The Travellers Say
That One Of These Canoes, Hollowed Out Of A Single Trunk, May Accommodate
Seventy Individuals.
The houses of the people of Eboe are of a superior
kind, and are constructed of yellow clay plastered over, thatched with
palm leaves, and surrounded by plantations.
The people are a savage and
dissolute race, and the bad expression of their countenances is a true
index of their character.
King Obie determined to detain the Landers till he could extort a large
sum for their ransom. He demanded the sum of twenty _bars_ (each equal to
one slave or a cask of palm oil). The travellers had the prospect of
being detained for an indefinite period, had not King Boy of Brass-town,
Obie's son-in-law, undertaken to pay the amount, and convey them to the
coast, on condition of receiving a guarantee for thirty-five bars, being
determined to retain the difference as profit for his trouble. King Boy
then went to the mouth of the river with Richard Lander, John being left
at Brass-town. The English brig Thomas, commanded by Captain Lake, was
then lying at anchor in the Nun, and Richard Lander went on board, in the
hope that Lake would advance the sum, which was sure to be repaid by the
British Government. He, however, had no sympathy towards his distressed
countrymen, and peremptorily refused to grant them any assistance, and
King Boy was with difficulty prevailed upon to bring John Lander to the
brig, Richard trusting that the hard-hearted captain would by that time
relent.
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