In many places they observed that the river had overflowed its banks, and was running between the trees and thick underwood. In the widest part, it did not seem more than a mile and a half across, in fact, its width, contrary to the usual course of rivers, when approaching the sea, was sensibly diminishing, and was dwindling away into an ordinary stream.
"Perhaps," says Richard Lander, "there cannot be a greater comfort under the sun, than sound and invigorating sleep to the weary, nor in our opinion, a greater grievance than the loss of it; because wakefulness at those hours, which nature has destined for repose, is, in nine cases out of ten, sure to be the harbinger of peevishness, discontent, and ill humour, and not unfrequently induces languor, lassitude, and disease. No two individuals in the world have greater reason to complain of disturbed slumbers or nightly watching, than ourselves. Heretofore, this has been occasioned chiefly by exposure to damps, rains, and dews, mosquito attacks, frightful and piercing noises, and over-fatigue, or apprehension or anxiety of mind. But now, in the absence of most of these causes, we are cramped, painfully cramped for want of room, insomuch, that when we feel drowsy, we find it impossible to place ourselves in a recumbent posture, without having the heavy legs of Mr. and Mrs. Boy, with their prodigious ornaments of ivory, placed either on our faces or on our breasts. From such a situation it requires almost the strength of a rhinoceros to be freed; it is most excessively teasing. Last night we were particularly unfortunate in this respect, and a second attack of fever, which came on me in the evening, rendered my condition lamentable indeed, and truly piteous. It would be ridiculous to suppose, that one can enjoy the refreshment of sleep, how much soever it my be required, when two or more uncovered legs and feet, huge, black, and rough, are traversing one's face and body, stopping up the passages of respiration, and pressing so heavily upon them at times, as to threaten suffocation. I could not long endure so serious an inconvenience, but preferred last night sitting up in the canoe. My brother was indisposed, and in fact unable to follow my example, and therefores I endeavoured, if possible, to render his situation more tolerable. With this object in view, I pinched the feet of our snoring companions, Mr. and Mrs. Boy, repeatedly, till the pain caused them to awake, and remove their brawny feet from his face, and this enabled him to draw backwards a few inches, and place his head into a narrow recess, which is formed by two boxes. However, this did not allow him liberty to turn it either way, and thus jammed, with no command whatever over his suffering limbs, he passed the hours without sleep, and arose this morning with bruised bones and sore limbs, complaining bitterly of the wretched moments, which the legs of Mr. and Mrs. Boy had caused him, with their ivory rings and heaps of yams."
They now arrived at a convenient place for stopping awhile, to give their canoe men rest from their labour, and at day break they launched out again into the river, and paddled down the stream. At seven in the morning, Boy and his wife having landed to trade, the Landers took advantage of their absence and slept soundly for two hours, without the risk of being disturbed by the brawny legs of either the gentleman or lady.
They continued their course down the river until two hours after midnight, when they stopped near a small village on the east side of the river. They made fast to the shore, and the people settled themselves in the canoe to sleep. Having sat up the whole of the previous night, for the best of all reasons, because they could find no room to lie down, in consequence of the crowded state of the canoe, and feeling themselves quite unequal to do the same, the Landers took their mats and went on shore, determined if possible, to sleep on the ground. Overcome by fatigue, the fear of being attacked by alligators, or any thing else, they selected a dry place and laid themselves down on their mats. They had nearly dropped asleep, when they were roused by several severe stings, and found themselves covered with black ants. They had got up their trousers, and were tormenting them dreadfully. At first they knew not which way to get rid of them. Their men, Pascoe, Sam, and Jowdie, seeing the condition they were in, landed from the canoe, and made large fires in the form of a ring, and they laid down in the midst of them and slept till daylight. The sting of a black ant is quite as painful as that of a wasp.
Towards the evening of the following day, they departed from the main river, and took their course up a small branch towards Brass Town, running in a direction about southeast from that which they had just left. They had not proceeded far on this course, when to their great satisfaction, they found themselves influenced by the tide. They had previously observed an appearance of foam on the water, which might have been carried up by the flood tide from the mouth of the river, but they now felt certain of being within its influence. They were constantly annoyed by the canoe running aground on a bank, or sticking fast in the underwood, which delayed their progress considerably, and the men were obliged to get out to lighten and lift the canoe off them. Their tract was through a narrow creek, arched over by mangroves, so as to form a complete avenue, which in many places was so thick as to be totally impenetrable by the light above. A heavy shower of rain came on and wetted them thoroughly, and after this was over, the dripping from the trees, which overhung the canoe, kept them in constant rain nearly the whole of the night. The smell from decayed vegetable substances was sickly and exceedingly disagreeable.
Through these dismal and gloomy passages, they travelled during the whole of the night of the 15th November without stopping, unless for a few minutes at a time, to disengage themselves from the pendant shoots of the mangrove and spreading brambles, in which they occasionally became entangled. These luxuriant natives of the soil are so intricately woven, that it would be next to impossible to eradicate them. Their roots and branches are the receptacles of ooze, mud, and filth of all kinds, exhaling a peculiar offensive odour, which no doubt possesses highly deleterious qualities.
The reason adduced for not resting during the night, was the apprehension entertained by King Boy, of being unable to overtake his father and brothers, they having left the Eboe country the day before them. A certain spot had been previously fixed upon by the parties for the meeting, and they arrived there about nine o'clock a.m., and found those individuals in three large canoes, with their attendants, waiting their arrival. Here they stopped, and made their canoes fast to the trees, to take refreshment, such as it was, and half an hour's rest; and here they were introduced to the renowned King Forday, who according to his own account is monarch of the whole country. In one of the canoes sat old King Forday, in company with several fetish priests; the second canoe belonged to King Boy, and the third was Mr. Gun's. These canoes had come thus far for the purpose of escorting them into their country.
King Forday was a complaisant venerable-looking old man, but was rather shabbily dressed, partly in the European and partly in the native style. Like most savages, his fondness for spirituous liquors was extreme, and he took large potations of rum in their presence, though it produced no visible effect upon his manner or conversation. In the jollity of the moment, he attempted to sing, but his weak piping voice did not seem to second his inclination, and the sound died away from very feebleness. His subjects, however, amounting to nearly two hundred individuals, testified their approbation of the effort by a tremendous "Yah!" shouted simultaneously by every voice, which sounded like the roar of a lion.
During the time that they had been at breakfast, the tide ebbed, and left their canoes lying on the mud. Breakfast being over, the fetish priests commenced their avocations, by marking the person of King Boy from head to foot with chalk, in lines, circles, and a variety of fantastic figures, which so completely metamorphosed him, as to render his identity rather questionable, at the distance of only a few yards. His usual dress had been thrown aside, and he was allowed to wear nothing but a narrow silk handkerchief tied round his waist; on his head a little close cap was placed, made of grass, and ornamented with large feathers. These they found to be the wing feathers of a black and white buzzard, which is the fetish bird of Brass Town. Two huge spears were also chalked and put into his hands, and thus equipped his appearance was wild and grotesque in the extreme. The same operation was performed on the rest of the party, and the fetish priests were chalked in the same manner. The people belonging to the Landers were merely marked on the forehead, and the Landers themselves, perhaps from being already white, although their faces were not a little tanned, were exempted from the ceremony.
They were now ordered into King Forday's canoe, to sit down with him. The old man asked them immediately in tolerably good English, to take a glass of rum with him; and having observed them wondering at the strange appearance of King Boy, and the rest of the party, gave them to understand that in consequence of no man having come down the river as they had done, the fetish ceremony was performed to prevent any thing happening to them. They also understood from him, that a certain rite would be performed to Dju-dju, the fetish or domestic god of Brass Town, in honour of their coming.