As The Landers Were Carried Down The River, The Country On The Banks
Completely Changed Its Appearance, Being Low And
Swampy, covered with
vast entangled forests, which completely concealed the towns and
villages, of whose existence the travellers were nevertheless
Apprised by
the number of inhabitants who came to the beach to trade with the
canoemen. The people subsisted chiefly on the produce of the banana, the
plantain, and the yam, and on the fish which they caught in the river.
The chief article of traffic was palm-oil.
As they drew near to Eboe, they sailed through a large lake on the river,
which branched out into three broad streams, which take different
directions towards the south-west; whence they felt assured that they
were rapidly approaching the termination of the river's course in the
Gulf of Guinea. The pleasure which they felt in the hope of soon solving
the mysterious problem which had been hid for so many ages, was however
damped by the thought of their precarious situation, and the hostile
reception which they might meet with at Eboe.
They came to an extensive morass, intercepted by narrow channels in every
direction. Passing through one of these, they got into clear water, and
arrived in front of Eboe town. Here they found hundreds of canoes, some
of which were much larger than any they had hitherto seen, being
furnished with sheds and awnings, and affording habitations to a great
number of the people, who constantly reside in them.
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