As It Was, I Smothered My Rising Choler, And With My Brother Quietly Followed The Chief, To His Principal Hut, Under Whose Verandah We Were Served With Goora Nuts In A Huge Pewter Platter."

Presently the chief squatted himself down on a handsome rush mat, of native manufacture, and they were desired to sit by him, on an elegant Turkey carpet, which had been laid there for the purpose.

He was rather fancifully dressed; and wore two tobes, the one nearest the skin being of black silk velvet, and the other of crimson velvet, lined with sarsenet; his boots were of yellow leather, neatly worked, and his wrists were loaded with bracelets of silver and copper. The countenance of the chief betrayed much seriousness and solidity, and the diverting laugh of his countrymen was suspended by a sober cheerfulness. Many of his wives sat behind him in rows, some of whom were of a bright copper colour, indeed a great number of the inhabitants of Larro have fairer complexions than mulattoes. The yard of the hut was crammed full of curious and inquisitive people, who stood with open mouths during the audience. The chief wished to imprint strongly on their minds his own dignity and power; he said he was greater than the governor of Jenna, inasmuch as the latter was a slave to the king of Katunga, but himself was a free man. He would give them permission to depart to-morrow, he continued, and in the mean time would supply them with provisions. The chief was as good as his word, for shortly after they had quitted the hut they received a goat and some game, and he returned their visit in the cool of the evening. It appeared that it was not his general practice to drink spirituous liquors in presence of his people, as it may be against the law to do so, for having carefully excluded all prying eyes from their dwelling, and ordered a mat to be hung over the door-way, he even then turned his face to the wall, whenever he attempted to swallow the brandy that was offered to him. He remained with them rather better than an hour. On the presentation of the chief to them, a religious ceremony was performed, which was not observed in any other part of the country. A chapter from the Koran was repeated to him by a mahommedan priest, to which both he and his people seemed to pay great attention.

Public schools are established in the town of Larro, for the avowed purpose of teaching the rising generation the rudiments of the mahommedan religion.

A singular custom prevails in the town, of compelling children at the breast to swallow a quantity of cold water from a calabash. An infant was nearly choked on this morning by the injection of more than a pint of water down its throat. Whether the mothers follow this custom for the purpose of curing the children of any imaginary complaints, or, as is more probable, in the hope of rendering them less eager for their natural food, was not exactly to be ascertained.

The inhabitants possess horses, asses, and mules, though not in any considerable numbers, they have, however, great abundance of sheep and goats, which are bred in the town; and their yards and huts are the common place of resort for those animals, indeed they may be said to grow up and live with the children of their owners. The Landers amused themselves during the greater part of the day, in looking at the gambols of some very handsome goats, which had strayed into their abode, but the sheep were not near so tame or frolicsome, repelling all the advances towards a more familiar acquaintance, by timidity and ill nature. Shrimps and fish, which are caught in the streams in the vicinity of the town, are daily exposed for sale, and the inhabitants appear to be in possession of a greater share of the necessaries and comforts of life, than their neighbours of the sea coast.

They this day observed the country to be sensibly rising, and agriculture appeared to be conducted on a regular system, which was an evident proof of the active and industrious habits of the people.

The gloomy fastnesses and wildnesses of nature, such as they passed on the first day or two of their journey from Badagry, were less common as they advanced, and open glades with plantations of bananas, fields of yams and Indian corn, all neatly fenced, met their view from the path of yesterday as well as on the present day. The inhabitants of Larro also exhibit greater cleanliness of person and tidiness of apparel than the tribes nearer the sea-shore. Those pests also, the unfortunate beggars, entirely disappeared, for the inhabitants of Larro appeared to possess too much pride to beg.

It was at Larro that the two brothers began to feel the relaxing influence of the climate, but still their hearts were good, and they hoped, by the blessing of Heaven, that their progress through the country might not be impeded by sickness.

On Tuesday, April 6th, the sun had scarcely risen above the horizon, and the mists of the morning yet hung upon the hills, than they quitted the town of Larro, and pursued their journey on horseback. Three horsemen from Jenna followed them on the path, and they were enlivened by the wild jingling of their animals' bells, till they got within a mile of that town, where they alighted at a kind of turnpike, and fired a salute of two muskets. Here they were met by a number of fellows with horns, who blew on them with the accustomed energy of the natives; these men preceded them over a bridge, which was thrown across a moat that surrounds Jenna into the centre of the town, where they again alighted, and waited the chief's pleasure in an open shed. They had not been seated many seconds before an immense crowd of people pressed in upon them on every side, subjecting them to the accustomed inconvenience of want of air, strong unwholesome smells, and a confused hubbub, that defies description.

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