The Eunuch Sent Them A Very Fat Sheep, As A Further Token Of His Good Will.

On Friday May 14th, Richard Lander accompanied by Ebo, and the other unwieldy eunuchs, took a present to the

King, which was pretty well received; Mansolah, it was supposed out of compliment, remarked that if they had not brought with them the value of a single kowrie, they should have been favourably received at Katunga, and well entertained at his own expense. They had, previously to presenting themselves before the king, consulted their friend Ebo, on the subject of their journey to the Niger, and he strongly advised them by no means even to hint at such an intention to the king, whose suspicions, he assured them, would immediately take the alarm, so that instead of being forwarded on their way thither, they would either be detained in the town for an indefinite time, or sent back again to the coast. They therefore conceived it prudent to give him the following statement only: - "That the king of England, anxious to procure the restoration of certain papers which belonged to a countryman of theirs, who perished at Boosa about twenty years ago, which papers were supposed to be in the possession of the sultan of Yaoorie, they had been despatched hither by their sovereign, in the hope that the king of Katunga would forward them to the latter state, for the purpose of obtaining them from the sultan of Yaoorie, and taking them back with them to England."

Mansolah, with the natural indifference of the uncultivated mind, displayed neither eager curiosity as to their object in coming to his country, nor surprise when they had informed him of it, but very promptly observed, that in two days time, he would send a messenger to Kiama, Wouwou, Boossa, and Yaoorie, for the purpose of acquainting the rulers of those provinces of their intention to pay them a visit, and that on the return of the messenger, they should have his permission to depart. This was promised after Richard Lander's repeated solicitations and importunities, that they should not be detained here longer than necessary, as in a very short time, the violent rains would render the roads to those countries impassable, and, in consequence, they would not be able to travel till the return of the dry season. Their speedy departure was also a matter of importance to them on account of their health, which they found to be far better when they were travelling, than when cooped up in a close unwholesome hut, where ventilation appeared to be the object the least attended to, or considered of no importance at all.

They were expressly and repeatedly informed that the monarch of this empire was brother to the king of Benin; but notwithstanding this near relationship of the two sovereigns, not the slightest intercourse or communication is maintained between Yarriba and that power, and the reason ascribed for it is, that the distance between the two countries is too great.

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