While halting here Mr. Houtson and I walked on to the town of Puka, leaving the baggage and stores to come on after us. The path over which we travelled was partly cleared, and covered with high grass wherever it was clear of wood; and had apparently once been cultivated. The woods were thick and the trees high, with a great deal of tangle and underwood, so as to render it impenetrable to man or beast excepting along the path. The country is low and flat, and the soil a red clay mixed with sand.
On arriving at Puka, we halted under a tree, and were surrounded by immense crowds of people, who were very civil: those who could not get near enough to see us, on account of their small size, were held up on others’ shoulders; and from the great number of old people and of young children, it would appear that they are not much in the habit of selling their children at this place. They are all negro pagans. We had a visit from one of the Eyeo war chiefs, who came in state: he was mounted on a small horse, as were also two of his attendants; the saddles and ornaments were the same as those in Soudan and Bornou; the rest of the cavalcade were on foot, amongst which was a little boy apparently the favourite slave of the chief, judging from the conspicuous part he bore, and the great attention which was paid to him by all the others. His dress and appearance was most grotesque, consisting of a ragged red coat with yellow facings, a military cap and feather apparently Portuguese. The captain came curvetting and leaping his horse until within the distance of a hundred yards, when he dismounted, and approached within twenty yards of us, where he sat down. We then sent our umbrella as a message or token that we wished him well; and on the receipt of which, the drums beat and hands were clapped, and fingers cracked at a great rate. He now came up to us, capering and dancing the whole way, and shook us by the hand, a few of his attendants accompanying him. He then began his speech, saying he was very glad that he now saw white man; and pointing to the various parts of his dress, he said, This cloth is not made in my country, this cap is of white man’s velvet, these trowsers are of white man’s nankeen, this is a white man’s shawl; we get all good things from white man, and we must therefore be glad when white man come to visit our country. The two men who appeared next in authority to himself were stout good-looking men, natives of Bornou; they were dressed in the fashion of that country, with blue velvet caps on their heads. Being Mahometans, they could not be prevailed on to drink spirits, but the captain and his men drank each two drams.
We paid a visit to the caboceer, or chief man of the town. We found him seated in the midst of his elders and women. He was an ancient, tall, stupid-looking man, dressed in a red silken tobe, or long shirt; on his head was a cap made of small glass beads of various colours, surrounded by tassels of small gold-coloured beads, and three large coral ones in front. The cap was the best part of the man, for it was very neat; in his hand he held a fly-flapper, the handle of which was covered with beads. After a number of compliments, we were presented with goroo-nuts and water. We told him of our intention to proceed to Eyeo, that we were servants of the king of England, and that we wanted carriers for ourselves and baggage. We remained here for the night, and as all our baggage had not come up from the coast, Captain Pearce went down to the beach after them.
As soon as we had removed into the caboceer’s house he sent us a present of a sheep, a basket of yams, and some fire-wood. His wives and young women came peeping at us through the holes in the walls, and at the doors; and whenever we went near them they would run off. Captain Adamooli told us to keep a good look out after our things, for the people here were great thieves. I said he must make his men keep watch, as I held him answerable for whatever might be lost. Accordingly he sent the greater part of his troop, he himself taking up his station at the principal door, where they kept drumming all night.
This morning, Friday, 9, there was a good deal of palavering between the captain and the old caboceer, while we sat patiently waiting the removal of the baggage and stores from his house. I found the old caboceer sitting on a chair with an umbrella held over his head; his aged counsellors by his side. The old gentleman was carefully counting all the articles as they were brought out, laying a small piece of stick on each; they were then counted over a second and a third time, after which the bundles were tied up; not however before they obliged me to count them over, and till I said all was right. After waiting about two hours for carriers, the old caboceer said with the most invincible gravity that he would not procure a single carrier, alleging that he had not received enough for a present. We then declared we would return to Badagry, and let the king know of his conduct, and made a show of going that way; but the old caboceer was not in the least moved. Poor Captain Adamooli, however, prostrated himself before me, laid hold of my legs, and said he should lose his head if I went back. I therefore returned, and he loaded his own people; the old wretch not giving us a single man.
Having seen the whole of the baggage off, we started in the evening, and proceeded on our journey. We learned in fact that we were not now in the king of Badagry’s territory, but in a district of Eyeo, which is called Yarriba by the Arabs and people of Houssa, and that the name of the capital is called Katunga, and that it is thirty days’ journey. Finding we could get no men to carry the hammocks which they supplied us with, I mounted my friend Ali’s small horse, without a saddle, and Houtson and I agreed to ride and tie, as my feet were cut and blistered with a pair of new boots I had mounted yesterday, and I could only wear a pair of slippers. We set off in this state, accompanied by the caboceer of Jannah’s messenger, named Acra, and Mr. Houtson’s boys. Puka, which we are leaving, has once been a large town, surrounded by a wall and deep ditch; the wall is now down, and all the houses of the town in ruins. After leaving this place it soon became dark, and we frequently lost our way. We could see, however, that the road in the open part of the country was through fine plantations of corn; the rest was through thick dark woods, where we could not see the heaven over our heads, the path winding in every direction. My slippers being down at the heels I soon lost them off my feet, which were miserably cut; but I became so galled by riding without a saddle, that I was compelled thus to walk barefooted, which was the worst of the two; for whenever I crossed an ant path, which were frequent, my feet felt as if in the fire, these little animals drawing blood from them and from my ankles. We halted at a village called Isako, after passing several others on the road: here the people offered us a house for the night, but on their telling us that our people had gone on to a town a short distance off, we remained only a little while and set off again. They kindly gave us guides with lamps to show us the way. Our short rest and ride had had a bad effect on us, and the road only wanted thorns to make our misery complete. However, after struggling on till midnight, we arrived at a town called Dagmoo, where we found our servants with the heavy baggage and the canteen, but our beds had gone further on, so that we were obliged to sleep in the market-place, in the open air: even this, with a little cold meat, was better than travelling.
Saturday, 10th.—The morning raw, cold, and hazy, and we had nothing to eat. The road lay through the thickest woods I ever saw; and, except on the narrow footpath, wholly impenetrable by man or beast: the surface rather uneven; the soil a strong red clay. We passed several people, principally women, heavily laden with cloth, plantains, and a paste made from pounded Indian corn, wrapped in leaves called accasson, going to market. They were all extremely civil, and never omitted saluting us, or giving us the road. One woman, whom I made signs to that I was thirsty, was nearly crying that she had no water to give, but would make us take plantains and accassons. Shortly after leaving Dagmoo we crossed a small stream, over which I was carried. About noon, arrived at the town of Humba, where I found Captain Pearce and Dr. Morrison in the caboceer’s house, and the caboceer waiting in state to receive us. Here I had my feet bathed, but found I had a considerable degree of fever on me, and was glad to get to bed. In the afternoon I had a slight fit of ague. The house was in a very ruinous state; and, indeed, the whole town, as far as we saw of it, was equally so. The inhabitants, however, were cheerful enough, and kept singing and dancing all night round our house; their songs were in chorus, and not unlike some church music that I have heard.
Sunday, 11th.—Though very weak, I walked on for a mile to a town called Akalou, where the baggage was halted; and here I found a black captain in a leopard skin cloak, holding a palaver, and declaring he would neither go nor let the baggage go on, without a flask of rum. Mr. Houtson gave him a glass of grog, when, after keeping it in his mouth for some time, he poured it out of his own into the mouths of his attendants. After this the baggage proceeded, and I had two men to carry me in my hammock; but they had not gone twenty paces before they set me down, and said they would carry me no further. I accordingly endeavoured to creep on slowly, but on seeing the fellows walking very deliberately after me, I took my gun and presented it at them, when they threw down the empty hammock and fled. The two messengers, however, took me up and carried me to a town called Eto, where we were to change the bearers. The caboceer of this place sent us a goat and a basket of yams, and Mr. Houtson gave him in return a flask of rum. Here I procured hammock-men, and we left Eto and proceeded on through thick woods to Sado or Isado, where we halted in the palaver house. Here, as in other places since leaving Puka, our articles of baggage were strictly counted in presence of the caboceer. The people sung and danced all night around our houses.
The soil between this place and Humba is generally a strong red clay, and there must be considerable plantations not far from the road, but none appear near the towns for the support of the numerous inhabitants. I judge we are not far from the banks of the river which they say we are to cross to-morrow; but old Acra, the messenger, says, that the fetish at Gazie would kill any white man that came up the river, and that this is the only reason why we did not come that way.
Monday, 12th.—Morning raw and hazy; our things going off with alacrity this morning, and hammock-men provided. Leaving Sado, the road lay principally through thick woods for an hour, when we arrived at the town of Bidgie, where there are some fine plantations of corn and plantains. The caboceer was all ready to receive us: a fine civil young fellow, his name Lorokekri. They came in crowds to see us; and on our expressing a wish to proceed on without delay, he begged we would stop all day, as neither he nor his people had ever seen white men before, and he was desirous of giving us something to eat. Mr. Houtson and I went down to the river, embarked in a canoe, and crossed over to the other side. We found there was no place clear of wood except the footpath. The river we had to cross was about a quarter of a mile in width, full of low swampy islands and floating reeds. The natives appear to have a number of canoes, which are not used with paddles, but a forked pole, and they manage them very cleverly.