The Egbo man—­that is the executive person wears a complete disguise, consisting of a black network close to the skin from head to foot, a hat with a long feather, horns projecting from his forehead, a large whip in his right hand, with a bell fastened to the lower part of his back, and several smaller ones round his ankles.  Thus equiped he starts from the Egbo-house, runs through the streets with his bells ringing, to the house of the offender, followed by half a dozen subordinate personages fantastically dressed, each carrying either a sword or stick.

I one day asked King Eyo who this Egbo was, who ran about with the bells, “What? you tink Egbo be man, no, he be debil, come up from bush, nobody know him,” was his reply.

It is their custom upon the death of a great man, to have one of his slaves, male or female, taken down to the side of the river to make what they call a devil, which means, I presume, an offering to the Evil Spirit; this is done in the following manner.  A stake is driven into the ground close to the water’s edge, to this the poor wretch is fastened, the head being pulled as high as possible to stretch the neck for the sword, by which he is to be decapitated, and after the deed is accomplished they carry the head through the town rejoicing.

These frightful orgies used to take place in the daytime, but in consequence of the repeated remonstrances from the Captains of vessels, who were shocked by the frequency of these horrid scenes, performed in sight of all the ships in the river, they now take place in the night; for my own part I think that the noise occasioned by their savage merriment, and their running about during the stillness of night, produces a more appalling picture to the imagination, than even the reality of the scene in broad day; the only difference is that there are fewer spectators, as the greater number of those on board the vessels are wrapt in profound repose.

The practice of burying the youngest and favourite wives with the corpse is by no means uncommon,[36] and they resort to a variety of cruel practices for maiming and destroying their slaves; thus they cut off parts or the whole of their ears, a part of the nose, a finger or a hand.  One of the servants who waited upon us at the King’s house, had lost an ear in this way, for some trifling offence.

After a recital of these facts, it is scarcely necessary to observe that the Calabar people are extremely cruel, indeed I am informed that they frequently cause their slaves to be put to death for a mere whim; a practice which they endeavour to excuse, by saying, that if the slaves were not thus kept in awe of their masters, they would rise in rebellion:  they also plead the necessity of it, for preventing them becoming too numerous.  These reasons form also their apology for countenancing the slave-trade, a traffic which is most strenuously supported by the Duke, who also trades largely in palm-oil.