Ja-Ja received his great patron the consul with much finger-snapping and other signs of friendship, and led the way to his house. The outer wall of his compound, which incloses some three acres of ground, is formed by the huts of his slaves and people, the whole place reeking with filth beyond all European imagination. In the centre of the compound stands a fetich india-rubber tree, with a ju-ju hut under it; and near it is built the house inhabited by some of Ja-Ja’s favourite wives; the palace itself being at the end of the compound, and overlooking all. It is a gaudily painted wooden building, raised on piles some eight feet high, and surrounded by a veranda. The house, a new one, is the pride of old Ja-Ja’s heart, and was constructed by negro workmen from the British settlement at Accra. It is furnished with a desperate attempt at European style; but the whole effect is absurdly incongruous with the nude or semi-nude male and female servitors, and the evident uneasiness of Ja-Ja himself amongst his civilised surroundings. In the corner of the principal parlour, which leads straight from the veranda, is a most gorgeous red and gold throne, with a liberal allowance of crowns, sceptres, orbs, and ‘King Ja-Jas’ scattered on every coign of vantage; and on its topmost pinnacle is stuck jauntily an absurd conical hat like a fool’s-cap, with enormous feather-like ears on each side of it, with which head-dress the king volunteered the statement that he had been ‘making ju-ju’—whatever that might mean. I was trying hard, but unsuccessfully, to make out Ja-Ja’s extraordinary attempts at pigeon-English, when from the adjoining room came a female voice, which partly explained the attempts I had noticed at European furnishing. ‘O yas, sah,’ said the voice, with the comical affectation and bombastic intonation of the civilised nigger—‘O yas, sah, I’se berry seedy, sah; I’se miscalkerlated de day, sah!’ and thereupon Miss Sally Johnson—‘a Barbadian born, sah!’—sailed into the room, positively _dressed_ in a flowing cotton gown of most approved fashion; evidently a very superior person, looking down upon poor Ja-Ja and his people with much commiseration, and not a little contempt. This lady is prime-minister, secretary of state, and Ja-Ja’s guide, philosopher, and friend in all that relates to the ways of the white man; and her experience and knowledge of all civilised matters are too great to be questioned within the realms of Opobó. Her initiative with regard to the gown, however, was not followed, for she was the only person dressed in the place, unless we so consider the eccentric harlequin suits of dye upon the children of all ages, and even upon Ja-Ja’s marriageable daughters, who were plentifully scattered about the compound. The patterns stained upon the bright sleek brown skins are in some cases very elaborate and brilliant, and had really a pleasing effect.