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 640 of 1124 - First - Home
In The First Place, He Assured Them, That Nothing Could
Give Him More Pleasure Than To Welcome Them To Badagry, And He Very
Much Wondered That They Had Not Visited Him Before.
If they had a
present to give him, he said, he would thank them; but if they had
not, still he would thank them.
A table was then brought out into the
court before the house, on which decanters and glasses, with a
burning liquor obtained from the Portuguese, were placed. In one
corner of the yard was a little hut, not more than two feet in
height, wherein had been placed a fetish figure, to preserve the
chief from any danger or mischief, which their presence might
otherwise have entailed upon him. A portion of the spirit was poured
into one of the glasses, and from it emptied into each of the others,
and then drunk by the attendant that had fetched it from the house.
This is an old custom, introduced no doubt to prevent masters from
being poisoned by the treachery of their slaves. As soon as the
decanters had been emptied of their contents, other ardent spirits
were introduced, but as Richard Lander imagined that fetish water had
been mingled with it, they simply took a tea-spoonful into their
mouths, and privately ejected it on the ground. The old chief
promised to return their visit on the morrow, and lifting up his
hands and eyes to heaven, like a child in the attitude of prayer, he
invoked the Almighty to preserve and bless them; they then saluted
him in the usual manner, and returned well pleased to their own
habitation.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 640 of 1124
Words from 175156 to 175432
of 309561