In the afternoon we waited on the king. There is a pleasant walk through a large enclosed park at the foot of the hills, between the house of the king and that of his wives, enclosed by a clay wall. Some parts of the park are planted with corn, yams, &c. and others studded with beautiful shady trees. The king was sitting under the shade of one of the trees. I observed to him that I had been here twenty-four days, and was anxious to go on my journey, as the rains were about to set in. He asked if all the white men were going. I said “Only myself and my servants.” As I knew him to be skilful in evasive answers, and always to have one ready at hand, I said “Fix a day.” His reply was, “Every one would say, the white man came to see the king of Yourriba, and brought him large presents, and requested him to give them a good passage to where they wanted to go; he gave them a bad path; they were robbed and killed: all people would say that the king of Yourriba did not do good to white man.” He had been busy these last four days with his people, but he had sent a messenger to get a good path. I asked him positively to fix a day, as I could not put off any longer. After consulting with his people, he said, “Nine days.” I said, “Well—I shall remain nine days:” without saying one word that I had every thing ready to go. _Foo-foo_, the common food of the rich and poor, is of two kinds—white and black: the white is merely boiled yams beaten into a paste with water, and sold in balls of about a pound weight each. The black is made as follows:—The yam is first parboiled, then cut into small pieces and exposed to the rays of the sun till quite dry; in this state it is pounded in a large wooden mortar into a flour, and sifted again and again until it is as fine as possible. The flour will keep in this way about six months. When wanted for use, boiling water is poured over it, and stirred round until completely mixed and of a proper thickness; and when so done it is, like the other, made into balls of about a pound weight each. The natives eat it with soup, gravy, or palm oil; or without any other thing. Wednesday, 15th.—At 3 P.M. we had a messenger from Jannah, who brought letters; one from Captain Clavering of the Redwing, with half a dozen bottles of porter and half a dozen of wine; the other two half dozens having either been broken or drunk on the road. The supply was as welcome as unexpected, and proved to us how very little trouble and expense were required to keep up the communication. By the letters of Captain Clavering, it appears that the trunks of the late Captain Pearce and Dr. Morrison had arrived safe.