Mischievous tricks, and the
grey parrot, with its discordant, shrill scream, and other beautiful
birds, "warbled their native wood notes wild."
The chief of Chow, who received and entertained Captain Clapperton,
had been dead some time, and was succeeded by a humble, good natured,
and active individual, who treated the white men more like demi-gods
than human beings. At the time of their arrival, he was engaged in
superintending the slaves at his corn and yam plantations, but he
hastened to them the moment he was informed of the circumstance. He
possessed a number of horses, one of which was the smallest and most
beautiful animal they ever beheld.
In the evening, the chief visited them again with a present of
provisions, and a few goora nuts. Richard Lander took the opportunity
of playing on a bugle horn in his presence, by which he was violently
agitated, under the supposition that the instrument was nothing less
than a snake.
For the first time since their landing they observed the loom in
active operation; the manufacture of cotton cloth is, however,
carried on exclusively by women, the men appearing too slothful and
indolent to undertake any labour, which might subject them to
fatigue.
On the following day the path wound through a country charmingly
diversified by hill and dale, woods and open glades, and watered by
streams flowing over beds of fine white sand. A horseman from Katunga
met them about ten o'clock in the morning, whose dress and
accoutrements were highly grotesque. He neither stopped nor spoke,
but couched his lance as he gallopped past them. It was supposed that
he was the bearer of a message to the chief of Jenna, from the king
of Katunga, and that it had some reference to themselves, but whether
it was an act of caution or of compliment could not be ascertained.
They met a number of people of both sexes in the path, who were
returning from Egga to Chow, and several naked boys on their way to
the coast, under the care of guardians. These were slaves, and would
be most likely sold at Badagry. Some of the woman bore burdens on
their heads, that would have tired a mule and broken the neck of a
Covent Garden Irish woman, and children not more than five or six
years old trudged after them with loads that would have given a full
grown person in Europe the brain fever.
They departed from Chow before sunrise; a surprising dew had fallen
during the night and distilled from the leaves and branches in large
drops. They passed during the forenoon, over three or four swampy
places, covered with reeds, rushes, and rank grass, which were
inhabited by myriads of frogs of prodigious size.
