The Governor Of The Town Was A Morose, Surly, And Ill-Natured Man. He Sent Them Only A Few Bananas, And A Calabash Of Eggs, Which Were All Stale And Unfit To Be Eaten, So That Some Of Their People Were Obliged To Go Supperless To Bed.

The governor ascribed the badness of his fare to extreme poverty, yet his vanity exacted from their Jenna messengers the most abject method of salutation, with which they were acquainted.

These men walked backwards from him several yards, to throw dirt on their heads, and with the dust and filth still clinging to their hair, they were compelled to address the chief with their faces to the ground. The apartment of the travellers unfortunately communicated with his, and the restless tongues of his numerous wives prevented either of the Landers from dosing their eyes long after sunset. In the centre of their yard grew a tree, round which several stakes were driven into the ground. This tree was a fetish tree, and the stakes also fetish, and therefore a strong injunction was issued not to tie the horses to either of them. Calabashes, common articles of earthenware, and even feathers, egg-shells, and the bones of animals; indeed any kind of inanimate substance is made fetish by the credulous, stupid natives, and like the horse-shoe, which is still nailed to the door of the more superstitious of English peasantry, these fetishes are supposed to preserve them from ghosts and evil spirits. It is sacrilege to touch them, and to ridicule them, would be dangerous.

It was between seven and eight o'clock of the 30th April, before carriers could be procured, and every thing got in readiness for their departure. The sun was excessively hot, and the sky brilliantly clear. They crossed two or three rivulets of cool delicious water, as they had done on the preceding day, and then passed through an insignificant village, whose chief sent them a calabash of bruised corn, mixed with water, to drink. At noon, they arrived at the foot of a very elevated hill, and perceived a town perched on its summit, and knew it to be the same to which they had been directed. They dismounted, and after a laborious ascent, which occupied them three quarters of an hour, at length reached the top. Stones and blocks of granite interrupted their path, so that it became a very difficult matter to force the horses along before them; they fell repeatedly, but without materially injuring themselves.

The name of the town was Chekki; their arrival was rather unexpected, and therefore the governor was not prepared to receive them, and they sat down under a tree, until they were tired of waiting. At length, a man came to conduct them to his residence, which was but a little way from the tree, under which they were reposing, when a tumultuous rush was made by the inhabitants to precede them into the yard, and notwithstanding the presence of their chief, they so surrounded the travelling party as to prevent a particle of fresh air from reaching them. The governor received them with bluntness, but not unkindly, though without much demonstration of good-will. While in his yard, he regaled them with water, and afterwards sent them a large calabash of foorah sweetened with honey to their lodgings, which did not taste unlike thick gruel or burgoo, as it is termed in Scotland. It is made of a corn called goorah, is very palatable, and is in general use with the natives of these parts. A quantity of bananas from the chief soon followed the foorah, and something more substantial than either, was promised them.

It was observed to be a general practice here, as well as in every other town through which the Landers passed, for children until the age of seven years to go naked, with perhaps a string of kowries tied round the loins, and clumsy bracelets, either of brass or tin enclosing the wrist. Grown-up people, however, dress somewhat neatly, if not gracefully; the men wear a cap, tobe and trousers, mostly blue, and the women wear a large loose cotton cloth, which is thrown over the left shoulder, and comes down mantling below the knee. The right arm and feet alone are bare. People of both sexes are infinitely more grave and serious in their manners, than those nearer the coast, nor was the loud vacant laugh so prevalent, as at the commencement of their journey.

They quitted Chekki on the 1st of May, and rode on pleasantly until, at the expiration of four hours, they arrived at Coosoo, a large and important town. A Fellata hamlet stands near it, the inhabitants of which, subsist by following pastoral occupations alone. They are much esteemed by the Youribans, who behave to them without suspicion or reserve.

Shortly after their arrival, a man stole a sword from one of the attendants on the travellers; he was pursued to the chief, and asserted that he had found it; as he laid the weapon at his feet. The sword was restored to them by the governor, but without the slightest allusion being made to the means by which he obtained it. A company or goffle of merchants from Hano, were at this time in the town, who had travelled thus far on their way to Gonga, which is the Selga of Cape Coast Castle and Accra. Their merchandise consists chiefly of elephants' teeth, trona, rock salt, and country cloths. This, the Landers were told, is a new route, the road formerly taken being considered unsafe, on account of private broils and disturbances amongst the natives. The goffle consisted of more than four hundred men; but a company of merchants that passed through the town ten days previously, amounted to twice that number. Other merchants were also in the town, and were to leave on the morrow on their way to Yaoorie, to which place they were destined.

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