+-------------------------------------------------+ |Transcriber’s note: | | | |Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | | | +-------------------------------------------------+ THE LAND OF FETISH BY A. B. ELLIS, CAPTAIN FIRST WEST INDIA REGIMENT. AUTHOR OF “WEST AFRICAN SKETCHES.” LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, LIMITED, 11, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1883. WESTMINSTER: NICHOLS AND SONS, PRINTERS, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET. CONTENTS. PAGE CHAPTER I. The Gambia--Bathurst--Jolloffs--Novel Advertisements--A Neglected Highway--False Economy--History of the Gambia--Musical Instruments--Burial Custom--Yahassu--St. James Island 1 CHAPTER II. British Combo--An interesting Conversation--Bakko--A small Account--Sabbajee--Peculiar Governors--The Gambia Militia--A new Field for Sportsmen 19 CHAPTER III. The Slave Coast--Whydah--The Dahoman Palaver of 1876--The Dahoman Army--An Unpleasant Bedfellow--The Snake House--Dahoman Fetishism--Various Gods--A Curious Ceremony--Importunate Relatives--The Dahoman Priesthood 35 CHAPTER IV. The Amazons--Trying Drill--System of Espionage--The Annual Customs--Human Sacrifices--The Dahoman Repulse at Abbeokuta--Natural Features of Dahomey--Agriculture--The Whydah Bunting 54 CHAPTER V. Lagos--Small Change--A Ball--A Cheerful Companion--An Anomalous Sight--History of the Settlement--The Naval Attack of 1851 73 CHAPTER VI. Leeches--Ikorudu--A Blue-blood Negro--Badagry--Flying Foxes--Fetishes--A Smuggler entrapped--Floating Islands--Porto Novo--Thirsty Gods--Cruel Kindness 95 CHAPTER VII. The Niger Delta--Gloomy Region--Cannibals--King Pepple--Bonny-town--Rival Chiefs--Dignitaries of the Church--Missions--Curlews--A Night Adventure--A Bonny _Bonne Bouche_ 111 CHAPTER VIII. Old Calabar--Duke Town--Capital Punishments--Moistening the Ancestral Clay--A surgeon’s Liabilities--Man-eaters--A Mongrel Consul--Curious Judgments 131 CHAPTER IX. Sierra Leone--More Civility--Cobras--A Guilty Conscience--Naval Types--Freetown Society--A Musical Critic--The Rural Districts--A British Atrocity 143 CHAPTER X. British Sherbro--The Bargroo River Expedition--Professional Poisoners--An African Bogey--A Secret Society--A Strange Story--A Struggle with Sharks--Startling News from the Gold Coast 158 CHAPTER XI. Ashanti Politics since 1874--The Secession of Djuabin--Diplomatic Mistakes--The Conquest of Djuabin--The Importation of Rifles--The Attempt on Adansi--The Salt Scare--The Mission to Gaman and Sefwhee--Dissensions in Coomassie--The War Party 178 CHAPTER XII.