Owing to the holiday, which is equally prized and enjoyed by Mahommedan and pagan, their visitors on this day have been almost exclusively confined to a party of Houssa mallams, who entered their dwelling in the forenoon, perfumed all over with musk, more for the purpose of gratifying their vanity by displaying their finery before them, than of paying the travellers the compliment of the day, which was avowedly the sole object of their intrusion. One or two of them were masticating the goora nut, and others had their lips, teeth, and finger nails stained red. Each of the mallams was attended by a well-dressed little boy of agreeable countenance, who acted as page to his master, and was his protegé. Neither of the men would eat or drink with those who they came to visit, yet whilst they were in their company, they seemed cheerful and good humoured, and were communicative and highly intelligent. In answer to the questions put to them, they; were informed that two rivers enter the Quorra, or great river of Funda, one of which is called the Coodonie, and the other the Tshadda, (from the lake Tshad); that a schooner might sail from Bornou to Fundah, on the latter river, without difficulty; that Funda is only twenty-four hours pull from Benin, and twenty-nine days' journey from Bornou. At the close of a long and to the travellers rather an interesting conversation, their visitors expressed themselves highly gratified with their reception, and left the hut to repair to their own habitations.
These men, though slaves to Adooley, are very respectable, and are never called upon by their master, except when required to go to war, supporting themselves by trading for slaves, which they sell to Europeans. They wore decent nouffie tobes, (qu Nyffee,) Arab red caps, and Houssa sandals. The mallams, both in their manners and conversation, are infinitely superior to the ungentle, and malignant natives of Badagry.
March 28th fell on a Sunday, and luckily for the travellers, the inhabitants of the place considered it as a holiday, and their singing, dancing, and savage jollity possessed greater charms for them than an empty rum cask, though backed by two white faces. With a trifling exception or so, they were in consequence unmolested by their visitors of the everlasting grin and unwearied tongue during the day. This happy circumstance afforded them an opportunity, and ample leisure for spending the Sabbath in a manner most agreeable to their feelings; by devoting the greater part of it to the impressive duties of their divine religion, in humbling themselves before the mercy seat of the great Author of their being, and imploring him to be their refuge and guardian, to shield them from every danger, and to render their undertakings hopeful and prosperous.
As yet no crime of any peculiar atrocity had been committed, to impress the travellers with an unfavourable opinion of the moral character of the people amongst whom they were then residing, but on this evening of the Sabbath, a Fantee was robbed of his effects, and stabbed by an assassin below the ribs, so that his life was despaired of. The most unlucky part, however, of this tragical affair to Richard Lander, was, that the natives, from some cause, which he could not divine, had imbibed the conceit that he was skilled in surgery. In vain, he protested that he knew nothing of the anatomy of the human frame—there were many present, who knew far better than he did himself, and therefore, nolens volens, he was obliged to visit the patient. It was certainly the first time that Richard Lander had been called in to exercise his surgical skill, and it must be admitted that in one sense, he was well adapted for the character of a bone-setter, or other offices for which the gentlemen of the lancet are notorious. This trait in his character consisted in a gravity of countenance well befitting the individual, who presents himself to his anxious patient, to pronounce the great question of life and death, and the greater the ignorance of the individual, the deeper and more solemn is the countenance, which he assumes. If Richard Lander had been in the least inclined to a risible disposition, perhaps no occasion was more likely to call it into action, than when he saw himself followed by two or three hundred savages, under an imputation of possessing the power of curing an individual, who had been stabbed nearly to the heart, when at the same time, he knew as much of the art of stopping an haemorrhage, as he did of the art of delivering one of the queens of Badagry of an heir to "the golden stool." Fortunately, however, for the new debutant in the medical profession, the victim of the assassin had died a few minutes before the English doctor arrived, and right glad he was, for had he found his patient alive, and he had afterwards died, no doubt whatever rested on his mind, that his death would be attributed to the want of skill on the part of his medical attendant, who, by way of reward for his interference, would have run no small risk of being buried in the same grave as the individual, whose life he had sacrificed to his ignorance and want of skill. From this dilemma he was fortunately relieved, but he had scarcely returned to his habitation, than he was called upon to attend a fetish, or a religious rite, that was to be performed over the remains of a native, who had been found dead, but who was in perfect health a few hours before. This kind of coroner's inquest appeared most strange to the travellers, when it was well known to them that the king of Badagry, so far from following the example of other kings, who are so extremely anxious about the life of their subjects, often amuses himself with chopping off two or three hundred heads of his subjects, in order that the path to his apartments may be paved with their skulls; and should there not be quite a sufficient number to complete the job, the deficiency is made up with the same indifference, as a schoolboy strikes off the heads of the poppies in the corn fields. The ceremony observed at this fetish, had a great resemblance to an Irish wake; and could the mourners have been able to obtain the requisite supply of spirits, there is very little doubt that there would not have been a mourner present, who would not have exhibited himself in the state of the most beastly intoxication. The lament of the relatives of the deceased was doleful in the highest degree, and no sounds could be more dismally mournful than those shrieked forth by them on this occasion.
The Sabbath was nearly over, when a summons was received from Adooley, to repair to his residence, in order finally to settle the business relative to their journey into the interior, but they refused to have any disputes with him on the Sabbath, and therefore promised to wait on him the following morning. Accordingly after breakfast, they redeemed their pledge, by paying him the promised visit. Adooley received them with his accustomed politeness and gracious smile. He prefaced his wish by saying, that he wished to inform them of his intention, to detain them at Badagry a day or two longer, the "path" not being considered in a fit state for; travelling, rather than his reputation should suffer by leading them into danger, which would undoubtedly be the case, if he had not adopted his present resolution. Yet, he continued, they might depend upon his word as a king, that they should be at liberty to depart on the following Thursday at the latest. Now the Landers well knew that the country was never in a more peaceable or quiet state than at the moment he was speaking, and they were consequently mortified beyond measure, at the perpetual evasions and contradictions of this chief. They also regretted that the dry season was drawing fast to a close, and that then they would be obliged to travel in the rainy months.
Having made this declaration, Adooley requested them to write on paper in his presence, for a few things, which he wished to procure from Cape Coast Castle, or from England, as a return for the protection he had promised them. Amongst other articles enumerated were four regimental coats, such as are worn by the king of England, being for his own immediate wear, and forty less splendid than the king of England's, for his captains; two long brass guns, to run on swivels; fifty muskets; twenty barrels of gunpowder; four handsome swords, and forty cutlasses; to which were added, two puncheons of rum; a carpenter's chest of tools, with oils, paint and brushes; the king himself boasting that he was a blacksmith, carpenter, painter, and indeed every trade but a tailor. Independently of these trifles, as he termed them, he wished to Obtain half a dozen rockets, and a rocket gun, with a soldier from Cape Coast capable of undertaking the management of it; and lastly, he modestly ordered two puncheons of kowries to be sent him, for the purpose of defraying in part the expences, he had incurred in repelling the attacks of the men of Porto Novo, Atta, Juncullee; the tribes inhabiting those places having made war upon him, for allowing Captain Clapperton's last mission to proceed into the interior without their consent. They now asked jocosely, whether Adooley would be satisfied with these various articles, when, having considered for a few moments, and conversed aloud to a few of his chiefs, who were in the apartment at the time, he replied that he had forgotten to mention his want of a large umbrella, four casks of grape shot, and a barrel of flints, which having also inserted in the list, the letter was finally folded and sealed. It was then delivered into the hands of Adooley, who said that he should send it by Accra, one of his head men, to Cape Coast Castle, and that the man would wait there till all the articles should be procured for him. If that be the case, the Landers imagined that Accra would have a very long time to wait.
The interpreter of the Landers, old Hooper, having been suspected by the chief to be in their interest, a young man, named Tookwee, who understood a little English, was sent for, and commanded to remain during the whole conference, in order to detect any error that Hooper might make, and to see that every thing enumerated by the chief, should be written in the list of articles.
During this long and serious conversation, the Landers were highly amused with a singular kind of concert, which was formed by three little bells, which were fastened to the tails of the same number of cats by a long string, and made a jingling noise, whenever the animals thought proper to play off any of their antics. As an accompaniment to this singular kind of music, they were favoured with the strains of an organ, which instrument was turned by a little boy, placed purposely in a corner of the apartment.
In the afternoon, a young Jenna woman came to visit them, accompanied by a female friend from Houssa. Her hair was traced with such extraordinary neatness, that John Lander expressed a wish to examine it more minutely. The girl had never beheld such a thing as a white man before, and permission was granted with a great deal of coyness, mixed up perhaps with a small portion of fear, which was apparent as she was slowly untying her turban. No sooner, however, was the curiosity of the travellers gratified, than a demand of two hundred kowries was insisted on by her companion, that, it was alleged, being the price paid in the interior by the male sex to scrutinize a lady's hair. They were obliged to conform to the usual custom, at which the women expressed themselves highly delighted. The hair, which had excited the admiration of the travellers, was made up in the shape of a hussar's helmet, and very ingeniously traced on the top. Irregular figures were likewise braided on each side of the head, and a band of worked thread, dyed in indigo, encircled it below the natural hair, which seemed, by its tightness and closeness, to have been glued fast to the skin. This young Jenna woman was by far the most interesting, both in face and form, of any they had seen since their landing; and her prettiness was rendered more engaging by her retiring modesty and perfect artlessness of manner, which, whether observed in black or white, are sure to command the esteem and reverence of the other sex. Her eyelids were stained with a bluish-black powder, which is the same kind of substance, it is supposed, as that described in a note in Mr. Beckford's Vatheck. Her person was excessively clean, and her apparel flowing, neat, and graceful. Before taking leave, the girl's unworthy companion informed John Lander, that her protegée was married, but that as her husband was left behind at Jenna, she would prevail on her to visit the travellers in the evening after sunset. Of course they expressed their abhorrence of the proposal, and were really grieved to reflect, that, with so much meekness, innocence, modesty, and beauty, their timid friend should be exposed to the wiles of a crafty and wicked woman. On this occasion, John Lander says, "We have longed to discover a solitary virtue lingering amongst the natives of this place, but as yet our search has been ineffectual."
As a contrast to the youthful individual just described, an old withered woman entered their residence in the evening, and began professing the most unbounded affection for both the travellers. She had drank so much rum that she could scarcely stand. She first began to pay her attentions to John Lander, who, being the more sprightly of the two, she thought was the most likely to accede to her wishes; she happened, however, to be the owner of a most forbidding countenance, and four of her front teeth had disappeared from her upper jaw, which caused a singular and disagreeable indention of the upper lip. The travellers were disgusted with the appearance and hateful familiarity of this ancient hag, who had thus paid so ill a compliment to their vanity, and subsequently they forced her out of the yard without any ceremony.