IN AFRIC'S 
 FOREST AND 
 JUNGLE 
 
 R.H.STONE
 
 IN AFRIC'S FOREST AND JUNGLE
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 OR 
 
 Six Years Among the Yorubans 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. R. H. STONE 
 
 NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 Publishers of Evangelical Literature
 
 Copyright, 1899 
 
 BY 
 
 FUCKING H. RKVKLL Coufan 
 
 THE CAXTON PRESS 
 NEW YORK.
 
 
 TO HER WHO STILL REMAINS 
 
 THB FAITHFUL COMPANION OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 THIS HUMBLE VOLUME 
 
 IS 
 AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
 
 Contents 
 
 PAGB 
 I 
 
 ALONG THE COAST 9 
 
 II 
 UP THE OGUN *6 
 
 III 
 IN NATIVE HOMES 2$ 
 
 IV 
 THE STORY OF CROWTHER. 37 
 
 V 
 IN A NATIVE CARAVAN 44 
 
 VI 
 AN AFRICAN DESPOT 53 
 
 VII 
 OUR FIRST DWELLING 64 
 
 VIII 
 SOME BEASTS AND INSECTS 69 
 
 IX 
 
 LIFE AND LANGUAGE 81 
 
 X 
 SUPERSTITIONS 86 
 
 XI 
 POLYGAMY 9^ 
 
 XII 
 SOME AFRICAN MALADIES 108 
 
 XIII 
 HUNTING . U 3
 
 Contents 
 
 PACK 
 
 XIV 
 MENTAL SOLITUDE M 
 
 XV 
 WAYLAID AND CAPTURED 128 
 
 XVI 
 FLIGHT FROM EBADDAN 144 
 
 XVII 
 
 HOME AGAIN 155 
 
 XVIII 
 OPENING BATTLES AROUND EJAHVAY 168 
 
 XIX 
 WORSHIPPING THE DEAD PRINCE 182 
 
 XX 
 LEAVING THE DOOMED CITY 197 
 
 XXI 
 PARTIAL CIVILIZATION 209 
 
 XXII 
 LOVE LETTERS 218 
 
 XXIII 
 A NARROW ESCAPE 228 
 
 XXIV 
 THE HUMAN SACRIFICE 241 
 
 XXV 
 
 THE STOLEN CHILD 248 
 
 XXVI 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS 259 
 
 XXVII 
 
 CAST AMONG ROBBERS 265 
 
 XXVIII 
 THE COLONY OF LAGOS 375
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NATIVE RULER GIVING A RECEPTION,. - -Frontispiece 
 NATIVE CANOES AT LAGOS, 
 
 - Facing page 1 7 
 BlRDS'-EYE VIEW OF ABEOKUTA, ' 
 
 BABY'S CRADLE, ) 
 
 [ " 31 
 
 AT BREAKFAST, ) 
 
 SECTION OF MARKET, - - - - - " "50 
 
 WIVES SUPPORTING THEMSELVES AND 
 
 CHILDREN BY TRADING, ..." 100 
 
 BUILDING WITH MUD, - - - " " 157 
 
 NATIVE PRINCE AND ATTENDANTS, - . " 161 
 
 KING OF EJAYBOO GOVERNOR OF LAGOS 
 
 ON RIGHT, - - ---" 247 
 SEMI-CIVILIZED NATIVES OF LAGOS, " " 376
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 ALONG THE COAST 
 
 FOR four eventful years, far from civilization, 
 my young wife and I lived among the barbarous 
 people inhabiting that part of Western Central 
 Africa lying between the Bight of Benin and the 
 Niger river and between parallels five and seven, 
 north latitude. In this section of the continent 
 about four millions of people speak a language 
 known as "Yoruban." The natives, however, 
 recognize a number of entirely separate principal- 
 ities. The most important are Egbar or Abeokuta, 
 Ejayboo, Yoruba, Illorin, Ejesha and Benin. In 
 color, these tribes range from black through 
 brown to copper. They are reasonable, brave 
 and patriotic, and are capable of a very high de- 
 gree of intellectual culture. 
 
 The contest for African Empire between Eng- 
 land and France has recently brought these peo- 
 ple prominently to the notice of the whole civi-
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 lized world, and I have thought some account of 
 my long residence among them would not be 
 wholly uninteresting. 
 
 Some years have elapsed since, just twenty-one 
 years old, I entered the country. The striking 
 incidents of my life made a vivid and lasting im- 
 pression on my memory and the reader may be 
 assured that this book is a narration of facts only: 
 it does not contain a single line of fiction. 
 
 After a somewhat eventful voyage of thirty- 
 three days from the time that Cape Henry faded 
 from our view, the joyful cry, "Land O!" 
 sounded from the masthead. Oh, the excite- 
 ment, the joy, the curiosity ! But it was not un- 
 til next day that we entered the beautiful harbor 
 of Freetown, Sierra Leone. 
 
 Of the origin and wonderful history of this 
 place, so much has been written that it will be a 
 needless repetition for me to add anything. I had 
 intended to take the West African mail steamer 
 here for Lagos, Bight of Benin, but our captain 
 refused to pay port dues and was compelled to 
 discharge his cargo outside. This stubbornness on 
 his part compelled me to remain on our vessel 
 until she arrived at Cape Palmas, two months 
 later. When I saw the beautiful mail steamer 
 
 come in and then go out without me, I realized 
 10
 
 Along the Coast 
 
 then, if I had never done so before, that patience 
 is a great virtue and withal a difficult. 
 
 One week of the time we were beating along 
 the Liberian coast, was passed at Cape Mount 
 and three weeks at Monrovia, the capital. 
 
 The surf at Cape Mount is very bad and the 
 excitement of landing in it, helped to make the 
 week's delay less tedious. After waiting until a 
 certain number of rollers had passed, the half- 
 naked Grebo canoemen would rush the canoe in 
 on top of a big roller and beach it. So soon as 
 the prow struck the sand, they would leap into 
 the water and, snatching up all the whites, bear 
 them safely out of the way of the pursuing, roar- 
 ing breakers. The ladies of our party stood the 
 ordeal very well, but this rude method of landing 
 had led to the death of one young woman previ- 
 ous to our arrival. Not being properly instructed, 
 she thought the native who caught her up so 
 suddenly was going to kidnap her. She was so 
 frightened that she never recovered from the 
 shock. 
 
 Our stay at Cape Mount was also enlivened by 
 some good fishing in which we caught a large, 
 white shark and some very large and quite savory 
 fish called "Red Horse." During our three 
 
 weeks' stay at Monrovia, we went ashore almost 
 11
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 every day and were most hospitably entertained 
 by the celebrities of Liberia, from president 
 down. Because of this and because a Liberian 
 gave his life for mine before I left Africa, I shall 
 always have a warm place in my heart for this 
 heroic little colony. With the thrilling expe- 
 riences of its early settlers, I suppose my readers 
 are familiar. One of the most remarkable special 
 providences of which I ever heard was the dream 
 of the Liberian woman which caused her to fire 
 the only cannon in the fort and thus saved the 
 last remnant of the colony from entire destruc- 
 tion. This incident seems to predict that the 
 Lord has yet a great work for the Liberians to do. 
 At Palmas, we were most charmingly enter- 
 tained by Rev. Mr. Hoffman and his wife at the 
 Episcopal Orphanage. I here had the pleasure of 
 meeting a near kinsman in the person of Bishop 
 Payne the head of the Episcopal Mission to the 
 Grebos or Kroos. These Kroos are one of the 
 most remarkable peoples on the globe. They 
 are distinguished from other natives by a broad, 
 blue streak extending from the top of the fore- 
 head to the end of the nose. I was informed 
 that this mark is put there by the mother and is 
 intended to be a pledge that they will die before 
 
 they will submit to slavery. During my residence 
 12
 
 Along the Coast 
 
 in Africa, I failed to meet any one who had ever 
 seen a Kroo slave. For a living, they follow the 
 sea only; and from their very infancy, they are 
 as much at home in the ocean as if it were their 
 native element. I have seen ebony tots form a 
 line along the beach and plunge head foremost 
 beneath a great roller. They would then appear 
 like black specks on the foaming water until it 
 scattered them, squirming and yelling, along the 
 sandy beach. After they are older they will dive 
 beneath a shark and stab it to death. They are 
 among the most skillful boatmen in Africa. Few 
 ships trading along the coast, can afford to do 
 without them, and there are few places of impor- 
 tance on the west coast where some of them are 
 not temporarily settled, though all return to 
 Palmas periodically. 
 
 The Kroos live almost entirely on rice, and the 
 quantity they can eat at a single sitting, is quite 
 incredible. I once saw a party take breakfast 
 and I shall never forget the incident. Several 
 Kroos formed a circle around a vessel full of 
 steaming hot rice. The leader put in his hand, 
 took a quantity, tossed it over and over until it 
 assumed the form of a ball about the size of a 
 baseball and then pitched it into his widely dis- 
 tended mouth. As he was swallowing the mass, 
 13
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 he gave his body a snake-like squirm so as to 
 leave as much space as possible for more to fol- 
 low. All the others of the party followed the 
 example of their leader, going round and round 
 with clock-like regularity until the rice was all 
 gone. By this time their stomachs were dis- 
 tended like those of cattle in early summer. I 
 met among the Kroos, the only leper I ever saw, 
 and before I knew that he was a victim of this 
 dread disease, I shook hands with him. Several 
 of his toes and fingers had already dropped off. 
 My feelings until I was assured that the disease 
 was not contagious, may be imagined. 
 
 Ten days after going aboard the mail steamer 
 at Palmas we cast anchor before Lagos, and from 
 our position saw, about a mile away across a 
 terrible bar, the thatched roofs of the town swel- 
 tering in a broiling tropical sun. In a few mo- 
 ments, immense red sharks, with backs as broad 
 as those of horses, began to appear around our 
 ship, and I was informed that the breakers on the 
 bar which we were about to cross in a small 
 boat, swarmed with these monsters and in- 
 stantly devoured all who fell into the water. 
 I could not help thinking of this while cross- 
 ing the bar a few hours later, even though 
 the boat was most skillfully handled by the 
 
 14
 
 Along the Coast 
 
 inevitable Kroo boys. It is quite impossible 
 for boatmen to show more dexterity than 
 these half-naked natives did on this occasion. 
 There were ten in all. One steered and another 
 sat in the prow to direct the rowers by gestures. 
 In the midst of the seething, hissing breakers, the 
 rowers frequently sat perfectly still with their 
 eyes fixed on the man in the prow. Then, at his 
 signal, they would dash forward again. If it had 
 not been the "dry season," we would have had 
 a much more dangerous time crossing this bar 
 and possibly, like hundreds before and since, 
 may have found a grave in the sharks. Even 
 now, it was very startling to see the great break- 
 ers suddenly start up before us and then, arching 
 their necks, come roaring at us like great monsters. 
 
 15
 
 II 
 
 UP THE OGUN 
 
 LAGOS is situated on an island of sandy for- 
 mation, its shores washed by the Ogun river, the 
 ocean, and a beautiful lagoon. This town, 
 under the dominion of a king named Kosoko 
 who was- supported by the Portuguese, was at 
 one time a stronghold of the slave trade; but it is 
 now a flourishing English colony. It is a tra- 
 dition among the natives of Lagos that when the 
 English conquered Kosoko, shells were seen 
 darting about the streets everywhere and hide- 
 ously shrieking, "Kos-so-ko! Kos-so-ko!" If 
 Kosoko believed this, it is not surprising that he 
 gave up the fight. For some years, Kosoko was 
 very active in his efforts to stir up some of the 
 native tribes to help him regain his throne and 
 revive the slave trade, and in one of the revolu- 
 tions caused by his intrigues I came near losing 
 my life. But I will say more of this later. 
 
 Our destination was the city of Ejahyay situ- 
 ated on the direct route to Rabba on the Niger. 
 The first part of the way we could go either by 
 land or by the river Ogun. We decided on the 
 
 16
 
 NATIVE CANOES AT LAGOS. 
 
 BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF ABEOKUTA.
 
 Up the Ogun 
 
 latter course, and hired a native canoe with two 
 canoemen and a young man to act as both in- 
 terpreter and messenger. The canoe had been 
 dug and burned out of a tree of immense size 
 and length and the middle part of it was wide 
 enough to receive our mattress spread out. Over 
 this we built a tent of mats made of strong sea 
 grass. (At this time strangers could travel from 
 the coast to the Niger with as much security as 
 they could in civilized lands. Slave wars had 
 ceased and the wild beasts of the country were 
 not feared on the roadways in the daytime.) 
 
 Early one morning, about a week after landing 
 in Lagos, we placed all our earthly possessions 
 in our canoe and, bidding adieu to the last ves- 
 tige of civilization, crossed the beautiful lagoon 
 and began our journey up the Ogun river. For 
 some time our daily experiences were much 
 alike. When night overtook us, we fastened our 
 canoe to the bank in some open place and then 
 waited until daylight returned before proceeding 
 on our way. On account of the heat, the mos- 
 quitoes and the novelty of our position, we did 
 not sleep very well. Furthermore we were sere- 
 naded by weird sounds coming from the dense 
 forests on the bank to which our canoe was tied, 
 
 although we heard nothing which made us think 
 17
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 we were in danger. At one place the canoemen 
 recognized the track of an elephant in the mud 
 on the bank, but we neither saw nor heard any- 
 thing that made us fear an attack from one of 
 these dangerous animals. The trees were im- 
 mense but the undergrowth and vines were so 
 rank that they often presented the appearance of 
 a solid wall of green. The fauna as well as the 
 flora of the country furnished us much diversion. 
 During the day the little monkeys would peep at 
 us from behind the leaves of overhanging limbs, 
 and in the evening they would assemble in hun- 
 dreds on the branches of some large dead tree 
 to pass the night. They are a favorite prey of 
 boa-constrictors, leopards, tiger cats and other 
 animals and they choose a dead tree that they 
 may see the approach of any enemy in the night. 
 It was really pitiful to hear them chattering while 
 they were arranging themselves in little groups 
 like timid children. Birds, large and small, in- 
 cluding flocks of parrots, were constantly flying 
 over us. 
 
 In the rainy season, the Ogun is a deep, wide 
 stream with a strong current, but it was now the 
 dry season and our canoe had to be dragged over 
 shallows in several places. Although this caused 
 
 some delay, it gave us a pleasant change, for we 
 18
 
 Up the Ogun 
 
 were much cramped in the canoe. We passed 
 several villages on the river, and native etiquette 
 'required that I should stop and salute the " head- 
 man " and make him a small present, and this 
 afforded us another opportunity for recreation. 
 My interpreter spoke "Pigeon English" and 
 when he wished to know if I understood him, 
 he would stop and say, "Yousabby?" But he 
 seemed to understand all that I said, although I 
 did not always understand him. There is an 
 abundance of fine fish in the river. Instead of 
 using seines, the natives catch the fish in baskets 
 or snares attached to ropes extending entirely 
 across the river. These ropes are made of a 
 native vine and often upset canoes, but, fortu- 
 nately, our canoe escaped collision with any of 
 them. 
 
 We came in sight of the mud walls of Abeo- 
 kuta late in the afternoon of the fifth day after 
 leaving Lagos, and landed at a small village about 
 a mile from the south gate of the city. For the 
 accommodation of myself and my wife, the 
 missionary of the American Baptist Mission, Mr. 
 Priest, had kindly provided two horses of pure 
 African breed. Mine was so small that my feet 
 nearly touched the ground and it was with great 
 difficulty, when I went down a steep place, that 
 
 19
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 I could keep from falling over his head on to 
 mine. But this equine pigmy carried me seven 
 miles with so much ease that at times he was 
 even unruly. His strength and endurance were 
 truly wonderful. We tarried in Abeokuta about 
 a week and were most hospitably and comfort- 
 ably entertained by Mr. Priest and his excellent 
 wife. 
 
 One bright morning, I ascended a lofty granite 
 boulder in the heart of the populous part of the 
 town and got a good view of the surrounding 
 country. What I saw disabused my mind of 
 many errors in regard to this part of Africa. The 
 city extends along the bank of the Ogun for 
 nearly six miles and has a population approximat- 
 ing 200,000 thousand souls. The view of the 
 surrounding country is very extended, and it is 
 both picturesque and beautiful, especially when 
 covered by dewdrops sparkling in the rising 
 sun. Spread out before the delighted eye as on 
 a great natural canvas, is everything needed to 
 complete a landscape. Here are the homestead, 
 the winding river, the browsing cattle, azure 
 hills, lofty trees and green, far-extending plains. 
 
 The outward condition of the people, who 
 were swarming in myriads below me, was as 
 
 great a revelation to me as the appearance of the 
 20
 
 Up the Ogun 
 
 country. Instead of being lazy, naked savages 
 living on the spontaneous productions of the 
 earth, they were (excepting the little children) 
 dressed with comparative decency and were in- 
 dustrious enough to provide everything that their 
 physical comfort required. The men are build- 
 ers, blacksmiths, iron-smelters, carpenters, cala- 
 bash-carvers, weavers, basket-makers, hat-mak- 
 ers, mat-makers, traders, barbers, tanners, tailors, 
 farmers and workers in leather and morocco, the 
 last named making saddles, shoes, sword and 
 knife scabbards, quivers, pouches, satchels and 
 bags of many sorts and sizes. The smelters re- 
 duce the iron ore and from it obtain a steel of 
 good quality. They make this into razors, 
 swords, knives, hoes, bill-hooks, axes, arrow- 
 heads, stirrups, tools for the carpenter and black- 
 smith, and other things needed in ordinary busi- 
 ness. The barber keeps a fine edge on his razors 
 by whetting them on his brawny arm. 
 
 The farmers constitute the most numerous and 
 important class. The "farms" of Abeokuta ex- 
 tend about fifteen miles around and beyond the 
 city walls. They are merely small clearings in 
 the tall grass and scrub growth of the country. 
 Every one can cultivate as much land as he pleases 
 
 and hold it as long as he cultivates it. Among 
 21
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the things grown are Indian corn, Guinea corn, 
 West India yams, two kinds of sweet potatoes, 
 cassada, rice, onions, beans, arrowroot, ochre, 
 peppers, ginger, peanuts, sugar cane, tobacco, 
 cotton, calabashes and many things peculiar to 
 the country. They have nearly every tropical 
 fruit found anywhere in the world, besides some 
 that are native. Among these are oranges, limes, 
 bananas, plantains, soursops, pawpaws, pine- 
 apples, guavas, mangoes, tamarinds, cocoanuts 
 and bread-fruit. The Badagary orange is prob- 
 ably the best in the world. The pineapples are 
 very large, fragrant and juicy. But among all 
 the fruits, my favorite was the delicious soursop. 
 The domestic animals are horses, cows, sheep, 
 goats, hogs and dogs. Donkeys, mules and 
 camels are found nearer the Niger. The African 
 elephant is never domesticated. A large number 
 of ducks, chickens, pigeons and guineas are 
 raised. This is the native country of the guinea 
 fowl and they are sometimes domesticated by the 
 people in such large numbers that the united 
 flock of a farm village have been known to cover 
 an acre of ground. Turkeys are rarely found. 
 The sheep are like those in the Temperate Zone 
 excepting that wool is replaced by hair. They 
 
 are very gentle and trot along with the dogs at 
 22
 
 Up the Ogun 
 
 the heels of their master as he goes out every 
 morning to the farm. Each one has a name but 
 does not respond except when the name is called 
 by its owner. 
 
 One of the most remarkable farm products is 
 a species of large calabash. These grow so large 
 that they are used as ferry boats in all the country 
 beyond Abeokuta. One never sees a canoe after 
 passing that town, going into the interior. When 
 the streams are made impassable by the rains, 
 travellers are carried over them in these large 
 calabashes, the passenger taking his seat in one 
 while the ferryman swims behind and pushes 
 him across. These calabash men affect to de- 
 spise canoemen and the name "agayen" (canoe- 
 man) is used as a term of reproach among 
 them. So easy is it to have fictitious standards 
 of honor! 
 
 The women are even more industrious than the 
 men. They have to support themselves and their 
 children and they most diligently follow the pur- 
 suits which custom has allotted to them. They 
 spin, weave, trade, cook, and dye cotton fabrics. 
 They also make soap, dyes, palm-oil, nut-oil, all 
 the native earthenware and many other things 
 used in the country. They can be found spin- 
 ning by the light of their little bowl-lamps until 
 
 23
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 late at night and before day in the morning. 
 They are indefatigable workers. 
 
 Rubber, ivory and cotton are important articles 
 of export. The last is perennial and has pods 
 in all stages of development during the growing 
 season and the fibre is of a very fine quality. 
 Elephants abound and are killed in large numbers 
 by professional hunters. But the great staple of 
 the country is palm-oil. Crests of palm trees dot 
 the country as far as the eye can see. Men only 
 can scale the lofty stems and gather the bunches 
 of beautiful nuts, but the oil is extracted by 
 women. One set of women separates the nuts 
 from their integuments, another boils them in 
 large earthen pots and still another crushes off the 
 fibre from the kernel nut in large mortars. The 
 crushed fibre is then placed in large clay vats 
 filled with water and the oil is pressed out by 
 trampling and rises to the surface. It is then 
 gathered and boiled to free it from any water 
 which may have adhered to it. No part of the 
 palm-nut is wasted. Lamp oil and soap grease 
 are made from the kernel of the nut and black- 
 smith's coal from the hull. The crushed fibre is 
 used for kindling. 
 
 24
 
 Ill 
 
 IN NATIVE HOMES 
 
 UNLESS we except the broad ways that lead 
 from the gates to the market places, there is 
 neither in Abeokuta nor in other native cities in 
 this part of Africa, anything that can be called a 
 street. By Europeans, the dwellings are called 
 "compounds." These are scattered about with- 
 out reference to any particular plan and the lanes 
 between them are always crooked and generally 
 narrow. A "compound "is an enclosed space 
 (generally in the form of a square) bounded by a 
 mud wall about seven feet high. There is but 
 one entrance to this enclosed space. At night or 
 in times of danger, this is closed by strong double 
 doors well barred. Inside, against this wall, the 
 rooms of the house are built. These rooms are 
 square and are covered by a thatched roof, which 
 rests on the wall on the outside and on posts on 
 the inside so as to give a covering for a piazza. 
 extending all around the enclosed space on the 
 inside. In this piazza the inmates mostly live, 
 the rooms being chiefly used for dormitories or 
 
 25
 
 In Atric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 for storage. Underneath the roof and on top of 
 the ceiling, they store such products of the farm 
 as need curing before using. This ceiling is 
 made of palm poles covered with grass mats 
 which in turn are covered with a thick coating of 
 earth. For this reason a fire often sweeps away 
 the roofs of the dwellings of the people without 
 destroying their homes. 1 After a big fire the 
 people go out to the farms, get a supply of poles, 
 grass, reeds and vines, and in a few days every- 
 thing is as before. They frequently lose what 
 was stored on the ceilings under the roofs. When 
 the only entrance to the compound is closed, 
 there is no way of entering it except over the 
 roof, and the court of the compound or the en- 
 closed central space is therefore very secure 
 against thieves and beasts of prey prowling 
 about at night. It is for this reason little better 
 than a barnyard. A pigeon cote frequently 
 stands in the centre, while sheep, goats, chick- 
 ens, pigs and dogs run about everywhere, trying 
 the patience of the women who are cooking and 
 attending to other household duties. The horses 
 are tied to posts placed in convenient places. 
 Cows have a compound for their special use and 
 
 1 In February, 1897, both Ebaddan and Awyaw, two large cities of Yoruba, 
 Were burned over without interfering with business. 
 26
 
 In Native Homes 
 
 are never found inside of the ordinary human 
 dwelling. 
 
 The average compound contains several dwell- 
 ings occupied by as many separate families, but 
 everybody in it is subject to the authority of one 
 man who is called the bale (pronounced barley). 
 This man is held responsible under native law for 
 the conduct of every inmate of his compound 
 and his authority is commensurate with this re- 
 sponsibility. Native etiquette requires that any 
 one on entering a compound shall first salute the 
 bale and make known to him alone the object of 
 his visit. The bale is willing to bear all this re- 
 sponsibility for the sake of the honor, though 
 men holding this position sometimes lose their 
 heads for not keeping those under their authority 
 in order. 
 
 The compounds of. the chiefs are very large, 
 sometimes covering several acres of ground. In 
 such cases they are a perfect labyrinth of dwell- 
 ings. If a stranger were put down in the centre 
 of one of this kind, he would probably wander 
 about for hours through little courts and passages 
 before finding his way out. Away back in these 
 recesses, surrounded by the most trusty of their 
 wives and retainers, the chiefs pass their leisure 
 hours; but they will always come out to see 
 
 27
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 any important visitor, especially an "oyinbo" or 
 white man. For some reason they greatly fear 
 assassination and by sleeping in a different place 
 every night in the midst of the intricacies of their 
 dwellings, they make it impossible for any one 
 but those they can trust to know where they may 
 be found during the night. 
 
 The walls of the compounds are built of a kind 
 of solid adobe and, when securely thatched, will 
 endure indefinitely. The mission house was 
 built of this material. Each layer of stiff clay is 
 allowed to harden in the sun before another is 
 placed upon it. If it is desired, the walls may in 
 this way be carried up two stories. In the mis- 
 sion-house the walls had been made very smooth 
 on the inside and then plastered with a kind of 
 fine, blue clay. This had been so skillfully 
 whitewashed with lime made from oyster shells 
 brought up from the coast, that a stranger would 
 never suspect the coarse material underneath. 
 The doors, window-frames and sashes, ceilings, 
 flooring and some of the furniture of this house, 
 had been made of a beautiful wood called "roko," 
 very hard and capable of a high polish. It was 
 sawn in "pits" in the forest by the Liberian and 
 Sierra Leone carpenters with the assistance of the 
 natives. 
 
 28
 
 In Native Homes 
 
 Though the central court of an average com- 
 pound is used as a kind of barnyard, it is kept in 
 a comparatively decent condition. The poultry 
 destroy what they can eat, the sheep and goats 
 assist them as scavengers as far as they can, and 
 the pigs and the dogs finish up most that is left. 
 In front of the piazza, also, all around the court, 
 the ground is frequently swept by those who 
 live in that part of the house. The natives are 
 very far from being untidy either in personal 
 habits or in dress. They bathe once and some- 
 times twice a day, and their clothes are reason- 
 ably clean. 
 
 The main articles of dress worn by the males 
 are a kind of loose trousers called shocoto, a cloth 
 worn like a Highlander's plaid and a brimless 
 cloth cap. Ordinarily they are barefooted, but 
 when walking on journeys they wear sandals, 
 and when riding they protect their feet with a 
 loose morocco shoe or with European boots. 
 When not engaged in manual labor, the men 
 also wear a sleeveless vest under their shoulder- 
 cloth. The shocoto is girt about the waist and 
 extends to the knees and sometimes to the 
 ankles. In the place of this, young men some- 
 times wear a garment exactly like a Highlander's 
 kilt. Mussulmans always wear a turban. Among 
 
 29
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the prosperous a tobe, a loose robe, generally of 
 white material, takes the place of the shoulder- 
 cloth. This garment is gracefully worn and is 
 often very beautifully embroidered. Cotton is 
 the material out of which the clothing of the 
 masses is made; but on state occasions, the 
 rulers and rich men appear in garments of silk 
 and silk-velvet. Through foreign merchants, 
 these men obtain from Europe whatever they 
 fancy, especially costly cloths and choice liquors. 
 Woolly heads are never seen among the men, 
 who shave not only the face, but also the head 
 and even the eyebrows and nostrils. Some leave 
 a strip of hair from the forehead over the head 
 to the back of the neck. Others leave little 
 patches as marks of devotion to some particular 
 deity, but such patches are concealed by the 
 tight-fitting cloth cap or the turban. After a man 
 has made a visit to a barber shop, his head and 
 his face shine alike and, if he should have on a 
 spotless tobe and turban, he makes quite a pre- 
 sentable appearance. Their tribal and family 
 marks, however, often are so deep and numer- 
 ous that they greatly disfigure faces that would 
 have been otherwise good looking. These tell- 
 tale marks on the face make it quite impossible 
 for strangers to conceal their identity and slaves 
 
 30
 
 BABY'S CRADLE. 
 
 AT BREAKFAST.
 
 In Native Homes 
 
 rarely escape to the interior on that account. 
 The fugitive is compelled to follow the roads 
 leading through the towns and the gate keepers 
 recognize them by their face marks and their 
 scanty outfit, and they are captured and returned 
 to their masters. For this reason also fugitives 
 from justice rarely escape. Gate keepers are 
 thoroughly posted in this kind of lore and they 
 know the nationality of every one passing 
 through their gates. 
 
 The female toilet is better suited to conven- 
 ience than to display. It consists of one or more 
 cloths fastened around the waist, one thrown 
 over the shoulders, and a turban, all of the same 
 material, generally cotton cloth. Except in cold 
 weather, the shoulder cloth is passed around the 
 body just under the armpits and securely tucked 
 on one side or the other. The cloths around the 
 waist extend to the knee on one side and to the 
 ankle on the other and are skillfully tucked over 
 the hip. One of the cloths around the waist is 
 used for the baby's hammock or basket, and 
 here it laughs, coos and sleeps as happy as can 
 be, suspended from its mother's back or riding 
 on her hip with her loving arm for a support. 
 
 Both sexes blacken the margin of the eyelids 
 with pulverized sulphuret of antimony, and the 
 
 31
 
 In Afnc's Forest and Jungle 
 
 women dye their finger nails, their feet and the 
 palms of their hands with pulverized camwood. 
 When about to take part in some sacrifice, they 
 frequently give the entire person a pinkish tinge. 
 Beads, nose-jewels, and bracelets of gold, silver, 
 brass and carved ivory are the principal jewels of 
 the women. The rings are often worn on the 
 ankles as well as the arms. Men also wear neck- 
 laces of coral and bracelets of metal. Tattooing 
 in blue is practiced to a limited extent and is so 
 well done that it resembles a covering of figured 
 cloth. 
 
 The limbs of the young of both sexes are well- 
 proportioned and the hands and feet of the 
 young girls are often perfect models. Their step 
 also is so easy and graceful that they walk along 
 chatting merrily with each other without once 
 touching the jars of water that they carry on 
 their heads. All take excellent care of their 
 teeth, using the chewed end of certain roots for 
 cleansing them. This is done every morning 
 before breakfast. 
 
 One staple article of food is ekhaw, a prepara- 
 tion of Indian corn or maize. After the grain 
 has been macerated until it ferments, it is crushed 
 between two stones and then washed to sepa- 
 rate the husks. The milky liquid is then boiled 
 
 32
 
 In Native Homes 
 
 in large pots until it becomes a little thicker than 
 rich cream. In this form a large spoonful is 
 wrapped in a portion of a banana leaf and when 
 it cools, it becomes a jeiiy-like substance having 
 a slightly acid taste much liked by the people of 
 the country and by everybody else who remains 
 in the country several years. From four to six 
 of these are taken at each meal with a few 
 spoonfuls of a sauce to be hereafter described. 
 When travelling or engaged in manual labor, the 
 natives make a hasty and refreshing luncheon of 
 this cold ekkaw by breaking it up in cold 
 water. Ekkaw is cooked under the shade of the 
 trees in the streets and the market-places as well 
 as in the houses, in the early morning and late in 
 the afternoon; and before it is put into leaves, 
 much of it is sold to people passing as a hot, re- 
 freshing drink. A small quantity is mixed with 
 hot water in a calabash and in this form it is a 
 kind of sour gruel and very anti-febrile and 
 wholesome. I was exceedingly fond of it, es- 
 pecially when I was feverish and thirsty. At 
 such times my appetite much preferred it to acid 
 fruits such as oranges and limes. The same was 
 true of my wife. 
 
 Another staple article of diet is the West India 
 yam. Only one grows from each vine (which 
 
 33
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 greatly resembles a bramble briar) but the farm- 
 ers raise great numbers of them, from one to 
 two feet long each. It is cooked by steam and is 
 very white, sweet and mealy. In cooking it, a 
 number of yams are cut up and placed in a very 
 large earthen pot containing a small quantity of 
 water and another pot of the same size is in- 
 verted and placed on top of the first and the joint 
 is sealed with clay. The water is then converted 
 into steam, and this cooks the yams. The na- 
 tive women seem to know by intuition exactly 
 when to take off the upper vessel and let the 
 yams dry off. Old, well-cured yams are a very 
 delicious and nourishing article of food, whether 
 eaten cold or hot. It is more expensive than 
 ekkaw, especially in the form of cyan. This is 
 made by pounding the yam in a mortar with a 
 large, heavy pestle until, by adding a little water 
 occasionally, it is converted into a stiff, puffy 
 paste. In this form it is always eaten with the 
 native sauce. In its simple form it is eaten in 
 any manner. It is an excellent substitute for 
 bread, and for this reason is an indispensable dish 
 at a foreigner's table. A piece of sweet, mealy 
 yam eaten cold is also a most palatable luncheon 
 when one is on the road. 
 Dried cassada made into flour and then cooked 
 
 34
 
 In Native Homes 
 
 until it becomes a stiff paste, is another favorite 
 accompaniment of the inevitable native sauce. 
 This sauce is a concoction of palm-oil, flesh of 
 some kind, ochre, esculent herbs and the ground 
 seed of a native melon. " Palaver sauce " is the 
 name by which it is known among the Sierra 
 Leone people and other foreigners because it is 
 generally eaten in token of friendship after the 
 natives have settled any difficulty; but the na- 
 tives call it orbeh. It is made in both cheap and 
 expensive forms. Poor people have no flesh and 
 very little palm-oil in theirs. An ingredient 
 called ogere, which has the disgusting odor of 
 tainted meat, is frequently added by epicures. 
 
 Two very agreeable dishes are balls of corn- 
 meal dough, seasoned with peppers and fried in 
 palm-oil, and beans stewed in this oil and highly 
 seasoned in the same way. These peppers are 
 very small and are anti-febrile. The juice which 
 flows from incisions made in the palm tree is 
 very extensively used as a beverage. It resembles 
 cider in flavor and is not intoxicating until several 
 days old. They also brew a weak beer from Indian 
 and Guinea corn. Wild bees' honey and a kind of 
 taffy made from the juice of the sugar cane, are the 
 only native sweets exposed in the markets. The 
 
 children like to chew the cane and suck the juice, 
 35
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 and they evidently enjoy this as much as children 
 in more favored lands enjoy the choicest confec- 
 tions. Excepting very small children, everybody, 
 both male and female, carries a small quantity of 
 snuff made from the black Brazilian roll tobacco ; 
 but they put this snuff on their tongues, instead of 
 using it in the ordinary way. It is ground with a 
 small quantity of benin-seed and with lubi, an 
 impure carbonate of soda found in the country.
 
 IV 
 
 THE STORY OF CROWTHER 
 
 WHILE these people are not in need of our 
 sympathy on account of their physical condition, 
 the miseries which are the natural fruit of gross 
 spiritual darkness poison all their temporal bless- 
 ings ; and their wretchedness should excite in the 
 heart of every true Christian, feelings of the liveliest 
 compassion. They are the tortured slaves of 
 superstitions which destroy everything like peace 
 of mind, and they know nothing of that happi- 
 ness that is found in every place worthy of the 
 name of a Christian home. In this life they are 
 in constant dread of the unseen power of malig- 
 nant spirits; and in death, not a single ray of 
 hope disperses the gloom of the grave: they 
 seem to pass away in sullen, speechless despair. 
 In religious things, their minds are a desert, a 
 wilderness. But of this I shall say more in an- 
 other part of my story. 
 
 A number of missionaries, both English and 
 American had labored for years in Abeokuta be- 
 fore I saw the place and their faithful efforts to 
 lift up the people had been crowned with reason- 
 
 37
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 able success. The history of the city of Abeo- 
 kuta and the way in which this missionary 
 work was begun, is quite wonderful. This town 
 belongs to the Egbar tribe. Some refugees of the 
 slave wars who belonged to this tribe sought 
 shelter and safety under the large rock which I 
 have already mentioned as standing in the centre 
 of the city. Hence the city was named Abeokuta 
 (under a rock). Other similar unfortunates con- 
 tinued to be added until they represented the 
 remnants of 1 10 large towns of the Egbar tribe. 
 The city continued to grow so rapidly that the 
 outer walls at the time of my visit, were thirty 
 miles in length and it had become the greatest 
 political and military power in that part of Africa. 
 Among those who had been captured and sold 
 to the Portuguese by the slave-hunters was a cer- 
 tain little boy. On the night that he was taken 
 prisoner, his father was killed and he had seized 
 his bow and quiver and fought in his place until 
 overpowered. When taken on board a Portu- 
 guese slave-ship with other captives of his peo- 
 ple, they were told by the captain that the Eng- 
 lish had ships out looking for black people to eat, 
 and that whenever a ship was in sight, they 
 must run below. The little fellow believed all 
 this and one day when he and those of his com- 
 
 38
 
 The Story of Crowther 
 
 panions who were allowed to stay on deck saw 
 a ship coming in sight, they ran below, frightened 
 nearly out of their wits. This ship proved to be 
 an English man-of-war, and when the captain of 
 it came aboard the slaver and carried away every- 
 body to his own ship, this little boy gave himself 
 up for lost. When he saw large pieces of meat 
 hanging from the yard-arms of the Englishman's 
 ship and piles of cannon balls on the deck, his 
 terror knew no bounds ; for he thought that the 
 balls were the heads of little darkeys like himself, 
 and that their meat had been hung up to cool be- 
 fore being eaten. After his mind was disabused 
 of this frightful impression and he found out that 
 he was among friends instead of white cannibals, 
 he is said to have cut some rare "capers." As 
 he was a wild, little heathen, this was not sur- 
 prising. One day he saw the captain of the 
 Portuguese slaver sitting on deck. Slipping up 
 slyly behind him, he gave the unsuspecting pirate 
 a sharp rap on his cheek with the palm of his 
 open hand. We may imagine the rage of the 
 man at such an insult from such a source, but be- 
 fore he could resent it, his little monkey-like tor- 
 mentor had disappeared below deck. 
 
 Soon this little African pagan was taken to Sierra 
 Leone, named Samuel Crowther, and was edu- 
 
 39
 
 In Afrlc's Forest and Jungle 
 
 cated first in the government schools at Sierra 
 Leone. After visiting England, he became not 
 only a well educated but a pious man. On ac- 
 count of his piety, ability and missionary zeal he 
 rose to be a missionary bishop of the Church of 
 England, and he had so many stations under his 
 care that a steamer was placed at his disposal to 
 facilitate his work. Before leaving Africa, I be- 
 came well acquainted with him and learned to 
 love and venerate him very sincerely; for he 
 was gentle, humble and sympathetic, and was 
 a great comfort to me in a time of deep dis- 
 tress. 
 
 The story of the wonderful rise of Abeokuta, 
 fired his young heart to carry the gospel back to 
 his people ; for he was an Egbar and the whole tribe 
 then dwelt within its walls. Accompanied by sev- 
 eral others, after many difficulties and perils, he 
 succeeded in reaching Abeokuta. Among the first 
 fruits of his missionary labors in this town was 
 the conversion of his mother and sister. After 
 laboring here several years, during which time 
 he translated most of the Bible, he was allowed 
 to extend his labors along the coast and far up 
 the Niger Valley. His translations of Scriptures 
 have been of inestimable value to missionaries in 
 this part of Africa, and all of them esteemed it a 
 
 40
 
 The Story of Crowther 
 
 privilege to make his acquaintance. Notwith- 
 standing the great change in his circumstances, 
 he was not ashamed of his jet black face nor 
 the tribal marks there which showed his pagan 
 origin. He once laughingly told of an adven- 
 ture he had in England when dining with some 
 dignitary. Feeling something soft touch his 
 hand, he turned to find a little girl trying to rub 
 off the smut. 
 
 Before leaving Abeokuta, I had the pleasure of 
 meeting Rev. Mr. King, a Sierra Leone mis- 
 sionary and a colaborer with Bishop Crowther in 
 the work of preaching and translating. He was 
 a very humble and devout man and well worthy 
 to be named in connection with Crowther. 
 
 But not all the Sierra Leone emigrants were 
 desirable citizens. Some of them had evidently 
 left their country for their country's good. One 
 of the latter class it was my misfortune to secure 
 as an interpreter, after sending back the one who 
 came up the river with me. He was so dis- 
 honest and untruthful that I had to dismiss him 
 after one month's trial. His successor, another 
 Sierra Leone man, proved to be very trust- 
 worthy and remained with me as long as I 
 needed his services. 
 
 In Abeokuta, I had to provide myself with 
 41
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 native currency. This is a small shell (cyproea 
 moneta) called cowry by the Sierra Leone people. 
 Its divisions were cowries, strings, heads and 
 bags. Forty cowries make a string, fifty strings 
 make a head and twenty heads a bag. A bag or 
 twenty thousand cowries cost me five dollars in 
 American money. This was a bushel of native 
 money for five dollars in American money. 
 Near the coast, as at Abeokuta, the silver 
 coin was used to purchase foreign goods; but 
 in the interior it was used in the manufacture 
 of jewelry. The purchasing power of the cow- 
 ries increases as the distance from the coast in- 
 creases, for they are introduced at seaport towns. 
 A ship would bring in a cargo of the shells from 
 some coast on which they abounded and exchange 
 them for native produce for the foreign market. It 
 required a large room to hold the money needed 
 to build a house and while building, it took 
 almost the entire time of one person to count out 
 the money every day and have it ready to pay 
 the workman when night came. The cowries 
 paid to an able-bodied man for a day's work, 
 cost about five cents in American currency. The 
 only thing that can be said in favor of such a 
 medium of exchange is that it cannot be counter- 
 feited. 
 
 42
 
 The Story of Crowther 
 
 All these things about the people and their 
 circumstances I have mentioned here because the 
 knowledge of them will be needed in order to 
 understand other parts of my story. 
 
 43
 
 IN A NATIVE CARAVAN. 
 
 To prepare for the journey to Ejahyay, where I 
 was to be stationed, it was necessary to obtain 
 carriers for our luggage, a hammock and carriers 
 for my wife, and a horse for myself. My kind 
 host lent me a horse and his wife lent my wife 
 her hammock, so there was nothing for me to do 
 but to get the necessary carriers. Of these, I 
 needed one for every sixty or seventy pounds of 
 baggage , and four for my wife, the couples reliev- 
 ing each other every eight or ten miles. 
 
 Securing carriers is one of the disagreeable 
 things connected with travelling in this part of 
 Africa. They always begin by asking much 
 more than they are willing to take and, if one is 
 not well acquainted with the customary charge, 
 he will be swindled at every point. Fortunately 
 for me, Rev. A. D. Phillips, at whose mission- 
 house I had arranged to stay while I was stop- 
 ping in Ejahyay, was then in Abeokuta, and was 
 going back to his home with us. Being familiar 
 with the customs of the people, he consented to 
 
 engage the carriers for me. All I had to do was 
 44
 
 In a Native Caravan 
 
 to observe and learn. The interpreter was sent 
 out to the principal market-place to notify pro- 
 fessional carriers that I wanted to go to Ejahyay. 
 The next day many people, both men and women, 
 came to see about it. Those needed for the ham- 
 mock were soon engaged, but when it came to 
 the loads, the trouble began. Provisions, bedding, 
 clothing, cooking utensils, household articles and 
 such things, had been carefully divided up into 
 packages of the usual weight ; but when those who 
 had come to offer their services lifted the packages 
 they put them down with looks of affected dis- 
 satisfaction and, declaring that they were too 
 heavy for the ordinary charge, demanded about 
 double that sum. This being refused, they all 
 left. In a short time the exact number we 
 needed returned and through their spokesman or 
 "head carrier," abated their demands a little. 
 This being refused, they again left in a body. 
 This time, however, they had hardly gotten out 
 of sight before they returned and, finding that 
 they were dealing with an agbalagba (man of 
 experience), they came to terms. 
 
 Everything being settled, the carriers quickly 
 and easily swung the loads to little cushions on 
 their heads and trotted off in single file at a kind 
 of shuffling "double quick," the head carrier 
 
 45
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 bringing up in the rear of his company. I next 
 started the carriers with my wife's hammock and 
 then followed on my pony. For several miles 
 the carriers continued their trot and I found it 
 difficult to keep up with them ; but when the sun 
 began to get hot they quieted down. We 
 rested several hours during the hottest part of each 
 day and made up the time by travelling early in 
 the morning and late in the afternoon. So soon 
 as we could see well, we started and then 
 stopped for breakfast about eight o'clock. We 
 then resumed our journey until noon. Resting 
 until three o'clock we travelled until darkness 
 made it unsafe. In this way we managed to en- 
 dure the intolerable rays of the tropical sun, 
 which seemed to pierce the thick covering of our 
 white umbrellas like points of steel. 
 
 We passed the nights in the thatched mud 
 huts of wayside villages temporarily established 
 for purposes of trade with passing caravans. We 
 met several of these caravans composed of hun- 
 dreds of carriers of both sexes hurrying on to the 
 coast. Palm-oil in larger carboy-like calabashes, 
 and elephants' tusks, seemed to constitute the 
 chief articles of export from the interior. The 
 traders who were transporting these things, 
 could be distinguished from their carriers by their 
 
 46
 
 In a Native Caravan 
 
 turbans, their flowing tobes and by their long 
 brass-handled swords in morocco scabbards sus- 
 pended from their left shoulders by a large crim- 
 son cord with tasselled ends. While we were 
 resting at one of the stopping places, a caravan 
 going from the coast to the interior overtook and 
 passed us. Their loads consisted largely of kegs 
 of powder, boxes of trade muskets, salt, cloths 
 of different kinds, copper rods, and still more 
 largely of green boxes containing cheap rum. 
 The trade muskets had flint-locks and some were 
 the guns thrown away by European governments 
 when adopting superior weapons. The copper 
 rods were to be made into bullets so that 
 wounded men might die of poison if they were 
 not killed by the bullet itself. 
 
 It was then January, the dryest and hottest part 
 of the year, and we suffered much from heat and 
 thirst between the stopping places. Most of the 
 way led through high grass and bushes of 
 scrubby growth, but we were five hours passing 
 through one of the forests. The path was just 
 wide enough to allow my pony to pass between 
 the walls of dense, impenetrable undergrowth on 
 both sides. Sometimes he would get his feet 
 entangled in a vine and nearly fall. We heard 
 
 few sounds except the braying of immense tou- 
 47
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 cans and the hoarse barking of large monkeys. 
 But it would have been dangerous to pass 
 through this forest in the night, for it contained 
 elephants, leopards, wild boars and other danger- 
 ous animals. Lions are further north. We passed 
 through the ruins of several large towns. These 
 had been destroyed during the slave wars. In a 
 distance of seventy miles in one part of this 
 journey from the coast to the interior, we passed 
 through the ruins of eighteen large towns de- 
 stroyed in slave hunting. 
 
 About ten miles from Ejahyay, which we 
 reached about noon of the third day after leaving 
 Abeokuta, the carriers, instigated by their head- 
 man, put down their loads and declared that they 
 were too heavy to be carried so far for the pay 
 agreed upon in Abeokuta and that they would 
 not carry them another step without additional 
 pay. Mr. Phillips understood their language per- 
 fectly, and he pretended to argue with them for a 
 while; then affecting great anger, he hurriedly 
 mounted his horse and proceeded on the way 
 telling us to follow him. I did so, wondering 
 what was to become of all my worldly goods. 
 At last I asked him to tell me. He laughed and 
 said that the carriers would be along presently 
 and get to Ejahyay before we did. Sure enough, 
 
 48
 
 In a Native Caravan 
 
 they presently came up with us and passed us 
 with a rush. He then explained that they were 
 all Ejahyay people who had taken loads to Abeo- 
 kuta. They were all mortally afraid of Kumee 
 their ruler and he had told them that their con- 
 duct would be reported to Kumee so soon as he 
 reached the city. He knew that this would 
 frighten them and that they would not let him 
 get to the city first. When we arrived at the 
 missionary's home we found them awaiting us in 
 the best of humors. We parted good friends and 
 Kumee never heard of their conduct. Their 
 danger arose from the fact that their ruler had 
 notified the people of Ejahyay that the white man 
 was under his special protection and that they 
 must treat him kindly. Just outside the gate we 
 had to cross a creek that is always past fording 
 in the rainy season ; but as it was the dry season, 
 my wife did not have to cross in the calabash 
 ferry. 
 
 There is nothing like a census among these 
 people, but judging from the number of males in 
 the city who were capable of bearing arms, the 
 population of Ejahyay at that time must have 
 been fully one hundred thousand. It was strongly 
 fortified not only by a ditch and adobe wall, but 
 by a belt of forest entirely encircling the place. 
 
 49
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 To get through this forest, one would have had 
 to cut his way foot by foot through large inter- 
 lacing vines and creepers. Since this forest 
 greatly added to the defences of the city, it was 
 a capital crime for any one to disturb it in any 
 way. Narrow ways led through it to the gates, 
 so that the houses were invisible to any one ap- 
 proaching except from some high position on the 
 outside. 
 
 One of the most notable things about this 
 town, was its only market-place. It was situated 
 in the centre of the town, was pleasantly shaded 
 by large, low, spreading trees, and included at 
 least twenty acres of ground. Here caravans 
 from the interior met those from the coast. The 
 former brought swords, sandal-wood, red fez 
 caps, silk yarn, otto of roses, paper, beads and 
 other things from interior and northern Africa. 
 Caravans from the coast brought cloths of many 
 kinds, cutlery, tin and earthen-wares, guns, gun- 
 powder, rum, tobacco, salt and other things of 
 foreign import. Here was found also, every 
 kind of native produce. A particular place was 
 appropriated for each class of goods so that those 
 who came to purchase anything knew exactly 
 where to look for it. Perfect order was preserved 
 by the governor of the market who was ap- 
 
 50
 
 In a Native Caravan 
 
 pointed by Kumee and represented his authority. 
 Three times a week, about twenty thousand or 
 more people assembled in this market-place to 
 buy and sell, or to have a good time generally. 
 Fast young men with a company of admiring 
 followers were displaying their fine new clothes 
 by going from place to place amidst the noisy 
 throng, and others were drinking and dancing 
 and firing guns. Under the shade of the trees 
 many others, generally the older men and 
 strangers sat and gossiped while they contem- 
 plated the stirring scene around them. When 
 night came, thousands of little lamps twinkled in 
 rows over the whole market. The number of 
 articles of native product may be imagined by 
 what I have already said about their farming and 
 manufacturing. Besides live poultry and the flesh 
 of domestic animals, the meat market contained 
 the flesh of many wild animals. In other parts 
 could be found the pelts of leopards, antelopes 
 and monkeys. Compared with people of colder 
 climates, the Africans eat little flesh in their ordi- 
 nary diet. Though they have every other kind 
 that could be desired, they are especially fond of 
 the flesh of a fat dog. When cooked in their 
 " palaver sauce" it is in great demand. 
 The traders from the interior were generally 
 
 51
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 Mussulmans, and they were so intolerant that 
 nothing but the fear of Kumee prevented them 
 from attacking missionaries while preaching in 
 the market-place. On one occasion, a Mussul- 
 man even drew his sword to cut a missionary. 
 Some of these traders had been as far as Stamboul, 
 Cairo and Bagdad and had caught the intolerant 
 spirit of the Turks. Converts to this faith were 
 quite numerous in this part of Africa and they 
 were rapidly increasing. I met with one of their 
 missionaries who was a Persian. He had not 
 seen his home since he was a young man, al- 
 though he was then old enough to have a mar- 
 ried son.
 
 VI 
 
 AN AFRICAN DESPOT. 
 
 THE character and history of Kumee, chief of 
 Ejahyay, were singularly remarkable. He had 
 been honored by the king of Yoruba with the 
 title Areh, and by this name only was he known 
 among his people, and by this name alone I 
 shall call him in future. He was haughty, des- 
 potic, ambitious and cruel, yet he was just such a 
 ruler as these people needed to keep them in 
 order; for he was also firm, just and reasonable 
 on most occasions. I never saw better order 
 anywhere than I saw in Ejahyay while Areh was 
 its ruler. But he was a bloody usurper. When 
 ne was a young man, he was a notorious free- 
 booter and slave hunter. With a number of fol- 
 lowers, who had attached themselves to his for- 
 tunes, he would go out from Ejahyay into some 
 distant province on predatory excursions. By 
 kidnapping in the farms and by plundering cara- 
 vans he became rich and powerful and the leader 
 of a party which favored his ambition to become 
 the ruler of the city. So one night, with a num- 
 ber of his most daring and reckless adherents, he 
 
 53
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 entered the chief's compound, slew him and all 
 who attempted to defend him, seized everything 
 that was his, and then proclaimed himself the 
 ruler of Ejahyay. Through the terror of his 
 name, all submitted to him, but many continued 
 to hate him in their hearts while pretending to be 
 very loyal. Sometimes, however, this dislike 
 would show itself very unexpectedly. One day, 
 I expressed concern on hearing that Areh was 
 very sick and asked my informant if he would 
 not be sorry if the chief should die. With a sly, 
 side glance at me, he placed the back of one 
 hand into the palm of the other and said in a low, 
 significant tone, " Be kawlaw bah koo, adieh ho 
 sookoon." (If the fox dies, the chickens will not 
 cry.) I found that I was talking to one of Areh's 
 secret enemies and immediately dropped a sub- 
 ject so dangerous. 
 
 The government of the kingdom of Yoruba, 
 of which Ejahyay formed a part, resembled that 
 prevailing in feudal times. The different towns 
 were allowed to do about as they pleased so long 
 as they acknowledged the suzerainty of the 
 king and rendered him military service when he 
 was attacked from without. The king of Yoruba, 
 therefore, thought it best to accept Areh as chief 
 of Ejahyay and he invited him to come with thf 
 
 54
 
 An African Despot 
 
 other governors when they came to pay the an- 
 nual tribute and render homage to their suzerain. 
 In this way Areh was established in his usurpa- 
 tion. He also grew rapidly in wealth and power 
 through the favorable situation of Ejahyay for 
 commerce. There were two routes from the in- 
 terior to the coast, one through Ebaddan, a large 
 city twenty miles to the south and another through 
 Ejahyay. In both of these towns caravans from 
 the coast met caravans from the interior and as 
 each caravan paid revenue at the gate which it 
 entered, there was double the revenue which 
 would have come from caravans passing through 
 only. By placing bands of armed men at differ- 
 ent points, Areh compelled all the caravans to 
 come to Ejahyay. In this way he obtained an 
 immense annual income. But he drew upon 
 himself the hatred of the Ebaddan people and of 
 other rival towns, and he would have been 
 crushed, if it had not been for a very remarkable 
 intervention of divine providence. The ruler of 
 Ebaddan had grown so rich through the slave 
 trade that his house was covered with cowries; 
 and he hired many adventurers to join him in an 
 attempt to destroy Ejahyay. He so completely 
 cut off all communication with the outside world 
 that Areh and his men were made desperate by 
 
 55
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 starva' ' m So, one night, they decided to attack 
 the Ebaddan camp and, if they could not break 
 it up, die fighting, as they preferred death in bat- 
 tle to starvation. When they came to the camp 
 of the enemy, it was not only deserted but it had 
 been abandoned in such haste that it was full of 
 provisions. These they seized and hurried back 
 into the walls of Ejahyay, thinking that an am- 
 bush had been laid for them. When day came, 
 it was found that the enemy had gone home for 
 good and the starving Ejahyay people were 
 abundantly supplied with provisions until they 
 got more. Why the Ebaddans fled, I have never 
 heard; but I have always supposed that they 
 came to capture slaves rather than to fight, and 
 when they found that they would have to face 
 men made desperate by hunger, and that too in 
 the darkness of the night, they decided that dis- 
 cretion was the better part of valor. 
 
 The king favored Ejahyay in this war, and 
 at its close bestowed upon its determined 
 ruler the title Areh. But Arch's increasing 
 power alarmed even the king himself and he en- 
 tered into a conspiracy to assassinate him when 
 he came up to the capital to pay his annual visit. 
 The plot failed however through Arch's vigilance 
 and daring. Having left his horse at the gate of 
 
 56
 
 An African Despot 
 
 the king's house and approaching the king with- 
 out any suspicion of treachery, he was attacked 
 from behind and found himself surrounded by 
 men with drawn swords. Drawing his own 
 sword or wresting one from the hand of one of 
 the assassins, he literally cut his way to his horse 
 and escaped. From that time to the time of my 
 arrival in Ejahyay, there was bitter enmity be- 
 tween the two, and both were making all pos- 
 sible preparations for any emergency. 
 
 As a ruler, Areh would endure no opposition 
 to his will. As a concession to the established 
 ideas of the people, he pretended to consult 
 twenty-four elders, but no one was ever known 
 to oppose him in a conference, and no one ever 
 lived to disobey him thrice. Ordinarily, execu- 
 tions were performed by a special officer, but 
 sometimes he would be in such a rage with the 
 offender that he would rise from the judgment 
 seat and strike off the head of the prostrate 
 wretch with his own hand. Much of this feroc- 
 ity was probably due to the fact that he was 
 compelled to rule by force, as the people natur- 
 ally did not venerate him as they would have done 
 a legitimate ruler. Areh was not incapable how- 
 ever of appreciating and rewarding excellencies 
 of character and nobility of conduct. On one occa- 
 
 57
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 sion while I was in Ejahyay, a young man had 
 been condemned to die for treason. When the 
 executioner advanced to strike off the head of 
 the criminal, his mother prostrated herself at the 
 feet of Areh and pleaded that he would kill her 
 and spare her boy. The tyrant was so much 
 moved that he lifted her up and said with real 
 feeling, " The son of such a mother will certainly 
 make a true man. I will not only pardon him 
 but he shall be, from this time, one of my most 
 trusted servants." This young man was then 
 assigned to some position in Areh's household, 
 and remained loyal as long as his master lived. 
 
 Areh had a summary way of dealing with 
 everybody. Possibly because he thought it 
 would promote trade, he greatly desired that 
 white men would live in his town. The mis- 
 sionary who preceded the one with whom I was 
 staying, had been halted (as were all caravans on 
 their way to Ebaddan) and compelled to come to 
 Ejahyay instead of going on farther into the in- 
 terior as he had intended; but while acting in 
 this arbitrary manner Areh had guaranteed per- 
 sonal protection to the missionary and to any 
 white men who might follow him. He would 
 not, however, guarantee protection from perse* 
 cution to native converts to the Christian faith, 
 
 58
 
 An African Despot 
 
 One of the female converts would not eat meat 
 sacrificed to idols nor let her little son do so, and 
 she was severely beaten by her husband for such 
 sacrilege. When the missionary appealed to 
 Areh to protect her for the sake of common jus- 
 tice, he simply asked, "Is she not the man's 
 wife ? " and then refused to give the subject 
 further attention. As he viewed the matter, to 
 interfere in such a case would be an unlawful 
 meddling with the husband's conjugal rights. 
 Again, when the family of an influential man 
 complained that their relative had given his son 
 to the missionary to be educated in the Christian 
 faith, Areh replied, "Is the boy not the man's 
 son ? " His ideas of justice thus worked both 
 ways. Though he gave the missionaries per- 
 mission to preach the gospel to the Yoruban peo- 
 ple, he would not listen to it himself. 
 
 Areh was a strange compound of childish 
 superstitions and practical good sense. Very fine 
 fish were sometimes caught in the brook flowing 
 by the town gate, and when a man was accident- 
 ally drowned in it, Areh declared that the brook 
 was angry because of the murder of its children, 
 and he threatened death to any one who caught 
 another out of it. That this superstition was 
 peculiar to himself was proved by the fact that 
 
 59
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the gate keeper who was one of Areh's slaves, 
 afterward took a fish from this brook and was not 
 betrayed by those who saw him do so. When 
 the missionary requested permission to fish in 
 this same brook, Areh replied that as long as the 
 natives did not fish in the brook, it could have no 
 controversy with him; and if the white man 
 wished to fish in the brook, he could do so, but 
 when he got himself into trouble with the angry 
 water, he must not call on him (Areh) for help. 
 
 Among the first things a foreigner is expected 
 to do on arriving at a town in this part of Africa 
 is to pay his respects to the chief ruler, and make 
 him a present as a token of friendship. We 
 paid our respects to Areh the third day after our 
 arrival in his domains; but before telling about 
 this visit, it might be well to give the reader some 
 idea of his wealth and domestic surroundings. 
 His "compound" was really a fortress and 
 covered about eleven acres of ground. He had 
 300 wives and 1,000 slaves. His steward or 
 manager of his domestic affairs was a slave only 
 in name, for he himself owned 300 slaves and 
 had a large domestic establishment of his own. 
 Within the vast labyrinth enclosed by the outer 
 walls of his compound, were stored away an un- 
 told amount of treasures of many kinds, such as 
 
 60
 
 An African Despot 
 
 guns, gunpowder, cowries, rich cloths, valuable 
 presents from foreigners and all sorts of provi- 
 sions. Much of the last was obtained from his 
 own farm worked by his own slaves, but the 
 most part came as a tax on farm produce. About 
 daybreak every morning the people began to 
 pour by myriads through the gates on their way 
 to the farms, and when they returned in the after- 
 noon during the gathering season, they carried 
 baskets on their heads filled with farm produce. 
 Two of Areh's officers stood on either side of 
 each gate and extracted a yam, an ear of corn, a 
 sweet potato or a small quantity of whatever the 
 basket contained. It took a large number of 
 slaves each day to transport what was obtained 
 in this way to Areh's storehouses. 
 
 The place for the reception of visitors to Areh 
 was a large space enclosed by a high wall which 
 was also used as a place of public assembly and 
 for the public trial and execution of criminals. 
 Our company consisted of Mr. Phillips, my 
 wife and myself with our necessary attend- 
 ants in the way of hostlers and interpreters. 
 We arrived at the gate of the court in a satis- 
 factory degree of state, but just here, while the 
 people standing there were gazing curiously at 
 us, the condition of things was suddenly much 
 
 61
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 modified. Mr. Phillip's horse, a tricky little 
 fellow, unexpectedly took it into his head to 
 "cut up." His reason for such conduct was 
 known only to himself. During this very inop- 
 portune performance the saddle girth broke and 
 the rider and his saddle both fell to the ground 
 in a pile. Some little girls standing near im- 
 mediately joined hands and commenced dancing, 
 keeping step to a song which humorously but 
 not insultingly described the scene. The manner 
 in which they threw the description into im- 
 promptu measure and then adapted it to a favorite 
 tune was really wonderful. 
 
 At last, we entered the gate and the rattle of a 
 drum on our left announced our arrival to Areh. 
 Through the sound of this drum the chief was 
 always informed of what was going on in the 
 front court of his rambling palace. These drum- 
 mers are trained to make their instruments talk 
 and when we entered the drum said quite dis- 
 tinctly, "Areh, oyinbo day," (Areh, the white 
 man has come). The piazza was about one hun- 
 dred yards from the gate, and before we had 
 reached it Areh, dressed rather plainly for a chief, 
 came through a low door and took his seat at 
 the usual place. A number of venerable men 
 were already there sitting on his left. We ad- 
 
 62
 
 An African Despot 
 
 vanced, saluted him through our interpreters, and 
 took our stations on his right. The chief was in 
 an excellent humor and chatted and joked with 
 us during the whole interview. Noticing that I 
 was holding my wife by the hand, he laughingly 
 exclaimed, "Why are you holding your wife's 
 hand ? I am not going to take her away from 
 you. Put her hand down." A general laugh 
 followed this sally and I blushingly released my 
 spouse's hand. We brought him a handsome 
 saddle but he took little notice of it in our pres- 
 ence. Mr. Phillips said that this was his usual 
 manner on receiving presents, but that he after- 
 ward inspected them in private with much in- 
 terest. After receiving a present from him, we 
 again saluted by saying, "Ahu! ahu!" and 
 then withdrew much entertained by our visit. 
 We did not shake hands with him as we did 
 with all other rulers we met, as, because of some 
 superstition, he never shook hands with any- 
 body. 
 
 63
 
 vn 
 
 OUR FIRST DWELLING 
 
 I SUPPOSE the reader would like to know some- 
 thing about our dwelling-house in Ejahyay, 
 which we shared with the missionary already 
 there. The walls were of solid adobe and were 
 in the form of an oblong square divided into 
 four compartments. One of these compartments 
 made the sitting and reception-room and the 
 others, the storeroom and two bedrooms. The 
 ceilings of these rooms were of dressed boards 
 of yellow roko wood. The whole was covered 
 by a roof of poles and reeds so bound together 
 by strong vines as to form a network for the 
 thatching of long, dried grass. All around the 
 house, the roof rested on posts so as to form a 
 wide piazza and let the air circulate freely be- 
 tween the lofty roof and the body of the house, 
 which was about eighty feet long, twenty feet 
 wide and ten feet high. In this way there was 
 a cushion of air above and all around which kept 
 out the external heat. The piazza had large 
 wooden shutters extending horizontally and rest- 
 ing on an adobe wall three feet high built be- 
 64
 
 Our First Dwelling 
 
 tween the posts all around the house. When 
 these shutters were closed at night the piazza 
 was as secure as the interior of the house, and 
 we could leave the windows of our sleeping 
 apartments open without fear and get the bene- 
 fit of the air circulating in the piazza and over 
 the body of the house. It was impossible for 
 man or for any dangerous beast to enter the 
 house without first forcing one of these shutters. 
 The house was furnished with everything nec- 
 essary to simple housekeeping and to reasonable 
 comfort. The bedsteads were of iron and had 
 high posts from which mosquito curtains were 
 suspended. Strong cloth fastened to the top 
 ends of the posts made a flat roof or tester to the 
 whole bed, thus protecting the sleeper from any- 
 thing falling from the ceiling at night. At each 
 end of the house were some small rooms as wide 
 as the piazza, used for a dispensatory ; a sleep- 
 ing-room for our servant; a study, and a room in 
 which we kept our drinking water. This last 
 had the ground for a floor and contained several 
 large water pots buried in the floor up to their 
 rim to keep the water cool. We did not drink 
 any water when not travelling until it had been 
 standing in these pots several days, because it 
 took that time for the vegetable matter to sink to 
 
 65
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the bottom. We further purified and cooled it 
 by first passing it through a filter and then put- 
 ting it into a Brazilian cooler. The natives of 
 this part of the continent are often afflicted with 
 the dreaded "Guinea worm," and as they in- 
 sisted that it enters the system with the drinking 
 water we concluded we could not be too careful. 
 
 The house was situated in a square of about an 
 acre of ground, enclosed by a wall seven feet 
 high. Two other walls connected the surround- 
 ing wall with either end of the house and divided 
 the whole enclosure into two parts, a front and 
 a rear. The latter was about half of the first and 
 contained our kitchen garden and our fruit trees. 
 Tomatoes and arrowroot were the principal 
 things grown in the garden except that a pine- 
 apple hedge extended partly around it. The to- 
 matoes grew so rapidly that the vines often meas- 
 ured fifteen or twenty feet, and would even 
 climb trees. Besides pineapples, the fruits were 
 oranges, limes, guavas, mangoes, soursops and 
 pawpaws. The last was the West India species 
 (Carica Papaya} and not only resembled a musk- 
 melon but was a very good substitute for it. 
 The fruits were all of a very superior quality, 
 especially the oranges. 
 
 The front yard was well sodded with Bermuda 
 
 66
 
 Our First Dwelling 
 
 grass, and was shaded by fig-nut trees. When 
 any one wants shade and grass here, it is neces- 
 sary only to scrape off the wild growth and then 
 place a small patch of the grass every ten feet 
 square and stick a limb of a fig-nut tree into the 
 ground at the desired distance. In one "rainy 
 season," there will be a good sod and a very 
 good shade. The fig-nut makes a most excellent 
 shade as it always puts on an entirely new coat 
 at the beginning of the hot " dry season." 
 
 It was arranged that my wife and self should 
 occupy one of the bedrooms, and that my wife 
 was to superintend the housekeeping whenever 
 she was well enough. In regard to board, all I 
 had to do was to put two bags of cowries into 
 the box every time Mr. Phillips put one. We 
 had brought with us two barrels of Baltimore 
 flour in hermetically-sealed tin boxes of twenty 
 pounds each. By this arrangement we could 
 use up what was open before it had time to fer- 
 ment. Our flour cost us in Ejahyay twenty dol- 
 lars per barrel ; but it was of excellent quality, 
 and we had the best "salt-rising" bread that I 
 ever ate anywhere. We had also brought along 
 with us plenty of sugar, tea, coffee and some 
 other luxuries; and as the market here afforded 
 everything else, we never suffered for anything. 
 
 67
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 We had a handmill which made excellent meal, 
 and as we had plenty of buttermilk, eggs and 
 lard, we had excellent " eggbread." All kinds 
 of flesh were very cheap. Fifteen cents worth 
 of cowries would buy a leg of mutton and five 
 cents worth, a fat fowl. We did not eat pork 
 often, but sometimes fattened a hog for its lard. 
 When I was well in time of peace, we did not 
 have occasion to buy much meat, for pheasants 
 and guinea fowls abounded in the farms. The 
 flesh of the wild guinea fowl is the most savory 
 I ever ate, not even excepting the pheasant.
 
 vni 
 
 SOME BEASTS AND INSECTS 
 
 IN one respect our compound was unfortu- 
 nately situated. The belt of dense forest that 
 surrounded the town was the home of many 
 wild animals including leopards, hyenas and 
 tiger cats. The house was located near a crum- 
 bling portion of the town wall and these animals 
 would enter the town at night and prowl about 
 our premises making it impossible for us to keep 
 any domestic animals excepting horses. It was 
 even dangerous for any one to walk about the 
 yard of a dark night after the people had left the 
 streets. In one corner of our front yard, we had 
 a small compound for the use of such natives as 
 were connected with the mission domestic estab- 
 lishment, and for a Liberian who was allowed 
 to have a sleeping place in our yard. Whenever 
 I had occasion to go out to this compound, I 
 thought it prudent to take some kind of weapon 
 in my hand. During our stay in Ejahyay, the 
 visits of these animals led to some exciting inci- 
 dents, but none were really serious. 
 
 Although my wife knew that they could not
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 get into the house, it was a long time before she 
 could listen with composure to the unearthly 
 howls of the large, "laughing" hyenas. To be 
 suddenly awakened by one of those long-drawn 
 demoniacal yells right under your window, is 
 enough to chill the blood of the stoutest-hearted. 
 But when we learned that they were the scaven- 
 gers of the town and that their visits were ac- 
 ceptable to the people, we did not molest them. 
 The dead bodies of bankrupts, mendicants and 
 babes in this country are not buried, but are 
 thrown out into the "bush" along the town 
 walls or into places reserved for refuse matter. 
 Such places would soon breed pestilence if it 
 were not for these noisy prowlers of the night. 
 They had been so accustomed to roam with im- 
 punity that they sometimes came moaning up to 
 our front gate before it was dark, but I did not 
 dare to shoot them lest it might offend the super- 
 stitious. I was informed that the most savage 
 among them never attacked in the daytime, and 
 that those which wandered about the streets 
 were not especially dangerous at any time. But 
 I doubt this, for at night the people were always 
 secure in their compounds and had no way of 
 knowing what they would do. Yet some of the 
 "old stagers" did seem to be partially domesti- 
 
 70
 
 Some Beasts and Insects 
 
 cated. One evening about dark, I saw a young 
 native man connected with the mission station 
 run toward one of these old hyenas that was 
 coming up a path leading from the wall to the 
 yard gate. Instead of showing fight, the beast 
 turned and shuffled back to the bushes along the 
 wall of the town. When I remonstrated with 
 him on account of such recklessness, he laugh- 
 ingly replied, "He is an old coward. He can't 
 even run. He goes just so," imitating the awk- 
 ward gait of the hyena. After they have been 
 tamed by familiarity with the sight of man, as in 
 this case, I suspect that the worst part of them is 
 their prolonged howl. 
 
 The leopard is strong, agile, stealthy and fero- 
 cious, and the natives are much afraid of it. One 
 night my hostler rushed into the house and told 
 me that a leopard had just sprung over the wall, 
 seized a kid near him, and then sprung back 
 again. He appeared to be frightened nearly out 
 of his wits. Another night one of the interpre- 
 ters fired on a leopard as he was carrying away a 
 goat, but the beast refused to give up his prey 
 and replied with an angry roar. My own nerves 
 were a little shaken up on one occasion. I was 
 sitting at the table in the reception-room writing. 
 Mr. Phillips had gone to a neighboring town, my 
 
 71
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 wife had retired for the night, and everything 
 about the house was so still that the slightest 
 sound was audible, when I distinctly heard the 
 rattling of claws on the floor of the back piazza. 
 But the window shutter, as well as the door, was 
 closed, and the animal could not get into the 
 room. Presently the door was shaken with con- 
 siderable violence. I sprang forward and held it 
 until all was quiet again, and then slightly opened 
 it to see what the creature was. The strong 
 odor told me and I instantly closed and locked it. 
 I tapped the alarm bell and called in my inter- 
 preter from the other side. He opened the door 
 while I stood ready with my gun; but though 
 we searched the entire back yard, we did not see 
 our visitor. He had thought best to retreat. I 
 found that one of the shutters of the back piazza 
 had been left open, and the beast had boldly en- 
 tered in search of prey. 
 
 Some adventures with smaller animals led to 
 much fun. About daybreak on one occasion, 
 we were startled by the loud report of a gun on 
 the premises. Mr. Phillips hastened out and 
 found the Liberian greatly frightened. He de- 
 clared that he had just seen the devil and, not 
 knowing him at the time, had fired on him. He 
 said that a long, black beast was up the tree 
 
 72
 
 Some Beasts and Insects 
 
 where his chickens were roosting, and that he 
 placed the muzzle of his gun within a few inches 
 of its body and fired. Instead of falling dead, it 
 hissed in a dreadful manner, then sprang over 
 his head and disappeared in the air. He had 
 given himself up for lost. When morning came, 
 however, he was overjoyed to find that the en- 
 tire charge had entered an intervening limb of 
 the tree, and his joy was as childish as his fears 
 had been. 
 
 Soon after this there was another adventure 
 with a small animal in which I was the victim. 
 When the weather was very hot we not only al- 
 lowed the shutters of the reception-room to re- 
 main open but even let down several of the shut- 
 ters of the piazza, sufficiently to allow a circula- 
 tion of air, but not enough to allow a leopard or 
 hyena to enter. Our bedroom adjoined the re- 
 ception-room, and one night I heard a noise as if 
 some animal was in there. The next night, I set 
 a steel trap and waited developments. About 
 midnight there was the sound of some heavy an- 
 imal entering, then the muffled click of the trap 
 and both animal and trap fell from the dining 
 table to the floor with a great clatter. This 
 waked my wife and, thinking it was a leopard, 
 she gave vent to her fears as her sex usually does.
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 I gave vent to mine by furiously ringing the 
 alarm bell. My interpreter and hostler quickly 
 responded, fearing that something dreadful was 
 the matter. I had closed the door leading to the 
 reception-room, but 1 could hear the beast snort- 
 ing, growling, and gnawing the trap. We were 
 much in need of volunteers to go on a scouting 
 expedition, but I didn't volunteer. I did not 
 come to Africa to investigate mysterious speci- 
 mens in natural history. After a council of war 
 in which I acted as commander-in-chief, it was 
 arranged that the interpreter should enter the 
 room armed with a long club which he had 
 brought with him, and that the hostler, who was 
 a mere boy, should hold a lighted candle for him. 
 Arrayed in my sleeping robe, I cautiously brought 
 up the rear. The beast had become still, and we 
 did not see him until, with a sniff and rush he 
 made at us from beneath the table. The inter- 
 preter struck it down and fastened it to the floor 
 with the club while it struggled to free itself, 
 growling and snorting terribly. The hostler was 
 seized with a panic and fled with the light and 
 closed the door behind him. I felt it to be my 
 duty to hurry up and bring him back(?) The 
 interpreter in the meantime was yelling for the 
 
 light and for help. My wife naturally supposed we 
 74
 
 Some Beasts and Insects 
 
 were a/1 in great peril and again screamed with 
 terror. Assuring her that we would protect her, 
 I rallied my demoralized forces (including my 
 own nerves) and went to the rescue of the inter- 
 preter. A few blows on the head laid out our 
 enemy and brought peace once more to our 
 household. It proved to be an animal that science 
 places in the family of porcupines. It was about 
 the size of a large opossum but was more like a 
 rat than anything I ever saw that was not a rat. 
 The Sierra Leone people call it "ground pig." 
 We roasted it whole and found it to be most ex- 
 cellent eating. 
 
 The most troublesome of all our nocturnal vis- 
 itors were the "driver" or "soldier" ants. They 
 are savage and bloodthirsty and their strong, 
 sharp nippers enable them easily to tear the flesh 
 of any object of attack. When they are on a 
 foraging expedition, they place themselves along 
 the outside of the living stream and rush fiercely 
 at any living thing, however large, that molests 
 the workers in their charge. When the line of 
 march crosses a path, the soldiers lock their feet 
 and nippers together and thus form a strong arch 
 under which the other ants march without being 
 seen. So long as they are not disturbed, one 
 
 can examine them at his leisure; but if the sol- 
 75
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 dier ants have reason to fear that the column is 
 in danger of attack, with head erect and nippers 
 wide open, they will rush at the supposed enemy 
 with utter fearlessness. For anything that has 
 nerves, retreat is then imperative. 
 
 Issuing from some den in the ground, these 
 creatures move in countless myriads, the column 
 being about an inch wide and seemingly endless. 
 When they reach a place where there is plenty of 
 prey, they break ranks and spread themselves 
 thickly over the ground as far as their numbers 
 will extend. Sometimes in " driving " they cover 
 an acre of ground or the inner walls of a large 
 house. They pursue their prey in darkness only 
 and quickly form a line when surprised by a 
 bright light. Their presence in a house may 
 always be known by the squealing of rats and 
 mice and the commotion among winged insects. 
 The driver ants are carnivorous and will devour 
 anything living that either cannot or will not flee 
 from them. If their victims would flee they 
 might save themselves, but they stop to fight and 
 are lost. A rat will stop to bite or scratch them 
 off and he kills a large number of them, but in 
 another moment the silly creature resembles a 
 black, quivering ball and surrenders to its fate. 
 The large, red-headed lizard which abounds here, 
 
 76
 
 Some Beasts and Insects 
 
 acts differently. It will flee in the night but in 
 the daytime it will cautiously approach a line 
 and rapidly gulp down several mouthfuls of the 
 ants before the guards discover what is going on. 
 When these rush at the robber, it will run away 
 apparently in great fear and after getting at a 
 safe distance, will stop and bob its head up and 
 down. 
 
 These ants had a den in the bushes about a 
 hundred yards from the mission house, and we 
 had many visits from them until I covered it with 
 grass and burned it out. We did not object to 
 having our premises cleaned out occasionally, but 
 it looked as if they were about to include us as 
 part of their prey. One night just after dark. I 
 heard a child connected with our native com- 
 pound give a piercing scream, and I immediately 
 snatched it up and brought it to the light. Its 
 neck appeared to be encircled by a large black 
 snake, but when I tried to tear it off, I found that 
 the thing was a mass of "driver" ants. After 
 rescuing the child, I had a lively time freeing my- 
 self. Another night I was waked by piercing 
 screams from my wife. I lighted a candle in- 
 stantly and found her sitting up in bed tearing 
 her hair like a maniac. Her neck was covered 
 
 with "drivers " and they had also gotten into her 
 
 77
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 hair. We had always kept the feet of our iron 
 bedstead surrounded by some sticky substance, 
 and in this way had generally escaped them 
 when they entered our room : but that night, a 
 part of our mosquito curtain had fallen to the 
 floor and they had run up on that. We looked 
 carefully to our mosquito curtains after that, and 
 whenever I heard the noises that attend their ar- 
 rival, I merely lighted a candle. In a few mo- 
 ments the walls were streaked with lines of 
 march as they hurried to get out of the light. I 
 made no attempt to destroy them until I found 
 them trying to get their " eyah " or " mother" un- 
 der our house. They showed amazing strength 
 and perseverance in guarding and transporting 
 this singular object. It would have been taken 
 for a large cigar only that it was covered all over 
 with small, thin scales. It is needless to say they 
 did not succeed in getting their "eyah "under 
 our house. I kept this natural curiosity for some- 
 time, but failed to bring it home with me. 
 
 In the large white ant of Africa, we had a more 
 intolerable pest than in the driver ant. The 
 Sierra Leone people call them "bugbugs." They 
 devour anything except metal, stone and the 
 hardest wood, and they do this in such an in- 
 sidious manner that the mischief is not even sus- 
 78
 
 Some Beasts and Insects 
 
 pected until the destruction of the object is ac- 
 complished. In the storeroom at Ejahyay there 
 were some trunks containing valuable cloths and 
 pelts. I frequently opened the door to see if they 
 were intact and found everything in apparently 
 good order. One day I opened one and found 
 that it contained nothing but earth. All the 
 others were in the same condition. They had 
 devoured hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. 
 They never come to the light but approach every- 
 thing through secret passages covered with earth. 
 The roof and woodwork of the first house oc- 
 cupied by Mr. Phillips were completely devoured 
 by them before he ever suspected their presence. 
 Having noticed some ridges of earth on the 
 walls, he opened them and found that they were 
 covered ways of the " bugbugs " leading from 
 the ground to the woodwork above. An ex- 
 amination disclosed the fact that the timbers of 
 the roof and the ceiling were mere shells full of 
 earth. The first strong wind would have brought 
 the whole fabric down on his head. Fortunately 
 there is a wood, called roko, too hard for this 
 voracious mite, and out of this the natives con- 
 struct the woodwork of their houses. Mission- 
 aries learn to follow their example but not until 
 they have paid dearly for the knowledge. Books, 
 
 79
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 furniture and clothing were destroyed before 
 their owners learned to place nothing which 
 these ants can devour so that they can approach 
 it under the canopy of earth. All wooden boxes 
 were made of roho. Provisions were generally 
 kept in tin. 
 
 80
 
 IX 
 
 LIFE AND LANGUAGE 
 
 AFTER our visit to Areh, we settled down to 
 the regular routine of domestic life. Ejahyay 
 being only a few degrees north of the equator, 
 the sun rises and sets about six o'clock all the 
 year round. We generally retired about nine, 
 rose about six and breakfasted about eight. 
 When we were well, we would frequently take 
 a ride or walk before breakfast, but before going 
 out or taking any kind of exercise, we would 
 drink a cup of coffee or cocoa or suck an orange. 
 After we learned to like hot ekkaw, we would 
 often drink a calabash of this instead of coffee. 
 We rarely braved the vertical rays of the sun in 
 the hot season. In the afternoon we would go 
 out between four and seven. While out, if on 
 horseback we rode about the town or took short 
 trips outside the walls ; if on foot, we went to 
 the market, strolled about the streets, or visited 
 the people in their houses. In these trips, we 
 had many amusing adventures. Since Areh had 
 given us such a cordial reception, we were safe 
 anywhere as long as we behaved ourselves and 
 
 we never felt afraid. Sometimes my wife would 
 81
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 mount her pony and, attended by the horseboy 
 alone, would ride about the town for an hour at 
 a time and then return surrounded by a crowd of 
 merry, rollicking children. 
 
 By showing the natives that we did not fear 
 them, we won their confidence and I think we 
 soon had some real friends among them. Among 
 these was Orgeh, a trusted officer of Areh, who 
 was famous both as a warrior and a hunter. He 
 showed his confidence in us by giving his 
 daughter to my wife to be instructed by her and 
 to be her waiting maid. Arch's chief messenger, 
 also, gave us a little son and a little daughter to 
 be educated. To these Areh added one of his 
 own children, a boy about eight or ten years 
 old, requesting us at the time to instruct him as 
 if he were the son of a white man. We did not 
 try to understand the enigmatical conduct of 
 these three men, but prayerfully tried to be 
 faithful to the trust which God in His providence 
 had committed to us. At night, we placed 
 these children in the care of the wife of one of 
 the interpreters. In the day, they went where 
 they pleased inside of the mission walls. They 
 were much entertainment for us, and Orgeh's 
 daughter was exceedingly useful to my wife. 
 
 From these children we learned the language, 
 
 82
 
 Life and Language 
 
 for they spoke it more plainly than the older 
 people did. In trying to learn their language and 
 to teach them ours, we sometimes had quite a 
 gay time. In the Yoruba language every word 
 terminates with a vowel sound, as, Jamesee in- 
 stead of James, Jacobu instead of Jacob, Jesu in- 
 stead of Jesus, and so on. We, in turn, had 
 much trouble in putting the accent on the right 
 syllable. One morning at breakfast, the children 
 were convulsed with laughter by my wife saying 
 that there was a horse in her cup of coffee. The 
 word for horse and the word for/y is the same, 
 excepting that the accent is on the first syllable 
 in one case, and on the second, in the other case. 
 This made a visiting missionary tell of one 
 incident in his experience. Soon after he com- 
 menced preaching without the aid of an in- 
 terpreter, a number of the converts came to 
 condole with him on account of his feeble 
 health. After he had recovered from his sur- 
 prise, he found out that instead of commencing 
 his sermon with the words, "My dear friends," 
 he had been saying every Sunday morning, "I 
 am very tired." The two expressions are the 
 same excepting for the accent. 
 
 In reducing the Yoruban language to writing, 
 Crowther greatly diminished the size of the 
 
 83
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 words by modifying the Roman alphabet and 
 also by giving the Roman rather than the Eng- 
 lish sound to some of the letters. For instance 
 Ejahyay is written Ijaye; Awyaw, Oyo; Og- 
 bomishaw, Ogbomiso; Ebaddan, Ibadan; Ejay- 
 boo, Ijabu; ekkaw, eko; and so on. The ex- 
 pression, "Be kawlaw bah koo, adieh ko soo- 
 koon" would be written " Bi kolo ba ku adie ko 
 sukun." This was a wise expedient to reduce 
 the size of the Bible. 
 
 The language is very rich in salutations, there 
 being one for almost every conceivable occasion, 
 special words being added to the common term 
 Ahu. As the language is made up largely of 
 vowel sounds, these salutations, especially in the 
 mouths of women and children, are very mu- 
 sical, for they often prolonged euphonious 
 sounds in a way very pleasing to the ear. 
 
 This abundance of salutations in the language 
 is only the enforced expression of their persistent 
 adherence to all spoken forms of politeness. 
 Even strangers rarely pass each other without 
 exchanging salutations. When the rank of each 
 is known, the superior usually salutes first, and 
 when the disparity of the position is great, the 
 inferior usually prostrates. When they are of 
 the same rank they bow low and use the same- 
 
 84
 
 Life and Language 
 
 salutation whatever that may be. Young people 
 prostrate themselves to the aged and sons to 
 their mothers and senior female relatives. 
 Women kneel only, and it is done very grace- 
 fully. All forms of salutation are modified by 
 rank. I have seen old women kneel to boys 
 because the latter had royal blood in their veins. 
 The aristocracy are very proud of their ancient 
 lineage and keep the memory of it before the 
 people by the use of Agoons. These are men 
 fantastically dressed and entirely disguised who 
 speak in gutteral tones as if they were visitors 
 from the dead. These claim to be the departed 
 ancestors of the man. No one can prove to the 
 contrary for it is death for a native to touch one. 
 One man in Ejahyay could send out fifteen 
 Agoons. 
 
 At that time there was a singular character in 
 Yoruba who was not required to prostrate to 
 any one, not even the king. He was called the 
 "Father of the king," because to him belonged 
 the prerogative of appointing a successor to a 
 deceased king. It was said, however, that he 
 was too modest to avail himself of his special 
 privileges, and that there was often an amusing 
 contest between him and King Ardayloo as to 
 which should secretly creep up and prostrate first. 
 
 85
 
 SUPERSTITIONS 
 
 THE market of Ejahyay was an excellent place 
 in which to observe the people in all their outer 
 life, but one could get very little idea of the 
 misery of their inner life by what he saw in the 
 noisy and apparently happy throngs around him 
 there. Hidden in the recesses of their secret life 
 are many hideous spectres. Prominent among 
 these is the mental unrest which constantly tor- 
 tures those under the dominion of cruel super- 
 stitions. While acknowledging the existence of 
 a Supreme Being under the name of "Orlorun" 
 (Possessor of Heaven), they declare that he does 
 not concern himself about his creatures on earth, 
 but has left everything in the hands of one 
 whom they call "Orisha." But Orisha, they 
 say, is not willing to be bothered by the trifling 
 affairs of men, and so has appointed a number 
 of inferior deities to whom men may come in 
 times of emergency. They believe, also, that 
 the spirits of the dead are present in the world, 
 and that they have power to bring evil or good 
 to people in this world. 1 have frequently seen
 
 Superstitions 
 
 the living praying to their dead friends and in- 
 voking their protection and blessing. If these 
 friends have while living been eminent for any 
 cause, sacrifices are also offered to them 'as well 
 as prayers. Under the name of Ashu, they 
 worship the devil. He is always represented by 
 a hideous black image. In this case, however, 
 they only deprecate, begging the fiend not to 
 hurt them on a journey or in an enterprise. Near 
 the landing at Abeokuta, a priestess of Ashu 
 with a large image of him, sat to receive the 
 offerings made by the canoemen as they were 
 about to start down the river. As they think 
 that death only intensifies the evil in human 
 nature and increases the power of malignant 
 spirits to work mischief, they live in constant 
 dread of the malice of invisible enemies. 
 
 The most terrible of their inferior deities is 
 Shango, god of thunder and fire. They say that 
 he was once a man, but being too wicked to live 
 he was taken up to heaven and made the god of 
 fire. The special devotees of this god are known 
 by a tuft of hair allowed to remain in the place 
 of an Indian's scalp-lock. When lightning 
 strikes a house, to them is granted the especial 
 privilege of seizing any chicken, sheep, goat or 
 
 hog that may be found in the street at the time 
 87
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 The people have learned to keep these animals 
 shut up during a serious thunderstorm, for when 
 thus taken, they are to be offered at once in sacri- 
 fice to Shango. In the dread of his attributes, 
 the next in importance is Oro. During my two 
 years residence in Abeokuta, the town was fre- 
 quently given to Oro, and on these occasions 
 malefactors were punished and political matters 
 of importance were transacted. The voice of 
 Oro was frequently heard in the streets after 
 dark. It began in a low moan, then rose to a 
 kind of scream and then sank into a moan. This 
 noise was made by whirling a flat stick, but it 
 was a capital crime for any one to intimate as 
 much. It was a capital crime, also, for any 
 woman to remain on the streets after the voice 
 of Oro was heard at any time. 
 
 Another inferior deity is Efa. He is the god of 
 secrets and is represented by a dove standing on 
 a wooden plate on the margin of which is carved 
 a single eye. All devotees of that god carry six- 
 teen consecrated palm-nuts. The priest takes 
 these nuts and puts them into a wooden urn. 
 He then takes a number at random and scatters 
 them at random on a board covered with wood 
 dust and marked into small squares. From the 
 
 position that the palm-nuts take on the board, 
 88
 
 Superstitions 
 
 the priest pretends to find out what kind of sacri- 
 fice Efa demands. This ceremony is repeated to 
 find out if a chicken or something else must not 
 be added to the first thing to be offered as a sac- 
 rifice. The priest in the meantime talks to the 
 person consulting the oracle and finds out pretty 
 well what kind of answer is desired. Some- 
 times the applicant wishes him to interpret a 
 dream or to assist him in a business or a matri- 
 monial enterprise. Priests of Efa are very nu- 
 merous and they rob the people of much of their 
 income. 
 
 Ogun, the god of war, is fitly represented by 
 an iron bar. To him human sacrifices are some- 
 times offered. One of these dreadful scenes I 
 was forced to witness, and a description of it is 
 given in another place. There are also gods of 
 the farms, of the house, of the family, of the 
 city, and of many other things. They offer sac- 
 rifices to streams, to trees, to birds, to snakes, to 
 rocks and to other objects, animate and inani- 
 mate. They claim that they are not rendering 
 worship to these objects, but to the deity therein 
 enshrined. By striking a hatchet into a tree near 
 the walls of Abeokuta, I so excited the people 
 that I found it difficult to appease them. The 
 tree was an object of worship and at its foot was
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 a rock used as an altar. On another occasion, 
 the people prostrated themselves in worship be- 
 fore an immense python snake that appeared on 
 the great central rock of the city. They believed 
 that the tutelary deity of the city had assumed 
 that form and taken up his abode under the rock, 
 that he might look after their welfare. As show- 
 ing how their dark imaginations multiply terrors 
 for them, I mention that they believe a certain 
 night bird which has a dismal croak to be an evil 
 spirit who has chosen that form more effectively 
 to approach them. Whenever they hear one of 
 these birds near their houses at night, believing 
 its presence betokens some approaching calamity, 
 they are tortured by anxiety and fear until some 
 new fear distracts their attention. 
 
 It is impossible for rest to find a home in 
 minds so filled with spiritual darkness and name- 
 less terrors. In attempting to break off the 
 shackles of superstition from their benighted 
 souls, I would often be amazed to find how com- 
 pletely idolatry had mastered their every idea. 
 For instance, a young man expecting to go to 
 war boasted that he wore over his vest a coat of 
 mail that no bullet could penetrate. It was made 
 of shells which were easily broken and some 
 " medicine man" had swindled him into paying 
 
 90
 
 Superstitions 
 
 a large sum of money for it. After he had 
 swaggered a while, I told him that I had a gun 
 which could shoot through his " medicine." He 
 defiantly challenged me to shoot at him at short 
 range. After some argument, he was persuaded 
 to take it off and let the interpreter shoot at that 
 only. When the smoke of the gun cleared away, 
 the shells were, of course, found to be com- 
 pletely shattered. He immediately fell at the 
 feet of the interpreter and worshipped him, beg- 
 ging him at the same time to give him some of 
 his "strong medicine." The expedient which 
 was intended to convince him of his error 
 seemed only to confirm him in it. 
 
 Their belief in the malice and power of Shango 
 so dominates their thoughts, that the most thiev- 
 ish among them will not touch anything which 
 is protected by the symbol of Shango's power. 
 People on the farms often expose for sale by 
 the highways fruits and vegetables while the 
 owners are far away at work. The price of the 
 articles is indicated by pebbles lying near, and 
 over the whole is an erect stick with a bunch of 
 dried grass tied to the end. The natives believe 
 that if any one should dare to take anything 
 which is thus protected, the angry god will im- 
 mediately compel some one to burn his house or 
 
 91
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 to inflict some worse injury on him. Shango 
 does not put things off very long, and for this 
 reason he is dreaded the more. 
 
 About six months after my arrival in Ejahyay, 
 while I was standing at the gate of the mission 
 premises, I saw a little boy, said to be possessed 
 by the spirit of Shango, issue from a compound 
 near the mission chapel. He was soon followed 
 by a crowd of people, old and young, piteously 
 beseeching him to spare them. As some of these 
 people were frequent visitors at the mission 
 house and attendants on the chapel services, I 
 thought I ought to hasten and see what was the 
 matter. Just as I came up, the boy, whose dis- 
 torted and scowling countenance is still vividly 
 impressed on my memory, lighted a torch of 
 dried grass at a fire where a woman had been 
 cooking and started back with the flaming grass 
 toward the door of the compound from which 
 he had come. The crowd followed and with 
 extended hands implored him to have mercy on 
 them and not to burn their house. 
 
 "What will you give me? What will you 
 give me ? " shouted the little fiend. 
 
 "I'll give you something, you little imp of 
 Satan," I yelled, as I darted at him and tried to 
 seize him by his Shango tuft. 
 
 92
 
 Superstitions 
 
 When he looked up and saw the white man 
 glaring at him so ferociously, the demoniacal ex- 
 pression of his countenance immediately changed 
 to one of abject terror. He threw down his 
 torch and fled with all his might, hotly pursued 
 by one greater than Shango ; but he slipped 
 through a hole in a wall and I failed to capture 
 him. When I turned around expecting to hear 
 expressions of gratitude from the people whose 
 house I had saved, I found myself facing a dan- 
 gerous and angry mob. They denounced me for 
 such a sacrilegious act and hurled at me the most 
 terrible curses known to them. My blood was 
 now up, too, and lifting up my voice above the 
 uproar I shouted, 
 
 " You are a lot of fools. If Shango is a god, 
 he does not need you to fight for him. Let him 
 fight for himself. I defy him." 
 
 I could now speak their language very well 
 and they understood what I said. They con- 
 tinued to gesticulate and curse a little longer, and 
 then dispersed without doing me any harm. A 
 mutilated form of this story was afterward pub- 
 lished in England in which it was stated that I 
 dispossessed Shango with a rod. If this had 
 been true, I should not have lived to write this 
 true account of the affair. 
 
 93
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 The next day, I went to see the old bale of the 
 threatened compound and talked to him about 
 the folly of believing in such things. He seemed 
 to be much depressed and frightened, and pre- 
 served a profound silence during my whole visit, 
 only saluting when I came and when I went. A 
 few days after this, both the bale and the little 
 boy suddenly died, being evidently assassinated 
 by poison. Why they were killed and by whom, 
 I could never learn. 1 suspect, however, the 
 little boy was murdered by the priests of Shango 
 to avoid exposure, and that the old bale was 
 murdered to frighten the people away from the 
 mission chapel. 
 
 Those who make and sell amulets claim that 
 they are security against all kinds of evils. They 
 are securely protected in morocco cords and bags, 
 and are worn around the waist and arms or sus- 
 pended from the neck. The amulets sometimes 
 seen on the persons of chiefs and rich men often 
 represent a large sum in native currency. Many 
 lose their lives by trusting too implicitly in these 
 "refuges of lies." 
 
 Among the wicked occult arts is the preparation 
 of poisons to be used in assassinating, and those 
 who engage in this business have many custom- 
 ers. Some of these poisons kill slowly, but so 
 
 94
 
 Superstitions 
 
 surely that the victims cannot prove who poi- 
 soned them, nor when, nor how. They murder 
 by poison because in this way they can more 
 easily escape detection. To draw even a little 
 blood in times of peace is a capital crime. There 
 is much quarrelling and even fighting among the 
 women, but they rap each other over the shoul- 
 ders with the palms of their hands in such a way 
 as to hurt without drawing blood. When fight- 
 ing, young men frequently tap each other over 
 the head with short sticks upon which little iron 
 rings have been strung. In this way they can 
 knock each other down without breaking the 
 scalp and drawing blood. One morning about 
 light, I heard some people shouting, " ehjeh ! 
 ehjeh ! " (blood, blood) as if a murder had been 
 committed, but on investigating, found that a 
 woman had drawn a little blood by scratching 
 the face of a man. If the matter had not been 
 hushed up before it got to the ears of Areh, the 
 offender might have suffered decapitation. 
 
 I do not remember a single instance in which 
 a poisoner was detected and punished by the au- 
 thorities. People might be suspected, and the 
 fear of poisoning would sometimes scatter the 
 people of a compound, but legal proof was gen- 
 erally wanting. Loud lamentation once caused 
 
 95
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 me to stop at the house of an acquaintance. I 
 found the bale and those around him in deep 
 distress. Two of his sons had just died sud- 
 denly and he was in dread of the same fate. 
 Though he probably suspected the murderer, he 
 dared not express his opinion in the matter. 
 There were several dwellings in this compound, 
 but in a few days I found it deserted and as 
 silent as the grave. Each family was afraid of 
 the others and had sought homes in other com- 
 pounds. 
 
 Another thing that adds much to the mental 
 disquietude of the people is a firm belief in the 
 "evil eye." For this reason they often avert 
 their eyes when a stranger looks at them. When 
 they fear that some one has smitten them with 
 an "evil eye," the rich often spend large sums 
 of money in buying "medicine" to wash their 
 eyes. I once knew a powerful chief to start up 
 from his seat and flee to the remotest recesses of 
 his vast compound because his eyes had acci- 
 dentally met the black, angry eyes of a mission- 
 ary whom he had wronged. For days, he 
 washed his eyes with the most powerful " med- 
 icine " to break the wicked spell. 
 
 By a thoughtless prank, soon after coming to 
 Ejahyay I became an object of suspicion to the 
 
 96
 
 Superstitions 
 
 natives as a person having an "evil eye." De- 
 sirous of making some noctural observations, I 
 concealed a lighted "bull's-eye" lantern under my 
 rain coat and went out into the town one very 
 dark night. I went some distance before I was 
 discovered by the passing people. I then began 
 to return. Sounds behind me showed that I was 
 being followed by a large crowd and when I 
 was near enough to the mission house to feel 
 safe, I drew the lantern from my bosom and 
 flashed the focused rays around me. They all 
 fell back as if shocked and then the still night air 
 was filled with the sound of running feet. The 
 next morning some old men, looking very grave, 
 called to see Mr. Phillips on special business. 
 While waiting for him to come in, one of them 
 said to another in a low voice, "Ojoo booboo- 
 roo." This means "wicked eye" and is their 
 expression for "evil eye." When Mr. Phillips en- 
 tered, they informed him that the night before I 
 had taken fire out of my breast and thrown it at 
 the people. I was somewhat disturbed at this 
 serious turn of affairs and at once brought out 
 the lantern and showed them how I used it. 
 They were greatly surprised and seemed satisfied, 
 but it was sometime before the people stopped 
 averting their eyes whenever I looked at them. 
 
 97
 
 XI 
 
 POLYGAMY 
 
 ANOTHER skeleton in the Yoruban closet is 
 polygamy. This is universal and so is the 
 treachery, strife and domestic disorder which al- 
 ways accompanies it. Yorubans know little of 
 that happiness that is found in every place 
 worthy of the name of home. A girl has to take 
 the husband selected for her by her legal guar- 
 dian, however disagreeable the union may be to 
 her. Betrothals in infancy are common, but the 
 usual age of betrothal is five or six years. It is 
 regarded as very disgraceful for a girl to speak to 
 her betrothed husband until the day of marriage. 
 There is, therefore, no room for courtship or for 
 "love's young dream." I knew, however, of 
 several instances of elopement. The bride had 
 formed a romantic attachment for a young man, 
 and had fled the country with him just before 
 the day of marriage with her betrothed husband. 
 
 There is much closer intimacy between a hus- 
 band and the wife of his youth than any con- 
 tracted with those who follow her. All the other 
 wives approach her with reverence and respect- 
 
 98
 
 Polygamy 
 
 fully address her as " Eyah " (mother or superior). 
 As long as she lives, she alone prepares food for 
 her lord and manages all his domestic affairs. 
 The Yorubans are not insensible to the evils of 
 polygamy and recognize the wisdom of having 
 only one wife. 
 
 Along the wall in our reception-room were 
 benches for the accommodation of visitors, and 
 it was seldom some of these were not occupied 
 during the day. Among the callers one day was 
 a young man unusually dignified and quiet. His 
 countenance was much cast down. My wife 
 was not very well and was reclining on a lounge 
 while I was holding her hand. The young man 
 sadly regarded us for a while and then said with 
 much emphasis: 
 
 "White man, you are right." 
 
 "How?" said I. 
 
 "In having only one wife," said he. 
 
 " What makes you think so ? " 
 
 "Well," said he, " one year ago, I took a bride 
 and I was happy with her; but two months ago, 
 like a fool, I took another wife, and I have had 
 no peace since." 
 
 It was with some difficulty I could suppress a 
 smile while I condoled with him on his sad fate. 
 But a man's position and importance here are 
 
 99
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 estimated by the number of his wives and the 
 men seem willing to make almost any sacrifice 
 for a little fictitious notoriety. This young man's 
 unhappiness was not caused by strife between 
 himself and his wives, but by the strife between 
 his wives on account of jealousy. 
 
 Troubles about their children and their earthly 
 possessions are also sources of misunderstanding. 
 In passing a compound, I would sometimes hear 
 quarrelling among the women, then the voice of 
 an angry man, then something like blows with a 
 rod. Everybody from the bale down would put 
 on " company manners " as soon as I entered and 
 1 could not tell what had taken place; but my in- 
 terpreter would afterward explain that some hus- 
 band had given his wives a whipping to stop a 
 childish and silly brawl over some trifle. They 
 are very much like children and do not bear 
 malice as a general thing when they have been 
 punished by their lords for bad behavior. But 
 the husband cannot always trust them, especially 
 when they are of other nationalities than his 
 own. 
 
 The poisoning of the husband by the wife for 
 some cause is not infrequent. One of my ac- 
 quaintances, an old man, bought a young wife in 
 
 the market. Now this captive maiden had a 
 ico
 
 Polygamy 
 
 lover in her own country who had followed her 
 to Ejahyay, hoping to be able to redeem her, and 
 the two met in the market-place after the girl 
 had become the wife of the old man. It was 
 quickly arranged that the girl should poison her 
 husband, the young man providing the material. 
 But not being an adept, the girl stirred the poison 
 into the old man's dish of " palaver sauce" with 
 her finger and in this way was herself fatally 
 poisoned. The old man recovered sufficiently to 
 come to see me and get relief. I went to see him 
 once, but he died in about a year, his death being 
 evidently hastened by this attempt on his life. 
 The girl got more of the poison than he did and 
 lived only a few hours, making a full confession 
 of her guilt. Her partner in guilt escaped in 
 some way to his own country. The old man 
 never mentioned the name of either without a 
 dreadful imprecation. 
 
 But I would not leave the impression that there 
 are no cheerful scenes in a compound. Where 
 there are so many children, there must be fun and 
 merriment. The women also are vivacious, sen- 
 sitive, and sympathetic. 
 
 For the purpose of getting acquainted with the 
 people, of winning their confidence, and of in- 
 structing them in the truths of Christianity, I 
 101
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 visited them in their homes whenever I was well 
 enough to do so. Generally my reception was 
 polite, but sometimes I would get into a house 
 where the people did not conceal their dislike for 
 the innovations of civilization and of Christianity. 
 The reader may imagine me surrounded by a 
 crowd of men, women and children, sitting on a 
 grass mat in a low piazza of a native compound. 
 Sheep, goats, chickens, pigs and dogs are run- 
 ning around everywhere. After calling for the 
 bale and exchanging the ordinary salutations with 
 him, I request permission to " sawraw Orloroon," 
 that is, "talk the word of God." This being 
 permitted, for courtesy's sake I address myself to 
 the bale, though it is understood that I am talk- 
 ing to all within the sound of my voice. The 
 greater number pretend to listen, but I am 
 frequently interrupted by the children who, 
 while pressing around to hear and to see, manage 
 to get up a dispute among themselves. Then 
 about half of the grown people reprove the little 
 offenders while the remainder try to explain the 
 cause of the trouble. Things being quiet, I get 
 along very well for five minutes or less, when I 
 am stopped by the yell of a woman who has de- 
 tected a thievish goat, sheep or dog taking some- 
 thing from her market calabash. The rogue 
 102
 
 Polygamy 
 
 having received a sound thrashing and a noisy 
 berating, order is again restored. Other similar 
 disturbances may occur but the people are so ac- 
 customed to this state of things that any atten- 
 tion which they may be giving to the speaker, is 
 not long distracted. Sometimes after I have fin- 
 ished talking, one of them in compliment to me, 
 tries to explain my teaching to the rest of the 
 company. These pretend to be much pleased. 
 One says, "It is good"; another, "It is true"; 
 and still another, "We will believe." 
 
 When I leave, the bale and some of the women 
 and all of the children, accompany me to the 
 door and there take leave of me with many kind 
 wishes, and the children shout their adieus as 
 long as I am in sight. Often in my walks and 
 visits, the children would meet me with shouts 
 of childish glee, and seizing my hands or cling- 
 ing around my knees, would give expression to 
 the innocent confidence peculiar to their tender 
 age. Sometimes when my wife's duties would 
 permit her to walk out into the town with me, 
 little children would cling to her skirts until we 
 entered our house, and then they would tease her 
 with questions and entertain her with their 
 prattle until it was time for them to go home. 
 
 When the bale or some other " headman " was 
 
 103
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 absent from the compound the women frequently 
 declined to hear me, but generally they would 
 consent to quit work a little while and listen to 
 me. When, however, I would begin to talk, 
 they, too, would begin. After a few minutes 
 one of them would try to explain to the other 
 what I was saying, and they would all chatter 
 together like a flock of magpies. At first, I did 
 not know what to do, but after I understood 
 their habits better I would quietly but firmly tell 
 them that if they wished me to talk they must 
 be silent. After this they would interrupt me 
 now and then with exclamations only. 
 
 Their priests take tribute from all of them, 
 and until they understood that we would not 
 accept a present, they always offered one when I 
 visited them. This was often some cola-nuts, 
 presented in their best dish with much ceremony. 
 These are so highly esteemed among them that 
 they have a proverb which says, "Anger draws 
 arrows from the quiver; good words draw cola- 
 nuts from the bag." 
 
 Polygamy not only destroys that unity which 
 is essential to a home, but also undermines all 
 domestic affection. When my wife was very ill 
 on one occasion, a visitor expressed great sur- 
 prise because I was so much concerned about the 
 
 104
 
 Polygamy 
 
 matter, and asked if that one was the only wife 
 I had. The natural love which God has put into 
 the heart of the mother for her offspring, seems 
 to be about the only silver lining to this dense 
 cloud. The memory of this awakes chords in 
 their souls that nothing else can. One night I 
 heard a little orphan boy telling of a dream to a 
 playmate. He said that he saw heaven open and 
 his mother looking down at him from above. 
 She told him that she was watching over him 
 every day and then she let down something for 
 him to eat. Then the heavens closed again and 
 he awakened, crying for her to come back to 
 him. It was plain that this touching dream had 
 voiced the memory of a mother's love. 
 
 The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only cure for 
 the ills which afflict the victims of such spiritual 
 darkness. While I was in Africa many illus- 
 trations of this truth came under my observation. 
 Two cases in Ejahyay are worthy of special 
 notice. Among the converts here were two 
 women of exalted Christian character, named 
 Ofeekee and Osoontala. Because the latter was 
 so much like Mary of Bethany in character, her 
 name had been changed to that of the gentle 
 sister of Lazarus. There is no reason to think 
 that, before their conversion, they were different 
 
 105
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 from the average heathen women around them ; 
 but when I arrived in Ejahyay, they were already 
 distinguished for every Christian virtue. They 
 often endured the most bitter persecution with- 
 out a murmur, supporting themselves by their 
 implicit faith in the promises of God. This was 
 all to which we could point them, for Areh, as I 
 have before said, declined to interfere. They 
 came at stated times and, repeating the words 
 after some one, would commit whole chapters of 
 the Bible to memory. When discouraged, they 
 would strengthen their faith by repeating pas- 
 sages of Holy Scripture to themselves. I asked 
 Mary if she did not feel afraid that the people in 
 her house would poison her. 
 
 "The Lord is my helper: 1 will not fear what 
 man can do unto me," she replied. 
 
 When Ofeekee would not eat sacrifice at the 
 family festivals nor permit her little son to par- 
 take, her husband would often flog her most 
 cruelly. One Lord's day we noticed an ex- 
 pression of pain on her countenance and en- 
 quired what was the matter. She said nothing, 
 but merely lifted her shoulder cloth and ex- 
 hibited the lacerated flesh. Her husband had 
 just beaten her. 
 
 Mary's husband simply ignored her, and let 
 
 1C6
 
 Polygamy 
 
 others persecute and annoy her without noticing 
 them. When he was killed during the bloody 
 siege of Ejahyay (of which I shall tell farther on) 
 Mary had an opportunity to show the difference 
 between a Christian and a heathen. She ob- 
 tained permission to live with her little son in 
 the native compound connected with the mission 
 premises. After she had been there several 
 months, she learned that a young man who had 
 been a ringleader in everything devised for her 
 annoyance, was lying, desperately wounded and 
 entirely deserted, in the compound of which she 
 had been an inmate. Getting permission from 
 Mr. Phillips she had her enemy brought to that 
 part of our compound in which she was living 
 and nursed him back to life as if he were her 
 own son. If I had not already become a Chris- 
 tian, the wonderful change in the character of 
 these two converts from paganism, would have 
 led me to become a disciple. 
 
 107
 
 XII 
 
 SOME AFRICAN MALADIES 
 
 ABOUT one month after arriving in the country 
 I had my first ague. There is a great shaking ac- 
 companied by severe pains in back and limbs; 
 this is followed by a burning fever and a head- 
 ache so severe sometimes as to make the patient 
 delirious during the following night. If, by a 
 free use of proper remedies, the return of the 
 ague can be prevented on the third day, the 
 patient is safe and with the exercise of proper 
 precaution, will be up in a week. If the chill is 
 not broken, the case becomes more and more 
 serious. The ague will recur earlier every time 
 it is repeated, and when only six hours intervene 
 the case is well-nigh hopeless. Some attacks are 
 so violent that the patient becomes unconscious 
 at once and dies in a few hours. In this way 
 Mrs. Phillips had died, except that she was de- 
 lirious only. 
 
 My wife and I got on very well for the first 
 seven months. We were generally up three 
 weeks out of the four and we fortunately had 
 our agues in separate weeks so that one of us 
 
 103
 
 Some African Maladies 
 
 was always well when the other needed a nurse. 
 In the eighth month my chills could not be 
 broken and I was brought to the door of the 
 grave. From four o'clock one afternoon until 
 light next morning I was unconscious, with my 
 life hanging by a thread. In Africa, excitement 
 often made my wife very ill and, when my con- 
 dition became so serious, she had to be removed 
 to another room, and was soon as ill as 1. We 
 both extracted from Mr. Phillips a promise that 
 if either was found to be dying, we should be 
 allowed to see each other at once. One day, my 
 interpreter ran into my room and attempted 
 to take me into his arms. I knew what this 
 meant and, to my great surprise, I rose from my 
 bed and tottered into the room where my wife 
 was. I found her just recovering from uncon- 
 sciousness. The sight of my face soon revived 
 her and we were able to converse for a while. 
 The excitement of meeting under the circum- 
 stances seemed to revive us both, and we com- 
 menced improving from that day. 
 
 Such is the strange character of this disease 
 that often a change of scene, the sight of a new 
 face, or the meeting of some loved one from 
 whom we have been long parted, will do more 
 good than medicine. When very sick, even to 
 
 109
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 death, my wife was greatly benefited by a visit 
 from a German missionary and his wife. I be- 
 lieve the visit saved her life. Mrs. Townsend, 
 the wife of the celebrated missionary of that 
 name, seemed to be hopelessly ill, but was taken 
 at her request to a grass-thatched hut in the 
 Abeokuta farms and began to recover from the 
 first day. In a few weeks she was as well as usual. 
 On one occasion, I had no energy or appetite, 
 and joined an English missionary in the same 
 condition, in a picnicking excursion. We took 
 along what we supposed would be an ample 
 supply of provisions for a week. We were 
 driven home by hunger at the end of three days. 
 
 All white people who go to this part of Africa 
 should expect to be sick. If they escape ma- 
 larial fever they will meet chronic dysentery and 
 the last is worse than the first. 
 
 When visiting among the people, I frequently 
 found myself near some one broken out with 
 smallpox, but as the natives showed no fear of the 
 disease, I thought I ought not. Here the patient 
 lies in the open air, in the piazza on hard mats. 
 They eat sparingly, drink warm water, and never 
 touch any preparation of chicken. The disease 
 is allowed to run its course, the patient enduring 
 
 the itching as best he can and breaking the 
 no
 
 Some African Maladies 
 
 pustules by rolling about on the hard grass mat. 
 Air, a hard bed, light clothing and a simple diet 
 generally prevents this dreaded disease from as- 
 suming a very virulent form among the natives. 
 In our own home only did I see it in its worst 
 form. Our cook, a Liberian woman, was taken 
 down with it and was extremely ill for many 
 days. When she recovered her face was like a 
 piece of perforated paper. Mr. Phillips was then 
 taken down but he had been vaccinated in his 
 youth and his case was not quite so severe. I 
 followed next but escaped with my life because 
 I had been vaccinated. My wife nursed every 
 case, but escaped entirely though she remained 
 with me day and night. But it fell to her lot to 
 have the "Guinea worm," a disease she dreaded 
 as much as she did the smallpox. The natives, 
 however, did not abhor it as they did smallpox 
 for one of their curses was " May the smallpox 
 catch you." 
 
 None of us escaped the boils and the dreadful 
 ulcers which sometimes follow attacks of mala- 
 rial fever. Once forty boils, painful in the ex- 
 treme, bloomed on my breast at one and the 
 same time. The ulcers are large and deep, but 
 not so painful. They often leave deep scars. 
 
 My wife continued to have attacks of fever as 
 ill
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 long as she remained in the country, but I seemed 
 to be very well acclimated after the first year. 
 But I enjoyed advantages in the way of recrea- 
 tion that my wife did not. One of these was 
 hunting. This leads me to say something of the 
 fauna of this part of Africa. 
 
 112
 
 XIII 
 
 HUNTING 
 
 IN the scattered, cultivated spots, five miles 
 beyond Ejahyay, there was plenty of game of 
 many kinds, but my favorites were a species of 
 pheasant about the size of a small hen, called 
 arkparro by the natives, and the guinea fowl. 
 In its wild state, the guinea is much larger, es- 
 pecially in the breast, than when domesticated. 
 It is also more palatable. Antelopes of all sizes 
 abound. They range from the size of a hare to that 
 of an ox. Eagles, immense toucans, hornbills, 
 touracos, cranes and other large birds fly about 
 within gunshot all the time. I generally found 
 the arkparrows and guineas in large flocks 
 feeding in the farms. Here also the antelopes 
 were found, but their flesh tainted so quickly 
 that I gave them little attention. 
 
 Leopards, wild boars and hyenas are hid about 
 in the grass, and elephants are sometimes found 
 in these clearings. I was very careful not to 
 enter any place where I had reason to fear a 
 " rogue " elephant might be hid, for they are the 
 most dangerous animals now in the world. I 
 
 113
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 had no desire whatever to see one. Large 
 python snakes have their homes in the rocks and 
 make paths through the grass leading to these 
 dens. The natives declare that there is a very 
 large bird like an ostrich inhabiting the "bush" 
 here. I failed to meet with a specimen, but 
 from the description they gave it must be a 
 species of cassowary. Buffalo abound but they 
 prefer the larger plains near the Niger. They 
 seem to be nothing but wild cattle. 
 
 The African wolf, a species of hyena, going in 
 large droves, are known here. The natives dread 
 them very much. Ejahyay received one visit 
 from them in its early history. When the howl- 
 ing was heard in the distance, the gates of the 
 houses were closed and the people did not go 
 into the streets again until all the wolves had 
 passed through. Some of the beasts are said to 
 have climbed over the roofs of the houses and 
 jumped down into the compounds, so ravenous 
 were they. Among the smaller animals, I met 
 with some surprises. Of these, one was a grey 
 squirrel exactly like the small mountain squirrels 
 found on top of the Blue Ridge mountains of 
 Virginia. 
 
 Though birds of all sizes are so numerous, one 
 hears little "music in the air." Some scream, 
 
 114
 
 Hunting 
 
 some chatter, some croak, and some bray like 
 donkeys. Only a few modestly attired little ones 
 really sing. There was one sound, however, 
 that always had music for my ear. That was 
 the familiar cry of the guinea fowls from the 
 tops of the palm trees as I galloped home in the 
 gloaming. As a magic wand, the sound would 
 often call up memories of childhood's home. 
 
 The gorgeousness of the plumage of many of 
 the larger birds, especially of the cranes and 
 touracos, is indescribable. One who has seen a 
 touraco darting up and down the limbs of a tree, 
 will not soon forget the beautiful vision. Once, 
 there appeared over me two cranes clothed in all 
 the colors of the rainbow, and I brought them 
 down with a single shot. They were about 
 five feet tall, had gold-colored crests and much 
 resembled the Balearic species, only they were 
 more gorgeous in plumage. 
 
 Some species of the guinea fowl were also 
 very beautiful. One of these has a large black 
 plume and another has a spray of gold running 
 from the root of the bill back over the middle of 
 the head to the neck. These last are blue-black 
 and live only in the forest. The former are of 
 the color of the ordinary guinea, but they are 
 much larger. The little parroquets were also very 
 
 115
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 beautiful. We had some of these for pets once, 
 but the " drivers" killed them all in one night. 
 
 I shot but one monkey. This was a large 
 black one which acted in such a way that I 
 thought it safest to fire on it ; but when my wife 
 saw it, she begged me not to shoot another. 
 While its head was hanging down over the 
 back of a native boy, it looked for all the world 
 like a human baby. They are all so troublesome, 
 however, that I came very near shooting another 
 soon after. I noticed that a large animal of 
 tawny color was stealthily following me through 
 the grass and I took a position and prepared to 
 shoot it when it showed itself. As my gun was 
 charged with ball, I did not feel alarmed. When 
 it did appear it was a large monkey following 
 me through curiosity. I raised my gun to fire 
 but it appeared to be so harmless that I could 
 not pull the trigger. After regarding me with 
 averted face for a while, it slunk away without 
 the slightest show of hostility. 
 
 I really had no hunting adventures that could 
 be called dangerous. Once when creeping 
 through the high grass I came suddenly upon a 
 large python. I retired. I returned to the spot 
 after getting sufficiently composed to shoot with 
 
 good aim, but it was gone. The sudden appari- 
 116
 
 Hunting 
 
 tion of one of these great constrictors is a very dis- 
 concerting thing. It might not have hurt me, but 
 I learned not to put too much confidence in any- 
 thing here in its native wilds. There is no tell- 
 ing what humor may have possession of it when 
 we happen to meet. 
 
 For ordinary shooting in this part of Africa, one 
 need not be a walking arsenal. My gun was of 
 laminated steel and was made to carry either 
 shot or ball. I used the best rifle powder and 
 often brought down game with heavy shot at 
 most astonishing distances. This gun was of 
 English manufacture and cost about sixty dollars 
 in London. It would shoot a ball with wonder- 
 ful accuracy and force, and 1 believe it would 
 have killed an elephant at short range, but I am 
 thankful to say that I was never called upon to 
 test the matter. The way in which the profes- 
 sional native hunters kill the elephant does not 
 require a specially good gun. They approach 
 them stealthily by paths known only to their 
 fraternity and shoot them with guns charged 
 with poisoned darts or bolts. This poison 
 coagulates the blood without injuring the flesh. 
 After making many struggling efforts to retain its 
 feet (in which it is assisted by its friends in the 
 
 herd), the wounded elephant at last succumbs 
 117
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 and is abandoned by the rest The hunter 
 escapes by a secret path and when the noise 
 ceases, he returns with some of his companions 
 and joyfully takes possession of his gigantic 
 game. For him, its tusks, its hide and its flesh 
 constitute a small fortune. 
 
 In hunting the leopard, they tie a kid where its 
 pitiful, baby-like cries may be heard by the 
 prowling beast. This sometimes requires quick 
 work, for the cunning creature will often take the 
 kid at a single bound and disappear like a flash. 
 Wild boars and some other animals of chase, are 
 hunted by means of dogs as they are elsewhere. 
 The most remarkable way of taking game was 
 that practiced by Abodere, a son of Areh, and a 
 reckless young man. With a number of his boon 
 companions, he would go to a den of pythons. 
 He would then place his young men in two rows 
 facing each other on each side of the mouth of 
 the den. Tying a strong cord to both his feet 
 and leaving instructions to one of his followers to 
 pull him out when he gave the signal by shaking 
 his foot, he would crawl into the den of pythons 
 and seize the tail of one in both hands. At his 
 signal both were drawn out together and the 
 snake was despatched with clubs. The natives 
 declared that the flesh of this snake is white, 
 
 118
 
 Hunting 
 
 juicy and sweet, and for this reason Abodere ran 
 so much risk to capture them. His love of ad- 
 venture, however, was the real cause. 
 
 It was natural that we should try to enliven our 
 solitude a little by having some animal pets, but 
 the "drivers" made it impossible for us to have 
 any that had to be confined in cages. In a par- 
 rot and a monkey which had the freedom of the 
 premises, we found some pleasant diversion. 
 The aptness of the African grey parrot for quickly 
 learning to imitate any sound, greatly surprised 
 us. My baby parrot which rejoiced in the name 
 of Aryaykotor (the world is all wrong) learned to 
 imitate the singing of a hen and the cries of a 
 distressed puppy in a few days. The counterfeit 
 was so complete that I once ran to the rescue of 
 the supposed puppy and never doubted but that 
 our old hen was enjoying herself until I caught 
 Polly performing the hen act. But in the midst 
 of her useful life she fell among thieves and we 
 never saw her again. 
 
 Older parrots would learn to repeat short sen- 
 tences with equal facility. To one of these its 
 owner said one day, " Why don't you pray, you 
 rascal?" A few mornings after this while its 
 owner was praying at family worship, the parrot 
 suddenly screamed, "Why don't you pray, you 
 
 119
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 rascal?" After this, its owner was more careful 
 in speaking to his pet. 
 
 Monkeys were not only amusing but often use- 
 ful in keeping the premises clear of those pests of 
 the African house the goats. The monkey 
 would leap on the back of the goat and ride it, 
 wildly bleating and frantic with terror, until it 
 escaped from the yard. If the goat happened to 
 run into the house, then "confusion was worse 
 confounded." Little whiskered fellows about 
 the size of a squirrel which could be carried about 
 on the shoulder and which would take refuge in a 
 side pocket when frightened was the favorite of 
 some, but the ordinary pet monkey was about 
 the size of a rabbit. The chimpanzee is a too 
 hideous caricature of a human being to be a 
 pleasant pet. Their actions as well as their ap- 
 pearance are almost human. I have seen them 
 amuse themselves by playing with native children 
 just as an old man would. 
 
 On account of birds of prey, we obtained little 
 profit from our poultry yard. Buzzards waddled 
 about the kitchen door and acted as useful 
 scavengers, but they sometimes devoured young 
 ducks and chickens. Hawks swarmed over the 
 city all day, darting down and catching up any- 
 thing they could seize, even from the calabashes 
 
 120
 
 Hunting 
 
 of the market women. I could not frighten them 
 away with my gun. After I had driven them 
 away by shooting a few, they would return in 
 full force in an hour or two. 
 
 A species of crow having a white breast were 
 as numerous as the hawks but not so trouble- 
 some. They roosted in the trees of the town 
 and passed the day in the farms. Their cawing 
 in the early morning was always a signal that 
 day was breaking and that the people were leav- 
 ing for the farms. The natives seemed to have 
 a superstitious affection for them and the crows, 
 in turn, seemed to have as little fear of man as 
 do domestic fowls. 
 
 121
 
 XIV 
 
 MENTAL SOLITUDE 
 
 DURING our first year in Ejahyay, things were 
 very quiet, excepting when a sudden conflagra- 
 tion swept over the city, often greatly endanger- 
 ing our house. But while we were reasonably 
 comfortable physically, the lack of social privi- 
 leges made us feel very lonely. This sense of 
 solitude was relieved somewhat every two weeks 
 by the arrival of letters from home. We kept a 
 messenger on the road all the time. The mail 
 reached Lagos every two weeks and it took our 
 messenger a week to go and a week to return. 
 He always received an ovation when he entered 
 the mission yard on his return. I took my wife 
 to Abeokuta once, but I found that on account 
 of the heat and fatigue, she received more harm 
 than good. 
 
 At no time while we were in Africa did we 
 miss the comforts of material civilization as much 
 as we did the intellectual privileges enjoyed in 
 more elevated conditions of society. The cus- 
 toms and ideas of the people around us were 
 either too cruel or too novel to admit of any in- 
 
 122
 
 Mental Solitude 
 
 tellectual congeniality between us. Mentally we 
 were thousands of years apart, and this sense of 
 loneliness was like being thirsty in the midst of a 
 briny deep. I have no doubt this sense of deso- 
 lation in the midst of teeming thousands, has 
 overwhelmed many missionaries in the midst of 
 careers of much usefulness. It is a cross that 
 crushes mortality to the earth. 
 
 Once after I had formed a kind of intimacy 
 with a man who seemed to be reasonably kind- 
 hearted, some of his ideas so shocked me that I 
 was always afraid of him afterward. It is a cus- 
 tom with these people to make the bale of any 
 compound in which an insolvent debtor dies pay 
 the debts of the deceased. When any insolvent 
 debtor, therefore, is found to be very ill he is 
 taken out and thrown into the bushes to miser- 
 ably perish. They know that this is very cruel 
 for the worst curse used among them is, "May 
 you die in the bushes." (Okoogbeh.) On one 
 occasion a man who was a renegade convert, 
 was brought in a dying condition into our mis- 
 sion yard. He was an insolvent debtor and the 
 bale was about to have him thrown out, when 
 he begged to be brought to us. We received 
 him of course. This act of humanity greatly dis- 
 gusted my native friend. 
 
 123
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 "Why don't you throw him into the bushes 
 and let the hyenas eat him?" said he, his eye 
 gleaming with suppressed ferocity. 
 
 "I am not strong enough to carry the man," 
 said I, jokingly. 
 
 "Then burn him with hot irons and make him 
 walk," replied he. 
 
 But the difference in our habits of thought was 
 not always so painful. The appearance of my 
 wife on the street was always the signal for the 
 assembling of a crowd of children who followed 
 us commenting all the time on something about 
 our dress or manners. One exclaimed, " Look 
 at the cloth ! Look at the cloth ! " Another (in 
 a sort of undertone) "What a fool the white 
 man is. He cuts his clothes all up into little 
 pieces and then sews them up again." And so 
 on. 
 
 Their dress and many of their customs showed 
 their ancient and Eastern origin, and what I saw 
 and heard around me frequently reminded me of 
 scenes and incidents described in the Bible. This 
 novelty was by no means displeasing, but rather 
 added to the interest I felt in these people. 
 Among our children was a bright little lass of 
 copper color. She had a copper bracelet on her 
 wrist but would not tell us what it meant. One 
 
 124
 
 Mental Solitude 
 
 day, a man of some prominence entered the gate 
 of the compound while I was standing in the 
 door of the mission house. So soon as this little 
 girl saw him, she fled like a frightened fawn and 
 I was nearly overturned in her effort to rush into 
 the house. When I enquired with some heat 
 why he had frightened the child, he laughingly 
 replied, "That is my little wife, white man." I 
 then learned that girls were betrothed at a very 
 tender age and that, from the day of the be- 
 trothal, they were regarded as married, the fact 
 of the betrothal being indicated by a bracelet on 
 the wrist. This girl's apparent fright was caused 
 by the fact that it is regarded very indelicate for 
 a girl to speak to her betrothed husband before 
 they are married. Sometimes, in passing about 
 the streets, I would see a little girl dart suddenly 
 away as if greatly frightened, and I knew that it 
 was because she had seen her future husband 
 approaching. It was quite amusing to see the 
 "mannish" dignity that boys sometimes mani- 
 fested when they saw their future wives flee 
 from their august presence. 
 
 When the day of marriage arrives, the bride, 
 closely veiled, is taken to the house of her hus- 
 band. She comes without resistance because 
 she knows that if she does not do so, she will 
 
 125
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 be brought by force. If she comes with honor, 
 adorned with jewels and with handsome cloths, 
 she marches several days after the wedding day 
 through the streets. Her approach is heralded 
 by. music, she is escorted by a large number of 
 maidens and receives congratulations and pres- 
 ents from her friends. In this way she is treated 
 with much honor. If she is unworthy, the par- 
 ents are required to refund the whole sum ad- 
 vanced in betrothing her, and the partner of her 
 infidelity, if he is discovered, is prosecuted for 
 adultery. 
 
 A messenger always carries some kind of staff 
 as his credentials. The credentials of Arch's 
 messenger was a crook of brass. Mr. Phillips 
 and myself used our walking-sticks when we 
 sent a messenger to Areh. Whenever Enigbio, 
 Arch's messenger, came in to see us without his 
 crook, he was no more than any other respect- 
 able man; but when he came in and placed 
 Areh's staff into the hand of one of us, it was 
 Areh that was speaking, and to disobey was 
 banishment or death. 
 
 When carrying a message, Enigbio never sa- 
 luted any one, however superior in rank. This 
 was to remind the people of the authority of his 
 master and show the importance of his message. 
 
 126
 
 Mental Solitude 
 
 It was said that if Enigbio had spoken to any 
 one while the brass crook was in his hand, he 
 would have lost his head. I did not believe this 
 story until I happened to see Areh in a rage. 
 Accompanied by my interpreter alone, I called 
 to pay my respects. When he appeared, his 
 countenance was darkened by a scowl that com- 
 pletely transformed it. As he did not seem dis- 
 posed to converse, I thought it safest to retire. 
 On turning to go, I saw crowds entering the gate 
 and prostrating themselves as if in humble sup- 
 plication. At the gate I met a man whose head 
 was covered with ashes and whose face dis- 
 played the most abject terror. I did not learn 
 what his fate was, but after seeing Areh's face 
 that day, I knew he was capable of any ferocious 
 deed to sustain his authority. 
 
 127
 
 XV 
 
 WAYLAID AND CAPTURED 
 
 I MUST now take the reader under a cloud, but 
 before I do so, I will explain what led to such an 
 unhappy change in the state of the country. 
 
 Though the rulers of Abeokuta had taken sides 
 with the English in their war with Kosoko and 
 his Portuguese allies, many of the other rulers of 
 the country had not. They earnestly desired the 
 restoration of the slave trade, and they hated the 
 missionaries and those friendly to them, because 
 they rightly supposed that the missionaries were 
 opposed to the slave trade. Therefore, these 
 rulers were desirous of driving them from the 
 country. Among these rulers was Ogumulla, the 
 military leader of Ebaddan, the friend of the king 
 of Yoruba, and the deadly enemy of Areh. 
 
 The death of the king at Awyaw about the 
 middle of our first year, seems to have given rise 
 to a very ambitious scheme in the mind of Ogu- 
 mulla, who seems to have been a sort of African 
 Orgetorix. This was to form an alliance offen- 
 sive and defensive with Benin on the east, with 
 Pahomy on the west, and with Kosoko's party 
 
 128
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 on the coast, and then drive out of the country 
 all foreigners opposed to the slave trade. The 
 destruction of Ejahyay and Abeokuta, and the re- 
 capture of Lagos, was included in this scheme. 
 Ebekoonleh, the civil governor of Ebaddan, was 
 a friend of Areh and was opposed to all this, and 
 he not only kept Areh secretly posted as to the 
 conspiracy, but he did all he could to thwart 
 Ogumulla's plans. But the latter succeeded in 
 forming a powerful war party not only in Ebad- 
 dan but in all the kingdom of Yoruba, and Ebe- 
 koonleh was compelled to fall in with the move- 
 ment. Of volunteers from the towns of Yoruba 
 and from Benin, Nufe and other slave-hunting 
 nations near the Niger, Ogumulla gathered a large 
 army to attack Ejahyay. In the meantime the 
 Dahomians were to prevent any assistance by de- 
 stroying Abeokuta. 
 
 Of all these things, we knew nothing until a 
 desperate adventure into which I was precipitated 
 by circumstances beyond my control, brought 
 them unpleasantly to our knowledge. Among 
 the members of the mission church were two 
 Liberian carpenters, named Vaughn and Russell, 
 who had lived in the country so long that they 
 were natives in all respects except in dress and in 
 religion. The first of these had established a 
 
 129
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 farm camp about twenty miles from Ejahyay on 
 the road to Abeokuta. The other had been living 
 for some years in Ogbomishaw and in Awyaw, 
 the capital, towns that were friendly to Ebaddan. 
 Both of these men were nearly white and they 
 were also men of excellent character. 
 
 Before Mr. Phillips had entirely recovered from 
 the smallpox, Enigbio hurriedly entered the house 
 one day and brought a message from Areh say- 
 ing that our friend Vaughn was in great danger, 
 and that we should warn him to come into 
 Ejahyay immediately. We had heard that Areh 
 might have some trouble with Ebaddan because 
 he had refused to acknowledge allegiance to the 
 successor of his old enemy, but we could not see 
 how that could affect the safety of a foreigner 
 who was entirely neutral in the matter. 
 
 The night before I started on the journey sug- 
 gested by Areh, Russell arrived from Awyaw, 
 and to this providential fact I doubtless owe my 
 life. I had naturally thought of buckling on a 
 seven-shooter but my wife dissuaded me from 
 this and persuaded Russell to accompany me. 
 We decided to take no arms, but in case of real 
 danger to make use only of the mettle and the 
 bottom of our horses. 
 
 I was most unfortunately mounted for this 
 
 130
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 particular occasion. The oracle of Efa having 
 counselled Areh to ride only a white horse, he 
 purchased a beautiful Arabian of that color. Not 
 being willing for any of his own people to ride 
 his old war horse, he persuaded me to buy it. It 
 was the largest horse in all that country and, for 
 that reason, was known everywhere as ' ' Arch's 
 war horse." He was so savage and unmanage- 
 able that I named him "Bucephalus." To be 
 more secure in my seat and to be able to sub- 
 due him, I ordered a Mexican saddle and spurs, 
 and these with a pair of boots arrived just in time 
 to be used on this journey. This outfit, in con- 
 nection with Arch's famous horse, helped to get 
 me into serious trouble. 
 
 We set out on the morning of the first anni- 
 versary of my arrival in Ejahyay. We found the 
 farms and wayside villages entirely deserted. 
 By this we knew that we might meet enemies at 
 any moment and proceeded with increasing cau- 
 tion as we got farther from home. But I was 
 too young and too thoughtless to take in the 
 seriousness of the situation, notwithstanding the 
 fact that my companion had become both watch- 
 ful and silent. I could not realize that a Yoruban 
 might harm me, and I tried to enjoy the ride as if 
 all was peace. On the other hand, my com- 
 
 131
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 panion had been a soldier in the Liberian army 
 and he knew what war in Africa meant. 
 
 In about six hours, one of which was occupied 
 in passing through a dense forest, we came to 
 the farm shanty of our friend and found that it 
 was in Ebaddan territory. About one mile far- 
 ther on was a collection of huts used as a stop- 
 ping place for caravans on their way to and from 
 Abeokuta. From this place a road branched off 
 to Ebaddan which was about twenty miles dis- 
 tant. Pigeons were flying around the shanty 
 and a bunch of bananas was hanging at the door, 
 but we could get no answer to our calls, and my 
 companion rode on to the wayside village to look 
 for Vaughn. 
 
 After waiting sometime and hearing some- 
 thing like the sound of an uproar in the distance, 
 1 rode on to join Russell. But soon everything 
 was silent again. Just before reaching the vil- 
 lage clearing, I was met and quickly surrounded 
 by a body of men armed with guns and cimeters. 
 At first I did not feel much alarm. It was plain 
 that some of them, were not Yorubans and, from 
 the way in which they looked at me, I knew that 
 they had never seen a white man before. They 
 seemed to be under the control of an officer or 
 leader, but I did not at all like their countenances. 
 
 132
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 The eyes of some of them were greyish and had 
 the cold, merciless gleam of the steel in their 
 hands. They stared up into my face and pressed 
 closer and closer to me like beasts of prey ready 
 to spring upon their victim. 
 
 "Whence do you come?" demanded the 
 leader. 
 
 "From Ejahyay," responded I. 
 
 As quick as a flash, they sprang forward and 
 attempted to unhorse me. But I touched my 
 powerful horse with the spur and he broke loose 
 from them with me still in the saddle. But they 
 got my broad-brimmed grey felt hat, my um- 
 brella, my lunch satchel, and also tore my coat 
 skirt to tatters. The strong leather strap of the 
 satchel broke before they got me out of the sad- 
 dle. In their ferocity they jerked it too hard. 
 Their leader was evidently a Yoruban and when 
 he gave me a signal to surrender, I thought it 
 was an invitation to flee and escape. I wheeled 
 my horse and endeavored to do so, but they 
 closed up in front and after a desperate struggle 
 in which I came near being shot, I was unhorsed 
 and thrown to the ground with great violence. 
 
 But their leader pressed them back with his 
 drawn cimeter and thus gave me an opportunity 
 to spring to my feet. In the Yoruban language, 
 
 133
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 I rebuked them sharply for thus wanting to kill 
 an unarmed man and the officer appeared to ap- 
 prove what I said. But they stood looking at 
 me in profound silence. Not a single word had 
 been spoken by one of them during this whole 
 time. That dreadful silence was their sentence 
 of death. But the officer firmly cleared the way 
 to my horse and commanded me to mount. On 
 hearing this command, the cutthroats seemed to 
 fear that they were about to be cheated of their 
 lawful prey and the uproar that followed was 
 more appalling even than their strange silence 
 had been. 
 
 At this juncture, my companion was brought 
 up, still mounted, but a prisoner. The sight of 
 his face confirmed me in my belief that I was to 
 be killed. He was from a friendly town, but 
 his face plainly showed that he was expecting to 
 be murdered. He understood their language 
 perfectly, and knew what they were saying in all 
 this din. I saw and heard enough to chill my 
 blood. One man yelled, "We can't sell them. 
 If we take them to Ebekoonleh, we will not get 
 anything. Let us kill them now." For several 
 moments we waited in sickening suspense the 
 decision of the commander-in-chief as to our 
 fate. Then a young man, with the bearing of 
 
 134
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 one high in authority, suddenly broke through 
 the noisy throng and, taking my horse by the 
 bridle, led him down by a very narrow path into 
 a dense and dark forest. My companion came 
 along behind, while a soldier with a gun brought 
 up the rear. We thought we were being led to 
 death. 
 
 When we came to a little opening, the young 
 man in front called a halt and seemed to be wait- 
 ing for some one. Presently I heard a sound that 
 made my blood freeze in my veins. It was the 
 rattling of war accoutrements of soldiers ap- 
 proaching us rapidly from behind. With deep 
 emotion, my companion called to me and said, 
 "They are certainly going to kill us now, sir." 
 I looked back and saw those same wolfish eyes 
 glaring at me through the foliage. My guard 
 now halted, took his cimeter from his shoulder 
 and came up to the side of my horse. Pointing 
 to the men who had just come up, he said with 
 much authority and dignity, "Oto geh!" (It is 
 enough.) The last word was pronounced with 
 great emphasis and prolonged into a deep 
 growl. 
 
 It seemed certain now that, helpless and 
 defenceless, we were about to be butchered in 
 that lonely spot and our bodies given to the 
 
 135
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 wild beasts of the forest. Language cannot 
 picture my feelings at that moment. I have 
 been several times called to look death in the 
 face since that time, but never in a form so 
 indescribably hideous. But the young man, 
 instead of being our executioner, was our guard. 
 After uttering the words mentioned above, he 
 sternly commanded our pursuers to return and 
 to take the places assigned to them and to fight 
 like men, for Arch's army was coming to attack 
 them. They faced the young leader in silence for 
 a while and then, to my inexpressible relief, 
 reluctantly and slowly retired. 
 
 Then with long but not ungraceful strides, my 
 guard plunged deeper and deeper into the forest. 
 This was a very merciful providence to me, for I 
 was entirely bareheaded. When we came again 
 into the burning tropical sun, my Liberian com- 
 panion placed his own hat on my head and made 
 a turban for himself out of his handkerchief. 
 My neck was already blistered and this thought- 
 fulness of his probably ^ived me from a deadly 
 sunstroke. We had no idea what our captors 
 intended to do with us, but escape was im- 
 possible and there was nothing for us to do but 
 to trust in God alone and to resign ourselves as 
 much as possible to His will. Yet it was with 
 
 136
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 a sinking heart that I came in sight of Ebaddan 
 and saw its brown thatched roofs extending 
 many miles over hill and dale, for I had reason 
 to fear that it was to be my prison until it be- 
 came my grave. 
 
 We entered the city about sundown and were 
 taken at once to the judgment place of the 
 governor, Ebekoonleh. This was a counterpart 
 of that of Areh. At the gate or door of the 
 court, the young man ordered us to dismount 
 and, placing me under guard of the soldier, 
 entered alone to report to the governor. After a 
 little delay, I was taken in under guard. 1 have 
 a very vivid recollection of something that hap- 
 pened just here for which I cannot certainly 
 account unless I had now become partially 
 crazed by heat and thirst, combined with ex- 
 citement. When I saw the majestic and ponder- 
 ous form of Ebekoonleh on the judgment-seat, 
 and a great crowd of people standing on the 
 left, a sudden feeling of indignation seized me, 
 and by the side of the soldier I stalked defiantly 
 up to the governor, looking him squarely in the 
 eye all the time. But he did not seem to notice 
 my disrespectful bearing, and with quiet dignity 
 ordered me to take my position on his right. 
 He was a remarkably handsome man, and 
 
 137
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 before the trial ended, proved to be a wise and 
 just judge. 
 
 The soldier then prostrated and preferred his 
 charge. He declared that I was an officer of 
 high rank in Arch's army, that I was riding 
 Arch's war horse, that I had come with an army 
 to attack the Ebaddans at Edo, and that I had 
 been captured after a desperate fight. He cun- 
 ningly left the governor to infer how great a 
 slaughter I had made. Knowing that every 
 officer taken prisoner in this country is put to 
 death, I suddenly awoke to the fact that I was 
 charged with a capital crime, and that if I could 
 not disprove the lying accusation of the soldier, 
 there were but a few moments more between 
 me and a bloody death. Speaking respectfully 
 but earnestly and using my companion as an 
 interpreter, I explained everything fully. The 
 governor replied to this by saying that a white 
 man had been brought to Ebaddan badly 
 wounded and that he was then with some 
 friends in an adjoining house, and he supposed 
 that this was the man we had come to warn of 
 his danger. He then demanded my gun and my 
 sword, but when these could not be produced, he 
 gave a grunt of displeasure. He seemed to 
 think that the soldier or the person whose agent 
 
 138
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 he was, had trifled with him. Still he did not 
 seem satisfied and he hesitated as to his decision. 
 
 After a short pause, he took from some one 
 behind him, a very long and heavy sword, and 
 handed it to a man of a very stern and repulsive 
 countenance who stood on the left. When the 
 scowling brute ordered me to follow him, a des- 
 perate plan of escape flashed like lightning 
 through my excited imagination. I determined 
 to wrest the sword from the hand of the execu- 
 tioner, fight my way to my horse and escape by 
 any way that might be open. I am more than 
 six feet tall and have a large frame, but fortu- 
 nately for me, my companion was as cautious as 
 I was hasty. With a loud exclamation, in the 
 Yoruban language, I sprang at once to my feet, 
 but Russell quickly intervened and hastily ex- 
 plained that the governor was only going to 
 send me to prison. There was much confusion 
 at first, but after order had been restored, speak- 
 ing through my companion, I sincerely apolo- 
 gized for my unseemly and hasty conduct. 
 
 But I could not suppress fears of treachery, for 
 the countenance of the man with the sword as 
 well as other things, showed that he was the 
 regular executioner, and as I passed on to the 
 gate the people averted their faces and eyes. 
 
 139
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 After going some distance, we saw the lights of 
 a missionary's house. It was a vision of paradise, 
 for it meant rest, sympathy, and congenial society. 
 But when we came almost to the gate, I was or- 
 dered to follow the man with the sword down 
 into a dark gorge. My suspicions being con- 
 firmed, I refused to obey; but my companion 
 again exhorted me not to resist yet, but to obey 
 until I knew positively what they were going to 
 do. As I turned away from that vision of a 
 Christian home, to go down into that dark valley, 
 it was like a lost spirit turning away from a vi- 
 sion of heaven to go down to hell. My young 
 heart with all its cherished hopes still clung to 
 life, and I felt determined to make all reasonable 
 effort to escape when any seeming opportunity 
 presented itself. 
 
 After going some distance in the hollow, we 
 entered a large compound and were placed 
 formally in charge of the bale. Our new guard, 
 after conferring a while with the governor's mes- 
 senger, took us back the same way we had come 
 to the missionary's house, with the warning that 
 if we left there without the permission of the 
 governor, we would be killed by Ogumulla's 
 men. The missionary, Mr. Hinderer and his 
 wife, were absent in Abeokuta, and we were 
 
 140
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 placed in charge of the assistant of Mr. Hinderer. 
 He received me with such tender sympathy that 
 I sat down and gave vent to my feelings in a 
 flood of tears. Thank God for tears! After 
 that, I felt more like a Christian man ought to 
 feel under the circumstances. I have no doubt 
 that I would feel very differently now, if I should 
 be placed in similar circumstances, but I must tell 
 things as they happened. Yet I sincerely thanked 
 God that my hands were still unstained with blood. 
 The next day Mr. Hinderer and his wife arrived 
 from Abeokuta, and told us that the Dahomians 
 were rapidly approaching that place in accordance 
 with the agreement with Ogumulla. He then 
 informed me of other things in connection with 
 this man's schemes, some of which I have al- 
 ready mentioned. I found out that while Ogu- 
 mulla had not yet invaded Ejahyay territory, he 
 had cut off all communication with that town by 
 the regular ways, and that he had gotten to- 
 gether in several camps on the roads leading to 
 Ejahyay, an army numbering about 100,000 men. 
 These soldiers were not only from Yoruban 
 towns favorable to the war, but many thousands 
 of them were from Nufe, Benin and other war- 
 like and marauding nations nearer the Niger. I 
 was told that the men who captured me were 
 
 141
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 Tarkpar and Foolah adventurers under the com- 
 mand of Ebaddan officers, and that to save me 
 from them, the son of the governor himself had 
 brought me to Ebaddan and delivered me to his 
 father that I might have a fair trial before being 
 delivered up into Ogumulla's power. As power- 
 ful as he was, the latter dared not assume to be 
 superior to Ebekoonleh in authority. The rever- 
 ence these people have for their legitimate rulers 
 is one of the most remarkable things about them, 
 and according to venerated custom Ogumulla 
 was only Ebekoonleh's lieutenant, and could 
 command no forward movement until he received 
 orders or at least permission from his superior. 
 
 During the five days that I was prisoner in 
 Ebaddan, the two chiefs were said to have had a 
 stormy conference every day, Ogumulla demand- 
 ing an immediate attack on Ejahyay and other 
 things, and Ebekoonleh refusing to order what 
 he demanded. Ogumulla also demanded that I 
 should be put to death and that Arch's horse 
 should be given to him. I found out that the 
 reason I was allowed to retain my horse was be- 
 cause the governor was not willing that his am- 
 bitious subordinate should have the horse I had 
 ridden. I was not allowed to lay my case before 
 the governor, but Mrs. Hinderer made many 
 
 142
 
 Waylaid and Captured 
 
 very touching appeals for my release, telling of 
 my wife and of the sick missionary in Ejahyay. 
 The governor's reply was that it was needless to 
 go back to Ejahyay, for that would soon be de- 
 stroyed ; and that, if Ogumulla's men did not kill 
 me before I got there, they would do so after- 
 ward. When Mrs. Hinderer asked the mes- 
 senger what would become of my wife, he 
 seemed disgusted and asked, "Is that the only 
 wife he has ? Why can't he get another ? " 
 
 I now saw that the only way to get away from 
 Ebaddan was to leave secretly without the knowl- 
 edge or consent of the governor. 
 
 At first, I thought of escaping in the night and 
 trying to get around the Ebaddan camp into 
 Ejahyay before morning. But Mrs. Hinderer 
 suggested that I try to get to Awyaw and lay my 
 case before the king. This I finally decided to 
 do. Mr. Hinderer had been too sick to render me 
 any assistance since his arrival, but his energetic 
 and tactful spouse provided me with a guide, 
 some " cowries " and some presents to help me on 
 the way to Awyaw. The route for two days was 
 at right angles to the one to Ejahyay and was 
 nearly one hundred miles farther; but I was will- 
 ing to endure any fatigue and to run any risk to 
 get home alive. 
 
 143
 
 XVI 
 
 FLIGHT FROM EBADDAN 
 
 ON the afternoon of the fifth day of my cap- 
 ture, accompanied by my Liberian friend and by 
 my guide, I quietly left Ebaddan by the Awyaw 
 route. We reached Lahlookpon, twenty miles 
 distant by dark. This is a wayside village pro- 
 tected by a stockade and placed in the midst of a 
 dense forest. There is no way of entering or 
 departing except by the way which passes 
 through it and it is just the place for dark, 
 treacherous and bloody deeds. Here I passed a 
 night, every incident of which will remain vividly 
 impressed on my memory as long as reason re- 
 mains. About dark, just before we came to the 
 gate of the stockade, my companion suddenly ex- 
 claimed, "They are following us, sir." I turned 
 back quickly and saw a man dodge into the 
 bushes on the side of the path. I jumped to the 
 conclusion at once that Ogumulla's men were fol- 
 lowing us. If they were not enemies, why 
 should they hide from us ? But we were allowed 
 to pass the gate and I received permission from 
 the bale of the town to pass the night in his 
 
 144
 
 Flight from Ebaddan 
 
 house. To make him as friendly as possible, I 
 gave him a handsome razor. While I was sitting 
 and sadly meditating on my situation, the gate- 
 keeper entered and prostrating to the bale, warned 
 him to be careful about what he was doing, for I 
 was riding Areh's horse and I was the white man 
 Ogumulla had captured. He did not know that 
 we heard. I now remembered Ebekoonleh's 
 warning and I believed Ogumulla's men were fol- 
 lowing either to murder me that night or to carry 
 me back with my horse to Ebaddan. I supposed 
 that they hoped the bale would not allow me 
 to stay inside the stockade and I would be in 
 their power. What it all meant, I never knew. 
 The bale had a conference with somebody, and I 
 was not disturbed. But I thought that there was 
 a plan on foot to murder me that night and this 
 supposed discovery, led to a most painful mental 
 conflict. I had a cutlass at my service, but I 
 knew that resistance would be in vain even if it 
 might be right. 
 
 When I realized that there was no possible way 
 of escape, my heart fainted and I sank into a state 
 from which I could not arouse myself, not being 
 able either to speak or to move. By shaking me, 
 calling me by name and shouting in my ear, 
 " Don't do that way, sir, " my faithful friend suc- 
 
 146
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 ceeded in arousing me so that I could speak, but 
 I found it quite impossible to partake of any 
 nourishment. During this physical prostration, 
 my mind was abnormally active. I seemed to see 
 many of the scenes of my boyhood days. I also 
 saw my wife wandering weeping about our 
 home in Ejahyay. I tried to find some rest on 
 the ground with my saddle for a pillow, but I 
 passed a night full of horror. So soon as I would 
 begin to doze, some suspicious sound would 
 make me start up to listen. It was too dark to 
 see anything, but my hearing was intensely 
 acute and exaggerated every sound. I was also 
 in most intense physical pain, having had a very 
 severe ague in the first of the night. 
 
 About midnight there was a great alarm. The 
 stillness of the hour was suddenly broken by a 
 piercing shriek. Lights flashed about and I saw 
 men taking down their guns and powder gourds. 
 Then there was a cry of, " Fire! Fire! " I thought 
 the Ebaddans had fired the house to drive me out, 
 but I awaited developments before taking action. 
 After some suspense, I learned through my com- 
 panion that a child named Ena (fire) was thought 
 to be dying, and all this noise was the result of 
 the efforts of the people in the house to drive 
 away the evil spirit that was dragging away the 
 
 146
 
 Flight from Ebaddan 
 
 little soul. The woman who screamed was its 
 mother. She first discovered the desperate ill- 
 ness of the child and gave the alarm. The men 
 ran for their " medicine " gourds and rattled them 
 over the child to drive away the evil spirit. For 
 some minutes the frantic mother continued to 
 call its name while she forced apart its eyelid and 
 breathed into its nostrils. Then it revived and 
 all was as quiet again as if nothing had happened. 
 So soon as we could see, we resumed our jour- 
 ney. Knowing that the gatekeeper was our 
 enemy for some cause, and that he had had 
 plenty of time to communicate with Ebaddan, I 
 rode for an hour or more in constant dread of an 
 ambush, but we met no one who seemed to be 
 hostile. We met soldiers hurrying on to join 
 Ogumulla's army, but they passed us without 
 even saluting or noticing us in any way. Our 
 path led through a very dense forest of lofty 
 trees. About noon we came to the Orbar river 
 where we had to pay a kind of internal revenue 
 tax. Just before reaching this place, I heard a 
 man yell, "Allah Mohammedu!" When I came 
 up to the place, I found him crouching in the 
 vines by the path as if very much afraid of me. 
 When he saw my big horse and Mexican saddle, 
 and the cadaverous face of the rider, he doubt- 
 
 147
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 less thought I was an apparition from the unseen 
 world. 
 
 The tax collectors at the river were all Mos- 
 lems. Their turbans and tobes were spotless, 
 and their vests and trousers were of the finest 
 velvet. Just a little beyond the river was the 
 town Ewo, one of the oldest and best fortified in 
 the whole country. This town was in the league 
 against Ejahyay and I entered it with some mis- 
 givings, not knowing what instructions the gov- 
 ernor might have received from Ogumulla during 
 the past night. Often these rulers have secret 
 communication with each other during the dark- 
 ness of the night and plot any amount of mis- 
 chief before daylight. Professional hunters be- 
 come spies and scouts in war and are very effi- 
 cient instruments for such secret conferences. I 
 found the chief sitting in state surrounded by the 
 twenty-four elders of the town, all dressed in 
 turbans and tobes and evidently discussing some- 
 thing very serious. I saluted him respectfully 
 and asked permission to go through his town to 
 visit the king. He replied very pleasantly, grant- 
 ing the permission and then dismissed us with 
 the usual polite expressions. 
 
 Through our guide we got some information 
 that made me determine to change our proposed 
 
 148
 
 Flight from Ebaddan 
 
 route. We had intended to turn to the left here 
 and go straight to Awyaw, but we learned that 
 Ogumulla's men had been seen on the road be- 
 tween Ewo and Awyaw and that the only way 
 to escape them would be by going on to Ogbom- 
 ishaw, a neutral town, sixty miles further in the 
 interior on the border of Western Soudan. I 
 was much distressed at the necessity for this 
 change, for it would add an additional hundred 
 miles to my journey. But I was willing to do 
 anything to keep out of the way of Ogumulla's 
 people, and determined to hide in Ewo until the 
 next morning and make an early start for Ogbom- 
 ishaw. 
 
 Our guide conducted us to the house of a man 
 who, he said, had once been a member of the 
 mission church of Ebaddan and who was a friend 
 of the white man, and could be trusted. When 
 night came, I was almost as much depressed as I 
 had been at Lahlookpon. I was now going 
 away from Ejahyay and things began to look as 
 if I would never see that town again. I could 
 not endure the thought of my wife falling into 
 the power of those ruffians from whom I had 
 just been delivered. But I was not yet free my- 
 self, and was in as much dread of being inter- 
 cepted on my way to Awyaw, as 1 was when 
 
 149
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 riding out of the Ebaddan gate. The route from 
 Ewo to Ogbomishaw leads sixty miles through a 
 very wild country, and I contemplated it with 
 much anxiety. An almost unbroken wilderness 
 lies between Ogbomishaw and Awyaw, and at 
 that time one could travel the whole of the last 
 named distance without meeting anybody but 
 people engaged in the chase or in war. 
 
 I was now quite ill with African fever. When 
 a heavy rain came up and beat in on me where I 
 was lying in the piazza., a woman in the com- 
 pound kindly offered to vacate her sleeping 
 apartment for my relief. But soon a greater 
 surprise than this awaited me. As I was lying 
 on a grass mat in the little room, by the light of 
 a little native lamp I saw the mat which hung 
 over the door pushed aside. Then a hand hold- 
 ing a book was thrust within and that book was 
 an old English Bible. Our host could not speak 
 English, and why he had the Bible, I can't im- 
 agine. But the sight of it brought indescribable 
 joy to my heart. I arose from the mat and 
 opened it at random. The first thing my eye fell 
 upon was the twenty-seventh psalm, and as I 
 read it aloud, it seemed to be the very voice of 
 God speaking from heaven. After the reading, 
 we both kneeled together and I prayed aloud. 
 
 150
 
 Flight from Ebaddan 
 
 While I was praying the burden of my heart 
 seemed to melt away, and I became conscious of 
 a very strong assurance that I would soon be de- 
 livered out of my distressed condition. The feel- 
 ing was so strong that it greatly strengthened my 
 body by refreshing my spirit. My body was 
 racked with the pains of the African fever but 
 my heart was sweetly at rest in God; and the 
 night I passed in Ewo, is vividly contrasted in 
 my memory with my hideous experience at 
 Lahlookpon. 
 
 A broiled piece of porcupine meat tempted me 
 to take a little nourishment the first I had tasted 
 since leaving Ebaddan. During the night we 
 heard a mother silence her child with the warn- 
 ing, "Kumee will catch you." We gathered 
 from this that we were not yet among the friends 
 of our chief, and that it would be advisable to 
 leave the town as soon as practicable. We had 
 left our horses outside the gate of the town in 
 charge of our guide and so soon as the gate was 
 open we mounted and set out for Ogbomishaw. 
 When leaving, I told my companion of the 
 change in my feelings. 
 
 "That is just the way I felt, too, sir, "said he 
 with a brightened countenance; for up to this time 
 his face had worn an exceedingly sad expression. 
 
 151
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 But he had always been cool, sympathetic and 
 brave in all this great trouble. 
 
 The enlivening of my spirit showed itself that 
 day in a most astounding physical endurance. 
 Though so weak that I mounted my horse with 
 difficulty, 1 rode sixty miles that day, keeping the 
 saddle until late at night and allowing the guide 
 only time to rest. My stomach would not retain 
 food and my back and limbs ached dreadfully, 
 but I did not allow these things to delay me a 
 moment. My mind had been lifted up from the 
 darkness of despair to the light of hope. The in- 
 tellectual and spiritual were masters for the time 
 of the physical and animal. My experience that 
 day seemed to me to be a philosophical hint of 
 the fact that while the body is essential to a com- 
 plete humanity in any case, there may be an inter- 
 mediate state in which the soul has conscious life 
 and vigorous activity without the aid of matter. 
 
 We found that the first stopping place for cara- 
 vans was in the heart of a forest and, as it was 
 still early in the afternoon, I persuaded the guide 
 to go on, feeling that it would be better to camp 
 in the jungle among the leopards than in another 
 Lahlookpon; and among the leopards, we came 
 near having to camp, sure enough. The sun 
 went down as we emerged from the forest, and 
 
 152
 
 Flight from Ebaddan 
 
 darkness overtook us many miles from Ogbom- 
 ishaw in a jungle swarming with leopards noted 
 in the country for their boldness and ferocity. 
 The air was filled with doleful sounds, the wild 
 animals began to move about, and once the guide 
 became alarmed, but we had no adventure with 
 any kind of wild beast. I do not positively know 
 that I even saw any. I was more concerned at 
 that time about ferocious bipeds than about 
 quadrupeds. Yet we had reason to be thankful 
 we were not molested, for I was told, after 
 reaching the town, that leopards had even been 
 known to tear down the farm huts and devour 
 the inmates, and that one had attacked a woman 
 inside the walls in broad day. 
 
 After some anxiety, we saw in the distance a 
 speck of light which proved to be a lamp at the 
 gate of Ogbomishaw. This town being neutral, 
 I was secure as long as I was inside its walls. 
 The house of the American Baptist Mission was 
 then temporarily occupied by two travellers with 
 abundant supplies, and here for two nights and a 
 day, I found food, shelter and rest. The mis- 
 sionary was absent in America, but the house was 
 in charge of his interpreter, and everything was 
 exactly as he left it. 
 
 Before parting with the travellers, I exchanged 
 
 153
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 horses with one of them, telling him honestly 
 why I did so. I never saw Bucephalus again. I 
 heard that the traveller sold him to a Sierra Leone 
 merchant who killed him in trying to subdue 
 him, having galloped him twenty-one miles in a 
 single heat. He was as fiery as ever at the end 
 of that time, but the next morning he was 
 stretched out dead unconquerable to the last. I 
 never saw his like before and I hope I will never 
 see it again. To better fit him for war, he had 
 been trained to bite people and to strike at them 
 with his forefeet. He would spring at the hostler 
 and make his teeth crack together like a lion's. 
 Even after I had galloped him long and furiously, 
 his fierce snort and wild neigh would make chil- 
 dren flee as if a lion were coming. 
 
 154
 
 XVII 
 
 HOME AGAIN 
 
 FORTY miles from Ogbomishaw on the road to 
 the Niger is Illorin, the most interesting of all the 
 towns in which the Yoruban language is spoken. 
 Its population consists of two distinct races, the 
 Foolahs and Yorubans, living in separate districts 
 of the city which is a kingdom or principality in 
 itself. The chief ruler is called " Emir" and was 
 chosen from the Foolahs only. While he ruled 
 the Yorubans with moderation, he treated them 
 as a conquered race and gave them no share in 
 the government. The Emir at this time was not 
 only a Foolah but, like most of his race, a bigoted 
 Mussulman, and would not suffer any Christian 
 missionary to settle in the town. No stranger 
 could enter the city without special permission 
 from the Emir and was in the hands of an officer 
 as guide and keeper until he departed. At that 
 time, the officer who performed this duty was 
 named Nasamo and was quite famous on account 
 of his intelligence, courtesy and dignity. But 
 the most remarkable thing about him was that he 
 had never had but one wife, and was then a 
 
 155
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 widower with two daughters who looked after 
 his household. As he was a very old man, it is 
 doubtful whether he ever married again. 
 
 The Emir was a member of the Masonic fra- 
 ternity and would grant special privileges to any 
 stranger who furnished proof that he belonged 
 to that order. Ordinarily his person was screened 
 while giving an audience to Nazarenes and other 
 foreigners, but when he discovered that his vis- 
 itor was a Mason, he pulled the curtain aside 
 and embraced him with many manifestations 
 of joy and affection. He was a white Foolah 
 and like all other rulers of his race, preyed on 
 the Pagan towns near him. Illorin boasted the 
 largest slave market in that part of Africa. The 
 Yorubans who lived in the town as subjects of 
 the Emir were mostly Pagans and had little 
 social intercourse with their haughty masters, 
 and they were secretly cherishing at that time 
 a burning desire to free themselves from the 
 Foolah yoke. 
 
 I will add here as a sort of note that this desire 
 has recently been gratified. In a battle fought 
 between the English and the forces of the Emir 
 in the beginning of the year 1897, the Yorubans 
 turned against the Foolahs and placed themselves 
 under the protection of the English. The Emir 
 
 156
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 5 u 
 S > 
 
 1
 
 Home Again 
 
 was defeated and fled to Ogbomishaw. Illorin 
 was captured and the Yorubans are now freed 
 from the oppressions of their Mussulman mas- 
 ters. With Illorin also fell Bida, Socotoo and 
 other Foolah towns, and slave hunting, with all 
 its diabolical cruelties and unspeakable horrors, 
 has been broken up in that part of Africa for all 
 time. This should open a way for missionaries, 
 but the Niger company is more interested in 
 trade than in missions, and will do little to curb 
 Mussulman bigotry unless there is a change in its 
 policy. The Emir still refuses to allow Christian 
 missionaries to preach in Illorin and the farthest 
 they can go in that direction is Ogbomishaw. 
 Here Rev. C. E. Smith of the Southern Baptist 
 Convention, is at the head of a most interesting 
 and successful mission. 
 
 Illorin being in alliance with Abeokuta and 
 Ejahyay, it seemed wisest at first for me to go to 
 Illorin and thence to Abeokuta and Ejahyay; but 
 being informed by traders that the road to Aw- 
 yaw from Ogbomishaw was certainly open, I 
 finally determined to go directly to the capital 
 and to place myself under the protection of 
 Ardayloo, king of Yoruba. I knew that my 
 wife was in great trouble and that it was a 
 matter of much importance that I should inform 
 
 157
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 her of my safety as soon as possible and, if Ar- 
 dayloo was favorable, I would be in Ejahyay in 
 a few. hours after leaving Awyaw. I also felt 
 happy at the thought that my face would now 
 be turned toward Ejahyay. A number of men 
 who were going to Awyaw desired permission 
 to make a part of my company and in this way 
 our party was augmented to a considerable band. 
 We were delayed in the beginning of our 
 journey by a very sad event. Just after we had 
 left the gate of the town, my Liberian companion 
 reeled in his saddle and fell from his horse. As 
 this town had been his home for many years, he 
 had many friends here, and 1 left him in their care 
 and resumed my journey, though distressed to 
 part with him under such circumstances. I 
 never saw him again, but that sad face shaded 
 by long raven locks, will always remain in my 
 memory as vivid and real as life. If he had not 
 gone with me, I would not have survived this 
 adventure. His life was given in exchange for 
 mine. Not once did he express any regret that 
 he had gone with me. He recovered sufficiently 
 to get to Abeokuta by a circuitous route and he 
 was there at the station of the American Baptist 
 Mission when he died a short time afterward. 
 Mr. Phillips informed me that his nervous sys- 
 
 158
 
 Home Again 
 
 tern was so completely shattered by this unfor- 
 tunate adventure, that he talked of little else, 
 often shuddering and praying while recounting 
 the incidents of our capture, trial and flight. I 
 am thankful to believe that he at last found 
 rest in the peace of a Christian's hope, and that 
 at some future time, we will meet where "the 
 wicked cease from troubling and the weary are 
 at rest." 
 
 On our journey to Awyaw, we met no one ex- 
 cept some hunters in a little grassy opening in 
 the forest. These came toward us running, 
 shouting and leaping high over the bushes and 
 grass, and as they had guns in their hands and 
 had the accoutrements of soldiers, we at first 
 thought they were Ogumulla's men coming to 
 intercept me. It is needless to say that I was 
 greatly relieved when I found that they were 
 not. The object of their pursuit ran just in front 
 of my horse and was supposed to be a wild 
 boar. 
 
 At noon we rested on the bank of the Orbar 
 river under the great trees of an open grove. 
 Such a natural phenomenon is so rare in Africa 
 that I was tempted to wander some distance up 
 the river under its refreshing shade. This pleas- 
 ant recreation was brought to a sudden conclu- 
 
 159
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 sion by a loud roar in the still forest. If my 
 Ejahyay gun loaded with ball had been in my 
 hand, I would have investigated before retiring; 
 but under the circumstances, I thought it best to 
 leave and not be too slow about it, either. The 
 country north of this is infested with lions, but 
 the natives call a lion kinneu, and a monkey or 
 anything of that tribe, aryar; and they said that 
 the sound had been produced by an aryar and 
 not a hinneu. As I had just seen a large num- 
 ber of big, black monkeys in the trees a little back 
 in the forest, I had to abandon my lion story. 
 
 As these are not allowed in any other than the 
 royal city, one can always know when he is ap- 
 proaching Awyaw by a sight of the arharbee or 
 towers on the king's house. It was with a 
 strange mingling of dread and of joy that I 
 caught a distant view of these peculiar structures 
 in the last rays of the setting sun. In the mys- 
 terious providence of God, the petty African 
 despot who sat under these towers had become 
 the arbiter of my fate; and I fervently prayed 
 again, as I had done before, that God would put 
 it into his heart to grant my petition. 
 
 While in Ejahyay, I had made the acquaintance 
 of Rev. T. A. Reid, the missionary of the Ameri- 
 can Baptist Mission in Awyaw, and to his house I 
 
 160
 
 Home Again 
 
 proceeded as soon as we entered the town. He 
 gave me a joyful welcome. He had heard of my 
 disappearance and had just returned from a haz- 
 ardous trip in search of me. Supposing that I 
 had fallen into the hands of Ogumulla's men, he 
 started for Ebaddan under the protection of a 
 royal messenger. At Ewo, he learned that a si- 
 lent white man, who was riding a very big horse 
 and looked sick, had passed through there on his 
 way to the interior. He was so well satisfied it 
 was I that, most fortunately for me, he returned 
 at once to Awyaw without proceeding to Ebad- 
 dan. He had just dismounted when I rode up. 
 He sadly told me that the same messenger who 
 had informed him of my disappearance had also 
 told him that my wife, supposing that I had been 
 murdered, had been prostrated by her grief and 
 was not expected to live. 
 
 Mr. Reid sent to salute the king and to inform 
 him of my safe arrival, but that I was too much 
 fatigued to appear before him in person. The 
 king sent a messenger at once congratulating Mr. 
 Reid on account of my safety and giving me per- 
 mission to proceed at once to Ejahyay without 
 appearing before him. I will say here, by way 
 of parenthesis, that I was very fortunate in this 
 matter; for Ardayloo was very much under the 
 
 161
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 influence of Ogumulla, and was, also, a man of 
 uncertain humors. A short time after he treated 
 me so kindly, he threatened to behead two mis- 
 sionaries who came to Awyaw from Abeokuta to 
 get permission to visit Ebaddan. It was only 
 through the intercession of Mr. Reid, who seemed 
 to have much influence over him, that they were 
 even permitted to return to Abeokuta. Their 
 lives were spared upon condition that they would 
 be a certain distance from the city in one hour 
 after they had been warned. 
 
 Mr. Reid accompanied me to the outposts of 
 the Awyaw army, and then bade me an affec- 
 tionate adieu. I did not see him again until we 
 met in America. 
 
 As the pickets had been instructed to let me 
 pass in safety, I soon found myself on Ejahyay 
 territory. In coming suddenly out of a belt of 
 forest, I came upon a number of Ejahyay soldiers 
 plundering the Awyaw farms, and it was very 
 amusing to see how the fellows stuck to their 
 baskets of yams while they scampered away sup- 
 posing that the horsemen of the enemy were 
 coming. A little farther on I came to the outpost 
 of the Ejahyay army. The commander received 
 me kindly and wanted to detain me to give some 
 
 account of what I had learned of the Ebaddan 
 162
 
 Home Again 
 
 army, but I was too much excited to be willing 
 to stop. 
 
 The forest which belted Ejahyay was now 
 in sight. All suspense was now over. I was 
 safe. I was free. Oh, the happiness of that 
 moment! My heart was ready to burst with 
 tumultuous joy and, for a moment, I forgot 
 what might be before me. With an exultant 
 shout I put spurs to my horse and went 
 in a sweeping gallop across the plain. Dashing 
 through the intervening forest and the city gate, 
 I came in another moment to the mission com- 
 pound. But nobody greeted me. No one was 
 in sight, and the silence of the grave reigned 
 throughout the place. My heart sank within 
 me. I leaned over the wall and saw my inter- 
 preter within a few feet of me reclining on a mat 
 in the piazza of his house. His countenance was 
 much dejected, and when I saw how really dis- 
 tressed he was, I was much moved by this evi- 
 dence of his sincere affection. In a low tone, I 
 spoke his name, and when he looked up, 1 made 
 a gesture for silence. But there was no restrain- 
 ing him. At first his eyes dilated as if he had 
 seen a ghostly apparition, then he sprang to his 
 feet with a loud cry of joy, and started for the 
 gate with his arms held aloft as if about to fly. 
 
 163
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 As I rode into the gate he threw his arms around 
 me and dragged me from my horse. Soon all 
 the children of the mission compound were 
 clinging to my hands and my knees, frantic 
 with delight. Freeing myself from these I 
 rushed into the house and met my wife, pale 
 and tottering, at the door of her room, and all 
 our troubles were over for one while, anyhow. 
 
 In a short time all the converts and many of 
 the neighbors crowded in to hear the story of 
 my deliverance, and the joy they manifested was 
 very gratifying. In a few days both my wife 
 and myself felt almost as well as usual, so much 
 has the mental to do with the physical, especially 
 in this strange climate. 
 
 From the time of leaving Ebaddan until reaching 
 Ejahyay, my head had been protected from the 
 sun by nothing but a brimless cloth cap and my 
 neck and face were badly blistered, but I did not 
 receive any enduring injury from this dangerous 
 exposure. It is possible that starvation and ex- 
 citement may have been used as instruments by 
 a merciful Providence to save me from fatal sun- 
 stroke. During the ten days of my adventure, I 
 did not eat as much as I ordinarily ate in a single 
 day. 
 
 In relating her experience during this trying 
 
 164
 
 Home Again 
 
 time, my wife told me that she was much dis- 
 turbed when I did not return the first night, but 
 hoped that I had been detained to help Vaughn 
 get his property home. When I did not appear 
 at noon the next day, she persuaded two other 
 Liberians named Barbour and Smith that were in 
 the country and happened to be at that time 
 temporarily sojourning in town, to go in search 
 of me. These men were full-blooded Africans 
 who had fallen from a state of civilization to the 
 level of the heathen; but, while they were 
 desperadoes, they still possessed many excellent 
 traits of character. From pure sympathy, they 
 agreed to go in search of me, notwithstanding 
 their knowledge of the people made them realize 
 what extreme peril would attend the undertak- 
 ing. Fully armed, they set out about noon to gc 
 to the shanty of Vaughn. Impatient from sus- 
 pense, my wife attended by her native maid, 
 followed the road some distance from the town, 
 still hoping to meet me, until the setting sun 
 compelled her to return to her darkened home. 
 
 About midnight, she heard the men talking in 
 a low tone in the piazza, and knew by this that 
 they were hesitating from sympathy to tell her 
 what they had learned. She then swooned and re- 
 mained very ill until Sunday, believing all this 
 
 165
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 time that I had been murdered by the Ebaddans 
 and my body given to the wild beasts. It is 
 needless to describe her anguish of mind during 
 this time. One vision that specially tortured her 
 was that in which her delirious imagination pic- 
 tured the hyenas devouring my body. 
 
 On Sunday, the sixth day after my disappear- 
 ance, after Mr. Phillips had given up all hope of 
 her recovery and, possibly, just in time to save 
 her life, Areh hurriedly sent a messenger to say 
 that I was alive and in Ebaddan. He also said 
 that Ebekoonleh had sent word to Areh that 
 Ogumulla wanted to kill me but that he did not 
 intend to give me up. This was all. There was 
 no assurance that I would be allowed to return 
 to Ejahyay, but she felt certain that my life 
 would be spared and that we would meet again in 
 this world in some place if not in Ejahyay. 
 Good news in Africa is better than medicine and 
 she began to convalesce at once and when I 
 arrived unexpectedly three days afterward, she 
 was able to rise from her bed to meet me. 
 
 The manner in which Areh got his information 
 concerning my safety showed that he still held 
 communication with the governor of Ebaddan. 
 The man who acted as spy on this occasion told 
 us that he climbed the city wall and then went 
 
 166
 
 Home Again 
 
 into Ebekoonleh's compound by a secret door in 
 the rear. 
 
 In relating this story, I have described what I 
 felt, not what I ought to have felt; what I did, 
 and not what I ought to have done. Possibly if 
 I had been older, I would have acted differently. 
 But the discipline was not altogether thrown 
 away on me, for it proved to be a good prep- 
 aration for the trials that were just before me. 
 
 167
 
 XVIII 
 
 OPENING BATTLES AROUND EJAHYAY 
 
 WHEN Areh heard that I had arrived, he sent 
 to say that he would not eat until he had seen 
 me. This was equivalent to an order. I was 
 secretly conducted by many little doors, courts 
 and passages to the centre of his vast compound. 
 I found him lying on a mat under the shade of a 
 tree attended by one trusty servant only. He 
 questioned me very closely in regard to what I 
 had learned of Ogumulla's intentions and about 
 his army. Not wishing to be a partisan in the 
 matter and desirous of illustrating a Christian 
 spirit before him, I respectfully asked him to ex- 
 cuse me from giving him any information of a 
 military character. He then tried to make me 
 say that Ogumulla was a very bad man, but I 
 replied that we were all wicked in the sight of 
 God. He seemed to be entirely nonplussed, and 
 after expressing his surprise at my way of 
 putting things, he dismissed me without a pres- 
 ent. This showed that he was not at all pleased. 
 But I did not feel afraid that he would do me any 
 harm. He did not look at any time as he did 
 
 168
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 on the day that I saw him so angry and when 
 he probably executed a man with his own hand. 
 Yet I felt relieved when I got safe and sound out 
 of his den, for I was still weak and nervous. 
 
 A few days after this, we noticed that the 
 gates of the town were closed and guarded, and 
 that everything was strangely quiet. We kept 
 within doors and awaited developments. The 
 next day everything was reversed. The streets 
 were filled with merry crowds, and sounds of 
 boisterous revelry came from the houses. Areh 
 Argo (the chief next to Areh} taking advantage 
 of his master's precarious situation, conspired 
 to wrest from him some of the power he had 
 usurped. Argo's followers seized the gates and 
 informed Areh that unless he made certain con- 
 cessions and confirmed them by giving 200 bags 
 of cowries and 300 slaves they would open the 
 gates to Ogumulla. This was a dangerous thing 
 to do to such a man and the masses were very 
 uneasy until the thing was settled. Areh pre- 
 tended to treat the whole thing as a good joke, 
 told them that they did not ask enough, and 
 then gave them much more than they required. 
 Then the people sent word to him that they 
 would "fight the devil" for him. The money 
 was spent in feasting and revelry. Thus did the 
 
 169
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 poor people sell their homes and their lives for a 
 mess of pottage. 
 
 About ten days after getting home, I witnessed 
 for the first time a military demonstration in 
 Central Africa. During the night Areh sent out 
 all his horsemen supported by about 30,000 in- 
 fantry, to attack, in the early morning, the Ebad- 
 dans who were plundering the Ejahyay farms. 
 About ten o'clock, they returned through the 
 gate near our house and filed past the yard gate. 
 Some were armed with swords and shields, 
 some with bows and arrows, others with great 
 cross-bows, but the greater part had muskets. It 
 was a barbaric host of very warlike men, but 
 they did not look as merry as they did the day 
 they sang in drunken glee, "We'll fight the devil 
 for Areh." Areh Argo mounted on a beautiful 
 Arabian pranced up and down, reviewing the 
 line. A number of prisoners and of men carry- 
 ing the heads of Ebaddans slain in the fight, pre- 
 ceded the flowing tide of warriors. Members of 
 the same family were on different sides in this 
 war, and when the women recognized some men 
 connected with Ejahyay families among the 
 prisoners, they began to dance and to sing, say- 
 ing, "Areh will make a pile of heads." A few 
 days after this I passed through the gate leading 
 
 170
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 to Ebaddan and just on the side of the way was 
 a heap of human heads arranged like cannon 
 balls. Areh had made a "pile of heads." 
 Prisoners not natives of Ejahyay were sold or 
 redeemed as slaves. 
 
 A vast, open, grassy plain lay on the Ebaddan 
 side of the town, and just out of sight over a 
 hillock, the Ebaddan host was permanently en- 
 camped. They were waiting the new moon to 
 begin the attack. The first appearance of the 
 slender silver crescent, was greeted by the roar of 
 myriads of muskets, the fusilade continuing for 
 many minutes. It could no longer be concealed 
 from the people that some desperate fighting was 
 before them. Five days were given by the 
 enemy to feasting, then early one morning the 
 sentinel's gun told us that the enemy were ap- 
 proaching. They filled the plain for many miles 
 and were a terrible sight. 
 
 Ebekoonleh had been brought over to join in 
 the war and commanded a strong force in the 
 centre. Ogumulla held the right and another 
 powerful subordinate chief, the left, with corps 
 equally large. Though Ebekoonleh was nomi- 
 nally commander-in-chief, Ogumulla was the lead- 
 ing spirit. He could be easily distinguished from 
 the Ejahyay lines by his scarlet robe and fine 
 
 171
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 horse. A great war-horn was loudly praising 
 him and breathing out threatenings for his ene- 
 mies. Areh's drums bid him fierce defiance. 
 Much of the day was given to maneuvering and 
 getting the bushy, grassy plain in a condition for 
 a fight. 
 
 In the stand-up contest which followed, lines 
 of men several abreast, streamed to the front, 
 fired and then turned and flowed back to the 
 rear. They thus formed an endless chain from 
 one end of which there poured a constant stream 
 of fire. For a while an incessant blaze issued 
 from the front of both armies. Wherever the 
 lines of battle were within a hundred yards of 
 each other, the work was quite deadly, but out- 
 side of that distance the fire was not very effec- 
 tive. The roar of the muskets was deafening, 
 and the ground often sensibly vibrated. Neither 
 side had any artillery, but the sound of the battle 
 was heard in Abeokuta, two days' journey away. 
 A creek imbedded in high grass and bushes, lay 
 between the opposing forces, and each com- 
 mander tried to induce his opponent to cross 
 first. At length Areh's officers lost control of the 
 younger and more reckless, and they forced one 
 of the fords and drove the Ebaddans back for 
 nearly a mile. But they were dreadfully pun- 
 
 172
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 ished. That evening our mission yard was full 
 of the wounded, all of them young men. 
 
 We had received an intimation as to what we 
 might expect from a young man who was the 
 first to come. He stepped quietly into our 
 piazza without saying a word. This was so un- 
 usual that I desired to know what he wanted. 
 He simply raised a cloth from his shoulders ex- 
 posing a hole in the centre of his breast from 
 which blood was trickling. Before we coui 
 give him any relief, the wounded began to corns 
 in such numbers that my wife had to become, 
 for the time being, a hospital nurse. 
 
 We did all we could for them, sewing up cuts, 
 and taking out bullets and broken bones. The 
 bullets were of iron or copper. The copper bul- 
 lets were made by cutting off about three-fourths 
 of an inch of a copper rod one-half inch in diam- 
 eter. These produced gangrene and were much 
 dreaded by the soldiers. 
 
 Although the enemy were held in check, they 
 were not discouraged, for they had just begun to 
 fight. Areh did not praise his men that day, be- 
 cause they had run over their officers in the bat- 
 tle. The third day after that battle, the enemy 
 reappeared in increased numbers, but received a 
 signal repulse, the more remarkable because thev 
 
 173
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 were so overwhelmingly superior in numbers to 
 the Ejahyay people. In the high grass on the 
 enemy's right flank, Areh posted during the 
 night about ten thousand men under the com- 
 mand of the brave and faithful Orgeh. By a 
 pretended retreat next morning, he drew the 
 enemy across the creek thus exposing their flank 
 and rear to Orgeh's furious charge. The rout 
 was complete and Areh galloped up and down 
 his lines shouting, "Fight for your wives and 
 your children, my people. It is hard to take a 
 man in his own house." 
 
 One of the most famous warriors in the Ebad- 
 dan army was killed in this battle, and Areh had 
 his heart taken out, broiled, cut into little pieces, 
 and then distributed among his generals to be 
 eaten by them to make them brave in battle. 
 This was the only instance of cannibalism that I 
 heard of during my sojourn in Africa. It is not 
 impossible that there was cannibalism during the 
 famine which at one time attended the siege of 
 the town. 
 
 Three more pitched battles followed in quick 
 succession, the Ebaddans pressing the Ejahyay 
 people with all their might because they knew 
 that an army from Abeokuta, and possibly one 
 
 from Illorin, was coming to the assistance of the 
 174
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 besieged. In comparison to the great host mar- 
 shalled against them, the Ejahyay army looked 
 like "a little flock of kids"; the Ejahyay people 
 showed, however, no sign of fear, but rather ex- 
 hibited wonderful courage and patriotism. The 
 women assembled in the rear of the line of battle 
 with water and provisions. If any part Of the 
 line gave away, the women jeered until the re- 
 treating warriors rallied. The men often dis- 
 played Spartan-like fortitude when wounded. 
 While I was attending to one wounded man, 
 another who had been shot in the eye and must 
 have been suffering intense pain, gave several 
 deep groans. Presently the other impatiently 
 exclaimed, "Quit that. If you must die, die 
 like a man." The poor sufferer writhed several 
 times after this but did not groan again. 
 
 But nothing could have saved the city many 
 days longer, when the scarlet cloaks of Abeo- 
 kutan horsemen appeared on the hill just outside 
 of the town. The intervening strip of forest 
 being in a hollow, the opposite hill seen above 
 it, seemed to be very close to us, and it was with 
 much joy and thankfulness that we saw them file 
 out of the bushes and begin to prepare the camp 
 for the coming army. Before night, the whole 
 hillside was black with men working like bees, 
 
 175
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 building a fortification around the camping 
 ground, and little thatched huts for tents. About 
 20,000 arrived on the first day and all were under 
 the command of the Bashorun, the military chief 
 of Abeokuta and a man of royal birth. 
 
 So soon as he was comfortably settled in camp, 
 he received a visit from Areh gorgeously arrayed 
 in a scarlet robe of silk velvet. The Bashorun 
 was dressed in flowered silk of the same color. 
 Both wore red caps of velvet ornamented with 
 gold lace. In the exuberance of his joy on ac- 
 count of the arrival of his supposed benefactor, 
 Areh danced before him ; but if he had suspected 
 the motives which influenced the Bashorun in 
 coming, he would not have been quite so hilari- 
 ous. Than these two, it is hardly possible for 
 two men to have been more unlike in character. 
 Though implacable to his enemies, Areh was 
 frank and generous to his friends. On the other 
 hand the Bashorun was very scheming, covetous 
 and deceitful, while he was not altogether free 
 from the charge of cruelty. 
 
 The mounted scouts of the Ebaddans were 
 bold riders and often performed feats of impu- 
 dent daring. Just outside the gate leading to 
 the battlefield was a large and lofty cottonwood 
 tree used as an observatory by the sentinel. He 
 
 176
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 would ascend to the top of this and on seeing 
 the enemy coming in any dangerous numbers, 
 would descend and fire off a great wall musket 
 that made a report something like a small cannon. 
 One day, a short time after the arrival of Areh's 
 allies, while the sentinel was up the tree, a 
 single horseman dashed up to the foot of it and, 
 after enjoying the fright and surprise of his cap- 
 tive, coolly sent his compliments to Areh, con- 
 gratulating him on account of his guests and 
 saying that the Ebaddans would whip him. and 
 his visiting friends, too. He then dashed along 
 in front of the Egba camp, yelling defiance at 
 them. Notwithstanding he was so provoking, 
 we could not help laughing at his humor. 
 
 After a few weeks' delay, the allied armies 
 formed a junction and disappeared over the hill 
 in search of the Ebaddan camp. Areh and his 
 people had become impatient on account of the 
 delay, but the Bashorun was very cautious and 
 hesitating. He seemed to favor defensive rather 
 than offensive tactics. But they disappeared 
 over the hill in splendid order and I had no doubt 
 but that the battle of that day would end the 
 war. In a few hours, we heard that the enemy 
 had abandoned their camp and fled to Ebaddan 
 
 and other places, and we were beginning to think 
 177
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the war would end without another battle, when 
 the eastern horizon was shaken by a tremendous 
 peal of distant thunder which continued to re- 
 verberate for about thirty minutes. Then all was 
 silence. I thought the enemy had been attacked 
 in the rear and routed. Again the roar of battle 
 shook the eastern horizon, but this time the sound 
 was nearer. I had gone about a mile in the 
 direction of the sound when I met a man greatly 
 exhausted but still trying to run. 
 
 " What is the matter ?" I enquired. 
 
 " Areh orders that the gates shall be shut," he 
 pantingly replied. 
 
 I knew then that the allies had been defeated 
 and were not only retreating but running. I kept 
 up with the weary courier and got in before he 
 shut the gate. When I reached the mission sta- 
 tion, I found my wife alone and not being will- 
 ing to leave her thus took her with me and 
 started out in the town toward the gate of the 
 city to learn what I could. We had gone only a 
 short distance, when a great cry of lamentation 
 through the whole city, showed that the people 
 had given themselves up for lost. I then hurried 
 back into our house. We had hardly gotten in 
 before Mr. Phillips, all the inmates of the station, 
 and many of the converts came running in. We 
 
 178
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 all fell on our knees while Mr. Phillips briefly but 
 fervently supplicated God's protection in this 
 hour of peril. 
 
 Just then many of the panic-stricken Abeo- 
 kutans, some of them desperately wounded, 
 rushed into the mission yard. All that could 
 fight, we succeeded in rallying and in persuading 
 to take a stand at the city gate. But fortunately, 
 the Ebaddans were so much encumbered with 
 their prisoners that they did not press the siege 
 that time, and when the sun went down not an 
 enemy was in sight. By morning the defeated 
 allies had somewhat recovered from their de- 
 moralized condition. Some, however, continued 
 their flight to Abeokuta, and a few crazed by 
 their experience that day, did not stop until they 
 reached Lagos. It was, indeed, a very appalling 
 disaster. 
 
 The Ebaddans, each one with a fillet of grass 
 around his cap to distinguish him from his foes, 
 had spread themselves out for several miles and 
 hid ir> the tall grass or canebrake of a small 
 stream. In some way they succeeded in lulling 
 the suspicions of the allies and their charge took 
 them entirely by surprise. They made a brave 
 stand for a while and then broke. Areh suc- 
 ceeded in rallying some of them and in holding 
 
 179
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the enemy in check for a few minutes, but finally 
 everything gave away and the whole plain from 
 there to Ejahyay was covered with a confused 
 mass of men fighting in all sorts of ways, even 
 with sticks and rocks. Swords were used very 
 freely. The flesh had been peeled off from one 
 man's neck from his ear to his shoulder by a 
 sword cut. We pasted it back with sticking 
 plaster after sewing it a little, and he got well. 
 I took a bone from the wrist of another where it 
 had been nearly severed by a sword-cut. This 
 man afterward rendered me an important service 
 as a reward but of this I will speak later. 
 
 A man told me that after he had been taken 
 prisoner, he threw his captor down and killed 
 him by choking him and cramming earth down 
 his throat. But the melee was not without its 
 comic side. One of the men was heard begging, 
 "Spare me! Spare me!" and when one of his 
 companions ran to his assistance, he found that 
 the humble suppliant was held, not by an 
 Ebaddan, but by a bush. 
 
 The night after the defeat was one of great 
 gloom. The whole city, including the mission 
 station, was filled with mourning for the dead or 
 the missing. Enigbio, the chief messenger, who 
 had two little children with us, was shot dead on 
 
 180
 
 Opening Battles around Ejahyay 
 
 the field. It was very touching to see the little 
 ones wipe the tears from each other's eyes as they 
 wept. There was also great sorrow in the Egbar 
 or Abeokuta camp, and trumpets were wailing all 
 night calling the names of the missing in the 
 hope that they might be hid in the "bush" and 
 be directed by the sound to the camp. All the 
 officers and chiefs who were taken alive, if recog- 
 nized, had been immediately slain ; but the other 
 prisoners were either redeemed by their rich 
 friends or sold as slaves. 
 
 181
 
 XIX 
 
 WORSHIPPING THE DEAD PRINCE 
 
 THE conduct of the Bashorun on the battlefield 
 had been so wanting in courage that the women 
 of Ejahyay began to make songs about him. To 
 prevent a breach between him and the Bashorun, 
 Areh ordered these songs to cease. 
 
 After waiting long enough to dispose of their 
 prisoners the enemy again appeared perceptibly 
 increased in numbers, and advanced to attack the 
 Egbar camp, but Areh frightened them by an- 
 other flank movement and they fell back to the 
 old battle ground. We were thus spared the 
 sight of a battle right in front of our door. We 
 could easily see the Egbars as they lay in the 
 trenches of the camp waiting the approaching 
 Ebaddans, and would have witnessed all the in- 
 cidents connected with the assault. 
 
 For a week the two armies skirmished, each 
 trying to induce the other to begin the attack; 
 then Ogumulla, becoming impatient, took an 
 oath that he would enter Ejahyay on a certain 
 day. On the morning of that day he offered up 
 a great sacrifice, the smoke of which ascended 
 
 182
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 like a great, white pillar from the plain in the 
 rear of the Ebaddan host. It took him until four 
 o'clock, to get his unwieldy masses in fighting 
 order, and then the charge was sounded all 
 along the line. The lines of the allies were like 
 a solid wall. They redeemed their prestige lost 
 in the last defeat, displaying wonderful courage, 
 for they were outnumbered at least three to one. 
 For several hours it was like a volcano in erup- 
 tion, and when night came on and the lurid 
 flames of the blazing muskets lit up the mass of 
 white sulphurous smoke that hung over the 
 plain and city, the scene was truly appalling, 
 made even more so by the fact that the com- 
 batants were yelling with all their might the 
 whole time. The allies humiliated and incensed 
 by their recent rout pressed closer and closer 
 until in some places the bright threads of fire 
 seemed to cross each other. At length the 
 astonished Ebaddans, no longer able to stand 
 before a fire so galling, broke and fled in dismay, 
 pursued for a mile or more by the exultant allies, 
 whose fire did not slacken to the last. 
 
 After this unexpected display of spirit on the 
 part of the besieged, the enemy changed their 
 tactics and tried to weaken them by cutting off 
 their supplies of salt, for they knew that food 
 
 183
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 was of no use in this climate without this in- 
 dispensable ingredient. But the people of Ejah- 
 yay were now starving by hundreds. The sup- 
 plies brought from Abeokuta by military caravans 
 were used only for military purposes, and the 
 poor who could not secretly escape from the 
 town, were left to miserably perish. For some 
 reason many preferred to die on the bank of the 
 creek where it flowed through a grove near the 
 gate in front of the station. Every day a num- 
 ber of living skeletons would totter and stagger 
 along the way by our yard to reach this hallowed 
 spot that they might lie down and die there. 
 After death they would look like mummies, and 
 the Egbar soldiers would throw their dry and 
 wasted forms in heaps on each side of the path 
 leading to their camp. 
 
 Than this famine, in all its circumstances, I 
 never saw anything more pitiful. At first, I took 
 a portion of the food I happened to have each 
 day and standing by the side of the path, would 
 try to induce the starving to eat a little, but they 
 would look at me with a vacant stare showing 
 that they were unconscious and too far gone to be 
 benefited by human aid. 
 
 The famine and suffering among the people 
 failed to enlist any sympathy from those in 
 
 184
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 power, yet scenes would always occur at the 
 gate when a military caravan was leaving for 
 Abeokuta which ought to have moved to com- 
 passion the hardest heart. Large numbers of 
 these poor people who knew what their fate 
 would be if they did not get away, would 
 gather at the gate and piteously beg to be 
 allowed to go along with the others. Some- 
 times they would try to force their way through 
 and be dreadfully beaten and even killed by the 
 soldiers guarding the gate. 
 
 I was never able to wholly understand why 
 they were detained, but thought at the time it 
 was because if they let the poor and aged go 
 away they would have to let many go away 
 whom they intended to seize and sell on some 
 pretext or other' to obtain means to carry on the 
 war. By being detained, also, multitudes of the 
 people of Ejahyay were compelled to put their 
 children in pawn to the Egbar warriors. These 
 children were then sent to Abeokuta and kept in 
 slavery until the redemption price was paid. In 
 most cases it was never paid. 
 
 Many persons brought their children to us with 
 the request that we would take care of them 
 until the war was over. We were very glad to 
 make this arrangement, for by it many children 
 
 185
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 were brought from under the influence of pagan- 
 ism and put under the influence of the gospel at 
 a very receptive age. As we would not be able 
 to sustain so many children in this famine- 
 stricken town, it was decided that Mr. Phillips 
 should take most of the children and go to 
 Abeokuta, while I would remain in charge at 
 Ejahyay, retaining my wife's little waiting maid 
 and some of the children whose parents were not 
 willing for them to leave Ejahyay. Mr. Phillips 
 succeeded in getting them all safe to Abeokuta, 
 but some of them were laid up for some time 
 from exhaustion, for the soldiers moved rapidly 
 in these military caravans. Thus originated a 
 native orphanage which afterward became an 
 important centre of Christian influence among 
 the people of Yoruba. 
 
 As the famine increased, many little home- 
 less, starving wanderers came into the mission 
 compound at Ejahyay. Some of them appeared to 
 be demented by sickness and hunger, and when 
 we were not watching, returned to the streets to 
 perish. Those whom we could get to remain, 
 we nursed into health and then sent them to 
 Abeokuta in baskets on the heads of soldiers. In 
 this way, I sent down about seventy more chil- 
 dren to be placed at the orphanage. Of these, 
 
 18G
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 we will hear more later on, but starvation had so 
 broken the health of some of them that they soon 
 pined away and died. Only seventy remained 
 when I reached Abeokuta about eight months 
 later. 
 
 Under very trying circumstances, the care of 
 an important mission station had suddenly and 
 unexpectedly devolved upon me, but I had an 
 excellent interpreter who was always faithful to 
 me, and I could now speak the language very 
 well for ordinary purposes myself. I instructed 
 and encouraged the converts the best I could, and 
 whenever her health or the condition of things 
 would allow it, my wife continued to teach the 
 children. Whoever had food in the town kept 
 it concealed, but as long as there was any in town 
 to spare, I was able to buy a little on the sly, the 
 people who sold, bringing it in the night. Once 
 I was entirely out of cowries and had nothing 
 that anybody in town wanted to buy. In special 
 prayer, I bid the matter before the Lord, and that 
 day a man came from the Egbar camp and of- 
 fered to buy the colt of my wife's riding mare. 
 The sum that this brought lasted us for some 
 time. We had some rice and some arrowroot. 
 We also had plenty of sugar, tomatoes and 
 oranges. We preserved the tomatoes and ate 
 
 187
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 them with the rice. We made some of the ar- 
 rowroot into battercakes, but they were rather 
 sticky and tough. Mr. Phillips was able to send 
 us some flour once. I sent to Areh for help only 
 once. He sent me a small quantity of worm- 
 eaten corn with a message that showed he was 
 not pleased with me about something. 
 
 But Arch's great power in Ejahyay was now 
 broken, and he had practically become a subject 
 of the scheming Bashorun, and I had unwittingly 
 given assistance to the conspiracy through which 
 this change had taken place. It was in this way. 
 After Mr. Phillips left, the Bashorun made fre- 
 quent calls at the mission house. On the first 
 occasion, he was mounted on a large fiery horse 
 and dressed in his most splendid habiliments of 
 state. Black ostrich plumes waved from his shoes 
 and his gold-laced cap. He was attended not 
 only by officers of his household, but by a body- 
 guard of soldiers. I received him in all the state 
 I could muster, and when he departed presented 
 him with a dish large enough to hold a roasted 
 wild boar. This visit was to break the ice. Of 
 course, I had to return it. A few days after this, 
 my wife and I arrayed in our best but rather 
 time-worn clothes, paid our respects to his High- 
 ness in camp. He gave us a most condescend- 
 
 188
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 ing reception, and when we left, walked some 
 distance by my side in the sight of the whole 
 army, a courtesy he rarely extended to anybody. 
 I was greatly puzzled to know what all this 
 meant, for I could not imagine how I could be 
 of service to him in any way which would lead 
 to so much affability on his part at a time when 
 he had me and everybody in Ejahyay from Areh 
 down, so absolutely in his power. 
 
 A few nights after this, when I was about to 
 retire, I heard a gentle knock at the door. I cau- 
 tiously opened it and found the Bashorun dressed 
 as a common soldier standing before me. He 
 had only two attendants, and they were dressed 
 like himself. After talking a while, he requested 
 that I would allow my interpreter to act as his 
 private secretary and write a letter for him. To 
 this I readily consented, of course. He made 
 several visits like this, each time calling for my 
 interpreter to act as his amanuensis. I knew 
 that the letters were addressed to the king of 
 Abeokuta but, supposing that they had reference 
 only to military arrangements, I did not inquire 
 of my interpreter as to their contents. I do not 
 know whether they were written in English or 
 Yoruba, but that was immaterial for the king's 
 private secretary was a Sierra Leone man and 
 
 189
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 could read and write both languages. I found 
 out, however, that one of the letters began, 
 "There is a great cotton wood tree in our way, 
 and we must cut it down," and my interpreter 
 hinted that Areh was the cottonwood tree. 
 
 I had often wondered what the inducement 
 was that led the Bashorun to come to the aid of 
 Ejahyay, and I now understood the whole matter. 
 All who witnessed the last battle knew that it 
 was the steadiness of the Egbars that had saved 
 the city, and that battle dated the beginning of 
 the wily Bashorun's efforts to accomplish com- 
 pletely the mission upon which he had come 
 the absorption of Ejahyay and its dependencies 
 as a part of his personal possessions. He was of 
 royal descent, and he claimed with some show of 
 plausibility that Ejahyay was a part of his ances- 
 tral inheritance. 
 
 After the king had agreed to everything, the 
 Bashorun proceeded to cut the cottonwood tree 
 down. He called a meeting of the Ogbonees, a 
 powerful and secret society to which many of 
 the most influential of the Ejahyay chiefs be- 
 longed, and obtained a decree conferring some 
 high title of honor on one of Arch's generals. 
 This was the first stroke of the axe. Areh scorn- 
 fully refused to acknowledge any title not con- 
 
 190
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 ferred by himself, and he practically executed his 
 general for accepting it by exposing him to 
 certain death in battle. All this worked exactly 
 in the Bashorun's hands. One very dark night, 
 all the Ogbonee elders, including many of the 
 most powerful men of both armies, met under 
 the cottonwood tree standing just outside the 
 gate, and sent a peremptory order to Areh to 
 appear immediately before them. As they evi- 
 dently meant to put him to death, he refused to 
 obey but at the same time showed a disposition 
 to make every concession possible by sending 
 200 bags of cowries and 300 slaves. From that 
 night, the Bashorun was the real ruler of Ejahyay ; 
 for Areh did not dare to disobey any decree of 
 the Ogbonees, and they decreed in this particular 
 matter whatever the Bashorun desired. 
 
 Whenever any one disobeys or offends the 
 Ogbonees, the executioner of the lodge requires 
 him to eat a poisoned cola-nut in the presence of 
 the lodge. When this is done, he is told to go 
 home and put his house in order by the time the 
 Ogbonees come to seize his property. I have 
 always believed that this was to have been done 
 with Areh, but as they could not get him into 
 their power without violence, I suspect they 
 ordered him to commit suicide. In this way 
 
 191
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 only can I account for his insane rashness on the 
 battlefield soon after this event. The two armies 
 were skirmishing very heavily when Areh with 
 all his slaves charged suddenly right into the 
 blazing muskets of Ogumulla's centre. Un- 
 suspicious of anything of the kind, I happened to 
 be looking at him at the time. Then followed 
 one of the most exciting events I ever witnessed 
 on a battlefield. A simultaneous yell went up 
 from both armies, there was a wild rush of 
 thousands of men to that point and a desperate 
 hand-to-hand conflict, while the muskets crashed 
 all along the line. The enemy were driven back, 
 and Areh was brought out apparently unhurt, 
 but his beautiful Arabian war horse was covered 
 with blood. I do not think he ever again ap- 
 peared on the battlefield. 
 
 Some months after this and after I had left for 
 Abeokuta, he died either from the effects of 
 wounds received on this occasion or from poison 
 administered secretly by the orders of the 
 Ogbonees. My interpreter told me that during 
 the last week of his life Areh repeatedly sent for 
 me and repeatedly enquired when I would return. 
 What he wished, I could never learn, but I have 
 sometimes thought it might have been a merciful 
 providence that took me to Abeokuta before he. 
 
 193
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 died. In his last hours he possibly wished to 
 wreak his vengeance on me for my supposed 
 complicity in the conspiracy against him. But it 
 may have been otherwise. He may have wished 
 to tell me that he believed the gospel and had 
 repented of his sins. 
 
 An event almost as strange as this would have 
 been, did actually occur a short time before I left 
 Ejahyay. A man named Ardayloo, an officer in 
 the Egbar army, was taken very sick and sent for 
 me. He informed me that he had been a neigh- 
 bor of the missionary of the American Baptist 
 Mission in Abeokuta, and that he was a frequent 
 visitor at his house. He had learned to know, 
 he said, that the white man was kind, and he had 
 sent to me for medical assistance. Seeing that 
 he was very ill, I persuaded his men to bring him 
 to the mission compound, and I had him put in a 
 room of the native department. 
 
 After a few days, it was evident that he would 
 die. When he realized this, he sent for some of 
 his men and confessed to them in my presence 
 that he was a believer in "Yasu Christee" and 
 that he had not personally sacrificed to his peo- 
 ple's gods for several years. He requested them 
 to give his body to me to be buried according to 
 Christian rites and to surrender his personal 
 
 193
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 effects to the Ogbonees that they might take 
 what it pleased them to confiscate. The em- 
 barrassed but sardonic grin with which the 
 leader of the men heard these words is still 
 vividly pictured on my imagination. 
 
 After they had gone out, he made a full con- 
 fession of his sin in hesitating to confess Christ be- 
 fore his family and his people, describing the 
 great trouble in which such a course would have 
 involved him with the Ogbonees and with his 
 kindred. He then prayed that the Lord would 
 forgive him for his timidity in neglecting to con- 
 fess him before men until now and asked to see 
 the book that told about "Yasu." One was 
 placed in his hand. He looked at it for a while 
 and then exclaimed in a kind of rapture, his 
 countenance lighting up suddenly as if he saw 
 something that greatly rejoiced him, "Yasu, 
 ewaw ne Olugbalah me! ewaw ne Olugbalah 
 me! " (Jesus, thou art my Saviour! Thou art my 
 Saviour!) He continued to look at the book 
 until it dropped from his hand and then his eyes 
 closed as he faintly said, " Amee law elay " (I am 
 going home). It was like a bright shining light 
 from heaven in the midst of the dense spiritual 
 darkness of paganism. If that missionary had 
 done nothing more than lead this poor heathen 
 
 194
 
 Worshipping the Dead Prince 
 
 into ' ' the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
 God in the face of Jesus Christ " he would have 
 been amply compensated for all that he suffered 
 while in Africa. He doubtless never knew any- 
 thing about the conversion of this man until he 
 met him in heaven. And many other mission- 
 aries may expect the same experience. They 
 must work and wait. God will give the increase 
 when it pleases Him, but it will certainly come 
 sometime and that when it is best that it should 
 come. If there are those who are skeptical on 
 this subject, it is all the worse for them. We 
 cannot but believe what we see and hear. I 
 made his coffin with my own hands and buried 
 him by the side of Mr. Phillips' wife. Not one 
 of his people honored his memory with their 
 presence on this occasion. 
 
 A few weeks after this, I witnessed another 
 burial ceremony of a very different kind on the 
 same spot. Bashorun's heir was desperately 
 wounded and brought to me in the mission com- 
 pound. Nothing could be done for him and he 
 died as the heathen die without a ray of light 
 from the other world. His body was wrapped 
 in costly silk and lay in state until night. Then 
 the Ogbonees came and carried it to a grave that 
 
 had been dug for it near that of Ardayloo's. As 
 195
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 a mark of respect to the Bashorun, I had fol- 
 lowed, but when my presence was discovered, I 
 was politely informed that the ceremonies which 
 had now begun could not be witnessed by any 
 but an Ogbonee and I was not favored with a 
 view of the ceremony in full. In about thirty 
 minutes, the "mysteries" were finished, and 
 Prince and subject were sleeping side by side 
 waiting the judgment day. Let us feel thankful 
 that all judgment is in the hands of a merciful 
 Creator, but what disciple of Jesus does not feel 
 that everything possible should be done to scatter 
 the darkness which hung over the grave of that 
 heathen prince with the heavenly light that glori- 
 fied the face of the dying Ardayloo. 
 
 The next morning the younger brother, attended 
 by a bodyguard, came to the grave and prayed to 
 the spirit of his dead brother, kneeling down and 
 audibly asking for protection in battle and success 
 in the affairs of life. After their young master 
 had finished his supplications, the soldiers stood 
 in a line and fired a volley over the grave. 
 
 190
 
 XX 
 
 LEAVING THE DOOMED CITY 
 
 THE scenes through which we had been pass- 
 ing for a year were beginning to tell seriously on 
 my wife's health. Outside our faith, we had lit- 
 tle to cheer us. Daylight brought battles, blood 
 and suffering, night brought alarms. While 
 awake, we were in a constant suspense which 
 was very trying on a female constitution in this 
 climate. The faith of the converts during all 
 this ordeal was as simple as that of children, yet 
 it made them giants in the strength of their 
 characters. It was, indeed, an impressive object 
 lesson. 
 
 We had to give up everything like domestic 
 order. Except in the seclusion of our sleeping 
 apartment, privacy was impossible. Visitors and 
 wounded soldiers were always in and about the 
 house, and we encouraged them to come. We 
 wanted them to feel that we and everything we 
 had were at their service, to see in us as much as 
 possible the spirit and character of our divine 
 Master. 
 
 For more than thirty days at a time of great 
 
 1OT
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 fighting and tumult my wife was extremely ill. 
 She was beginning to have chills every six hours 
 when the disease yielded to remedies. Her re- 
 covery, under the circumstances, was almost mi- 
 raculous; for she would often have to listen all 
 day to the roar of battle, not knowing but that 
 before night the Ebaddans would be in town, 
 plundering, burning and murdering. One dark 
 night, we had a most appalling alarm from 
 which sleep kindly delivered her. Without the 
 slightest premonition, the crash of hundreds of 
 muskets simultaneously shook the air. The 
 sound seemed to be just outside our yard. Im- 
 mediately the whole town and camp were in an 
 uproar, the men yelling and the women wailing. 
 I learned afterward that it was a demonstration 
 of the Ebaddans to find out whether the Egbars 
 were in their camp or not. They had been in- 
 formed that the Egbars had fled to Abeokuta. 
 
 When my wife had fully recovered, it seemed 
 to be my duty to take her to Abeokuta as soon as 
 possible. The Bashorun still continued to make 
 us informal visits, more for the sweets we gave 
 him than anything else, I suppose. It was my 
 duty to present him with something, however 
 small, whenever he came, and I finally satisfied 
 him with some tomato preserves or " white 
 
 193
 
 Leaving the Doomed City 
 
 man's honey " as he called them. He would eat 
 so much of these that I would have to give him a 
 dose of medicine almost large enough for a horse 
 to cure him. I learned through him that he had 
 established a strong force in a fortified camp half- 
 way to Abeokuta and that in this way his cara- 
 vans were so well protected travelling to Abeo- 
 kuta in them was reasonably safe. 
 
 The camp was situated between two moun- 
 tains where the Ogun river cuts its way through 
 them. It is one of the wildest spots I ever saw. 
 From this camp scouts went out and scoured the 
 forests between that place and Ejahyay every 
 day, and the Bashorun always knew when it was 
 safe to start a caravan for supplies. I told him 
 of my purpose to go to Abeokuta and requested 
 him to let me know when it seemed to be safe 
 for me to do so, and to furnish me with the 
 needed carriers. This, after a little delay, he 
 promised to do, and I began at once to prepare 
 for the journey, the converts received permission 
 to accompany me. I was not willing to go 
 without them for I knew that the town would 
 certainly be taken and there was no reason why 
 they should remain unless they were capable of 
 bearing arms. Those that now remained were 
 either widows or children. The Bashorun, there- 
 
 199
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 fore, had no excuse for detaining either them or 
 me. 
 
 The military caravans always started early in 
 the morning with a great rush, and they travelled 
 very rapidly in a kind of "quick-step" so as to 
 reach Okee-Magee (two mountains), the fortified 
 camp, before night. It was decided, therefore, 
 that I should pass my last night in the Egbar 
 camp, the Bashorun guaranteeing protection not 
 only for my wife and self, but for the converts 
 and children. We waited until dark and then 
 swiftly and silently left the mission yard for the 
 camp. It resembled a funeral, and before order- 
 ing the start, I went hastily back into my room 
 and fell on my knees in the dark and fervently 
 prayed in a few words for the doomed city. 
 PoorEjahyay! Before many months had passed 
 there was nothing left of it but blackened ruins, 
 the homes of the wild beasts of the forest. In 
 this great solitude of forest and jungle myriads 
 who rejected the gospel now sleep in death 
 awaiting the resurrection of the judgment day. 
 Then it may be found that there were some poor 
 timid souls who lived and died in a faith which 
 only Jesus saw. There must have been more 
 than one Ardayloo in all Yoruba. 
 
 I felt quite secure in camp, but did not sleep 
 
 200
 
 Leaving the Doomed City 
 
 much. During the night the younger warriors 
 engaged in a war dance, moving in a circle and 
 chanting a tune indescribably weird. In the 
 dance they would strike each other with clubs 
 smeared with the war "medicine" of each 
 dancer. Whoever was least hurt by morning, 
 was supposed to have the strongest " medicine." 
 Some of them were badly hurt by the poison, but 
 I do not think that any of them died from the 
 effects of this hideous carousal. Because of the 
 attention I had shown to her wounded son, the 
 Bashorun's head wife did us the honor to come 
 into our little room and personally see that we 
 were as comfortable as the circumstances would 
 admit. She conducted herself with much dig- 
 nity, but appeared to be very sad. 
 
 During the night, some of the soldiers fired on 
 a leopard which was prowling around the camp. 
 On account of the number of the dead people, 
 the hyenas had revelled every night, but the 
 armies had either driven away or destroyed 
 much of the prey of the leopards, arid hunger 
 was beginning to make them very bold both in 
 the mission yard and in the camp. The Bash- 
 orun had had a rather startling adventure a few 
 nights before. The old gentleman was very 
 
 fond of chicken in his "palaver sauce" and so 
 201
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 were all his "boys," especially in time of war 
 when delicacies were scarce. He knew that 
 while his life was safe in the hands of his 
 "boys," the lives of his favorite birds were not. 
 So he always slept near the door of his low tent 
 with the basket of chickens hanging just within. 
 Not finding any nobler game, a leopard crept up 
 and had his neck stretched out over the ponder- 
 ous form of the Bashorun, trying to get a mouth- 
 ful of chickens, when he touched the sleeper and 
 waked him. A loud yell from the Bashorun 
 brought some soldiers to his assistance and saved 
 the chickens and their owner. The disappointed 
 beast retired to the wall and there howled or 
 roared back angry defiance at his pursuers. Not 
 until he had been struck by a ball would he take 
 refuge in the bushes. 
 
 The Bashorun hurried us off next morning as 
 soon as it was light enough to travel. A trusted 
 officer, whom we knew, had been instructed to 
 give special attention to the safety of my party ; 
 for the people of the caravan acted upon the 
 principle "every man for himself," and there 
 were some young people in my party who could 
 not keep up through the whole day with the 
 excited, hurrying throng. 
 
 A stubborn battle had been fought a few days 
 
 202
 
 Leaving the Doomed City 
 
 before in which the allies had been pressed back 
 slowly to the last line, showing that they were 
 barely able to hold their own. We feared that, 
 encouraged by this show of weakness, the enemy 
 might send a large detachment of their vast 
 horde to attack our caravan. About noon, we 
 came to a place where a road from Ebaddan 
 entered our way, and the officer warned us all 
 not to speak while passing that place. For 
 about thirty minutes, we hardly breathed. After 
 going a mile or two farther, we met one of the 
 scouts from the camp at Okee-Magee, who told 
 us that the way was certainly safe to that place, 
 but we were still in the enemy's country and I 
 could not feel wholly out of danger. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, we came in sight of the 
 camp of Okee-Magee. Wrapped in mantles 
 of azure, with their faces illumined by the 
 departing sun, the twin sisters seemed to 
 greet us with a welcoming smile. I tasted 
 again the cup of happiness of which I so freely 
 drank when, after passing the outposts of 
 Awyaw, I came in sight of Ejahyay. The 
 mountains were still a long distance away, but 
 our buoyant spirits annihilated space. 
 
 Just as the sun set and when we were still 
 several miles away from the camp, I heard the 
 
 203
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 rumbling of distant thunder. Yet I could see no 
 cloud. The mountains had now taken on a very 
 sombre hue and seemed to warn us of coming 
 danger. Suddenly a great black cloud, made 
 more appalling by the constant play of vivid 
 lightning, issued from between them and came 
 rushing and roaring straight at us. The violence 
 of the shock so completely scattered my party 
 that we did not get together again until next 
 morning and one of the female converts was not 
 found until the afternoon of the next day. In 
 less time almost than it takes to tell it, the 
 carriers, converts and children were thrown 
 down by the force of the wind and lay wallow- 
 ing and choking in water nearly knee deep. The 
 carriers of my wife's hammock, being stalwart 
 warriors, managed to keep their feet to the last. 
 My wife lay, half-strangled in a pool of water, 
 but I managed to keep at her side until the 
 tempest had swept past. The rain was blown 
 almost horizontally and in sheets instead of drops. 
 It struck us like the current of a rushing river. 
 
 It was now quite dark and we had much 
 difficulty in getting up the rocky defile into the 
 camp. At last we entered amidst the deafening 
 roar of guns as an expression of joy for the safe 
 arrival of our caravan. 
 
 204
 
 Leaving the Doomed City 
 
 For about an hour, the condition of my wife 
 and self was very forlorn. When I sent to the 
 commander for a tent in which to pass the night, 
 I received permission to occupy a little thatched 
 arbor which was open on all sides. We were 
 soaking wet and getting very cold in the fresh 
 breeze that followed the storm. We sat here for 
 a while in the darkness and were not only cold 
 and wet but weary and hungry and there was no 
 one to get anything for us. Our people had all 
 disappeared in the storm and darkness excepting 
 my faithful interpreter, who was now acting as 
 my messenger. I found out that the commander 
 was Ogubona, one of the most famous chiefs of 
 the Egbars and known in England as the "friend 
 of the white man." I sent another message to 
 him reminding him of this and requesting him 
 to give me a place in which we could be more 
 comfortable. The chief's messenger then came 
 and carried us to a small but very comforta- 
 ble tent with clean floor, and after a short time 
 food was brought to us by one of Ogubona's 
 wives. 
 
 Though we slept on nothing but a grass mat, 
 we passed a comfortable night and were much 
 refreshed next morning. During the night I 
 waked once and made the astounding discovery 
 
 205
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 that we were sleeping in Ogubona's private tent 
 and that he was lying not more than a few feet 
 from me. However, this did not disturb me at 
 all, for it was a guarantee of protection so far as 
 his power and authority extended; but I never 
 heard of the like the whole time I was in Africa. 
 African generosity could hardly go farther than 
 this. 
 
 I found him to be a very handsome man. He 
 was said to be the handsomest man in all that 
 part of Africa. I am sorry to say that I never 
 had an opportunity to meet him again and to ex- 
 press my thanks to him in some tangible form. 
 He died from the effects of exposure a short time 
 after this event. He was highly esteemed by the 
 English, who invariably spoke of him as "His 
 Highness." In one room of his house he kept 
 all the curious presents made to him by foreign- 
 ers, and it was said to be like a small museum. 
 One of his amusements was to try to make a 
 number of clocks strike together. 
 
 About daybreak next morning, we heard a 
 child calling outside the camp fortifications and 
 found that it was one of our little boys who had 
 been so blinded and exhausted by the storm that 
 he had not been able to find his way to camp 
 until then. I sent out a hunter for the lost 
 
 206
 
 Leaving the Doomed City 
 
 female convert. She was found sitting at the 
 foot of a tree utterly exhausted and ready to 
 perish. Thus all were saved. 
 
 We resumed our journey with light and thank- 
 ful hearts, and from Okee-Magee to Abeokuta it 
 was like a picnic. We took up our abode in the 
 house in which we had been the guests of the 
 missionary when we first arrived at Abeokuta. 
 Mr. Phillips gave us a kind reception and we 
 made the same domestic arrangements that we 
 had while in Ejahyay. 
 
 After becoming settled in our new home, hav- 
 ing no farther need of the services of my inter- 
 preter in Abeokuta, I sent him back to take care 
 of the house in Ejahyay. The Bashorun prom- 
 ised that, in case the Egbars retreated, he would 
 notify him in time to escape. On getting to 
 Ejahyay, he found that some marauding soldiers 
 had tried to drink the acids in the dispensatory 
 under the impression that they were alcoholic 
 liquors. Fragments of the broken bottles were 
 lying about everywhere, and things were smashed 
 up generally as if by some one enraged or in 
 pain. The robbers must have been dreadfully 
 punished, but I heard nothing more from it. So 
 many people were dying from all sorts of causes 
 
 and life was valued at so little, that it is prob- 
 207
 
 In Afrie's Forest and Jungle 
 
 able if any were killed the tragedy attracted little 
 or no attention. 
 
 A short time after settling in Abeokuta, I was 
 greatly flattered by a delegation from the con- 
 verts who came in to congratulate me on my at- 
 tainments in their mother tongue. I dismissed 
 them with many expressions of sincere thanks, 
 for they were evidently very sincere in the com- 
 pliment.
 
 XXI 
 
 PARTIAL CIVILIZATION 
 
 OUR house in Abeokuta was differently situ- 
 ated from that in Ejahyay. The city had out- 
 grown its original limits so much that quite a 
 little town had sprung up outside the gate lead- 
 ing to Ejahyay. This town contained a small 
 but comfortably shaded market-place. The mis- 
 sion compound was built on the outside of this 
 collection of houses and stood just on the edge 
 of a great plain which furnished pasture for the 
 cattle of the town. This plain was made very 
 picturesque in many places by lofty rocks or 
 boulders, deep hollows and wild gorges which 
 would have been ideal abodes for Pan himself. 
 But something more useful and substantial dwelt 
 here in the form of arparrows, antelopes and 
 other game, and I found much needed recreation 
 wandering with all freedom through the high 
 grass and bushes and exploring the mysterious 
 recesses. But the vines and grass and many 
 other sorts of growth were so thick that it was 
 often difficult to find even large game after I 
 had killed it. Once while I was pushing through
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 a tangled growth higher than my head, an ante- 
 lope as large as a cow, sprang up into full view 
 about ten steps away. I discharged the entire 
 load into its side and it seemed to be wounded, 
 but I could not find my prey. It had slunk 
 along underneath the vines and bushes and hid 
 in some impenetrable recess. 
 
 These rocks are a favorite place of abode for 
 pythons, and I did not care for this reason to 
 pursue the search too far. One of the very larg- 
 est specimens of these reptiles lived in a large 
 cleft boulder just inside the walls near the mis- 
 sion house. The people of the city treated this 
 as they did the one living in the great central 
 rock and frequently left offerings to it as one of 
 their tutelary deities. My curiosity got the better 
 of me one day and, holding a strong, sharp knife 
 in one hand, I passed through the central cleft 
 looking into the hollows on each side, but I did 
 not see his godship. I think now that my con- 
 duct on this occasion was rather foolhardy, but I 
 did not think so at the time. In this connection, 
 I will say that the greatest snake story I ever 
 heard anywhere was told to me in Abeokuta by 
 a native who seemed to be entirely in earnest, 
 but I do not wish to be held responsible for the 
 
 truth of his statements. The man declared that 
 210
 
 Partial Civilization 
 
 an acquaintance of his saw the head of a large 
 python protruding from a hole in the bank of a 
 rivulet. When he cautiously approached, it was 
 withdrawn. The hunter then thrust his foot and 
 leg into the hole and after an hour the monster 
 had swallowed it up to his knee. The hunter 
 then killed the snake by splitting it from his 
 knee to his foot with a sharp knife. 
 
 The rocky nature of the soil made the mission 
 yard at Abeokuta the favorite haunt of a reptile 
 which we dreaded much more than we did the 
 leopards of Ejahyay or the pythons of Abeokuta. 
 This was the small white scorpion, about three 
 inches long. There was another species about 
 half of a foot in length and of a jet black color, 
 but these were not so dangerous as the innocent 
 looking white species. The latter generally came 
 out after dark and it was at that time the children 
 were most frequently stung. When I would see 
 a girl or boy fall suddenly to the ground and 
 writhe in speechless agony, I knew what was 
 the matter. A missionary was stung one night 
 about dark and he screamed and groaned until 
 midnight. He said that the pain was indescrib- 
 able. I had some very narrow escapes. Once 
 the sting struck the skin without breaking it. 
 Even then there was a sharp pain for a few mo- 
 
 211
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 ments, but the fright was worse than the hurt. 
 Anointing with palm-oil is the favorite native 
 remedy. To infants the sting of the smaller 
 species is often fatal. We may well imagine, 
 therefore, the terror of a missionary's wife when 
 she lighted a candle one night and found six 
 scorpions around her baby's crib. 
 
 The large snakes in this part of the interior, 
 are dangerous only as constrictors ; but we had 
 snakes in Abeokuta that concealed themselves in 
 the short Bermuda grass of the mission station, 
 the bite of which is as deadly as the copperhead 
 of America. We seldom saw one, but they gave 
 us much concern on account of the barefooted 
 native children connected with the orphanage. 
 
 In my rambles in the bush back of the mission 
 premises, I met with several surprises in the 
 fauna of the country. One was a large hare. 
 Another was a chamelion. This strange animal 
 furnished me much unique entertainment for 
 sometime. I knew that its color would change 
 according to the thing upon which it was placed, 
 but I did not know before that it is a double 
 animal, one half of it acting entirely independ- 
 ently of the other, but my observations on this 
 occasion forced me to this conclusion. The two 
 
 protruding eyes seldom looked in the same direc- 
 212
 
 Partial Civilization 
 
 tion. One was horizontal while the other was 
 up, down, backward or forward. Then they 
 would be in opposite directions for sometime, 
 quickly changing. Occasionally there appeared 
 to be a contest between the two sides as to which 
 way the whole should move. It was really un- 
 pleasant to see the struggle, for the little creature 
 seemed to be suffering pain until one side or the 
 other surrendered and it could move without 
 hindrance in one direction or the other. I also 
 came across a species of armadillo, showing that 
 the opinion that no species of this animal is 
 found in Africa is incorrect. 
 
 Among the rare flora of the country I came 
 upon some specimens of ebony and of rosewood 
 as beautiful as can be found anywhere. I also 
 found some wild tomatoes about the size of 
 cherries and proved their excellent quality by eat- 
 ing heartily of them myself and bringing some 
 to my wife. 
 
 We did not feel so lonely and homesick in 
 Abeokuta as we did farther in the interior. In 
 Ejahyay we saw only one white man and one 
 white woman (and these only for a few mo- 
 ments) who were not of our household; but in 
 Abeokuta there were three English missionaries 
 with their wives. My wife especially, who had 
 
 213
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 been cut off from congenial female society for 
 two years, greatly enjoyed this pleasant change in 
 our social privileges. The ladies would not only 
 exchange calls but even make visits of days. 
 One of them was the wife of a missionary 
 physician and a daughter of Isaac Taylor, one of 
 England's most famous authors. Through her 
 introduction, we afterward had the rare privilege 
 of passing a week at the home of her distin- 
 guished father near London. 
 
 Just before we left Abeokuta, the very sudden 
 death of one of the other ladies, a very attractive 
 and cultured woman, cast a deep gloom over our 
 little world. 
 
 The mission compound included an acre or 
 more of ground and this space was divided into 
 a front and back yard. Many native houses 
 were in each. These were occupied by the 
 children, their teachers, the necessary servants 
 and inmates and many refugees from Ejahyay, 
 including the converts. Only the children were 
 dependent on us for support. Excepting that 
 they attended chapel services several times 
 a week and family worship every night, the 
 others lived as they would in a native com- 
 pound. According to native law, the man in 
 charge of the mission station was the bale and 
 
 214
 
 Partial Civilization 
 
 was responsible to the authorities for the con- 
 duct of his people outside as well as inside the 
 compound. His authority was, therefore, recog- 
 nized as absolute inside the mission compound. 
 The attendance varied a little, but the number of 
 people generally present at night was over 100. 
 
 By far the most interesting and important ap- 
 pendage to this establishment was the orphan- 
 age. I call it by this name, because, while some 
 of the children had been left temporarily in our 
 care that they might escape starvation or slavery, 
 most of them had lost one or both parents and had 
 to be educated and started in life by the mission. 
 The boys were placed in the back yard in charge 
 of the Sierra Leone teacher and his wife ; and the 
 girls, in suitable houses in the front yard, in the 
 care of some of the older female converts. Some 
 of the girls were of a very tender age. Each of 
 these had one of the older girls for an eyah or 
 mother whose business it was to look after the 
 toilet of her little charge and to nurse her in case 
 of serious sickness. They also bought the food 
 of the little ones. 
 
 A trusty boy was appointed to count the 
 cowries and each child received a certain number 
 of cowries per day and they all bought their 
 food in the little market near the house. Each 
 
 215
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 had a little dish of native earthenware to hold 
 the " palaver sauce" and that was the only thing 
 needed in the way of table furniture. Their 
 only bed was a grass mat. The dress of the 
 boys consisted of a brimle'ss cloth cap, shocoto, 
 and a shirt of some cotton material reaching to 
 the knee. Among the people this shirt was rec- 
 ognized as a badge of civilization. They also 
 had the usual shoulder-cloth, but it was princi- 
 pally used as a covering at night. Besides one 
 undergarment, the dress of the girls was a turban 
 and a gown of some cotton material. Food was 
 provided by an appropriation from the mission, 
 but the material for the clothing was given by 
 philanthropic people in England irrespective of 
 religious denomination and was made up by the 
 girls under the instruction of my wife assisted 
 by the wife of the teacher. 
 
 As a contribution to the school and to relieve 
 'my wife, I sent for a sewing machine. It proved 
 to be one with a " chain stitch." I had never 
 seen one before but I entertained myself very 
 pleasantly for a day or two sitting on the floor 
 and studying it out. After I got it to working, 
 it caused much astonishment among the chil- 
 dren; first, by sewing so quickly, and second, 
 by the speed and suddenness with which its 
 
 216
 
 Partial Civilization 
 
 work would unravel. The little monkeys, 
 prompted by curiosity to see how the thing was 
 done, would keep picking at the thread until 
 they secured an end and then with loud excla- 
 mations of amusement would pull until their 
 clothes dropped to pieces. They did not seem 
 to have much opinion of the "chain stitch"; 
 neither did I, after sewing the same garment 
 several times. When their curiosity was en- 
 tirely satisfied, we got along much better, and 
 with little trouble were able to keep the orphans 
 clothed. 
 
 The distress that had come upon them, led the 
 Ejahyay refugees to think and feel more deeply 
 in regard to the gospel and during the first year 
 of my residence in Abeokuta, many of them 
 made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, so 
 that the mission church was much enlarged from 
 those who had persistently resisted the gospel in 
 their own town and in happier days. Among 
 these was my wife's little waiting-maid, the 
 daughter of Orgeh of Ejahyay. When Mr. 
 Phillips told her she might have to die for Christ 
 and then asked her if she would be willing to do 
 so, she wept aloud and said, "If it is the Lord's 
 will, I will try to do so." She died early but she 
 remained a consistent Christian to the last. 
 
 217
 
 XXII 
 
 LOVE LETTERS 
 
 THE health of Mr. Phillips so completely failed 
 that he was compelled to leave the country for 
 eight months. During this time all the cares of 
 the mission station again devolved on me. 
 
 Among the first problems that faced me after 
 I came to be bale was the dissatisfaction of the 
 children, instigated by well-meaning native 
 friends among the women, because they had 
 not been betrothed. According to the usage of 
 their country, most of them had already passed 
 the age for this ceremony and they were becom- 
 ing impatient. Some had even passed the mar- 
 riageable age. One day a delegation of converts 
 waited on me and suggested that the matter be 
 attended to at once. Wishing to discourage 
 such long betrothments and such early mar- 
 riages, I argued them out of the idea and they 
 cheerfully acquiesced. But the young people 
 were not satisfied and proceeded to betroth 
 themselves by a secret correspondence. At that 
 time they could not write in their language, but 
 by the use of cowries, beads, colored strings, 
 pieces of cloth, feathers and other things ar- 
 
 218
 
 Love Letters 
 
 ranged in certain ways and thrown over the 
 dividing wall, they settled all their love matters 
 to their satisfaction if not to mine. There 
 seemed to be some very decided "cases" among 
 them and I found out that love laughs at mud 
 walls as well as at locksmiths. 
 
 The betrothals were consummated several years 
 afterward, but not all the unions proved to be 
 entirely happy. A few of the girls were not in- 
 cluded in this affair, because they had been be- 
 trothed before coming to the mission, and their 
 friends were not willing that the covenant should 
 be broken. One of these was required to marry 
 a man in Ebaddan. She was one of the brightest 
 and best looking among them and her betrothed 
 husband demanded either his wife or her dowry, 
 and she was compelled to go to be the wife of a 
 man whom she nad never seen, and of whose 
 character she knew nothing. She died early. 
 Although deprived of Christian society, she was 
 true to her faith to the last. Another of the girls 
 unfortunately attracted the attention of the pow- 
 erful Egbar chief, Ogoodookpeh, who took ad- 
 vantage of an anti-English riot to violently trans- 
 fer her to his harem. After a few years, she 
 succeeded in escaping to Lagos, leaving a little 
 
 son in care of its father. 
 
 919
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 Much interest was added to our daily family 
 worship by the aptness of the children in learn- 
 ing to read in their mother tongue. All who 
 could read gathered around the table in the cen- 
 tral room and joined in reading the lesson for 
 that night. Then followed a hymn and a prayer, 
 both in the Yoruban tongue. They all had good 
 voices, some very sweet, and I never think of 
 the evening gathering around the table in the 
 mission house at Abeokuta without a perceptible 
 softening of the heart. Several of the boys are 
 now zealous and effective ministers of the gos- 
 pel among the people. All of them sooner or 
 later made a profession of Christianity and most 
 of them are useful Christians; but sometimes 
 when I remember the pathetic history of some of 
 them who are dead, there is a suspicion of tears 
 in my eyes. 
 
 All of them had to go through many trials of 
 their faith. After I had departed for America, 
 the authorities of Abeokuta broke up the mission 
 stations. Most of the converts and children 
 fled to the coast, but they had been warned 
 of such troubles when they made a profession 
 of Christianity and were not wholly taken by 
 surprise nor at all discouraged in their Christian 
 
 life. 
 
 220
 
 Love Letters 
 
 It was very interesting to watch the conflict 
 between light and darkness in the minds of these 
 Yoruban children, for they still believed in many 
 of the superstitions of their parents long after 
 these superstitions ceased to wield any evil 
 power over them. One night, I heard the girls 
 jeering at a " witch-bird " which was croaking 
 near their dormitory and shouting to the innocent 
 little offender, " Go along, you old witch-bird. 
 We are not afraid of you now. We trust in the 
 white man's God." It was plain that, while they 
 were no longer afraid of it as they had been in 
 the past, they still suspected that it was a real 
 witch or evil spirit. 
 
 The smaller children were sometimes prone to 
 pervert our teaching to suit their convenience. 
 Two little boys found themselves greatly tempted 
 
 to steal and eat a roasted chicken. One of them 
 
 i 
 
 declared that it would be a sin to do so, but the 
 other pleaded that the white man's God was 
 very merciful and that they would eat the chicken 
 and pray a great deal and God would forgive 
 them. This argument prevailed and they ate the 
 chicken. When it was traced to them, they 
 made a " clean breast " of the whole matter. 
 
 The presence of so many children full of life 
 and fun, generally made things about the mis- 
 321
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 sion compound quite cheerful. They quarrelled 
 little and entered into their sports with great 
 zest. In the schoolroom, the Sierra Leone 
 teacher used the rod quite freely, but the little 
 victims seemed to think this was the right way 
 to do and seemed to cherish no malice. They 
 could suffer physical pain with more equanimity 
 than mental. To make one dullard study, the 
 teacher had tried the rod in vain. As a last re- 
 sort I placed on his head a dunce cap. This 
 caused much merriment in the schoolroom, but 
 the poor little fellow, with the tears trickling 
 down his cheeks, sat in speechless humiliation. 
 At last his little sister ran to him and throwing 
 her arms around his neck, spoke words of com- 
 fort to him while she wiped the tears from his 
 cheeks with the hanging end of her turban. 
 From that day he was one of the most studious 
 scholars among them. 
 
 They were not disposed to be lazy and very 
 cheerfully did whatever was required of them in 
 the way of manual labor or special duties con- 
 nected with the mission station. We had a call- 
 bell, and all on duty knew their numbers and 
 always promptly and cheerfully responded. 
 
 The saintly Ofeekee of Ejahyay memory, be- 
 ing now a widow, took up her abode in the mis- 
 323
 
 Love Letters 
 
 sion compound. She was of much service in 
 looking after the young people, was really the 
 matron of the girls' department, in fact. She 
 was also a thrifty trader and contributed to their 
 support. Mary or Osuntala, also took lodgings 
 in the girls' dormitories when she first came, but 
 she was still young and comely, and she soon 
 had a suitor in a pious Sierra Leone man. She 
 was little inclined to marriage and discouraged 
 him for many months, but her modest shyness 
 only made her lover the more persistent, and one 
 day she asked me with downcast eyes, if I 
 thought she would act wisely in marrying again. 
 I rather encouraged the idea and the union proved 
 to be a very happy one. I will notice in this 
 connection that the relation of our mission station 
 in Abeokuta to the civil power was singularly 
 unique. In Ejahyay, when a ruffian on one oc- 
 casion pursued our mission children into the sta- 
 tion yard, stoning and cursing them, Areh had 
 the offender severely whipped by the bale of his 
 compound. But in Abeokuta, the government 
 was such a strange mixture of patriarchal, mon- 
 archical and republican that we did not know 
 sometimes to whom to apply for protection. In 
 each of the numerous chiefdoms was an Ogbonee 
 lodge to which everybody but slaves belonged. 
 
 223
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 The presiding officer of each lodge was elected 
 by that lodge and was called an elder. At the 
 death of any chief, the lodge of his chiefdom 
 elected his successor. The chiefs and the elders 
 chose the Alake or king, whenever they chose to 
 have such an officer. This action, however, 
 needed to be confirmed by the people assembled 
 in mass meeting on Oro day. Declarations of 
 war which are always made by the chiefs and 
 Ogbonee elders conjointly, are also confirmed by 
 this popular assembly. The chiefs were fond of 
 power, and they always elected a man as Alake, 
 who let them have their own wa) in matters of 
 importance. 
 
 The Alake under whose sway it was my for- 
 tune or rather misfortune to live, passed most of 
 his time in playing "warree" (a favorite native 
 game) * with the Ogbonee elders and other boon 
 companions and left the administration of justice 
 largely to a favorite slave, a young Foolah, who 
 was almost white. This young man generally 
 decided cases in favor of those who gave him the 
 largest sum of money. It was in vain to appeal 
 from him to the Alake or king, for no one could 
 see the king without the consent of this un- 
 
 1 "Warree" is the "Macala" of Syria and the East. There is hardly a 
 house in which a " Warree " board is not found for the entertainment of its 
 inmates. The natives have other games, but this is the favorite. 
 
 224
 
 Love Letters 
 
 worthy representative, and he gave his consent 
 only when it suited his convenience. 
 
 The government of this Aldke was a good ex- 
 ponent of his character. He would issue a de- 
 cree and the town crier would publish it through- 
 out the city, but in a few days the people would 
 entirely ignore it, and the fat, lazy old fellow, 
 who issued it, would go on playing "warree" 
 and dandling his babies and not trouble himself 
 about the matter. Coming from under the vig- 
 orous administration of Areh, I found it difficult 
 to feel anything like respect for so weak a ruler. 
 His cowardly character and his general indiffer- 
 ence to his duty as a sovereign, came near involv- 
 ing me in a tragedy. 
 
 Just before I arrived from Ejahyay, a gigantic 
 American ship-carpenter named West, came up 
 from the coast and asked for shelter and work. 
 He claimed that he had been put on shore at 
 Lagos because he was too sick to work. Mr. 
 Phillips believed him and granted his request. He 
 proved to be a consummate hypocrite, also a 
 drunkard and a desperado. Some weeks after 
 his arrival, when my wife was confined to her 
 bed with serious illness, he got crazy drunk and 
 "cleaned out " the native part of the mission 
 premises by chasing everybody he met while 
 
 225
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 holding an open knife in his hand. The fright- 
 ened girls took refuge in my wife's room. 
 
 The presence of so many persons in this room 
 under the circumstances, greatly aggravated her 
 illness and I twice went out to find where the 
 brute was hid. It was so dark that I could not 
 see him until he had crept close to me, and twice 
 I was exposed to his murderous knife. Once he 
 walked by my side the whole length of the pi- 
 azza threatening to kill me, but by a side leap 
 through a door, I escaped him. At last I found 
 him in such a position that I succeeded in getting 
 all the girls safe into their house. The boys had 
 all fled the compound, one of them narrowly es- 
 caping a thrust of West's knife. Mr. Phillips 
 took a seat in my room. I had hardly taken my 
 seat from seeing the girls safe, when I heard the 
 maniac say with a hiss, " If you move, you are a 
 dead man." In another moment, with a loud 
 yell, he leaped through an open window into the 
 middle of my wife's room. He remained stand- 
 ing where he was for a few moments, tearing 
 his clothes and making drunken threats as to 
 what he would do, and then with another yell 
 leaped back through the window again. 
 
 Mr. Phillips sent to the Alake asking for pro- 
 tection. He replied that he was not the ruler of 
 
 226
 
 Love Letters 
 
 white men and that Mr. Phillips could do as he 
 pleased with the man. But, fortunately, we 
 were not called on to use desperate measures. 
 The third day, his liquor being exhausted, he be- 
 came sober enough to apologize for his conduct 
 and left apparently with the intention of doing 
 better in the future. 
 
 A few days after this, however, I received a 
 note from him saying that he was coming to kill 
 me, and Mr. Phillips immediately notified some 
 Ejahyay men who happened to be in the com- 
 pound. West entered the gate on horseback but 
 dismounted and approached the place where I 
 was, in the piazza, with his hand resting on a 
 dirk in his belt. Mr. Phillips detained him a few 
 moments to reason with him while my brave 
 Ejahyay fellows gathered to my right with their 
 weapons in their hands. The ruffian saw his 
 peril and began to tremble. He then beat a hasty 
 retreat, remounted his horse and galloped away. 
 But the old Alake drank and dozed and played 
 " warree" and cared for none of these things. I 
 never saw West again. He happened to interfere 
 with the two Liberians who went in search of 
 me during my trouble in the interior, and they 
 gave him the option of dying or leaving the 
 country, and he wisely chose the latter. 
 
 227
 
 XXIII 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE 
 
 ALTHOUGH things were pleasant on the whole, 
 serious illness, the rude alarms of war, and 
 many other things often broke suddenly in on 
 the quiet routine of our daily life. Of all our un- 
 pleasant experiences in Abeokuta, the most ter- 
 rible was a Dahomian alarm. It was the settled 
 custom of the king of Dahomey to make an an- 
 nual excursion with a large army and to take and 
 destroy some town distant from his capital. The 
 very old and the very young were butchered, but 
 any other captives were carried away to be sold 
 as slaves or to be offered in sacrifice to the manes 
 of the king's father. In this way many thou- 
 sands of people miserably perished every year 
 and the name "Dahomee" was associated in the 
 minds of the people of neighboring nations with 
 everything ferocious and terrible. 
 
 It was not a mitigating circumstance, that a 
 large corps of the Dahomian army was composed 
 of amazons, for these female warriors were noth- 
 ing better than human tigers. One of their 
 favorite amusements was to see which of them 
 
 228
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 could first get through a high circle of thorns 
 and kill a helpless prisoner tied to a stake. 
 Though their limbs were shockingly torn by the 
 spikes, they thought it excellent sport. I was 
 also informed that when one of them sneeringly 
 said to another, "You are nothing but a man," 
 only the death of one or the other could settle 
 the difficulty. All that I heard about them tended 
 to convince me that they were past human feel- 
 ing and that the shedding of human blood was 
 their chief delight. 
 
 When the Egbars united with the English in 
 breaking up the slave trade, the Dahomian king 
 came with a large army, including 7,000 am- 
 azons, to destroy Abeokuta. They stormed the 
 city with great fury but received a bloody re- 
 pulse, leaving from eight to ten thousand of their 
 bravest warriors under the walls. From that 
 time until the time of my coming to Abeokuta, 
 the king of Dahomey had been vowing venge- 
 ance against the people who had shown that 
 he was not invincible. The amazons especially 
 were eager for revenge. He had entered into an 
 alliance with Ogumulla and had agreed to attack 
 Abeokuta at the same time that the latter attacked 
 Ejahyay, but for some reason this covenant was 
 broken. He came within a hundred miles of 
 
 229
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 Abeokuta with an army the size of which may 
 be imagined by the fact that he had forty am- 
 azon generals on his staff. But after destroying 
 another large town he returned to his country to 
 await the next "dry season." That time had 
 now come and the people of Abeokuta were not 
 surprised to learn that a large army had left 
 Abomey and was coming east. Scouts were 
 sent out to watch the movements of the Daho- 
 mians while every preparation possible was 
 made for the anticipated assault. After some 
 days the mounted scouts returned and reported 
 that they had gone three days' journey and could 
 find no trace of a Dahomian army. 
 
 Supposing that the king had again decided to 
 go in another direction, the people returned to 
 the farms or addressed themselves to their usual 
 business in the city, giving little thought to any- 
 thing else. The Aldke had been greatly stirred 
 up at the prospect of danger, but he again gladly 
 returned to his accustomed ease. A feeling of 
 perfect security prevailed everywhere, while the 
 Dahomian host was within a few miles of 
 Abeokuta. 
 
 About ten miles west of the city on the road 
 leading toward Dahomey was a town of ten 
 thousand inhabitants named Eshagga. This town 
 
 230
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 was really a part of Abeokuta, many people 
 having homes in both places, living in either as 
 their business required. About four o'clock one 
 afternoon, while sitting in the back piazza of the 
 mission house, I noticed great masses of black 
 smoke boiling up from beneath the western 
 horizon. Soon I heard something which seemed 
 to be a prolonged moan coming from the Es- 
 hagga gate of the city about four miles away. 
 This sound increased in volume and pitch, like 
 the roaring of a mighty wind, until it spread left 
 and right all over the city and all around me, 
 and I found that it was a wail of loud lamenta- 
 tion coming from the women and children. 
 Then one of the female converts rushed into the 
 house screaming, "Dahomee! Dahomee!" Her 
 countenance was distorted and her eyes were 
 literally protruding with terror. Rushing out 
 and calling upon all the women and children to 
 stay where they were until I returned, I ran to 
 the great rock in the centre of the town and took 
 a view of the situation. 
 
 The whole city was in a tremendous stir and 
 uproar. Thousands were rushing to the walls 
 and thousands of resolute men already lined the 
 walls on the Eshagga side for many miles and 
 
 the line was made bright by the glitter *">f 
 231
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 weapons In their hands. Along the narrow 
 paths across the extended plain, couriers were 
 riding at full speed calling in the farmers from 
 the fields. I could see no Dahomians and ob- 
 serving that everything was being done that 
 could be done, I returned to the mission house 
 greatly encouraged. Here I was further strength- 
 ened by learning that the city v/as under the mil- 
 itary command of Shokanoo, one of the most 
 efficient and warlike chiefs of the nation, and 
 that he would still have at his command a very 
 large proportion of those capable of bearing arms 
 if he could get them all in before the attack. 
 Besides these, the old men and the boys were all 
 rushing to the wall, sword in hand. 
 
 It was nearly dark when I got back. I found 
 that all the females and the smaller boys had 
 packed up to flee, but I urged them to remain 
 where they were until God in His providence 
 should show them which way to go, for we did 
 not know from what point the attack would 
 come. To this they finally assented and on their 
 knees awaited the coming assault. My wife re- 
 mained on her knees most of the night. With so 
 many of God's people praying through the town, 
 I felt fully assured of God's protection. 
 
 After leaving instructions that I should be 
 
 232
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 awakened when the firing commenced, I offered 
 up a fervent prayer, threw myself on a bed and fell 
 asleep. I awoke about daybreak and learned that 
 the Dahomians had not made their appearance. 
 For some time it was supposed that the wily 
 enemy was hid in the high grass waiting a favor- 
 able opportunity to storm the city, but trusted 
 scouts informed Shokanoo about noon that they 
 were certainly gone. They brought in a deserter 
 from the Dahomians who explained how it was 
 that so large an army succeeded in getting so close 
 to Abeokuta without being discovered, and why 
 it was it had returned without taking advantage 
 of so favorable an opportunity to capture the city. 
 A large forest lies between Dahomey and 
 Eshagga. This man said that the Dahomians had 
 entered this forest in single file at many places 
 and that they had cut their way through it, step 
 by step, until they reached Eshagga. It had 
 taken them a month to do this and, during this 
 time, they were not allowed to make any noise 
 which would distinguish them from the wild 
 denizens of an African forest. If any one forgot 
 himself and spoke in an audible voice, he was in- 
 stantly slain. Even orders were given in grunts 
 or barks like those of monkeys. In this way 
 they made several miles a day and finally united 
 
 233
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 all their columns just before coming out of the 
 forest at Eshagga. The scouts had followed the 
 ordinary routes or else the secret paths of the 
 hunters and therefore had seen no sign of the 
 presence of hostile forces. They succeeded in get- 
 ting into Eshagga through a very singular cus- 
 tom of the Yorubans. 
 
 When soldiers are going to war, they do not 
 salute any one, and it is a gross insult for any one 
 to salute them. The Dahomians came out on the 
 road between Eshagga and Abeokuta about dark. 
 It almost took my breath away when I learned 
 this; because we were then completely in their 
 power if they had only known it. But the king 
 of Dahomey thought it unwise to leave so strong 
 an enemy in his rear and determined to destroy 
 Eshagga that night and assault Abeokuta next day. 
 When the people sitting at the gate of the former 
 town saw a detachment of the Dahomians hurry- 
 ing along, they supposed that it was a body of 
 Egbars on their way to the war at Ejahyay ; but 
 their customs did not allow them to speak to the 
 soldiers, and they had no way of learning any- 
 thing about them. 
 
 The Dahomians quietly filed into the town and 
 camped in a market-place in the centre. In the 
 meantime, the people of the town felt all the
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 more secure on account of the presence of the 
 soldiers, and retired that night, as we did in 
 Abeokuta, utterly unsuspicious of the sword that 
 was at their throats. During the night the rest 
 of the enemy surrounded the doomed city, the 
 gates were opened and the slaughter began. Ex- 
 cepting a few hundred spared to be offered in 
 sacrifice, everybody but one man perished. This 
 man jumped over the walls but was found and 
 left for dead. Though terribly hacked up, he 
 succeeded in getting to Abeokuta that afternoon 
 and in giving the alarm. But it would have been 
 too late to save the city, if the Dahomians had 
 carried out their original plan. The deserter de- 
 clared that the king was so well satisfied with the 
 slaughter he had made among the Egbars and was 
 so suspicious that the king of Abeokuta knew of 
 his presence at Eshagga, that he decided to re- 
 turn to Abomey until another season. When he 
 reached this decision, we did not know that 
 there was a Dahomian within a hundred miles of 
 us. God put into his heart to wait until Abeokuta 
 was ready to defend itself. He returned next dry 
 season but there was no surprise this time, and he 
 received a repulse even more bloody than the first. 
 What a benefit the French conferred on man- 
 kind by destroying this cruel power, the follow- 
 
 235
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 ing -verbatim extract from the report of a British 
 naval officer will show. It was made upon the 
 testimony of a German merchant who was 
 forced to remain at the Dahomian capital and 
 witness the bloody scenes which followed the 
 return of the Dahomian army from its murderous 
 expedition to Eshagga. The report was made by 
 the commander of H. M. S. Griffin from Little 
 Popo. The last portion reads as follows : "Mr. 
 Euschart was next brought to the market-place 
 where he was told many people had been killed 
 the night before. He first saw the body of Mr. 
 Doherty, a missionary and church catechist at 
 Eshagga. The body was crucified against a 
 large tree one nail being driven through the 
 forehead, another the heart, and one through 
 each hand and foot. He was then taken to the 
 market-place where the king was seated on a 
 raised platform and was talking a great 'war 
 palaver' with the people. He promised them an 
 attack on Abeokuta in November. Cowries, cloth, 
 and rum were then distributed. In front of the 
 market-place there were rows of human heads 
 fresh and gory and the market-place was sat- 
 urated with blood. The heads belonged to some 
 of the Eshagga prisoners who had been killed 
 during the night after having been tortured in the 
 
 236
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 most frightful and cruel manner. Mr. Euschart 
 was then ordered to remain quiet in his house 
 and not to look out after sundown. 
 
 "When the ground shook violently from the 
 earthquake felt at Accra, Mr. Euschart was at 
 once brought to the market-place where he 
 again found the king seated on a raised platform 
 surrounded by amazons. The king told them 
 that the 'ground-shaking' was the spirit of his 
 father complaining that the ' customs ' (bloody 
 rites) were not made properly. Three Eshagga 
 chiefs were then brought before the king who 
 told them that they must go and tell his father 
 that the ' customs ' would be better than ever. A 
 bottle of rum and a head of cowries were then 
 given to each and they were immediately de- 
 capitated. Twenty-four men were then brought 
 out bound in baskets with their heads just show- 
 ing out and were placed on the platform in front 
 of the king. They were then thrown down to 
 the people who were dancing, singing and yell- 
 ing below. As each was thrown down, he was 
 seized and beheaded, the heads being piled in one 
 heap and the bodies in another. Every man 
 who caught a victim and cut off his head re- 
 ceived one head of cowries. 
 
 " Mr. Euschart was then taken to another part 
 
 237
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 of the town where similar horrors were being 
 perpetrated. The next day the platforms were 
 taken down and the programme seemed to be 
 singing, dancing and firing guns. There were 
 no more public sacrifices for ten days, but it is 
 supposed that many took place during the nights. 
 He was then taken to see the ' Grand Customs ' 
 at the palace of the late king. At the gate of 
 this, two platforms had been erected. On each 
 of these, sixteen men and four horses were placed. 
 Inside the house was another on which were 
 placed sixteen women, four horses and one 
 alligator. The men and women were all Sierra 
 Leone people captured at Eshagga and dressed in 
 European clothing. Each group of men, bound 
 in chains, was seated around a table upon which 
 were placed glasses of rum. The king then 
 ascended the platform and adored his fetiche and 
 seemed to make obeisance to the prisoners 
 whose right arms were then loosed that they 
 might drink the king's health. After this, the 
 effects of the late king were paraded and wor- 
 shipped by the people as they passed. A grand 
 review of the army then commenced. As each 
 company passed, the king harangued them and 
 promised the sack of Abeokuta in November. 
 Nearly the whole of the troops wore firearms. A 
 
 238
 
 A Narrow Escape 
 
 few select corps had rifles, but the majority had 
 flint locks. The number of the troops altogether 
 could hardly be less than 50,000, including 10,000 
 amazons. 
 
 "After the review the prisoners were beheaded, 
 their heads being hacked off with dull knives. 
 At the same time the horses and the alligator 
 were killed, particular care being taken that their 
 blood should mingle with that of the prisoners'. 
 All being over, Mr. Euschart was permitted to 
 leave Abomey after having received as presents, 
 eight heads of cowries, one piece of country 
 cloth and two bottles of rum." 
 
 As this letter declared that British subjects had 
 been deliberately murdered by the king of Da- 
 homey it caused much excitement in England. 
 But this part of Mr. Euschart's story was a mis- 
 take. The man crucified and those beheaded, 
 while dressed in civilized clothing, were civilized 
 Abeokutans. Mr. Doherty was captured and 
 went through some dreadful experiences, but 
 the king found out that he was a British subject 
 and thought it would be wiser to release him 
 than to have a war with so powerful a nation. 
 
 After Doherty's release he told how the king 
 was disgusted with the ten commandments 
 when, at his own peremptory command, they 
 
 239
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 were read to him by his Christian prisoner. The 
 command, "Thou shalt not kill," he seemed to 
 take as a personal affront. Thus he received his 
 first and probably his last message, from his 
 Creator. I afterward saw a wax statue of this 
 king in London. He was seven feet tall, nearly 
 white like a Foolah, and dressed in the uniform 
 of an English general. Doherty said that he was 
 the most godlike man in appearance that he ever 
 saw and that he was not surprised his people 
 worshipped him as a demigod. 
 
 He carried out his promise to attack Abeokuta, 
 but so far from sacking the town, he received a 
 defeat from the Bashorun's veterans that greatly 
 weakened his power and made him willing to 
 let the Egbars alone forever afterward. The 
 amazons, however, fought with such fury that 
 they broke the line in one place and scaled the 
 wall. Some of them were found dead in the 
 heart of the town. It was said that none of 
 them turned their backs until a retreat was 
 sounded. One of our mission boys distinguished 
 himself by killing one of these furies in a hand- 
 to-hand fight. He was standard-bearer of the 
 converts and an amazon endeavored to wrest the 
 standard from his hand and kill him with her 
 short sword. 
 
 240
 
 XXIV 
 
 THE HUMAN SACRIFICE 
 
 THE mourning for the destruction of poor Es- 
 hagga had not ceased when Ejahyay fell. For 
 six months after I left, there was no fighting. 
 In the meantime Ogumulla had it circulated 
 among the slave-hunting peoples that Ejahyay 
 would soon fall. Then eager for prey, thou- 
 sands of recruits joined him from neighboring 
 nations until they formed three great camps, 
 probably numbering 50,000 men in each. The 
 allies could hardly muster one-third of that num- 
 ber, but they continued to make a bold stand un- 
 til the last day, when the soldiers of both allied 
 armies broke camp and fled leaving the people 
 of Ejahyay to their fate. Aborgoonree, Arch's 
 head slave and by the influence of the Bashorun, 
 his successor, escaped with the Egbar army, but 
 Areh-Argo and other Ejahyay leaders committed 
 suicide. All the leading men among the cap- 
 tured were slain, but the rest of the people were 
 held as slaves to be sold or redeemed. A few 
 escaped to Abeokuta, Illorin and other places 
 
 friendly to their cause. 
 
 241
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 Among the captives was my faithful inter- 
 preter, John Thomas, who was carried to Ebad- 
 ban and held for redemption. He had been as- 
 sured by the Bashorun that, should the Egbars 
 decide to give up the fight, he would be duly 
 notified of the fact; but for some unexplained 
 reason, he failed to receive this notice. We 
 could get no communication with his captors 
 and, after being kept in irons for three years, he 
 was released. But this mercy came too late to 
 save his life. His nervous system was com- 
 pletely shattered like that of my companion in 
 the Ebaddan adventure, and he soon died and 
 was laid beside that other victim of Ogumulla's 
 cruelty who had lost his life by being true to me 
 in time of need. Both died in the full assurance 
 of faith; and I humbly hope to meet them in 
 heaven. They had wandered from God, but 
 these troubles brought them back again and 
 proved in the end to be a great blessing to 
 them. 
 
 The houses and the walls of Ejahyay were 
 broken down and a decree issued that the town 
 should never be rebuilt. There is now a smaller 
 unwalled town outside the forest, but the site of 
 the old town is a feeding ground for wild ele- 
 phants. 
 
 242
 
 The Human Sacrifice 
 
 The allies continued to flee until they reached 
 Atadee, fifteen miles from Abeokuta. From this 
 place the Bashorun sent a message to the Alahe 
 simply saying, "We are coming." The laconic 
 brevity of this language implied a threat and the 
 Alahe was much frightened. Through my in- 
 terpreter, I had known that some very unpleasant 
 correspondence had taken place between them 
 before the fall of Ejahyay. The Bashorun even 
 declared that the Alake 'would like to see him 
 and his army captured or killed that the Alake 
 and his people might inherit their possessions. 
 I, therefore, felt quite uneasy for several days, 
 but when the army entered the city there was no 
 serious disturbance, neither was there any dispo- 
 sition on the part of the people to criticise the 
 conduct of the Bashorun and his army at the seat 
 of war. The truth is, I never saw on the battle- 
 field braver deeds in any country, than I saw 
 during the siege of Ejahyay. With equal weap- 
 ons, any people would find Yorubans foeman, 
 worthy of their steel. 
 
 But the heroism of their conduct was soon 
 tarnished by one dreadful act the offering of a 
 human sacrifice to Ogun, the god of war. This 
 horrible deed was as unexpected to us as it was 
 appalling. When the Abeokutans formed an al- 
 
 243
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 liance with the English to dethrone Kosoko and 
 to open up the country to legitimate trade, they 
 entered into a treaty to abandon human sacrifices. 
 But war had greatly demoralized them and the 
 priests took advantage of this state of things to 
 persuade them to return to the old ways and to 
 offer up the accustomed sacrifice to the war god, 
 saying his favor would be restored to them and 
 he would crown their arms with victory as he 
 had done in the past. Influenced by this advice, 
 the chiefs and Ogbonee elders decreed that a 
 slave should be purchased in the market and of- 
 fered up as a sacrifice in a fearfully wild spot 
 near our mission house on the road leading to 
 Ejahyay. 
 
 The unusual excitement which suddenly seized 
 the women in the market-place near our house, 
 was the first intimation that we had of what was 
 about to take place. When they heard of the 
 decree and that the victim had arrived at the spot 
 designated, they sprang to their feet with shouts 
 of joy, ran to the spot and engaged in a kind of 
 frantic dance to a wild, glad chant of praise to 
 Ogun. Many of them also addressed prayers to 
 the man asking for some earthly good or sending 
 messages to departed friends. They also cast to 
 him choice articles of food. These the victim ate 
 
 244
 
 The Human Sacrifice 
 
 with apparent relish and seemed to feel honored 
 by the attention shown him. 
 
 The women showed a physical endurance and 
 a madness that was really terrible to behold. 
 They seemed to be possessed of the devil and 1 
 have not the slightest hesitation in believing that 
 they were. With amazing rapidity, they went 
 round and round encircling the victim until the 
 ground, which had been previously covered with 
 high grass, was as bare as a floor and quite 
 smooth. 
 
 The place was partially enclosed by several 
 large boulders, and in the rear of the enclosure 
 thus formed were several others nearly as large 
 as a house. These made narrow, dark alleys 
 leading to little courts. The whole place was as 
 complete a "devil's den" as could be imagined. 
 Previous to this event, I had called it, "Pan's 
 den," but I now changed it to the first name. 
 
 While the women were singing, dancing and 
 invoking the victim as a god, as I have already 
 described, the officiating priest placed two up- 
 right forks about seven feet high on each side of 
 the entrance and across these laid a pole from 
 which a fringe of palm leaves was suspended. 
 While the maniac dance still continued, the 
 victim was laid on his face and beheaded. The 
 
 245
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 people then dispersed and the head was placed 
 in a fantastically marked earthen pot in one of 
 the little courts in the rear; other offerings were 
 placed in other parts of the den and all was over 
 but the horror of the deed. 
 
 I was warned not to go too near while all this 
 was going on, and I did not see any of the cere- 
 monies or hear what was said, but when the 
 people were gone I cautiously entered this in- 
 fernal temple to see for myself whether it was 
 really true that a human sacrifice had been 
 offered. The headless trunk removed all doubt 
 on the subject. It was some time before some 
 of the English would believe the story. One of 
 them, however, visited the spot with me and 
 took a sketch of the victim's body and of the 
 place. This was sent to England. 
 
 While the chiefs and Ogbonee elders and a 
 majority of the people favored this deed, there 
 were very many who did not, but they were 
 powerless to interfere. When the English sent a 
 consul to live among them that they might be kept 
 in mind of their agreement on this subject, they 
 ordered him to leave the place in two hours 
 under penalty of death, and he left at once. 
 This treatment was a defiance to the English, but 
 they did not resent it at that time, and their for- 
 
 246
 
 o EL
 
 The Human Sacrifice 
 
 bearance on this occasion exalted the Egbars 
 very much in their own estimation, the more be- 
 cause they soon afterward, by the assistance of 
 the Emir of Illorin and of the king of the Ejay- 
 boos, forced the Ebaddans to sue for peace. 
 Both Ebekoonleh and Ogumulla seem to have 
 died suddenly on their return to Ebaddan, and 
 the people being left without an efficient head 
 and being cut off both from the coast and from 
 the interior, were soon reduced to great straits, 
 and forced to end the war for the time by asking 
 terms of peace. 
 
 247
 
 XXV 
 
 THE STOLEN CHILD 
 
 THE man who did the most for the military 
 supremacy of the Egbars at this time was an in- 
 ferior chief named Ogudookpeh, the same who 
 afterward carried away one of the mission girls. 
 He was a giant in stature, and on the battlefield, 
 seemed to know no fear. He was always in 
 front and his bearing was so lion-like that he 
 could hold the men together and induce them to 
 stand when no one else could. He sometimes 
 disdained to retreat until he was left entirely 
 alone. 
 
 One of Ogudookpeh's striking peculiarities 
 was that he never smiled. This eccentricity was 
 said to have been caused by an unfortunate event 
 in his early life. To commit suicide in the pres- 
 ence of another is one of the ways the Yorubans 
 have of revenging a gross insult offered to them 
 by that person. This is called "dying on his 
 neck." You cannot frighten a Yoruban quicker 
 in any way than by threatening to "die on his 
 neck," though I was never able to find out the 
 reason for this. Ogudookpeh grossly insulted 
 
 248
 
 The Stolen Child 
 
 the wife of one of his young companions and 
 the latter, after reproaching him for his base 
 conduct, committed suicide in his presence. 
 From that day Ogudookpeh was never seen to 
 smile. Remorse seemed to have banished the 
 song entirely out of his life. Yet he did not 
 seem to be incapable of a kind of grim humor. 
 
 To help them fight the Dahomians, somebody 
 sent the Egbars a cannon, but no one knew how 
 to fire it. One day, there was a thundering re- 
 port and a ball came crashing through the houses 
 of the city. Ogudookpeh had succeeded in 
 shooting off the big gun. Fortunately, nothing 
 but a horse was killed, but when the owner 
 demanded damages, Ogudookpeh exclaimed, 
 "Why, you fool, you ought to pay me for 
 knowing how to shoot the gun." Once this 
 savage humor assumed a very dangerous form. 
 Seizing his bow and quiver he ran out into the 
 streets of his chiefdom and began to shoot at 
 everybody he saw, ordering them back into their 
 houses. The people thought that he was for the 
 time possessed by Oro and that Oro was thus 
 expressing his displeasure. They could more 
 readily believe this because he held an office in 
 the Ogbonee lodge in which he represented the 
 avenging power of Oro and in which his own 
 
 249
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 person was sacred. He could, therefore, do 
 with impunity what others could not. 
 
 I was the victim of one of his harmless jokes 
 and 1 was the more readily taken in because I 
 supposed that he was incapable of such a trick. 
 He wanted to exchange cowries for coin and he 
 desired to make the bargain in person and not 
 through an agent. He knew that I would not 
 come to him on such business any more than he 
 would come to me, so he resorted to stratagem 
 to bring me to him. Instead of sending a mes- 
 senger with a staff, he sent a mounted military 
 courier who dashed into the mission yard and in 
 an excited manner shouted that his master 
 wished to see me immediately. Ogudookpeh's 
 very name was a terror to the people, and fear- 
 ing that some of the inmates of the mission com- 
 pound had fallen under his displeasure, I hastily 
 mounted and told the courier to lead the way. 
 This he did at full speed, his loose tobe spread- 
 ing out on each side like wings, and the loose 
 end of his turban band streaming out behind. 
 Thus we went through the city and thus we 
 came to Ogudookpeh's house. 
 
 I found him dressed in a silk stove-pipe hat 
 and velvet shocoto, standing outside his gate 
 under the shade of a large tree calmly smoking 
 
 250
 
 The Stolen Child 
 
 his pipe. He was a perfect picture of repose and 
 cool impudence. As soon as I saw him I knew 
 that nothing serious was the matter; but 1 was so 
 relieved that I did not lose my temper and every- 
 thing passed off very pleasantly. 
 
 Another of his peculiarities was that he would 
 not own slaves and made it a capital crime for 
 any of the people of his chief dom to own them. 
 But he would sell all captives in war to meet the 
 expenses of that war, and in this way was in- 
 directly a slave owner. His vengeful, ferocious 
 temper showed itself once in the murder of his 
 own child. When the mission girl whom he had 
 kidnapped escaped to Lagos, leaving her son to 
 his mercy, he called the child to him and cut off 
 its head with his own hand. 
 
 I have always thought he was partially in- 
 sane, especially as he believed that he would 
 never die. He did seem to bear a charmed life 
 and survived the most of his contemporaries, after 
 having passed through untold perils on the battle- 
 field. He imagined himself a demigod, and that 
 some day he would go up to heaven like Shango. 
 
 I would have been afraid of this savage if it had 
 not been that he was subordinate entirely to the 
 Bashorun, and the latter had never failed to 
 show himself a friend whenever I needed his 
 
 251
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 services. The Bashorun was really the supreme 
 ruler of Abeokuta, and the fact that he was known 
 to be my friend saved me from serious oppres- 
 sion by a powerful and very cunning chief 
 named Artumbala, who lived near the mission 
 compound and who claimed to be its protector. 
 Being greatly impoverished by the war, he sent 
 to "borrow" some cowries from me, but I had 
 been reduced to the same condition from the 
 same cause, and was forced to deny his request. 
 Whenever the government at Abeokuta de- 
 sired to accomplish something that needed much 
 diplomacy, they generally employed Artumbala 
 to represent them, and he rarely failed to success- 
 fully execute his mission. As he supposed that 
 my refusal was caused by covetousness instead 
 of necessity, he at once undertook to get the 
 money out of me by a cunning trick. While he 
 was returning from a council of chiefs with 
 many of his warriors around him, he passed by a 
 place where many of the children of the mission 
 compound were playing. After the company had 
 passed with a great beating of drums and other 
 deafening noises, the mother of a three-year-old 
 boy fell at my feet with loud lamentations, say- 
 ing that the Egbars had stolen her child. I found 
 out that one of Artumbala's men had taken up 
 
 252
 
 The Stolen Child 
 
 the child and had given it into the hands of his 
 chief who had in turn passed it to another, thus 
 authorizing the deed. 
 
 It was now clear that the old fox intended 
 either to sell the child or to force me to redeem 
 it with a large sum of money. I had had some 
 acquaintance with him in Ejahyay, and had also 
 learned much about his methods from mission- 
 aries in Abeokuta, and this information convinced 
 me that I could not circumvent him by diplomacy. 
 I, therefore, determined to deal with him in a 
 straightforward manner only, for his habits of 
 thought would leave him utterly unsuspicious in 
 that direction. 
 
 Taking the weeping mother with me, I went at 
 once to his house. I found him sitting in state 
 with his officers and many of his warriors around 
 him. A large crowd of people were also in the 
 compound evidently awaiting my appearance. 
 The mother fell moaning at his feet and I in- 
 formed him of the cause of her grief. 
 
 "Why do you come to me, white man?" he 
 asked, seemingly in angry surprise. 
 
 "Because your men took the child," I replied, 
 sharply. 
 
 " How can you prove that my men took this 
 woman's child?" he again asked in a louder tone 
 
 253
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 as if he was getting more angry. The soldiers 
 murmured indignantly. Rising to my feet and 
 looking him sternly in the eye, I emphatically 
 said, " You know it, Artumbala, and / know it, 
 and that is enough." For a few moments noth- 
 ing more could be heard. The chief pretended 
 to be furiously angry and the soldiers talked so 
 loudly that everything was utter confusion, but 
 my last reply completely took the old fellow by 
 surprise and was a home shot. Then talking 
 loud enough to be heard above the din, I told the 
 chief that I was going to take all the children to 
 Lagos and tell the English people that Artumbala 
 stole my children and would not let me live in 
 Abeokuta and that he was the enemy of the 
 white man. This was another home shot, for at 
 that time he had become quite famous in England 
 by pretending to be a convert of the Church of 
 England Missionary Society. Having said this, I 
 hurriedly left the compound with the howls of 
 the people following me. 
 
 I found great consternation in the mission yard. 
 Everybody was looking for Artumbala's men to 
 come and destroy the mission house and seize all 
 the Ejahyay people as slaves. I had hardly 
 quieted them when Artumbala's messenger came 
 in a trot and said the child was there, but it had 
 
 254
 
 The Stolen Child 
 
 been taken by Ogudookpeh's men and that 
 Artumbala was afraid to give it up until 1 sent 
 the price of the child to Ogudookpeh, for if the 
 latter should get angry with me, he would come 
 and kill everybody in the compound. I then 
 threatened to take the whole case before the 
 Bashorun. The messenger immediately returned 
 from Artumbala and said that 1 must not take the 
 matter before the Bashorun, that he did not want 
 to see me get into trouble and that he himself 
 would satisfy Ogudookpeh's men, and that if I 
 would come down he would give me the child. 
 I took the mother and went. The crowd was 
 still there but very silent. The mother threw 
 herself at the feet of the chief in mute supplica- 
 tion. In another moment he took the child from 
 some one behind him and handed it to me and I 
 placed it in the arms of the mother. She re- 
 ceived it with many expressions of joy and of 
 thanks, and hurried away. I also thanked the 
 chief but I did not give him a cowry. 
 
 When I came out next morning, I learned that 
 Artumbala had come with some of his men early 
 that morning and gone to the chapel and passed 
 several moments on his knees and then had gone 
 away without saying anything to anybody. I 
 suppose that he intended this to be a kind of dig- 
 
 255
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 nified apology to me and also to assure the con- 
 verts that he meant them no harm. 
 
 About noon while I was walking the piazza, 
 he entered the gate with some attendants and, 
 coming into the piazza, threw one of his arms 
 across my shoulder and walked up and down 
 with me for sometime, talking about the hard 
 time he was having on account of the war, his 
 friendship for the white people who had lived in 
 that house, and the way he had protected them in 
 all their troubles. He then hinted that some re- 
 turn for all this kindness on his part would be 
 proper and acceptable. On this new tack, the 
 wily old diplomat completely captured me, and 
 if it had been in my power, I would have given 
 him anything in reason. But I had nothing to 
 lend or give away without taking the bread out 
 of the children's mouths, and when I succeeded 
 in convincing him of this fact, he went away 
 seemingly satisfied. 
 
 A short time after this, however, the old fox 
 made me feel his displeasure in a case of litiga- 
 tion before him. One of the converts was guar- 
 dian for his little niece and, with the mother's con- 
 sent, gave me the child to educate. I did not 
 accept the trust until the guarantees were given 
 which the native law provides, that the child 
 
 256
 
 The Stolen Child 
 
 would remain in the mission school until she had 
 reached a certain age. In the presence of the 
 mother and other witnesses, the uncle placed the 
 hand of the child in mine and formally delegated 
 to me all the rights of a guardian. 
 
 This arrangement was very satisfactory both 
 to the mother and her brother, until the mother 
 married a Mussulman. The stepfather insisted 
 that the child should be brought up in the faith 
 of Islam, and persuaded the mother to demand its 
 return. I felt that it would be a sin to return the 
 child under the circumstances, and refused to 
 comply with the demand, telling her that she 
 could come to see her daughter whenever it 
 suited her convenience, but that it must remain 
 in school according to the contract. 
 
 The Mussulman then sued me before Artum- 
 bala for the possession of the child. He pre- 
 sented his side of the case first and, if there was 
 a single fact in any of his statements, that fact 
 entirely eluded my observation. When my turn 
 came, ignoring the falsehoods of the plaintiff, I 
 made a plain statement of the facts of the case. 
 Knowing that I could prove what I had said, the 
 plaintiff tried to circumvent me by asking if the 
 laws of my country would allow me to act as I 
 was doing in this controversy. To this I replied, 
 
 257
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 " I am not before a court of my country, and I am 
 not being judged by its laws. I am in your 
 country and I am being judged by its laws. Do 
 you despise your own chief and the laws of 
 your own country?" This unexpected reply 
 filled the lying fellow with confusion and he fell 
 on his face before Artumbala and cried out, " No, 
 no, I honor my chief and the laws of my coun- 
 try." The chief laughed heartily at the man's 
 discomfiture and pleasantly told me I could go, 
 for I was right in the matter. A few days after 
 this, the mother came early one morning and 
 took the child away without my knowledge or 
 consent. I knew that she would not have dared 
 to do this without the consent of Artumbala, and 
 I let the matter drop. The Mussulman had prob- 
 ably given him a sum equal to the redemption 
 price of the child and then been permitted to 
 kidnap it with impunity.
 
 XXVI 
 
 IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 AT the end of my second year in Abeokuta, 
 most of the young people in the school could 
 read in their mother tongue and had taken a 
 course of study as far as its translated literature 
 permitted. The Bible, of course, was their prin- 
 cipal text-book and they knew more of this 
 book than many children of enlightened parents 
 in so-called Christian lands ; for it is a sad truth 
 that while there is much show of studying and 
 teaching them among us, comparatively few out- 
 side the ministry and those who have been 
 specially trained as Christian workers, have any- 
 thing like a complete and systematic knowledge 
 of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
 Even when used as a text-book in schools, the 
 Bible is often more valued as a treasury of an- 
 cient literature than as a source of religious light. 
 It would be a good thing for some highly edu- 
 cated young people if they were so placed for a 
 year or two that they would have nothing else to 
 read but that Book of books. Not only on the 
 subject of true religion but on many other sub- 
 
 259
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 jects, they would have broader and more en- 
 lightened views, and would not be so quickly 
 infatuated with all sorts of fanciful notions and 
 vagaries current among many of the cultured in 
 enlightened countries. 
 
 It is one of the merited punishments inflicted 
 on those who allow science, literature and the 
 news of the day to make them neglect the Bible, 
 that they are left to grope in spiritual darkness, 
 to believe the most absurd things, and, in all 
 sorts of ways, to make fools of themselves until 
 even those who have emerged from paganism 
 regard them with amazement, if not with 
 contempt. 
 
 But the Bible was not by any means the only 
 text-book when they had learned sufficient 
 English to take up a course of study in that 
 language. As the English spoken by the average 
 Sierra Leone people at that time was "pigeon 
 English," I much preferred to hear their own 
 musical language and did not encourage them to 
 speak a mutilated form of my own. It was 
 quite ridiculous when they first began to adopt 
 the dress and manners of the white man in 
 preference to those of their own people. In full 
 dress, they always wore creaking shoes, and the 
 more racket these made, the better they liked 
 
 260
 
 Improvements 
 
 them. Utterly worthless was the shoe that had 
 no " cracklin." A note from a Sierra Leone man 
 at Lagos to one of our boys, who had bought a 
 pair of shoes from him, contained this sentence, 
 "You say shoe no good because it have no 
 cracklin, but I am thankful that I have the honor 
 to say that shoe have much cracklin." To this I 
 was able to testify, for whenever he put them on, 
 the "cracklin" loudly proclaimed his approach. 
 
 This strange fancy obtained even among edu- 
 cated Sierra Leone teachers and I suppose our 
 boys got it from them. Our teacher was really a 
 very intelligent and worthy man, but he had a 
 finished Xantippe in his wife. She was young 
 and comely but had many of the mental and 
 moral characteristics of a heathen concealed by a 
 rather thin veneering of European civilization. 
 She seemed to take pleasure in worrying her hus- 
 band because he could not punish her as the 
 heathen men punished their wives. After fre- 
 quently reprimanding the teacher for tardiness, I 
 found that he had been detained by the childish 
 perverseness of his wife, even though she knew 
 he was in danger of losing his position by such 
 neglect of duty. One Sunday morning, when he 
 was in a great hurry to get ready for Sunday- 
 school, she sat down on his clothes and refused 
 
 261
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 to allow him to have them, so that he might be 
 late and get another reprimand. She held in her 
 hand a switch used in driving goats out of the 
 house, and tauntingly invited him to whip her. 
 To her amazement and rage, he accepted her in- 
 vitation. Her cries brought the other women of 
 the compound to her rescue, and they brought her 
 to me to complain how badly she had been 
 treated. The poor teacher came also to apolo- 
 gize for giving away to his temper and acting in 
 such an unmanly way. 
 
 For the sake of Christian civilization, I affected 
 to be quite indignant but in my heart there was 
 much sympathy for the poor husband who had 
 been so dreadfully humiliated while trying to do 
 his duty for her sake. This incident convinced 
 me that there can be nothing like Christian homes 
 in Yoruba until native ideas of home life have 
 been thoroughly eradicated from the minds of 
 the girls, and been replaced by those inculcated 
 in Christian teaching. 
 
 Having passed through a severe acclimation 
 during the first two years, I did not have fever so 
 often as I did in Ejahyay. Once only was I very 
 ill, and was greatly pleased to hear that during 
 the critical period of my sickness, the converts 
 had spontaneously assembled in the chapel and 
 
 262
 
 Improvements 
 
 prayed for my recovery. My wife was twice 
 brought to the brink of the grave, and if we had 
 not had the services of an experienced English 
 physician, I think she would have died. The 
 grief and anxiety of the people and the school 
 children were very pathetic and were only 
 equalled by their joy when she began to recover. 
 They sincerely appreciated her self-denial in liv- 
 ing among them and in sharing their sorrows as 
 well as their joys. 
 
 The strain on her nervous system by these two 
 attacks and by the incidents of our last year's life 
 in Ejahyay, greatly weakened her constitution 
 and, at the end of our second year in Abeokuta 
 and of our fourth in the interior, Mr. Phillips 
 having returned from England, I determined to 
 return for a while to America. While preparing 
 to leave, I heard that marauders, taking advan- 
 tage of the disturbed state of the country, had 
 appeared on the Ogun river and were robbing 
 canoes and maltreating those found in them, even 
 selling some for slaves. Especially on account of 
 my wife, this news was naturally very disturb- 
 ing. Besides, I had agreed to take the two chil- 
 dren of Enigbio to Lagos. In leaving Africa, I 
 did not want to undo any good I might have 
 
 done if it was possible to avoid so great a mis- 
 ses
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 fortune, and I hesitated to place myself in a posi- 
 tion in which common humanity might force rne 
 to resort to deadly weapons. 
 
 My first thought was to apply to the Bashorun 
 for an armed escort, but when I came to con- 
 sider the moral effect such an application might 
 possibly have, I decided not to do so, but to go 
 on trusting in God alone, as Ezra did under like 
 circumstances, using only such instrumentalities 
 as Christian prudence should suggest and God in 
 His providence should seem to appoint. After 
 having taught these dark-minded people for four 
 years to trust in our God alone, it did not seem 
 to be the right thing to act as if I myself did not 
 believe in Him ; and our trip down the river was 
 attended by some special providences so remark- 
 able that the memory of them has been a source 
 of spiritual strength to me ever since. 
 
 264
 
 XXVII 
 
 CAST AMONG ROBBERS 
 
 ONE bright morning in November, after an af- 
 fecting parting with the converts and children, 
 we came to the bank of the Ogun on our way to 
 America. It was now the end of the rainy sea- 
 son and the river was wide, deep and swift, and 
 presented an appalling scene. In addition to the 
 two canoemen and my wife, I had in our dugout 
 a young native convert to act as interpreter and 
 messenger and the two native children previously 
 mentioned. Besides the necessary provisions, I 
 took some presents for the marauders including a 
 large box of brown sugar. This, I placed by my 
 side in the prow of the canoe, and under the 
 blanket on which I sat, I placed my gun. I had 
 found that a very good way to prevent violence 
 among these people is to show that we are ready 
 for it. Peace is promoted among them, as it is 
 among nations more civilized, by an exhibition 
 of superior or at least equal strength. 
 
 During the first forenoon, I do not remember 
 seeing anything of special interest. I was sur- 
 prised to hear that a dead manatee was ly'mst u* 
 HI
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 the bank at one place. I suppose it had come up 
 from Lagos and been entrapped by some fisher- 
 man. Early in the afternoon, I learned that we 
 had come to the border of the district infested by 
 the robbers and it was decided to stop until next 
 day; for if we went on, we would have either to 
 camp in the dangerous district or to travel in the 
 night, and on account of the darkness and float- 
 ing trees, the latter would be as dangerous as the 
 former. 
 
 Too keenly alive to the responsibility I had 
 taken on myself to sleep much that night, I often 
 and fervently prayed for guidance and protection 
 during the coming day. All the forenoon of next 
 day, I sat in the prow of my canoe watching 
 right and left for some sign of the enemy. As 
 we came around a bend of the river about noon, 
 my heart gave a jump at the sight of an armed 
 sentinel standing on a bluff overhanging the 
 river. I knew we had met them at last. They 
 had a number of canoes and were prepared to 
 pursue us if we attempted to escape, so I ordered 
 my men to steer directly for the spot and show 
 them that we intended to surrender. As we ap- 
 proached my wife securely hid the children. 
 
 As soon as the prow of our canoe touched the 
 bank, the sentinel gruffly ordered us to come 
 
 266
 
 Cast Among Robbers 
 
 ashore. I lifted my wife from the canoe, we 
 ascended the bank, took a seat on a log and 
 awaited the issue. The countenance and manner 
 of the sentinel were anything else than reassuring 
 and nobody else had yet appeared. Presently 
 the leader and some of his men came out of the 
 bushes. I was greatly puzzled to observe that 
 the former seemed to be much embarrassed. 
 Then I recognized in him a former officer in the 
 Ejahyay army. He expressed much pleasure 
 that I had not attempted to pass without stop- 
 ping, saying that if I had done so his men would 
 have fired on us. He then told me that I must 
 give his men something to satisfy them. This 
 was very manifest, for they had begun to grumble 
 and to scowl very ominously when they saw 
 how friendly their leader was to me. I got my 
 messenger to bring them a large quantity of 
 sugar and this seemed to thoroughly sweeten 
 their tempers. 
 
 In the beginning of our coversation, the leader 
 had shown a scar on his arm marking a place 
 from which I had taken a bullet; and now to 
 show his appreciation, he offered me some 
 chickens and some rum. The latter, much to 
 the dissatisfaction of the canoemen, was de- 
 clined but I gladly accepted the poultry. He 
 
 267
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 then gave me a feather upon which he had strung 
 three cowries, saying that there was another 
 band down the river, but when the chief saw 
 the feather and cowries he would allow me to 
 pass without trouble. 
 
 We parted quite pleasantly, shouting saluta- 
 tions to each other as long as we were in hear- 
 ing. Shouts and yells down the river, about an 
 hour afterward, told us that we were approach- 
 ing the other company. In a few moments more 
 our eyes were greeted by a perfect pande- 
 monium. In a large clearing on the bank of the 
 river were scores of half-naked men running 
 about, dancing, leaping, yelling and utterly 
 crazed by alcohol. Although the spectacle was 
 so appalling, I thought it best to go straight for 
 them. At first they regarded us with drunken 
 surprise, then began to clamber into the canoe. 
 
 While the messenger was gone to deliver the 
 symbolical letter to their leader whose tent was 
 near the bank, I was occupied in trying to keep 
 them out of the canoe where my wife and the 
 two children were. They were beginning to get 
 angry, and it looked as if a display of violence 
 was imminent, when a man leaped from the bank 
 into the canoe, seized my hand and shook it with 
 drunken hilarity, making, at the same time, many 
 
 268
 
 Cast Among Robbers 
 
 protestations of friendship. He then told the 
 men trying to get into the canoe that they would 
 touch me at their peril. He showed me the place 
 on his wrist from which I had taken a bone after 
 the defeat of the Egbars in Ejahyay, and was 
 telling me about his troubles since that time, 
 when their chief suddenly appeared among them, 
 rod in hand, and struck right and left over their 
 naked shoulders, storming at the same time, 
 " Don't you see me ? Don't you see me ? " My 
 friend fled with the rest, but I was now safe. 
 Again " man's extremity had been God's oppor- 
 tunity," for I was becoming desperate and was 
 about to resort to something violent when the 
 Ejahyay soldier appeared and helped to restrain 
 the crazy mob. 
 
 Having dispersed, for the moment, his drunken 
 followers, the chief excitedly shouted to me that 
 the message was all right and then urged me to 
 hurry away as quickly as possible. Even after 
 the canoe had gotten some distance from the 
 bank, a crowd ran down to the river and de- 
 manded all sorts of things from us. When the 
 uproar had ceased, the children showed their 
 perspiring but happy faces. It had been a severe 
 ordeal to them, for if their presence had been dis- 
 covered by the robbers, nothing but a fight could 
 
 269
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 have saved them. They had not only been 
 greatly frightened, but had nearly smothered 
 themselves in trying to hide. 
 
 It was not long before they had to crawl back 
 to cover, for we saw men with guns running 
 along the bank of the river in the edge of the 
 forest. They were evidently hastening to reach 
 a point where the swift current would carry us 
 close to land, but when we swept past this place, 
 we neither saw nor heard anything of them 
 again. But I would not like to say how fast my 
 heart beat, as we darted by the dangerous point. 
 What they were after, I never found out. It was 
 another unsolved mystery like the incident in the 
 Ebaddan forest at Lahlookpon. 
 
 About sundown we came to a little village in- 
 habited by a people called the Parraquoi. Think- 
 ing that we were now out of the dangerous dis- 
 trict, I stopped here to salute the chief and to 
 request permission to pass the night at his town. 
 The landing-place was a strip of cleared ground 
 and to the right was a very tall bluff on which 
 the village was situated. I sent my messenger 
 up to this village to call the chief, and while I was 
 waiting for him, a man in a soldier's dress came 
 out of the forest and dipped up a bucket of 
 water. While doing this he closely inspected the 
 
 270
 
 Cast Among Robbers 
 
 canoe and then sullenly returned without paying 
 the slightest attention to my courteous salutation. 
 This silence was a declaration of war. 
 
 While impatiently awaiting the return of my 
 messenger, I noticed other men moving about 
 behind the bushes and I also saw guns. It was 
 now clear that we had been drawn into an am- 
 bush, and the robbers were waiting to see what 
 we were going to do before making an attack 
 upon us. When the chief of the Parraquoi came 
 down, I saw that he was excited and disturbed, 
 and I merely paid my respects to him and re- 
 quested permission to go in peace. He laid his 
 staff on my shoulder and solemnly bid me go in 
 peace. Poor old man! Those kind words were 
 his death warrant. So soon as he had spoken, 
 the robbers rushed altogether from their cover- 
 ing and dragged the canoe with us in it, out 
 upon the bank. Then there was a fierce hand- 
 to-hand struggle for the mastery between the 
 followers of the chief and the band of robbers 
 who acted in concert but did not seem to have 
 any leader. They fought with clubs mostly, but 
 the din was so deafening, I could give no orders 
 to my own men. 
 
 After a brief struggle the Parraquoi got be- 
 tween us and our enemies, and with the assist- 
 271
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 ance of the canoemen pushed our canoe back 
 into the water. I could not hear what anybody 
 said, but as we were hastening away, I saw one 
 of the canoemen gesticulating to me and point- 
 ing toward the bank. I turned and found that a 
 number of the robbers were aiming their guns at 
 me and I heard one of them say, " Duro, awa yin 
 ebon si nyin." (Stop, or we will shoot you.) 
 Resistance being useless, I held up my hand in 
 token of surrender. Just here, when I could see 
 no way of escape, God sent us a deliverance as 
 strange as it was sudden. Before the prow of 
 the canoe touched the bank, some of the Parra- 
 quoi women, who had been watching the fight 
 from the top of the bluff, ran pell-mell down the 
 steep descent and seized the guns in the hands 
 of the robbers, while others above besought us, 
 both by words and gestures, to hurry away. 
 The men whirled the women through the air, 
 round and round, and even thrashed them 
 against the ground, but could not break their 
 hold. So plucky were they that my wife seemed 
 to forget her fears in admiration of their courage 
 and cried out, "Look at the women! Look at 
 the women!" 
 
 While the men were cursing and yelling, be- 
 cause they could not release their guns, and the 
 
 272
 
 Cast Among Robbers 
 
 other robbers were kept back from the river by 
 the Parraquoi men, I took the advice of the 
 women above us and escaped. The brawl- 
 ing continued as long as we were in hearing, 
 being sometimes emphasized by the report of 
 guns. We seemed to be pursued for a while, 
 but I did not see any one, only heard a call be- 
 hind us. I do not know how many were hurt, 
 but I learned from the missionary at Abeokuta 
 that the chief of the Parraquoi was killed. 
 
 The sun had already gone down when we 
 escaped, and soon it was intensely dark. To 
 guard against floating obstructions, as great 
 trees, I stretched myself, with hands extended, 
 on the prow of the canoe. We met with no 
 accident during the remainder of the night, but 
 the hideous bellowings of great crocodiles in the 
 inky blackness greatly disturbed my already 
 nervous wife. Several times we saw lights 
 and heard voices on shore, but we went swiftly 
 and silently by without getting again into 
 trouble. Hearing the nine o'clock gun at Lagos, 
 we knew we were in the boundaries of the Eng- 
 lish "protectorate" at that time, and we felt 
 secure enough to stop and wait until the moon 
 rose. 
 
 Next morning, just as the sun rose in all its 
 
 273
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 tropical splendor, worn out but happy and 
 thankful, we came out of the mouth of the Ogun 
 into the broad and beautiful lagoon upon which 
 Lagos is situated. During our stay in the in- 
 terior this town had become an English colony 
 and, materially, had greatly changed. This 
 revolution, together with changes physical, 
 mental and spiritual which had taken place in 
 myself during the eventful four years of my 
 residence away from civilization, made me feel 
 as if I had been absent a long time almost a 
 lifetime. After enjoying the hospitality of the 
 missionaries and the governor of Lagos, we took 
 the mail steamer for Liverpool, crossing the 
 raging bar in a little tugboat. This was a very 
 pleasant change from the old canoe or surf boat, 
 for the bar at Lagos in the rainy season is the 
 most terrible landing-place I ever saw. Early 
 in the morning, at times, the roar of the surf on 
 the beach sounds like the booming of cannon. 
 
 874
 
 XXVIII 
 
 THE COLONY OF LAGOS 
 
 LEAVING my wife in America to follow when 
 her health would permit, I returned alone to 
 Lagos; but here I learned that, on account of 
 a difficulty with the governor of Lagos, the 
 Bashorun of Abeokuta, instigated by Shookanoo, 
 who cordially hated the whites and was a 
 counterpart of Ogumulla, had broken up the 
 mission stations and that all our people who 
 could get away with Mr. Phillips, were then in 
 Lagos. 
 
 For two years, I waited for an opportunity to 
 get back to Abeokuta, but was never permitted 
 to see the place again, a serious illness compell- 
 ing me to return, at the end of that time, to 
 America. Before bidding adieu to the reader, I 
 will say something of my life in this now beau- 
 tiful town and of the present state of things in 
 this part of Western Africa. 
 
 When I returned from America, things were 
 on a "boom" in Lagos, and comfortable dwell- 
 ings could not be rented for any price and, after 
 
 living for a while in the elegant dwelling of the 
 276
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 absent negro postmaster, I was forced to take up 
 my residence in the original mud hut of the 
 American Baptist Mission. In this house I learned 
 more of the fauna of this part of the coast in 
 two years than I could now learn in many years 
 if I were occupying the elegant brick residence 
 which is now the home of the Baptist missionary. 
 The house was a good illustration of the kind of 
 houses occupied by pioneer missionaries in this 
 part of Africa. The ceiling was like that of na- 
 tive houses palm poles covered with mats and 
 with earth. The floor was made of boards from 
 split logs. The walls were of adobe and the 
 windows were holes in the walls closed by shut- 
 ters made of split boards. The house had be- 
 come old and the ceiling was either gone in some 
 of the rooms or had been replaced by loose palm 
 poles through which the lizards roosting up there 
 frequently fell into the sleeping-room at night 
 and got up a great "rumpus." One night I 
 heard something fall, and not hearing the usual 
 scuffling which followed such a mishap to one 
 of my saurian pets, I lighted a candle and inves- 
 tigated. I found that it was a species of centi- 
 pede. The legs were large and far apart; it was 
 about a foot long and had a long, sharp spike at 
 the end of its tail. When I pinned it to the wall 
 
 276
 
 The Colony of Lagos 
 
 with a sword cane, it proved to be very tenacious 
 of life and struck right and left in a most savage 
 manner. The natives say that its spike is very 
 poisonous, and I felt very thankful that I did not 
 get it into my foot. 
 
 The ordinary species of centipede is very nu- 
 merous in the sands of the streets, and are so so- 
 ciable that I frequently, on retiring at night, 
 found one snugly ensconced between the white 
 sheets. Rats and snakes contested for empire 
 under the floors, and as the last were full of 
 holes, the rats spent much of their time in the 
 rooms of the house, even contesting with me for 
 the food on the table. One bold marauder took 
 bread from the table while I was eating. The 
 snakes were often large, but I could not learn 
 much about them. The natives were much afraid 
 of them, but I did not hear of a single instance 
 in which any one was killed by a snake, though 
 I heard of one instance in which a white man 
 was nearly frightened to death by one. 
 
 There were many varieties of ants and beetles, 
 some of the last being not only of great size but of 
 wonderful beauty. The large lizards (of which 
 mention has already been made) had the freedom 
 of the house. To keep them out was too much 
 
 trouble and they were useful in destroying the 
 277
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 young of the cen*"pedes. More than a hundred 
 slept on the loose bamboo poles over my bed. 
 
 In a field back of the house were many ant- 
 palaces, some of them seven or eight feet high, 
 and it often afforded me most pleasant recreation 
 to study their wonderful structure. While wan- 
 dering about among them, I sometimes came 
 upon amphibious saurians three feet long whose 
 mad rush for the water made me perform some 
 extraordinary gymnastic feats. At night, large 
 bats, about the size of rats, would flit through 
 the trees around my shanty. At a distance they 
 appeared to be hawks. 
 
 But my circumstances were forgotten in the 
 pleasant social intercourse, not only with the 
 English missionaries, but with educated natives 
 among whom I had valued acquaintances. One 
 of these last, was Bishop Samuel Crowther. In 
 my last desperate illness which compelled me to 
 give up my work among the people of Africa, 
 the last voice of prayer at my bedside was that 
 of this devoted servant of God as he pleaded for 
 my restoration to health. 
 
 The history of Mrs. Davis, another native ac- 
 quaintance, was almost as remarkable as that of 
 Crowther. When a little girl, she had been sent 
 as a present to the Queen of England by the 
 
 278
 
 The Colony of Lagos 
 
 bloody King of Dahomey. The queen felt the 
 responsibility and gave the young slave girl the 
 best education her kingdom afforded for girls, 
 and the accomplishments of the young captive 
 were quite marked. She was a musician, 
 poetess, linguist and brilliant conversationalist. 
 At her marriage with a wealthy native merchant, 
 the queen thought fit to be present and the bride 
 was given away by the Duke of Cambridge, her 
 representative. Like Crowther, she was jet black 
 and had the tribal and family marks deeply cut 
 into her face. Educated Yorubans have greatly 
 multiplied since then, but the history of these two 
 is quite sufficient to show that there are great 
 possibilities before the Yoruban race. 
 
 The civilization of Lagos, however, can be of 
 little use to Yorubans so long as its influence is 
 counteracted by the rum trade. It is to be re- 
 gretted that this is not discouraged, at least, by 
 the authorities at Lagos. On account of the 
 revenue which it brings in, they are said to rather 
 encourage it. 
 
 Mussulmans, especially Haussas, are greatly 
 favored by the Lagos authorities. About fifteen 
 millions of people speak the Haussa language 
 and a professorship in it has been established in 
 Cambridge University. This gentleman is said 
 
 279
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 to prophesy that English, Arabic, Suaheelee and 
 Haussa will, in course of time, be the only lan- 
 guages generally spoken in Africa. I hope, how- 
 ever, it will be a long time before any other su- 
 percedes the musical Yoruban tongue. 
 
 The Haussas make excellent, dashing soldiers, 
 and are the chief reliance of the English in their 
 wars with the natives in this part of the conti- 
 nent. They are the Sepoys of Africa. 
 
 The favor shown the Haussas has drawn Mos- 
 lems of other nationalities to Lagos and, out of a 
 population of nearly one hundred thousand, they 
 probably constitute one-half. The shrill cry of 
 the muezzin and the loud prayers of the priests, 
 which literally pierce the skies, never fail to break 
 the stillness of the early morning. 
 
 Pagan rulers sometimes get Moslem priests to 
 pray for them. The prayers offered up by the 
 priest of the Bashorun in the camp at Ejahyay, 
 could be heard all over the city. This shows 
 that religion among these people is often a strange 
 mixture of paganism and Mohammedanism. Yet 
 I had little success in my labors among Moham- 
 medans because they regarded me as an idolater. 
 For this reason my time, while in Lagos, was 
 chiefly occupied in training the refugees from 
 Abeokuta and in laboring among the heathen 
 
 280
 
 The Colony of Lagos 
 
 population. Among the refugees, we had some 
 very interesting converts who have since be- 
 come successful missionaries to their people. 
 Among these is Moses Ladejo Stone who was 
 one of the children at the Abeokuta orphanage 
 previously mentioned. He now has charge of 
 the Baptist station at Lagos and is an able 
 preacher and consecrated Christian. 
 
 The English, after some bloody conflicts with 
 the Egbars and other Yorubans, have obtained 
 political control of this part of Africa, establish- 
 ing a kind of autonomy except in the case of 
 Abeokuta. That town is still independent 
 through treaty rights, but doubtless will not re- 
 main so very long. This supremacy of the Eng- 
 lish gives to the missionaries of that nation, 
 especially the clergy of the Church of England, 
 a great advantage over those of America; but 
 the work of the missionaries of the Southern 
 Baptist Convention has been attended by marked 
 success. For Rev. C. E. Smith and Rev. W. T. 
 Lumbley and their native co-laborers and any 
 others who may yet follow them, we hope our 
 Christian readers will often think to pray. 
 
 This part of Africa being now "pacified," 
 foreign enterprise and capital will soon open it 
 up to commerce. The English have already com- 
 
 281
 
 In Afric's Forest and Jungle 
 
 menced a railroad which is intended to connect 
 Lagos with the Niger, passing through Abeokuta, 
 Ebaddan, Ogbomishaw and Illorin. In a few 
 years, this wonderful innovation will probably 
 be completed. 
 
 The author may not be permitted to travel on 
 that road, but so long as he lives, he will often in 
 imagination revisit the scenes so hallowed by 
 precious memories. It is humbly hoped that this 
 simple but true story of life among those who 
 dwell in pagan darkness, may lead some reader 
 to carry to their dark souls the light of the true 
 knowledge of God. 
 
 THE END
 
 MISSIONS, AFRICA. 
 
 The Personal Life of David Livingstone. 
 
 Chiefly from his unpublished journals and correspondence 
 in the possession of his family. By W. C-HIOEN BLAIKIE, 
 D.D., LL.D. With Portrait aod Map. New, cheap edi- 
 tion. 508 pages, 8vo, cloth, $1.50. 
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 David Livingstone. 
 
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 Reality vs. Romance in South Central 
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 Samuel Crowther, the Slave Boy 
 
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 " We cannot conceive of anything better calculated to inspire 
 
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 trated. i2mo, cloth, 75C. 
 
 " Well written and well worth reading." The Faithful Wit- 
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 Seven Years in Sierra Leone. 
 
 The Story of the Missionary Work of Wm. A. B. Johnson. 
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 Johnson was a missionary of the Church Missionary Society in 
 Regent's Town, Sierra Leone, Africa, from 1816 to 1823. 
 
 Among the Matabele. 
 
 By Rev. D. CARNEGIE, for ten years resident at Hope Foun- 
 tain, twelye miles from Bulawayo. With portraits, maps 
 and other illustrations. Second edition. 1 2mo, cloth, 6oc. 
 
 Peril and Adventure in Central Africa. 
 
 Illustrated Letter to the Youngsters at Home. By BISHOP 
 HAMMINGTON. Illustrated. 12010, cloth, joe. 
 
 Madagascar of To-Day. 
 
 A Sketch of the Island. With Chapters on its History and 
 Prospects. By Rev. W. E. COUSINS, Missionary of *he 
 London Missionary Society since 1862. Map and Illus- 
 trations. i2mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 Madagascar. 
 
 Its Missionaries and Martyrs. By Rev. W. J. TOWNSEND, 
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 Madagascar. 
 
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 Madagascar. 
 
 Country, People, Missions. By Rev. JAMES SIBREE, 
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 MISSIONS, INDIA. 
 
 In the Tiger Jungle. 
 
 And Other Stories of Missionary Work among the Telugus. 
 
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 Missionary in India. Illustrated, izmo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " If this is the kind of missionary who mans the foreign stations, 
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 a vivid and serious portrayal of the mission work, and as such 
 leaves a deep impression on the reader." The Independent, 
 
 The Child of the Ganges. 
 
 A Tale of the Judson Mission. By Prof. R. N. BARRETT, 
 D.D. Illustrated, ismo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 Adoniram Judson. 
 
 By JULIA H. JOHNSTON. Missionary Annals Series, tamo, 
 paper, net, 1 5C. ; flexible cloth, net, 3oc. 
 
 Once Hindu, now Christian. 
 
 The Early Life of Baba Padmanji. An Autobiography, 
 translated. Edited by J. MURRAY MITCHELL, M.A. lorno, 
 Joth, 75c. 
 
 William Carey. 
 
 The Shoemaker who became "the Father and Founder of 
 Foreign Missions." By Rev. JOHN B. MYERS. Missionary 
 Biography Series. Illustrated, Twenty-second thousand. 
 1 2 mo, cloth, 75C. 
 
 William Carey. 
 
 By MARY E. FARWELL. Missionary Annals Series, lamo, 
 paper, net, I5C. ; flexible cloth, net, 300. 
 
 Alexander Duff. 
 
 By ELIZABETH B. VERMILYE. Missionary Annals Series. 
 i2mo, paper, net, I5C. ; flexible doth, net, 300. 
 
 Reginald Heber, 
 
 Bishop of Calcutta, Scholar and Evangelist, By ARTHUR 
 MONTEFIORE. Missionary Biography Series. Illusitair 1 
 i2mo, cloth, 75C. 
 
 Heavenly Pearls Set in a Life. 
 
 A Record of Experiences and Labors in America, India, 
 and Australia. By Mrs. LUCY D. OSBORN. Illustrated. 
 121710, cloth, $1.50.
 
 MISSIONS, CHINA. 
 
 Chinese Characteristics. 
 
 By Rev. ARTHUR H. SMITH, D.D., for 25 years a Missionary 
 in China. With 1 6 full-page original Illustrations, and 
 index. Sixth thousand. "Popular edition. 8vo, cloth, 
 $1.25. 
 "The best book on the Chinese people." The Examiner. 
 
 A Cycle of Cathay; 
 
 Or, China, South and North. With personal reminiscen- 
 ces. By W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D., LL.D., President 
 Emeritus of the Imperial Tungwen College, Peking. 
 With 70 Illustrations from photographs and native draw- 
 ings, a Map and an index. Second edition. 8vo, cloth 
 decorated, $2.00. 
 " No student of Eastern affairs can afford to neglect this work, 
 
 which will take its place with Dr. William's ' Middle Kingdom,' as 
 
 an authoritative work on China." The Outlook. 
 
 Glances at China. 
 
 By Rev. GILBERT REID, M.A., Founder of the Mission to 
 the Higher Classes. Illustrated. lamo, cloth, 8oc. 
 
 Pictures of Southern China. 
 
 By Rev. JAMES MACGOWAN. With 80 Illustrations. 8vo, 
 cloth, $4.20. 
 
 A Winter in North China. 
 
 By Rev. T. M. MORRIS. With an Introduction by Rev. 
 RICHARD GLOVER, D.D., and a Map. I2mo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 John Livingston Nevius, 
 
 For Forty Years a Missionary in Shantung. By his wife, 
 HELEN S. C. NEVIUS. With an Introduction by the Rev. 
 W. A. P. MARTIN, D.D. Illustrated. 8vo, cloth, $2.00. 
 
 The Sister Martyrs of Ku Cheng. 
 
 Letters and a Memoir of ELEANOR and ELIZABETH SAUNDERS, 
 Massacred August ist, 1895. Illustrated, ismo, cloth, 
 $1.50. 
 
 China. 
 
 By Rev. J. T. GRACEY, D.D. Seventh edition, revised. 
 i6mo, paper, i5c. 
 
 Protestant Mission in China. 
 
 By D. WILLARD LYON, a Secretary of the Student Volun- 
 teer Movement. i6mo, paper, i5c.
 
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