true lover’s knot,’ dangling in the air, or +rooted to earth; here they depended, from cords as fine as the chorda +filum, or dead man’s ropes, gourd-like over the voyager’s head; there +they strangled some Laocoon of the woods with a desperate gripe, ‘the +Scotchman hugging the Creole;’ whilst the sarsaparilla vine clung +tenderly to the trunk, as though she loved it. Towering and climbing +herbaceous plants, formed by successive accretions, surrounded a mother +stem with thick vegetable masses,—mysterious columns, so covered that +the eye could not distinguish the support: these immense growths hung +their mantles of parasite, with ribs, folds, and flounces, from the +shoulders to the feet of the tallest trees; their middle was adorned +with the bright blossoms of sundry convolvuli, cucurbitaceæ, asclepiadæ, +and the white-flowered chailletta; and they supplied the watery maze +with arches and ogives, bowers, and fairy retreats, showing the +arabesques and the delicate tracery of a natural Alhambra. The +grotesques were somewhat like the tree-ferns of Fernando Po, finely +pinnated, and flaunting angular tufts upon the summit of the thinnest +stems, often thirty feet high. In one place a palm had raised itself +upon the trunk of a dead tree, and showed every root to the air, as it +drew sustenance from its support. In another, where the parent’s head +had been struck off by the lightning, the lateral branches, extending +horizontally, had put forth a dozen fresh shoots at right angles. In a +third, a giant with blasted top and thunder-rifted stem, had been hurled +down by the breaking tornado, and pitched, branches forwards, upon the +earth. Mr. Bowen asserts that in Egba-land he has never seen a tree that +has suffered from the thunderbolt. I believe, however, accidents to be, +as one might expect, of constant occurrence, and, moreover, that the +palms are peculiarly liable.[22] Almost every large growth had its +little family of orchids snugly nestling in its arms, and in not a few +the topmost boughs were bearded like old goats or Israelites. Nor were +flowers absent from the scene. The glorious nymphæa was there, and the +lower bush was gemmed with the ipomæa, and a large white flower, said to +be selenitic, and opening only to the moon. + +The denizens of the bush were worthy of it. The red-grey polly (_P. +erythacus_), the only parrot seen near the Ogun, sat higher than +popinjay ever did, whistling what sounded at that distance a mellow +note, and looking a distinct refusal to put the kettle on. She possibly +divined our intentions: parrot-soup and monkey-fry are not to be +despised. The wild bird is a far finer animal than the tame, but you +must be careful to remove the skin. The gay crested touraco +(_Corythrix_), with its jay-like manners, beautiful and harsh-voiced as +the Maids of Athens, aired its gorgeous coat in the sunbeams upon the +tree-top; the goatsucker whirred, the ibis screamed amongst the +branches, and the Malabar pheasant, or rather cuckoo, flitted into the +darker shades. The lively little marten was surpassed only by the +kingfisher; the yellow-billed blackbird sought something to fight; the +Whydah finch (_Vidua Paradisiaca_) looked as pretty and behaved as +shrewishly as her featherless sister ever could; and the oriole, all +_rouge et noir_ in strata, lit up the shade like a touch of vermilion in +the normal buoy that occupies the normal corner of a sea-piece. The nest +of the latter bird (_Sylvia pensilis_) is a purse, which, swinging in +the wind, is safe from the mischievous monkey: it may have suggested the +idea of a hammock. The Guinea-fowl called ‘come-and-eat-me’ from the +brake; rock-doves of great beauty cooed hoarsely on higher grounds; the +bittern sprang frightened from the bank; and lower down, the savoury +stripe-throated lapwing (_Vanellus strigillatus_, the ‘kiki dodo’ of the +Gold Coast), with two yellow flaps of dark-lined skin springing from the +base of the beak, walked the sand-banks in pairs, or rose loudly +clattering in the air. On the larger river-islets we saw grisly turkey- +buzzards sunning their expanded plumes, mixed with paddy-birds and +Senegal crows (_C. leuconotus_), the latter impudently pursuing and +pecking at them; whilst brown kites, the Indian chíl (_F. chilla_), +stood up to their thighs in the cool wave. Once, and once only, a flight +of the fine cullum crane passed within shot over our heads; and often in +the blue empyrean black speckles, like _muscæ volitantes_, told us that +all was not desert there. The water-elephant, as the hippopotamus is +called upon the Niger, has long been killed out of the Ogun River, and +its stream contains nothing but fish and fish-eaters. + +About 8 A.M. we halted for an hour and a half to breakfast at Illagu. +There is little of roughing in this style of travel. The fire was soon +lighted, the teapot was boiled, the eggs and ‘Europe mutton’ were fried, +the table, a gangway between two breakers; the chairs—boxes and +canteen—were duly disposed; and after a somewhat long delay, such as may +be excused at the beginning of a journey, when twenty minutes would +merit chastisement at the end, a pleasant picnic was the result. The +Krumen found a dessert for their meal of pork and biscuit in a species +of cardamom—not quite our old friend, _Amomum granum Paradisi_—whose +aromatic seeds they chewed with pleasure. A mishap, however, befel us at +Illagu. After starting, we missed the dog Sancho, and we sent back a +message requesting that he might be forwarded without delay to the +nearest village. He was a most amiable animal; when tied up, he barked +and howled most musically all the way, and when loose he insisted upon +springing overboard, stopping the boat, and exciting different emotions +amongst those in it. A St. Helena pointer—he pointed even at +butterflies—and he was just recovering from an attack of mange. Of +course we made on the way down all inquiries for so pleasant a +companion, but we had to mourn his loss. ‘The captain,’ his master, was +sorely discomfited. + +We then resumed our way up the now nut-brown river, garnished with its +various green and white boled trees—the current running against us 2½ to +3 knots an hour. Though fanned by a gentle breath from the north, there +was a decided sting in the sun, and an overkept leg of mutton in the +third locker made us unjustly accuse Africa of unsavoury smells. At +11·30 A.M., the effeminate ‘pull-a-boys’ showing symptoms of fatigue, we +put into the high right bank—the land becomes dry and gravelly, already +showing fragments of quartz—beaconed by the little village of Baragu, +whose appearance, however, was the reverse of novel. Under the +circumstances, a little ‘gooseberry’ was perfectly justifiable, and we +could hardly be so churlish as to refuse a few sips of trade ‘fire- +water’ to our hosts, whose spreading palaver-tree—the local +_bentang_—afforded us a seat in the cool shade rained down by its +horizontal boughs. The people evinced an exemplary amount of gratitude, +and a fondness for the material quite curious; even the small boys never +balked at a wine-glassful. All seemed comfortable and in good condition; +they had sheep and goats, ducks, fowls, and pigeons, whilst the fetish- +house showed signs of fresh whitewash. The women consider elongated +bosoms a charm, and even the men show flaccid mammary glands. This +‘bestial exposure of the sacred part of woman’s form,’ as some term it, +first disappears permanently amongst the Moslem converts from heathenry. +The good-wives had little remarkable, save a plug of pipe-stem-shaped +coral worn in the left nostril: it may serve the purpose of the Indian +nose-ring. Many of them wore their hair upstanding in little tufts of +wool, which coiffure, says a German traveller, ‘made them look more like +horned fiends than human beings.’ Some of the tattoos were painfully +ugly—lines of scars and dreadful knobs and marbles raised in altissimo +relievo by some encaustic process. Severe scalds were common; and one +woman had her back adorned with what appeared to be an imitation in +thickened skin of gouts and streamlets of blood. Many of the children +were marked from head to foot with little gridirons of cuts, dyed dark +blue by means of native antimony. They are all more or less exomphalous, +yet they will grow up like their sires—remarkably sharp when under +puberty,—that epoch, as amongst the Hindus, seeming to addle their +brains. They are placed for discipline under some old and trusty hand, +who compels them by force of stripes to industry; they amused themselves +by remarking on the sly, ‘Oibo akiti agba—The white man is an old ape.’ +The African will say of the European, ‘He looks like folks,’ and the +answer will often be, ‘No, he don’t.’ Thus we observe, that whilst the +Caucasian doubts the humanity of the Hamite, the latter repays the +compliment in kind. + +This race—the Egbado or Lower Egba—is distinctly negroid, without +showing the characteristics of the full-blooded negro. The skin is of a +dark dilute copper, sometimes black, whilst several of the chiefs are +almost light coloured. When the eyelashes and brows are not plucked, the +eye is fine; and those who hold, like Aurora Floyd, that ‘the glorious +light of a pair of magnificent optics makes a divinity, a Circe,’ can +here see the flattest contradiction to this opinion. The lips are not +thick, but the gums are blue, and the teeth are by no means improved by +the process of chewing. One cannot, however, but be struck by the +contrast between the prognathous, chinless, retreating face, simulating +the Simiadæ, and the admirable forms and figures of the people, who +compare most favourably with those of the xanthous complexion. Their +diet is poor, their climate poorer; calisthenics are unknown; they are +not boxers or runners, like the people of Nupe; and even gymnastics, +except tumbling, are little practised. What can then account for the +beauty of their conformation? + +For my part I must attribute it to the almost invariable custom which +the savage man possesses, and which his civilized brother abandons. +Amongst ancient races, such as the Hebrew and the Persian, it was the +rule of religion for the husband to separate from the wife during the +period of gestation and lactation. A modified monogamy amongst the +Greeks and Romans introduced abuses which the nations of the barren +north, especially those of Europe, who cannot afford a plurality of +wives, have perpetuated. On the coast and in the interior of Africa the +instinctive law of nature is almost universally obeyed, and the people +are necessarily polygamous. Speaking of Mandenga-land, Mungo Park says, +‘Three years’ nursing is not uncommon; and during this period the +husband devotes his whole attention to his other wives.’ In Hausa, as in +Yoruba, the period of lactation extends to the third year.[23] The West +African and the Kafirs of the southern continent practise this +abstinence, and prove in their persons the beneficial effects of it. +Europeans, violating the order of the animal creation, lay to their +souls the flattering unction that they are the largest and the strongest +of races, forgetting that by conforming to this African custom they +might become both larger and stronger. Besides, it would necessitate +polygyny[24]—that is to say, a love of offspring warmer than the sexual +feeling. The Mormons have tried it with success; and to the excellent +letter of Mrs. Belinda Pratt[25] I must refer the reader for more +information upon this momentous subject than could be conveyed in these +pages. + +On the Ogun River we had ample opportunities of forming judgment +concerning + + + ‘The naked negro panting on the Line.’ + + +I have travelled amongst wild tribes from the North American Indians to +the Bhils of Hindostan, but I never saw such an utter absence of what we +conventionally term modesty as amongst these Egbas. The women will stand +up and bathe publicly in the river, without a vestige of dress or shame; +and the niggerlings are as much clad as the Promutuans and the sons of +the Coral Islands. Can this be innocence, as some think? or is it the +mere absence of all ideas of propriety? I confess myself unable to +decide. + +Resuming our task, after twenty minutes’ halt, we noticed a gradual +change in the scenery. The bush thinned out, the trees shrank in size +and showed boles rather brown than white, and the banks of clay and +stone gained in size. The number of fishing-ropes denoted the vicinity +of a village, and in shooting one of them the ‘doctor’ managed to be +knocked overboard. At 1·10 P.M. we halted for an hour and a quarter to +refect at Obba. The Krumen were sadly slow, loitering about munching +ship-biscuit and lighting their clays before they thought of putting our +yam-pot on the fire. At Obba signs of improvement were observed. The +landing-place had earth steps and a kind of railing; the village +interior showed neat fields of tania or koko (_C. esculenta_)[26] and +the remnant of a cotton gin and press—bearing, of course, the mark of +Manchester—lay near one of the houses. The people, carrying fly whisks, +assembled round us under the usual tree, and in the best of humours +begged tobacco, and drank our tea with a relish, whilst the boys, for +our especial delectation, threw somersets[27] in the air. + +After leaving Obba the southern sky began to bank up, threatening a +repetition of yesterday’s tornado. Presently a stream of cold wind +poured through the tepid air, reminding me of a phenomenon not a little +to be feared upon the Zanzibar Seas and the Tanganyika Lake. But though +thunder growled gruffly, and the well-known haze filled the atmosphere, +and the warm sensation, attributed, I believe, to development of ozone, +warned us of what might be, the only result was a dry storm, for whose +obscurity we had reason to be thankful. The doctor exercised himself +upon parrots, lapwings, and paddy birds; Commander Bedingfield shot a +crocodile upon a tree stump—the favourite basking-place—and the Krumen +lamented being unable to secure the prize. Its gall is here, as in most +other parts of Africa, held to be a deadly poison; in some places a man +with such medicine in his possession would be sure to lose his life. Dr. +Clarke of Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast administered it to a dog in +soup and beef; the only effect, as might be expected, was emetism. There +is probably something of fetish in the idea; and similarly, the Hindus +still firmly believe in the poisonous properties of diamond powder, +apart from any mechanical action. In some of the river reaches there was +hardly any tide, and we soon passed our first sand-bank, arguing +increased shallowness in the bed. On the right bank the land became open +and gravelly; the left side, however, was still thickly wooded. At 4·15 +P.M. we halted at Mabban, the place named for our nighting. It was a +miserable village, surrounded by an almost impenetrable bush; and the +emaciated population, showing elephantiasis and scars of cutaneous +disease, evidenced the unhealthiness of the situation. The chief was +absent, but we easily obtained permission to occupy the fetish house, a +square box seven feet by seven, open only towards the verandah, and +garnished with pots and basins of crockery ware, with an altar, upon +which stood three little wooden doll-gods, far more bestial than human, +save that they wore proportional cables of beads upon their necks and +wrists. Besides these Penates there were none but ourselves. In the +adjoining quarters the absent chief’s three wives—one light skinned, and +by no means unattractive—slept together under a canopy of thick matting, +hung by strings from the roof, and acting as mosquito bars. We managed +to avoid Mabban on our return: the night passed there was one of sultry, +sweltering heat; during day the subjects of King Beelzebub fed upon us, +and after dark the Maringouins sang a doleful ditty, which was drowned +only by the occasional yelping of negro babyhood. In the distance the +long, loud cries of the Pataku, or bush-dog—a small species of hyæna, +well known on the Gold Coast, but dangerous only to pigs and +children—reminded me of the jackal, the coyote, and the Australian +‘native dog.’ It throws its voice out, at one minute appearing close by, +then a mile off. The only ferocious animal hereabouts to be found is the +leopard, which is as dangerous as his congener in Eastern Africa; and a +man’s arm dangling from the hammock side is very likely to be taken off +somewhere about the elbow. Our run that day had been six hours, say +eighteen miles. + +At 5·30 A.M. on Thursday, the 31st, we set out in a spitting rain, with +a cold and heavy mist, which, attached to the river, drifted past us as +we broke through it like thin cloud. On a sandspit we saw signs of +native travellers in the shape of matted sheds, and we vainly inquired +for the interpreter Williams, who had preceded us for his own purposes. +There were also bundles of firewood, tabooed from the prigger by grass- +crowned canes planted around them, thus forming a strong fetish. After +an hour and a half we ran into a little creek on the left bank, and +disembarked at Ojegu, a village differing from its neighbours in no wise +save that it was somewhat more uniform. It has, as usual in Africa, a +bazar or market, where women squatted before baskets under a tree, and +sold beads, thread, and similar utilities, besides various edibles, of +which, at this hour, the favourite is ekko,[28] answering in these lands +to our tea and bread and butter. + +The breakfast occupied us an hour and three-quarters, still showing that +the party was not half in training, and we resumed rowing through +sunshine tempered by sprinkling rain. We passed the mouth of the Iro +River, a considerable influent from the west, and shortly afterwards, on +the east, appeared the village of Molokokki, where the river banks were +of rough sandstone. Beyond it are ledges of black rock, forming a +projecting point, which by compression doubles the velocity of the +stream. Lime was nowhere seen, nor does it, I am informed, exist in this +part of Yoruba. Large canoes lumbered the river, some laden with ten +bales of cotton. Making our mooring at Ajido, a knot of three hovels, we +slept upon waterproofs under the bush shade. A little beyond this place +the stream bifurcates, forming in the centre a clump of grassy bush. Our +way lay through the western branch, and its channel—the current ran +swiftly—did not extend eighteen yards in width, till presently the two +streams are anastomosed above the islet. Again, a tornado-like cloud +worked up its way against the southerly wind, and once more it proved +itself that blessing of all blessings, a dry storm. Passing the village +of Okpuba, we remarked that the groves of trees, scattered upon banks +some twenty feet high, would be charming if the underlying bush could be +cleared. Presently cultivation showed itself, the tall tops of the maize +waving gracefully in the wind. At 4·30 P.M., we sighted our terminus, +the large village of Takpana—pronounced Tapana, the Egba _kp_ and _gb_ +not being naturally articulable to English organs. Our day’s row had +been eight hours, but the Krumen were breaking down, and the distance +was probably not more than twenty-two miles. + +Ascending the bank, and walking through the first straggling village, +where the turkey-buzzard is the only nightman, we found on the outskirts +an uninhabited house in decent condition, and there we were installed by +the civil old chief. He visited us repeatedly, gave us every assistance +in the matters of wood and water, nor did he disdain to join us in a +social glass. The children, and not a few of the adults, spent the +evening over a game known in Ashanti as ‘worra,’ in Sierra Leone ‘wari,’ +in East Africa ‘bao,’ and here ‘ayo.’ It is played upon a rude kind of +‘table,’ a solid oblong board, with a little handle at one end, and down +the length run two parallel rows of six little cups. The game is played +by distributing counters, one by one, into each cup, beginning from the +starting-place whence they were taken; and if a single counter be found, +it is removed from the board. In the ‘men’ I at once recognized the +_Guilandina Bonduc_, so well known in eastern medicine, and used for +other purposes at Zanzibar and in India. The game, we presumed, was for +love, gambling being prohibited by ‘Ogboni law,’ which all obey, or +ought to obey. Night sped pleasantly in the new lodgings, which were +comparatively free from mosquitoes and other vermin; perhaps, also, the +last two _veilles_ had made our skins proof against them. The list of +small tenantry is somewhat extensive in these huts. There are flies and +fleas, centipedes—ugly, but little feared—harmless spiders, not like the +tarantula of Mendi city, west of Gallinas; large, black, and green +scorpions, sometimes six inches long, and a yellow species, smaller, but +fiercer. The ants are numerous and interesting; they would amply repay +the labour of collection. There is ota, ‘the stinger,’ who is +particularly hostile to the bug-a-bug, or termes, and especially there +is ijálu, ‘the fighter that makes man go,’—in old Anglo-African called +‘driver,’ because an army of these little wretches, a riband of small +red lines-men, flanked by a light infantry of black warriors, with bull- +dog heads, easily clears the kitchen. On the Gold Coast there are +horrible tales of the fatigued huntsman being set upon and murdered by +them in his sleep; and in the case of a sick man such an event is +greatly to be feared.[29] + +The next morning saw us _en route_ at 4·45 A.M., through a fog that not +a little interfered with the flying survey in which we were engaged. The +open earth-banks of the river—here less than fifty yards broad—are well +raised, showing tall Guinea grass and plots of cultivation, with a South +African shrubbery, which not a little reminded my companion—a quondam +member of the unfortunate Zambezi expedition—of that splendid but +useless stream, which promised, with giant might of humbug, to supply, +besides quinine,[30] ‘cotton, indigo, and other raw material to any +amount.’ I say unfortunate, for 5000_l._ per annum, a sum sufficient to +defray with due economy the expenses of half a dozen expeditions, has +been literally thrown away upon this remote corner of South-Eastern +Africa. A vile bar—there is no worse on the coast—a shifting channel, +shallow water, dangerous rocks, and a labyrinth of shoals and sandbanks, +with numerous small islands, considerably detract from the chances that +‘this noble river is capable of being made a great highway for commerce, +civilization, and Christianity.’ The very fact that it is only +approachable through the possessions of another power, who has every +right to impose any conceivable export and import duties, ought alone to +have been considered sufficient obstacles. Add to this, the sparseness +of the population, the villany of the natives, more especially the +‘faithful Makololo,’ and the absence of all conveyance, which, with the +length of the marches, must prevent the transport of even ivory, except +on the shoulders of slaves destined for the coast markets, being +remunerative. An unhappy and ill-judged mission has been the result of +the labour of years; and, as all who knew the subject foresaw from the +beginning, it came to a wretched and untimely end.[31] Bishop and +chaplain, missionaries and their wives and children, all perished +miserably. Ships and boats have been lost—worse still, the blood of the +natives has been shed by those who went to save them—and the unfortunate +promoter of the scheme has suffered even more than he deserved, for want +of moral courage to tell ‘the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but +the truth.’[32] Cotton, sugar, and indigo flourish, it will be +remembered, in Western Africa, at one-third of the distance which +divides Liverpool from Kilimani; the quality is better, the country is +more settled, and the people are far less unmanageable; yet it is my +sincere belief—founded on facts which will appear in the course of this +narrative—that years must elapse before even Western Africa can supply +with cotton the mills of England for one week of work in the twelve +months. These may be new views—I am convinced that they are true views. + +The River Ogun was shoaling rapidly. A bar connected diagonally every +salient and re-entering angle, and frequent grounding now made the way +tedious. We were doubtful as regards arrival: two days ago Mr. Johnson +of Igaon told us that we should land on the morrow, and on this morning +some named noon, others evening, as the time of our reaching the +terminus. When asking the natives touching distances, we had but two +replies: ‘Too much far,’ _i.e._ half the day; and ‘Not so far,’ _i.e._ +something under. At 8 A.M. we halted for breakfast at Moroko, another +thatch and mud village perched upon the sandstone bank, shaded by tall +trees and surrounded by bush. The people were as usual most friendly; +they assigned us a place in a large verandah, and they kept us company +during the meal, after which all joined in a social glass of gin. To the +children, however, raspberry vinegar was given as a substitute, the +mothers also tasted it, and—it did not bite—a slight shade of +disappointment might, methought, have been traced in the feminine and +juvenile countenances. As we bade adieu dancing had begun, and we were +followed out of the village with the song of farewell. + +Proceeding with our journey at 10 A.M., we passed, on the right bank, +sundry flourishing settlements. At Awoloko we saw women sitting at sale, +men stowing puncheons of oil in canoes by sinking and baling out, cotton +bales heaped up near the landing-place, and other signs of trade. The +people flocked down to gaze, and the children clapped their hands. +Beyond it lay Akolugo, on a tall bank, with a ledge of rock below, and a +little further was a ferry, where crowds were crossing[33]—amongst them +we remarked a tall negress, musket-armed and clad in the simple costume +of the Dahoman ‘Amazons,’ as they are ridiculously called. The +shallowness of the stream caused us even more trouble than before, and +the crew were frequently obliged to tumble out, which they did like +cats, as if afraid of wetting their legs. Presently we saw white faces +in a canoe that bore down upon us; they proved to be Messrs. Wilcoxon +and Roper of the Church Mission Society, who had kindly ridden out to +guide the party. A few strokes of the oars placed us at the landing- +place, ‘Agbameya.’ This is the great ferry, the passage between the +lands of the Egbas and the Egbados, or Lower Egbas, and the terminus of +the land-routes from Lagos and Badagry. It showed a market-place, canoes +in numbers, a few mat sheds for shade, a dwarf grove of papaws (_C. +papaya_), and the normal crowd of natives. Here we left the two gigs, +with orders for their conveyance by the Krumen to Aro, the upper and +higher landing-place, five or six miles distant from the lower port, +Agbameya, and we took leave of water-travel for some days. Beyond Aro, +rocks and rapids render Father Ogun impracticable even to canoes. Those +who would cross it must take to their bosoms huge calabashes, which, +like the earthen pots of the Indus, contain air enough to float two +hundred to three hundred pounds. The ferryman, swimming alongside and +pushing the floats, claims as his due two hundred cowries. + +Our ascent of the Ogun River occupied us four days, from the 29th of +October to the 1st of November inclusive, and during this time we made +about sixty-four miles.[34] + + +[Footnote 1: O Capitão João Gonçalvez da Camera, a gentleman of the +household of the then Infante, and nicknamed Zargo, or the one-eyed—he +lost the other at the siege of Tangiers; but others say that Zargo was +the name of a Moor whom he made captive—was sent in 1418 by his lord, _O +Conquistador_, the Virgin Prince Henry, son of Don John (first of the +name, and second king) by Philippa, grandchild of Edward III. of +England, to examine the West African coast. Returning to Porto Santo, he +was informed by the settlers, whom he had previously left there under +the first Donatorio, or Donee, Bartholomew Perestrello, or Palestrello, +that it was ‘_fama publica_’ that in one particular direction the sea +was ever overhung with a thick impenetrable darkness, ‘_huma grande +sombra_,’ or as De Barros has it, ‘_hum negrum tal e tam medonho e +perpetuo que henhum se atrevia a chegar a elle_,’ denoting, according to +the Jesuit Cordeyro, an abyss, and guarded by a perpetual smoke and +strange noises, which seemed to issue from the mouth of hell. Zargo was +encouraged to explore it by observing that the blackness in question +disappeared during the changes of the moon. The crew, excepting the +pilot, were so frightened that they repeatedly begged to be allowed to +return. Queer times when explorers could be frightened by a fog! Zargo +landed in Madeira 2nd July, 1419, the day of Santa Isabel.] + +[Footnote 2: During the first fit, 4 grains ext. colocynth, 4 ditto +jalap, 4 ditto quinine, and ¼ gr. tart. emetic—the latter to induce +perspiration; followed by 6 grs. sulph. quinine and 6 grs. sulph. +magnesia; and 4 grs. nit. potash and 6 grs. sulph. magnesia. On the next +day 1 dr. Epsom salts and 2 grs. quinine, every three hours, which will +probably settle the affair; at least it did in my case. + +Of the following the faculty speak very favourably. It is the South +African traveller, + + + _Dr. Livingstone’s Remedy for African Fever._ + +‘The medicines, which must be pure and unadulterated, are as +follows:—Six or eight grains of resin of jalap, and the same amount of +rhubarb, with four grains of calomel and four of quinine, made into +pills with spirit of cardamoms: the whole is a full dose for a man. On +taking effect, quinine (not the unbleached kind), in four-grain or +larger doses, is given every two hours or so, till the ears ring or +deafness ensues; this last is an essential part of the cure. The +prescription, like some others of known value, is not strictly +scientific, and the practice of giving quinine from the very +commencement of the attack is not considered good. I was led into it by +nervous anxiety to save my own children at Lake Ngami, in 1850, and have +experienced its value so frequently since with Africans and Europeans, +that I follow it, though opposed to the teachings of my superiors.’] + +[Footnote 3: Whilst the ignorant Moslem believes that bells drive away +good spirits from the abodes of men, the equally ignorant Roman Catholic +_habitant_ of Canada holds himself safe from the devil only when within +the sound of his _clocher_. Both cannot be in the right—perhaps neither +is.] + +[Footnote 4: The expression ‘saving faith,’ applied to El Islam, is apt +to convey an erroneous idea: Moslems are wholly opposed to Christians in +their notions touching salvation. With those, every man is sent into the +world by a beneficent Deity to be blessed; with these, to be damned.] + +[Footnote 5: In 1860 Selim Aga proposed to recover the papers of the +late M. Vogel, who is generally believed to have been killed by the +Sultan of Wádái, a perilous land, which an older hand, Dr. Barth, +prudently avoided. According to the travelling Arab servant, who in 1859 +was sent by the Niger expedition at Bidda, the present capital of Nupe, +M. Vogel travelled from Bugharmi to a well-known well on the frontier of +Wádái, a halting-place for pilgrims and trader caravans. He was there +left by his servant, who had travelled with Dr. Barth, and he proceeded +to the capital of Wádái. The Sultan hearing that the white man had gone +at night to a neighbouring hill, with instruments for observing, forbade +him strictly to repeat the operation. M. Vogel disobeyed the orders, and +two men were sent to take off his head. His papers are said to be still +in possession of Sidi Ali, religious chief of Kano, and there ought to +be no difficulty in recovering them. Dr. Baikie, chief of the Niger +expedition, proposed to do this himself. So Selim was thrown out, and +Dr. Baikie has not yet done it.] + +[Footnote 6: ‘Central Africa,’ Charleston, U. S., 1857—about which work +more presently. The Doko race of which Mr. Bowen speaks is probably a +corruption of ‘Donko,’ the slave race from the north of Ashanti, well +known on the Gold Coast: a people with a single gash between the eye and +the upper lip, on both cheeks, were shown to me at Abeokuta under this +name. Mr. Bowen describes them as coming from the Mandara region, and +having four eyes. ‘Doko,’ in Eastern Africa, is applied to the pigmies +called Kimo in Madagascar, and by the Mombas missionaries, Wabilikimo, +_i.e._, men two cubits high. Wayangara, the mythical Christian city, two +months’ journey east of Sokoto, or more generally described as lying +east of Yoruba, is inhabited by white men, who are probably what the +Hausa people call Bature Dudu, black-white men, a Grecian-faced race +that cross the African continent, and report that after three months’ +march they arrive within a fortnight of the Salt Sea. There is a native +tradition that they inhabit the lands of Gengira, Darmút, and Sidama.] + +[Footnote 7: Dr. Baikie, writing to the ‘Athenæum,’ from Bida Nupe, the +Nyffe of Richard Lander, in Central Africa, January 15, 1862, concerning +this ‘romance of natural history,’ declares that five years of +experience have shaken his scepticism; and that whereas he once looked +upon the unicorn as a myth, he now ‘simply holds that its non-existence +is not proven’—a giant’s step on the path of faith. The horn, he has +heard, is long, black, and straight, or nearly straight, and the hunters +of the one-horned rhinoceros carefully distinguish between this and the +equine monoceros. Finally, he supplies the following list of names by +which the animal is called in various countries, from Lake Chad to the +Gulf of Guinea:— + + Búndiá-ru and Kamárami in Kanuri (Bornu). + + Maríri in Hausa. + + Yílifú and Dákarkúlewal in Fulfulde, or Filáni. + + Kárafitu in Márgí. + + Pānlíli in Núpe. + + Agába in Bonu (where a skull is said to be). + + Iwú in Yoruba. + + Tenesek in A’zbentsi (Tawárek). + +M. D’Abbadie alludes to it in Kordofan under the name of A’nasa. Mr. +Bowen’s agbangrere was described as having the form of a sorrel horse +with the feet of a cow, and with a single horn like that of an antelope. +A horn was produced, ‘black in colour, coarsely rugose below and smooth +towards the top;’ possibly it was a kudu’s. The unfortunate slayer is +sure to die within a year.] + +[Footnote 8: According to Captain John Adams, who, as has been said, +wrote in 1823, Lagos Island is ‘a foot only above the level of the lake +at high water, which is so shallow that boats of only 10 or 15 tons +burden can approach the town.’ If his observations be correct, the +island has risen and the channel has sunk.] + +[Footnote 9: I afterwards saw at Benin city a young woman lashed to a +scaffolding upon the summit of a tall blasted tree, and being devoured +by the turkey-buzzards. The people declared it to be a ‘fetish,’ or +charm for bringing rain.] + +[Footnote 10: This will remind the reader of Richard Lander’s celebrated +description of the Tree of Death at Badagry; and, as will be seen, the +custom has not yet died out of Yoruba.] + +[Footnote 11: On the 25th November, 1851, a force of 260 men in 23 +boats, commanded by Commander Forbes, H.M.S. ‘Philomel,’ entered the +river to repress the disorders caused by the ‘usurper Kosoko.’ They were +preceded by Mr. Beecroft, H.M. Consul for Fernando Po, carrying a flag +of truce. About five thousand people manned the bush, and though a +landing was effected and a few houses were fired, the expedition was +‘whipped’—as it deserved, for not shelling or rocketing the town: two +poor fellows were killed, and several were wounded. In January, 1852, +the Commodore, Captain R. W. Bruce, revenged the affront, and his name +has been perpetuated in ‘Bruce’s Island.’] + +[Footnote 12: If this surmise be correct there is an uninterrupted line +of natural canalization between the Volta, the Niger, and the Bonny +River, a distance of nearly 400 direct miles.] + +[Footnote 13: Mr. Bowen says that the lagoon, or lake, is called Ossa by +the natives, Cradoo by the English. If I understand them aright, ‘Osa’ +is the arm which joins the Lagos River, and extends westward to Badagry; +‘Cradoo’ is the lagoon itself.] + +[Footnote 14: The former word is variously written, and most generally +Jaboo or Jebu: the Germans prefer Dshebu.] + +[Footnote 15: Ode lies some 30 miles south of Ibadan. From Lagos you +sail 20 miles eastward upon the Ikoradu waters, and thence march 22 +miles north.] + +[Footnote 16: South African travellers have limited the insect’s habitat +to the Zambezi’s banks. I supplied the British Museum with specimens +brought from the vicinity of the equator, and I expect to find the +animal throughout the low and bushy regions of intertropical Africa.] + +[Footnote 17: There are three several meanings to this word, and the +Egbas often drop the nasal terminating _n_ which is pronounced by +neighbouring peoples, _e.g._ Ilorí for Ilori_n_. Ŏgŭ_n_ is the P.N. of +the river, Ŏgú_n_ is a god—some writers, however, as Mr. Bowen, spell +both these words Ógú_n_, writing the river and the god the same, and +making Ŏgŭ_n_ signify an army or battle—and Ógŭ_n_ is a charm, or +medicine.] + +[Footnote 18: I propose for the future to call the whole of the great +artery of tropical Africa north of the equator by its classical name +Niger, and Nun from the ocean to its confluence; the eastern fork, +Binue, not Chadda, or Tsadda—a term based on the false theory that it +flows out of Lake Chad or Tsad—and the western branch, Kwara.] + +[Footnote 19: Similarly, Oya, the Niger, or more properly the Kwara, the +Oshun, and the Obba, are the wives of Shango; concerning whom see +Chapter IV.] + +[Footnote 20: The Yerewa is called by the people ‘Ado river,’ and in our +maps Jefferson river. The Okpara is better known as the Ajirá creek or +Carr river, and is about fourteen miles east of Porto Novo.] + +[Footnote 21: In Eastern Africa the bamboo reed may be found many days’ +march from the coast, but it is supposed to be derived from India.] + +[Footnote 22: At Sierra Leone there is the same belief touching the +monkey-bread, or calabash.] + +[Footnote 23: In Northern Europe ablactation begins when the milk teeth +appear, between the sixth and the twelfth month; near the Mediterranean, +however, this is by no means the case.] + +[Footnote 24: When the late king, Eyo Honesty, of Old Calabar river, +resolved to adopt the single-wife system, the chosen one determined on a +certain occasion to act as if she had been an unit in the normal score. +Mrs. W——, the wife of one of the Scotch Presbyterian missionaries was +directed—when the husband laid his complaint before them—to call upon +the queen, and to bring her majesty to a finer sense of her conjugal +duties. The labour of love was, however, I believe in vain.] + +[Footnote 25: Quoted _in extenso_ in ‘The City of the Saints.’] + +[Footnote 26: Some travellers, for instance, Dr. Vogel, of the first +Niger expedition, write the word ‘cocoa,’ which renders the confusion of +a vegetable with a shrub and a tree inevitable to the English reader. I +shall therefore write the vegetable ‘koko,’ the shrub ‘cacao,’ and the +tree ‘cocoa.’ Dr. Clarke, of Sierra Leone, mentions three kinds of koko: +firstly, the West Indian, or English; secondly, ‘country koko,’ acrid, +and affecting the throat; and thirdly, ‘water koko,’ said to be a +poisonous root.] + +[Footnote 27: An exercise known as Taketi, pronounced ‘Tackety,’ after +the style of ‘rickety.’ When the white man hears in the streets Jo and +Taketi, he will understand that the infant population are requesting him +to dance and tumble for their delectation. It is said that an Egbanized +Englishman, lately proceeding up the river, was seized by the +Abeokutans, and compelled to ‘Tackety’ for their amusement, whilst they +looked on and drank his rum.] + +[Footnote 28: Ekko—pronounced ekkau—is maize ground very fine, steeped +in water till subacid, when the grosser particles are removed with the +hand—they fatten poultry well—and the residue, boiled and eaten warm, +resembles the Scottish oatmeal sowens. If kept till cold it hardens into +a paste the consistency of blanc-mange; it becomes a cooling and +nutritious diet, and plantain-leaved triangles of this article may be +seen in every market throughout Yoruba. At Sierra Leone it is called +aggidi.] + +[Footnote 29: ‘The larger ants have been known to strip bare to the bone +the carcase of a cow in a single night. And Mr. Abson informed me, that +he was once reduced to that state of debility by a severe attack of +fever, as to be so wholly helpless, that the ants attacked him in the +night, when lying in his bed; and that if, fortunately, one of his +domestics had not awoke, they would have devoured him before morning, so +incapable was he of calling for help or struggling with his assailants. +At the time he related this anecdote to me, I was confined by +indisposition in the very room where the circumstance occurred, and did +not feel very comfortable at the prospect of being perhaps eaten +alive.’—Capt. JOHN ADAMS, p. 68. After this, I need hardly point out to +the collector of natural history the easiest way of cleaning a skeleton +in Africa.] + +[Footnote 30: Dr. Haran, of H.M.S. ‘Brisk,’ was kind enough to show me a +fine specimen of a cinchona bark, procured at Madagascar. Dr. +Livingstone, however, is supposed to have seen quinine for the first +time at Kew Gardens.] + +[Footnote 31: On my return to England in the spring of 1859, the Rev. +Mr. Monk, who afterwards took a prominent part in the Oxford and +Cambridge Missions, honoured me by asking my opinion upon the subject, +and I will appeal to that gentleman if all that was told him in reply +did or did not come to pass.] + +[Footnote 32: To make my meaning plainer, I must state my belief that +the great South African explorer—whose geographical feats needed no +missionary foil—has owned privately to friends that he never made a +Kafir convert, and consequently that he could hardly have expected to +make one.] + +[Footnote 33: Ferries are profitable investments in these lands. My +factotum, Selim Aga, tells me of one over the Niger, near Rabba, now +reopened down the river by Masaba, _i.e._ Mohammed Saba, King of Nupe, +who charges 1000 cowries there = 1_s._ 6_d._, for each traveller in the +caravan, 1000 cowries for each tusk, and sundry fees for horses and +mules.] + +[Footnote 34: Our itinerary makes the distance from Lagos to the Agboi +Creek 2 hours’ row = 8 miles. From the creek to the Ogun River, 3 h. 25 +m. = 7 miles. From the juncture to Igaon, 3 h. 15 m. = 9 miles. Total of +first day, 26 miles. + +From Igaon to Mabban, second day, 6 hours = 18 miles. + +From Mabban to Takpana, third day, 8 hours = 22 miles. + +From Takpana to Agbameya, 3 h. 30 m. = 9 miles. From Agbameya to +Abeokuta, 6 miles. Total of fourth day, 15 miles. + +Thus the grand total from Lagos to Abeokuta would be 81 miles, of which +64 were upon the Ogun River, and the direct distance between the cities +might be reduced to 48 miles. Mr. Bowen, however, makes the journey by +river from Abeokuta to Lagos 90 miles. + +Abeokuta has been laid down by Mr. Townsend in N. lat. 7° 8′, and E. +long. 3° 20′; the height is about 567 feet by barometer above sea level, +whilst the mountains at the head of the Ogun River rise, it is believed, +to 3000 feet.] + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + ENTRÉE INTO ABEOKUTA. + + +Before entering the great metropolis upon so solemn an occasion, it was +necessary to remove the soil of four days’ travel. Houses there were +none; so, claiming the protection of the tall maize, we ‘cleaned +ourselves,’ literally, not sneeringly, and dressed as rapidly as +possible. We found beasts awaiting us, wretched ‘tattoos,’ cat-hammed +wretches, rats, which people here impudently call horses, all skin and +bone, very like asses, ten hands high, with goose rump and hanging head, +skeletons which a strong man could easily pull over, requiring, like the +old Irish post-horse, a quarter of an hour’s flogging before they can be +got out of a walk, and ever ready, like Paddy on the rare occasions when +he is not sober, to fight at a moment’s notice. In the latter point the +ponies of Yoruba may compare with those of Maharatta-land; their tempers +are peculiarly bad, as indeed one must expect from all low-bred animals, +quadruped as well as biped. + +Leaving Agbameya at burning noon, we rode through thick bush, here and +there broken with patches of cultivation. The soil was sandy and +sterile, here and there showing water-rolled pebbles of the drift +period—doubtless nothing but eight months of tropical rain and the fiery +heat of the sun prevent its being desert as Sindh. There were, however, +fine crops of yam and chestnut-like koko. Here also, as in Unyamwezi, +the people are fond of planting together several _semences_, especially +beans, maize, and manioc: the land is carefully prepared with the hoe, +and dwarf heaps, in whose summit a hole is drilled, receive the seed. +This season’s crop is the second; it was planted in August—the first +being in March and April—and the harvest will be reserved for seed: when +it fails a famine is often the result. The Yorubas have a tradition that +maize comes from the East; it was possibly imported, together with +millet, by the Phœnicians under Hanno (B.C. 600), who could not have +grown wheat near the tropical seaboard. As everywhere in Africa, some of +the fields are carefully kept, whilst the others are wretchedly weed- +grown. Happily for the people, the rains, which this year have been +scant, are now setting in. Amongst the shrubs the African marigold was +conspicuous, there was a pretty little blue flower said to close at 2 +P.M., and there were a few odoriferous plants which made the bush not +unpleasant. _En revanche_, we passed many a spot whose characteristic +odour was that of a corpse. Perhaps in some cases it may have proceeded +from death: the Egbas cast the bodies of slaves, poor strangers, and +travellers into the bush, from superstition as well as from pure +idleness. Generally, however, it came not from death, but from life: +throughout this part of Africa there is a large black ant—the chhungu +uvundo of Zanzibar—whose fetor is overpowering. I remarked a large pod, +which on pressure discharged a yellowish milk: the people rub this juice +on the hair to expel its surplus population, and of the plant they make +a fine fibre for fishing-lines. + +The easily-made route was for the most part a mere bridle-path, kept in +tolerable condition by the tramping of the market-people, and the rain +must frequently take upon itself the privilege of forcing a way down the +king’s high road. A few sheds, where palm wine and native beer were +vended by men and women stretched in the most negligent of positions +under the warm shade, were the only signs of settlements, and we were +disappointed in our hopes of finding the promised half-way house. The +sun shone fiercely at first starting: it was soon tamed by heavy clouds, +which presently burst in a short shower, and the glare of the ground was +greatly mitigated. All who met us addressed some civil word, and were +respectful as Madeiriense: the vast variety and the complexity of their +salutations will afterwards be alluded to. My nag snatched a leaf of +maize, when an old woman in the field somewhat blatantly scolded it for +stealing her property, which reminded me of Mungo Park’s ‘standard law +of Africa:’ ‘If an ass should break a single stem of corn, the farmer +may seize the animal, and if not satisfied by the owner, he can kill and +eat it, but not sell or work it.’ This must be rather a severe penalty +where donkey-flesh is a favourite food. After about six miles of bush +and outlying farm, with a few little rivulets between, we crested a wave +of clearer land, and sighted for the first time Abeokuta—Understone. + +There are three natural divisions of country: the rainless, devoid of +vegetation, and consequently termed desert; the pastoral, covered like +prairie-land with herbage and bush, but deficient in forest; and the +agricultural, clothed primally with continuous woods, and subsequently +with second growths of bush and forest, or with savannahs, the results +of old and yearly burnings. Of the latter description is this part of +Egba-land: the bush, however, making allowance for the quantity and +quality of tropical vegetation, is much like what beautiful Goodwood +must have been in the days of the Heptarchy, as yet unconverted into +lawn and grove and bushy dell; all of which will be done, and, until +that still distant day, the land can hardly be said to be ready for +civilization. The only sign of commencement is that the primeval forest +has been extirpated immediately about the city, and has given place to +the long crab-grass which now monopolizes the soil, and which presently +must be taught to disappear before Bahama grass, or some similar and +less exhausting growth. + + + ‘By secret charms our native land attracts,’ + + +they say. This may be true or not: it is certain, however, that in +strange countries there are secret influences that disenchant, that +repel. I feel them here. The scene before me wants neither grandeur nor +beauty; there is a gorgeous growth around; hill, water, forest, and +homestead—the constituents of beauty in landscape—all are present; yet, +brooding over them all, darkening sun and sky, and clothing earth with +sombre hues, is the sadness of a stranger-land. And it is a sadness +which must endure. Those who tear themselves from Europe ever recognize +the sensation in the comfortable seats which the New World affords them. +They always think of what they call their ‘home;’ a word which has no +meaning to their children. Those who hold emigration to be England’s +first want, should, in common humanity, advocate the system which +prevailed some century ago in the Western Hebrides, whence whole +villages emigrated, to found, in a hemisphere beyond the Atlantic, +settlements which in name and nature were the exact copies of their +ancient homes. + +The first aspect of Abeokuta was decidedly remarkable. The principal +peculiarity was the fantastic breaking of the undulating plain by masses +of grey granite—the rose-coloured is not easily seen—between twenty and +thirty in number, sometimes rising two hundred and fifty to three +hundred feet above the lower levels. White under the sun’s glare, and +cast in strange forms—knobs, pinnacles, walls, backbones, scarps, and +logans—they towered over the patches of dark trees at their bases and +the large brown villages, or rather towns, which separated them. There +was a long dorsum, which nearly bisected the town from north to south, +and which lay like a turtle’s back between the scattered lines of +habitations. The schorl, the sandstone formations, and the iron +conglomerates were thrown into shade by these masses protruded from +below. The country not a little reminded me of features which I have +described in Eastern and Central Africa—Unyamwezi and the lands between +the Nyanza Lake and Ugogo: in the prairies of the great West, +Independence Rock afforded a similar spectacle. In some places the +habitations seemed as close packed as cells in a honeycomb; in others +they were broken by bush, whose growth is encouraged because fire- +engines are unknown. The ground was exceedingly complicated. Our guides +pointed out to us the sites of the chief towns, Ake and Ikijá, Bagura +and Owu, the Rock Olumo—‘the builder,’ or capitolium—and other places +which a few minutes afterwards were forgotten. A line of denser and more +regular trees marks the course of the river, and blue distance, rolling +here and there in long waves, broken by dwarf cones and subsiding into a +mysteriously hazed horizon, formed a charming prospect after our +confinement in the trough-like river. + +Beyond the first sight of the town remained some two miles before +reaching Ake, our intended quarters in the modern metropolis of Egba- +land. Continuing our ride, I remarked another truly African custom which +prevails from Kruland to the eastern coast, and which has the knack of +puzzling new comers. The primeval forest has been cleared away around +the town, yet there is not a vestige of cultivation; and if you ask for +the farms, you are told that they are distant some five to twenty miles. +The reason is that if placed within reach nothing could defend them from +the depredations of robbers and cattle. These circum-urban wastes might +easily be purchased for cotton-growing. Before sinking good money, +however, it would be advisable to perpend whether we could render +valuable—even with the aid of coloured ‘professors’ and quadroon +‘emigration-agents’—what the Yorubas cannot. + +Before reaching the Agbameya gate of Abeokuta, we had a something of +excitement. The ‘doctor’ had descended from his Rosinante, and a battle +royal was the result. My wretched tattoo rose with a scream high upon +its hind spindles. Unwilling to be involved in the game of biting, +pawing, and kicking, and not knowing the beasts to be unshod, I tried to +dismount, hitched my foot in the stirrup, which did not open with a +spring, and had the pleasure of hearing the sound of war over my back. +The results were a few bruises, and the resolution of carrying for the +future a stout stick, wherewith to belabour belligerents’ heads. A fall +was a bad omen to begin with, but, as says good Edom o’ Gordon, + + + ‘Thame luiks to freits, my master dear, + + Then freits will follow thame.’[35] + + +Besides which it was a Friday, and it let me off cheap. + +The celebrated defences of Abeokuta, which have played in Yoruba history +the part of the wall of China and the lines of Torres Vedras, next +appeared. They are seventeen to eighteen miles in circumference. To the +northwards, however, in the direction of the hostile Ibadan, they are +three in number, and the extreme circumference may be twenty +miles—somewhat larger than Thebes of the hundred gates.[36] The +metropolis itself, measured by perambulator, was found to be four miles +by two. Though Abeokuta is wholly on the left, they extend over the +right bank of the Ogun River, and there take in a tract of cleared and +level ground. To any but an ‘old African’—and such the familiar aspect +of everything around makes me already hold myself—it is a marvel that +man should be stopped by such an obstacle. I can only explain it upon +the principle which, a score of years ago, rendered a regiment of +cavalry impotent to face a drain four feet broad. The wall is hardened +mud, good material, but only five to six feet high, without embrasure, +and only here and there pierced with a round aperture by way of +loophole. In some places it is ‘weather-boarded’ with palm-leaves, whose +smoke would soon clear away the defenders. A hundred-pound bag of powder +hung to a peg and provided with a slow match would blow a hole in it big +enough for a Cape waggon to pass through. It is approached by an equally +efficient moat, a ditch perhaps five feet broad, wet with sundry rain +puddles, half choked with bushes, and requiring a dozen fascines or dead +bodies to make the passage perfectly comfortable. The larger entrances, +exclusive of those leading to farms, are five in number; three to the +north, viz., those of Abáka, Ibadan, Oshyelle; and two southerly, viz., +the gates of Aro and Agbameya. Each is provided—for the benefit of +warders, who take toll by day and who close the entrances and keep watch +at night—with a hollow bastion, in no way differing from an old matted +house, and here and there a rusty veteran of a carronade lies in the +shade of its own shed. The town inside would burn like tinder. On a +windy night five hundred men, taking the proper direction, and firing it +skilfully, might do any amount of damage, and thoroughly demoralize its +defenders. Against the attacks of Africans, with their instinctive +horror of walls, it is safe; and the granite eminences, holes, caves, +and forest clumps of the interior would render it more dangerous to +assault in form, if defended by resolute men, than any barricade upon +the Boulevard. It is doubtless the latter consideration that +concentrated the Egbas round the Rock Olumo. Africans universally avoid, +as the Tibetans seek, these vast masses of mineral, which, attracting +the sun’s heat, and radiating it throughout the night, render their +vicinity in torrid lands sultry and unwholesome. + +Beyond the Agbameya gate lay another long tract of uncleared ground, +with rises and falls, separated by dwarf ravines and, in some places, by +flowing streams. My companions had ridden on out of respect for the sun; +my jaded beast could fight, but not canter, so I left the bridle loose, +and it led me through elaborately crooked and intricate streets to its +own manger. On the road were several market-places, large and small. +These people, like the Mexicans, make their markets and fairs take the +place of shops, and there is a great gathering on every fifth day, which +ends the Egba week. The most remarkable is Shekpon, ‘Do-the-bachelors- +good;’ so called from the facility with which Cœlebs can eat, drink, and +smoke without wife or servant. Methinks in these days, when we are so +‘hard up’ for nomenclature that the ‘Army and Navy’ must be turned into +the ‘Navy and Army,’ I may venture to propose ‘Do-the-bachelors-good’ as +a very neat name for the next new club. Beyond this place the path +assumed the aspect of civilization; it was smooth, broad enough for +small-wheeled carriages, and was drained on both sides by a ditch—easy +here to recognize the European hand! On a wall of granite—the south- +western slope of the Ake Hill—I saw what I had read of, the minutest of +local lions in a land where ‘pot-holes’ are by no means rare. These are +two ‘eyes,’ contiguous hollows in the rock, about one foot in diameter, +showing by their white gutters, like tear-streaks, that water issues +from them. It never flows, however, save during and after the rains, and +is probably collected in a fissure behind them. + +Presently a most unmistakable church, the true English barn, pierced +with tall windows and abutted by a steeple, which of course had a +clock—a nearer approach showing the belfry to be of lumber and the +church and steeple to be mud, roofed with thatch—provided with a +schoolroom like the church, but without the steeple, and a bit of +‘green,’ scattered over with not unfamiliar trees, formed the startling +termination to the ride. Entering _solus_ the aspiring ‘compound’ of the +Church Missionary Society, I found our consort the doctor, and he +introduced me to the inmates, Dr. and Mrs. Harrison, who were occupying +the house lately built and tenanted by the Rev. Mr. Townsend. A kind +invitation was extended to myself. Commander Bedingfield found quarters +in the neighbouring village of Eruwan, under the roof of Mr. Robert +Wike, general merchant, of the firm of Southam, Wike, and Co., +Manchester. We were thus all near one another, and, of more consequence +still, considering the immense importance of our undertaking—I say ‘our’ +as the historical bellows-blower used ‘we’ in addressing his organist—we +were all in the vicinity of the king who resents the conduct of those +that take up their abode beyond the shadow of his wing. + +After dinner, at the exile’s hour of 3 P.M., we set out, accompanied by +Dr. Harrison, to stroll about, to collect fresh impressions, and to +enjoy new sensations. Around us was the town or township of Ake, so +called after the old and now destroyed capital of Egba-land. It is the +head-quarter village of the collection now forming the metropolis, and +it gives the title to the king—Al (from _li_, to have) Ake, pronounced +by Europeans Alake, meaning lord of Ake: we were therefore justified in +assuming it to be typical of an Abeokutan village. + +Our first survey was of the mission compound, a large grassy oblong, +garnished with umbrella-trees (a species of ficus), cut by paths and +surrounded by an ample-gated mud wall, backing the various tenements and +outhouses. The position is nearly due north of the Ake Hill, or Rock, +and the site is somewhat higher than that of the other settlements. The +houses are mostly lumber, with tall flying roofs of thatch, and +remarkably badly built for health. Instead of being raised on piles or +pillars, so as to admit a free draught of air beneath, they are placed +upon the damp ground—the subsoil is a tenacious clay, arresting the +rain, which oozes through the valleys without forming springs—and they +are wholly ignorant of an upper story. Even in Tuscany none but the +poorest ever consent to sleep upon the _pian terreno_—what then must be +the results in a land like this? Opposite Dr. Harrison’s, and in the +south-eastern corner, are the lodgings of the bachelor missionaries and +the catechists, under command of the Rev. Mr. Wood. Behind these lie a +dispensary and various offices. On the southern side is a shed intended +for stabling. Amongst other things it contains one of the two brass six- +pounders sent as a present to the Alake of Abeokuta by the home +Government; the other is in the house or palace of Somoye, the +Ibashorun.[37] This gun is covered with a matting: the metal is in good +order, but the carriages and wheels are so worm-eaten that they would +break down during the first march. The neglect of these useless weapons +has been made a subject of grievance against the Abeokutans; but what +can be expected? When Sayyid Said, miscalled the ‘Imam’ of Maskat, lost +his larger guns in an ill-fated attempt upon a coast tribe in Eastern +Africa, they were shortly afterwards returned, with the message that +their captors could not afford to keep weapons that ‘ate so much +powder.’ A few swivels, the old ‘bases,’ East Indian jezails and +zumbaraks, and, for guns of position, ‘falconets,’ or light four- +pounders, might have been a welcome present, but what can these people +do with brass six-pounders? They cannot even melt them down. + +Besides which, guns are, like knives and scissors, unlucky presents. +Almost invariably, throughout the length of India, wherever we have made +a gift of cannon to a native prince, we have been compelled to recover +it, _vi et armis_, from himself or from his successor. + +Beyond the stables lies the printing-office, whence issues, once a +fortnight, the local paper, partly English, partly Egba, and called ‘Iwe +Irohin,’ ‘The Book of News.’ The subscription is two shillings per +annum, and the editor is our host, Dr. Harrison, a man who, not +undistinguished at Cambridge, has brought himself down to writing +leaders ‘adapted to the meanest intellect.’ The superiority of a regular +coinage over the local cowrie; the propriety of supplanting the hoe with +the plough—such are the abstruse theses which now attract his facile +pen. The printer’s devils are black youths, some of them Abeokutans, +paid four dollars to five dollars per mensem. They handle their ‘long +primer’ with some dexterity, and there is a handy little press, paper +only being now wanted. + +On the east and north sides of the compound are the native employés of +the establishment,—Mr. Allen, one of the schoolmasters; Mr. Wilhelm, a +‘Christian visitor;’ and Miss Vincent, who has charge of all the little +converted misses. The most interesting part of the mission grounds is +the village of New Christians: it is called Wasimi, or Come-and-Rest, an +‘Alabama’ in Africa, and it clings to the eastern wall of the compound. +As might be expected from that mortal energy which the Anglo-Saxon has +so successfully distributed about the world, poor African Come-and-Rest +is approached by all the preparations for severe and protracted toil, +gins, saws, cotton-presses, and what not. ‘Come-and-Rest’ is in fact a +would-be workhouse. + +But again Anglo-Saxon impetus has failed in converting the haven of +refuge into a workshop, and the African _vis inertia_ has here also been +successful. I never saw more than four men at work amongst the gins, and +then half a dozen squatters were chatting with and staring at them, +whilst a woman or two sat by with baskets of popped maize and boiled +palm-kernels to recruit exhausted nature. In North America the gin-house +is the proper working place of ‘old hands or very young ones, of +breeding women, sucklers, and invalids;’—here it is of sturdy men. There +are seven presses, but seldom more than one at a time is in use; half an +hour is required to fill it by five men, plus a dozen who look at the +workmen, and who in due time take a spell. They average per diem, in the +seven presses, sixteen bales of 112-125 lbs. each, and they have never +exceeded eighteen. In a long shed hard by are two parallel lines of +circular gins, which, though known to tear the cotton fibre, were judged +better for Africa, as requiring less toil than the heavy and complicated +roller, or even the modified East Indian charkha. They cost in England +three pounds, here about four pounds ten shillings; and perhaps half of +the machinery lies upon the ground, all dirt, mud, and rust. Rusty it is +landed from the steamer, rustier it is sent up in a canoe to Abeokuta, +and there it lies upon the ground, rustiest, because the people will not +work. I could mention a respectable body of gentlemen which has spent +thousands of pounds sterling upon such vagaries, in the fond belief, +though perhaps not wholly so, that the words of every glib-tongued negro +are true, and that all those ingenious implements are whirring and +working at Abeokuta as they would whirr and work at Manchester. A small +steam-engine might, indeed, do better; but fuel is dear, and then who, +as the Kanuri say, would ‘make his skin cold’ with labour, when he can +sit in the shade? Again, there are many who, like Mr. Leighton Wilson, +decry introducing machinery into Africa, lest it should render the +African lazy or lazier. I submit to the reader whether this be not a +famous jump into the ‘pit called Absurdum.’ + +There was nothing to see at Wasimi, nor could I observe that the lanes +were cleaner, the houses better, or the people superior, except in the +number of their rags, to their pagan neighbours. Judging from the +variety of large mortars—the best are those made from the shea or +butter-tree—indigo dyeing seemed to be the principal industry. A little +beyond Wasimi lay the house of Mr. Robbins, an African from Sierra +Leone, trading here as agent for the Manchester Cotton Association. The +compound was approached, as the barbarian ever loves, by a tall and +imposing gate, distinguishing the house of a prince from that of a +pauper. The colours—red, blue, and yellow—were those of the Crystal +Palace; the green, crimson, and black were not. I rather admired the +hall, a long, low, massive _pièce_, whitewashed inside, with the +heaviest square beams for ceiling, and a central row of dumpy columns, +alternately flutings and facets, with beadings between, wholly ignorant +of base or capital, and painted black and dark green. Their object was +to support the short, ponderous rafters of the roof. Timber in these +lands is expensive, and can hardly be depended upon; besides, it can be +divided into two varieties,—the over-soft and the unduly hard. The +effect, however, has that resemblance to Egyptian which every effort of +art emerging from the savage seems to assume, perhaps because in these +lands it most closely resembles the aspect of outside nature, and thus +is forced into the human brain. At any rate it is immeasurably superior +to the Five Classical Orders done by the carpenter, in timber, at +Halifax and throughout Canada. + +We prolonged our walk northwards, through the aspiring township Eruwan, +and there we saw another small lion, ‘Orange Cottage, the beautiful +residence of the Messrs. Crowther,’ as the Pilgrim to his Grandmother’s +land is fain to call it. This edifice reminded me of third-rate training +stables in some ultra-cockney part of England—say tailoring Leamington, +and, as my companions were struck by the same thought, the comparison +may be accepted as correct. It is roofed with zinc or iron; the walls +are a composite of clay; the verandahs are supported by pillars of dry +mud. It is partly painted, and wholly hideous, its ugliness being +surpassed only by its pretentiousness. We entered, and read a somewhat +remarkable list of articles for sale or ‘swop,’ concluding with +penknives, gentlemen’s coats, jack-knives, mouth-harmoniums. The Rev. +Mr. Crowther, senior, a man of whom all classes speak well, is now +founding a new mission station at the mouth of the Nun, or Southern +Niger.[38] He was proposed for a bishopric in West Africa, and the +measure was dropped, I believe, only because the white shepherds showed +a settled determination to turn and rend a black pastor. But a man may +be highly respectable as a Churchman, without being fit for the +episcopate. His sons, however, have left Abeokuta, not wholly +_volentes_, but perhaps, on the whole, not quite for the country’s ill. + +These, then, are my first impressions of Abeokuta. The streets are as +narrow and irregular as those of Lagos, intersecting each other at every +possible angle; and when broad and shady, one may be sure that they have +been, or that they will be markets, which are found even under the eaves +of ‘the Palace.’ The sun, the vulture, and the pig are the only +scavengers. The houses are made of tamped mud—the sun-dried brick of +Futa and Nupe is here unknown—covered with tall, flying roofs of thatch, +which burn with exemplary speed. At each angle there is a kobbi—a high, +sharp gable—or elevation to throw off the heavy rain. The form of the +building is the gloomy hollow square, totally unlike the circular huts +of the Krumen and the Kafirs. It resembles the Utum of the Arabs, which, +extending to Usagara and Unyanyembe, in Central Intertropical Africa, +produced the ‘Tembe,’ and which, through the ‘Patio’ of Spain, found its +way into remote Galway. There are courts within courts for the various +subdivisions of the polygamous family, and here also sheep and goats are +staked down. The sexes eat alone; every wife is a ‘free dealer;’ +consequently there is little more unity than in a nunnery. In each patio +there is usually some central erection intended as a store-house. Into +these central courts the various doors, about four feet wide, open +through a verandah or piazza, where, chimneys being unknown, the fire is +built; and where the inmates sleep on mats spread under the piazza, or +in the rooms, as the fancy takes them. Cooking is also performed in the +open air, as the coarse earthen pots scattered over the surface prove. +The rooms, which number from ten to twenty in a house, are windowless, +and purposely dark, to keep out the sun’s glare; they vary from ten to +fifteen feet in length, and from seven to eight in breadth. The +furniture is simple: rude cots and settees, earthen pots and coarse +plates, grass bags for clothes and cowries, and almost invariably +weapons, especially an old musket, and its leather cases for ammunition. +The number of inhabitants may vary from ten to five hundred, and even +more in the largest. There is generally but one single large outer door, +with charms suspended over it: the reason for this paucity of entrances +will appear when the ceremonies of an ‘Oro Day’ are alluded to. Finally, +the tenements in Yoruba show by their absence of defence a safer state +of society than the similar erections in Central Africa. These have flat +roofs, well protected with clay against the firing of the assailant; +those would readily be burned. + +Wending our way homewards in the shades of evening, we stopped at a +house where we were refreshed with music proceeding from a something not +unlike the mouth-harmoniums above advertised; and that nothing might be +wanting to the enjoyment of a somewhat touchy tympanum, there was what +is politely termed ‘singing.’ My companions ‘chaffed’ me for my +undisguised preference of a tom-tom and a squeaking reed which were +sounding the requiem of some worthy hard by, and all explanations were +in vain. Will the reader be as inaccessible? The tom-tom and the +squeaking reed, unlike more pretentious instruments, recall no +reminiscences, provoke no comparisons; they are in keeping with all +around them; they are in the minor key; they offer no direct insult to +taste. Malibran and Mario, Liszt and Paganini, would hardly be enjoyable +in one of these Abeokutan cow-houses. What, then, must it be to hear +one’s own especial favourites, one’s mementos of past enjoyment, +hammered out into a sonata of a discordant, gingling, rattling, musical +bellows, alias seraphine, or burlesqued by the dilettante’s flute—that +type of gentle dulness which waxes cross when it lags behind the +accompaniments—or outraged with that _voce di gola_, that throaty +English voice, which the fog, the habit of speaking with shut lips, and +the practice of closing the larynx when producing gutturals, seem wholly +to disconnect with the ‘petto’? Besides which, there is melody in the +tom-tom, as every East Indian will tell you. ‘He who does not understand +the palm-bird’s note,’ says the Yoruban proverb, ‘complains of the noise +it makes.’ Mungo Park declares his belief that ‘the elephant’s tusk, +hollowed out like a bugle, comes nearer to the human voice than any +other artificial sound.’ And yet, so thoroughly artificial is taste in +music, I have seen a Highland regiment charmed with their bagpipes, and +yet loud in their abuse of the East Indian ‘nai.’ + +An equally edifying exercise was the perusal of an article in a paper +terming itself the ‘Manchester Examiner.’ The writer, by characterizing +the late Mr. Foote, one of the ablest of African _employés_, as ‘a fussy +and irritable official,’ frustrated his purpose of stating a certain +amount of truth[39] by what Locke calls a ‘compound ignorance’ of the +entire subject, which ignorance to those upon the spot was more amusing +than any travesty. On the way housewards we met a ‘big beggarman,’ with +bare head, European shirt and small-clothes, dirty and torn, and a +begging bowl in fist, like an Asiatic Fakir. This person is no other +than H.M. the Alake’s brother. He became a Christian, and—some say—a +semi-lunatic; others, who know something of his character, declare that +he purposely goes in tatters, hoping that his brother will not molest +him, and moreover will leave him a legacy. + +After which we retired to find comforts that best prove the humanizing +influence of the last-created sex, and we thought with the wise— + + + ‘Qu’on est heureux de trouver en voyage, + + Un bon souper, mais surtout un bon lit.’ + + +But, before the sound rest which we have a right to expect, we must +briefly analyze the small amount of ‘reading up’ which the last week has +required. + +The literature is not extensive. There are at present four small volumes +upon the subject of Abeokuta, which it will be well to remember was not +visited by Clapperton and Lander. Two of these were written by +authoresses, one by a white author, and the other by a ‘cullurd pussun.’ +_Place aux dames_—let us give precedence to the fair. + +Miss Barber, of Brighton, who has never been in Africa, published some +years ago a novelette bearing the striking title of ‘Oshielle,’ +purporting to describe country ways in Yoruba, even as Mr. St. John did +‘Village Life in Egypt.’ The little volume was apparently intended to +aid the ‘Coral Fund.’ This is a collection ‘made up, as its name +implies, of small donations.’ Coral is a favourite article of commerce +in these regions:—I plead guilty to having interpreted the title-page +literally, understanding it as a fund to purchase coral, as ladies will +buy blankets, for the poor benighted African, and probably others have +done the same. ‘Oshielle’ is written in a friendly, kindly, and amiable +spirit, overlaying the black with copious whitewash, and forming a sad +contrast with reality. ‘The beautiful earth is one vast flower-garden’—a +ranker bush is rarely seen. ‘The forsaking of aged parents, the murder +of infant children, and other such vices (?) of heathenism are unknown +amongst Africans.’ Oh, Miss Barber! These things in Africa are the rule, +not the exception. Even in your favourite Abeokuta a man is annually +sacrificed; and within the walls of Ikriku a victim is offered up to the +Ogun every six years. Ikeredu contributes an annual murder;[40] and how +many more are slain I would rather not say. The mildness and humanity of +the people are the theme of praise. Perhaps the worst part of the Egba’s +character is his horrible cruelty to inoffensive animals: he delights in +torturing them, and, unlike the higher races, such as the Mongol and +other pastorals, he lacks the qualifications for reclaiming them. He +will ruin a horse’s temper in a week, he gives pain for pleasure, and he +takes a bestial delight in rendering wretched the beings of which other +and nobler races make companions. In the work of a stranger one must +expect a variety of contradictions. Thus the first chapter opens with +‘Meroke,’ the heroine, ‘at home.’ In the two initial sentences there is +the usual contradiction to be expected from those who read and write +Africa by books and not by eyesight. ‘Even the wing of the crow, as he +flies past, casts a perceptible shadow on the sunny ground.’ And yet a +few lines afterwards we read, ‘There is no blue sky above; the +atmosphere is filled with a soft, shining, veil-like haze.’ But why +bruise these pretty butterflies? Is it their fault that they are so +brilliant and so ephemeral? + +Miss Tucker, after a study of Eastern missions, in which she had +peculiar advantages, put forth in 1853, without, however, previously +visiting West Africa, ‘Abbeokuta; or, Sunrise within the Tropics.’ It is +another neat little sketch—prettily stippled, _musqué, couleur de rose_, +touched with the grace of a lady’s hand, and no more like the original +than is Hyperion to a satyr. Pity it is that clever people, reviewers, +and others, write of places they never have seen: in that line there is +but one successful book—Elphinstone’s ‘Cabul;’ of failures there are a +thousand, from Dr. Lord downwards. Some art appears, however, in this +book. It opens, à la Alphabet James, with a scene in which two Christian +cavaliers—one, Sir Henry Leeke, R.N., t’other, the boy Ajai, _i.e._, +‘struggling for life,’ and amongst celestials known as the Rev. Mr. +Crowther—meet in the romantic shades of the Church Missionary House, +Salisbury Square, where, on Friday, the last day of October, 1851, the +anagnorisis leads most classically up to the peripateteia. But there are +necessarily errors in painting natural objects, such as the artist made +who, when sketching from a photograph, converted the Meccan pilgrim’s +‘_hamail_,’ his Koran, into an ignoble powder-flask. For instance, we +read that Olumo the Builder, a mass of gneissoid granite, is a +porphyritic rock. Again, that ‘at one spot the intervening space forms a +deep but low cavern, capable of giving shelter to a considerable number +of persons.’ There is no vestige of such cavern; the eaves of the +rock—if I may so call them—project like roofs; and the little pauper +colony now squatting there has supplied them with clay walls—an +architecture very common at Abeokuta. Mr. Bowen, an eye-witness, rightly +describes it as ‘the shelving sides of an immense rock.’ Again, ‘Ogboni’ +is _not_ ‘a civil governor of each town.’[41] The ‘lady Tinabu’ is _not_ +the ‘sister of Akitoye.’ The little volume, however, is popular at home: +in 1858 it had reached the sixth edition—which suggests a reflection. +Let me labour to draw these descriptions from the life, to paint black, +black, to produce the most careful of sketches. They will be rough, and +somewhat grotesque, because they are honest; they will disenchant, +because they lack fictitious feeling and unreal romance. Consequently, +will they ever see a reprint? I am sorry for, but do not envy, the +success of ‘Sunrise within the Tropics.’ + + + ‘Eternal summer gilds them yet, + + But all except their sun is set.’ + + +Such false views of living societies, however skilfully drawn by the +‘prettyfiers’ of Africa, cannot conduce to any good. + +I now proceed to my own sex, which may be treated with less of ceremony. +The Rev. Mr. Bowen, or more probably his Charleston publishers, entitles +his work ‘Central Africa.’ This custom has of late become far too +common. A gentleman who lived for a few months at the little Portuguese +island of Mozambique was compelled by the bookseller to call his two +octavos ‘Travels in Eastern Africa.’ Another, who sailed down the +Western Coast, and borrowed all his interior from volumes long ago +published, appears before the public with the grandiloquent title, ‘Six +Years of a Traveller’s Life in Western Africa.’ Mungo Park, who did +three times more than all three together, modestly chose ‘Travels in the +Interior Districts of Africa.’ Mr. Bowen’s ‘Central Africa’ describes a +run of one hundred and seventy miles or so into a country long since +explored by Clapperton, Lander, and a host of minor travellers. + +Mr. Bowen appears to have been another Dr. Krapf, who had high ideas of +missionarizing Africa: the latter gentleman proposed a chain of stations +stretching across the continent: the former more modestly contented +himself with a weak regiment of six hundred men, and, possibly, martyrs. +The expense was easily managed. Fifty cents per annum from each member +of the Society would produce three hundred thousand dollars, which is +enough. Landing on the coast in February, 1849, after a preliminary tour +through Liberia and among the inland Golas—the ‘Gullah niggers’ of the +Southern States—Mr. Bowen lost his coadjutor, Mr. Goodall, and sailed to +Badagry, which he reached on the 5th August, 1850. His first view was to +establish the ‘Central African Mission’ at Igboho, on the outskirts of +the great continent. With two intervals of return to America in 1853 and +1856, he remained in Africa from 1849 to 1856. During those seven years +he visited the Alake of Abeokuta, and—with difficulty, for the natives +sensibly believe that every town which the white spy enters shall +presently be destroyed[42]—he inspected Bi Olorun Kpello, Awaye, Oke- +Efo, Ilori, the Asehin, sovereign of Isehin, the Are of Ijaye, and the +Alaketu of Iketu. The first station was founded in October, 1853, at +Ijaye, one hundred and twenty miles from Lagos; another at Lagos, about +two years afterwards; and a third at Ogbomosho, one hundred and seventy +miles from Lagos. [N.B.—These are not my distances.] After leaving +Africa, Mr. Bowen’s travels in ‘Central Africa’ were printed in 1857 by +the Southern Baptist Publication Society of Charleston; and in May, +1858, his ‘Grammar and Dictionary of the Yoruban Language’[43] was +accepted, and afterwards printed and published by the Smithsonian +Contributions to Knowledge, Washington. + +This Central African traveller is quite a patriot, and withal, somewhat +truculent. He had been a Texas Ranger in his youth. He played, it is +said, a good ‘shyooting-iron’ in 1851 during the Dahoman attack upon +Abeokuta—the reverend gentleman was at first rather pleased with his own +militancy, but he afterwards regretted it. We can hardly, therefore, +wonder that his style and sentiments savour much of the arm of flesh. As +regards his characteristically New World vaunts, no harsher treatment is +required than to quote in 1863 what was written by him in 1857. For +instance, ‘America’ (_i.e._, the then United States) ‘is more powerful +in the control of mankind in general than any nation that ever has +existed, or ever can exist, while the seas, continents, deserts, +mountains, and rivers of the globe retain their present form’!! We read +of America’s ‘victories in the name of the living God;’ and we are not +unprepared to be told that that nation is ‘the appointed arbiter of +earth.’ Poor Europe is of course nowhere. Despotism is doomed to perish +there; the king and queen, the lord and the landlord, the ‘coach and +six,’ the servant in livery, the ‘mediæval fogy in certain civilized +countries,’ shall equally become extinct, like the deinornis and the +dodo. England is of course the vilest of nations. An expedition to the +Niger—in which we always fail—would be very easy to Mr. Bowen’s +government. He predicted a sure ‘whipping’ to the Britishers when they +first attacked Lagos; and, prophet-like, he exulted in the correctness +of his prophecy, though he, as a white man, ran no little risk, and +though the Britishers were shedding their blood for such as he. There +are also ungenerous remarks touching English explorers—the elder and the +younger Park, Clapperton, and others, up to Messrs. Laird and Oldfield. +All the honour given to poor Richard Lander for his noble discovery of +the Nun, or Niger’s direct mouth, is that he ‘floated down the Niger +from Yauri to the sea, but forgot to observe whether there was any real +impediment to navigation by steamers’!!! + +These are silly, _ad captandum vulgus_, stock sentiments, without which +in those days an American’s book could hardly appear in America; and +thus they may admit of some palliation. But the reflections upon El +Islam penetrate us with the profound dogmatic ignorance of the author. +How well Mr. Bowen is fitted to teach or to convert the Moslem is +evident from one word.[44] He names a Fula Mussulman, Absalom—son of +David—instead of Abd-el-Salam, and tells us with wondrous puerility in a +foot-note that ‘such names as David, Mary, &c., are common amongst +Moslems.’ Had Mr. Bowen ever read his Sale’s Koran? It is evident to me +that any Alufa or Mullah at Ilori or Hausa could have astonished the +Texan with his knowledge of the Old Testament. + +The Rev. John Newton—the ‘old African blasphemer’ reformed—mentions a +significant phrase prevalent on the coast in his day. The white man, +after a certain length of residence, ‘grew black,’ not in complexion, +but in disposition, and becoming perfect dupe to charms, necromancies, +&c., put more trust in such things than the wiser sort of natives. Mr. +Bowen shows the first symptom of the disease, which consists in +attributing all European deaths by fever and dysentery to poison, and a +perfect confidence in slow poison. The same mental malady is found +amongst the old East Indians. I know a man who tells the tale of his +having been poisoned some twenty years ago. But when the Asiatic and the +African are determined to do the trick, they so administer their drug +that there is ‘no mistake;’ and if they fail it is by an overdose, as an +ounce of arsenic instead of a few grains. At Iketu, Mr. Bowen, after +being warned of poison, received a bottle of milk from the king. His boy +Sam had seen a Fula man pull a leaf out of the bottle, a portion of the +contents of which were given to a dog. The animal shivered, returned +them, and recovered. Upon re-administration next day the same symptoms +recurred. Mr. Bowen then determined that if he had given the whole, not +the half, dose to the dog, death would have resulted; and he ‘drank no +more milk in Iketu.’ + +Mr. Robert Campbell, a coloured man, and a ‘professor,’ we are told by +his introducer, who does not say Professor of Philosophy or Political +Economy, or of what,[45] seems to have visited Yoruba on an errand of +‘_industrie_,’ in the French, not the English, sense. The introduction +informs us that the writer, ‘acting upon a commission, received from +bodies’ (fugitive negroes?) ‘in the United States and Canada, visited +the land of his forefathers’ (who were certainly English) ‘to +investigate its condition.’ He left Liverpool in June, 1859, touched at +the usual mail stations on the West African coast, landed at Lagos, and +went up to Abeokuta, where, under a new self-bestowed title, +‘Commissioner of the Niger Valley Exploring Party,’ he made with the +Alake and the chiefs a treaty, to which I shall presently revert. Having +extended his trip to Moslem Ilori, and the surrounding country, he +returned to Lagos on the 10th April, and concludes the little volume +which he wrote, or caused to be written, in this style: ‘We landed at +Liverpool on the 20th May, 1860, in good health, although we had been +to——Africa.’ ‘Pilgrimage to my Motherland’ contains one hundred pages, +respectfully dedicated to certain friends of Africa, Messrs. Christy, +Ashworth, and Ralston. It and its subject are ‘heartily recommended’ to +the public by the introducer, the late Sir Culling E. Eardley, Bart. + +In this hearty recommendation I can by no means concur, for reasons +which will be adduced at greater length in a future page. Suffice a few +words here. We are explicitly told, and more than once, that ground +amongst the Egbas is ‘deemed common property, any individual enjoying +the right of taking unoccupied land, as much as he can use, wherever and +whenever he pleases.’ This may be ignorance, and to a certain extent it +is warranted by the incuriousness of Mr. Bowen, who asserted long before +Mr. Campbell that ‘there is no property in land, or rather that land in +Yoruba is common property.’ The corollary is that any number of +Christian converts or colonies of Africo-Canadians can be permanently +settled in the Egba country. I distinctly assert that the reverse is the +fact, and that all such theories foisted on the public with a view to +emigration are likely to do mere injury. The country is by no means a +‘no-man’s land,’ and ignorance of this vital point would certainly lead +to those agrarian wars with which New Zealand has scandalized the +civilized world. There are two ideas incomprehensible to Europeans, but +part and parcel of the African mind. The first, which here requires only +enunciation, is that a slave-born man is a slave for ever. The second is +the non-alienation of land. Whatever be the tenure of property in +ground, it cannot permanently be given or sold. A chief will, for a +quit-rent, permit any stranger to cultivate unreclaimed commons, but the +bargain is purely personal. If the original tenant die, the heir or +successor is expected by another ‘dash’ to obtain renewal of the lease, +and his refusal would justify, in the African mind, his ejection. On the +other hand, if the chief attempt to raise his terms, the heir might +insist upon not paying a sum higher than the original quit-rent, and +amongst the more civilized tribes the voice of the people would be on +his side. No resident in West Africa will ignore that what I have stated +is the fact, and those who are unacquainted with the coast should beware +of the fallacies of Messrs. Bowen and Campbell. + +That the animosity of the coloured man should at times break out is not +to be wondered at. The negro must be pitted against the white, that is +part of the _métier_ of the Métis, who is honoured by his mother’s and +despised by his father’s side of the house. The Messieurs Crowther, we +are informed, though full-blooded blacks, are treated with the utmost +respect by all the Abeokutans—a curious comment upon this is the present +expulsion of the junior members of the family. There is a tale told of +the ‘Professor’ at Lagos, that on one occasion, when a European colony +in Yoruba was spoken of, he swore with fury that ‘no white man, if he +could help it, should ever plant foot in Western Africa.’ By the money, +then, of the white dupe, he would establish himself there, and, like the +Sierra Leonites of Abeokuta, he would deny and drive out his +benefactors. + +Of course the book abounds in such errors as the following:—‘Not +unfrequently I heard the term ‘agayen’ (meaning simply canoe-man) +reproachfully applied by the people of the interior towns to my +interpreter.’ The word is ‘Igáen,’ and it refers to the ‘Ga’-speaking +peoples of the Gold Coast,—‘canoe-men,’ as they are called in the +English of Lagos. They are far from being despised in Yoruba; but in +some places, as at Benin, every English-speaking black is supposed to be +a Gold Coast man, and this has not tended to raise the reputation of the +‘Igáen.’ These unintentional blunders are excusable; there are others I +have shown that are not so. + + +[Footnote 35: These lines were quoted by Mungo Park during his last walk +with Sir Walter Scott, who exhorted him to turn back because his foot +slipped.] + +[Footnote 36: From the Aro gate to Alabama, the longest diameter, the +distance is said to be six miles.] + +[Footnote 37: The word is thus written by Mr. Bowen; Mr. Crowther +prefers ‘Obashorun,’ and the vulgar generally use ‘Bashorun.’ It is +difficult to define the functions of this dignitary, who is at once +viceroy, premier, and commander-in-chief.] + +[Footnote 38: At the time the above was written I had not met Mr. +Crowther, sen. Since then a personal acquaintance with him has by no +means diminished the respect with which his widely spread reputation in +West Africa had prepared me to regard him.] + +[Footnote 39: I simply mean that the destruction of Porto Novo was an +unfortunate performance, justified only by the traditional policy of the +‘the coast.’] + +[Footnote 40: This year was an exception, the victim having impiously +levanted.] + +[Footnote 41: Mr. Bowen very properly writes the word Ogboni, but +strangers cannot detect the _g_.] + +[Footnote 42: We read of a white man, who, compelled to camp under a +tree outside the Awaye gate of Yoruba, was visited by hundreds, and +heard the women sing— + + + ‘Oibo gun sidi Akpe.’ + + ‘The white camped at the foot of the Akpe thorn.’ + + +Which is truly an echo of Mungo Park’s well-known episode.] + +[Footnote 43: The book, a thin folio, is favourably spoken of. +Unfortunately it does not enter into the scholarship of a very difficult +language, and thus only half teaches the learner. As might be expected +from the _ser studiorum_, there are grotesquenesses of style and +orthography. Why, for instance, should we read, in ‘Compound +Consonants,’ that _dż_ is sounded like the English _j_ in _jug_? Has the +English _j_ hurt Mr. Bowen’s feelings, that he thus unceremoniously cuts +it? and why trouble _ṡ_ with a diacritical dot when _sh_ does quite as +well?] + +[Footnote 44: P. 198.] + +[Footnote 45: I believe Mr. Campbell to have been a schoolmaster in +Canada: of course due deference to the dark face forbids the +philanthropist the use of the humbler title.] + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + PRESENTED AT COURT. + + +Much to do, and little time to spare. + +The morning after arrival at Understone saw me on foot at 5 A.M.; an +hour and a half, however, elapsed before the party was collected for a +stroll to Aro. I need hardly say that they did not expect + + + ‘The blooming pleasures that await without + + To bless the wildly devious morning walk.’ + + +Aro, the terminus of the Ogun’s navigable portion, is the nearest port +of Abeokuta, about five miles from the missionary compound at Ake and +one and a half from the Badagry gate. + +Starting in a south-westerly direction we struck into the European road, +and passed the two eyes in the granite rock before described. The ‘Do- +the-bachelors-good’ market led to another Church Missionary +establishment, directed by Mr. King, a native catechist, with its long +garner-like room used for pedagoguery and place of worship. To-day being +Saturn’s day, the bell rang ‘_Boys_ and girls _come_ to school! _boys_ +and girls _come_ to school!’ The fine ears of the African vulgar +attribute special words to every unusual or artificial sound. The horn +and the tom-tom, for instance, express to them a great complication of +ideas by onomatopoetic language; such as—rise to fight! sit down all! +take hold, take hold!—which would hardly be appreciable to the coarser +senses of the uneducated European. A long stretch down-hill led to the +establishment of Mr. Champness, a respected Wesleyan missionary, who +fortunately escaped the terrible Sierra Leone epidemic of 1858-59. + +‘The captain,’ alleging a suspicious blister on the heel, lagged behind +till he found a mount. The path was by no means bad; the gravelly soil +allowed the water to run off on each side, and high-wheeled American +‘trotting-wagons’ would safely pass over it. The exceeding impurity of +the place however at once struck us, and it was an impression which Time +strengthened. The surface was a wave of rising ground, broken into steep +ridges and deep hollows, through which streamlets flow—Yoruba is ‘a land +of waters’—and these again require bridges. Alongside of the road were +rare fields and frequent patches of tangled bush. The fetid tiglium or +croton-oil plant, and the wild senna, whose leaf is unfit for +exportation, the uncultivated indigo, the beautifully-blossomed mallows, +the datura and other medicinal plants were backed by the tall Oro +hedges, whose material is that cactus which the elephant loves, and +which, in this part of Africa, is mainly used as a mordant for arrow- +poison. + +The people had already left their sleeping mats, and were loitering +towards the little labours of the day. Mr. Campbell ‘asserts, and +appeals to every one who has visited this section of Africa to verify +his assertion, that there is not a more industrious people [than the +Egbas] upon the face of the earth!’ Making due allowance for the +Americanism that concludes the sentence—‘the face of the earth’ and ‘the +whole globe’ are perfectly familiar to every denizen of the once United +States—I must, however, so far differ as to declare that there is not +one white man in Abeokuta who will endorse this dictum. It is true that +all Egbas, from the lowest to the highest, must, like the Sultan of +Stamboul, practise some handicraft; that the boys are trained to work, +after their gentle fashion, and that the people, unlike their +neighbours, are, for Africa, tolerable farmers; but an English navvy, +fed on beef and beer, will, it is said, work out 2·5 Frenchmen; he would +certainly knock up a dozen Egbas. And how can it be otherwise in these +malarious, fever-stricken, enervating, effeminizing lands? Idleness is +not ‘the root of all evil,’ the bane of society in the tropics; it is +the condition imperatively imposed by a thermometer generally above 70° +(Fah.), where labour is a curse, and where work, if it shortens man’s +days, must also shorten his life. + +The people were tolerably well clothed, and, as usual at this hour, +every one was working at the chew-stick, a bit of guava, or of some +other soft wood. ‘Dressy men’ wore shogoto (African knicker-bockers), or +loose cotton drawers, fastened above the hip, and extending, like those +of the Madeiranese peasantry, to the knee. The body was covered with a +cloth gracefully thrown like a plaid over the shoulder, generally the +left, and a second ‘pagne’ was frequently wrapped, shawl-like, round the +waist. The poor dispense with the shogoto and the shoulder-cloth, +retaining nothing but the diggo, or loin-wrap. The women had three +cloths—one on the shoulders, and the other round the body below the +bosom, concealing the third, which is shorter and scantier. These +attires were mostly dyed with indigo, but of different tints, the sky- +blue being apparently the effect of wear. Those who cannot afford such +toilette wear scrimp wrappers, which develop forms not altogether +untempting. The men had caps of every colour, form, and material; +travellers and the ogboni, or elders, who are forbidden to use ‘filá,’ +wore large hats of woven palm-leaf, like the Moors, the Mandengas, and +the people of Zanzibar, who, more sensible than Europeans, carry their +umbrella, not in hand, but upon head. + +The women, who can rarely grow side ringlets to any length, confined +their hair with a fillet of indigo-dyed cloth, and those who were in +mourning walked about with naked scalps. All went barefoot, except those +who rode. The flasher sort, however, had their feet, like their hands +and arms, adorned with red or camwood,—the henna of this part of Africa. +Some few male exceptions were dressed in Frankish costume, and formed a +hideously respectable contrast to their semi-nude neighbours. The best +looking were decidedly the Moslems, here called ‘Imale,’ probably a +corruption of ‘Muallim.’ They were conspicuous for their decent +dress—turbans, or Hausa head-dresses, gay calico calottes, like the +kantop or ear-cap of India, with the large loose tobe, or shirt, called +Ewu, ‘the Guinea-fowl,’ from the handsome embroidery in spots, which +often renders the article worth five pounds; and shalwars, or trousers, +ample, but gathered in at the ankle. Some Moslems wore long side-locks, +the ‘corners of the beard,’ as the Scripture has it, and which are still +affected by the Jews of Bagdad. They carried large double-edged swords, +which, however, can hardly be drawn; and repining at their subject +position, they are said to dislike white men. None, however, refused to +return the Moslem salutation; and I heard one exclaim to the other, +‘Báriki!’ ‘May it be fortunate to you!’ a phrase usually addressed to +one who sneezes. This is a custom still prevalent throughout Asia, and +not wholly obsolete in Europe, where a ‘_Dieu vous bénisse!_’ is +required by an infirmity threatening, they believe, aneurism, hernia, +hemorrhage, and similar amenities. I remarked that many of the pagans +bore about in their hands bright iron chains, which are religious +implements here, as at Benin. Almost every man had his oggo (oggau) +club, or shillelagh. It is the knobkerry of the Kafirs, the Somal, and +the Fijian Islanders, and it extends throughout the African interior. +Here it is modified to a hockey-stick, about eighteen inches long, with +a twist of strong iron wire round the neck, and nails along the line of +percussion; sometimes it is distinguished by thongs of horny hide, brass +or copper tacks, and other barbaric decorations. + +There was a vast variety of tattoos and ornamentation, rendering them a +serious difficulty to strangers. The skin patterns were of every +variety, from the diminutive prick to the great gash and the large boil- +like lumps. They affected various figures—tortoises, alligators, and the +favourite lizard, stars, concentric circles, lozenges, right lines, +welts, gouts of gore, marble or button-like knots of flesh, and elevated +scars, resembling scalds, which are opened for the introduction of +fetish medicines, and to expel evil influences. In this country every +tribe, sub-tribe, and even family, has its blazon,[46] whose infinite +diversifications may be compared with the lines and ordinaries of +European heraldry—a volume would not suffice to explain all the marks in +detail. The chief are as follows:—The distinguishing mark of the Egbas +is a gridron of three cuts, or a multiplication of three upon each +cheek. Free-born women have one, two, or three raised lines, thread-like +scars from the wrist up the back of the arm, and down the dorsal +regions, like long necklaces. They call this ‘entice my husband.’ The +Yorubas draw perpendicular marks from the temples to the level of the +chin, with slight lateral incisions, hardly perceptible, because allowed +soon to heal. The Efons of Kakanda wear a blue patch, sometimes highly +developed, from the cheek-bones to the ear. The Takpas of Nupe make one +long cut from the upper whorl of the nostril, sweeping towards the ear. +At Ijesha, a country lying east of Yoruba Proper, the tattoo is a long +parallelogram of seven perpendicular and five transverse lines. Those +called Brechi[47] wear a flap of skin taken from the forehead, and +overlapping eyebrows, nose, and eyecorners. This style of scalping kills +many, but the survivors are greatly respected. I observed a thing novel +to me; the areola in the women was not unfrequently tattooed a dull dark +blue, the colouring matter being native antimony, found in Yoruba and on +the Niger, and levigated with pepper and natron upon a stone. The +_bijouterie_ was coral, in necklaces and wristlets, heavy bangles, and +anklets of copper, iron, tin, or brass, and various rings upon the +thumb, the middle finger, and the toes. Most people carry beads of +various sizes and colours, denoting their peculiar worship. Necklaces of +large, many-coloured beads, with three bigger than the rest, show the +devotees of Yemaya, goddess of brooks and streams. Pure white beads are +worn by those who adore Obatala; black and white, alternating with red, +by the worshippers of Shango—Vulcan, or Jupiter Tonans. Small white +Indian cowries are the ornaments of idols, and as such are worn by their +servants, especially by those who adore the god Burukú[48] and the +goddess Amanlu, who, like the Hindu Shiva and Bhawani, slay without +weapons. The worshippers of Ifa, called ‘palm-nut priests,’ wear +wristlets of palm-nuts strung on fibre. Brass bracelets, and all +ornaments of the same colour, are symptoms of adoring the female river +god Oshun. Snake worshippers, and, according to others, those who pray +to the Ogun River, have an iron ring round the left wrist. Those who +bear upon their foreheads a painted mark like the Hindoo Tilak (or the +ashes which Roman Catholics daub on on Ash Wednesday) are the votaries +of the aristocratic and expensive god Orishako. + +The physical conformation of the Egbas is not very promising in an +intellectual point. The cranium is small[49]—as a European can find by +putting on a native cap—wedge-formed, with compressed brow, almost +always prognathous, hardly ever pyramidal or oval. There are some who +hold prognathism—a peculiarity observable in almost all negro and +negroid tribes—to be exaggerated by lactation unduly prolonged at an +epoch when the bones are still plastic. But such suckling is still the +custom in Southern Italy, without the hideous African development. The +external auditory process projects in a ring of bone round the canal, +seeming to bury or overlap the foramen more than in Europeans,[50] +whilst the protrusion of the lower face and the receding of the chin +give, when carried to excess, a truly bestial appearance. The skeleton +is usually well put together in the upper part; in the lower, the hips +are too narrow for beauty; the shin, probably from sitting at squat in +youth, is convex, and the heel projects behind—a negro should therefore +wear sandals, never patent leathers. The nose is sometimes hooked, but +the nostrils are expanded and elevated at the alæ; in the plainer sort +it is broad and squatting upon both cheeks, with an absence of rigidity +and of dividing apex in the cartilage. The cheek-bones are high, and the +face is frequently lozenge-shaped. The blue eye, seen upon the Niger, is +unknown. Here the sclerotica is rarely clear, except in women and +children; usually it is bloodshot, from the relaxation of the minor +blood-vessels, or of a pale dirty yellow, as from over-activity of the +liver, or speckled with hazel spots. The iris is more frequently a dark +or a light brown, with a sea-green shade, than black; and the brows and +lashes are removed, like the beard and the axile pile. The lips are +large; the circum-oral region tumid; there is an ugly blue-black ridge +between the gums and the teeth; the former are frequently discoloured by +snuff, and the latter, though set off by the blackness around, are +neither whiter nor finer than those of Europeans generally.[51] The hair +is short, scant, crisply-curled, often growing from the scalp like +peppercorns, and rather dull or reddish-brown than black. The heads of +the men are trimmed in landscape or parterre fashion—indescribable. The +prevailing style amongst the women is to plait it up into thin +longitudinal ridges, like those of a musk melon, and to tie the residue +in a small tight knot at the sinciput. The skin is generally rough, +sometimes like shagreen; and in the poor the epidermis of the hand is as +hard as the foot of the domestic fowl. It varies from a dark coffee +colour to a _café au lait_ light as a Mulatto’s; I especially remarked +this peculiarity in the chiefs and fetish men, whose hair also sometimes +verged upon a dirty sand colour. There is not, however, any red race, as +amongst the Fula. Albinism is sporadic and distinct, nor did I see at +Abeokuta that modification of the xanthous temperament afterwards +observed in the Brass River, and at Batanga. + +The Abeokutan, when taken at his best, is tall and well made, ‘black, +but comely.’ When not so, he is hideously chimpanzee-like. The male +figure here, as all the world over, is notably superior, as amongst the +lower mammals, to that of the female. The latter is a system of soft, +curved, and rounded lines, graceful, but meaningless and monotonous. The +former far excels it in variety of form and in nobility of make, in +strength of bone and in suppleness of muscle and sinew. In these lands, +where all figures are semi-nude, the exceeding difference between the +sexes strikes the eye at once. There will be a score of fine male +figures to one female, and there she is, as everywhere else, as inferior +as is the Venus de’ Medici to the Apollo Belvidere. In Africa also, +where the female figure lacks support, it is soon destroyed. The mammæ +in women are naturally large; after the first child they become pendent +and flaccid, and in old age they shrink to mere purses and lappets of +skin. It is a curious fact that these withered crones will sometimes +suckle children, and that the grandam is used as wet nurse.[52] In some +cases I remarked that, after the fashion of the true Amazons, one breast +was well developed, whilst the other hardly appeared—probably for want +of use. + +Life in the open air, light clothing, and an abundance of dirty soap, +compounded of palm-kernel oil boiled with ashes, prevent amongst the +Egbas an over-development of the true African effluvium; yet it is +there. The negro’s skin—or rather the bulbs situated in the cellular web +under the cutis—is a more active organ of depuration than the +European’s, importantly aiding the respiratory and other processes in +eliminating effete matter from the blood. Dr. Stark proved that the +white colour imbibes odours in the lowest, the black in the highest +degree. The disorder—for such at times it is—is increased by frequent +anointings, foul food, and visceral disorders; and when to these is +added want of cleanliness—the oily particles of the perspiration, so +difficult to remove, remaining upon the skin, whilst the watery +disappear[53]—the effect becomes truly intolerable. Even amongst +Europeans in the tropics, the transpiratory secretion often becomes +acrid; and as the old Dutch traveller quaintly remarks, they can never +expect health until their ‘bodies open’—in other words, till their pores +act freely. + +As we advanced we were plentifully greeted—more, however, by the women +than the men, and most by the children—with the common word Akabo, +_i.e._, Aku abo, used to a person returning from a journey. The answer +is simply an indefinitely prolonged _o_, which serves on all and every +occasion; if not returned it is a slight. Equals say to one another +Aku,[54] meaning, properly, may you not die, thus showing the real +African dread of death. The life-loving southern European would say, +‘Viva mille anni!’ All these people, from Benin to Dahome, when heard +thus saluting at Sierra Leone, were called Akoos, with as much +correctness as if Englishmen were termed God-bless-yous.[55] More modern +writers have named them Hios,[56] or Eyeos, from Oyo (Auyan), the great +capital of the Yoruban nation, about 2° (N. lat. 9°) N.N.E. of +Abeokuta.[57] The best conventional name of the language, however, +despite Mr. Koelle, is Yoruba; of the country’s P.N. more anon. + +All national salutations are tolerably ridiculous; the Englishman cannot +laugh at the African except for his unreasonable ceremoniousness. As the +old joke has it, ‘How do you do?’ can only be answered grammatically by +‘Do what?’ ‘How do you find yourself?’ by ‘I never lost myself!’ ‘How do +you feel?’ by ‘With my hands!’ The Egbas, who are gifted with uncommon +loquacity and spare time, have invented a variety of salutations and +counter-salutations applicable to every possible occasion. For instance, +Oji re, did you wake well? Akwaro, good morning! Akuasan, good day! +Akwale, good evening! Akware, to one tired. Akushe, to one at work. +Akurin (from _rin_, to walk), to a traveller. Akule, to one in the +house. Akwatijo, after a long absence. Akwalejo, to a stranger. Akurajo, +to one in distress. Akujiko, to one sitting. Akudaro, to one standing. +Akuta, to one selling. Wolebe (be careful!) to one met, and so forth. +The servile _shashtanga_ or prostration of the Hindus is also a +universal custom. It is performed in different ways; the most general +is, after depositing the burden, and clapping hands once, twice, or +thrice, to go on all-fours, touch the ground with the belly and breast, +the forehead and both sides of the face successively; kiss the earth, +half rise up, then pass the left over the right fore-arm, and _vice +versâ_, and finally, after again saluting mother Hertha, to stand erect. +The inferior prostrates to the superior, the son to the mother, the +younger to the elder brother, and I have been obliged to correct a +Moslem boy of the evil practice of assuming a position in which man +should address none but his Maker. The performance usually takes place +once a day on first meeting, but meetings are so numerous that at least +one hour out of the twenty-four must thus be spent by a man about town. +Equals kneel, or rather squat, before one another, and snap the fingers +in the peculiarly West African way, which seems to differ in every +tribe. + +As we advanced we saw unmistakable signs of idolatry. To many trees bits +of pottery, snail shells—Achatinæ six inches long—were attached: a fence +here consists of a few light sticks tied together with strings, from +which these harmless articles were suspended. In places were pointed out +to us a stalk of Indian corn with a yam or a gourd on the top. The idea +is that, whoever touches these things, the disease or the misfortune of +the placer will be transferred to him. There is the same superstition in +Hindostan, and terrible tales of thus inoculating complaints are current +amongst Europeans.[58] There were broken pots full of fragments of +crystallized quartz and iron conglomerate, which last is said to be a +holy stone. A traveller piling a handful of sand upon his luggage leaves +it under the protection of a medicine, or magic, which Mungo Park calls +‘kwong.’ A hatchet is placed in houses that have been lightning struck, +and water is worshipped in small earthen pots, over which the women +kneel and smite the palm of the hand with the fingers. We are reminded +of Apuleius, who describes the traveller being delayed by ‘an altar +garlanded with flowers, or a cavern overshadowed with leaves, or an oak +laden with horns, or a beech-tree crowned with hides, or a hillock +consecrated by a hedge, or the trunk of a tree chipped out by the +hatchet, or a turf moistened with libations, or a stone drenched with +unguent.’ Strangers connect these mysteries with Oro. The truth is, few +know anything beyond the fact that they are superstitious +observances—many of them, doubtless, quite as efficacious as the +horseshoe or mistletoe in England, or the Pishog, which transferred +cream and butter from one churn to another, in Ireland, where, as in +Abyssinia, old women were burned for becoming grey cats. + +We found no difficulty in fording two of the waters on the line of road; +the third, however, was more formidable. Mr. Consul Foote fell there, +his horse having placed its hoof in a deep hole, whence earth had been +taken for building purposes; and he then laid in the germs of the +disease which carried him off in the prime of life. Several old women, +in purest Guinea costume, were washing their clothes and persons, and, +not wishing to wet our feet, we attempted by ‘sweet mouth’ to secure a +mount. The reply was characteristically African, viz., ‘What will you +give me?’ Having neither cowries nor tobacco, we waited till a man came +up, and he was more obliging than the veterans of the other sex. + +Nearing the walls we saw a house in the process of preparation for Mr. +Savage, a native merchant. Numbers of labourers were at work, for +Africans, like Asiatics, are great at division of labour, which, indeed, +they often so divide that the remainder is imperceptible. Some hoed a +deep hole,—here as at Benin and in Sokoto, where they are scattered over +the town, a standing nuisance,—which afterwards remains to be filled +with rain and drainage, filth, offal, and sometimes with the corpse of a +child or a slave. The effect of these pits upon the climate may easily +be imagined. Another gang was working the clay, and converting it into +the swish or dab required for the walls; whilst a third party was +engaged in preparing grass thatch and palm leaves for the roof. When the +actual building begins there will be one gang to carry clay balls to the +scene of action, a second of labourers who fling the same balls into +wall shape and pat them down, a third, boys and girls, who hand other +balls from the ground or the scaffolding to the masons above, a trimmer +to plumb and set things square with his wooden shovel, and finally +thatchers to finish off. The shell is usually made in three horizontal +layers, which must dry for a day or two in the sun and wind before +receiving another addition; the builders, however, will await for the +last touch the month of December, when the hard, dry breath of the +harmattan will harden their work to the consistence of concrete. This +desert wind, which Captain Maury and his Ehrenberg bring from impossible +places, is enjoyed like the Neapolitan scirocco by new comers, and is +much feared by natives and old stagers. It is, therefore, supposed to be +a giant, an African Æolus, who sits upon a mountain far in the interior, +blowing dust and cold—the elements of discomfort—over the world. + +Presently we arrived at the Aro, or the Badagry or the south-western +gate. It is not unlike that of Agbameya, but, for valid reasons, it is, +or rather it was, on a somewhat more extensive scale. Long quiet—lately +broken—has, however, demoralized the people; ten years ago it was the +same in Great Britain. The wall is hardly eight inches thick, there is +no weather-thatch, the guard-house is almost in ruins, and the moat is a +mere ditch. Victory has made the Egbas too secure. + +But a truce to criticism. We are now upon classic ground, the local +Marathon. Here was fought, on the 3rd of March, 1851, the great battle +between the Dahomans and the Abeokutans. The quarrel was of old +standing. Gezo, King of Idáhame, as the land of the Lord of Amazons is +here called, had been defeated at Ado—a town nearly half-way between +Badagry and Abeokuta—by the Ibashorun, or commander-in-chief, of +Abeokuta; and he had lost, besides the town, his stool, which in these +regions means the throne. The Dahomans, holding themselves to be a +military as well as a warlike nation—we have lately been lectured upon +the distinction, which is no difference—and burning for revenge, +determined to destroy Abeokuta, for which purpose they advanced with the +full force of the empire. + +Their plans were ill laid, and their boasted secrecy appears to have +been a lamentable failure. Arrived at Ishagga, a small Egbado town +fifteen to seventeen miles south-west of their destination, they were +duped by special treaties, oaths, and sacrifices, and were persuaded to +attack, not the north-western gate, which was the weakest, but the +south-western, which had already been fortified. Their plans of a night +surprise were also overruled by their treacherous allies, who persuaded +them that midday would find the defenders either sleeping or working at +their farms; and finally, the Ishaggans pointed out a ford which wetted +all the cartridges of their friends. + +Baddahun or Glele,[59] son of the late King Gezo of Baddahun Dahome, +revenged this treachery, as he was expected to do. After patiently +waiting ten years with annual threats against Abeokuta, which threw the +people off their guard, he suddenly, in the spring of 1862, fell upon +Ishagga with a force not exceeding 6000 men—the town numbered about 3000 +souls—massacred all he could not carry away, and departed, laden with +prisoners, amongst whom were seventeen or eighteen Christian converts, +and a Mr. Doherty of Sierra Leone, one of the Scripture readers of the +Church Missionary Society. + +The Rev. Mr. Bowen, missionary and quondam Texas ranger, who used, they +say, a good rifle in the fight, thus describes the Dahoman attack of +1851 upon Abeokuta:—About noon, in the bright month of March, the Egbas, +some 15,000 strong—these numbers must be taken _cum grano_—marched out +of the Aro gate to meet the enemy. They then divided into three parties: +the first proceeded to the ford on the Badagry road, the second, under +Ogubonna, the bravest of the Baloguns, now deceased, crossed the river +near the wall, and the third remained not far from the Aro gate. +Meanwhile the Dahomans moved across the prairie with colours flying, in +heavy columns, numbering 10,000 men[60] and 6000 women. They also formed +two divisions, one of which fell upon the Abeokutan force guarding the +ford, whilst the other, under Gezo,[61] their king, charged furiously +upon Ogubonna, and drove him back upon the rocks and rapids of the Ogun +River. Mr. Bowen sent the 3rd brigade to his support, when he rallied, +and even made head against the enemy. The Abeokutans at the ford were +also flung back by the Dahomans; they flocked, however, into the gate, +and effectually checked the enemy, who, in this attack, were mainly +‘Amazons.’[62] There had been some dispute between the male and female +soldiery, and both laboured under considerable dissatisfaction: the +latter had claimed the right to storm, which the former obtained, and +were left to lose the day by their sulking rivalesses. + +Then the women, fearing the taunts of the men, pressed hotly forwards, +and many were killed close to the gateway. Here, and here only, there +was something like a stand-up hand-to-hand fight, muskets being clubbed +for want of bayonets; the rest was all skirmishing. After six hours +ensued a purely African scene. King Gezo’s division rested upon the +battlefield half-way between the Aro gate and the river, and Ogubonna’s +did the same. A resolute advance along the whole line, and a single +charge by the one would have settled the fate of the other army—both +preferred, however, to sleep upon the field. During the night King +Gezo’s division moved off, followed by the other Dahoman troops, +carrying their wounded in orderly retreat. The Egbas, enraged by being +attacked by women, pursued them hotly with discharges of musketry, +galling their rear. At Ishagga the Dahomans faced about, fought for a +while, and fled—the treacherous Ishaggans doing their best to destroy +them. + +Mr. Bowen estimates the Dahoman loss at 1200, others exaggerate it to +3000 killed and 1000 prisoners. Mr. Crowther, senior, counted 75 women +and 5 men lying within a few yards between the river and the wall. As +might be expected, the women suffered most; the flower of the army was +believed to have perished. The Egbas’ loss was comparatively trifling. +The effect of the ‘Battle of Aro’ was to place in possession of the +Egbas the Ogun River line and direct communication with Lagos and the +coast, the one thing needful to an African inland nation. The Dahomans +have ever since been burning with rage, and loudly threatening revenge. +Early in 1861 they collected another force—the number was set down at +22,000, which I would divide by three—and marched upon Abeokuta. On the +road, however, small-pox broke out—it is said to have killed 8000!—after +which the remnant found their way home. The Abeokutans, before Gezo’s +attack, dreaded their foe; and had, they say, resolved to burn their +houses and bury themselves in the ruins rather than be taken alive. At +present they despise him, and loudly boast of their power to ‘whip’ him. +Now, therefore, is their danger; and if demoralized by relying upon +English assistance rather than upon their own energies they may one day +come to grief. + +But Dahome, in its actual state, is to some extent a bugbear. The mighty +warlike empire of which Bosman dimly heard, and even the strong military +kingdom over which Gezo ruled, is now _en décadence_. Its very +institutions must cause its decline: it lets its own blood, and, though +the drops are few at a time, it cannot but suffer in the long run. The +troops are poorly armed with trade muskets, ignorant of bayonets, and +with short falchions of stuff like hoop-iron. The ‘Amazons’ boast +themselves invulnerable, but readily retreat: an equal number of British +charwomen, armed with the British broomstick, would—I lay, to speak +Yorkishly—clear them off in very few hours.[63] The male soldiery make, +like the French, a noisy, fiery onslaught, but, repulsed with vigour, +they do not readily return to the charge. Their wars are mere slave +hunts; their object is to capture, not to kill, and surprises, not +attacks, form their favourite strategy. The terrible reports current +concerning Dahome and its ‘blood-stained despot’ may be traced to +certain Europeans and Brazilians, whose interest it is to deter slave- +emancipators from investigation. They have lately rumoured that the King +of Dahome is resolved to capture an English officer to hold his stirrup. +We hear occasionally of a white man being sent to Agbome, ‘rolled up +like a cigar,’ and a certain M. Medeiros was, it is said, compelled, for +punishment of his recusancy, to walk the way barefoot.[64] But these are +slavers, who are thoroughly despised by the king, and who, he knows, +must eat any dirt to please him. It is, however, a fact that neither +Baddahun nor Gezo, his father, ever put to death a white man. We have no +good modern account of this interesting despotism. Commander Forbes is +said to have copied from previous publications. There is no doubt that a +man well conversant with Africa, and known to have friendly +intentions—Mr. M‘Coskry of Lagos, for instance—would find no difficulty +in visiting and in returning safe from Dahome. I would gladly accompany +him.[65] + +At the several gates of Abeokuta octroi or customs are raised. The two +articles most taxed are cowries and corn—the latter taken in kind. Other +sources of revenue are police dues, trade taxes on imports and exports, +_corvée_ or forced labour—the _begar_ of India—and, on emergency, an +impost equivalent to five shillings on each household. It is by no means +easy to ascertain the amount of Asiatic or African revenue; the +missionaries, however, set down that of Abeokuta at one per cent. These +decidedly moderate proceeds belong not to the Alake, or king, but to the +chiefs; a system which the local paper, the ‘Iwe Irohin,’ thinks—with +scanty popular good-will in consequence—should be altered. The change +would possibly strengthen the hands of the monarch, who certainly +requires support; on the other hand, it would lengthen interregnums, +which are already long enough. The late Mr. Consul Foote strongly +advised the Abeokutans to place an impost upon imports, but to send out +exports free of tax. They did not agree—nor can we wonder, as Lagos has +since followed their example—on the same principle as England prefers +the unjust income-tax to the just property-tax or capital-tax. For in +Abeokuta, as in England, the law-giver would lose by doing justice to +the law-receiver. + +Beyond the Aro gate superstition again shows itself. The adit and the +exit are by two parallel but separate paths. At Agbome one thoroughfare +would be for royal, the other for public convenience; here, however, one +is used each month, and if an accident happens it is charged to the +wrong path, much as in England the day’s good or bad temper depends upon +putting the right or the left foot first out of bed. The grass waved +tall and lush over the Dahoman clay; the expanse was broken by sundry +graves, some thatched over like dwarf or ‘fause houses,’ others had a +rude cross, to which articles of clothing were suspended, and an +elephant’s jawbone—the buried man’s idol—hung over the huntsman, who, +like the fisherman, must be buried outside the walls. These two crafts +form separate guilds, which almost become castes, worship the god Ogun, +and meet in separate Ogboni lodges. + +About a mile and a half along the Badagry road—a mere pathway worn by +market-people in the bush—placed us at Aro. It is the port and landing- +place of Abeokuta in the rainy season; during the dry season, from the +end of November to the middle of March, Agbameya is preferred. The +outlying village already shows signs of civilization in a ferry, palm- +oil puncheons, and cask-houses. Messrs. M‘Coskry and Wike, and M. +Bergmeyer and Scala, with Robbins, the agent, have depôts there, and +they will probably be followed by others. A little above Aro we see the +ridge of slabs and boulders which, stretching with breaks across the +river, render its rapids un-navigable. The material of the obstruction +is a gneiss, banded with thin lines of snowy quartz, and substratified, +the strata being for the most part highly tilted up. Portages are +useless, for these rapids perpetually recur. The banks of the Ogun are +here perpendicular, and composed of stiff clay; in Egypt, as in Asia, +they would be sonorous with the sakiyah or Persian wheel; in this place +they are silent. + +After sitting for a few minutes in the house of a negro, who politely +offered us a dram of trade rum, which was as politely declined, we found +by the stinging sun that it was time to re-start, if we intended to +reach Ake at 9 A.M. On the way we passed a young person in great +distress. She had dropped her pot of black oil,[66] worth at least four +heads of cowries[67] equal to seven shillings—no small loss to the poor +devil—and she was expressing her grief in the long, loud song which I +remember in the Lake Regions of Central Africa. Tears rolled down her +sable cheeks, yet in the intervals of sobbing it would flow on, that +curious bawling cry which one unaccustomed would take to be the +expression of lively joy. It is long before the European ear +distinguishes between the sounds of mirth and the voice of woe +proceeding from Asiatic and African lips. Returning through ‘Do-the- +bachelors-good,’ we found the market warm, as the Hindostanis say. At a +distance we heard a murmur like that of a distant sea, and as we sighted +the open sheds that form the bazar it swelled to a roar. The market +opens from dawn till 9 P.M.; it is fullest, however, a little before +sunset, and the more industrious light lamps, instead of going home with +the darkness. The bazar is a great institution in Yoruba, and, indeed, +throughout the Nigerian Valley. It is also a civilizing agent, and by +giving occupation to the women—it is disreputable for them to work on +the farms, but not to carry the produce for sale—it tends to repress +disorders. Porters are a hardly-used race in this region: men carry 40 +lbs. to 80 lbs. burden for weeks’ journeys, and the women may be seen +staggering, as if about to faint, under a bale of cotton 112 lbs. in +weight. Men were tramping off towards the seat of war, sixty miles +distant, laden with all manner of provisions, which they bore upon the +head, not, like East Africans, upon the shoulder. The burden is fastened +to a neat wicker-work cradle, flat, and garnished with side handles. I +would suggest to bumpkins, who take hours in driving a recusant pig to +market, the advisability of lashing it to a plank—should no better +conveyance be procurable—and of carrying it upon the head. We are once +more in the land of caravans: they number hundreds or thousands, each +man carrying his sleeping-mat, cotton-sheet, or wrapper, provision bag, +and earthen pipkin, to warm the ‘kitchen’ for his maize or yam; and they +are old, expert travellers. They make when starting the _nakl safar_, as +the Arabs call the short, initiatory march, at Atade, on the Ibadan, and +Awoyade, on the Badagry road.[68] + +Under the long rows of umbrella-trees sat a multitude of black +women—selling appears to be their peculiar privilege—with scions of +every age, from the big-eyed babe hardly a week old to the bold bare +bairn aged ten. Cowries were placed near the goods, and, as in the +Egyptian coffee-house, the buyer’s honour is trusted. The principal +articles were provisions for present consumption, hardware, dry goods, +earthenware, and ‘notions.’ Of the former, we found ready-made soups, +obbe or palaver sauce—so called because eaten in council—which, by the +mixture of mulookhiyah (_Corchorus olitorius_), reminds us of Egypt;[69] +ekko or mush; huge snail shells, here relished as much as in Sierra +Leone; kankie or maize cakes, and fufu balls of levigated corn or boiled +yam; grated cassava or ‘wood flour,’ as it is generally called—a +favourite, because on journeys this farina can be mixed up with cold +water and eaten without cooking—balls of beans ground on a stone, mixed +with spices, and placed to fry in purified black oil; dried rats; pots +of black and yellow palm oil, here far cleaner than in the Oil Rivers; +shea or tree butter, which will become one of the most considerable of +Africa’s many products;[70] sesamum oil; cereals of sorts, especially +Indian and Guinea corn; eggs, terapins, and dried fish from Lagos, +especially shrimps; Telfaria seeds;[71] pink kola nuts, displayed on a +white napkin, neatly covering a basket; ground-nuts of pindar, the +_pistache_ of old French travellers, and now called _arachide_; tobacco +of sorts, chiefly Brazilian; wet goods and drinkables, such as palm wine +and _pitto_, _oli_, or native beer, and well-diluted rum,[72] which is +sold by men; ‘bullock milk for true;’[73] fruits mostly relished by +Europeans—okpaimbo, ‘the white man’s palm,’ _i.e._, pine-apples, +bananas, papaws, oranges, known as the white ‘man’s mango,’[74] and +watermelons, which are exceedingly poor; condiments, pepper and bud +pepper, ginger and other spices; and various vegetables, sweet potatoes, +kokos, okros (_Hibiscus esculentus_), sugar-cane and onions, especially +the bulbless sort, called chives in England and violet onions in India. +The hardware was represented by bracelets of brass, iron,[75] tin, and +copper;[76] and ‘Europe goods,’ knives and cutlasses, scissors and pins, +needles, hoes and bill-hooks. The dry goods were raw silks, broadcloths, +and velvets, of which the green are preferred; country cloths of grass +and various fibres, some composed of pieces not broader than a riband, +and sewn together; calico, shirtings, and cottons of sorts; red, blue, +and white tapes; Hausa and other caps; ropes and lines; threads, +especially red; yarns and reels of cotton. The leather-work was +excellent; black and white, red and yellow, like that of Morocco; and +the people make good flasks and saddle-straps, saddles and embroidered +cushions. The earthenware was not remarkable; gourds and calabashes, +some of them neatly and prettily carved with the knife, serving for +crockery, earthen bowls, and china cups, plates, and dishes. There was a +vast variety of beads, sold singly or by the string, and native +imitations composed of broken palm-kernels and jasper. The ‘notions’ +were balls of dirty soap, snuff-boxes, gunpowder, and ammunition; chalk, +found on the Ijaye road; tobacco, roll and leaf; snuff; balls of indigo +and liquid dye; camwood pounded with water and moulded into lumps; horse +and cow dung, here used for plastering floors and walls; little cones of +native salt, nitre, or saltpetre; baskets of leaves, used as brown paper +for wrapping; provisions and firewood, brought by the women six to eight +miles from the bush; stationery of various sorts; brooms, baskets, raw +cotton, and cowries, in any number. Briefly, it was a heterogeneous +mass, whose combined aroma on a warm morning and an empty stomach, after +eight miles of sunny walk, was as startling to the olfactories as the +awful hubbub—chiefly feminine and infantine—of saluting and laughing, +squabbling and cursing, hailing, and howling, was to the auditory +nerves. Pure swearing is European, not Asiatic or African. They +anathematize, however, idiomatically enough, as—‘Oro (the devil) take +you!’ ‘Egugun (king of ghosts) chop you!’ ‘May you die in the bush!’ +_i.e._, remain unburied, whereas every man hopes to die in, or rather +on, his bed; ‘May small-pox kill you!’[77] reminding one of an English +exclamation now working itself out. And as usual amongst barbarians, the +mother and the female relatives are abused with an indecency which +beggars description. We lost no time in making the best of our way out +of the range of ‘Do-the-bachelors-good.’ + +On the day of our arrival, Mr. Williams, a most forward specimen of the +‘nigger,’—these people can be respectful until spoiled by Europeans, +after which they are insufferable—had been sent to announce to H.M. the +Alake, the great fact of Commander Bedingfield having arrived at +Abeokuta, and to request an audience _au plutôt possible_. The king was +pleased to reply that he would see us on the next day, Saturday, shortly +after 10 A.M. The walk to Aro, therefore, led directly to a toilette for +the levée. + +But 10 A.M. sped, then 11, then 12. Various messages went and came; +still the great man’s dignity required us to wait, and 1 P.M. had struck +before we were permitted to hope for the possibility of beholding him. +Under these circumstances, had it been my ‘palaver,’ I should have +deferred the visit till 3 P.M., and I should not have appeared before 5 +P.M. I have no doubt that more civility would have been the result, and +that the impression would have lasted longer. But this is to lecture +omniscience. Armed with umbrellas—here they represent the ‘quality’—we +walked over the few hundred yards that separate the palace from the +mission compound of Ake. We were suddenly told that we had arrived; +turned to the left into a ragged clay house, long and rambling, with a +shallow verandah formed by posts supporting the eaves, under which +female slaves, called—to magnify his importance—king’s wives, sat before +articles for sale. The establishment was as mean-looking for Abeokuta as +is St. James’s for London. Stooping to avoid injuring the coronal +region, we crossed a hollow court-yard, in which there was nothing +remarkable beyond a peculiarly neat pair of stocks, we entered through a +second gate, an inner and a smaller court, and there we found a cluster +of negroes seated at squat _sub divo_ to receive us. + +We naturally looked around for the presence-chamber, when we were +motioned to bend double, and thus to insert ourselves under the long, +low verandah that subtended the side of the inner court. Five hexagonal +columns of ultra-Egyptian massiveness, and about four feet high, divided +the house-wall behind the verandah into as many compartments. Of these +‘loose boxes’ the two at either end were open, leading into the house; +the three central were masked by a native cloth; in the middle was an +old brocade bed-hanging—behind which we were told lay H.M., +invisible—and lastly, was a curtain of scarlet velvet. The Awajali of +Ijebu Ode is never allowed to see or to converse with strangers, except +through his ministers; and that the cabinet may have it all their own +way, when the monarch dies, all the _personnel_ is carefully put to +death. The whole space, including the columns, was ‘beautifully black, +like the rain-cloud,’ as the Egbas say, with horse or cow-dung, mixed +with some leaf which may be indigo. This is the gobar of India, and +though it is unknown in Eastern, it has been observed in Western +Africa.[78] Happily we had brought our own chairs; the palace contains, +I am told, but two, and we had time indeed to sit. The rest of the +verandah was full of chiefs, ‘niggers,’[79] and a few Moslems, a total +of about one hundred and fifty, and all adult males. Never have I seen +such villainous crania and countenances as amongst the seniors of +Abeokuta. Their calvaria depressed in front, and projecting cocoa-nut- +like behind, the absence of beards, the hideous lines and wrinkles that +seamed and furrowed the external parchment, and the cold, unrelenting +cruelty of their physiognomies in repose, suggested the idea of the +eunuch torturers erst so common in Asia. One felt the same _frisson_ at +the sight as when looking upon the Gallic ladies who, in rainy weather, +haunt the County Fire Office at the end of Regent Street, and one was +sure that from pity or mercy it would be as well to address the wounded +mandril. I afterwards observed the same amongst the elders of Benin, and +I should not be surprised to find it at Agbome and Komasi. The +atrocities which these ancients have witnessed, and the passion which +they have acquired for horrors, must have set the mark of the beast upon +their brows. There was not a vestige of splendour. The chiefs were +bareheaded, naked to the waist, wholly unornamented, except with a few +cheap beads, and clothed with a common native loin wrap, or a bit of +unbleached ‘domestics.’ To retain wealth in such lands requires care and +caution: an ostentatious man, however rich, will die poor. + +We were beginning to wax impatient at this impertinent blending of +misery and pretentiousness, when it was suggested that H.M.’s linguist, +alias Mr. Wilhelm, the Church Missionary interpreter, had not appeared—a +fresh reason for standing upon ceremony. It is contrary to etiquette for +an Alake to show himself too freely either to his people or to +strangers: the King of Oyo, at the first interview, remains hidden +behind the curtain, and the Alaketu or chief of Iketu is known by a hole +in the wall. Mr. Wilhelm is one of the earliest Egba recaptives who left +Sierra Leone for Abeokuta: he has remained faithful amongst the +faithless, and whilst the others have relapsed into the wildest +heathenry, he has become the senior ‘Christian visitor’—_il a passé +caporal sur le champ de gloire_. To quiet us, I suppose, a very dirty +table of plain deal was set opposite H.M.’s bed-hanging; presently it +was invested with an unwashed native cloth, and, lastly, after a long +delay, it was richly spread with two wash-hand basins. One was ‘blue +mandarin,’ the other, French Faïence, coarser than majolica, true pot- +house appointments, in each of which were two tumblers and two wine- +glasses—the materials for a carouse—at midday in the tropics!—then came +upon the _tapis_ four bottles of maraschino, prepared for commerce; an +ordinary high-shouldered, black gin-bottle, containing the normal +mixture of vitriol, turpentine, and aqua pura; two large case-bottles of +Brazilian rum, the offal of molasses, which, however, these people +prefer to the Jamaica; and water in a ‘lustre jug,’ as the trade calls +it, a thing of obsolete make and colour, such as thirty years ago was +common in English farm-houses. + +[Illustration: THE PRESENTATION AT COURT. + +Page 140.] + +All this splendour, however, did not so dazzle us as to make us forget +that H.M. was treating us most slightingly, and our murmurs were not +spared. At length, the confidential young slave who had drawn the corks, +and who bore a bunch of keys, European and country made, and large +enough for half a dozen chatelaines, drew back the old brocade bed- +hanging. Thereupon H.M. appeared, encaged, like Clapperton’s portrait of +the Bornuese Sultan; or, to choose a comparison nearer home, like a +denizen of one of the larger dens in the Zoological Gardens. The shape +and appearance of the apartment was exactly that of Mr. Punch, magnified +perhaps a score of times; and it was a hole in the wall, under whose +outside verandah we were sitting. The loose box was full of women and +children, probably part of H.M.’s fine family. He is said to have twelve +young and fifty old wives, but lately he has ceased to be a father, and +is disposed, it is whispered, to resent any symptoms of impending +paternity. One of the spouses sat before him, fanning him with a circle +of hairy cowhide rudely set in a hairy handle, differing from the flag- +shaped instrument of the further east. She wore a strand of red coral, +and an indigo-dyed loin wrap, about which she was needlessly coquettish. +In the verandah, dangling over the Alake’s head, were two Moslem charm- +calabashes, covered apparently with many-coloured threads, white and +red, light blue and dark blue, with hangings of written characts and +talismans—their appearance was not familiar to me. The right arm of +majesty reposed upon a long bolster covered with crimson silk velvet; +and two mats, whose ends projected into the verandah, supported the +portly person, which was disposed in a free and easy way upon the dexter +side, with the limbs lazily drawn up. Upon the mat ends were placed a +huge leathern cowrie purse, not unlike the old French _gibecière_; the +royal stick, so enriched with beads that the material was invisible; an +artful animal—done in cotton, with a harlequin suit of beads—intended +for a dog, but resembling an armadillo; two chauris, or fly-flaps, of +white oxtail—H.M. held a third, which rejoiced in a handle of beads—and +a pair of unsheathed swords. One was a blade like the ancient falchion +with which the Osmanli captured Rhodes, only it had a brass head of some +beast, found possibly in heaven above, but certainly not on the earth +below. The other was an antique Toledo, much worn down, but still +bearing in distinct letters the noble Castilian motto, ‘No me trajas sin +razon;’ on the other side, ‘No me degaines sin honor.’ Weapons of this +kind often travel far: when the 18th Regiment, Bombay N. I., attacked +and defeated the Beni Bu Ali Bedouins near Maskat, they found amongst +the spoils, European swords, daggers, and gun-barrels, which had been +handed down as heirlooms from generation to generation. + +Such was the setting that enclosed the picture. The picture itself was +as curious. Okukeno, Alake of Abeokuta, is said to be between sixty and +seventy years old, and his contemporary, Ogubonna, had been a balogun, +or high military officer, which implies an elderly man, during the Egba +dispersion, some forty-five years ago. His head, partially shaven, and +his beard, were grizzled; but judging from the plumpness of his arms, +and the absence of wrinkles, Dr. Eales and I concluded that he was not +much beyond fifty. He was a large and massive man, blind of one eye, +which imprudently encountered a stone when attempting to arrest a +faction fight; heavy featured, coarse, and unprepossessing. The loss of +his upper teeth, except the canines, which recalled the Wild Boar of +Ardennes’ fangs, caused a disagreeable indentation of the upper lip; the +lower incisors have been destroyed by snuff, and the tongue-tip +habitually protruded in a manner the reverse of kingly. Altogether he +suggested the idea of an old, very damaged and very rickety lion. His +dress was a tall fez-like cap of crimson velvet, disfigured by a pendant +fringe of small blue porcelain beads round the upper third.[80] A +necklace of red coral—pink is little valued by these lovers of the +gorgeous—and a double string of the same material round each wrist, were +the regal ornaments. This fondness for coral seems to have been borrowed +from Benin, where even in Bosman’s day it was a decoration of state. His +only body-cloth which appeared in view was a toga, of white watered +silk, striped with broad crimson bands; and it sat upon him +incongruously enough. His manner was as peculiar as his audience-chamber +and his appearance. He seemed more than three parts asleep, and we could +never decide whether the cause was old age, affectation of dignity, or +the two greenish glasses of strong waters placed before him on a silver +or silvered tray, now lead-coloured for want of plate-powder. + +There are four tribes that have the right of giving what is called a +king to the Egba nation, viz., Ake, Oshelle, Olewu, and Aguru. His +Majesty of Abeokuta belongs to the first. His predecessor was that +Shodeke of Ake who rose to power amongst his countrymen in time to +‘consolidate the heterogeneous mass,’ and to prevent the old blood-feuds +breaking out afresh. Of the consolidator’s virtues all have something to +say. Europeans speak respectfully of him, and his people almost worship +him, as the Egyptians do Mohammed Ali Pasha—no great advantage to his +successor. Shodeke dying in 1845, his brother Someye, the Ibashorun, +premier, or commander-in-chief, was made temporary ruler of Abeokuta. +After his death there was a hard race between Okukeno and his coeval +Ogubonna. The former, however, had raised himself to the rank of sagbwa, +or dictator. Having followed for years the plough, or rather the hoe, +and at times acted as basket-maker—the Egbas are essentially farmers, +whilst the Ijebus are traders—he had acquired the art of seeming humble. +He had also the reputation of being poor—the usual affectation amongst +ambitious chiefs—whilst he was rich in land and slaves. Thus the ‘mild +and amiable sagbua,’ as a writer very wrongly calls him, had the cunning +to defeat his rival, and in 1854 he was invested with the title of +Alake, an honour never conferred upon an Egba prince since the great +dispersion of the people. But he is waxing old; his lieges are weary of +him; there is a report that he has made too much money, and signs appear +that his subjects will send him a quiet message to ‘go and sleep.’[81] + +The Alake is usually of calm and quiet demeanour, capable, however, of +showing strong excitement, perfectly inveterate in vengeance, never +forgetting and never forgiving, ever plotting and biding his time—an +excellent thing in an African monarch. The following instance is given +of his patience under injurious treatment: When the waggish savage +Ogodippe, war chief of Ikijá—during the troubles at Lagos he sided with +Akitoye against Kosoko, killed several Brazilian traders, and kidnapped +a number of people—was reproved by the Alake, he arose, walked round +him, and insulted him as anointed king was never insulted before, ending +by asking if more was required. The Alake made no reply, but, _ultâ +mente reponens_, stored up the injury for future discussion, and waits, +like Saadi’s derwaysh, till he gets the insulter into his power. + +When the curtain was raised, we were severally introduced by the +interpreter, Lagos Williams, and Commander Bedingfield shook hands with +the Alake. Our ‘mouf,’ as the linguist is here called, then opened the +‘palaver’ with sundry set and dreadfully sententious sentences; for +example, that the Oibo, or white man, had come up from Lagos at the +king’s request; that _vivâ voce_ was the best method of communication; +that he hoped all would be well, and so forth. + +In reply the Alake hung down his head, and affected to doze, which, to +say the least, was not polite. No one had ever seen him so surly; many +of the chiefs, therefore, had refused to attend, saying that the Alake +must settle his own quarrels. The few then present attempted to +encourage him by ejaculating certain words in an abrupt metallic tone, +and one man, distinguished as a sycophant, sang out, ‘Ai-ku, don’t +die!’[82] in a strain which still haunts certain fibres of my brain. The +curtain was presently let down, and those outside began a new set of +outlandish noises. Some uttered blessings; others beat the left breast +with the right hand; whilst others, by joining the palms and sharply +drawing back the two smaller fingers of the left hand, produced a +snapping, which in this land signifies approval. All this apparatus was, +we were told, provoked by the solemn occasion of the great man taking +snuff. The ceremony was punctually repeated whenever the king drank, and +his glass was tasted preliminarily by the confidential slave with the +keys. The Egbas rob their rulers of as much of the reality, and leave +them as much of the unreality of rule—the pomp and ceremony—as possible. +This custom of concealing the king on such occasions appears to result +from a compound idea. In some African places, as at Loango, the person +of the ruler is so sacred that it is death to see him eat or drink. In +other parts it is supposed that a man is most obnoxious to witchcraft +when eating, drinking, and sleeping. + +After an unconscionable time for digesting the last speech, there arose +an old man, whose wrinkled face and dwindled stomach showed fully his +sixty years. His dress was a white loin-cloth, a necklace of beads, and +a leather talisman, like a ‘grigri bag,’ with two gold or brass rings +sewn to its front. He was the Akpesi or Prince of Ikemta, one of the +Abeokutan townships, the only other man of the same rank being the Apesi +of Eruwan. The ‘king’s mouth,’ or, as he would be called further south, +‘ole parrot,’ is celebrated for eloquence and for a Sancho Panza-like +knowledge of proverbs, and readiness in the use of them. He is therefore +a useful man, but the whites declare that he is not to be trusted. He +presently stood up, and without once referring to his master, delivered +himself of a long speech, with frequent repetitions, the words ‘ki’ +(signifying ‘salutation’) and ‘gi-di gi-di’ (‘very well’) being the most +ear-catching. At the peroration he expressed the gladness of the Alake +to see and welcome us at the capital; as for himself, he rubbed his bony +hands on his lean stomach to show the yearning of his own proper bowels +towards us. After which he sat down with the air of a man who can afford +to say Dixi. + +Commander Bedingfield rejoined with many thanks and return salutations, +at the same time insinuating a wish that the ‘palaver’ might ‘come +up’—in other words, to do something more than talkee-talkee. + +The ‘king’s mouth’ again arose, welcomed us with even more effusion than +before, repeated a prodigious number of ‘ki’s’ and ‘gi-di gi-di’s,’ and +concluding by hinting that this was the happiest day in Abeokuta’s +life—a day to drink, and chat, and make merry, leaving the future to +take care of itself, though he owned that it—the future—was the +properest time to work. + +‘The captain’ accepted frankly and freely all offers of conviviality, +but ventured to represent that as the morrow would be Sunday—a _dies +non_—and as he could not afford to be long absent from his seat of +government, H.M.S. ‘Prometheus,’ it might be as well to settle upon the +next day but one for business purposes. Much, too, of the same kind. + +The reply was again superlatively polite, agreeing to everything, except +to fixing a day, which would to a certain extent be derogating. + +Then the carousing began. My companions thought it their duty to imbibe +some vile stuff in the shape of strong waters. I remembered Sir William +Temple, who, when sent on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands, kept +a friend to make head against the Dutchmen in beer. They were then +induced to swallow some of the ‘king’s sweet wine,’ and by their looks +it was apparent that they had not found it either Tokay or Lunel. All +the bottles were opened with a perfect disregardlessness of expense, the +Akpesi himself handing the tumblers of rum to the assembled crowd, each +of whom sipped, and sent on. When any one passed the presence, he +prostrated himself as ceremoniously as one kneels during presentation in +London. After the drinking, we wanted to depart—I especially, who, after +drawing out my sketch-book, had, at the request of those present, been +obliged to put it out of sight. We were delayed, however, by the non- +arrival of the king’s ‘dash,’ or present; and when it came it proved to +be a sheep, a goat, and a bag of cowries—the latter now worth about +eighteen shillings.[83] Three cases of excellent Hollands—far too good +for such mouths—were afterwards forwarded as a counter-gift, two to the +chiefs, and one to the Christian converts. + +After expressing gratitude for the king’s liberality, we arose, shook +hands, or rather squeezed palms, with the great man, whose temper seemed +to have been mollified by his potations, and we left the hole—terribly +hot it was—without delay. + +The audience did not impress me favourably. Having heard much of +progress and civilization at Abeokuta, I hardly expected to meet there +the poorest reception on the West African coast. Presently I remembered +that only twenty years ago the people of Egba had emerged from a low +state of barbarism, and had become acquainted with the outer world +through a few half-caste and European missionaries. Still my opinion is +that their social state—which is about equal to that of the Bhils and +Coolies of Guzerat—has been grossly misrepresented in England, and that +they have been petted into believing themselves far superior to what +they are. + +The sulkiness of the old king, we afterwards heard, arose partly from a +correspondence which had lately taken place. ‘The captain,’ in a letter +which he addressed from the ‘Prometheus,’ Lagos, 3rd October, 1861, +introduced the following effective words touching a ‘gross insult +offered to her Majesty’s representative and to himself:’— + + +‘It seems to me that surely the Alake and chiefs cannot be aware of the +purport of their letter. + +‘If they are so, I would ask them a question or two, and request they +will answer me. + +‘Has England done anything for Abeokuta to entitle her representative to +offer his advice without being insulted? + +‘Is Abeokuta so strong that she will never more require the assistance +of England, and that she can safely defy her power? + +‘Does she consider it safe to pull the whiskers of a sleeping lion?’ + + +This style, of course, appeared to the writer peculiarly impressive, +Oriental, likely to come home to the feelings of the Africans, whom he +knew so well. It wanted, however, the first recommendation of +style—intelligibility. The first two questions were queer enough. +Abeokuta, like other barbarous kingdoms, believes herself to be the +strongest and greatest nation in the world; she may own that England has +bigger canoes than she has, but she owns no belief in our superiority by +land.[84] The third was a perfect enigma—a conundrum would have been +more intelligible. Lions love the liberty of desert sands; they will not +venture into the damp, dark forests of Guinea,[85] and—zoological +gardens have not yet been introduced into Ake. So the simple Alake +inquired what is a lion? And some Sierra Leone ‘gentleman’ had read in a +book that it was the ‘king of beasts.’ ‘But what are his whiskers?’ It +was suggested that he probably wore a beard. ‘Then, what the dickens’—or +something to the same purport—asked poor Okukeno, justly indignant at +being taken for a low caste huntsman, ‘have I to do with plucking the +beast’s beard?’ + +It is, I confess, intolerably presumptuous in me to offer suggestions to +those who are so much better acquainted with the African than myself. +But in a few words, when the object is to _embrouiller_ an affair in +this part of the world, there is nothing better than a letter. On the +other hand, if a peaceful solution of the question at issue be required, +a trusty messenger, or, better still, a personal interview, is the one +thing needful. The only interpreters of letters will be either Sierra +Leone men, or perhaps white confidants. The chances are that both are +imperfectly acquainted with one of the two languages, and the certainty +is that both will have their own ends to serve. + +After leaving the presence, we visited another place between the Alake’s +palace and the Ogbone Lodge of Ake—the state prison. It was then +unusually empty. The captives, mostly women and mere boys, sat under a +verandah, with their ankles fast in the stocks, which are a pair of +horse-shoe shaped iron staples fitting closely round the limb, and with +the points driven into a heavy wooden billet. Our object was to see an +African Gasparini, an Egba, who, after having been sold four times for +various crimes, had as often escaped, and returned to his own country. +At midnight of Thursday last he had hid himself in the house of the +agent Robbins, and after collecting his plunder in a blanket, he had sat +down to supper with the effrontery of a London ‘cracksman.’ The master +of the house came in, when his visitor seized his knife and stabbed two +of the servants before he could fairly be secured. This time, men say, +he may again escape; intercession will save the most notorious offender; +and effectually I did not hear of his execution. The punishment for +theft is here severe, as amongst the Moroccans; at first, the bastinado, +then mutilation, and lastly death. In Africa the penalty of robbery +ought to be heavier than that of murder, the former offence being +frightfully prevalent, whilst the latter is comparatively rare. A few +men hung for stealing even trifles would soon make an African settlement +safe from all attempts upon property—always provided that the doom is +certain, not problematical, as in the native states. At Abeokuta +executions are seldom public, and they follow conviction somewhat too +closely to please European ears. The work is usually done at night, in +the king’s compound; a peculiar sound of the drum at the time, and next +morning a fresh skull nailed to one of the trees opposite the palace, +are the sole announcers of the event. ‘Ilejo,’ the present Calcraft, is +said to strike the victim with a club, like the old Italian +_ammazatore_, and the head is then severed from the body. + +After the first ‘palaver’ was duly concluded, we returned to the house +of Mr. Wike, and refreshed. Presently appeared a deputation sent by the +Christian converts, and headed by another Williams—the name is here as +common as in Wales—not an interpreter, but a Church Missionary +schoolmaster. The several orders of this hierarchy are, beginning from +the lowest, the Christian visitor; he goes about and flushes the game, +which is then handed for training and reclaiming to the schoolmaster and +the catechist—natives all. Above them begins the white rule of deacons +and priests. This Williams had been acting secretary to the Alake, and +in that capacity he had addressed to the acting governor of Lagos a +letter full of low, puerile impertinence, which was naturally supposed +to express the bile and venom of the breed. Mr. M‘Coskry, by +systematically denouncing slavery, and by taking more active measures, +had incurred all the enmity of these recaptives. But Williams showed a +tolerable reputation; he was not known to feel any special grudge +against the Acting Governor; he was a schoolmaster, and therefore could +hardly be expected to write idiomatic English; and lastly, it was +evident, even by his conversation, that a little learning had made him +mad, like most of his compatriots, in the way of fine words. So when +Williams showed due contrition, his error was set down to the score of +ignorance, and he was dismissed with Lord M——’s ‘short answer.’ + +Horses were brought to us for sale. I saw nothing at Abeokuta but the +poorest ponies, twelve hands or so high, neatly enough made, but liable +to disease, and uncommonly vicious. One, however, was a Borneo horse, +with the high withers that characterize the breed, and the lowest price +was set down at twenty-eight bags (about twenty-five pounds), in a +country where money is worth four times as much as in Europe. The +animal, moreover, was miserably thin, and the experienced determined +that something must be wrong, or that it would not have been for sale. +Good horses used to be brought down the country from Yoruba; since the +war, however, the Iloris and Ibadans, like Abbas Pasha of Egypt, have +laid an embargo and a prohibitory duty upon exporting them. Even an +Englishman would be compelled to obtain permission from the chief. The +war has greatly raised the price of beasts; they are in all about six +hundred, and the best have been sent to the camp. Yet the warriors on +both sides are ignorant of the simplest forms of cavalry, and this arm, +if introduced, would soon decide the fortunes of the field. + +Ponies formerly cost two bags, or thirty-six shillings. The same now +sell for fifteen to twenty bags; even a colt of known name will fetch +that price. A tolerable nag for a European may be bought for thirty +bags; the sum rises to two hundred dollars where size is required—as in +the Arab, a hand’s height makes an enormous difference—and in fancy +cases three hundred dollars would be asked. They are much valued, and +require the greatest care in these hot, damp regions. Their food is +Guinea corn and grass, cut and brought in by the boys; the head ‘syce’ +selects the food, and bathes and grooms his beast. Every day, or every +second day, it has a handful of kaón, an impure saltpetre—in Sierra +Leone called lubi—and, by way of anthelmintic, a quantity of spices, +recalling the celebrated East Indian nostrum, _battísí_. Before going to +war the animal is prepared by drugs for a constipation which will last +four days, and thus conceal the trail from the enemy. The trappings are +rough and heavy, huge demi-piques of morocco leather, with shovel-shaped +iron stirrups, sharp at the corners, and points projecting, by way of +spur. The bridle has the cruel ring-bit of the Arab Bedouin, and twisted +leather thongs, forming a whip at the end. Poitrail and crupper are not +wanting, and a variety of ropes and tethers, charms and talismans, are +bound round the neck. The animals, however, are not shod. + +This evening, as on the previous, we heard loud shouts, broken by an +occasional musket-shot, and accompanied by the usual tom-tom. A large +crowd of _badauds_ and _flaneurs_ stood or squatted at the gate. They +were celebrating the obsequies of the Akpena or messenger of Ijemma, a +high official who had lately died, not without strong suspicions of +poison. He had been engaged in a quarrel with his superior, the +Ibashorum of his town. The people found business at a stand-still; they +therefore sent to the less useful personage—the messenger—their +compliments, and a humble request that he would ‘go to sleep.’ So to +sleep he went. What a charming way of settling the ridiculous squabbles +and the injurious jealousies of rival and hostile departments and +_ministères_! Am I not justified in suggesting to the civilized peoples +of the world so natty a mode of preventing private feeling from +interfering, as it now so fatally often does, with public duty? + + +[Footnote 46: ‘Ogubonna’s’ family, for instance, have three small +squares of blue tattoo upon each cheek, combined with the three Egba +cuts.] + +[Footnote 47: Capt. John Adams (pp. 133, 134) well describes this +people:—‘A class of Heebos (the Ibo or Eboe, whose chief town is Abo, at +the head of the Nigerian Delta), called Breeche, and whom many have very +erroneously considered to be a distinct nation, masters of slave-ships +have always had a strong aversion to purchase, because the impression +made on their minds, by their degraded situation, was rendered more +galling and permanent from the exalted rank which they occupied in their +own country, and which was thought to have a very unfavourable influence +on their shipmates and countrymen in misfortune. + +‘Breeche, in the Heebo language, signifies “gentleman,” or the eldest +son of one, and who is not allowed to perform, in his own country, any +menial office. He inherits at his father’s death all his slaves, and has +the absolute control over the wives and children which he has left +behind him. Before attaining the age of manhood his forehead is +scarified, and the skin brought down from the hair to the eyebrows, so +as to form a line of indurated skin from one temple to the other. This +peculiar mark is distinctive of his rank, the ordinary mark of the Heebo +being formed by numerous perpendicular incisions in each temple, as if +the operation of cupping had been often performed.’] + +[Footnote 48: Burukú causes fits, and kills by small-pox—distinctly an +East Indian idea.] + +[Footnote 49: Some authors state that the gyri and sulci are shallow and +infirm, but what may be their opportunities of autopsy I know not.] + +[Footnote 50: Phrenologically speaking, I believe this denotes either +great destructiveness, or power of abstaining from food, whereas the +Egbas are remarkable for neither.] + +[Footnote 51: A man with a theory once accounted to me for the +superiority of the negro’s teeth, by his never drinking anything hotter +than at blood heat. A pot of ekko (gruel) would rather have startled +him; and generally, the semi-civilized African is as fond of heated +aliments as the European. But the barbarian, having no dentist, takes +more care of his teeth; hence the occasional difference.] + +[Footnote 52: I can hardly, however, rely upon the case quoted by Dr. +Clarke, of Sierra Leone (p. 118), viz., that the stimulus of suckling an +orphan monkey caused a lacteal flow from the breasts of a virgin +negress; yet there is no reason for disbelieving the possibility. +Embrocations of virgin’s milk are not uncommon in the Asiatic and the +African pharmacopœia.] + +[Footnote 53: The _fanatici_ for the Turkish bath, who contend that +perspiration makes the ploughman cleaner than the prince, are apt to +forget this part of the process.] + +[Footnote 54: Also written ‘Oku’ and ‘Aiku,’ properly ‘Ai-ku,’ from _ai_ +‘negative,’ and _ku_ ‘to die.’ ‘Aiku’ is a noun, signifying +‘immortality,’ or, rather, ‘unquenchableness.’ ‘Aku’ is also a noun, +signifying a salutation.] + +[Footnote 55: The inverted form of blessing would perhaps be more +intelligible. The Somalis know our men as ‘Godam,’ and the Spaniards +named their mustachios, from a favourite military oath, ‘bigotes.’] + +[Footnote 56: Captain John Adams (p. 92, &c.) gives a long notice of the +Hios—he seems to have been hard on the letter _h_—and their king. He +places the country between Hausa and Dahome, hardly believing that its +army is 100,000 men, but declaring that its influence extends to the sea +by way of Ardrah.] + +[Footnote 57: The maps usually write it ‘Eyeo.’ It must not be +confounded with Oyo, in Yoruba Proper, lying one degree N.N.E. (N. lat. +8°) of Abeokuta.] + +[Footnote 58: My friend Dr. Arnott, a surgeon in one of the East Indian +regiments, showed me what appeared to be a true syphilitic sore, +communicated to his horse, doubtless, by some native so afflicted.] + +[Footnote 59: Baddahun, usually written Badohong, was his princely name; +Glele, or Gleli (the jawbone), is one of his strong names.] + +[Footnote 60: Others say 8000 men and 4000 women, which is more likely.] + +[Footnote 61: According to Mr. Freeman, a missionary, who has frequently +visited Abome and Komasi, Gezo of Dahome was one of the greatest of +African kings. He reigned some thirty-five years, and in 1858 died of +fever. When Mr. Duncan—the Life-Guardsman—was sent to him as vice- +consul, he was much pleased with the size of the person; but after a +fortnight or so, he inquired of a friend why the King of England ‘did +not send him a man with a head.’] + +[Footnote 62: Much nonsense is afloat touching these ‘Amazons.’ They are +simply, like the Urdubegani of the Deccan and of other Asiatic courts, +the slaves of the palace organized as royal property, and weaponed by +the late King Gezo—who feared treason from the men. Most of them are +women taken in adultery or too shrewish to live with their husbands, who +‘dash’ them to the king, instead of killing them. Once, however, royal +slaves they become vestals. They are bound, like the female priests of +Grewhe, under penalty of death, to chastity and celibacy, and this +naturally communicates a certain amount of ferocity to their +minds—‘horrors’ are, with the eunuch, their succedaneum for love. Upon +this subject I am tempted to quote a few lines from Captain John Adams +(p. 74), who says of Dahome: ‘One of the conditions by which a female is +admitted into the order of priesthood, is that of leading a life of +celibacy, and renouncing the pleasures of the world; and but few are +admitted to enter it at all; for during a residence of many months at +Grewhe, one ceremony only of this kind was performed, at which I was +present. + +‘There is a striking similarity in the conditions imposed on those poor +deluded African women who are admitted into the priesthood, and many of +those nuns who in Catholic Europe are forced to take the veil; only the +former are instruments in the hands of fraud and oppression, while the +others are too often the victims of domestic tyranny and ambition. But +the lot of the savage African is far superior to that of the civilized +European. For the former, notwithstanding the restraints imposed on her, +can enjoy the sweets of personal liberty, and has some scope for the +play of her natural affections; whereas the latter is shut within the +gloomy walls of a prison, where her short life is passed away in vain +regret, and in the society of immolated beings who are as melancholy and +desponding as herself.’ + +To which we may add, another advantage to the African woman, that her +feelings, like those of barbarians and the uncivilized generally, are by +no means so highly developed as amongst Europeans. A scanty diet, a life +of toil, and the petty cares of domestic duties, blunt, if they do not +destroy, the _besoin d’amour_. She is not even— + + + ‘Commanded + + By such poor passion as the maid that milks, + + And does the meanest chares.’ + + +Female soldiery, as a rule, is a failure; or rather, like female labour +in all departments of industry, it produces a worse article at a cheaper +rate. The Amazons, I believe, are no exception. They cannot be estimated +at more than 2000, although many travellers—Dalziell, Cruickshanks, +Winniett, Duncan, and Forbes—have raised the number to 4000, and even +6000. In the case of Messrs. Duncan and Forbes, the Amazons were marched +round the palace yard, in at one and out at the other gate, like the +commissariat cattle in Afghanistan. Captain John Adams (p. 93) mentions +the same manœuvre on the part of the King of Hio (Yoruba), adding, ‘This +was a political stratagem that would hardly have been expected from an +African savage.’] + +[Footnote 63: It is, however, only fair to the Amazons to state, that +Mr. Bowen, on the day after the battle, saw several hundreds of them +lying dead on the field, where they had fought with great fury. +Commander Forbes, on the other hand (vol. i., p. 81), says of the +Dahoman army, ‘These soldiers, being yearly at war, have gained a fame +that, if fairly tried, would soon be found wanting.’] + +[Footnote 64: It is a dire insult to refuse the invitation of an African +king to visit his capital. Captain John Adams (p. 63, &c.) tells how +seven English seamen, cast ashore four or five miles from ‘Grewhe,’ were +sent up ninety miles to the king at Agbome. One man, affecting lameness +to escape the journey, ‘had his hands and feet tied together, and a pole +introduced between them, and in this way they were going to Abomey; +when, to avoid so painful an alternative, he found the use of his limbs, +and marched along with his unfortunate companions.’ They seem all to +have been well treated at the capital. The king tried, by promises and +threats, to persuade the man who had affected lameness to stay with him. +But when the fellow answered that, ‘“if his shipmates went away without +him he would destroy himself,” the king seemed to feel uneasy at this, +and consulted one of his principal men, who advised him to permit the +man to return with his companions, which was granted.’] + +[Footnote 65: This was written in 1861. At present (Feb. 1863) we hear +that Commodore Wilmot, Captain Luce, and Dr. Haran have set out on a +journey to Agbome, where I may venture to predict they will be received +as honoured guests.] + +[Footnote 66: The palm-kernel oil, which is so fast becoming an +important article of traffic, is of two kinds. The white oil is that +expressed from the kernel after it has been cracked. The black oil is +that which drips through the husk when toasted with the kernel inside. +This is done to save labour. As yet no efficient crusher has been +invented, consequently every kernel must be broken by manual labour. +When machinery shall be invented, the trade will assume a new standing. +It is now worth 50_l._ per ton.] + +[Footnote 67: One head of cowries, = 1_s._ 9_d._, here keeps a man for a +week.] + +[Footnote 68: So travellers from Badagry pass the first night at Mo, a +place not far distant from the sea.] + +[Footnote 69: It is almost as complicated as the Hindu’s curry, though +far inferior in delicacy of taste. The material is fish, flesh, and +boiled fowl, with yam or koko, flavoured with onions or shalots, ground +cocoa-nut, malaguetta and other peppers, red and green okros or occros +(_Hibiscus esculentus_) in large quantities, and lastly, refined palm +oil, which gives the _goût_. In black man’s palaver sauce they insert +‘affitti’ or ‘ogiri,’ a condiment about as aromatic as bad asafœtida.] + +[Footnote 70: Of this valuable nut more hereafter.] + +[Footnote 71: They are oleaginous, and produced by a gourd one to two +feet long, growing upon a climber.] + +[Footnote 72: The ‘pombo’ of Eastern Africa. Maize is here macerated for +three days, till germination takes place. It is then spread on leaves +for fermentation, sun-dried on mats, and bruised. Mixed with cold water, +in a pot, it is well stirred for two hours, and boiled for twenty-four +hours; on the next day it is again boiled, and afterwards strained, +cooled, and stored in calabashes.] + +[Footnote 73: This is Anglo-Africa for cow’s milk.] + +[Footnote 74: The mango seems to have been known here of old.] + +[Footnote 75: Tolerable native iron is brought from the northern +country.] + +[Footnote 76: Copper is said to be found in the mountains to the east of +Abeokuta.] + +[Footnote 77: There is also an independent expletive—‘Small-pox!’ +ejaculated as if the speaker believed in the Sitla Devi, or the small- +pox goddess of India. Yet the disease is rarely fatal in these parts, as +on the sea-board west of and about Lagos.] + +[Footnote 78: ‘A singular custom prevails here (Ardrah), that of +anointing, occasionally, the interior walls of houses with fresh cow- +dung; a useful practice, for it dries quickly, has by no means an +unpleasant smell, and fills up crevices which would otherwise be +tenanted by noxious and troublesome insects.’—(Captain John Adams, p. +81.)] + +[Footnote 79: In these lands, ‘nigger’ always means a slave.] + +[Footnote 80: Shodeke, concerning whom more anon, wore, we are told by +Mr. T. B. Freeman, a scarlet cloth coat and a large blue tassel.] + +[Footnote 81: Which is the polite way of directing him to retire to his +harem, and then and there to poison himself, unless he wishes a worse +fate. This constitutional proceeding is the Harikari, or ‘happy release’ +of the Japanese, and in practice is not unknown in Europe. In Africa, +hasty deposition is checked, however, by the custom of slaying openly, +or secretly, the high officer called the ‘king’s father,’ and other +great chiefs, to meet him in Orun or Hades. Since the above was written +the Alake died on the 1st September, 1862.] + +[Footnote 82: Mr. Hughes thought the word was ‘Ekun’ (a leopard), one of +the king’s strong names, but he was in error.] + +[Footnote 83: In 1863 it has diminished to fifteen shillings.] + +[Footnote 84: I have repeatedly heard the same assertion from the lips +of the cowardly Krumen.] + +[Footnote 85: The king of beasts is found above Macarthy’s Island, in +the Gambia River, and Lander mentions him in Barba and Upper Yoruba. Mr. +Bowen ignores his existence east of the Ogun River.] + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + TOUCHING MATTERS RELIGIOUS AT ABEOKUTA. + + +The rains had not yet ended, and the mornings were damp and misty, +whilst a worse than English fog moved for hours after sunrise through +the cloudy air. Captain Parry found the heat uncomfortable at 23° (Fah.) +above zero; the Abeokutans shuddered with cold when the mercury showed +65°. + +On such a morning, accompanied by the boy Olufanobbi, alias Robert +Fisher, Egba, Ogbone, Christian convert, and printer’s devil in the +Church Missionary establishment at the salary of four dollars per +mensem, I sallied forth to inspect the father of the settlement, the +Rock Olumo. + +Our route lay to the west, with a little northing, along a rough road, +and the town was at this hour one vast latrine. The perfume from the +bush must not be described. The men, and even the women, again showed a +wonderful absence of all that with us goes by the name of decorum. As on +the Gold Coast, the sable fair ones bathe publicly _in purissimis_.[86] +There is not a public woman in the town, which some, as forgotten +Mandeville, say speaks well, and others badly, for private morality; and +Mr. Bowen only met one bastard. As in Ashanti, here, even in the highest +ranks, that form of the social evil known to civilization, especially +trans-Atlantic, as the ‘panel dodge,’ is said to be sometimes practised. +The wives of the highest chiefs will bring on intrigues with young men, +and betray them to the husbands, who either get their money or sell +them. In shaking hands, the emphatic gesture is to touch the lady’s palm +with the dexter index; but the amourist risks, if unlucky enough to +displease, a seat upon the stool of repentance, and an _exposé_ to +public ridicule. + +The wells lying by the paths were shallow pits; rain-water arrested by +tenacious potters’ clay a few feet below the surface. Where they are +private property, women pay to the owner two to three cowries per +potful, or one cent for fifty gallons. The water is good, but requires +cooling; the bucket is half a calabash-gourd, lashed to strings, and +requiring an hour to fill a large vessel. Time, however, is of little +value in these regions, and the people love to gossip round their +meeting-place, the well. I need hardly point out how unwholesome these +sites are. Concealed water, and a hot, dry surface, must produce the +most deadly miasma.[87] + +On the road we passed by the five great crafts of Abeokuta—the +blacksmith, the carpenter, the weaver, the dyer, and the potter. I +turned in to inspect their several workshops, and to see their +appliances, which merit description on account of their similarity to, +or rather identity with, those in the distant centre, the east and the +south. By a collection from the works of different travellers in the +remotest parts of the dark Continent, it would methinks be easy to prove +a close connection in ancient times between nations and peoples now +ignoring one another’s existence. Indeed, so exactly the same are many +of the articles—the bellows, for instance—and so artificial, forbidding +the idea of an instinctive invention, that one almost suspects a common +centre to all the races amongst whom they are common. + +The blacksmith, who is also goldsmith, silversmith, copper-worker, and +tinman, sits under an open shed of leaf-mats. His fire is of palm-nut +husks—as good as charcoal. His bellows is that of ancient Egypt and +Greece, and is described by every African traveller, from Mungo Park +downwards; from Unyamwezi to the lands of the Ovampo. Two bags of rough +goatskin are secured in troughs cut out of a single piece of wood. The +upper part of each skin has a handle, or stick, two feet long, so that +it can be worked by one standing or sitting. There is an earthen pipe +leading from the wooden pipe which projects from each trough, and the +junction is not air-tight. The handles are raised alternately by the +blower; consequently, when one ‘follis’ receives air, the other ejects +it. The forge is, like that of the Gold Coast, a perpendicular screen of +dried clay, through which the nozzles of the bellows pass, supplying a +regular blast; the larger anvil is a stone, and the smaller a lump of +iron. The craftsman has spindles for drilling, and rough files, with a +better sort from Europe, which he keeps carefully wrapped up in greasy +rag. His native hammers, pincers, and hooks are exceedingly artless +tools. He makes little clay crucibles for melting hard metals; puts the +material in without flux; buries it in the glowing husks, and casts it +into bars by means of an oiled mould. He buys a kind of carbonized iron +from the interior, and he forges from it rude keys, chains and staples, +swords and knives, sickles and hoes, inserted in large clumsy handles, +and adzes and axes two inches wide, with the iron driven through the +wooden handle as it should be, not the wood driven through the iron.[88] +The repairing of a ‘long Dane,’ or buccaneer gun, is about the measure +of his knowledge; he has never learned to temper iron, and even when +running leaden plugs for bullets, he loses half the material by not +stirring a little grease with the melted metal, and removing the dross +with his knife. + +The carpenter is a century behind the blacksmith, probably because every +man in these regions can use an axe without professional aid. He has an +adze and splitting wedges, but neither hooks nor saws. He must hold the +wood with hand or foot, and when making a plank, he must hack away the +rest of the tree-trunk. His industry is confined to doors and shutters, +bowls, and mortars for pounding grain. + +Men in Abeokuta, as in ancient Egypt, weave, which the old Greek held to +be an effeminate occupation; they are also the best, if not the only, +needle-workers. The cotton, cleared of seed by an iron cylinder rolling +on a block of wood, and bow-whipped as in India, is spun into yarn-balls +by means of the old distaff, and is sold every evening in the market. +The weaver employs his mornings in winding off the portion which he will +require for the day. The loom, standing under the usual open shed, +differs little from the horizontal structure of Eastern and Central +Africa. Like the bellows, the principle extends throughout the +continent. It is perpendicular, as in ancient Egypt, where, however, +both forms were used. A framework of sticks, about four feet high, with +eighteen inches of extreme breadth, is planted in the ground. The twist +for the warp is passed over the upper and under the lower connecting +bar, and the thread for the weft or woof is shot between with a shuttle +and a ‘sley,’ here called ‘assá,’ a reed used to beat the woof tight. It +is a rude implement, and makes narrow strips of ‘tree-wool’ cloth, six +inches or so wide, which, to form a garment, must be sewn together. +Dyeing with indigo is done by women, much in the way described by Mungo +Park amongst the Mandengas. It produces a beautiful tint, with a finer +purple gloss than the Indian can show, and the people colour thread with +every tinge, from the lightest blue to what closely approaches black. +Freshly-pounded leaves—the dry are rarely used—are placed in an earthen +pot till it is half full; it is then filled with a lye prepared from the +potash of various wood ashes. After soaking for some days, till +fermentation throws up an iridescent scum—at this time is the chief +danger of failure—it is ready for use. The cloth, wetted in cold water, +and wrung out, is placed in it for two hours, sun-dried by hanging +across a pole, beaten with a stick, washed in water to remove +impurities, again wrung out, and returned to the pot. No mordant is +used; the operation is repeated ten or twelve times during four days, +when the dye becomes permanent. + +The potter is also a woman. The earthenware is a very poor article, +better than that of Lagos and Ikoradu, but far inferior to the produce +of Wari. The reddish clay is brought from a place about two and a half +miles to the north-east of the city. The wheel being unknown, it is +fashioned by hand, and so neatly that strangers will hardly believe it. +Being but half burned, it seldom lasts. This handicraft is depressed by +the competition of the calabash-maker. The gourd, a congener to the +pumpkin, varies in size from a snuff-box to a milk-churn. When the fruit +ripens, a hole is made in the smaller end, and the air decays the pulp, +leaving the hard rind intact. When a lid is wanted, the fruit is sliced +off on a plane, one-third from the smaller end. It is then neatly cut +and carved with a hand-knife, and this ‘ornamental engraving’[89] is +said to be a lucrative trade. The cost of a good article is about +twenty-five strings, or one shilling. The manufacture of glass is +unknown in Yoruba; it is, however, if native accounts are to be +believed, at Nupe, and especially at Rabba, once the capital of that +interesting region. + +About half way I saw a mosque—an oblong hut, with blackened walls, and a +thatched roof of mat and leaves; it fronted Meccah pretty correctly. The +door was closed, and all my Arabic could not procure me admission, +although a talib—a ‘scholar,’ who should have known better—was lying +under the verandah, learning _memoriter_ the last verslets of that +beautiful and most edifying chapter, the Ya Sín. A little beyond, we +passed an Ogbone lodge, remarkable only for its painted and carved door, +upon which distinct symbols of Phallic worship—not disguised as in Egypt +by the sacred Tau—appeared in natural size. A little beyond was a large +slab of gneiss, which bore upon its summit what appeared to be the trace +of ichnites; a little inquiry proved them to be the work of man—the +hollowness being formed by pounding and grinding. + +After about a mile and a half of up and down, sand and boulder, midden +and offal, we ascended a short steep pitch, and stood near and opposite +the Rock Olumo. Surmounting an abrupt hill, with falls on all sides, it +is a conspicuous landmark in the scenery. It has the honour of giving a +name to the city clustering at its feet, Abe-okuta ‘(the town) +Underneath the rock,’ by us called Understone. The Builder—for such is +the meaning of its name—is some two hundred yards in length, divided +about midway by a fissure that affords an easy ascent, and overhanging +on all sides except the north, where a neighbouring tree acts as a +natural ladder. Many have mounted to the summit, and, according to my +informants, a cannon has been fired there. On another occasion, a small +party climbed it with Commander Bedingfield, in jack-boots, _viâ_ the +tree. I confess that, with the view of keeping legs and ankles unbroken +until after the ascent of the Camaroons Mountains, this feat did not +appear advisable. It has been dedicated to Oro. No one objects, however, +to strangers taking liberties there, although it has been tabooed to the +people for fear of accidents. Cavern, as described in books, there is +none. The projecting sides, however, form tall, deep ledges, beneath +which people can find shelter; and under the eastern side dwarf walls of +red clay have converted it into troglodyte abodes. Besides human bipeds, +the swallows flock and nest there in numbers. + +Walking round to the left side, which I should advise future travellers +to avoid, I saw the point of view chosen as a frontispiece to ‘Sunrise +within the Tropics.’ Either the amateur artist or his engraver has +succeeded in making it as unlike reality as possible. The view, however, +is quite in character with the book itself, essentially Anglo-African, +and well fitted for the delectation of the Hall, once more appropriately +known as Exeter Change. The right-hand foreground is adorned with the +customary clump of typical palm-trees and aloes, and a group of natives, +white men drawn black, most European in bearing and civilized in +gesture, reminding us of our ‘own artist’ in the ‘Illustrated News,’ +who, with praiseworthy catholicity of art, makes as little possible +distinction between humanity in its opposite hemispheres. Below lies the +town, neat, rural, pretty, white-walled and red-tiled, built with all +the symmetry of Clapham, and backed by a glorious lake-like river with +little green islets—and, doubtless, eel-pie houses;—whilst in the +distance a fair expanse of rolling hills, green and blue, fills up the +scene. + +Let me describe what I saw and sketched. Beyond the barren mass of stern +grey stone—filthily dirty—which afforded me a standing-place, there was +a perpendicular drop of some fifty feet, disclosing part of the city +below and in front. It was a grisly mass of rusty thatching and dull +red-clay wall, with narrow winding lanes and irregular open spaces, a +ragged tree rising here and there. The only comparison which the scene +suggested was that of a huge anthill scattered over with dead leaves and +dwarf shrubs. On the left was a high tongue of land, with top sinking +towards the foreground; it supports Bagura, one of the most populous +townships; and here the houses that crowd one another prevent the ground +from being seen. It is separated by a stony stream-bed, the usual fence +in this part of Africa, from the neighbouring settlements, Ikereku and +Ikijá, Iláwo and Ikporo. In the distance is a narrow line representing +the Ogun River above the rapids, and the horizon is shut in by rising +ground which appears barren and sterile. In the magnificence of its +distances Abeokuta greatly resembles Washington, but there the +similarity ends. The main peculiarity of the scene is the shape of the +houses—large irregular squares, with huge thatches raised high at the +angles to throw off the rain. There are but two which attract the eye by +superiority of size, viz., those of the late Ogobonna, and of the +waggish savage Ogodippe. + +Olumo, however, is classic ground in these regions, the Arg, the +Capitolium of the Egba race, the Rock against which the gates of Ibadan +have not yet prevailed. It was the _point de réunion_ of the people of +Egba, who, about 1820-1822, had been scattered to the winds by intestine +tumults and the fury of their enemies.[90] Some thirty-five or forty +years ago, say in 1825, a few of the better sort, flying from their new +masters, took refuge under ‘the Builder,’ where, it is said, they found +robbers—probably their own countrymen—who had preceded them. As in +classic Rome, the sanctuary was joined by other fugitives and villains. +When the new-comers found themselves strong enough, they drove out the +original bandits, and then laid the foundations of a city which, after +Olumo, they called Abeokuta. It grew apace. In memory of their former +settlements, they gave to the new seats the names of their ancient +townships—Ake, for instance, was the old capital of Egba-land in the +days when it was a province of Yoruba—and they conferred upon their +military and civil chiefs titles familiar to their ears in olden times. +They hung up their harps by the side of Olumo, and holding the soil to +be hard and sterile, they sighed for a return to the lands flowing with +milk and honey.[91] + +Presently Abeokuta became a fenced city, and was girt with a moat and a +clay wall, after the approved fashion of African fortification. Its +population waxed numerous. Mr. T. B. Freeman, in 1842, estimated it to +contain forty-five thousand souls. In 1858, Mr. Bowen gave it eighty +thousand: more modern travellers have raised the number to one hundred +thousand; and, looking at the extent and the thickness of the +population, I should not wonder if, when the soldiers return from the +Ibadan war, it was found to contain one hundred and fifty thousand +souls, nearly equal to the entire population of redoubted Dahome. It +contains the remnants of some one hundred and fifty townships—some say +one hundred, but they diminish for fear of exaggeration, and others, too +sanguine, raise it to two hundred and eighty-five—which all retain their +own peculiar institutions. The constitution, in fact, is that of a +federal republic under a perpetual president.[92] + +The Abeokutans still aspire to regain the lands of their forefathers, +and they swear that they will come to their own again. I doubt the +probability of their so doing. The weak outlying states of El Islam, +Ilori, for instance—now the last ripple of the mighty wave urged +southwards by an irresistible current—though at present unable to sweep +away the barriers of Paganism, is strong enough to resist any +encroachments. And the day will come when the Law of the Prophet shall +rule throughout the lands, when Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands +unto Allah, and shall thus rise to her highest point of civilization. +Meanwhile, those who support Abeokuta are but shoring up a falling wall. +The only thing they can say is that, like Turkey, she may take some time +to fall: on the other hand, when the Moslems succeed to the land, they +will find it rich in cotton and palm oil. + +The sun having lost his strength, I proceeded, in company with Mr. +Hughes, a thoroughly Yorubanized Englishman, to ascend the rocks of Ake, +the hill immediately behind the Church Missionary compound. The path led +along the burial-ground and near a foul wet hole, whence the clay for +building houses had been excavated. Ascending, we remarked an Oro-, or +wild mango-tree,[93] whose trunk had been gashed apparently for the +purpose of letting out the turpentine. After losing our way in the thick +grass—it should be kept clear for the benefit of those who desire a +breath of fresh air—we fell into sundry lanes bordered by the +unwholesome tiglium, whose odour after sunset denotes its dangerous +qualities. Passing through a blocked-up gap in a hedge, we entered a +field of tobacco; the herb which Niwt named and which Thevet ought to +have named—an analogy of Colon and Amerigo—grows wild in the streets of +Lagos and Abeokuta: the people, however, prefer to import it from the +Brazils. The land has usually been considered too worn out to support so +exhausting a crop; in places, however, it flourishes. The people have +learned to top the plants, and the American missionaries have taught +them to cure it by hanging the leaves for a day or two in bunches to +dry, and then piling up and sweating it for two or three days. It thus +becomes tolerable smoking, with a little Cavendish or gold-leaf by way +of ‘kitchen’ to its mildness, and the highest price is about 5_d._ per +pound. The people, however, are not great smokers. Both sexes and all +ages prefer a pinch of natronized snuff between the lower lip and the +gums—in fact, where it can best excite the salivary glands. Pure snuff +is also made, and though a little deficient in flavour, it is by no +means despicable. The favourite snuff-box is a hollowed hard-shelled +fruit called ‘agbar.’ Curious to say, these Africans have not learned +the use of smoking or eating datura, a poison which overruns the land, +and I saw no bhang growing in the country. + +Ascending a dwarf slope of koko field, we clambered up some rocks, and +reached a place where Egugun, literally ‘Bones,’ is worshipped. The king +of ghosts here receives sacrifice in honour of the manes of the ancestor +in whose behalf the offering is made—it is in fact an African prayer for +the dead. The place shows only a dwarf enclosure of red clay walls, +whose roof is a gneiss boulder resembling Olumo. It was blackened with +smoke, and as we perched there to rest we were curiously inspected from +below by the meddlesome Christian populace of Wasimi. + +We manifestly stood on holy ground. Many stones bore signs of +medicine—yams, dabs of palm oil, broken calabashes, and cowries in +strings. Above us rose the ‘logan-stone,’ the remains of an older world, +now washed down into the deep Atlantic. Descending through a dense bush, +where long sharp thorns and the chance of meeting a snake made us ‘look +alive,’ and hopping from boulder to boulder, we presently entered the +mysterious Oro grove: a little further north it would be called a +‘Debbil-bush.’ The Egbas, like the ancient Persians, and most of the +modern pagans, combine a propensity for worshipping in high places with +fondness of the concealment which the shady forest affords. There was +nothing to distinguish the place from a jungle camp—though I have little +doubt that at no great distance we might find a skeleton or two with the +fatal cord still unrotted around its neck. Three dwarf sheds, short +smoke-stained mud walls with roofs of decaying palm-leaf, brown and +bald, a grassy patch broken here and there by boulders and enclosed +within a wall of bush verdure, capped by tall overhanging trees—this was +all that met the eye. To fill in the picture, you must suppose the place +restored and occupied by twenty or thirty ancients, villainous-looking +as Spanish inquisitors in caricature, with countenances expressing the +cold cruelty of the _castrato_ and the bloodthirsty joy with which the +cat plays with her prey; some sitting under the shade drinking pitto, +palm-wine, and fire-water, others standing, staff in hand, chanting, +gesticulating, and dealing out the words of wisdom, with, perhaps, the +material for torture or human sacrifice lying bound on the sward at +their feet. Such was the scene described to me by a gentleman who +unwittingly had passed by the Oro grove when council had met, and who +had bowed to its inmates. + +Returning towards Eruwan, I was shown by Mr. Hughes a house from which +he had saved an old man. The building had caught fire by the +carelessness of some women. The people however supposed it to be the +work of Shango—god of thunder and lightning: had no European been there, +or one without the pluck to break through the crowd and to harangue them +with explanations, there would have been an Egba _de moins_. As we +passed the Church Missionary compound there was a ‘pow-wow.’ A circle of +converts, clad in quasi-European toggery, squatted upon the ground, and +in the centre stood the speaker, who threw out his upper limbs and +gesticulated, walking up and down like a Hindu preacher. At first I +thought it was a young ‘camp meeting:’ presently the occasion was +explained to me. The chiefs at the seat of war had sent to the city a +message complaining that the Christians were not nearly so ready to +fight, and _pro patriô mori_, as they had promised, and as they ought to +be. It was a curious contrast to the scenes that had passed during the +day within the walls of the sacred building hard by—tidings of peace and +goodwill to all men delivered in the morning; in the evening, a summons +to kidnap, plunder, and kill. Yet, ταῦτα οὔτως ἔχει, as the Romaic +epitaph pathetically has it. + +I now proceed to a short account of the Yoruban mythology as far as it +is known—few of the people are conversant with its details—to books and +to my various informants. Like all these religions, if such they can be +called, there is in it a vagueness and a variety of explanation which, +despite the advantage of alphabets and of a far superior organization, +appears strikingly in the worship of ancient Greece and Rome, and of +modern India. The minor details are never to be trusted; the main points +are better fixed in the public mind—before two days’ residence in the +city you hear of Shango and Oro, and after a week they have become +‘household words.’ The mythology of Yoruba is not far from being as +extensive as that with which Assyria, Egypt, and India overspread the +Indo-European world, and its gods are numerically strong, mustering from +three hundred to four hundred. Like all other similar systems, it is a +syncretism, the deities being collected from the various lands to which +they were peculiar: thus Shiva, the Indian, is a local god, posterior to +Brahma and Vishnu, the other members of the triad; thus Bacchus came +from the banks of the Ganges or the Indus; and thus Osiris was imported +from Egypt into Rome. As I have before said, touching things material, +everywhere we see traces that Africa was once as closely united as +Italy. It is, therefore, difficult to say how much of the Yoruban faith +is original. The Romans penetrated through the northern desert, the Jews +had a powerful kingdom in Abyssinia, the Portuguese missionaries +invested the eastern and the western coasts, and the Moslems have +gradually been hemming in the heathenry. Such influences must have been +strong upon the plastic and conforming mind of the polytheist, but the +measure of their strength is not appreciable. + +Long ago Dr. Vanderkemp asserted that the Kafirs of the Cape were ‘pure +atheists,’ without the idea of the existence of a God. Mr. Casalis (p. +238) tells us that the Kafirs ‘had entirely lost the idea of a Creator;’ +that ‘it never entered their’ (the Kafirs’) ‘heads that the earth and +sky might be the work of an invisible being;’ and that in their +languages the word for world signified ‘having always been—to exist in +an incomprehensible manner.’ Bishop Colenso ascribes to them a distinct +traditionary belief in the Supreme Being, whom they acknowledge under +the twofold titles of Umkulumkulu—the Great Essence, and +Umvelinquanze—the First Comer Out; but of him and his attributes they +understand nothing, and neither worship nor invoke him.’ Dr. +Livingstone, with his usual peremptory and unsatisfactory way of laying +down the law upon every question, affirms that ‘the existence of a God +and of a future state has always been admitted by all the Bechuanas.’ A +far better authority, Dr. Moffat (‘Missionary Labours,’ p. 245), remarks +concerning the Bachwanas (Bechuanas), whilst owning that they ‘are acute +reasoners and minute observers of men and manners,’ that ‘to tell them, +the greatest of them, that there was a Creator, the Governor of the +heavens and earth—of the fall of man, or the redemption of the world—the +resurrection of the dead, and immortality beyond the grave—is to tell +them what appeared to be more fabulous, extravagant, and ludicrous than +their own vain stories about lions, hyænas, and jackals.’[94] I can +easily understand this. Perhaps the illustrious Humboldt, the greatest +philosopher of our age, sympathized in their touching confession of +ignorance concerning all things beyond man’s actual reach. And it is +undoubted that, by the force of their rationalism, these men, gifted +with the ‘docility of a child, but the reasoning powers of mature age,’ +were able to suggest to the Bishop of Natal that his misgivings touching +the historical character of the books attributed to Moses were founded +on fact. The same missionary (p. 257) declares that the Kafirs have no +word in their language expressing the conception of a Deity: he found no +altars, legends, or unknown gods, and his _soi-disant_ converts would +often declare to him that he had taught them the rudimental conception +of a Deity. He believes, like the Jesuits in China—who accounted for +Buddhism, the origin of their faith, as Satan’s caricature of it—that it +was the Devil who erased every vestige of religious impression from the +heathen mind. Setting aside the great fact, that of all unsuccessful +characters in history Sathanas is probably the greatest failure—in other +words that ‘the Devil _is_ an Ass’—I must differ from him in holding +atheism to be the natural condition of the savage and uninstructed mind, +the night of spiritual existence, which disappears before the dawn of a +belief in things unseen. A Creator is to creation what the cause of any +event in life is to its effect: those familiar to the sequence will +hardly credit its absence from the minds of others. And only the brain +supersaturated with its own prejudices and impressions can force itself +into explanations of the seeming mystery by referring it to diabolical +and similar mythical agencies. + +The Egbas have progressed more than one step beyond this savage atheism. +With ‘gods many and lords many,’[95] and a considerable mixture of +idolatry, they have a distinct name for a Creator. They call him Olorun, +an abbreviation of O li Orun—lord or owner of the sky or firmament. It +might also be translated Lord of Ghostland; Oki Orun, ‘Hill Ghostland’ +being, Anglicised, ‘Heaven,’ opposed to Orun Akpadi, which some +translate ‘Crucible Hades,’ _i.e._, Hell. Thus, the name of the town Bi +Olorun Kpellu, ‘Si Deus nobiscu’ (quis contra nos?). He is also known as +Eleda—the Creator, Olo-Dumare—the Ever-Righteous, Oluwa—the Lord, and +Oga-Ogo—the Glorious High One. These, however, are palpable attributes +of a vague being without personality and without objectivity: at best +the name is used like the Hindu Pariah employs the word +Bhagwan—Deity—whilst he worships some low incarnation which he considers +infinitely inferior in dignity to a live Brahmin. I much doubt, also, +whether the word conveys at all to their minds the Ens Entium, an +existence disseverated from some natural object—sun or sea, rain or +firmament.[96] The use of the name, however, is clear and distinct. The +Egbas say Olorun—not Orishako or Obatala—bless you! Olorun give you +children, farms, cowries! and so forth. Olorun aku!—salutation to +God!—is the highest expression of submission. Essentially simple, the +prayer has nothing to do with the metaphysics of faith—confession of +aboriginal sin, prayer for pardon, or thanksgiving for redemption. They +talk of seeing Olorun after death, and are said not to be without the +idea of a vague and obscure futurity, a continuation in which rewards +and punishments will be distributed. In Orun and its several +modifications it would not be difficult to discover a tripartite kingdom +of the dead, corresponding with the Elysium, the Hades, and the Tartarus +of ancient Europe. Only, as amongst the more polished Greeks and Romans, +the future is held by them to be, from its exceeding uncertainty, and +from the total absence of all judicial proof of its existence, much less +important than the present. As has been remarked, the Egbas have long +dwelt in the presence of a monotheistic people, the Moslems, and of late +years they have had Christians amongst them. But even without these +advantages the ease of an agricultural state, and the existence of a +distinct priestly body, would tend to promote the study of that which +comes, or is made to come, after the material world. + +Similarly the East Africans near the Moslems of Zanzibar have their +Mulungu; in the South-east, where the Portuguese are, their Murimo; and +in Kongo, also colonized by Europeans, their Zambi and Nganna Riossu. +Mungo Park also remarks of the negroes bordering upon Moslem Mandeng +that ‘the belief of one God, and of a future state of reward and +punishment, is entire and universal among them.’ + +To quote the same traveller, ‘The Africans represent the Deity indeed as +the creator and preserver of all things; but, in general, they consider +him a being so remote, and of so exalted a nature, that it is idle to +imagine the feeble supplications of wretched mortals can reverse the +decrees and change the purposes of unerring wisdom.’[97] That the gods +take but little interest, and exercise scant interference in human +affairs, is an idea as old as Confucius and Epicurus—they meddle, +indeed, so little that a future state must be hypothesised in account +for their incuriousness. The Africans, like many other ancient peoples, +seem to think that the Deity has retired from business, and has deputed +his functions to inferior officers. Besides, as much of their religion +is modified by and modelled upon their private life and the ceremonies +of their courts, they hold the courtiers completely distinct from and +somewhat independent of the king. They therefore use the name of, but do +not pray to, Olorun; and holding him so far above and beyond mankind +that he must be addressed through intermediate agencies, they satisfy +the yearnings of their human nature by the adoration of subordinate +beings. Thus the ancient Christians, whilst asserting that latria, +altars, and sacrifice were due to God alone, sanctioned addresses to +saints and martyrs, in order to be assisted by their prayers. Hence the +worship of Orisha or idols. + +The word Orisha is derived by some—Europeans will find the root of +everything—from Asha, ‘customs’ or ‘religious ceremonies.’ It is also +called Alaybawi—a mediator or intercessor. The saint system and prayers +to the Virgin are the vestiges of this idea in Christianity; in El Islam +the doctrine of Imams and Walis are fragments of the older creed set, +like the Black Stone which was once white, in the corner of the modern +faith. Of course the symbol is confounded with the thing symbolized; and +the statue or picture, which the enlightened look upon as they would a +portrait or a memento, becomes amongst the vulgar an object of absolute +worship.[98] + +There are three principal Orisha, which word, thus used, does not mean +idols, but rather the Di majorum gentium of the Romans, and which appear +to be deified heroes and ancestors. This triad consists of Obatala, +Shango, and Ifa. It does not, like the Hindu Trinity, express a +metaphysical idea of the Demiurgos in his great triune +operations—creating, preserving, destroying; nor does it typify the +family, as the Egyptian Osiris, Isis, and Horus; nor does it deify the +elemental worlds, like the Romans, who personified them by Jupiter, +Neptune, and Pluto. And it will be remarked that for the grace and +beauty of Greek fable these Africans substitute a grotesqueness—the +reflex of their own physical and moral peculiarities. It is to be hoped +that those enthusiasts who declare that ‘le dogme de la Trinité de +Personnes, dans l’Unité de l’Etre, se trouve dans la conscience des +peuples,’ will not find the idea in the Yoruban triad as they have in +the ‘three perpendicular lines of the Egyptians, the Chinese word +equivalent to Jehovah (!), the Tibetan Trabat, the savages of Cuba, the +Tanga-tanga of the Peruvians, the Celtic druids, the Odin, Wilo, and We +of the Scandinavians, and the book of Zohar.’ A past, present, and +future—a creation, preservation, and destruction—are easy mental +sequences, starting up instinctively. Besides, the Indo-European race, +to which the triad-belief belongs—as opposed to Semitic +monotheism—shows, from the most ancient times, the closest connection of +thought and derivation of language. + +Obatala is derived from Oba ti nla, the King of Greatness, also called +Orisha Klá, the great Orisha. Others deduce the word from ‘Oba ti álá,’ +King of Whiteness or Purity, whence his worshippers always wear white +garments. His other titles are Alamore, ‘owner of the good clay,’ and +Orisha Kpokpo, or Idol of the Gate—a guardian and a Janus. In this view +he is the first and greatest of created things; some, however, believe +him to be an ancient king of Yoruba, and quote the name of his father. +Thus Shodeke, as has been said, is in a fair way of becoming a +demigod.[99] He is sometimes represented as a warrior on horseback, +holding a spear; at other times as an androgyne, which white men +philosophize about as representing the male and female energies of +nature, whose god is Olorun or Eleda, the creator. Obatala’s wife is +Iyangba, or the receiving mother, and is denoted, like Isis and the +Madonna, by a woman nursing a child.[100] His sacred symbol is Okko, a +ship—the vessel, according to the rationalists, in which the Yoruban +people crossed the Niger: it is the Ark of that faith. Obatala created +the first man, Okikishi—so called from Okiki, fame, or Obalofu, the lord +of speech, equivalent to the Adam of the Hebrews; and the first woman +was his wife Iye, or life, from ‘ye,’ to live; in sound and idea +curiously resembling Hawwa or Eve. They came from heaven, an idea also +found in the book of Genesis. No Hebrew or Moslem believes the garden of +Eden to have been upon earth, but in the first or lowest of the Seven +Heavens, which is an exact fac-simile of these sub-lunary scenes;[101] +with them, therefore, the ‘Fall’ of man is literally a fall. Obalofu and +Iye had many children. Their first settlement was at Ife; they then +successively removed to Ikose, Igboho (Lander’s Bohoo), and Oyo or Eyeo. + +The second great Orisha is called Shango—he is a well-known god.[102] +This demi-deity—at once Vulcan, Tubal Cain, Thor, and Jupiter Tonans—was +born at Ife, and reigned at Ikoso, a town lately destroyed; others say +that he is a Nupe god. He had a palace of brass, and kept 10,000 horses +in his stables, showing him, by the analogy of Hercules, and Castor and +Pollux, to have been originally a mere mortal. Like certain Hebrew +worthies, he went alive to heaven, where he reigns in state, hunts, +fishes, markets, and wars. The abstract Shango is the grandson of +Aganju, the desert or firmament, a descendant from Okikishi: his father +is Orungan, or midday, and his mother is Yemaya or Ijemoja, ‘mother of +fishes,’ an unimportant river in Yoruba.[103] His elder brother is Dada, +or nature—from ‘da,’ to create; his younger is the River Ogun; his +friend and associate is Orishako, god of farms; his slave, Biri, or +darkness; his wives are the Rivers Oya (Niger), Oshun, and Obba; and his +priest is Magba, the Receiver—not a bad name. His worshippers carry a +bag, because he was fond of predatory wars. Practically, Shango is the +deity of thunder, lightning,[104] and fire: he is also called Jákuta, or +the stone-thrower, and he favours the good, especially protecting +hunters, fishermen, and warriors. Wherever lightning has struck, or an +aërolite[105] has fallen, there Shango has been; when a house is fired, +or is struck by lightning, the priests and mob rush in to find the +stone, and seize the opportunity of plundering; besides which, they +claim a general right to steal goats and chickens. Shango’s symbol is a +small wooden bat, called ‘ose,’ with a handle one foot long. He is +consulted by throwing sixteen pierced cowries: if eight fall upwards and +eight downwards, it is peace; if all are upwards, it is also a good +sign; and, _vice versâ_, if all fall with their teeth to the ground, it +is war. + +The last of the triad is Ifa, which appears to be not a person, but a +myth, originating at the town of Ife.[106] He is the revealer of +futurity, and the patron of marriage and childbirth. His high priest—the +head of the Babbalawo, or Fathers of Secrets—is said to live upon a +mountain near Awaye, a gigantic cone of granite eight to ten miles in +circumference, seen from the distance of several days’ journey towering +solitary above the landscape, and surmounted, it is said, by a palm- +tree, bearing sixteen boughs, produced by the sixteen nuts planted by +the sixteen founders of the Yoruban empire. His chief priest at Abeokuta +is known as Obba Limore, King of the grove; and none but the secret- +keeping sex is initiated into the mysteries. As the great oracle, Ifa +supports a large family, who live gratis upon the offerings of the +devotees—sheep and goats, fowls and pigeons.[107] The priests are known +by their bead necklaces, small strings twisted together, with ten large +white and green beads, some inches apart. They officiate in white, and +constantly use a fly-whisk. Their deity being called Bángá, God of Palm- +nuts, they choose as his symbols those that are placental with four +holes. The operation of casting lots is intricate, and is variously +described by different observers: odd and even, and ‘heads or tails,’ +appear to be the ruling principles.[108] Ifa proved unexpectedly—if not +paid for the purpose—a friend to the white man at Abeokuta. When +consulted whether missionaries should be admitted, he answered, ‘Yes.’ +When it was further inquired whether a church might be founded at +Igbeni, he replied in the affirmative. The pious of Understone refer his +general correctness to the operation of evil spirits: on this occasion, +however, as in many others, Satan seems to have amused himself with +casting out sin. + +Besides these three great Orishas, there are many Di minorum gentium, +who are, even more palpably, men and women of note in their day—of whom +only the principal will be noticed. + +Ogun is the god of blacksmiths and armourers. He is also the patron of +hunters and warriors, in which quality human sacrifices are offered to +him. The victim is decapitated, the head is affixed to a tree, and the +body is placed publicly before the symbol, a dwarf, spear shaped, iron +or copper, to which a chain is attached. + +The sun and the moon are worshipped at Ife, ‘the Pantheon of Yoruba,’ +where a brazen chair and brass images of these objects fell from heaven. + +A peculiar worship in this country is Ori, which means the worshipper’s +own head, seeming to involve the idea of luck or good fortune. Other +parts of the body are worshipped; the foot, for instance, before +proceeding on a journey—and most African travellers will sympathize with +this sentiment. The symbol of Ori is half a calabash stuck with almonds, +like a pudding, till the substance can hardly be seen, and hung about +with long strings of the same shell. This is placed upon the ground, and +duly adored. A similar emblem belongs to Dada, whom the missionaries +translate Nature, but who is rather the god or genius of newly-born +children. His sign is a cawl, and he is worshipped as a calabash, +provided with longer strings than those of Ori. + +Odua or Odudua, the universe, or the goddess of earth and sky, is +located at Ife.[109] Oye is the Yoruban Æolus, the Harmattan, a giant, +residing in a cave of the winds at Igbetti, one of the highest mountains +in Yoruba, between Igboho and Ilori: during the dry season he rushes out +and breathes cold over the land: in Hausa ice is not unknown. + +The idol Oriskako—_i.e._, Orisha Oko—patron of farms, has its head- +quarters—_i.e._, its priests and sacrifices—at Irawo, a town in Western +Yoruba. Its symbol is a large iron bar, and its worship is very +expensive. The people have a tradition that in the olden time a six- +fingered giant dwelt at the Egba town of Igbehi. When summoned to swear +by Oriskako, at Irawo, he waxed wroth, slew the priests, and carried off +ten of the sacred bars, for which reason no native of Igbehi is allowed +to enter Irawo. + +The ‘Orisha of children’ is a truly hideous little image, carried about +by women, in their waist-clothes, when one of twins dies or is +destroyed:[110] consequently these idols are of two sexes. The male, +about a span and two fingers high, is in the rudest semblance of a man, +mounted on a little circular pedestal, with a head like a Pongo’s, a +top-knot of hair, huge ears, prognathous jaws, projecting lips, and thin +lozenge-shaped cuts on the forehead, and on each cheek three similar +horizontal and three perpendicular. The body—but little longer than the +head, or broader than the feet—is in the style of the coarsest Hindu +idol: a kind of pent-roof descends from the waist, exposing the legs, +which are much shorter than the forearm. The feminine figure is wholly +nude, in equally symmetrical proportions, finished as certain statues +outside the Pitti Palace at Florence, and with a bosom of the largest +dimensions, showing the true African _beau-idéal_. These idols are both +adorned with rings and bracelets of beads: they are hardly to be bought +at Abeokuta: at Lagos, however, two men make them, at the rate of three +shillings each. I sent a pair for the edification of those at home. + +With all these beneficent deities, it would be curious if the Egbas +neglected the worship of the bad god—the Guebre’s Ahriman. Accordingly, +we find they have a terrible evil entity, whom they call Eshu, the +Rejected—from ‘shu,’ to cast out—and whom the missionaries identify with +the Devil, who is palpably a Semite. Eshu is probably some bad ghost, +who has made a name amongst the million. Of the same kind is Akilasho. +Eshu is also called Elegbárá, the mighty and evil being, stronger than +good: he is propitiated by small offerings; his symbol, erroneously +called an altar, is a bit of stone—a rude conglomerate of pebbles set in +clay, tinged with oxide—and upon this palm oil is poured. Vestiges of +this ‘devil worship’[111] are everywhere to be seen in the streets of +Abeokuta. The Egbas have borrowed from the Moslem Fula the word Ibilisi, +the Arab Iblis or Sathanas; amongst the latter, however, it is concrete +and objective, not so with the former. Orun Akpadi represents the rude +beginning of a future place of punishment; at present, however, it seems +to convey to their minds the next world—a faint idea of continuation is +familiar to most Africans, except to the most material tribes—where +evil-doers will expiate the sins of this life. + +We now proceed to a third class of deities, which distinctly shows the +power of religion as a substitute for police or gendarmerie amongst a +barbarous people. The two principal persons—if they can so be called—are +Egugun and Oro. + +Egugun—literally meaning ‘Bones’—is supposed to be a dead man risen from +the grave: he is called by Europeans the Aku Devil.[112] He is not +unknown at Lagos, but his powers are greater at Abeokuta and in the +northern parts of Yoruba. He is the local Mumbo Jumbo, the Ndá and +Kuhkwi of Southern Guinea, the Okuku of the Mpongwe, Bakele, and Shekani +tribes, the Makoko of Batanga, the Lú of Bambarra, and the Simo of the +Rio Nunez. ‘Egugun sha’au’—‘Egugun chop you!’—is the equivalent of our +‘Devil take you!’ I once met this ‘party’ in the streets. He was a tall +fellow, without the drawn sword mentioned by Mr. Bowen, but otherwise +most fantastically clad. His face was covered with a plaiting of net- +work, like a mask, and his head with a hood, whose streamers of red +scarlet crimson and dirty white hung down and mixed with the similar +tatters and patches of his lower dress. To his back, between the +shoulders, was suspended a German penny mirror, and his shoes, like +moccassins, completely hid his feet. The latter members he is not +supposed to possess; and the same was thought of Europeans before they +were seen to remove their boots and stockings. Egugun replied with a +curious and studied grunting to our facetious salutations, and moved out +of the way of the horses. It is said that if any one—even the +king—touches him, the man must die. Adult males, and even the free-born +boys, know Egugun to be a mortal; but if a woman swears falsely by him, +or even says that he is not a tenant of the grave, she would lose her +life. The missionaries have declared that ‘even Mohammedans and +Christians are obliged to conceal their knowledge of the imposture under +penalty of martyrdom’—but this, I think, is hardly probable. Egugun, +then, is a ‘Raw bones and bloody head,’ apparently intended to keep +slaves, women, and children in a state of due subjection: he is the whip +and the cucking-stool apotheosised. In Southern Guinea the women have a +counteracting institution called Njembe. + +If Egugun represent the domestic, Oro personifies the public police; and +it is explained as ‘the executive or vindictive power of civil +government deified.’ The word properly means pain, torment, punishment. +The derivation has naturally been sought in ‘Orun, the sun; in the +Hebrew Aur; in the Ur of the Chaldees; in οὐρανὸς; in the Egyptian +Pharaoh; in the Orotalt or Urrat-Ilat (fire-goddess) of the Pagan Arabs; +in Aurora and Aurum, and, more remote still, in the Madagascan Auru, the +Philippine Arao, and the Peruvian Uru;’ but apparently, by going +farther, philological vagary has fared worse. We will rest contented, +then, with its primary meaning, ‘punishment’—when a criminal is killed, +he is ‘given to Oro,’ and thus the penalty assumes a Macchiavellian +mystery—and we will conclude that it represents to the Egba what Nemesis +did to the Greek and Roman. + +Oro is a _vox et præterea nihil_, and an idea common to Yoruba; I +afterwards found him flourishing at the city of Great Benin. Like +Egugun, he is supposed not to be known to the women—as if that were +possible!—and I have seen an Egbanized Englishman show terror on hearing +his name mentioned in public. Mr. Bowen has been greatly blamed by the +Abeokutans for revealing the great secret in print. Oro is supposed to +haunt the woods, and when he appears it is for the purpose of striking +terror. Nightly, about 7 or 8 P.M., the cry of ‘Oro’ (the voice of my +father) resounds in the streets; at this savage tocsin the women must +fly within doors, under the usual penalty, a violent death. It was not +without trouble that the missionaries obtained permission for their +female converts to attend service on Sunday evenings. Oro, however, does +not visit the market-places, and he disappears before a party of men +with lanterns. This African curfew is produced by a thin slip of wood, +about one foot long by a few inches in breadth, fastened to a stick by a +long string, which allows it to ascend and descend, thereby raising and +lowering the tone. I recommend this utensil—whose curious booming noise, +as it sounds through the shades of night, is imposing enough—to Mr. Hume +and the Spiritualists. It is as superior to the silk kerchief and the +easy-tongs as the Thug’s silken cord is to the foul fustian sleeve of +the English garotter. The voice of Oro is accompanied by a terrible +caterwauling, in imitation of wild beasts; and he appears to be +everywhere—the fact is, he is stationed in all the different quarters of +the city. As a _vox_, he curbs the irregularities which would be +favoured by the darkness of night and the shading trees. He is certainly +armed, and probably he consists of a strong party. A corpse whose throat +has been cut, and whose shin-bones have been broken with fearful +violence by this ‘spirit,’ may at times be seen. + +I was not fortunate enough to witness an Oro day; the ceremonies, +however, were lengthily explained to me. It takes place only on +occasions of great palavers. The principal requisite is that no woman +must be seen out of doors; and the object is obvious—to insure a decent +silence during debate. We read in ‘Appleton’[113] that the old Mohawks +always avoided speaking whilst paddling across the Saratoga Lake. On one +occasion an Englishwoman persuaded them to ferry her over, which they +did with the promise that their custom should be respected. The strong- +minded Britoness, when half way over, determined to ‘show the savages +the weakness of their superstition,’ and to that effect uttered a loud +cry. Nothing followed, and the chief was rallied upon the subject of his +fears. ‘The Great Spirit,’ replied the Mohawk, with much truth, ‘is +merciful; he knows that a white woman cannot hold her tongue.’ Now the +Egbas have found in their simplicity the method of doing what the +Eastern proverb declares to be impossible—of curbing a certain member of +a certain sex. + +When the town is ‘given to Oro,’ as the phrase is, criers go about +shouting, ‘Atolo! Atolo! Ozez! Ozez!’ and striking clapperless unbrazed +bells like extinguishers. The women rush within the house—the gates are +apparently built for the purpose—and pass their hours in ‘knagging’ and +quarrelling. The men and boys go abroad; in places the streets are +desert as those of New York on Sundays, whilst others are crowded with +dancers and tumblers, processions and stump orators—in fact, with all +the material of a ‘palaver.’ The Ogbone lodges are filled with their +members, who discuss the important measure after the African fashion, +every one freely giving his own opinion, however far-fetched or +ridiculous. According to Mr. Campbell, severe whippings are then and +there administered to those offending with the fair sex. Breakers of the +seventh commandment, says Mr. Bowen, are obliged to run the gauntlet in +the public square. After sunset the firing of guns—which are not allowed +to be discharged during the hours of light—announces the conclusion of +an Oro day, when the town returns to its normal occupations. + +The Egbas have no such thing as demonolatry because they have no demons, +or the genius which Christian philosophers opined to be evil spirits. +The distinction between diaboloi and daimonii is unknown to them; but +they believe in certain entities which, unless propitiated, will do them +evil. The missionaries Anglicise Egbiri by ‘ghost,’ and Emi by +‘spirit’—a manifest borrowing from the Pneuma, Psychos, Soma, that +compose the European Ego.[114] The hysteric sufferers known to the +ancients as daimonazomenoi and enthusiazomenoi, who, under fits, were +insensible, like the mesmeric subjects of the modern day, are common +amongst the Egbas, as indeed amongst all pure or nearly pure African +races. Of course there is the true African belief in ghosts, who are +supposed to desire men’s deaths, and the deceased is a vindictive thing +to be feared as long as remembered.[115] Witchcraft is common. The white +witch or witch-finder of the days of James I. is usually the fetish-man; +and according to the Mosaic law, the witch or wizard is not suffered to +live. Europeans often consider the crime fanciful, and waste a great +deal of good pity upon victims to popular indignation. Setting aside the +Mosaic order and the Twelve Tables, the witch, it must be remembered, +believes in the power of her spells, and commits murder in her heart; +her incantations too often take effect—like the predictions of Mdlle. le +Normand—upon the silly superstitious souls around her; and not +unfrequently she brings arsenic, or something equally material—as the +homœopaths do calomel—to the aid of her spiritual powers.[116] On the +other hand, witchcraft has its good side, and is by no means the unmixed +evil that some hold it to be. Where the dark places of the earth are +full of cruelty, its vague terrors form a salutary check upon the +violence of husbands and masters, rulers and criminals. It is the power, +and the only power, of the weak. + +Where witchcraft prevails, the talisman must be common. Here the grigri, +as it is barbarously called, is the prophylactic of the Jews, the amulet +of Christian Abyssinia and Syria, the cross and miraculous medal of +Southern Europe. So horse-shoes in England and the West Indies +neutralize evil influences; egg-shells hung in the chimney-corner make +chickens flourish, and extracted teeth are thrown over the house, or are +worn, to prevent toothache. A folio volume might be filled with these +fooleries of faith, which serve for two objects—the attainment of good +and the avoidance of harm in this life. I look upon them as the vestiges +of that fetishism which is the first dawn of religion in the breast of +the savage and the barbarian, and which cannot fail to crop out even +from the enlightened surface of monotheism. Besides which, belief or +superstition is, like happiness, most equally divided amongst men. Those +who balk at the possible will swallow the impossible, and those who +deride the credos of others must make up for themselves faiths of their +own, which appear quite as ridiculous to their neighbours. In the +present state of human nature, faith appears a necessary evil, an +inseparable weakness. Nor can we see any corrective of, or substitute +for it until, after the convulsion which follows the present period of +quiescence, a higher race—as the elephant is to the mastodon—succeeds +the present. + +Witchcraft also necessitates ordeals; these, however, are not the +Judicia Dei, as they were held to be in Europe. They rather correspond +in action with the Erinnyes and the Eumenides of ancient Greece. The +poisons and drugs are intelligent beings, which, entering the stomach +that here represents man’s heart in its sentimental sense, searches out +his guilt and sin. At times, finding nothing of evil, it returns by +emetism, and thus establishes the innocence of the accused; at others, +it discovers the material element of witch-power—the aorta has been +shown as an irrefragable proof—and it kills the wizard by the +mismanagement of a weapon intended for the destruction of others; he is +hoisted with his own petard; he falls into the pit which he digged for +his brother. Trial by poison ordeal, however, is not so fatally common +as the sancy water and the poison bean, which sweep away whole families +and even villages on the coast and on the Oil Rivers; nor is it +accompanied with the horrors that distinguish it at Badagry and ill- +famed Dahome. The priest will squirt capsicum or bird-pepper juice into +the eyes of the accused, and lachrymation proves guilt: this, however, +appears rather in the light of a torture to make criminals confess. +Certain Yoruban cities are said to have local ordeals, but little is +known of them at Abeokuta. + +Dreams, according to the Yorubans and to many of our fetishists, are not +an irregular action, and partial activity of the brain, but so many +revelations brought by the manes of the departed. They believe in a +physical metamorphosis, which Europeans insist upon confounding with +metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls. The former is simple and +purely natural; the latter is a complex and contradictory system, +postulating the existence of what is proofless; an immortal nonentity +called Spirit, created out of nothing—despite ‘ex nihilo nihil fit’—in a +limited number for an unlimited number of human beings, and destined to +end where it began, and whence its beginning was consequently uncalled +for. But Europe cannot deride Asia in this particular. He who denies or +demands proof that a soul or spirit exists, who considers ‘Mind’ to be +the working of the brain, and who holds ‘Matter,’ as it is popularly +understood, sufficient for all human phenomena, is held in a holy +horror. To me it appears that he rather honours the Omnipotent who can, +out of so vile a body, produce effects which others must attribute to +their mysterious ‘dweller in the temple,’ must in fact solve their +difficulties by adding a supplement to the Book of Creation. + +It is hard to say whence came the tales invented by the African to +explain the inferiority of the black to the white man. Their +universality induces me to think them an emanation from the Hamitic +brain. Nothing so puzzles and perplexes the negro as to inform him that +all nations were made of one flesh; it is an insult to his Common Sense +which Time only can efface. The much-vexed Noachian flood is of course +found for them in their legends of local inundations. As might be +expected amongst a working people, there is already an idea of a +week[117]—a decimal week, like that of the Aztecs and Javans, containing +five days. The terminal day of rest is called Ose, when water is brought +for the deities in long processions, libations are poured out, and other +religious ceremonies are performed. A month of four weeks, each +consisting of five days, gives an equal number of units to each whole; +with us the system is so complicated that we cannot remember it without +a schoolboy rhyme—moreover, all the weeks are comprehended without +fractions in the year. + +It is a question whether the intercourse of more progressive creeds is +or is not modifying the Yoruban mythology. The older hands declare that +faith is gradually decaying, and that Oro is not nearly so powerful as +in their day; and they vainly attempt to arouse the enthusiasm of the +people by petty attempts at a persecution. Old age, however, is and +always will be _laudator temporis acti se puero_; on the other hand, +there are residents who assert that the idolatries are not diminishing, +and that cannibalism and human sacrifices, which were once performed in +public, are now practised under the rose. My time did not permit me to +enter deeply into these troublesome questions. Mr. Crowther[118] has +accused the Egbas (his own tribe) of boiling and eating the bodies of +certain Ijebu invaders, in order to terrify the enemy;[119] and declares +that Ikumi, chief of the Ijebu, was guilty of a similar savagery. The +missionary, however, like the antiquary, is always somewhat credulous on +the subject of heathen malpractices. Concerning human sacrifice I have +something in a future page. + +There is nothing remarkable in the marriage rites of the Egbas. +Betrothal takes place early, although the girl is rarely married before +eighteen or twenty, and the dowry, amongst the middle classes, may be +four dollars. The bride and bridegroom repair to Ife, or some other +place of pilgrimage; pray, and sacrifice. At night the bridesmaids +escort the bride to her new home, where a feast leads to the +consummation of the marriage. If the groom be satisfied, he sends +presents to the wife’s family, especially to his mother-in-law, who is +called the ‘little mother,’ in contradiction to the true parent. If he +find reason to complain, he dismisses his bride, and sends, bitterly, a +few broken cowries to her mamma.[120] The marriages are not very +prolific; ‘fecundity diminishes in proportion as we advance from +temperate regions to the poles and the equator.’ All Africans—amongst +whom there is a curious Malthusian instinct—possess anaphrodisiacs, and, +finally, the prolonged lactation, by determining the vital current to +the breast, prevents the women from becoming mothers. There are few +ceremonies after birth: a name is presently given to the child, and, as +amongst the Mpongwe of the Gaboon River, water is sprinkled upon it—a +faint resemblance to the modern, not the ancient, baptism of the +Christians. The son inherits all the father’s wives save his own mother. + +Polygamy is of course the foundation-stone of Yoruban society. I cannot +remember a single African or Asiatic tribe—except the polyandrous—in +which this is not the case, and the rule is equally applicable to the +North American aborigines. Europe forms, and almost always has formed, +the sole exception. To account for this fact perhaps a few lines may not +be out of place. + +The savage and the barbarian are polygamic because they are dependent +for the necessaries and for the little comforts of their poor existence +upon a plurality of women and the number of their children. Servants are +unknown; slaves are rare. A single wife cannot perform all the offices +required even in the simplest stage of society. Moreover, there is, in +the different races or sub-species of mankind, as amongst the humbler +animals, a greater or a lesser difference, bodily and mental, between +the two sexes. In the gallinaceæ the male is far nobler than the female; +in the equines the two are nearly equal; in the falconidæ the female is +stronger and braver than the male. Thus, in the European and the +Hindu,[121] the woman is quasi-equal with the man; in the African, the +American, and the lower races of Asiatic, she is inferior and +monogamous, whilst his propensities are polygamic. + +Amongst the Jews there was at first no attempt at the vulgar limitations +of the family. ‘The care of the Mosaic, as of other Oriental +legislation, was directed to the protection of the woman from harsh +behaviour or capricious desertion, and to the fair treatment of the +offspring without reference to the mutual affection of the parents. That +the man who associated with a virgin incurred the charge of her +protection, and that the mother, by the very act of maternity, assumed +the lesser dignity of the wife, were the foundations of the domestic +morals of the ancient world, the guiding principles of the social +life.’[122] Samuel and the Patriarchs had two and more spouses, Solomon +a countless harem, as became a king of kings, and Cato looked upon his +wife merely as a machine for the manufacture of progeny. As society +became more complex, a certain limitation became necessary. The +customary laws of the Jews confined the high-priest to one wife, and +apostolic injunction continued the same to the Christian bishop, +without, however, forbidding a plurality of wives to the laity or to the +other officers of the Church. It is hard to believe that this want of +express condemnation arose from mere expediency, from the danger of +disruption of the Oriental home, and from the fear of its being an +obstacle to the conversion of the wealthier classes. Those familiar with +modes of thought in the East well know the horror and loathing with +which the people generally look upon the one-wife system, their contempt +for the bastard, and their inability to witness in their own society +those scenes which the monogamic cities of Europe must tolerate for fear +of even greater social evils to the family. The ordinary Hebrew was +ordered to be contented with four wives, a practice perpetuated by the +apostle of El Islam and the king to eighteen. Thus Josephus distinctly +called polygamy ‘the custom of his country.’ Nor was it modified till +the depression of the Jew’s social position compelled him to follow the +laws and customs of the nations amongst whom he was located. ‘In the +eleventh century Rabbi Gerson, in connection with other Jewish doctors +in France and the north of Germany, prohibited marrying more than one +wife under pain of excommunication, and this was afterwards accepted by +most European congregations. Nevertheless, both in Italy and Germany +there seems to have existed the permission to take a second wife, when +the first was hopelessly barren, and Papal dispensations to this effect +are recorded to have been given in the dominions of the Holy See as late +as the seventeenth century (_vide_ “Historia degli riti Hebraici,” by +Leo. Mutensis, 1657, cited by Selden in his “Uxor Hebraica”); while in +Sicily, where the Saracenic traditions might still linger, the author of +the “Ebraismo della Sicilia,” writing in 1748, attributes the rapid +increase of the Jewish population to the enforced early marriages and +the habitual practice of polygamy.’[123] (P. 20. By Giovanni de’ +Giovanni: Inquisator Reale della suprema Inquisizione di Sicilia.) + +It is, as the reviewer well remarks, entirely gratuitous to suppose +that, at the time of the advent of Christ, the general Jewish custom of +polygamy had fallen into desuetude in consequence of the prohibition by +Roman manners, if not by Roman laws. The reverse was the case; the rigid +monogamy of the early Italians was disappearing in the presence of a +less austere and a more sensuous life. ‘The almost sacramental Sabine +ceremony of the _confarreatio_ (of which we still retain a relic in our +“bride-cake”) was rapidly becoming confined to the use of the Pagan +priesthood; the wife was daily ceasing to regard her husband as _amicum, +patrem, tutorem_; the dignity and privilege of the _materfamilias_ had +declined to the position of _uxor tantummodo_; the married Antony had +openly espoused Cleopatra, and the _quotidiana repudia_ of Mæcenas +shocked only the stoic Seneca.’ To this I will add that the old-bachelor +system appeared in its entirety amongst the philosophers and wits, +_teste_ one Horatius Flaccus, who might have been a club-man of the +present day. + +During a missionary dinner at Abeokuta I was somewhat startled by an +account of their treatment of polygamic converts. Having accidentally +mentioned that a Protestant bishop in South Africa had adopted to +advantage the plan of not separating husband and wives, I was assured +that in Yoruba the severe test of sincerity was always made a _sine quâ +non_ before baptism. This naturally induced an inquiry as to what became +of the divorcees. ‘We marry them,’ said the Rev. Mr. Gollmer, ‘to some +bachelor converts.’ This appeared to me the greatest insult to common +sense, the exercise of a power to bind and to loose with a witness; a +right to sanctify adultery pure and simple, to do evil that good may +come of it,[124] a proceeding which may make any marriage a no-marriage. +But I was still more astonished to find, when quoting the opinion of +Martin Luther, in the case of Philip of Hesse, that several reverend +gentlemen had never heard of it, and most when the Rev. Mr. Gollmer, who +manifestly made acquaintance with it for the first time, opined that the +said Martin Luther had so lately emerged from the darkness of Romanism, +that on this point his inner vision was not strong enough to face the +light.[125] + +The reverend gentleman’s last objection struck me the more forcibly, as +it is evident that to the Roman Catholic Church—which, when barely +adolescent claimed, and still claims in her decrepitude, the right of +precedence over the State—we owe, in modern times, the most curious +limitation of human liberty ever forced upon mankind. Let us see what +the reviewer says upon the subject. I will abridge his excellent sketch. + +No council, during the first centuries of the Church, denounced polygamy +as a sin, but the apostolic limitation of the bishop’s household was +soon applied to the whole ministry, and, in the West penalties were +attached to the practice. The Manicheans and Gnostics condemned marriage +in toto, because it is founded on concupiscence and propagates the work +of the devil in confining human souls in bodies of matter: hence Mani +called his elect or perfect—the class above the hearers—men-virgins. +This heresy was rebutted, but it seems to have found place in the minds +of men. St. Jerome, who is accused by the Reformers of thinking too +exclusively of ‘victuals and virginity,’ would not undertake to declare +a polygamist in mortal sin (‘Epistle to Pammachius,’ where he writes +‘non damno polygamos’). St. Augustine (contra Faustum, lib. 22) is even +more precise: ‘Quando mos erat plures habere uxores, crimen non erat; +nunc propterea crimen est, quia mos non est.’[126] Polygamy was +forbidden throughout the empire by the imperial decrees of A.D. 393, but +within thirty years the Emperor Valentinian restored the liberty of +marriage, according to the several customs and religions of the +inhabitants of the Roman world. Even in later days the Merovingian kings +took as many wives simultaneously as suited their passions or their +politics, and ‘Charlemagne, an eminently Christian emperor, paraded as +large a harem as an Oriental sultan would have decorously concealed.’ +Probably, in the presence of such disorders, that development of the +doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church took place which +ended in marriage being taken out of the category of personal contracts, +and, according to the character of the participants, crowned as a +sacrament or branded as a sin. In these latter days the claims of +polygamy have been wholly neglected. A late work (‘La Régénération du +Monde, opuscule dédié aux douze tribus d’Israël’) by M. Joseph de +Félicité, contains the following curious sentences:—‘Il est donc +essentiel que les peuples’ (Jews and Moslems), ‘sachant que la +Polygamie, qui a été autorisée et pratiquée jusqu’au temps de Jésus- +Christ, a été revoquée par lui’ (when? where?) ‘et qu’elle est interdite +par la Sainte Eglise suivant le décrit du Concile de Trent XXIVme +session: “Si quelqu’un dit qu’il est permis aux Chretiens d’avoir +plusieurs femmes, et que cela n’est défendu par aucune loi divine, qu’il +soit anathème.”’ But there is an older and a more terrible anathema upon +him who takes away from or adds to a word of what was spoken, and, +perhaps, even the Council of Trent will not be held guiltless. + +It is, therefore, among the dissidents from the Church of Rome that we +must look for assertions touching the lawfulness of polygamy. The +advocates are of two classes. The first is of the Casuists—the German +Reformers, for instance—who permit the practice in exceptional cases of +individual temperament or state necessity, such as might be the subjects +of especial dispensation in the Roman Church; the second is of the +Moralists, who, without regarding polygamy as an absolute good, still +look on it as a preservative from the miseries and disgraces incident to +the illicit intercourse of the sexes in countries where marriage is +restricted and men are licentious.[127] To this class belong the Saxon +Lyserus (author of ‘Polygamia Triumphatrix,’ under the name of +Theophilus Aletheus), Bishops Berkeley and Burnet—who concludes by +saying that ‘he can see nothing so strong against polygamy as to balance +the great and visible imminent hazards that hang over so many thousands +if it be not allowed’—the Rev. Mr. Madan, who, in his ‘Thelyphthora,’ +would give to seduction all the responsibilities of marriage, and the +‘oblique advocate,’ poetic Cowper. In 1784, the argument was revived in +Russia by the Comte de Rantzow, who asserted that Frederic of Sweden had +lately proposed to the states of his kingdom—where bigamy is punished +with extreme severity—to permit polygamy, and that the project had been +accepted by the two Lower, but rejected by the two Upper Houses of the +legislature. + +To conclude; I would assure these and other missionaries that had less +objection been made to polygamy on their part, the heathen would have +found far fewer obstacles to conversion. Those who hold it their duty to +save souls, should seriously consider whether they are justified in +placing such stumbling-blocks upon the path of improvement. + +Funerals play almost as important a part as weddings in the economy of +Yoruban society. The preliminary wake takes place in the verandah of the +dead man’s house, which, like the king’s audience room, is hung with the +richest cloths procurable. The ceremony itself reminds us of the old +Scotch annalist’s words: ‘In years of plenty,’ says Fletcher of Saltoun, +‘many thousands of them meet together in the mountains, where they feast +and riot for many days, and at country weddings, markets, burials, and +other public occasions, they are to be seen, both men and women, +perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and fighting together.’ Women +are there skilful in weeping and shrieking ‘like mandrakes torn from the +ground;’ the sound of the tom-tom is incessant; at times an overloaded +musket is discharged; whilst the mob drinks to intoxication and dances +to ‘break the fear,’ as the East Africans say. During the orgies, a +procession perambulates the town, numerous singers, dancers, and +myriologists, or keeners, accompanying men who bear a board covered with +a cloth to represent a corpse. The body, packed mummy-like in all the +finery which was never exposed during lifetime,[128] is buried at full +length in the house where the deceased lived, and a stone is placed over +the grave, or a painted tablet is affixed to the wall opposite the spot. +Hunters and other castes are buried outside the city gates. The corpses +of debtors and ‘pawns,’ or men pledged for debt, are tied up in mats, as +on the Gold Coast, and are placed horizontally between stakes at a +distance of four to five feet from the ground, where they must remain +until redeemed by the nearest of kin. Infants are buried behind the +housewalls, not in the piazza, because they are supposed to have been +killed by evil influences. On the seventh night, the relations and +friends of the departed issue from the city gates after dark, cast his +arms and clothes on the way-side, thrice call upon his name, and adjure +him not to let, haunt, or otherwise injure them. After thus propitiating +the ghost, they return to the dead man’s house, where a feast and a +carousal end the ceremonies. + +Human sacrifices for the dead, or ‘customs,’ so common in many parts of +Africa, are here comparatively rare; when offered, it is with the idea +of presenting to the departed what is most valuable to the living;[129] +and, as has been observed, a modified apotheosis is common. In Roman +Catholic countries the deceased, if not too severely handled by the +devil’s advocate, may after a century or so, and at an expense of +10,000_l._, become a saint—at Abeokuta he has a chance of being raised +to the godhead. The Cairene superstition of the dead refusing to leave +the town, the bier whirling round and round, and the bearers being +driven hither and thither, is not unknown: here, however, if the people +are thrown against the wall of a man’s house, it involves the latter in +a witchcraft ‘palaver,’ which he must settle by fine or by the poison +ordeal. + + +[Footnote 86: When we first occupied the unhappy valley of the Indus, +the Sindhian women used to bathe without dress at the wells: with Moslem +decorum they were safe, but the Frank soon changed all that.] + +[Footnote 87: Lagos kills a consul about every two years. The only way +to remedy it would be to sleep for the first year on board a ship, or +still better, a large hulk anchored off the town in mid-channel. At +night the malarious vapour is condensed and concentrated by the +chilliness of the ground, and is absorbed or rendered innocuous by +passing over a sheet of water.] + +[Footnote 88: The European fashion is best adapted for heavy axe-blades +in temperate climates. In the tropics the wood, alternately wetted and +parched, shrinks, swells, and rots. I prefer, to all, a hollow iron +handle, firmly riveted to the blade.] + +[Footnote 89: I sent some to England, where their novelty and +grotesqueness caused them to be greatly admired.] + +[Footnote 90: An account of the Egba dispersion will be given in a +future page.] + +[Footnote 91: Figurative. There are but few wild bees, and honey is +unknown in this part of Africa.] + +[Footnote 92: Mr. Senior, and probably others, opines touching ‘plural +government,’ that ‘the Greeks were the inventors of the system of +dividing the sovereign power among a number of co-ordinate persons, +whose combined assent was necessary to an act of supreme authority.’ He +would have found the principle and the practice in the remotest and most +barbarous of African tribes.] + +[Footnote 93: It is not cultivated, and therefore little prized by +natives: the flavour of turpentine is its characteristic.] + +[Footnote 94: This curious admission reminds me of the words of a +certain preacher: ‘Now, my brethren, Conscience is not, as some say, a +geographical or a chronological accident,’—a fatal sentence, never to be +forgotten, I am sure, by many of his hearers.] + +[Footnote 95: Mr. Bowen steps into the absurd, by enunciating the +doctrine, that ‘no _man_ has ever believed in two gods.’ He should have +said, no free-born citizen of the Great Republic.] + +[Footnote 96: Some writers (_e.g._ ‘Savage Life in Africa.’ Home and +Foreign Review, July, 1862,) have objected that ‘it does not follow, +because a savage calls God and sky by the same name, that therefore he +necessarily confuses one with the other. Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins had +one name for spirit, breath, and wind; but we cannot therefore conclude +that they identified them. The foundation of reason is the power of +using symbols, _i.e._, of making one thing stand for another, which is +known to be different from it.’ But this is a vicious analogy. The +Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins were not savages: I only assert, that in the +undeveloped human mind the confusion of name points to the confusion of +sense—that the metaphysical idea is subordinate to the physical. +Nezuhualcoyotl, the great Mexican king, when weary of idols, raised a +temple ‘al Dios no conocido, causa di los causas.’ If this be no +priestly pious fraud, Mexico, like Athens, had the foot lifted for +another step in advance when Christianity, the fourth and penultimate +act of the great drama, appeared on the stage of life.] + +[Footnote 97: Did Mungo Park ever write this ‘Encyclopædist’ sentence?] + +[Footnote 98: From the Hindu to the Romanist, no educated man really +adores the picture or image; and, I suspect, few uneducated men do +otherwise than adore it. This should be a serious consideration with +those who allow and contend for what Moses absolutely forbade—the bowing +before graven images. The Iconoclasts of early Christianity, and the +Apostle of El Islam, doubtless found the abuse of such ornaments greater +than their use, and told the people to hold them in abomination.] + +[Footnote 99: ‘The present Alake succeeded Shodeke, a man so venerated +as to be ranked among the demigods.’—(Mr. Campbell, p. 40.)] + +[Footnote 100: Mr. Bowen says that ‘Iyangba herself is Obatala. The two +are one, or, in other words, Obatala is an androgyne, representing the +productive energy of nature, or the generative principle, as +distinguished from the creative power of God.’ But this explanation +appears extra Indo-European. On the other hand the Rev. Mr. Crowther +calls Obbatalla ‘the great goddess of Yoruba, supposed to be the framer +of the human body in the womb.’ The fact that this diety is male, +female, and hermaphrodite, is a fair specimen of pagan vagueness.] + +[Footnote 101: So the Spiritualists or Fetishists of the present day +assert that everything on earth is but a copy, of which the antitype is +to be found in the other.] + +[Footnote 102: The worship of Shango, however, is not known in Great +Benin.] + +[Footnote 103: She is denoted by a little idol, with dull yellow skin, +blue hair, white beads, and striped dress.] + +[Footnote 104: The authoress of ‘A Residence at Sierra Leone’ (p. 96) +tells us, ‘Many of the liberated Africans worship lightning,’ and is +told by a Christian convert, that an Aku man, who offered himself as a +groom, ‘no do for horseman, he worship de tunder.’ Of course the man was +a devotee of Shango.] + +[Footnote 105: A Shango-stone was showed to me; it was a bit of white +quartz.] + +[Footnote 106: There are probably two Ife. One is placed in our maps in +the province of Kakanda, between Aku-land and the Niger. According to +some, it has lately been destroyed: the spot is worthy of exploration. +The mythical Ife was founded by Obalofu, and there worship (_alias_ +idolatry) is said to have originated. As the first place made by the +Creator, it has become the market of ghostland—the dead there go to sell +and buy.] + +[Footnote 107: The place of the Mganga, or medicine-man of the South—the +rain-maker or rain-stopper, like the χαλαζοφύλακες, and those who +practised aquælicium in classical Europe—is supplied in Yoruba, as we +might expect, from the comparative complexity of the system, by a great +variety of priestly drones.] + +[Footnote 108: The priest brings his nuts in a rhinoceros horn from the +upper country. Holding the sixteen in his left hand, he takes them up at +random—as we do at a ‘bean club’—in his right, and the operation is +repeated till either two, called ‘ofu,’ or one, called ‘ossa,’ remains. +The chosen nut is then rolled, with the middle finger, over the earth, +or over a board whitened with the dust made by tree-worms. Finally, it +is marked with certain lines, which, by deciding the value and the +nature of sacrifice, procure success. + +An old converted priest thus performed the ceremony in my presence. He +counted sixteen nuts, freed them from dust, and placed them in a bowl on +the ground, full of yam half boiled, crushed, and covered with some +acrid vegetable infusion. His acolyte, a small boy, was then called, +made to squat near the bowl, resting his body on the outer edge of the +feet, which were turned inwards, and to take from the fetish-man two or +three bones, seeds, and shells, some of which are of good, others of bad +omen. Elevating them, he rested his hands upon his knees. The adept cast +the nuts from one hand to the other, retaining some in the left, and +while manipulating, dropped others into the bowl. He then stooped down, +drew with the index and medius lines on the yam, inspected the nuts, and +occasionally referred to the articles in the boy’s hand. Thus he was +enabled to pronounce an opinion upon what was to happen. + +I cannot flatter myself that the _modus operandi_ has been made quite +intelligible to the reader, for the best of reasons—I do not quite +understand it myself. The system is far more simple in Dahome, and at +some future time I may explain it.] + +[Footnote 109: Mr. Crowther mentions that Odudua was situated in front +of the Council House at Ake, and that sacrifices of beasts and fowls +were made to it every five days, in order to obtain children, wealth, +and peace.] + +[Footnote 110: Twins, however, at Abeokuta are not necessarily killed, +as in the Oil Rivers further south, or amongst the Kamskatkans, and many +of the North American aborigines.] + +[Footnote 111: Here, as in other parts of Africa, Christian Europeans, +like Moslems, call all idols ‘devils,’ and foolishly believe that every +image, tree, stone, charm, and amulet are objects of worship, pure and +simple.] + +[Footnote 112: Europeans, as has been said, call all the native objects +of worship ‘devils,’ indiscriminately. The practice is incorrect, but +dates of old. ‘All the gods of the Gentiles are devils,’ says the +Psalmist.] + +[Footnote 113: ‘Illustrated Handbook of American Travel.’ New York: +Appleton and Co.] + +[Footnote 114: Like the Mbuiti of the Mpongwe, or Gaboons. The word +‘spirit’ is always used in these cases: nothing can be more incorrect +than the secondary idea which it conveys, yet I am at pains to find a +better. ‘Emi’ is synonymous with the Hebrew ‘Ruach’ (breath).] + +[Footnote 115: The Basutos think that the ghosts of their ancestors are +always endeavouring to draw them to themselves (‘Casalis,’ p. 249). M. +du Chaillu (ch. xix.) very truly shows that no negro fears the ghost of +his grandfather or his great-grandfather, proving, as has been well +remarked, the shortness of thought which is characteristic of the +African.] + +[Footnote 116: In one of the silliest of modern effusions, the ‘Night +Side of Nature,’ where black magic is traced to the power of the will, +we read: ‘It is extremely absurd to suppose that statutes were created +to suppress a crime which never existed.’ The crime did exist, and does +exist, amongst the ignorant and barbarous: the light of science, of +course, is an efficient exorciser.] + +[Footnote 117: The Fulas, to mention no other African tribe, have not a +regular week.] + +[Footnote 118: ‘Journal,’ &c., p. 185.] + +[Footnote 119: The same is told of a cannibal race in Eastern Africa.] + +[Footnote 120: This reminds one of the Hindostani slang ‘tutelí kaurí,’ +or ‘broken cowrie,’ which in Africa becomes ‘broken calabash.’] + +[Footnote 121: The Hindu race, in early times, made an approximation to +monogamy. The country was then almost civilized, and the population must +have been dense. The Semitic family shows the same phenomenon. But when +quoting the words of the Eastern poet— + + + ‘His wives may never be four, + + He will best consult his reason, + + Best secure his home from treason, + + Who takes one, and wants no more’— + + +they should be read rather as a grumble against the ‘legalities and +proprieties of society,’ than as a theory which could be generally +carried out. The Asiatic races that are inferior to the Arab and the +Hindu, have never, I believe, adopted monogamy, although polyandry has +been practised for centuries.] + +[Footnote 122: I have borrowed these sentences, and almost all the +information contained in these paragraphs, from a Paper in the +‘Edinburgh Review,’ Jan., 1862. The reader will readily recognize the +master-hand in that admirable article. It is amusing, however, to see in +it what a poor halfpenny-worth there is of bread (monogamy) to an +intolerable deal of sack (polygamy). Whilst pages 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23 +are devoted to showing that polygamy was a Mosaic institution, +unforbidden to the early Christians, and only rendered restrictive and +penal—principally by the Church of Rome—in modern times, a single +sentence informs us that the settlement of the question was left to old +Roman laws, to German manners, and to ‘the silent but absolute operation +of a religion, based on the sentiments with which no system of polygamy +seems to be compatible—freedom and love.’ + +An eminent Moslem divine—El Siyuti, I think—wrote a Moslem treatise on +what to avoid. Through some three hundred pages he indulges his reader +with a full description of the most voluptuous practices of the East—a +perfect worship of Bacchus and Venus. In the last he perorates, +beginning—‘This much, O reader, have I recounted unto thee, so that thou +mayest know the things forbidden unto thee,’ &c., &c. + +With respect to the reviewer’s last assertion, viz., that Christianity +is based upon freedom and love—I doubt that the monogamic sentiment was +ever intended by it. And I doubt even more vehemently whether the +mixture of sentiment and passion, which we know by that name, has not +added to the miseries rather than conduced to the happiness of human +life. In my humble opinion, it is not one of the least merits of +polygamy that it abstracts from the parents an affection which it +bestows upon the progeny. As no man, it is said, can serve God and +Mammon, so no woman can equally love husband and children; even the same +woman, at different periods of her existence, will prefer one to the +detriment of the other. And whilst conjugal love contains the base alloy +of sexual feeling, parental affection is of all the most pure and holy. +The unselfish will find no difficulty in pointing out which to prefer.] + +[Footnote 123: St. Augustine, Grotius, and other authorities, admit that +polygamy is more natural than monogamy, yet they declare—and they are +followed by Paley—that it would prevent increase of population. The +contrary is the case. Hippocrates, Harvey, Willoughby, Forster, and the +practice of the Mormons, show, that amongst all animals, mankind +included, polygamy tends to population by increasing the births of +female children. Dr. Johnson (‘Life,’ vol. iii., p. 71) says it is ‘not +natural for a man and a woman to live together in the married state.’ +Balzac explains this, by observing that, ‘physically and morally, man is +man longer than woman is woman.’ Napoleon, the last of the three +Avataras of intellect, declares, in the Code Civile, ‘Le mariage ne +dérive pas de la nature.’ + +In the City of the Saints, I flattered myself it had been proved, that +whereas monogamy equalizes the birth of the two sexes, polygamy produces +more females, and polyandry more males. Hence came the deduction, that +‘Nature, our plastic mother, had prepared her children for all three +systems.’ The ‘British Quarterly Review,’ of Jan. 1st, 1862, in an un- +able article, thus reasons upon this adaptation principle:—‘If a man +breaks a leg, nature instantly adopts extraordinary measures to insure +its repair; but are we entitled to infer that she delights in fractured +limbs?’ If this be argument, there can be no more said upon the subject. +Polygamy and polyandry, amongst mankind, are the rule, not the +exception. Broken legs are the exception, not the rule. The comparison +of the ‘learned’ reviewer is, therefore, applicable to monogamy, not to +polygamy and polyandry.] + +[Footnote 124: Martin Luther allowed Philip, Landgrave of Hesse, for +political reasons, to intermarry with a second wife, the first being +still living. (‘Memoirs of Luther,’ translated by M. Michelet: 1836. See +also ‘Athenæum,’ June 18, 1836.) The Reformer, who said, ‘If Sarah +refuses, take Hagar,’ regarded, like all the early Christians, saints +and sinners, marriage as a purely civil rite. He never hesitated, when +the object of union was impeded, to grant letters of divorce, and he +notably held that the polygamy practised under the Mosaic dispensation +was lawful in modern times. ‘For my part,’ he declares, ‘I confess that +I cannot oppose the man who may wish to marry several wives, and that I +do not think such plurality contrary to the Holy Scriptures.’ This is +true wisdom. Human liberty has been sufficiently abridged without +imagining further curtailments.] + +[Footnote 125: The lax law makes the polygamic wife a legitimate wife, +the missionary declares her illegitimate and not respectable; he +degrades her in her own estimate, and he would drive her an outcast from +her home. Can aught be more absurd, more wicked?] + +[Footnote 126: This ‘mos’ is equivalent with the Moslems’ ‘Rasm:’ the +importance attached to it is eminently Oriental, conservative opposed to +progressive. One is tempted to quote St. Augustine against himself: ‘Væ +tibi, flumen moris humani! Quis resistat tibi?’ (‘Conf.,’ i. 8.)] + +[Footnote 127: There is nothing more curious in the moral world than to +watch the effects of restriction of marriage by increased luxury and +expense in England, France, and other so-called civilized lands. +Polygamy has been cast out except amongst the few who can afford to +practise an illegal concubinage, and polyandry has now become the last +resource of those unable or unwilling to marry.] + +[Footnote 128: Some authorities say that cowries are placed in the tomb +as gold-dust is further west: others deny it.] + +[Footnote 129: It must be remembered that human sacrifices prevailed +amongst all the polished people of the old and new worlds; in Greece +they were common until the days of Solon, and the Romans abolished them +only in A.C. 100.] + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + THE USUAL SKETCH—GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL. + + +The country properly called Yoruba, or, by older writers, Yarribah, and +Yahribah—imitations of the Hausa pronunciation—has larger limits than +those usually assigned to it. Mr. Bowen, for instance, gives as its +frontiers the lands of Nupe (Nufe, or Nyffe), Borghú, and the regions +known as the Sudan, on the north; the Bight of Benin or Slave Coast, on +the south—so far he is correct—on the east by Ibini, or Benin, and the +Niger; and on the west by Mahi and Dahome, or, as it is here called, +Idáhame. It is, however, abundantly evident that Benin and Dahome are +integral parts of Yoruba, somewhat differing in language, but identical +in manners, customs, and religion. I would accordingly make the Niger, +in 6° 45′ east long., and the Volta River, in east long. 1° 45′, its +extreme limits. Thus, instead of two hundred miles in breadth, the +irregular parallelogram will be about three hundred and fifty, and its +depth from north to south will be upwards of two hundred miles. The area +will be seventy thousand instead of fifty thousand square miles. The +population is set down at two millions, which may be safely doubled, +thus giving about twenty-five souls to the square mile. + +There is also a Yoruba Proper, which includes the two former kingdoms of +Ife and Isehin. The southern limit lies about twenty miles beyond +Abeokuta, or sixty miles from the sea, and thence it extends northwards +to the frontiers of Borghú. The area is usually laid at thirty thousand +square miles, and the population at eight hundred thousand souls; nor is +this an over-estimate. In this part of Africa, though much of the +country is desert, the cities[130] are numerous, many of them are ten to +twelve miles in circumference, they contain thousands of houses, and +each holds from ten to threescore souls. There are also many smaller +towns numbering from two thousand to fifteen thousand people. In this +section of the country lies the ancient metropolis of Yoruba, Oyo (also +called Katanga or Eyeo), whence the people were known as Hios and Eyeos. +The old capital, which is said to have been twenty miles in +circumference, was destroyed by the Fulas and Hausas in 1825, when the +king established himself at the tent-market ‘Ago-ojjá,’ which is now +known by its former name, Oyo. The next most considerable cities are +Ibadan, now at war with Abeokuta; Ijaye, the hapless ally of the latter; +and Ilori. Besides which there are ten minor cities, whose names do not +require mention. Yoruba Proper is now well nigh Moslem. + +Besides Yoruba Proper, and the kingdoms of Wari, Benin, and Dahome—the +latter was, according to native tradition, a mere tributary province—the +great Yoruba country contains seven independent territories, whose names +are as follows:— + +1. Iketu, in our maps Ketu, with a capital of the same name, is a small +country lying between Agbome and the River Ogun, south of Yoruba Proper, +and shut out from the sea. It has hitherto withstood the power of +Dahome, and as the soil is poor, whilst timber and water are far from +abundant, it is not much coveted by its neighbours. The extent is +conjectured to be two thousand square miles, and the population one +hundred thousand.[131] + +2. Ekko,[132] which the Portuguese called Lagos; the chief town is Aoni, +or Awini, _i.e._, descended from Ini or Bini—Benin. The limits are Egba- +land to the north, the sea to the south, the Ijebu country on the east, +and Badagry, now its dependency, on the west. Its area cannot be less +than one thousand square miles, and its population eighty thousand.[133] + +3. Egba, which, with Iketu, forms the head-quarters of the so-called Aku +nation. It is a small kingdom lying on both sides of the Ogun River, but +principally on the left bank. It is bounded on the north by Yoruba +Proper, south by Ekko, east by Ijebu, and west by Iketu. It also +includes the fallen kingdom of Ota, lying between Badagry and Abeokuta. +The capital of Egba-land is Abeokuta, and there are no other +considerable cities. The area, including Ota, is about three thousand +square miles, and the population may be assumed at two hundred +thousand.[134] + +4. Ijebu, popularly called Jaboo, lies between Egba-land and Benin: it +is bounded northwards by Yoruba Proper and Kakanda, southwards by the +sea, or more properly by the long lagoon called the Ikoradu, or Cradoo +Waters. It is divided into two parts, the Ijebu Ode to the east, and +westward the Ijebu Remo: the Awajali, or great king, however, resides at +Ode. The land has been little visited by travellers: it is described as +an undulating surface of bush and savannah. The area is set down at five +thousand square miles, the population at two hundred thousand souls. The +Ijebus, a warlike race, have ever been the most deadly enemies of the +Egbas, who, in return, gave them the bad name of being the most +barbarous of the Yoruban tribes. + +5. Ijesha, whose capital is Ilesha, is a little-known province lying +between Yoruba and Kakanda: its area is set down at two thousand square +miles, and its population at two hundred thousand souls. + +6. Kakanda,[135] more properly called Effong or Effon, extends from +Yoruba Proper to the Niger and the Kwara Rivers. This province is very +little known, but the people are celebrated for working copper, of which +they are supposed to have mines. In Kakanda is the celebrated Ife, +‘said,’ if we believe the maps, ‘to be the origin of idolatry.’ It is +the spot where the Yoruba nation and all others arose—the Eden of these +regions; moreover, from it sprang the sea, and they show the source of +the largest river known to them, namely, the Osa Lagoon, running between +Lagos and Godomé. The Dahomans, who, like other Yorubans, thence derive +their faith, call it Fe. + +7. Ilori, which Richard Lander writes Alourie, a province and a city of +that name, inhabited by Moslem Fulas and Gambari,[136] a tribe of Hausa +men, together with a few pagan Yorubas. The king is a Fula, and the +chiefs are mostly Gambari and Kaniki.[137] About 1820 Ilori became +independent of Yoruba Proper: it then proclaimed the Jihad, and assisted +in the destruction of Oyo or Eyeo. Of late years Ilori has suffered at +the hands of Ibadan, but it has recovered since the latter people have +been weakened by their wars with Abeokuta. About 1850, Masaba of Nupe, a +half-caste Fula, made a coalition to attack Ilori and its chief Chítá, a +relation of his own, whose daughter he had married. Two years +afterwards, however, Masaba was driven out by his subjects, and Iláde, +his capital, on the banks of the Niger, was burnt. The King of Sokoto +then sent him to reside at Ilori as a private citizen. Shortly +afterwards he left it, and he now resides at Bidda, on the Kaduna, a +tributary of the Niger. + +Ilori, like Tinbuktu and Sokoto, is one of the great marts of Central +Africa. All manner of European goods are imported _viâ_ the Desert from +Tripoli and other Mediterranean ports, although an easy land journey of +two hundred and fifty miles separates it from the Bight of Benin. The +Niger River also runs at no great distance to the eastward of it. The +exploitation of the whole Nigerian valley is in our hands if we choose +to take the trouble. + +The word Yoruba has, as might be expected, been identified by the +ethnological sciolist with Europa. Sultan Mohammed Bello[138] derives +the name Yarba from Yarab, son of Kahtan, called Joktan by the Hebrew +annalist, and enumerated by Moslem genealogists amongst the Arab el +Ariba, or pure Arabs who preceded the Mutaarab, the Ishmaelitic et +insititious and impure Egypto-Arab race. Mr. Bowen derives it from Goru, +which in Fula means river, and _bah_ or _ba_, great. He is sensible +enough to place little confidence in his own philology; and, for the +most part, _bah_, as in Joli-bah, and Bah-fing, is believed to be an +African corruption of the Arabic _bahr_, a sea or large stream. The +popular derivation of Yoruba is Ori Obba, or ‘Head King’—with which, for +want of a better, we must fain be satisfied. + +With respect to the origin of the Yoruban race, some hold that it is an +offshoot from Nupe, on the north of the Kwara, driven by a war across +the Niger when the river was swollen; and thus the ship, Okko, became +their emblem. They first founded Ife, and subsequently Igboho and +Oyo.[139] Another well-known tradition makes the Yoruban forefathers to +have been created at Ife, or rather at the obscurely remembered mythical +town of that name, four months’ journey to the east. Another declares +that they are descended from sixteen persons who were sent forth from +the east to found a colony. Their leaders took with them a hen and a +piece of cloth, containing a palm-nut in a few handfuls of mould. For a +time they waded through water, till the earth, dissolved through the +cloth, formed a bank in which the palm-nut grew to a tree with sixteen +branches, whereupon the hen sprang upon the bank and dried the +waters.[140] A third makes Iketu, Egba, Ijebu, Ife, Ibini, and Yoruba +six brothers by one mother. Yoruba, the Benjamin of the family, settled +at Ife, and after a time he reduced the others to the condition of his +dependents and vassals, when he removed to Igboho and made it his +capital. The great mother of the six tribes is still worshipped at Ife +and Abeokuta as Iyommodi (contracted from Iya ommo oddi), the mother of +the hunter’s children. Naturally enough the Moslems identify the hunter +with Nimrod, and his children with the Canaanites, who, driven to the +west, peopled the Sudan—Yauri and its vicinity. It is remarkable that +all these legends derive the population of Yoruba from the east; +and—even the fables which natives tell concerning their origin most +frequently show a modicum of truth—we are so far justified in believing +that from early times a race of pagans, pushed forward by the stream of +immigration from the lands nearer Arabia, occupied the thinly populated +countries south of the Kwara.[141] + +We will now proceed to that province of the great Yoruban country which +most interests us—Egba-land. According to its Aku population, it +included at one time Dahome and the Popo, or races extending from +Badagry to the Volta River. At last the giant Lishabe—there were good +and bad giants in those days—rebelled against a Yoruban tyrant, and +vindicated the freedom of his country. This West African Kav or +Washington is now a god, and his farm, which it would be sacrilege to +reclaim, is pointed out on the east of the Ogun River, a little below +Abeokuta. + +After their ‘declaration of independence’ the Egba race endured a +succession of terrible calamities, which led to their dispersion. Though +the worst must have happened almost within memory of man, there are many +conflicting statements accounting for it. According to some—and this is +the version recognized by the missionaries—the Egbas, after winning +their independence, were long governed by a king of their own; but +finally, growing weary of monarchy, they determined that every town +should be ruled by its own chiefs. This led to mutual jealousies and +dissensions; as might be expected, the oligarchies become more +tyrannical than despots, without possessing the virtues and the habits +of freemen. About fifty years ago this bad blood, stimulated by the +slave trade and by the machinations of the Yorubas and the Ijebus, +resulted in civil and internecine wars. In the course of twenty-five +years the numerous cities and towns which covered the land were all laid +waste with the sole exception of Oba, which is yet standing, about ten +miles south-west of Abeokuta. It is probable that five hundred thousand +people perished by sword and famine. Many were sold to the slave ships, +and the remnant of the tribe was scattered abroad. Others say that the +wars began about a little pepper in the market-town of Akponi—which +shows that the country was ripe for confusion. The people of Ife, Ikija, +Ikesi, Owu, and Ijebu, all armed against one another; whilst Afunja, +chief of Ilori; Alimi, a Fula of Sokoto; and Ali, chief of the Gambari +people, attacked Yoruba in force. Thousands of plunderers were already +at work; the sword and torch, famine, and the slave-ship completed the +destruction. Others declare that about two generations ago the Egbas had +a king who determined to rule them with absolute sway. He was quietly +directed to ‘go sleep,’ but he had the audacity to refuse. Then the +turbulent Egbas arose, and in full durbar slew their anointed king, who +claimed the right divine to do wrong. But the killing was murder in the +eyes of Oro; punishment followed the regicidal act with no lame foot. +The Fula Moslems of the Niger pressed upon Yoruba, Yoruba upon the +Egbas. The latter having no head, and being, though not absolutely +republican, a headstrong and unmanageable brood, began to fight among +themselves, and to sell one another in all directions. According to Mr. +T. B. Freeman, one of the earliest visitors to Abeokuta, a war had +lasted nearly a century between the kings of Dahome and of Great Benin. +The lands lying between the two rivals had suffered greatly; and even in +the present day the line of country between Badagry and Abeokuta, which +is one hundred miles long, does not contain more than five hundred +souls. In those days the Egbas dwelt to the eastward[142] of their +present homes, but were driven out by their neighbours the Ijebu, who +had sided with Benin. Under their chief, Ladmodi, the Egbas made head +against the violence of the enemy, but he was at last slain and the +tribe dispersed. + +Without attempting to decide which account is true, it is evident that +during the first quarter of the present century there was a general +dispersion of the Egbas. We know that about 1820-22 there was a great +influx of Aku captives into Sierra Leone, and that they found their way +east and west, to the United States,[143] Gambia, Fernando Po, Hausa, +Borneo, Central Africa, the Fezzan, Egypt, and even to Stamboul. It was +a race worsted and spoiled, not, as is commonly asserted, by Europeans, +but by its own folly and want of proper despotism. + +In 1825, as has been recounted, the Rock Olumo gave to a remnant of the +Egbas a rallying point. When their numbers were equal to the task, they +founded, about 1826, the town Abeokuta, under the chief Shodeke, who, as +the next in rank, had succeeded Ladmodi. The _novus homo_ then attacked +Ijebu, the old enemy, but after some successes he was defeated by a +coalition near Ekpe. The Ijebu raised another force, and fell upon +Shodeke. After a long campaign, however, they were compelled to retire, +losing one-third of their host. Shodeke then warred with Ilori, and +wrested from Yoruba Proper the little kingdom and city of Ota. He took +Ado, the key of the Badagry line, which connected him with the coast, +and he made an alliance with Dahome. In 1838 he invited Europeans to +settle in his capital; and he died honoured and revered in 1844. + +The closer connection of Abeokuta with England dates from 1838-1839. In +that year certain Christian Akus or Egbas of Sierra Leone, freighted +with merchandize a small captured and condemned slaver—the class of +vessel was ominous of what was fated to happen—and, with a white man for +master and a crew of _emancipados_, sailed for Badagry. They were well +received, and presently they returned with a cargo of palm oil. Two +other confiscated ships followed suit, and a little trade was thus set +up, originating the idea of returning to their old homes as Oibo, +foreigners or civilized men. Between 1839 and 1842 some five hundred +Yoruban recaptives determined to form a colony. About two hundred and +sixty-five landed in three ships at Lagos, and suffered from the +rapacity of the chiefs, reaching Abeokuta with difficulty. Between two +hundred and three hundred entered _viâ_ Badagry, where, by the influence +of Yoe Wawu, the Popo ‘English chief,’[144] they were better received, +and made for the interior in parties of fifty and sixty. Mr. T. B. +Freeman, a coloured Wesleyan missionary from Cape Coast Castle, followed +them for spiritual refreshment on the 11th December, 1842, visited +Abeokuta, which he describes even then as double the size of Komasi, and +reported his journey in the ‘Missionary Register’ for 1843. He and the +other converts were hospitably and kindly treated by Shodeke the king, +who allowed them to stand before him, not to prostrate themselves like +his heathen subjects. + +The movement was accelerated and intensified by the ill-fated Niger +expedition, commanded by Captain Trotter, R.N., whose principal, if not +sole success, was in persuading Obi, chief of Abo, the capital of the +extensive Ibo (Eboe) country that occupies the lands lying about the +head of the Delta, to sign the treaty for the suppression of the slave +trade. Obi’s example was followed by the Ata of Igarrah, who also claims +the city of Kakanda. On the return of the expedition it was decided that +a Mr. Townsend, one of the Church Missionary Society’s catechists, +should proceed to Yoruba, and select an eligible base for future +operations. He embarked on the 14th November, 1842, on board a condemned +slaver, which three negroes had purchased and freighted, for Badagry. +There he met Mr. Freeman, who, on his return from Abeokuta, gave a +favourable description of Shodeke. Mr. Townsend, accompanied by two +blacks, Andrew Wilhelm and John M‘Cormack, proceeded to the capital, and +after a satisfactory interview with the warrior-king, returned to Sierra +Leone. Andrew Wilhelm was again sent to Abeokuta, whilst Mr. Townsend +proceeded for ordination to England. It was then arranged that he should +at once revisit Abeokuta in company with the Rev. Mr. Gollmer, who had +been some years at Sierra Leone, and Mr. Crowther, who had lately been +‘crowned a minister,’ the first full-blooded negro who ever ‘wagged his +pow’ in a Church of England pulpit, and who had preached his first +sermon at Freetown in January, 1844. + +The Rev. Mr. Townsend arrived at Sierra Leone in December, 1844, +accompanied by Messrs. Gollmer and Crowther, with their wives and +families, and sundry natives, catechists and interpreters, carpenters +and labourers. He landed at Badagry in January, 1845; but Shodeke was +dead, and the Ado war, which was then raging, delayed their advance: +finally, it was decided that Messrs. Townsend and Crowther should +proceed to Abeokuta, and that Mr. Gollmer should remain at Badagry. The +quarrels of Akitoye and Kosoko detained the whole party seventeen weary +months on the coast, until M. Domingo Martinez[145]—the well-known +slave-dealer of Porto Novo and Whydah—effected a peace, and enabled the +missionaries to proceed, despite the unwillingness of the Badagry people +to part with them. Messrs. Townsend and Crowther, with their wives, left +Badagry on the 27th July, 1846, and arriving safely at Abeokuta, were +entertained by one Osho Ligregere, and were welcomed by Okokenu, the +actual Alake. + +Ake—the royal head-quarters, in which Shodeke had resided—was chosen for +the first settlement. Three acres were granted by the king, a shed was +erected, Mr. Townsend preached, Andrew Wilhelm translated, and the +chiefs, Ogubonna, the Balogun, and Somoye, the Ibashorun, +listened—curiously. The mission-house was built in December, 1846; in +1847, a church was opened; and the end of that year saw four preaching +sheds at Owu, Itoku, Ikijá, and Igbein, where Mr. Crowther settled +himself, about two miles from Ake. + +In 1848, Mr. Townsend—leaving behind him Mr. J. C. Müller, who died in +1850—returned to England, bearing a letter and a country cloth, offered +by the Alake and his caboceers to Her Most Gracious Majesty. His +departure was the signal for an attempt at persecution, which, probably, +the converts had brought upon themselves.[146] The conservative movement +was directed by several chiefs, of whom Akigbogun—termed the ‘Pharaoh of +Igbon’—distinguished himself. At the bottom of the affair, however, were +the Ogboni lodges, who said that the converts were turning the world +upside down; and certain Sierra Leone renegades, who had relapsed into +heathenism and the slave export trade. The fetishmen, to whom the new +faith was foolishness, also feared the loss of many goats and fowls. But +the polytheist is a bad persecutor: there was a little shaking of roofs, +flogging, pinioning, and prohibiting visits to the church or to white +men. Enough was done to fill a chapter, headed Persecution; but all was +of the mildest, none of the ‘curious juice,’ except from the back, was +shed. + +Meanwhile, the Earl of Chichester, President of the Church Missionary +Society, was authorized to communicate with the Alake, acknowledging his +present, and exhorting him to wean his people from illicit to lawful +commerce. This letter, accompanied by a gift of English and Arabic +Bibles, and a steel corn-mill, was conveyed by the Revs. Dr. +Hinderer—who was sent to study the Hausa language—and J. Smith, to +Abeokuta, in the spring of 1849. The Alake and the chiefs, highly +gratified, proposed a sacrifice to the presents, which was rejected. The +so-called persecution ended in 1849, when the continuance of the +‘sentimental squadron’ was determined on; and in the spring of the next +year Mr. Townsend, who plays the part of the ‘great Eltchee’ in these +lands, returned from England to Ake in March 1850. In the same year Mr. +Hinderer, accompanied by Mr. Phillips, an interpreter, visited the towns +of Igbara and Ishagga, and settled at Oshelle, about eight miles north- +east of Ake.[147] In January, 1851, Mr. Beecroft, H.M.’s Consul for the +Bight of Biafra, after a journey to Agbome, proceeded to Abeokuta, and +made a covenant with the chiefs to repress future persecution. The same +year saw Badagry burnt down and destroyed in a cut-throat affair, and +Lagos scotched by the British. In March the King Gezo, of Dahome, +determining to renew the scenes of Okeadon—where, it is said, 20,000 +Otas were seized and sold—attacked Abeokuta, and suffered shameful +defeat; and in the autumn of the same eventful year of Grace, 1851, +Commander Forbes, R.N.—of ‘Sarah Forbes Bonetta’ celebrity—proceeded to +Abeokuta in state,[148] and concluded a treaty between H.M.’s Government +and the Alake and labourers. + +Abeokuta, at the present time of writing (Nov. 1861), contains four +several sects—Wesleyans, Episcopalians, Northern States Baptists, and +Southern States Baptists—who have split upon the rock of slavery. There +is a total of twenty whites—viz., three merchants—Messrs. Wike, Hughes, +and Bergmeyer—eleven male missionaries, four women, and two children. +The Wesleyans have one of each sex. The Church Missionary Society has +six whites, including one woman at Ake, three men, one woman, and two +children at Ikijá, and none at Owu: their total, therefore, is eight +men, two women, and two children. The Baptists have two white men and +one woman. + +I felt truly grieved at the sight of my poor pretty countrywomen at +Abeokuta, and anticipated but too correctly what, in many cases, has +since proved their sad fate. They looked like galvanized corpses, even +those who had left England but a few months before, radiant with +pleasure, bright with youth and beauty. It is a crying sin and a shame +to expose these tender beings to such rude, unworthy trials. But what +words of mine would avail? I could only leave with them my wishes, my +vain hopes that they may soon be restored to those homely decent lands, +which no Englishwoman—if the power of ukase were mine—should ever be +permitted to leave. + +Seven deaths have occurred in this mission since 1846. Mr. and Mrs. +Dennard, Messrs. Lord, Field, Paley, and Carter, and Mrs. Buhler, occupy +‘God’s Acre,’ the fetid, grassy graveyard of Abeokuta. Besides which +there are numerous native converts. Some years ago the average of +European life on the coast of the Benin Bight was two years; and of 100 +white children only one or two, even when removed to England, reached +the age of ten. At Abeokuta this state of things seems in a fair way to +be perpetuated. The least that could be done by the authorities at home +would be to allow every missionary, male and female, a full year’s +furlough after every two years spent in the African interior. + +As has been seen, the missionary holds a peculiar position in these +lands. At home a carter, a blacksmith, or a cobbler, he comes out to +Africa—I use his own expressions—‘to found empires, and to create +nations.’ Whilst one Mr. T******* rings the bell for the ‘Western Times’ +in the streets of Exeter, the other, a missionary, holds in his hand the +destinies of Abeokuta. Far from being a disparagement, it is highly +honourable, according to English ideas, for a man so to raise himself +above his caste; but how often ‘_honores mutant mores_,’ and what a +terribly bad politician from Indus to the Pole your reverend man mostly +is! + +The Sierra Leone settlers are numbered at 2000. They have the name of +being prime disturbers of the public peace—especially those who have had +the misfortune to visit England—and they are openly accused of relapsing +into the lowest heathenism, and of slave-trading, under the specious +pretext of redeeming captives. Of course they deny the charge, and if by +any chance they speak the truth this time, they have been greatly +maligned. But of them more in a future page. + +The number of converts registered is about 1500, the communicants may +amount to 800. The slave-trade, in its slow but sure reflux from the +west to the east, has done this much of good. The Mombas Mission in +Eastern Africa, where there are no re-captives, could, in the same +number of years, boast of but one convert, and he had been a maniac. As +might be expected, the stranger hears of shining lights amongst the Neo- +christians of Abeokuta, such as John Baptist Dasalu, Martha Dasalu, Mat. +Oluwalla, Mary Ije, and Susannah Kute. There is even a Christian +_Balogun_ or Caboceer, John Akirona, _i.e._ John the Great, and he is +favourably spoken of as an independent and honest man. The neophytes are +exposed to sore temptations. I have heard convert-women on the coast +declare that their native catechists are holy men, that to offend with +them is not the same as to sin with the laity; besides which, under such +circumstances, it is not their—the weaker vessel’s—‘palaver.’ In the +more degraded stages of the Roman Catholic religion the penitent thinks +the same of her confessor. Moreover, if I am rightly informed, convicts +are preferred for conversion, which must naturally lead to ‘breakings +out.’ + +The schools contain 265 children, who are crammed with hymn-singing, +reading, and other civilized arts. As an American missionary rightly +observes, the English language is held to be a second revelation to +mankind, and thus becomes a curse to the people. The natives should be +induced to found, and to support their own schools; and, until they +discover the value of education, it is perhaps better not to force their +minds. + +As for the adults—chiefs and commons—of Abeokuta generally, there is in +their minds an ingrained idolatry, against which even the outburst of +missionary spirit, in the days of Cary and his contemporaries, would +prove futile. ‘At least thirteen apostles,’ as I heard a Scotchman say, +‘would be required for the people Egba.’ The power of the Ogboni is +unlimited; it extends from Abeokuta to Sierra Leone, where the ‘Akoo +companies’ form a complete _vehm gericht_, and no foreigner can expect +to swim against such a tide. This may explain the later failures of our +political relations with Abeokuta. And the Egba is stubborn, most +suspicious and hard to change when he has once adopted an idea; it is to +be feared that without main force—which we cannot apply—the Ogboni will +succeed in defeating all our best intentions. + + +[Footnote 130: Like the French Canadians, the people are gregarious, and +prefer for safety to live in cities and towns. Their farms and fields +show only small huts.] + +[Footnote 131: These conjectures are all borrowed from Mr. Bowen, who +probably saw more of the country than any other white man.] + +[Footnote 132: According to the Ethiopic Directory, Ichoo is the name of +the town of Lagos—a decided mistake.] + +[Footnote 133: Mr. Bowen allows it 400 square miles, and 30,000 souls, +but he does not include Badagry and other provinces.] + +[Footnote 134: Mr. Bowen gives 100,000, but he estimates Abeokuta at +80,000 only.] + +[Footnote 135: Kakanda or Ibbodo, the capital of the Effon people, is a +large city on the right bank of the Kwara River.] + +[Footnote 136: The Gambari, of old called Cumbrie, are the men of +Hausa—so termed from the Kambi—who live on the banks of the Niger above +Busa.] + +[Footnote 137: The Kaniki are the people of Burnu, and the latter word +means a ship, the town having been built where Noah’s ark first touched +land. We have given the name of the city to the country. The Kaniki are +descended from Barba, _i.e._ Dar Borghú.] + +[Footnote 138: See Appendix to Denham and Clapperton’s Travels.] + +[Footnote 139: Igbo means a forest; Igboho, a noisy forest, a howling +wilderness; Oyo is derived from _yo_, to escape, and points to the first +city of refuge south of the Kwara.] + +[Footnote 140: Missionaries naturally connect this ridiculous fable with +the Mosaic Creation and the equally apocryphal Noachian flood dove and +olive-branch. I extract the following from the Rev. Mr. Crowther’s +introductory remarks to the ‘Grammar and Vocabulary of the Yoruba +Language:’ ‘It is said by the Yorubans that fifteen persons were sent +from a certain region; and that a sixteenth, whose name was Okambi (an +only child), and who was afterwards made King of Yoruba, volunteered to +accompany them. The person who sent them out presented Okambi with a +small piece of black cloth, with something tied up in it; besides a +fowl, Tetu, a servant (slave), and a trumpeter,—Okinkin was the name of +the latter. On opening the gate of this unknown region, they observed a +large expanse of water before them, through which they were obliged to +wade. As they went on, the trumpeter reminded Okambi of the small piece +of cloth, by sounding the trumpet according to the instructions of the +person above mentioned. The cloth being opened, a palm-nut, which was +deposited in it with some earth, fell into the water. The nut grew +immediately into a tree, which had sixteen branches. As the travellers +were fatigued by long wading through water they were glad of this +unexpected relief, and soon climbed up and rested themselves on the +branches. When they had recruited their strength, they prepared again +for the journey, yet not without great perplexity, not knowing in what +direction they should proceed. In this situation, a certain person, +Okikisi, saw them from the region whence they set out, and reminded the +trumpeter of his duty; on which he sounded again, and thus reminded +Okambi of the small piece of black cloth, as before. On opening it some +earth dropped into the water, and became a small bank; when the fowl, +which was given to Okambi, flew upon it and scattered it, and wherever +the earth touched the water, it immediately dried up. Okambi then +descended from the palm-tree, allowing only his slave and his trumpeter +to come down with him. The other persons begged that they might be +allowed to come down; but he did not comply with their request until +they had promised to pay him, at certain times, a tax of two hundred +cowries each person. + +‘Thus originated the kingdom of Yoruba, which was afterwards called Ife; +whence three brothers set out for a further discovery of better +countries. At their departure they left a slave, named Adimu (which +signifies ‘Holdfast’), to govern the country of Ife in their absence. +The tradition of the three brothers explains the relationship of the +three chieftains in the kingdom of Yoruba; namely, the chief Iketu, +called Alaketu, and said to be the eldest; the second, or Alake, chief +of the Egbas; and the King of Yoruba, the youngest, who however in +former days took tribute from the rest. There is a similar tradition +concerning the chiefs of Allada (Ardrah), Ijashe (Porto Novo), and +Dahome. + +‘After the repulse of the Dahoman army in 1850, some of the prisoners +were presented to Oni, the Chief of Ife, to the Alaketu, and to the King +of Yoruba by the Abeokutans, in memory of their victory. He of Ife +returned a polite symbolical letter which was construed by the +missionaries as an invitation to come over into his country and to help +his people.’] + +[Footnote 141: The early history of Yoruba is thus given by the Rev. Mr. +Crowther: ‘The Kings of Yoruba may be safely traced back to the time of +Ajagbo, who reigned in Oyo (Katanga), and died at a great age. The time +of his reign cannot now be ascertained. He was succeeded by Abiodun, who +also enjoyed a long and peaceful reign, and died an old man. The elders +of Yoruba always refer to his rule as a time of peculiar felicity, and +one which cannot again be expected for a long time. About this time the +Felutas (Fulas) were known only as shepherds and herdsmen. They were +permitted to feed their sheep and cattle wherever they liked, and +generally lodged outside the town in tents. + +‘After the death of Abiodun, Arogangan, his brother, succeeded him. +Arogangan’s nephew, Afunja, born in Ilori, whose father was a brave +warrior, was made Are-obbo (King’s Chief Warrior), and was placed in +Ilori, the king thinking that Afunja would be satisfied with this high +post of honour; but instead of this, Afunja used every artifice that he +could think of to dethrone Arogangan, that he might possess the kingdom. +The king being aware of his designs, under pretence of offence given to +him by the people of Iwe-re, the town of Abiodun’s mother, sent Afunja +to war against it, making sure that by this means he should remove +Afunja out of the way; but the matter turned out the reverse. When +Afunja got to Iwe-re, he told them that he was sent by Arogangan to +fight against them. They were surprised at this declaration. Afunja was +sent back, and an army sent to demand Arogangan, and to fight against +Oyo in case of refusal to give him up. Oyo was besieged, and Arogangan, +dreading the consequences of falling into the hands of his enemies, +poisoned himself; upon which the army departed from Oyo. The beginning +of his reign may be supposed to be about the year 1800. He reigned seven +years’ [N.B.—This would place the beginning of the chronicle between +1720 and 1740]. + +‘Adebo succeeded his brother Arogangan. He was chosen by the Elders of +Oyo, in preference to Afunja, who might now have been placed on the +throne of Yoruba on account of his greatness of mind, but was refused +because of his treachery. Adebo reigned only one hundred and twenty +days. It is supposed that he was poisoned. + +‘Maku, one of the royal family, a favourite of Afunja, succeeded Adebo; +but it appears that the majority of the inhabitants of Oyo were not well +pleased with him. There was war at Igboho; and Maku, accompanied by +Okpelle, one of the king’s counsellors, took the command; but being +unsuccessful in the undertaking, he chose rather to die than return +home; so he killed himself. He reigned only three months. + +‘After Maku’s death it appears there was an interregnum of five years, +during which period affairs were conducted by one Ojo, who was +Obbashorun or privy counsellor. Majotu succeeded Maku, and reigned for +some time well; but his son did a great deal of mischief, chiefly by +kidnapping. The people complained bitterly against the prince; and at +last required him to be given up for trial. Majotu felt very uneasy on +account of his son’s behaviour, and life became such a misery to him +that he poisoned himself. It is not certain how long he reigned. + +‘It is not uncommon among the Yorubas, under some injury, vexation, or +disappointment, to commit suicide, either by taking some poisonous +draught, sticking themselves with a poisoned arrow, or cutting their +throats or bellies with a sword or razor. Such are generally looked upon +as acts of bravery. + +‘Amodo succeeded Majotu; about which time the country of Yoruba was in +great confusion. + +‘Afunja, who was made chief warrior in the kingdom, took the opportunity +of the unsettled state of affairs at the capital to ingratiate himself +with the people of Ilori. He allowed them to make whatever use they +liked of their plunder in battle; taking nothing from them, either for +himself or for the king, and thus encouraged them to war. By this means, +such slaves as were not satisfied deserted their masters and joined +Afunja at Ilori; in doing which they were declared free and independent. +The Felutas, who had hitherto contented themselves with a pastoral life, +began now to distinguish themselves as great warriors; and as they +gained a firm footing in the country they introduced their religion—that +is, Mohammedanism. As Afunja could not get to the throne in any other +way, he tried to make himself friendly with the people of the capital, +and to get them into a quarrel with some principal head-men in Ilori, +who, it appears, began to be too strong for him. But they of Ilori, +being aware of his treacherous plans, caught him and burnt him publicly +in Ilori, and exposed his ashes for many days. After this, the people of +Ilori, being mostly Mohammedan, did not think it proper to be subject to +a pagan king, but became independent, and on this account the civil war +broke out which has almost desolated the kingdom of Yoruba. Since this +time, Ilori has become the rendezvous of the Mohammedan army. + +‘The surviving princes who have a right to the throne of Yoruba in +succession, are Atiba, Tella, Afunja the younger, and Ajibekum. Atiba is +the present King of Yoruba. He removed the seat of government from Oyo +to Aggo-oja, where he is now using every means in his power to subdue +Ilori.’] + +[Footnote 142: The Abeokutans, as will be seen, point out their old +seats northwards, around the present Ibadan.] + +[Footnote 143: The Guinea niggers of the United States are the Fantis +and Popos. The good niggers are from Yoruba, Nupe, Hausa, and the Sudan +generally. The Bozals of Cuba are any wild blacks.] + +[Footnote 144: Badagry, like Whydah, was divided in the old slaving days +into different towns, French, English, Portuguese, &c., and each had its +independent chief. In 1842 there was an English factory there, for +buying palm oil. All the other commerce was in the hands of the slave +traders. Kidnapping was common. The roads were unsafe to travel, and +farming could be carried on only within a short distance of the towns.] + +[Footnote 145: Commander Forbes calls him, probably by a misprint, +Domingo Josè Martins.] + +[Footnote 146: The proceedings of new converts in the old haunts of +idolatry may serve to throw no little light upon the causes of the great +persecutions under Nero, and other ‘enemies of the Church.’] + +[Footnote 147: Since 1851, Mr. Hinderer, with an interval of sick leave +to England, has been settled at Ibadan. The chiefs of Abeokuta opposed +this measure strongly, and the country is now at war with Abeokuta: he +naturally takes the side of his protégés, and differs totally from his +colleagues in Egba-land upon the subject of the ‘mad dogs of Ibadan.’] + +[Footnote 148: Commander Forbes was received with a formal cavalcade, +which was omitted in our case, a sign that familiarity with us was +breeding contempt for the white face.] + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + OUR SECOND VISIT TO THE KING. + + +The morning of Monday saw me on foot betimes. At 6 A.M. I again ascended +the Ake Hill, behind, or north of the Church Missionary compound, and +proceeded to take, with prismatic compass, bearings of Abeokuta, which +as yet has not been honoured with aught worthy the name of plan. My +first thought was to measure by gun-sound, _secundum artem_, a base +between Ake and Olumo. The timid English residents feared, however, lest +his potent majesty the Alake might take umbrage at the shooting, and +suspect sinister intentions. + +The next motion was to meet the Akpesi or Prince of Eruwan, the second +dignitary in the town, who had called on Commander Bedingfield previous +to this day’s interview, for the purpose of communicating ideas of his +own. As at Komasi, and in Great Benin city, it is not ‘etiquette’ for +subjects to visit a stranger before the ceremony of presentation: that +over, however, they call singly and in mass. + +The Akpesi is a tall, thin, wrinkled senior, very plain, close-shaved, +as usual, little ornamented, and poorly clad. He is one of the wise, who +never bring forth their best clothes till after death. His discourse was +sensible, and to the point. Amongst other things, he declared that +Abeokuta did not want this, showing the backs of both hands placed side +by side (hostility), nor this, one palm up and the other down (double- +face or deceit), but rather this, and this only, both palms up (a sign +of friendship). I took the opportunity of asking him if he could not +procure me admission into one of the Ogboni lodges. He replied—a great +man never says ‘No’—that it would require large fees. When the amount +was demanded, he named twenty-two bags of cowries, two sheep, and two +goats. As this did not seem to deter me he doubled the sheep and goats. +The sum being acceded to he declared that there was much death to be +seen in those places; and as this again failed, and he was driven into a +corner, he requested me to ‘let it go’ at present, but that on some +future occasion I should be satisfied. This was conclusive, but not +satisfactory. It is astonishing how much Asiatics and Africans make of +these mysteries, and how long it takes to fathom them. I was nearly five +years in India before a Brahmin could be induced to invest me with the +thread of the Twice Born; and my attempts to discover the secret of the +Jatawalla[149] were all in vain. My plans of sketching the interior of +an Ogboni lodge failed at Abeokuta, though Mr. Wilhelm, the catechist, +did his best: a week was not sufficient. The last answer was, that their +excellent friend Mr. Townsend had advised them never to admit a +European. At Ikoradu, however, my friend Mr. M‘Coskry and I, happening +to pass an Ogboni lodge, which was full of men and elders, quietly +walked in, and stepped round the building before the assembly, stupefied +by the sudden appearance of white faces, dropping as it were from the +skies, found presence of mind to protest. + +Mr. Bowen translates Ogboni, ‘a sort of freemasonry, a respectable, +elderly man.’ It is neither one nor the other. Any naked boy, running +about the streets, may, when ten years old, if a free-born Egba, of good +repute—_integer vitæ scelerisque purus_—rise to this dignity. Nor is it +in any way connected with European freemasonry—a favourite comparison +with the uninitiated. Freemasonry, properly considered, is a faith _per +se_—holding the grand tenets—1st, Monotheism, or the belief in one God, +without which no man can become even an ‘entered apprentice;’ and 2ndly, +Brotherhood, or the mutual fellowship of man, in all conditions and +circumstances of life. It is evident that neither of these sublime ideas +are indigenous amongst the Egbas. The Alake is superior to the chief of +the Ogboni, and the others follow in their several degrees. They are +elected by the people, and, together with the war captains, they form a +council, whose powers are said to be unlimited. They rule during the +long interregnums, and at all times they manage the revenue and the +taxes. In emergencies they are assisted by companies of old and young +men, representing the masses. The Ogboni have proved a serious obstacle +to the progress of El Islam and Christianity, by their strict +surveillance over the juniors, and by the inquisition which they +exercise in the inner affairs of life. Consequently, some missionaries +object to converts belonging to it. I have already alluded to its +political influence. + +The Ogboni lodge, which thus resembles the Muanza of East Africa, the +Purrah of the Susu Timni and Bulloms near Sierra Leone, and the +Endowment House of the City of the Saints, is found in every town. +Supported by the fees paid every seventeenth day by the members of the +lodge, it is a long, low building, only to be distinguished by the +absence of loungers, fronted by a deep and shady verandah, with stumpy +polygonal clay pillars and a single door, carefully closed. The panels +are adorned with iron alto-relievos of ultra-Egyptian form; snakes, +hawk-headed figures, and armed horsemen in full front, riding what are +intended to be horses in profile; the whole coloured red, black, and +yellow. The temples of Obatala are similarly decorated.[150] A +gentleman, who had an opportunity of overlooking the Ogboni lodge from +the Ake church steeple, described it to me as a hollow building with +three courts, of which the innermost, provided with a single door, was +that reserved for the elders, the holy of holies, like the Kadasta +Kadastan of the Abyssinians. He considered that the courts are intended +for the different degrees. The stranger must, however, be careful what +he believes concerning their mysteries. The Rev. Mr. Bowen asserts that +the initiated are compelled to ‘kneel down and drink a mixture of blood +and water from a hole in the earth.’ The Egbas deny this: moreover, they +charge Mr. Bowen with attempting to worm out their secrets for the +purpose of publication. As all are pledged to the deepest reticence, and +as it would be fatal to reveal any mystery—if any there be—we are hardly +likely to be troubled with over-information. + +The Alake had summoned us to audience at the early hour of 10 A.M. We +went punctually, and were met at the door by Beri, his Majesty’s M.C., +who informed us that his master was then unprepared, but would let us +know when visible. We left the palace not unamused by this second +attempt at, and success in, ‘doing dignity,’ and we sauntered about in +the shade outside. Two of the trees showed a peculiar fruit. One had a +brace of skulls with tenpenny nails through the forehead, and bits of +brown skin, like dry fig-peel, still sticking in patches to the half- +bleached bone. These had been women who, according to one account, had +been executed for attempting to poison their master, a native Christian +merchant; according to others they had been sold by the said Christian +merchant for sacrifice. Another tree showed seven of these relics: one +of them was almost mummified, and the lower jawbone was still attached +by remnants of cartilage. His Majesty the Alake—who had soon heard of +our visit to the place—afterwards informed us that four of these +belonged to Egbas who had been executed for kidnapping their friends and +allies the Ijaye. The Tyburn trees were distinguished by the clothes, +probably the attire of the dead, wrapped round the boles up to the +branches. I amused myself with sketching the blossoms that grew on those +boughs, and—the scene was quite Dantesque—I could not but wish that M. +Doré had been there to borrow from it certain details. + +Returning to Mr. Wike’s house, we were shown a small collection of +industrial specimens prepared by the Commercial Association of Abeokuta +for the Great Exhibition of 1862. There was some poor líf, or palm-tree +fibre, used as a sponge throughout Africa; specimens of the silk-cotton +from the bombax; and _someye_, or native silk produced by a worm that +feeds upon a fig-leaf. This article may some day become valuable. Beans +were in great abundance, of several varieties—purple, the common kind, +red-peckled, yellow (_Calavances_), white haricots, black, pink, whity- +brown, and some large red, like our kidney-beans. I recognized, for the +first time, the Njugu ya mawe (_Voiandzeia subterranea_) of East Africa, +which is there regarded as the tiger-nut of the western regions. Besides +which there was a soft, useful chalk dug up near the town, and farm- +grown piper cubebs, whose oil, like that of the ricinus, when not +rancid, is much prized for sauces. I defer an account of the cotton to a +future page. + +At 11·15 A.M. we were again summoned to the palace, and, entering, we +found all _in statu quo ante_, except that there was a greater gathering +than before, and that the curtains relieving the majestic form of his +Majesty were a fine green velvet and a striped silk. He receives, it is +said, unofficial visitors far less formally, and the cooking in his +verandah is not interrupted. The same old deal table and native body- +cloth, the same jugs and basins, glasses and case-bottles, stood before +the presence, and he was fanned by a young wife, who, perceiving the +admiration excited by _ses appas_, veiled her bosom with a bit of +velvet. Behind me sat a handsome young Alufa,[151] or Moslem, who told +me that he was an Arab, born at Burnu: he certainly spoke the purest +Semitic. ‘And how about the Jihad?’ I inquired, in his vernacular. ‘Give +those guns and powder to us,’ he replied, with a gleaming eye, ‘and we +will soon Islamize these dogs!’ The Alake grunted out that he did not +understand ‘dat mouf,’ and a sign to the Alufa caused him to rise and +depart. + +Commander Bedingfield opened the palaver by asking explanations +concerning our being sent back from the ‘palace.’ Fault was thrown upon +Beri, the M.C., and we had the grace to accept this apology for a +designed impertinence. This time it was business ‘and no mistake.’ The +Akpesi of Eruwan was the king’s orator, and he spoke well, dividing his +speech topically, touching upon all the interesting heads, quoting +proverbs, monopolizing attention like a diner-out, and exciting us +against his enemies. He began by saying, after the usual compliments—the +Arabic _afiyah_, health, was repeatedly used, and the reply was _amin_, +or amen—that he must be allowed to give us a detailed account of the +events that had lately happened. On our consenting, he commenced a good +two hours’ speech, talking ten minutes at a time, and then resting +whilst his words were interpreted to us by Lagos Williams, who, assuming +all the tone of a Methodist preacher, spun out his words to the finest +length, lest his African brethren might suspect him of ‘skipping’ or +‘fudging.’ The assembly was hushed, except when some chief vociferated +‘silence!’ or some sycophant drawled out ‘don’t die!’ The ‘mad dogs of +Ibadan,’ we were told, had repeatedly rejected the king’s messengers, +had bought ammunition at Lagos, had declared their intention of first +shaving the forehead, then the back of the head, _i.e._, of destroying, +as a preliminary, Ijaye, their neighbour, and afterwards Abeokuta; and +they had threatened, in case of interference, to blacken every +Englishman’s face as cloth is dyed with indigo. ‘These,’ he said, +pointing to six seniors squatting in the opposite verandah, three brown +as Mulattos, and all the half-dozen naked to the waist, with the various +appurtenances of chiefdom—cowrie-bags, chauris, gun-barrel walking- +sticks, and huge broad-brimmed beavers, trimmed with half a foot of +faded gilt lace—‘these are the kings of cities which have fallen into +the hands of the Yorubas,[152] and which we will recover before we +rest.’ He scouted the report that the people of Ijaye had been sold off +by their allies, the Egbas; the cry had been raised at Lagos by the +Yorubas to excite the English against innocent Abeokuta; and in disproof +of it he pointed in the direction where four men’s heads had been taken +off for kidnapping. He explained the notorious disappearance of the +Ijayans by the fact that the Are, their king, had made sale the penalty +of _fainéance_ in war, and that the people, pressed by hunger, had been +compelled to dispose of their slaves and children, their wives, and even +themselves, for two bags, or about one pound sixteen shillings each. All +of which was plausible, but not true. He then slipped into another +subject, declared that Mr. Sam. Crowther, jun., should never again enter +the gates of Abeokuta, protesting, as the cause of the people’s wrath, +that Europeanized Egba’s spite against the Rev. Mr. Townsend, an +excellent man, ever their friend, who kept five hundred kegs of powder +ready for the defence of their city. Waxing aggrieved, he entered into a +complaint touching the conduct of the acting governor of Lagos, who had +written insulting letters to them, and the late Captain Jones, who, +bribed with four hundred bags by the Ibadans, had not only broken his +promise to bring up from Lagos, for the purpose of drilling the +Abeokutans, a detachment of ten men from the West India regiment, but +had also attempted to visit their very enemy—that scum of the +country—who was sworn to dye white men black, as with indigo. He +concluded with the apposite remark that all of public had now been said, +and that what remained must be spoken in private. This was the gist of +an harangue which did not cease till men began to yawn; many followed +the example of the farmer-king and snored, a few rose to depart, and all +appeared to be tired. Even the palaver soon wearies the cobweb brains of +these Africans. + +Commander Bedingfield saw his opportunity, and sensibly declared that as +they had had their say he also must have his. As regards the war with +Ibadan, it was their own affair, their loss and not ours; we wanted not +Abeokuta, but peace and plenty of cotton; and although we might aid her +in defence, we should never abet her in offensive war. With respect to +the man Crowther, he also was entitled to a fair hearing; and although +the Alake had a right to banish a foreigner offending against the laws +of the land, still allegations against a British subject holding +property in the place should be substantiated before being acted upon. +Captain Jones’s letter to government—it had, by its entire truth, given +great offence at Abeokuta to white men as well as to black—might contain +a few expressions better omitted, still excusable in so young an +officer; but no one wearing her Majesty’s uniform was capable of +receiving a bribe (as this was stated with indignation, the Akpesi rose +and explained that the bribe had been given by the Ibadans to the +Ijebus). Moreover, it is an European practice for a non-combatant to +visit both armies in the field. An allusion was then made to a human +sacrifice, whose object was good fortune in war against the enemy, +offered up, on the 12th October, 1861, outside the Ijaye gate, with the +permission of the Egbas, by the people of Ikesi and Ife, the town +destroyed, it is said, by the Ibadans four or five years ago. An Ibadan +prisoner, who had long been in chains, of which he showed marks, was led +out, loaded with cowries, and made contented with rum; a crowd collected +round him, sending messages to their departed friends, and begging the +victim to remember their wants, children for the women and wives for the +bachelors. The captive, at first, made some objections, but presently +became in excellent humour, and sang his epicedium with a will. Mr. +Stone, an American Baptist missionary, had heard what was to take place, +but did not arrive in time. The man was duly decapitated, and the usual +ceremonies followed the death, such as entreating the ghost not to be +wrath with, or to haunt his slayers. This was the tale palmed upon us: +it was a systematic falsehood. The Alake had become possessor of an Ife +idol,[153] and the chiefs had told him that a man should be offered to +it for peace. The job was given to the Ife people because the idol was +from their country, and the rite was performed outside the gate to throw +dust in European eyes. ‘The captain’ reprobated all such proceedings, +and concluded by informing the Alake that H.E. the acting governor of +Lagos, who had offended them, had done so under orders, and that, as he +was acknowledged by the home authorities, he must be treated with +respect. Whereupon a form of written apology was passed to Mr. King, a +coloured missionary sitting hard by. + +But kidnapping and human sacrifice are still sore subjects with the West +African. Presently we had a scene. The old Alake had ceased to doze, and +gradually his one eye lighted up, he forgot to fan his under-arms, to +swab his face, to snuff, and to drink. As he insisted upon breaking +silence, many chiefs, turbulent and unvenerative as Africans ever are, +left the assembly, audibly declaring that, as their king would speak, +they washed their hands of the consequences. His Majesty began by +telling us fiercely that he himself had written the letter to the acting +governor of Lagos without the knowledge of his councillors, and that +since the time of the Ado war, he had ever known him as a merchant and +as an enemy. He then entered upon the subject of the war, his voice +changed from a low sing-song recitative to a louder tone, he lashed +himself into a rage—the listeners half applauding—and finally he rose +upon his feet and bellowed like a rickety old bull. He was rather an +effective figure; a tall, large, aged man, amply clad—only his left eye, +the bright side, showing. He thumped his breast, and not being over-firm +upon his legs, he leaned back so much that his wives were compelled to +hold on his white-topped, blue-fringed, scarlet velvet cap. ‘Never,’ he +exclaimed with violence, ‘will my word be for peace as long as Ibadan +holds the graves of our fathers, our homes, and our ancestral farms!’ +And he foamed at the mouth with the idea. Some of my companions thought +the display natural. I was too much at home with African customs—the +scene is by no means unfamiliar to Europe—to mistake the movement, but I +judged from it that our mediation would not be highly acceptable. At +last the Alake, who had gradually left his cage, sank back into it, the +curtain fell amidst shouts of applause, and the assembly—warned by the +cold gusts and the lively dust that a tornado was at hand—prepared to +break up. We drank a little peppermint, and as we were told that the +king would meet us outside, Mr. Eales and I left the palace. Commander +Bedingfield, however, more sensibly sent in a message that he must shake +hands with and be duly dismissed by the Alake, who, after some delay, +returned smiling in fresh clean robes, and hobnobbed with his +‘distinguished visitor.’ + +The palaver was well managed, and in one sense successful: it seemed to +promise an early, though not a satisfactory, adjustment of a very +complicated affair, which however was not fated to be. As the +explanation throws light upon the customs and politics of this part of +the world, I will enter upon it at some length. + +The war between Abeokuta and Ibadan, which formed the subject of the +late palaver, began ‘twenty moons ago,’ _i.e._ in May, 1859, and in 1863 +it is far from settled.[154] It is an old quarrel. As early as Richard +Lander’s day that mysterious race the Fulas[155] were driving the pure +Yorubas southwards, and they in their turn were ousting the Egbas. As +has been shown, the dispersion of the Egbas was mainly brought about by +the Ijebus and the Ibadans, who, being warlike and quasi-Moslems, took +possession of the rich farm lands north of comparatively barren +Abeokuta, and have now made them their own. There has long, therefore, +been bad blood. The origin of the last quarrel is stated to be that the +Ibadans slew the wealthy mother-in-law of Murummi, Are or chief of +Ijaye, who seized the murderers, and refused to give them up without +ransom. Whereupon Ibadan marched against Ijaye, and the latter threw +themselves into the arms of Abeokuta. On the other hand, it is generally +believed that the Ijebu Remo and Dahome, those ever-watchful enemies of +the Egbas, supported Ibadan. The quarrel has lately been complicated by +the threats of Dahome, who is preparing his sacrifices: the arrangements +usually begin in September and October, and the attack takes place in +December and January. To make matters worse, the Mohammedans of Ilori, +to the north of Ibadan, thinking, I suppose, that when Kafirs fall out +Moslems come in, have promised aid and comfort to Abeokuta. The war has +produced great scarcity, trebling the price of many articles in Yoruba, +besides causing a serious deficiency in palm-oil and other products. It +was generally supposed that both were weary of the affair, but that they +would not cease without the intervention of a third party. Further +experience, however, has proved the error of the supposition. + +There was, moreover, a deeper cause of quarrel than old and obsolete +animosities, and this was carefully kept concealed. To an African power, +direct connection with the seaboard is a necessity. Dahome was unknown +in the last century until she had conquered and absorbed the maritime +kingdom of Whydah. The Ashanti wars in the earlier part of the present +century were waged against the Gold Coast races and ourselves with the +same object; and at the present moment there are actual hostilities for +the same end. The possession of a port gives two great advantages. The +first is a power of exportation and importation without paying the heavy +African transit dues. The second is the right to claim such transit dues +from neighbours and nations dwelling inland. The African ever aspires to +the condition of a middleman, when, Jew-like, he can live gratis and +labourless by the sweat of another’s brow. Such is the condition of the +whole of this coast, a broken line of broker settlements, some +numbering, like Grand Bonny, nine thousand souls, and such has from time +immemorial been the condition of the shores of Eastern Africa. Abeokuta +having obtained by means of the Ogun a direct communication with the +sea, is determined to charge a heavy transit duty upon the produce of +Ibadan and the inland kingdoms. And those who can find no other direct +road will fight till they can obtain access to the ocean. This greed of +gain—not the pious and patriotic aspiration to recover the lands of +their forefathers—has sustained the Abeokutans in a four years’ conflict +with the Ibadans.[156] + +It remains to consider the causes of complaint brought by the Egbas +against the Crowthers and Captain Jones—they are as instructive as the +causes of the war. Mr. Sam. Crowther, like his brother Mr. Josiah, had +made himself wonderfully unpopular at Abeokuta. He had refused to pay +certain fines leviable on certain offences. His accusations against Mr. +Townsend were the _cheval de bataille_ of the Abeokutans. But as before, +so here, the true cause of complaint lay much deeper. Mr. Sam., like his +respected father who was proposed for a bishopric, had been witness to +and an active hand in promoting a treaty, upon which the Alake, his +chiefs, and his subjects, soon learned to look in its real light, and +were seized with violent indignation. + +I quote this instructive instrument _in extenso_ below.[157] It speaks +for itself: it is sublime in its impudence. If carried out it would +create a system of _fueros_ more exceptional than any that Mexico has +yet seen: it would found an _imperium in imperio_, bringing into the +heart of the country a wholly irresponsible race. There is no possible +guarantee for Art. 3. Whence is ‘the intelligence’ to come, and what may +be its measure? Moreover, though signed by eight names, of whom half +died before the end of 1861, it was never submitted to the greater +chiefs and to the Ogboni lodges, or Upper and Lower Houses of the land, +and it degrades the people because it places their freedom in the bands +of a king and of a few chiefs. The reader has already seen that the +Alake of Abeokuta is no autocrat. + +That needy and greedy coloured fugitives from the western world should +enter into such speculations is no wonder. That the late Sir Culling E. +Eardley, Bart., of Bedwell Park, should ‘heartily recommend’ the scheme +in a preface to Mr. Campbell’s _brochure_, and call upon Manchester to +second the movement, _is_, as I have already shown, the error of those +who make Africa a no-man’s land. Land quarrels caused the old Egba +troubles, and nothing but agrarian wars could result in the haven of +refuge opened to his brethren by the Pilgrim to his Motherland. What +would Sir Culling E. Eardley have replied to a deputation of gipsies, +who proposed to settle themselves as a free republic under the spare +shades of Bedwell Park? Yet that is what he advocates for Egba- +land.[158] + +Meanwhile, the Alake and chiefs, far more acute than the English +philanthrope, declare that, whilst perfectly ready to admit settlers +subject to the British authorities at Lagos, and amenable to English +law, they will have nothing to do with these irresponsible adventurers, +who, in time, may become too strong for them. They have already tasted +the sweets of a negro immigration from Sierra Leone, and they are by no +means willing to see anything more of the Oibo dúdú, white-blacks, or +trouser-white-men, as they call their guests. They therefore adopt the +African, I may say the universal plan, of denying the transaction in +toto. The Alake was half asleep when he affixed his mark; moreover, +‘black and white’ does not bind firm and fast in these lands. The chiefs +assert with truth that they have no power to execute such instrument +without the full permission of the Ogboni lodges. The people declare +that they know nothing of the matter which most concerns them. And I +venture to opine that, as a mere act of justice, we should allow the +Egbas to do what they like with their own. + +Mr. Consul Foote had applied for a detachment of two hundred soldiers of +the Second West India Regiment, to instruct the Egbas in military +matters. The idea was not brilliant. These negro troops naturally +despise ‘niggers,’ and are not willing to serve with them: the men, +however, were forwarded to Lagos, were kept there till they became +troublesome, and were sent back to head-quarters. Meanwhile, Capt. A. T. +Jones, of the same corps—the son of a well-known military name—was a +young officer of considerable talent and energy, of an ardent +temperament, strong in body, but unfortunately in ill-health. He was +directed to obtain ‘military information touching the resources of the +country, and the means the Abeokutans may have of carrying on offensive +war.’ Delayed by a fever caught on the Osa Lagoon during the affair at +Porto Novo, he left his detachment of ten men at Lagos, reached Abeokuta +on the 11th May, 1861, and was graciously received by the Alake. After +stating his object, he was forwarded to the seat of war with an escort +and introductions to the chiefs. On the 20th of May he arrived at +Okomeji, the camp of observation, distant thirty miles from Abeokuta, +and he visited its commander, the late Ogubonna, who, ten years before, +had repulsed the Dahoman attack. He then proceeded forty miles +northwards to Ijaye, and on the 22nd of May he started for the front. +The enemy, hearing from spies of the white man’s arrival, resolved to +waylay him: however, by hard riding, and by preceding his escort, +Captain Jones entered the Egba lines that same evening. On the next +day—operations were hurried by both parties, who were anxious for the +fetish of the white man’s presence—took place the battle of Ijaye. +Captain Jones placed himself near the first rank of the Abeokutan army, +about three hundred yards from the enemy, and watched the tactics of +both parties. He withdrew only when his interpreter was wounded in the +thigh by his side, a bullet grazed his own leg, and a third ball struck +the tree against which he was leaning, a few inches above his head. When +the action, which proved a drawn battle, ended, he retired to the Egba +lines, and returned to Abeokuta on the 31st of May. + +The report written by Captain Jones, after his return to Lagos, caused +great umbrage at Abeokuta. The older missionaries were vexed to see the +place ‘shown up,’ and declared that it had been malignantly described. +The natives, influenced by one Turner, a coloured man, now living with +the King of Ijebu, were loud in their complaints. They declared that +Captain Jones had appeared their friend, that he had made all manner of +promises, and that he had deliberately broken them for the worst of +purposes—all of which was of course false. Perhaps he was a little hot +and hasty in his expressions touching the lukewarmness with which our +offer of auxiliaries was received, and the ‘scorn and indifference’ +manifested by the Abeokutans in neglecting certain useless pieces of +artillery sent to them from England. But, on the whole, his report was +perfectly truthful, and redounded greatly to the credit of this young +and promising officer. + +Captain Jones remained at Lagos for a few days, suffering from fever. He +then set out _viâ_ Ijebu for Ibadan, taking with him a servant, an +interpreter named Thomas, and a messenger or mihmandar from King Dosumo. +Falling ill on the way, he was advised to return, and at last he was +carried in a hammock from the landing-place at Ijini, twenty miles down +the Lagoon, to his canoe. The breeze being against him, he was delayed +there for some time, and he breathed his last—Europeans say from +congestion of the lungs, natives say from poison—on the Ikoradu Waters, +within sight of Lagos, 7th July, 1861. + +Monday’s evening was as gloomy as its morning; the tornado, after +exhausting its electricity, poured down a slow, steady rain, which +effectually confined us to in-door amusements. The _séjour_ was becoming +_bien triste_. On Saturday the Ake converts and those of Abaka had a +prayer-meeting for general purposes, for the success of Commander +Bedingfield’s mission. Sunday was of course a ‘day of rest’ (7 A.M., +native service and school; 10·30 A.M., English service, followed by +school; and 4·30 P.M., native service—such is ‘rest’). On Monday +afternoon there was a monthly prayer-meeting of all the churches and +chapels for the forwarding of peace—a custom, I believe, originating +with the Loodhianah Mission in Northern India; and on Tuesday, it being +the 5th of the month, there will be a gathering for the benefit of the +natives; ministers, schoolmasters, and native agents all meet, and the +converts are expected to attend. It is evident that the Abeokuta mission +cannot be accused of neglecting its duties. + + +[Footnote 149: The Jatawalla worships Shiva, and is so called from his +jata, or huge mop of hair, which he twists in the shape of a turban. I +have found the length, by careful measurement—passing my thumb-nail down +it to detect plaiting, if possible—six feet and upwards. If there be any +secret in this, what a fortune it would make, even compared with the +‘incomparable oil, Macassar!’] + +[Footnote 150: The doors have distinct panels, upon which are seen a +leopard, a fish, a serpent, and a land tortoise. The horseman is also +common. Mr. Bowen remarks, that one of the carvings was ‘a female +figure, with one hand and one foot,’ probably a half Obatala, or the +female principle of Nature; ‘and the monster was remarkable for having a +queue of very long hair (which no negro can have), with a ball or globe +at the end.’ Opposite to this were the symbols of the Lampsacan god, or +rather the Yoni Lingam, in juxtaposition. I differ from Mr. Bowen in the +opinion that no negro can have long hair; the Fans of the Gaboon River, +to mention no other tribe, often wear it falling upon their shoulders.] + +[Footnote 151: ‘Alpha’ is the usual English way of writing the word, +which I presume is a corruption of the Arabic Árif.] + +[Footnote 152: Yoruba Proper, Ibadan, and Ilori, is here alluded to.] + +[Footnote 153: The Rev. Mr. Crowther informs us that all kinds of idols +are to be had at Ife, and that celebrated gods are frequently purchased +there by the people of other tribes.] + +[Footnote 154: The style of fighting will be described in a future +chapter.] + +[Footnote 155: ‘Fula,’ a word said to signify brown or yellow, has been +traced back to the Psylli, or Psulloi, of the classical authors; and +others make them descendants of the shepherd kings. They are known by a +variety of names—Poul, Poulh, Peul, Pheul, Pholey, and Phoulah: in Hausa +and Yoruba they are known as Filani and Falani; in Burnu as Filata or +Fillatah; and their country is called Fuladú. The race is said to come +from Masina, near Tinbuktu, and to have inhabited the three Fula +countries which are derived from Phut, the grandson of Noah. About a +century ago, their celebrated Shaykh Usman (_alias_ Danfodio) built +Sokoto in the woods of Ader, organized an empire, and marched under a +white flag to the Jihad. He conquered Hausa, Kubbi, Yaori, Nupe, and +Moslem Burnu, and became Amir el Muminin over followers that have now +spread from the Senegal River to the Ibos, at the head of the Niger +Delta,—an extent of country larger than Russia in Europe.] + +[Footnote 156: The missionaries, headed by Mr. Townsend, take an +opposite view of the affair. According to them, the Ibadans seized Ido +and Ilugun, stopped the trade road to Ijaye and Isehin, and drove the +Abeokutans out of their farms. Her Majesty’s Consul at Lagos, and the +British merchants, sent deputations to Abeokuta and Ibadan, to prevent +the war: at the former place it succeeded, at the latter it failed. My +belief is, however, that the Abeokutans were, and are still, the +aggressors.] + +[Footnote 157: + + TREATY. + +This treaty, made between His Majesty Okukenu, Alake; Somoye, Ibashorun; +Sokenu, Ogubonna, and Atambala, chiefs and baloguns of Abbeokuta, on the +first part; and Martin Robinson Delany, and Robert Campbell, of the +Niger Valley exploring party, commissioners from the African race of the +United States and the Canadas in America, on the second part, covenants— + +ART. 1.—That the king and chiefs, on their part, agree to grant and +assign unto the said commissioners, on behalf of the African race in +America, the right and privilege of settling, in common with the Egba +people, on any part of the territory belonging to Abbeokuta, not +otherwise occupied. + +ART. 2.—That all matters requiring legal investigation among the +settlers be left to themselves, to be disposed of according to their own +custom. + +ART. 3.—That the commissioners, on their part, also agree that the +settlers shall bring with them, as an equivalent for the privileges +above accorded, intelligence, education, a knowledge of the arts and +sciences, agriculture, and other mechanic and industrial occupations, +which they shall put into immediate operation, by improving the lands, +and in other useful vocations. + +ART. 4.—That the laws of the Egba people shall be strictly respected by +the settlers, and in all matters in which both parties are concerned, an +equal number of commissioners, mutually agreed upon, shall be appointed, +who shall have power to settle such matters. As a pledge of our faith, +and the sincerity of our hearts, we each of us hereunto affix our hand +and seal, this twenty-seventh day of December, Anno Domini One thousand +eight hundred and fifty-nine. + + His mark X OKUKENU, ALAKE. + + His mark X SOMOYE, IBASHORUN. + + His mark X SOKENU, BALOGUN. + + His mark X OGUBONNA, BALOGUN. + + His mark X ATAMBALA, BALOGUN. + + His mark X OGUSEYE, ANABA. + + His mark X NGTEBO BALOGUNOSO. + + His mark X OGUDEMU, AGEOKO. + + (Signed) M. R. DELANY. + + (Signed) ROBERT CAMPBELL. + + (_Witness_) SAMUEL CROWTHER, JUN. + + (_Attest_) SAMUEL CROWTHER, SEN. + +] + +[Footnote 158: With similar simplicity, Mr. Abraham Lincoln proposed +shunting off his spare contrabands into the Republics of Central +America, who, as might be expected, gratefully declined the boon, +declaring, like the Abeokutans, that they are ready to receive emigrants +of every colour, but not those who appear as an independent power.] + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE KING’S RETURN VISIT. + + +Matutinè, I ascended the Ake church steeple, pulled out a board to +enable me to catch a glimpse of the Ogboni lodge of Eruwan, and +succeeded only in seeing that it had three courts, which confirmed the +account of my informant. This day, Tuesday, the to us memorable 5th of +November, was to become more memorable yet. His Majesty the Alake had +overwhelmed Commander Bedingfield with the proffer of a return visit—an +event rare in Abeokuta; moreover, his Majesty had the grace to be +punctual to his time, 10 A.M. + +The Egbas, it must be remembered, are a race of bushmen and farmers, +clothiers and blacksmiths, compelled by their enemies to collect and +centralize. They were naturally unwilling to elect a king till necessity +drove, and then they did it with all manner of limitations. The Alake, I +have said, possesses neither the state nor the power of the pettiest +Indian Rajah. The only king ever known in Yoruba was he of Oyo (Eyeo), +the capital, who was described as living in regal state. + +Negrotic Africa—not unlike her sisters Europe and Asia—has three +distinctly marked forms of government. The first and strongest is a +military despotism, like that of Ashanti, Dahome, Kongo, the Balonda +people, the Kazembe and Urungu; Turkey, Persia, and the Great Mogul of +the olden time, are their equivalents. In these the ruler owns no law +but custom, which means right, and which cannot be transgressed even by +the most powerful.[159] The second is a kind of feudal monarchy, +modified by the personal character of the king; oftentimes he is +inferior in weight to his councillors and officers, and even a slave may +refuse to obey him. Instances are, the Kafir races, Umyamwezi, Karagwah, +Yoruba, and others, in which, like those of Maskat, Yemen, and most +parts of Arabia, the regal power is sometimes almost obliterated. The +last and lowest are rude republics, in which a kind of autonomy +prevails: they are chiefly found amongst the Bedouin tribes, the hill +people, and the jungle races of Asia and Africa. + +To the second of this category belongs the government of Abeokuta, a +weak constitutional monarchy, blighted by the checks and limits which +were intended to prevent its luxuriance. The king commands in his own +town, but nowhere else, like the magistrate of a Swiss canton—to which, +indeed, the state of Abeokuta may fitly be compared—and his orders +hardly extend within gunshot. His is a monarchy engrafted upon the old +barbarous patriarchal rule. The chiefs and councillors, more formidable +than the barons in King John’s day, are bound, though they often refuse, +to render suit and service to their suzerain. Ancient tradition is their +statute law, which, amongst civilized people, sanctions the most +arbitrary injustice, and which breeds a hundred tyrants instead of one. +Their king is also fettered by the laws of the land, of which the +Ogbonis are the conservators and exponents. He and his council may act +in judicial proceedings, or the case may be carried before the Ogbonis +in lodge assembled, or, if generally important, it may be decided by a +‘monster meeting’ of the lieges. No treaty or agreement is valid, unless +ratified by all those who have a voice in it. No ordinance against witch +torture or human sacrifice would be respected, unless the bill pass +through the House of Lords, viz., the Bale,[160] with the chiefs, civil +and military; the head fetishmen, who are the peers spiritual; the +select elders, who are the law officers of the crown; and the House of +Commons, or Ogboni lodges. A subject transgressing such law would put +himself under the protection of a chief, and then, unless the popular +voice be unanimous, he cannot be punished. ‘An Englishman’s house is his +castle,’ says the European proverb. ‘Every man is king in his own +house,’ is the less moderate Yoruban saying. It will now be clear to the +reader how much can be expected from civilized treaties and conventions +with such barbarians. + +After this long digression, return we to the Alake’s visit. + + + ‘Shouts of applause ran rattling to the skies’ + + +in most discordant music, whilst a braying of horns and a beating of +tom-toms, giving notice of his Majesty’s arrival, brought us all to the +compound’s gate. The procession was not imposing. First came the family- +chair or stool; it was probably a common framework of bamboo, hidden by +a cloth of coarse red serge. This ‘venerable utensil’ was accompanied by +the Akpesis and other chiefs, who ominously seemed thus to pay more +attention to it than to its master; so amongst Moslems the turban often +fares better than the wearer. Succeeded a few lads carrying drawn knives +and coarse swords; they acted cutlass boys or pages to the Alake. The +great man himself appeared under an umbrella of huge dimensions, +inferior only to the little tent under which the King of Ashanti walks +in state: the material was a glaring pink silk, with a heavy red fringe, +and it was bran new, as the paper lingering about the wires showed. +During the visit it was placed outside, against the house-wall, and its +accidental fall was followed by the sound of cudgelling, and the normal +results. The Alake was habited in the larger fez, with its band of blue +beads, and he tottered along with difficulty under a ponderous robe of +scarlet velvet—in shape somewhat like the proctor’s at Alma Mater—worn +over an Ewu ágbadá or Guinea-fowl pattern of similar shape, but of less +gorgeous hue. He propped himself on a beaded staff, some five feet +long—canes and swords here do the duty of European cards and Asiatic +signets[161]—and he flirted a white fly-whisk, with beaded handle, but +without the little bells. His pantaloons were of purple velvet, with a +broad stripe of the veriest tinsel gold, and his carpet slippers were +fringed round with black monkey’s skin, reminding one of the ‘pair, +large enough for an elephant,’ worn by that dread Nigerian potentate who +declared all embarkation in a canoe to be essentially unkingly. Never +before was such an old ‘Guy’ seen. Being very fond of children, he led +by the hand a son and heir; the boy was by no means plain, and was +dressed somewhat after the fashion of his papa. Around them pressed a +multitude of wives and slave girls, with bare heads, and hair dressed +melon-wise, coral necklaces, and bosoms veiled with white cloths, over +which, at the waist, were fastened sacques of black and variegated +cotton velvets, girt with light-coloured kerchiefs. The harem was +accompanied by the _hoi polloi_, cowrie-bag bearers and other officials +of the household, armed with huge black whips of hippopotamus hide, +decorated with brass tacks. The total might have been eighty souls, and +they all crowded into one not large room. The atmosphere soon became +that of a slave-ship. + +After _com’liments_—to use the customary initial formula of diplomatic +communication in these regions—which were acknowledged by the chief +protruding his tongue, he sat down, handed his _chob_ or stick of office +to an attendant, placed the son between his knees, and became the +central point of a female semicircle. The eldest wife, a gaunt old +woman, standing bolt upright behind him, supported his upper regions +with both hands upon his shoulders, and occasionally passed a yellow +bandanna over his pearl-studded face and neck. Two others, on his right +and left, used cow-skin fans: when undue warmth troubled the great man’s +body, he raised his arms high in the air, threw off the wide sleeves, +and directed the cooling draught to be applied where most wanted. The +rest grouped themselves near the wall, in a crescent, open to the front. +Commander Bedingfield sat down opposite the Alake, Mr. Eales on the +right of his chief officer, whilst I took my place in the rear for the +purpose of easier sketching. The chiefs ranged themselves round Mr. +Wike’s room, crowding on the chairs and sofas, and looking daggers if +compelled to squat, as they do at home, upon the floor. The usual +_afiyah_ and _amin_—these words sounded like signs of ‘a good time +coming’—concluded, the palaver proceeded, the interlocutors being ‘the +captain,’ through Lagos Williams, who, having lately been made an +Ogboni, had become ultra-Egba; the Akpesi, and at times the Alake. + +The subject of the human sacrifice was again brought upon the _tapis_. +As has been said, when the Awajali of Ode dies, his servants are slain. +Lately an attendant youth, seeing the royal personage likely to ‘hop the +twig,’ endeavoured to make his escape in time. He was seized, however, +and history is silent as to his fate. + +I need hardly enlarge upon the national duty of putting down with a +strong hand such abominations as those of Abeokuta and Ode. The late Mr. +M‘Gregor Laird describes moral suasion in Africa as a twenty-four +pounder, with British seamen behind it; and Mr. Consul Hutchinson +equally happily defined an English official’s moral force to be a moral +farce without a gun-boat. When children require the stick, we apply it; +when adults misbehave themselves, we put them in irons; and if Africa, +Western or Eastern, requires the twenty-four pounder and the gun-boat, +we ought not to withhold them from her. + +England is passing from one phase of sentiment into another. Before the +mutiny of the mild Hindu, all was ordered to be _suaviter in modo_, till +the natives, our respectable ‘fellow-subjects,’ were petted and spoiled +by over-indulgence. In those fiery times we found that the _fortiter in +re_—measures which, a year before, would have provoked a national +shudder—was necessary to our very existence. In the due admixture of +both, the _narm_ and the _garm_—as the people have it—the rough and the +smooth, the bakhshish and the bastinado, lies the secret of preserving +the health of the Asiatic and African body politic. The old trader was +not so far wrong who advised his friends, when dealing with a ‘black +fellow,’ to hold out one hand for shaking, and to keep the other ready +for knocking down. + +The Akpesi of Eruwan again explained—without a word of truth—that the +human sacrifice in question was the work, not of Abeokutans, but solely +of men from Ife and Ikisi. But Commander Bedingfield, who now knew the +whole affair, simply replied that he was shocked at such an event; that +it was a step in the wrong direction; that it would be a hard nut for +the English people to crack, and that the Alake should not have allowed +it. + +A little lying on the part of the natives ensued, when it was broken off +by the sudden irruption of Mr., Mrs., and Master Gollmer, and Messrs. +Wilcoxon and Roper, of the Church Missionary Society. The first- +mentioned did not fail to impress us carefully and intelligibly with a +sense of the high honour conferred upon us by the presence of the Alake. +All Windsor Castle in the house of a subject would hardly have produced +an equal amount of congratulation. Master Gollmer was politely received +by the young prince, who was about the size of a small French poodle; +but the European juvenile, alarmed at the novelty of the scene, began to +boo-hoo in a style which soon caused the precipitate retreat of the +party. We resumed the palaver. + +Many solemn promises of reform, not to be broken, as the phrase is, till +the next opportunity, were voluntarily given to us. The Akpesi then +observed that it might be the wish of Englishmen not to behead +criminals; that yesterday we had been looking at and ‘writing’ the +skulls, and so forth. + +This was easily settled. Legal executions are not yet objected to by the +civilized people of England. _C’est incroyable, mais c’est vrai_. + +The Akpesi then referred to the correspondence from Lagos, which he +insisted had been far from courteous, and which he said had been +answered in a similar spirit. The fact is, they did not say so, but they +could not get over the charge of having pulled a beast’s whiskers. + +Commander Bedingfield suggested _bona verba_, remarking that _litera +scripta manet_, and that civility, is a _sine quâ non_ in official +correspondence. + +The Akpesi then uprose and spoke as he was wont—_submissè, temperatè, +granditer_. He ran through a brief history of the white men who had +visited Abeokuta, beginning with Mr. Townsend and ending with Messrs. +Beecroft and Forbes. He then digressed into a little violence touching +the Crowthers. Mr. Sam. Crowther, Sen.’s name was Ajai, ‘struggling for +life,’ a native of the little village of Ishoggo (Oshogun), who had been +taken prisoner in a Fula attack about 1821, and who had been rescued +from a Portuguese slaver by H.M.S. ‘Myrmidon,’ Captain, afterwards Sir +Henry Leeke. Ajai was therefore still a subject of the Alake, but, from +respect for the English, he had been allowed to wear pantaloons, and to +call himself an Oibo dudu. Yet his son, Mr. Samuel Crowther, Jun., had +proved himself a bitter enemy to his black brethren, or rather masters, +by traducing their friend Mr. Townsend. Therefore he had better stay at +Lagos; and if he came to Abeokuta, the people would certainly kill him. + +The reply was, that the Alake could object for a good and sufficient +reason to any one setting foot in his city, but that killing was not to +be spoken of, as such an event might lead to serious complications. + +‘Then,’ quoth the Akpesi, ‘he—Ajai’s son—shall not come back till +Tow’sen’ returns.’ + +‘Presently,’ replied the captain, ‘we shall know if it be Mr. Townsend’s +wish to revisit Abeokuta.’ + +The Alake, who awaking after a long doze, now wreathed his face with +curious smiles, and took up the thread of discourse. His delivery was +not pleasant; the loss of his incisors, and the length of his canines, +rendered him almost unintelligible. His tongue protruded in a queer, +paralytic way. He spoke so low as to be hardly audible, and at times he +broke forth into a crone-like chuckle. He spoke with the utmost +deliberation, and when he stopped to be fanned and wiped, his +_claqueurs_ vociferated the usual cries. He also thought it necessary to +go through the history of his white visitors, beginning, not as German +savans with the inevitable Adam, but with the siege of Ado, when the +acting governor of Lagos first became his enemy. It took place, I may +observe, in 1840, or one year before Mr. M‘Coskry came to the coast. He +ended with Mr. Foote and the attack on Porto Novo. ‘White men,’ said the +Alake, ‘have stood before me in three forms—missionaries, war-men, and +merchants. Missionaries are good men who ‘teach book,’ and who dissuade +people from slavery and sacrifice, exhorting them to live in peace and +quiet, but never meddling with their neighbours’ business. (!) War-men +are also good men; their trade is to fight, and yet they fight for +order, not to gratify their own passions; they harm no one but enemies; +they are heroes—they are giants. As for merchants, they come to get what +they can; they care for nothing but cowries; they trade with a man, and +his enemy—in fact,’ said the Alake, raising his voice, ‘they are liars +and rascals.’ N.B.—Two members of this unjustly abused body were sitting +in the room, and one was looking uncommonly glum. ‘As for the Oibo +dudu’—the white-blacks, or Sierra Leonites—resumed the king, ‘I must +call them even worse than the merchants.’[162] After this ebullition of +feeling Okokenu ran over all the Ibadan war; how the Ibadans had +intrigued with Lagos and with Fallun—King Dosumo’s string-puller—how +they had brought Dahome to war with him, and how they had slaughtered +his Ijayan friends. Could he be at peace with such people? Finally, he +again warned us to write to England, that Agbome was engaged in the +sacrifices preliminary to a commando. This may be true:[163] that +amiable people are mustered at the end of every wet season for the +annual slave hunt; the king then inspects the force, makes all +preparations and forms a camp always away from the place which he +purposes to attack. The next step is a rapid raid, direction unknown. + +Breakfast was being placed on the table, and at noon the palaver ceased, +the king retiring in state under the salute of trade muskets, which, +loaded like chambers, were fired from the hip. The next day was fixed +for signing the reformed treaty. These people, I have said, will sign +everything, but they have no idea of keeping anything. + +In the evening, the chiefs, privily meeting Commander Bedingfield, +consented to append more stringent clauses to the treaty concluded in +1852 by Commander Forbes, and left him well contented. He had expected +another summons from the king, but, fortunately for us, it did not come. +The day ended with another fierce tornado, and a steamy heat, which +fully accounts for the complexion of the European and the Europeaness at +Abeokuta. Physiologists inform us that blue and green are not found in +the human skin; I have now seen both—aye, and yellow-green, too. + +This chapter will conclude with an account of the strategy and the +military force of the Egbas. The admirable report of the late Captain +Jones has been my principal authority. + +War in Yoruba is carried on much as it was in India some two centuries +ago. There is no regular army, but each chief has his armed retainers +like the Highland clansmen, and these form the force. After an ‘Oro- +palaver,’ which sometimes lasts three days, when the time and place of +rendezvous are settled upon, the warriors march out, with the usual mob +of sutlers carrying their beds and provisions upon their heads, and +laden with arms and ammunition. They march better even than Spaniards or +Portuguese, and they can easily get over forty miles in twenty-four +hours. When the quarrel is not very popular, an edict threatens all who +lag behind with the loss of their heads. Those who cannot afford horses, +walk—after Nelson’s saying, ‘Let the man trudge it who has lost his +budget.’ + +The warriors arm themselves. Their principal weapons are ‘buccaneer +guns,’ called ‘long Danes,’ because first imported from the Gold Coast: +these are large flint pieces in gaily-painted stocks, costing in England +from seven to ten shillings each, and here seven to eight gallons of +palm-oil = fourteen to sixteen shillings. Africans rarely, if ever, pay +anything like a decent price for muskets. The process of firing is +peculiar, the gun being either discharged from the hip, or held out at +arm’s length, with averted face, for good reason; the kick is that of an +ass, and it would lay open even Deaf Burke’s cheek. The state finds a +coarse powder, mostly exported from Boston, more than three parts +charcoal, and of this two hands’ breadth is the usual charge; the +bullets are bolts of bar-iron, cast and cut by the blacksmiths. Pistols +are rarely worn; spears and bows and arrows are little used. Swords seem +intended principally to hack and hew the wounded and dead. A few, +especially Moslems, have straight, double-edged blades, with brass +handles and leather scabbards, from which they are drawn with +difficulty, and only Arabs use the scimitar or curved blade. Bowie +knives have of late formed an article of importation, and are found +handy. The only artillery consists of wall-pieces, about 1½ inch bore, +crammed with a handful of bolts or nails, fired from a rest, and easily +transported from place to place. Rockets are as yet unknown; these and +case-shot would be found uncommonly serviceable. + +Arrived at the field of action, the Egba army’s proceedings explain the +phrases ‘going out to war, sitting down, and encamping before a town.’ +They select ground about three-quarters of an hour’s march from the +place to be attacked, generally choosing the bank of a stream. The first +operation is to dig a scarpless, narrow ditch, facing towards the +fields. The earth thrown out is mixed with water, and made into a swish +parapet, which, besides wanting height and thickness, is weakened by +round loop-holes. A rain-thatch is then placed over it, and at certain +points scaffoldings are prepared for sentinels and look-out men, only +the chiefs having spyglasses. + +This part of the encampment being concluded, the warriors house +themselves. The camp is laid out without streets, the rule being for the +retainers to live pell-mell near their chief. The huts are built with +four corner-posts, two forked poles support the ridge of the roof, which +is composed of three large bars with smaller between, the whole being +covered with grass or matting. These places are laid out generally in +three rooms, the centre for reception, and the two sides for sleeping +and storing. Compounds are often attached, and in the rear, away from +the enemy, they prepare fields of maize and beans. The siege may last +for years, and commissariat there is none: women and camp-followers +attend to hold bazars; provisions are sometimes sent from the town; and +when ‘provaunt’ fails the warriors walk home. + +There is no attempt at uniform. The soldiers wear +shogoto—knickerbockers—or waist-cloths, and war jackets, striped blue, +white, and red. The bullet-bag is neatly made of leather, far inferior, +however, to Mandenga or Morocco work. The powder-flask is either a +calabash or a skin bottle, the latter often having the hair outside. The +accoutrements hang from the right shoulder to the left side. The chiefs +are elaborately dressed, with teeth cowries and a multitude of talismans +sewn upon their garments and accoutrements. Being thus somewhat +conspicuous, they avoid the danger of discouraging their men by a rare +prudence when under fire. Like the North American Indians, the Egbas +ignore defensive armour: a few Wilkinson’s coats of mail worn under the +dress would soon turn the tide of battle. + +The army, it will be observed, is wholly infantry, and the actions are +settled by skirmishers and light troops. Though here and there a man +fights on horseback, it seems never to have occurred to these people to +organize a troop; yet there are animals enough in the country to form an +excellent light cavalry, and irregulars are much wanted. The temper of +the beasts, however, would require them to be Rareyfied or prepared for +discipline by such treatment as was adopted in the Poonah Horse, Western +India. + +There is an attempt to divide the army into a resemblance of the +civilized brigade and the regiment, under the several chiefs: moreover, +the Egbas do not wholly ignore the use of the reserve. Both parties are +perfectly well acquainted with each other’s movements, many men having +in both camps friends to whom they are bound by oath. It will sometimes +happen that a chief refuses to go forth to war, pleading brotherhood +with the enemy; and the reason is rarely disregarded. + +Before an action begins, bribes are freely given to learn the strength +of the enemy, his health, his spirit, and his number; all manner of +false reports—now the intention of a retreat, then the advent of an +auxiliary—fly about, like Crimean shaves, to little purpose. Ambushes +are tried, and invariably fail. After this preliminary the hosts find +themselves embattled opposite each other as unwillingly as in the præ- +Napoleonic German wars, when it was the general’s great object to avoid +the enemy. The chiefs tree themselves, and receive reports in the rear, +not unlike a certain commander-in-chief in Crim-Tartary—most unlike him +who never said _Ite_, but _Venite_, or his Chinese equivalent[164] the +great Wang. The action begins by ordering a corps from each brigade or +division to the fore. Instead, however, of charging—bayonets are +unknown—they spread out in open order, skirmishing till their ammunition +is exhausted, and then retiring to ask for more in the rear. At times A. +feigns a retreat, and B. advances, perhaps sufficiently to produce a hot +fire, but never so far as to reach the enemy’s walls, which he +instinctively fears. If there be any danger of a hand-to-hand fight B. +then retires, and A., in his turn, advances. No one dreams of +outflanking more than of charging home, and the reserve sits quietly, as +did the commissariat behind the sand-heaps at the ‘Battle of Meeanee.’ +Even platoon firing is unknown. This kind of Champ de Mars work is kept +up till sunset, when both hosts wend homewards to sup, dance, boast +hugely, and claim the victory. A Sikh review in the olden days, when the +followers of Nanak Shah disdained to sponge their guns or to box their +ammunition, was a bloody affair compared with a pitched battle in +Yoruba; and a single civilized regiment would, I should say, scatter an +army. + +After ten thousand rounds the dead are counted by units, the wounded by +tens. The ‘battle of Ijaye’ was fought by seventeen thousand men: of +these, five were killed and fifty were hurt. From the weapons used we +could hardly expect otherwise. In the campaigns of the first Napoleon a +man’s own weight in powder, and ten times his weight in lead, were +consumed for each individual placed _hors de combat_ by their ridiculous +musket. In 1851 Brown Bess expended at the Cape three thousand two +hundred rounds to each Kafir, and in the Crimea the French fired away +five millions of small-arm cartridges without killing twenty-five +thousand Russians. It is becoming the belief of military men that the +use of arms of precision, cannon and rifles, assisted by skill and +practice, will eventually settle the fate of campaigns—which remains to +be seen. But at any rate a reliable weapon is an absolute necessity to +the soldier. It might not be advisable to arm the Egbas with Enfield +rifles, Prince’s breech-loaders, and Colt’s revolvers; still they might +supply themselves with sound Tower muskets and bayonets, with tolerable +sabres for their horsemen, and with pikes for a select body, which, +forming in column, would take that initiative in which all are so +notably deficient. These people have a modicum of invention, and a total +want of progressive power. It is as if a certain amount of knowledge is +spontaneously evolved by them, and then ceases. + +The Egba army fought at a considerable disadvantage at the time when +Captain Jones was present. The commander-in-chief, His Highness +Ogubonna, had won a certain prestige by his conduct in 1851 against +Dahome. He was, however, a very old man, said to be seventy—equal to +ninety in England, gross, effete, wholly addicted to women, and rarely +in the habit of leaving his hut. Yet it is the deliberate opinion of +Captain Jones that, with all its faults of commission and omission, +Abeokuta is ‘capable of carrying on an offensive war against any +neighbouring native power.’ + +The tactic to be used against this people is that which never yet failed +in India; and the superiority of European weapons would at once give the +victory to a civilized force. All our disasters in the East have been +caused by abandoning the one true and easy system—an opening by a hot +fire of artillery, round shot, howitzers, and rockets; a steady advance +of infantry in masses, covered by sharpshooters; and, finally, a rush of +cavalry to cut down the fugitives and to render the rout complete. + +It is at present our policy in these regions to maintain the strictest +neutrality. We have hitherto been persuaded to side with the Abeokutans, +thinking that they were engaged in a defensive when they were really +waging an offensive war. The great variety of tribes to whom the broad +lands of Yoruba belong are all willing, in their several degrees, to +become our ‘faithful friends and allies;’ and we shall have no +difficulty in keeping them so. The object of each is of course to +monopolize our amity and assistance for the pure purpose of self- +aggrandizement, and to the prejudice of its neighbours. Peace with us, +however, would be its object when nothing is to be gained by war. + +It will wholly conduce to proper relations with the interior when we +have a sufficient armed force at Lagos. The Egbas, like the people of +the West African coast generally, have persuaded themselves that the +English are invincible at sea, and upon the seaboard, where their ships’ +guns can be brought to bear, but that they are no soldiers. This is the +first lesson that should be taught them. Europeans are unnecessary, +except as officers, and the Upper Yoruba country, with Hausa and Burnu, +supplies an admirable material for native soldiers. The province of +Lagos will hold a very different standing in the country when provided, +not, as proposed, with two hundred men, but with a weak troop of light +irregular cavalry, a battery of field artillery, and a small regiment of +four hundred infantry. + + +[Footnote 159: So Darius (Dan. vi. 13-15), unable to change the ‘custom’ +which he had established, could kill but not spare.] + +[Footnote 160: The Bale of a town is its governor, subject only to the +king. In each house there is a Bale or householder. Like the king, these +Bales also have their associates or lieutenants.] + +[Footnote 161: Similarly, in the olden times of England, a stick called +Irmin Sule or the Pillar of Irmin, and sacred to Thor, was used in +musters.] + +[Footnote 162: H.M. was not so far wrong. The following, which is an +exact copy of a letter addressed to Dr. Harrison, will show what is +going on at Abeokuta on the part of the Sierra Leone settlers:— + + + _‘To the Editor of the Iwe Irohin._ + + ‘_Lagos, Sept. 28th_, 1861. + +‘DEAR SIR, + + ‘Sorry you have not inserted the whole of our defence against such +notorious falsehood of the W. African of the 26th May. + +‘But as you take upon yourselves to refute our defence. We therefore +pray you most earnestly to proof the fact, who is this Sierra Leone +Emigrants that thus denie, that he is not an emigrant from Sierra Leone, +and in the next place to proof, which of the Sierra Leone Emigrants, has +at any time claimed to be tried by native law, which is another error, +which you must either proof or correct. + +‘We belief that whatever is inserted in any such paper for public +perusal, must be true and nothing but the truth. + +‘We are not forced by the late Consul Foote to register our names as you +imagine. + +‘With regard to a S. Woman who you said to be exacting five strings out +of seven from a boy slave who was servant to a whiteman “Pray Messrs. +Editors,” It is in your place to report such one to H.B.M. Consul and to +be punished, and if not, you can name such one, but not to charge the +whole population with an offence committed by a single individual. It +was in order to distinguish one man from another was the reason a name +given to every man. + + ‘We remain, dear Sir, + + ‘Your Obedient Servants, + + ‘THE SIERRA LEONE EMIGRANTS. + +‘P.S.—Pray to insert the whole of the above.’] + +[Footnote 163: It was true, but the attack was not directed against +Abeokuta. Early in the ensuing spring King Baddahun, with six thousand +warriors, fell upon Ishagga, which had treacherously attacked his +father. The plans were well laid, and the place was surprised; only +sixteen men defending themselves, the others flying to a bush a quarter +of a mile from the town. The Dahomans slew some five hundred souls and +carried off the church bell, the catechist Doherty, and seventeen or +eighteen converts of both sexes, natives and Sierra Leonites. This is +the fifth Egbado town destroyed during the Ibadan war, the others being +Jigá, Mashaye, Shampa, and Igo.] + +[Footnote 164: This general, after tying up his beard in two knots, +would take a sabre in each hand, and filling up the rear of his men, so +lustily belabour all who hung back, that the Chinese terrified rush +never failed to secure the victory.] + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE DE OMNIBUS AND COTTON CHAPTER. + + +Of Egba society it cannot be said to be ‘based upon slavery.’ It has a +variety of ranks. Omo bibi, a child born born, _i.e._, twice born, the +Hindu ‘dwija,’ is one whose parents are both free Egbas. The son of a +free mother by a domestic slave is called omo ohi wabe. Omo odo, or ‘the +child of presence,’ is a domestic, and eru a common slave. Either of the +two, when manumitted after the master’s death, is called eru edili, +which is also the name of the progeny of a slave girl by a free father. +Those pawned by others—a custom reminding us of the old Roman Nexum—are +termed ofá, or wafa, apparently an Arabic derivative; one pawned by +himself is faru so fá. Of the population, probably four-fifths are +free,—a large proportion in this part of Africa. + +There are, therefore, three great classes of Egbas. The first is the +rich free man, the second the poor free man, and, thirdly, the serf, +colonus, or slave. If we reckon the fetish men as the fourth class, we +obtain that quadruple division which prevailed amongst the old +Egyptians, Hindus, Greeks, &c., and which, under the name of caste,[165] +has so often and so ignorantly been abused. The license of liberty to be +observed amongst the Egbas probably results from their habits of +domestic slavery. As was said of the citizens of Athens and Sparta, and +in the later days of the Southern States of the American Union, the +masters of slaves, if free themselves, are ever the freest of the +free.[166] + +African slavery here, as elsewhere, results from four causes—famine, +captivity in war, debt, and crime. Captives of course prefer the chain +to the sword, and insolvents and felons would be imprisoned in Europe. +The Egbas are, now, too much of a trading people to sell their brethren +except for the best reasons. Whilst our cruisers cut down the branches +of slave export, trade in cotton and oil—the ‘little palm-nut’ has been +described as the ‘true emblem of peace in Africa’—fells the trunk and +digs up the stumps of this Shajrat el Zukkum. But the development of +commerce naturally increases the necessity for slave labour in a land +where hired labour is expensive and uncertain, whilst the increased +price of provisions greatly adds to the miseries of the servile.[167] +Thus the Abeokutans—who are far from being disciples of Clarkson and +Wilberforce, Acland and Buxton—took the earliest opportunity of +enriching themselves at the expense of their allies the Ijayans. Of this +unhappy tribe no less than twenty thousand have, it is said, +disappeared. But the Egbas are fighting without pay or rations, +consequently their friends form their commissariat. The enemies, of +course, vend their captives, and even the Ijayans sell themselves for +provisions, or are sold by their chiefs as a penalty for shirking the +war. Kidnapping is severely punished by the Egbas, who, in April 1847, +passed a law making the penalty death. Once it was so common that at +Badagry and other places no poor man could sleep in peace. Lagos was +then one of seventy exporting points on this ill-fated coast, extending +three thousand six hundred miles, from Cape Verde to where the shores of +the Camaroons deflect to the south. The traffic has naturally +diminished. In 1825 the export was probably two hundred thousand; in +1839 Lord John Russell announced that the number of slaves annually +introduced into America and the West Indies exceeded one hundred +thousand; now it has diminished to a maximum of half the latter total, +and north of the equator it is almost entirely confined to the Slave +Coast, or the western half of the Benin Bight. + +The Yorubas have a marked national character. Divided into a number of +little states, or independent cantons, they are eminently clannish. An +Egba will feel hurt if his people be not properly appreciated, and the +‘Aku’ race at Sierra Leone produces the most dangerous because the most +intelligent recaptives. They have strong virtues and vices, and, by +dwelling upon one side, to the neglect of the rest of the moral +development, it would be easy to make them the best or the worst of +men.[168] They are kind and courteous, hospitable and not eminently +dishonest, except in and around the cities. On the other hand, they are +covetous, cruel, and wholly deficient in what the civilized man calls +Conscience. With considerable shrewdness in business, they are as simple +in some points as children. They believe that white men fabricate +cowries, and an old farmer, seeing a cloud, will say to a missionary, +‘Please let it rain for us!’ There is the usual African want of +invention; a plough, a saw, or an alphabet are equally beyond the limits +of their organization. They are somewhat litigious, and there is a +numerous judiciary, whilst private disputes are settled by a kind of +_consiglio di famiglia_. Their cruelty is shown rather in their religion +than in their laws. Murder, treason, and arson, sometimes adultery and +theft, are punished by death, the offender being beheaded or garotted +with a rope. In Ilori the neck is broken with an iron mace. Minor +offences are visited with the whip, fine, or imprisonment. + +Men amongst the Egbas are farmers, tillers of ground, blacksmiths, wood- +workers, carpenters, weavers, tailors, and barbers. Women do the +housework and sell at market; between whiles they spin, wash, cook, draw +water, dye cloth, and make soap and pottery. The Egba rises with the +dawn, brushes his teeth, bathes at home or in the brook, and repairs to +the jungle, which, as in India, is twice visited; if once only, the +exception would be attributed to disordered health. The breakfast, or +first of the three meals, is usually eaten round the pots of the market +women. It is a light affair, of the hot diluted paste, or burgoo, here +called ekko. The farmer then repairs to his fields, and the townsman to +his business, whilst the gude-wife either busies herself at home or sits +selling in the bazar. Dinner, from 10 A.M. to noon, is eaten either in +the farms or the streets. The farm-wives and hill-wives bring in the +material and the townswomen prepare it. It is something hot and simple, +yam balls or Indian corn cakes, with a ‘kitchen’ of the highly-seasoned +palaver sauce: the trash in which Europeans delight, papaws and +pineapples, plantains and oranges, are mostly left to the monkeys. +Vegetables, farinaceous food, and meat, especially the two latter, are +the general favourites. The rich will eat rats and snails, and the poor +carrion, rather than condemn themselves to become vegetarians. Meat, +however, as in Asia, is rarely cooked solid, hashes and stews being +preferred to roast and boiled. Those of easy means pass the greater part +of the day in dressing their hair, consulting Ifa, saluting friends, and +visiting the Ogboni lodges. After dark they eat once more, sometimes in +the streets, more generally in the house, and then gossip, play, if not +gamble, see dances or dance themselves, smoke, snuff, drink palm-wine, +maize-beer, and trade-rum, and retire to rest when they can do no more. + +As regards the Yoruba language, spoken by the Egbas, Egbados, Ijebus, +Iketus, and Otas, as well as by many of the people of Badagry and Lagos, +and said to extend along the coast to New Calabar, and internally to the +Niger, I know nothing of it except what the two grammars, Mr. Crowther’s +and Mr. Bowen’s, teach.[169] As many people have not read even these, I +may still be able to offer something new to them. The language is +decidedly difficult. In other countries missionaries expect to speak +fluently after the second year; here they usually take five. Mr. Bowen +is said to have learned it in eighteen months; but he was uncommonly +’cute in picking up languages, though he turned his knowledge to scant +account. Learning the Yoruba dialect is a severe exertion to a brain +relaxed by the climate, and students complain that all books published +upon the subject are mere sketches, leaving the learner to fill in +details. Something of the same kind was asserted touching Persian by Sir +William Jones. And it certainly is now time for a work upon the +scholarship, not the mere accidence, of African speech. + +Mr. Bowen finds in the Yoruban language affinities with Sanscrit, Greek, +Latin, Pahlivi, Persian, German, Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac, Saxon and +English, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Esquimaux, Basque, Welsh, Celtic, +Slavonic, Albanian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Celebes, Philippines, +Brazilian, besides a host of African languages, Okem, Opandi, Kufa, +Nupe, Uchan, Isubu, Ashanti, Oloma, Accra, Kru, Dahome, Mahi, Opaddi, +Fula, Mbariki, Kaniki, Mbe, Wolof, Mose, Dey, Shoa, Filham, Bullom, +Mandenga, Goali, Bassa, Golal, Benin, Melou, Kakanda, Madagascar, Galla, +and others. This is not the way to treat philology, we may not argue +radical affinity from a chance resemblance of words. I must also differ +in opinion with the learned Bishop Vidal,[170] who wrote his +‘Introduction’ before the Yoruba was classified, and before the +alliteral languages of Southern Africa, of which the types are the +Kongoese and the Zulu, were sufficiently studied. The bishop, by the +absence of classified prefixes and modifications of the particles +contained in the verb, judges Yoruba to be unconnected with the large +family of Kafir tongues.[171] On the other hand, there is an artful +system of prefixes and a purely conventional euphony, which, to say +nothing of minor points, denotes a similarity of origin. + +The Yoruba language is mostly one of intonation, and in many cases the +accent and the articulation determine the sense of the words. This is +trying to the dull ear of the northern race, and many are unable to +master the difficulty; yet a stranger, with the organs of tune highly +developed, finds little difficulty in separating the words, which do +not, as in Popo and in English, run into one another. The sounds +peculiar to the tongue are _pk_ and _gb_, sounded almost like a single +consonant, and, like Arabic, it wants the _v_ and the _p_. There is +neither passive voice nor variation for number and person, nor +indefinite article, in which the Greek and Latin are also deficient. It +seems to be built upon a century of biliteral roots, and Mr. Bowen’s +vocabulary contains about twelve thousand vocables. The language is +therefore sufficiently rich for the wants of a simple and barbarous +race. + +It is noted as a curious point that the Yoruban is wealthy in abstract +terms, that it possesses distinct words for such far-fetched ideas as +sin, guilt, honour, atonement, faith, mediation, repentance, pardon, +adoption, salvation, perdition, justification, and sanctification. The +same, however, according to the Rev. Mr. Walker, is true of the Mpongwe, +or Gaboon dialect; and, indeed, we may expect it to be an invariable +characteristic of these languages, which have a regular system of +compounding words, equally intelligible, root and branch, to all +speakers. + +The Yoruban tongue has no poetry, like the Hausa, nor are words set to +tunes as amongst the musical Fulas, except a few artless attempts like +the corn-songs of the American negroes. But the African development of +the language-power fills it with riddles and childish puzzles; moreover, +it is rich in proverbs, the infant literature of the world. Bishop Vidal +seems to have thought the Yorubas distinguished amongst the nations of +the world by the number and terseness of their proverbial sayings. So +far from this being the case, there is hardly a tribe upon the West +African coast which has not as many and as good. The same philologist +also sees a high standard of morality in this popular code, if it can so +be called, a vestige of the ‘Universal Conscience bearing witness +amongst men.’ There is, according to him, no virtue, sin, nor human +relation which is not enforced, described, or forbidden by some pithy +dictum. As a rule, methinks, the most exalted views in proverbs and +poetry evidence a rather low actuality. Thus the unwarlike delight in +tales of slaughter, liars hold high theories touching truth, universal +selfishness proclaims aloud mutual dependence, the most reckless of +human life have a hundred reasons for not taking it, and no nation more +despises the poor, or has more saws against a right to despise him, than +the Yoruba. Moreover, all the world over, proverbs run in pairs, and +pull both ways: for the most part one neutralizes, by contradiction, the +other. Thus the Englishman bids him who would thrive to consult his +wife, and warns him at the same time that women, being unreasonable as +spaniels, are greatly improved by being beaten. + +The Yoruba proverbs have been divided into three kinds, firstly, the +paranomasia, play upon words, or, in simple English, pun; secondly, +sprightly descriptions of natural phenomena and visible objects; +thirdly, moral truths and rules for conduct. The Bishop of Sierra Leone +naturally saw in them a touching resemblance to the parallelism of +Hebrew national poetry, and divided them into the gradational, the +antithetic, the synthetic, and the introverted. But parallelism is +natural to the Semitic mind, one of whose rudest but sublimest +expressions is in the northern dialect called Hebrew. Every page of the +‘Thousand and One Nights’ will supply instances of it. The other more +artful divisions may be found not only in Hebrew and the Yoruba, but in +all the Asiatic languages with which I am acquainted. + +Abeokuta lies in the zone of almost constant rain. The warmest months, +which are also comparatively dry, are December, January, February, and +early March. In January trees cast their leaves, and thus enjoy their +annual repose. February is essentially a spring month, as the greenness +of the country shows. At the end of that time the Harmattan wind will +blow from the north and the north-east for two or three days, and +perhaps bring on a few light showers. April and May are distinguished by +tornados, thunderings, and the ‘former rains,’ which are now heavy and +continuous, reaching a crisis when the sun attains the tropic of Cancer, +whilst storms are frequent and severe, and Shango does considerable +damage. Here the heaviest downfalls are not when the sun is directly +vertical, but when he is northing or southing. On this coast of Africa, +however, the ‘rainy monsoon’ is not constant and persisting, as on the +eastern shores of the continent, upon which Trade-winds from the South +Atlantic directly impinge. Four inches at a time is severe, and twenty +inches is the rare extreme. June is generally the wettest month in the +year. About mid July and August there is mostly an intermission in the +rains, but not so marked as in the Gaboon country and the coast south of +the equator. This second dry season is cool and pleasant, broken only by +a few showers. September is again pluviose: the ‘latter rains,’ however, +are rarely heavy, but mostly short and sharp. From October to mid- +November is the second tornado season, whose storms are more violent and +dangerous than those of the first, and December recommences the dry +season. + +Thus there are four dry and eight wet months, the former corresponding +with our winter, the latter with our spring, summer, and autumn. That, +however, is the hot, and this the cool time of the year. The rainy is +also the healthier season. From the days of Mungo Park, who attributed +most of his misfortunes to the hot weather, the dry season has been +assumed as the fittest for African travel, and the idea has led to many +a loss. In the West Indies, the rule is, that both dry and wet weather +are healthy, whilst irregular rain and sunshine are feverish. Here, as +in most parts of intertropical Africa, the worst months are those +immediately before and after the rains, the middling is the dry season, +the best is the wet, especially August and September. There is but one +serious disadvantage to those explorers who are compelled to walk their +journeys, the inundations will certainly cause swollen feet, a trivial +evil, but which may arrest progress. Still there is less malaria, that +mysterious agency which, like the pestilence walking in darkness, ever +hides its origin from the world, and leaves us to grope for its origin +in cosmical causes,—vegetation, geology, geographical position, and a +rarefied atmosphere deficient in oxygen. Happily for us the old African +treatment—‘A. B. caught fever, gave him calomel, bled him, blistered his +feet, died on the third day’—is now obsolete: I would not, however, +advise any white man to expose himself for more than two or three +consecutive years to the climate of Western Intertropical Africa. + +At Abeokuta the nights are not oppressive; sometimes they are even +chilly, with damp and heavy dews:[172] inland they are hotter and more +trying. The heat of the day is between 10 A.M. and 4 P.M.: near the +coast, however, there is a strong and regular sea breeze, charged with +vapour, and blowing from the south, the west, or the south-west. The +average of summer heat may be 80° Fah. in the shade. During our three +weeks’ stay we had three violent storms in five days, and a heavy fog +every morning. The difference between the wet and the dry bulbs varies +from 0° 2′ Fah. in the rainy season to 25° Fah. during Harmattan winds. + +We will conclude with the commerce and the productions of Abeokuta. I +have shown that at present she aspires to become the great highway of +transit between the Sudan—that is to say, the countries north of +Guinea—and the coast; and that it is our object to give the unmaritime +peoples direct communication with our markets on the seaboard. + +For the twenty years previous to 1787, the whole import trade of Western +Africa, Morocco included, with England, fell short of 72,000_l._ In 1810 +it had increased to 535,577_l._ It may now safely be assumed at three +millions sterling.[173] And there is hardly any limit to its future +development. Yoruba is a valuable and an unexploited field. Its products +are cereals (maize and millet), vegetables (peas, beans, cassava, yams, +and koko, onions and sweet potatoes), sugar-cane, ginger—in small +quantities, and lately introduced—cubebs, and various oil seeds, bene or +sesamum, telfaria, castor plant, ground nuts, cocoa-nuts, and physic +nuts (_Corcos purgans_): coffee has been grown, but it has been allowed +to die out. Copper abounds in places. Indigo and coarse tobacco would +flourish anywhere,[174] and the minerals have not been explored. The +present exports are palm-oil from the nut, now worth 11 heads per +measure of 10 imperial gallons, and black oil from the kernel, worth 7 +to 7½ heads; ground-nut oil and shea butter or ‘Niger grease,’ which has +been almost stopped by the war; indigo in balls of ¼ lb. each, worth 2½ +strings; and lubi (natron), worth 1 head 10 strings per pound; a few +hides; cotton; ivory, costing, when prime, 3 heads per lb.; country +cloths sent to Bahia and up the coast, and Niger mats worth 2 heads 25 +strings to 3 heads each. The minor imports are hardware, pottery, +velvets, red caps, silks, beads, and coral, especially the red; +trinkets, fancy looking-glasses, mostly German.[175] The chief objects +are cowries from East Africa, and a few from England, manufactured roll +tobacco from Brazil, and leaf tobacco from the Anglo-American States, +either _viâ_ England or direct; Manchester cottons, rum and spirits, +arms and ammunition. + +The four latter articles are a serious injury to the country, and +present a sad contrast between the West African coast, whose commerce is +in the hands of Christian merchants, and the Eastern shores, which the +Moslems and Hindu Banyans supply with foreign goods. On the shores of +Zanzibar, until the Messrs. Oswald and other Hamburgers settled in the +island of the same name, muskets and gunpowder—used almost entirely for +slave-driving—were unknown except amongst the Beloch and Arab subjects +and mercenaries of the local government. That house sold off, it is +said, 13,000 guns in one year. The interior—Unyamwezi, and the regions +about the Tanganyika Lake—is still in the hands of Arab traders, who +never allow the natives to become possessed of civilized weapons, and +who would incur eternal infamy if they sold ardent spirits to the +people. I shall never cease to protest against the sale of rum, guns, +and gunpowder, when an innocent trade of worked cottons, salt, and the +minor luxuries of life would be equally profitable.[176] It is my +sincere belief that if the slave export trade were revived, with all its +horrors, and that rum, guns, and gunpowder were things unknown, the +country would greatly gain in happiness by the exchange. + +Abeokuta, like Lagos, has been inundated with cowries, which, used in +Europe for the arts, here become a coin.[177] Formerly the small white +Indian shell, costing 60_l._ per ton at home, and 80_l._ on the African +coast, was the currency, which extinguished the round trade or barter. +Presently the Hamburg merchants settled at Zanzibar, where the cypræa +can be collected for a mere trifle, made a speculation which succeeded; +the large, coarse, blue African, being much cheaper, arrived in +shiploads, brought fifty per cent. to the importer, and supplanted the +small Indian, which are now rare, and bought up by chiefs and fetish- +men. At present there is a glut, and in every village you tread upon +bits of cowries. Moreover, fewer are found, and therefore fewer are +sent. + +The ‘plump-breasted dove,’ as the Yorubas call it, is a vile currency, +an intolerable burden. Lycurgus did not fetter the commerce of Sparta +more effectually with his iron bars. Every shell must be pierced and +strung upon grass or palm fibre, which takes no short time. At Dahome a +hundred slaves will be engaged in this occupation, and a merchant at +Lagos must employ eight or ten ‘cowrie-girls.’ The weight of each bag of +2000 blue Africans will be from 80 to 90 lbs., and of white Indians from +35 to 45 lbs., and yet it is barely worth one pound sterling. Mungo +Park, when he opened a shop during his second journey at Sansanding, was +obliged to employ three tellers to count his cash—25,756 cowries, worth +at Lagos 1_l._ 5_s._[178] Lieut. Forbes complains that to carry 50 +dollars, he had to hire five women. A horse will cost 60,000 to 120,000, +a sheep 4000 to 6000, and a fowl 200 to 250 of this barbarous small +change.[179] + +It is fully time to change the system. At Zanzibar and Maskat, the late +Sayyid Said found no difficulty in so doing. He applied to the East +Indian Government for some tons of pice or copper coins, and the +improvement was readily adopted by his subjects. The experiment should +be tried without delay at Lagos, and, if successful, it would probably +soon extend into the interior. + +At present the country has the nuisance of twelve different dollar- +coinages in circulation, and when these different dollars have been got +rid of there still remains the inconvenience of two currencies, English +money and cowries, which, as has been seen, bear no fixed relative +proportion. And the Abeokutans are little aware of their losses by the +system of barter to which the retail purchaser is sometimes driven: it +obliges them to pay one hundred per cent. above the invoice price for +English goods, which, if the currency were settled, could be profitably +sold by the merchant at a maximum of fifty per cent. + +Provisions are somewhat expensive at Abeokuta—the luxuries of life +especially so. The price of maize or Indian corn,[180] of which 15 to +25, and in the best lands 30 bushels, are produced by the acre, varies +from 20 to 75 cents per bushel. At present the bushel of 60 to 70 lbs. +costs from 2 heads 25 strings to 3 heads, and it has fetched 5 in times +of scarcity. Guinea corn (_H. sorghum_) is rare, and sells at fancy +prices; the measure is a calabash, containing about one gallon, and is +usually worth double the price of maize. Rice and farinha, or cassava +flour, are being introduced; the latter fetches 10 to 20 strings per +basket, and makes tolerable tapioca. True arrowroot is as yet unknown. +The indigenous yam[181] is here the staff of life: a dozen costs from 1 +head to 1 head 5 strings. Native beans, per basket of 40 lbs., fetch +from 2 heads 25 strings to 3 heads. Sugarcane is sold in bundles of 40 +canes, four feet long, for from 40 strings to 1 head. Fruits, being +despised, are cheap: there are grape-vines of several varieties, but all +with produce equally dry and insipid: limes, papaws, and pineapples +command 2 cowries each, oranges 10, and bananas 15 to 20 strings per +bunch. Europeans use milk; the negroes, more sensible, do not.[182] +Butter and ghi, the clarified butter of India, is here supplied by the +butyraceous çe or shea butter. + +Large and, for Africa, well-bred cattle are as common in the country as +the buffalo—the ‘jackass cow’ of Sierra Leone—is rare. The common cow +may be bought for 4 to 5 bags: the ox of course costs less. The price of +beef varies from 5_d._ to 6_d._ per lb. The sheep—after the first hot +season it becomes hairy, not woolly—is worth 7, and if full grown 20 +heads. The goat, which, unlike that of the Oil Rivers, is here cheaper, +averages from 6 to 15. The hogs are black and heavily built, and the +professional hunters bring wild boars to market. Poultry is common, +fetching 10 to 20 strings, and a fine fowl may be had for 25. Guinea +fowls are dearer and better, costing from 1 to 1½ heads: there is a wild +species with a black silky tuft. + +Horses are of fancy prices, and are never used for packs or _bât_: +asses, mules, and camels, common in the regions north and south of the +confluence, are as yet unknown. Ladies and children use a peculiar kind +of palanquin—a chair fastened by woodwork to the carrying pole, and +covered with an umbrella-like awning. Domestic slaves are always in the +market: men, women, and girls fetch from 8 to 10 bags, but being +preferred for exportation, are worth from 12 to 16 bags. + +The coming exportation from this region will be the shea butter-nut, an +indigenous bassia. However much the palm and palm-kernel oils may fall +before the earth oils of America, shea butter will maintain its price, +from 50_l._ to 52_l._ per ton of 2252 lbs.—about 5_l._ per ton more +valuable than tallow. The tree, which is mentioned with enthusiasm by +Mungo Park, grows in immense forests: there is one between Ilori and +Bida, of nine days’ march; and between Ilori and Sai there are plentiful +scatters, here thick, there thin. It is a fine, large growth, producing +an emerald-green plum, whose pulp is sweet and edible. For butter, the +fruit is gathered in April or June, and smoke-dried in a country oven; a +cone of clay, with the smaller end downwards, containing the fire, and +divided from the nut by a wall of pierced clay. It is subsequently +reduced to powder in a mortar, but so carelessly that the husk is not +removed: it is hand-washed and worked in three or four waters, and when +it rises to the surface it is ladled off. It is then boiled in large +country jars, and stored in smaller earthen pots, after which it will +keep untainted for years. This ‘Niger grease,’ as Europeans call it, is +beautifully white, hard, and subaromatic. Park prefers it, when fresh, +to ‘butter from the cow.’ It is used by the people for all the purposes +of cookery, and, as an unguent, it is considered invaluable for +alleviating rheumatic pains. At Abeokuta, owing to the war, there is but +little in the market. At Ilori it still commands a price of one shilling +per pound—far too expensive for commerce. The opening of the Niger will +bring this valuable vegetable butter in enormous quantities to our +shores; and the varieties of butyraceous nuts are almost wholly unknown: +there are several even upon the Niger, whilst the Gaboon River and the +coast south of the equator abound in tallow-nuts, with which the people +are acquainted, whilst we are not. + +It remains to consider the subject of cotton-growing about Abeokuta, and +throughout Yoruba generally. + +The shrub is of various qualities, and, as in Africa generally, all are +of tolerable staple. The ‘black-seed’ resembles the sea-island (_G. +arboreum_), and the ‘green-seed’ (_G. herbaceum_) is the short staple or +upland cotton of the Southern States of Anglo-America. Besides which, +there are many hybrids, and all the varieties are grown in the same +field. There is brown cotton, but not the red, long-stapled species, +with small boll and leaf, which flourishes in Hausa. The best kind is +called akashe, and is too expensive for exportation, a penny being the +price of eight seeds. It is not uncommon, however, round Abeokuta, and +it merits a trial in a _jardin d’essai_. The feel is as soft as silk, +and the seed is white: the yarn shown to me was dyed grey. Nothing can +be worse than Abeokutan manufactures, even those made from the finest +cottons. The Egbas are as far from the jenny of James Hargreaves as from +the power-loom. Their materials are still a distaff and spindle, exactly +resembling the artless implements of India and East Africa. The bhaunri +is a bit of wood, weighted with a lump of clay, and painted with the +brightest colours. + +Cotton must ever be an interesting subject to a country in which five +millions of souls—about one-sixth of the population, and a number +exceeding the total of Holland and Portugal—are or were interested +directly or indirectly; which possesses 200,000,000_l._ of fixed and +floating investments; which, in 1860, produced an interest of +80,000,000_l._[183]—more than equal to the whole revenue of the empire; +which imported from one country alone 35,000,000_l._ per annum,[184] and +manufactured to the value of 55,000,000_l._; which, in less than a +century, has increased its operations three-hundred-fold—from 4,000,000 +lbs. in 1767 to 1,200,000,000 lbs. in 1861; which, during the last fifty +years, has consumed 20,000,000,000 lbs., equal to 750,000,000_l._, or +nearly the national debt; and which for years has paid at least twopence +per lb. over-price to the Southern States of America.[185] + +The wars of secession have brought two great rivals in the field, India +and Africa. Despite the persevering efforts of adventurer and speculator +to extract money from the pockets of the British capitalist, little can +be expected from the former. The old Court of Directors spent lac after +lac in improving the staple, and failed. After a few months the produce +returned to the old stock as surely as the English bull-dog became a +pariah and the English child a degenerate. It is a law of +nature—mysterious, unintelligible, yet not to be mistaken. Wherever—as +in Mekran or Zanzibar—the American ‘domestics,’ which are all made of +medium staple, met our cottons, in which medium staple was eked out with +Indian or short staple, the former invariably beat the latter out of the +market. Hindostan and the East certainly did miracles in the olden time, +as the Dacca fabrics and the Mosul muslins prove. These textures, +however, were, like the shawls of Kashmir, hand-woven, at an enormous +expenditure of time and trouble, and it is folly to expect them to be +imitated by the coarse appliances of machinery. + +When Indian cotton is cried up for the English market, and is +represented as likely to supersede American, either ignorance or deceit +should be suspected. Mr. H. R. Cassels,[186] a most competent observer, +shall be placed in the witness-box. Leaving other presidencies to speak +for themselves, that gentleman maintains that the experience of half a +century of cotton cultivation in Bombay teaches that— + + +‘1. Exotic cotton cannot be successfully cultivated on a large scale in +the Bombay Presidency, except in a limited portion of its southern +districts. + +‘2. Indian cotton may be improved in clearness, and somewhat reduced in +cost, but the general characteristic of the staple will not be +materially altered. + +‘3. In so far as this quality of cotton is serviceable to the +manufacturers of England, India can compete with America; but if a finer +description be required, India cannot adequately supply it. + +‘4. Unless, therefore, such alterations in machinery can be devised as +may render the manufacturer indifferent to length and fineness of staple +(and of the probability of this others must judge), India is not likely +to replace the United States.[187] + +‘5. It seems evident, then, that Indian cotton must continue to hold a +subordinate place in European markets, and that there is a point at +which its competition with other growths entirely ceases.’ + + +Here, then, is the whole truth. From such cold comfort as this let the +political statistician turn to Africa. + +I will not delay to prove that, whereas India yields short staple, +medium staple and long staple are indigenous in Africa. It is also +evident that the cultivation can be developed in a short space of time. +Cotton culture began under the orders of Mohammed Ali in 1818: the first +exportation was in 1823, and in 1855, besides five or six millions of +lbs. worked in the country, it exported 56,874,300 lbs. The United +States of America exported, we know, eight bales in 1784, and it was +doubted at Liverpool that so much could be produced in the country: in +1850, or within the assumed time of a man’s life, America grew 550 +millions out of the 1000 millions of lbs. which the world affords. +Algeria is another case in point, proving the adaptability of Africa for +cotton-growing, and Natal will be.[188] + +Africa can produce the ‘tree wool’ which England so greatly requires: +she has, however, two grand drawbacks. The first is the inadequacy of +regular labour, the second is the want of roads, tramways, and canals, +and the expensiveness of freight. + +The first is a most serious difficulty. It is clear that, without slaves +or quasi-slaves, like the Hindu ryot and the Egyptian fellah under +Mohammed Ali, cotton has not yet anywhere been cultivated in any +considerable quantities, or with any great success. There are certain +stages of the growth when a war, a strike, or anything that removes the +labourer, is fatal to the year’s harvest. Africa, as will be seen by the +example of Abeokuta, cannot depend upon herself; she must look +elsewhere. We have, though tardily, recognized the fact that nothing can +be more suicidal than the emigration of Kulis (coolies) from a land +which, instead of being over-stocked, really suffers from a paucity of +population. From Southern China, however, we can draw supplies of hands +almost _ad libitum_. At present the best fields yield about one-fourth +of the average of the United States, and the prosperity of the crop will +depend upon careful manuring and selection of seed. I have every +confidence in the eventual triumph of free _versus_ slave labour, but it +is hard to say how, at present, any extensive movement of the kind can +be organized, at any rate for the use of Africa. + +Transport and freight remain to be considered. There is a difficulty +about road-making in Africa which appears strange to the English reader; +yet it is not a little real. The habits of the natives, and the power of +the climate, would reduce in a few months the best macadam to the +condition of a bridle-path. Beasts of burden are wanting; carts have to +be invented; the country is unfit for canalization, and tramways are +long before its civilization. Finally, freight from the coast is one +penny per pound by steamer, and three-farthings by sailing ship—equal, +in fact, to the Indian, and double the American. + +As might be expected, the attempts to develop African cotton have +hitherto been desultory in the extreme. We have tried the ridiculous +Zambezi, and the Spaniards have talked of Fernando Po.[189] Abeokuta has +had a fair trial, and hitherto has failed with an almost total failure. +In the immediate neighbourhood of the city, where farm land lies, there +is little grown, and that little is brought to market in baskets and +blies by the women. The country to the north, especially about Ilori, +supplies the best and the largest quantities. Planted after the harvest +in July, the shrub lasts, they say, for several years, and not being +lopped, attains a height of ten feet. Abeokuta entered the lists with +every prospect of success. She was presented with machinery, agents were +sent to her, she doubled her produce every year, and the Manchester +Association published their expectations for 1859-1860 at 20,000 bales +(112 lbs. to 125 lbs. each). But the war with Ibadan broke out, the +yield fell to 3447 small bales, and between 1st October and 1st January +of the present year (1861) only 500 bales reached Lagos. This, too, in +despite of famine prices in Lancashire and elsewhere. The prime cost at +Abeokuta was 3_d._ to 3½_d._ per lb., and 3_s._ 6_d._ for packing each +bale. Ready for exportation, the bale was worth twenty-eight head of +cowries = 9·60 dollars = 2_l._ 4_s._; it has, however, risen to 2_l._ +12_s._ in very scarce times. But peace in America will restore the +balance of the English market, and reduce inferior cottons to a maximum +and minimum of 6¾_d._ and 2_d._, whilst the best qualities will range +between 9_d._ and 5_d._ Under these circumstances, what would become of +cotton culture in Africa? + +I presume that the benefits of the cotton famine more than +counterbalance to capitalists its disadvantages, otherwise they would +not sit still calling upon Hercules. It is from them that enterprise +must originate. At present it is confined to trusting a few hundreds of +pounds sterling to any black face with a glib tongue that promises to +procure the article cheap. Combination is wanted, and, still more, +before Europeans expend time and money in Africa, a distinct pledge +that, for so many years, their produce will command a certain price in +the market, which is of course impossible. At present, to tell a plain, +unvarnished truth, we are convinced that if Manchester could once more +buy all her cotton from the Southern States of America at one penny a +bale cheaper than she could obtain it from English territory she would +do so. + +The conclusion which I draw from my brief visit to Yoruba is, that it +can produce cotton, and that, for the present at least, it will not. The +public is respectfully advised not so readily to believe those who find +for it cotton districts in every corner of Africa. The Niger River and +Valley offer, perhaps, the best of all sites, and are of all the most +neglected. This part of the subject however must, for the best of +reasons, be reserved for future consideration. + + END OF VOL. I + + LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING + CROSS. + + +[Footnote 165: Caste is one of the most enlightened inventions of the +civilized East. It supplies an admirable system of police, acts as +practical conservatism, and leads to high excellence in the crafts, +arts, and sciences, by breeding generation after generation, till an +instinctive superiority is acquired. The Englishman exclaims, ‘What a +shame it is, because my father is a tinker, that I am forbidden by the +laws of the land to be prime minister;’ and he objects to caste because +it ‘keeps the people down.’ He forgets, however, that he is talking, not +of petty European kingdoms of twenty or thirty millions, but of some two +hundred millions of human beings, and that each caste is quite numerous +enough to form by itself a first-class nation.] + +[Footnote 166: The ‘Iwe Irohin,’ appearing October 1862, has the +following sensible but curious article upon the subject of slavery: ‘It +is the boast of Englishmen of the present day that no one is a slave on +British ground; and they have a right to be proud of it, for in 1834 +they gave the large sum of twenty million pounds sterling as a +compensation to the slave owners; but though there is no doubt that a +land where every man is free is in a better state than where slavery +exists to a large extent, yet we must remember that slavery is +recognized throughout the Bible, not only in the patriarchal times and +under the Mosaic law, but also very distinctly by St. Paul, who lays +down the relative duties of masters and servants to the Churches of +Ephesus and Colosse, and exhorts Timothy to teach the slaves at Ephesus +to count their own masters worthy of all honour, especially if their +masters were Christians, 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2; and sent back to his master, +Philemon, Onesimus who had been converted under his ministry at Rome, +St. Paul had fully acknowledged the right of Philemon to his servant, +though he thought it convenient for him as a Christian to release him; +and he insists upon the duty of Christian servants to obey their +masters, though he wished them to obtain their freedom if they could, 1 +Cor. vii. 21. The tendency of Christianity is no doubt to diminish +slavery, but it does not do this by exciting the slaves to revolt or run +away; on the contrary, it commands them to please their masters well in +all things, but it exhorts masters, as it does all other Christians, to +do to others as they would they should do to them.’] + +[Footnote 167: Upon the present state of things that results from +cutting off all slave export, I shall have more to say at some future +time when treating upon the Oil Rivers of West Africa.] + +[Footnote 168: As a case in point, compare Richard Lander’s and the Rev. +Mr. Bowen’s estimates of the race.] + +[Footnote 169: Mr. Crowther’s is copied too servilely from Murray, +itself an Anglo-Latin modification.] + +[Footnote 170: Introductory remarks to Mr. Crowther’s Vocabulary of the +Yoruban language.] + +[Footnote 171: The peculiarity which the bishop notices in the adverbs, +viz., that there is a distinct word to express the quality or degree of +each substantive, is already found in Arabic adjectives, especially +those of colour.] + +[Footnote 172: New comers are apt to expose themselves needlessly at +night by sleeping in open rooms, and thus by checking perspiration, when +the temperature changes after midnight, to awake with fever or +dysentery. The only Spanish officer who has escaped fever at Fernando Po +attributes his immunity to sleeping in a well-closed apartment. We read +in ‘La Médecine des Prophètes’ (Traduit de l’Arabe par M. le Docteur +Baron. Paris, 1860.): ‘Le sommeil refoule les esprits à l’intérieur du +corps, et alors l’extérieur se refroidit; aussi a-t-on besoin dans le +sommeil de se couvrir davantage.’] + +[Footnote 173: The following is an extract of the Returns made to +Parliament of the West African imports and exports:— + +There was imported into the United Kingdom, in the year ended 31st +December, 1861, from the Western Coast of Africa, produce of the value, +in round numbers, of one and a half million sterling. This amount is +exclusive of the imports from the British, French, and Spanish +possessions on that coast. + +Palm-oil is the chief article of commerce brought into this country from +thence, the value of which, in 1860, was not less than 1,684,532_l._ The +other articles, consisting chiefly of dye woods, cotton, ebony, and +elephants’ teeth, had a total value of only 92,000_l._ + +The last made-up returns are given below, as well as the increase or +decrease as compared with 1859:— + + 1860. Increase. Decrease. + + £ £ £ + + Barwood 8,939 2,046 + + Camwood 7,370 519 + + Copper ore 648 515 + + Cotton 6,094 405 + + Ebony 3,797 1,184 + + Guano 2,590 1,186 + + Gum animi 222 531 + + „ copal 865 727 + + Oil (palm) 1,684,532 263,503 + + Orchil 29 + + Teeth (elephants’) 35,672 6,203 + + Wax (bees’) 2,134 5,590 + + All other articles 23,702 4,147 + --------- ------- ------ + Total 1,776,565 272,990 13,602 + + 13,602 + ------- + Increase in 1860 over 1859 259,388 + ------- + +The exports of British produce and manufactures were valued at +865,804_l._ for the year 1861, which is less by 85,491_l._ than for the +preceding year. + +By the subjoined table it will be seen that the largest shipments in +1860 were cotton goods, gunpowder, guns, spirits, and earthenware, and +that with one exception all the articles exhibit increases over 1859:— + + 1860. Increase. Decrease. + + £ £ £ + + Apparel 24,158 6,582 + + Guns 61,613 22,230 + + Gunpowder 100,169 28,785 + + Beads 8,338 5,264 + + Brass manufactures 20,820 1,846 + + Cottons 464,661 138,216 + + Earthenware 23,227 11,418 + + Hardware 50,314 2,405 + + Iron and steel 25,147 4,442 + + Silk manufactures 14,421 6,429 + + Spirits (British) 15,695 12,078 + + Staves 56,538 1,909 + + Woollens 11,074 4,032 + + All other articles 75,120 13,450 + ------- ------- ------- + Total 951,295 257,177 1,909 + + 1,909 + ------- + Increase in 1860 over 1859 255,268 + ------- + +Of foreign and colonial produce and manufactures exported from this +country to the Western Coast of Africa the value in 1860 was 194,139_l._ +The principal articles were beads, cowries, silk manufactures, spirits, +and tobacco.] + +[Footnote 174: The tobacco, like that of Africa generally, lacks +strength and flavour: whether cultivation would improve it remains to be +seen.] + +[Footnote 175: The traveller’s best outfit would be grey domestics, a +few striped ditto, some silk velvets (red and green, with white stripe), +a little coral, some fez or tarbushes, a few umbrellas, and trifles like +needles, scissors, and little looking-glasses.] + +[Footnote 176: According to the ‘Iwe Irohin’ (Appendix, Oct. 1862), ‘the +chiefs of Abeokuta are beginning to feel the evils which are being +inflicted on the town by rum-selling.’ The obvious means of discouraging +the importation would be to impose a duty of 5 per cent., gradually and +by very slow degrees, raised to 50, and even to cent. per cent. on +ardent spirits, and with great prudence to make the imposts on gunpowder +so heavy as to be almost prohibitory. To effect such innovation, +however, we must be free from the presence of rivals; upon the Gold +Coast, for instance, and at Lagos, under present circumstances, hasty +steps would lead to ruinous consequences.] + +[Footnote 177: The following is the usual computation:— + +40 cowries = 1 string (ojo), which varies, according to the market, from +1_f._ to 1_d._ The string of 50 cowries is called Adotta. + +5 strings = 1 bunch. + +10 bunches = 50 strings, or 2000 cowries 1 head (Egba or Egbawa) = $1, +whence probably the word ‘head’ was derived in former times, but now +varying from 2_s._ to 1_s._ 5_d._ + +10 heads, or 20,000 cowries = 1 bag (okkekan), now worth 18_s._ + +20 heads = 1 oz. gold dust = £4. + +Thus assuming the dollar to be at the old value 4_s._ 6_d._ (it has +lately been reduced to 4_s._ 2_d._)— + + _s._ _d._ Bags. Heads. Strings. Cowries. + + One bag, worth 18 0 contains 1 0 0 0 + + „ dollar „ 4 6 „ 0 2 25 0 + + „ head „ 1 9½ „ 0 1 0 0 + + „ shilling „ 1 0 „ 0 0 27 31 + +The natives, as might be expected, have a number of names and minor +subdivisions, even a single cowrie being made to buy snuff and similar +small articles. The following are the names generally known:— + + Ogonu (_i.e._ one hundred) = 2½ strings. + + Igbio = 5 strings; in Portuguese, Gallinha; Anglicè, ‘bunch,’ or + smaller bundle. + + Ojuluba (5 strings and 1) = 6 strings. + + Enowo = 10 strings. + + Egbeta = 15 „ + + Egbeni = 20 „ + + Egbenu = 25 „ + + Egbefa = 30 „ + + Egbejje = 35 „ + + Egbejja = 40 „ + + Egbisi = 45 „ + + After which comes the head = 50 strings.] + +[Footnote 178: At Sansanding, however, 3000 cowries were = 1 minkalli of +gold = 12_s._ 6_d._] + +[Footnote 179: The only thing in its favour is that it teaches the +children arithmetic. Mr. Crowther informs us that they begin by counting +one by one, then by twos, and lastly by fives. It is a taunt to say ‘_O +daju danu o o’mo essan messan_’—with all your cleverness, you do not +know nine times nine.] + +[Footnote 180: Maize, called muhindi, _i.e._ Indian or Hindostan corn, +in East Africa, is here called yangan or agbado, _i.e._ agba odo, ‘what +is beaten in the mortar.’ It is said to have been brought from the +eastward, beyond the Niger, by a yellow monkey—the Oibo, or white man, +according to the boys, is the ‘old baboon,’—which tends to show that it +is not a native of the land. We cannot however as yet answer the +question whether maize and the arachis be African or purely American +growths.] + +[Footnote 181: Mr. Bowen mentions a Yoruban tradition, that yams were +the primitive human food. The first man vainly attempted to eat it raw: +he afterwards found one accidentally roasted before the fire—somewhat +like Elia’s genesis of the sucking pig—and succeeded better. Europeans, +less sensible, eat the yam boiled, in which state it is detestable, +though far superior to potato when roasted.] + +[Footnote 182: It is considered heating and bilious, especially if drunk +whilst the sun is hot. The Portuguese, on both coasts of Africa, +carefully avoid it. I prefer tea _à la Russe_, with a small quantity of +sugar, if procurable, and a slice of lemon instead of ‘bullock milk.’] + +[Footnote 183: 25,000,000_l._ consumed, and 55,000,000_l._ exported.] + +[Footnote 184: England takes 85 per cent. from America, 8 from foreign, +and 7 from British territory.] + +[Footnote 185: And it is said landowners have often sold for 9_d._ what +they have raised for 3_d._ per lb.] + +[Footnote 186: ‘Cotton; an Account of its Culture in the Bombay +Presidency, prepared from Government Records, and other authentic +sources, in accordance with a resolution of the Government of India.’ +(London: Smith, Elder, and Co.)] + +[Footnote 187: It has been contended that an improvement of machinery +will make short staple do the work of medium staple. This, if true, only +shifts the difficulty; the same amount of alteration in machinery will +make medium staple do the work of long staple.] + +[Footnote 188: Natal has all the constituents of climate which render +the coast of Georgia so famous for cotton-growing: it is not too +constantly hot for seaboard or upland, and its current is a fac-simile +of the Gulf Stream.] + +[Footnote 189: Early in 1862 I sent, kindly assisted by D. Pellon, four +samples of cotton, growing almost wild about Clarence, to the African +Association at Liverpool. They were described as follows:— + + 1. _Gossipium vitifolium_, good colour, uneven, staple equal to + middling Orleans, considered worth 13¼_d._ to 14_d._ + + 2. „ „ good staple, rather yellow, very clean; value + the same. + + 3. _Gossipium tricuspidatum_, dull colour, uneven staple, mixed with + short; clean, worth 12½_d._ + + 4. „ „ colour too yellow, good strong staple, equal + to Egyptian; when clean worth 16½_d._] + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + + Page 12, footnote 6, Changed: "what the Hansa people call Bature Dudu" + to: "Hausa" + + Page 103, Changed: "turbans, or Hauea head-dresses" to: "Hausa" + + Page 167, Changed: "his engraver has succeded" to: "succeeded" + + Page 206, Changed: "I have something n a future page" to: "in a" + + Page 229, footnote 140, Changed: "and Vocabulary or the Yoruba + Language" to: "of the" + + Page 229-230 footnote 140, Changed: "with something tired up in it" + to: "tied" + + Page 265, Changed: "morever, a deeper cause of quarrel" to: "moreover" + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79409 *** |