Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
- Page 520 of 1124 - First - Home
It Appears, That During Their Stay At Whidah, Every Inquiry Was Made
After Bello And His Messengers, But Without The Slightest Success,
And Equally So As To Funda And Raka, Names Never Heard Of On That
Part Of The Coast.
It is now known that these places are nearly two
hundred miles inland, and that Raka is not even on the banks of any
river, and that neither of them was then under the dominion of Bello.
Badagry, the capital of a small territory, is situated at the mouth
of the Lagos river, in latitude 6 deg. 20', and is much frequented by the
Portuguese slave-merchants, who have five factories there. Canoes
being obtained, the party proceeded slowly up a branch of this river,
as far as the mouth of the Gazie creek, which comes from the
north-west, running through part of the kingdom of Dahomy, having its
rise in the country called Keeto. They ascended this creek for about
a mile and a half, and then landed on the western bank, at a place
called Bawie, where a market is held for the people of Badagry and
the adjacent towns. The very first night, they were guilty of a fatal
imprudence. The banks of both these streams are low and covered with
reeds; the soil a red clay mixed with sand; and the surrounding
country is covered with forests of high trees and jungle. Not a hum
of a single mosquito was to be heard. Every circumstance combined to
create an atmosphere fatal to animal life, and the consequence of the
unaccountable disregard of all precaution on the part of the
travellers was too soon apparent.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 520 of 1124
Words from 141918 to 142196
of 309561