January 3d.—At half-past nine o’clock we set out on our return, and reached Cape Coast, after sundry halts, at six o’clock in the evening.
January 30th.—An opportunity of visiting all the principal settlements along the coast as far as Whydah having occurred, I went after a few hours’ notice on board the Medora, a vessel belonging to Mr. T. Hutton, he being himself embarked also; and on the 1st of February we reached Winnebah. Going on shore we proceeded directly to the Mission-house, where we fortunately met the two missionaries, Mr. Brooking and Mr. Chapman, who had lately returned from Coomassie. They were now on their way from Accra, and treated us with great kindness. At their departure on the following morning they left orders that I should receive every accommodation during my stay at Winnebah.
This place is well situated both for trade and agriculture. The town is built close to the sea, very near the mouth of a large river running from the interior and emptying itself into the Atlantic. The buildings are very irregular, and have mud walls, though very fine freestone might be got in great abundance close at hand. There is only one stone house in the place. Its chief article of trade is palm-oil, which is brought from some distance in the interior. The inhabitants make a pretty comfortable living by fishing, as the fish is plentiful in the sea here, the average number caught by each fisherman being five thousand. This, however, is only the case at certain seasons. The fish are dried and sent into the interior, where gold dust is given in exchange. Their method of drying fish is very simple. If the fish exceeds the size of a small herring, it is split up the back, and the whole are spread in rows in the sun, and after having been turned twice during the day, on the second day are completely cured, without the addition of salt. A great many sharks are also dried, and when large cut into several pieces. At Winnebah they do not smoke the fish, as is done in many places.
Nowhere on this coast did I find so great a diversity of character and manner as in this place. Natives from two-thirds of all Africa are to be seen here. Any person acquainted with the features of the different African tribes might easily distinguish them. No doubt they have been brought from various parts of the interior as slaves. The men are generally tall and athletic; the women much handsomer than those at Cape Coast. They seem good-tempered, lively, and fond of dress, as all their countrymen are.
Pigs, oxen, sheep, goats, fowls, ducks, and turkeys, are fine and plentiful for the space of ten miles square.
Immediately behind the town, the country is a beautiful level, studded here and there with clumps of trees, and the soil is rich and black. Ten miles off is a chain of mountains. The western point terminates in what is called the Devil’s Hill, about four hundred feet high, bearing from the town of Winnebah N.W. by W. The whole surrounding country looks beautiful, and much resembles a fine large park in England. The lower or western part of this plain is flooded in the rainy season.
On examining the vegetation and soil in the bed of this occasional lake, I found the borders covered with a small plant, called by the natives yanwin, which grows near all salt lakes on this coast. This plant is used by them as a medicine. It is also common in both England and Scotland among the rocks on the sea-coast, and much prized as a salad or pickle: in England it is named samphire. The growth of this plant here shows that in the rainy season, when the river is much swollen, the sea rises considerably higher, and makes the water of the river and this lake salt, as I have never found this plant itself very salt to the taste near fresh water.
The river Jensu, which falls into the Atlantic about three quarters of a mile to the east of Winnebah, is said by the natives to be navigable upwards of two hundred miles; but I only ascended it about six or seven miles. It is very shallow at its mouth during the ebb of the tide, owing to the bar invariably formed at the mouth of all rivers on this part of the African coast by the tremendous surf which always prevails. About half a mile above its mouth the river deepens; its banks are abrupt, and about five feet above the surface of the water. In the dry season the current is very sluggish, not exceeding a mile and a half an hour. For two miles from the sea trees and large shrubs adorn both banks, full of various birds of beautiful plumage. Amongst these I could distinguish two species of king-fishers, one as large as a thrush, and the other not larger than a tom-tit; the smaller much darker in colour than the other. Alligators are very large and numerous; and I observed the sea flowed at a considerable height up the river as far as I ascended.
CHAPTER V.
Native Laws—Roguery of the Natives; White Men fair Game—Superstition—Fetish-houses—Colour, Habits, &c. of the Natives—Prevalence of Drunkenness—Disgusting Neglect—Fashion in Shaving—Tally System—Population—Accra—Mr. Bannerman and his Hospitality—Danish Accra, partly Demolished—Occasion of this—Attempt to assassinate the Governor—English Accra, its Trade much reduced by Competition with Americans—Currency—Merchants’ Houses—Fruits and Flowers—The Coromantine Apple—Natives most expert Thieves—Population—Circumcision—Mode of Carrying Children—Sleep in the Open Air—Manufactures—Fish—Difficult Landing—Salt Lake—Soil—Gaming and Drinking—Population of English Accra—Stock—Cruel Treatment of Horses—Want of Natural Affection—Sail for Ahguay—Boarded by an English Brig—Mr. Hutton’s Factory at Ahguay—A Drunken Caboceer—His Dress and Attendants—A Principal Fetish-woman, her Dress—Dance performed by Her—Natives of Ahguay—Slave-merchants—Cotton and Indigo—Markets—Treatment of Slaves—Characteristics of Africans—Fish—Method of Dressing the Crab—Alligators—Alligator-hunt—Plants and Fruits—The Velvet-Tamarind—Popoe—Mr. Lawson, a Native Merchant—Introduction to his Wives—Merchants, their Mode of Living—Slave-Trade—Population—Manufactures—Gaming and Drinking—Kankie—M. De Suza’s Slave Establishment—His House—His Domestic Slaves—Noisy Reception by the Caboceer—Treatment of Slaves.