25th.—Left at six in the morning, and arrived at Katunga, the capital of Yariba, at seven in the evening. The low grounds were rendered almost impassable by reason of the rain, which fell in torrents. On our arrival I was put into the same house we occupied on our journey into the interior.
26th.—The king would not let me wait on him, fearing it might wet my feet; and accordingly he visited me with five hundred of his wives (out of two thousand), and the principal inhabitants of the city. The wives welcomed my return by singing a simple and plaintive air, with much pathos and feeling: their voices were sweet and musical; and the whole had a novel and pleasing effect. Nothing could be heard but their strains, to which every one listened with the profoundest attention until the conclusion of the performance. The king expressed his sorrow for my master’s death; and questioned me very minutely on the motives that induced us to go into the interior. On telling him it was to see if there was any thing worth trading for in the country, he appeared satisfied. He was richly dressed in a scarlet damask tobe, and a pair of trowsers made of country cloth, scarlet ground with a blue stripe; the former ornamented with coral beads; his legs, as far as the knee, were stained red with hennah; and on his feet he wore red leather sandals. A cap made of blue damask, thickly studded with coral beads, was on his head; and silver rings hung round his neck, arms, and legs. I offered him the horse I had purchased at Kano, a fine animal, that had carried me the whole of the way from that city: and regretted my inability to make him a more valuable present; but promised, if he permitted two messengers to accompany me to the sea-coast, I would send him something else. In the evening I received a goat and a great quantity of yams from the king.
27th.—The king having desired me to call on some of his head men, I waited on the master of the horse, and two others. The former gave me a goat and a bottle of honey. I remarked I was very poor, and could make him no return.
30th.—I informed the king I was short of money, on which he generously sent me a duck and four thousand cowries (little more than a dollar). The eunuch, the king’s head man, begged of me my remaining pistol, two dollars, and a scarlet cap, which I was necessitated to give him. He also wanted my ass to make a fetish, but this I refused to let him have. This evening I sent for the ass from a neighbouring pasture, when I found the poor animal had been shot in the side with two poisoned arrows. I have no doubt but this cruel action was performed at the instigation of the disappointed eunuch. The beast became a complete skeleton, and after languishing for six days in great agony, I desired Pascoe and Jowdie to take him to a short distance, and cut his throat. When the king heard of the circumstance, he immediately ordered the carcass to be cut into quarters, and conveyed to his house. After which he ordered the meat to be dressed, and having assembled his wives and head men, they regaled themselves on it with peculiar satisfaction. Wishing to pay for so delicious a treat, the king sent me a goat and a thousand cowries for the dead ass.
The people of Yariba are not very delicate in the choice of their food; they eat frogs, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and various other kinds of vermin. A fat dog will always fetch a better price than a goat. Locusts and black ants, just as they are able to take wing, are a great luxury. Caterpillars also are held in very high estimation. The caterpillars are stewed, and eat with yams and tuah. Ants and locusts are fried in butter, and are said to be delicious. I could never make up my mind to taste any of these rich insects; Pascoe, however, is particularly fond of them, and calls them land-shrimps.
It is a custom in Katunga, when the king dies, for his eldest son, first wife, and all the head men of the kingdom, to drink poison over his grave, and are afterwards buried with him. None of the king’s sons ever come to the throne. After the king’s death, his successor is chosen from among the wisest persons of the country; an elderly man is generally preferred.
Remained at Katunga till the 21st of October, when the king gave me 4,000 cowries, and some trona to sell on the road. He ordered his head messengers to accompany me, with a desire they should command the chiefs of every town through which we were to pass, to contribute, according to their means, to our support.
On the 22d of October I left Katunga, and after a rapid and hasty journey, during which nothing of consequence occurred, arrived at Engwa on the 9th of November following. I found the railing which had been placed round the grave of poor captain Pearce washed away by the rains, and the piece of wood on which I had myself cut out his name, age, &c. and the day on which he died, either taken off by the natives, or also washed away by the rains. The only means by which I recognized the spot was the appearance of the earth, on which there was no vegetation, and its having sunk five or six inches. I went to the chief, and giving him half a yard of blue damask, and a pair of scissors, entreated him to build a house over the spot, and have it thatched, promising to send him a present from England in a short time, if he did it. He promised faithfully to erect a house as soon as the rains were over.
Nov. 12th.—Arrived at Jennah this afternoon, and found the grave of Dr. Morrison to be in a perfect condition. The king had had it kept in excellent order, and was to have been rewarded by Mr. Houston, who himself died shortly afterwards at Accra. In this city the horses the kings of Wowwow and Khiama had given me, unfortunately died.
Remained two days at Jennah, when we proceeded, and on the 21st entered Badagry; all the natives on the road from Kano having behaved remarkably well to us. The country traversed was swampy, and full of water the greatest part of the way, which rendered travelling tedious and unpleasant.