The Canoes Were Following Each Other Up The River In Tolerable Order, Each Of Them Displaying Three Flags.

In the first was King Boy, standing erect and conspicuous, his head dress of feathers waving with the movements of his body, which had been chalked in various fantastic figures, rendered more distinct by its natural colour.

His hands were resting on the barbs of two immense spears, which at intervals he darted violently into the bottom of his canoe, as if he were in the act of killing some formidable wild animal under his feet. In the bows of all the other canoes, fetish priests were dancing, and performing various extraordinary antics, their persons as well as those of the people in them, being chalked over in the same manner as that of King Boy; and to crown the whole, Mr. Gun, the little military gentleman, was most actively employed, his canoe, now darting before, and now dropping behind the rest, adding not a little to the imposing effect of the whole scene, by the repeated discharges of his cannon.

In this manner they continued on till about noon, when they entered a little bay, and saw before them on the south side of it, two distinct groups of buildings, one of which was King Forday's own, and the other King Jacket's town. The cannons in all the canoes were now fired off, and the whole of the people were quickly on the look-out, to witness their approach. The firing having ceased, the greatest stillness prevailed, and the canoes moved forward very slowly between the two towns to a small island, a little to the east of Jacket's town. This island is the abode of Dju-dju, or grand fetish priest, and his wives, no one else being permitted to reside there. As they passed Forday's town, a salute of seven guns was fired off at a small battery near the water. The canoes stopped near the fetish hut on the island, which was a low insignificant building of clay. The priest, who was chalked over nearly in the same manner as Boy, drew near to the water's edge, and with a peculiar air asked some questions, which appeared to be answered to his satisfaction. Boy then landed, and preceded by the tall figure of the priest, entered the religious hut. Soon after this, the priest came to the water-side, and looking at the Landers with much earnestness, broke an egg, and poured some liquid into the water, after which he returned again to the hut. The Brass men then rushed on a sudden into the water, and returned in the same hasty manner, which to the Landers appeared equally as mysterious as the rest of the ceremony.

After remaining at the island about an hour, during which time Boy was in the hut with the priest, he rejoined them, and they proceeded to Forday's town, and took up their residence at Boy's house. In the extraordinary ceremony which they had just witnessed, it was evident that they were the persons principally concerned, but whether it terminated in their favour or against them; whether the answers of the Dju-dju were propitious or otherwise, they were only able to ascertain by the behaviour of the Brass people towards them.

It was with the strongest emotions of joy that they saw a white man on shore, whilst they were in the canoe, waiting the conclusion of the ceremony. It was a cheering and goodly sight to recognize the features of an European, in the midst of a crowd of savages. This individual paid them a visit in the evening; his behaviour was perfectly affable, courteous, and obliging, and in the course of a conversation which they had with him, he informed them that he was the master of the Spanish schooner, which was then lying in the Brass River for slaves. Six of her crew, who were ill of the fever, and who were still indisposed, likewise resided in the town.

Of all the wretched, filthy, and contemptible places in this world of ours, none can present to the eye of a stranger so miserable an appearance, or can offer such disgusting and loathsome sights as this abominable Brass Town. Dogs, goats, and other animals were running about the dirty streets half starved, whose hungry looks could only be exceeded by the famishing appearance of the men, women, and children, which bespoke the penury and wretchedness to which they were reduced, while the sons of many of them were covered with odious boils, and their huts were falling to the ground from neglect and decay.

Brass, properly speaking, consists of two towns of nearly equal size, containing about a thousand inhabitants each, and built on the borders of a kind of basin, which is formed by a number of rivulets, entering it from the Niger through forests of mangrove bushes. One of them was under the domination of a noted scoundrel, called King Jacket, to whom a former allusion has been made, and the other was governed by a rival chief, named King Forday. These towns are situated directly opposite each other, and within the distance of eighty yards, and are built on a marshy ground, which occasions the huts to be always wet. Another place, called Pilot's Town by Europeans, from the number of pilots that reside in it, is situated nearly at the mouth of the first Brass River, which the Landers understood to be the "Nun" River of the Europeans, and at the distance of sixty or seventy miles from hence. This town acknowledges the authority of both kings, having been originally peopled by settlers from each of their towns. At the ebb of the tide, the basin is left perfectly dry, with the exception of small gutters, and presents a smooth and almost unvaried surface of black mud, which emits an intolerable odour, owing to the decomposition of vegetable substances, and the quantity of filth and nastiness which is thrown into the basin by the inhabitants of both towns.

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