The Dwelling In Which The Landers Resided, Belonged To King Boy, And Stood On The Extreme Edge Of The Basin, And Was Constructed Not Long Since, By A Carpenter, Who Came Up The River For The Purpose From Calabar, Of Which Place He Was A Native:

He received seven slaves for his labour.

This man must evidently have seen European dwellings, as there was decidedly an attempt to imitate them. It was of an oblong form, containing four apartments, which were all on the ground-floor, lined with wood, and furnished with tolerably-made doors and cupboards. This wood bore decided marks of its having once formed part of a vessel, and was most likely the remains of one which, according to report, was wrecked not long ago on the bar of the river. The house had recently been converted into a kind of seraglio by King Boy, because ho had, to use his own expression, "plenty of wives," who required looking after. It also answered the purpose of a store-house for European goods, tobacco, and spirituous liquors. Its rafters were of bamboo, and its thatch of palm leaves. The apartment which the Landers occupied, had a window overlooking the basin, outside of which was a veranda, occupied at the time by Pascoe and his wives. The whole of its furniture consisted of an old oaken table, but it was supplied with seats, made of clay, which were raised about three feet from the ground. These, together with the floor, which was of mud, were so soft and wet as to enable a person to thrust his hand into any part of them without any difficulty whatever. In one corner, communicating with the other apartments, was a door destitute of a lock, and kept always ajar, except at night, when it was closed. One of the sides of the room was decorated with an old French print, representing the Virgin Mary, with a great number of chubby-faced angels ministering to her, at whose feet was a prayer on "Our Lady's good deliverance." The whole group was designed and executed badly.

When the tide is at its height, the water flows up to the doors and windows of the house, which may perhaps account for its dampness; it is, however, held in very high estimation by its owner, and was called an English house. In general the houses are built of a kind of yellow clay, and the windows are all furnished with shutters.

There were several huts opposite the town, where the people make salt, after the rains are over; the water at present was brackish from the effect of the rains, but according to the information given by Boy, in the course of two months it will be quite salt, when they will again commence making it. It is an article of trade, and appears to be taken in large quantities to the Eboe market, where it is exchanged for yams, the kowrie shell not being circulated lower down the river than Bocqua.

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