This Trait In His Character Consisted In A Gravity Of Countenance Well Befitting The Individual, Who Presents Himself To His Anxious Patient, To Pronounce The Great Question Of Life And Death, And The Greater The Ignorance Of The Individual, The Deeper And More Solemn Is The Countenance, Which He Assumes.

If Richard Lander had been in the least inclined to a risible disposition, perhaps no occasion was more likely

To call it into action, than when he saw himself followed by two or three hundred savages, under an imputation of possessing the power of curing an individual, who had been stabbed nearly to the heart, when at the same time, he knew as much of the art of stopping an haemorrhage, as he did of the art of delivering one of the queens of Badagry of an heir to "the golden stool." Fortunately, however, for the new debutant in the medical profession, the victim of the assassin had died a few minutes before the English doctor arrived, and right glad he was, for had he found his patient alive, and he had afterwards died, no doubt whatever rested on his mind, that his death would be attributed to the want of skill on the part of his medical attendant, who, by way of reward for his interference, would have run no small risk of being buried in the same grave as the individual, whose life he had sacrificed to his ignorance and want of skill. From this dilemma he was fortunately relieved, but he had scarcely returned to his habitation, than he was called upon to attend a fetish, or a religious rite, that was to be performed over the remains of a native, who had been found dead, but who was in perfect health a few hours before. This kind of coroner's inquest appeared most strange to the travellers, when it was well known to them that the king of Badagry, so far from following the example of other kings, who are so extremely anxious about the life of their subjects, often amuses himself with chopping off two or three hundred heads of his subjects, in order that the path to his apartments may be paved with their skulls; and should there not be quite a sufficient number to complete the job, the deficiency is made up with the same indifference, as a schoolboy strikes off the heads of the poppies in the corn fields. The ceremony observed at this fetish, had a great resemblance to an Irish wake; and could the mourners have been able to obtain the requisite supply of spirits, there is very little doubt that there would not have been a mourner present, who would not have exhibited himself in the state of the most beastly intoxication. The lament of the relatives of the deceased was doleful in the highest degree, and no sounds could be more dismally mournful than those shrieked forth by them on this occasion.

The Sabbath was nearly over, when a summons was received from Adooley, to repair to his residence, in order finally to settle the business relative to their journey into the interior, but they refused to have any disputes with him on the Sabbath, and therefore promised to wait on him the following morning. Accordingly after breakfast, they redeemed their pledge, by paying him the promised visit. Adooley received them with his accustomed politeness and gracious smile. He prefaced his wish by saying, that he wished to inform them of his intention, to detain them at Badagry a day or two longer, the "path" not being considered in a fit state for; travelling, rather than his reputation should suffer by leading them into danger, which would undoubtedly be the case, if he had not adopted his present resolution. Yet, he continued, they might depend upon his word as a king, that they should be at liberty to depart on the following Thursday at the latest. Now the Landers well knew that the country was never in a more peaceable or quiet state than at the moment he was speaking, and they were consequently mortified beyond measure, at the perpetual evasions and contradictions of this chief. They also regretted that the dry season was drawing fast to a close, and that then they would be obliged to travel in the rainy months.

Having made this declaration, Adooley requested them to write on paper in his presence, for a few things, which he wished to procure from Cape Coast Castle, or from England, as a return for the protection he had promised them. Amongst other articles enumerated were four regimental coats, such as are worn by the king of England, being for his own immediate wear, and forty less splendid than the king of England's, for his captains; two long brass guns, to run on swivels; fifty muskets; twenty barrels of gunpowder; four handsome swords, and forty cutlasses; to which were added, two puncheons of rum; a carpenter's chest of tools, with oils, paint and brushes; the king himself boasting that he was a blacksmith, carpenter, painter, and indeed every trade but a tailor. Independently of these trifles, as he termed them, he wished to Obtain half a dozen rockets, and a rocket gun, with a soldier from Cape Coast capable of undertaking the management of it; and lastly, he modestly ordered two puncheons of kowries to be sent him, for the purpose of defraying in part the expences, he had incurred in repelling the attacks of the men of Porto Novo, Atta, Juncullee; the tribes inhabiting those places having made war upon him, for allowing Captain Clapperton's last mission to proceed into the interior without their consent. They now asked jocosely, whether Adooley would be satisfied with these various articles, when, having considered for a few moments, and conversed aloud to a few of his chiefs, who were in the apartment at the time, he replied that he had forgotten to mention his want of a large umbrella, four casks of grape shot, and a barrel of flints, which having also inserted in the list, the letter was finally folded and sealed.

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