Lander's Travels eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,054 pages of information about Lander's Travels.

Lander's Travels eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 1,054 pages of information about Lander's Travels.
from the significant language which they made use of.  The women here are, however, not much better treated than in more central Africa; not only the domestic duties are performed by them, but in all matters of industry the labour appears to be imposed upon them, whilst their husbands or owners are loitering away their time, telling unaccountable stories to each other, or sleeping under the shade of some of the beautiful trees which adorn this part of the country.

Very differently is it constituted with the canine species; for here the dog is treated with respect, and made the companion of man; here he has collars round his neck, of various colours, and ornamented with kowries; he sits by his master, and follows him in all his journeys and visits.  The great man is never without one; and it appeared to Lander that a boy was appointed to take care of him.  In no other country in Africa is this faithful animal treated with common humanity.

The general character of the people of Eyeo appears to be good and amiable, and, as a proof of their honesty, to which all the travellers bore ample testimony, they had now travelled sixty miles in eight days, with a numerous and heavy baggage, and about ten different relays of carriers, without losing so much as the value of a shilling, public or private; a circumstance evincing not only somewhat more than common honesty in the inhabitants, but a degree of subordination and regular government, which could not have been supposed to exist among a people hitherto considered as barbarous.  It appears, however, that the Eyeo captain, Adamooli, had not quite so high an opinion of their spontaneous honesty; for he told the travellers, at Puka, to keep a good look-out after their things, as the people there were great thieves.

In some branches of the arts they possess an extraordinary skill.  They are great carvers; their doors, drums, and every thing of wood being carved.  In the weaving of cloth and linen they also evinced considerable skill.  Eight or ten looms were seen at work in one house; in fact it was a regular manufactory.  Captain Clapperton visited several cloth manufactories, and three dye-houses, with upwards of twenty vats in each, all in full work.  The indigo is of excellent quality, and the cloth of a good texture; some of it very fine.  The women are the dyers, the boys the weavers, the men, in general, lookers on.  The loom and shuttles are on the same principle as the common English loom, but the warp is only four inches wide.  They also manufacture earthen-ware, but prefer that of Europe, which they obtain from Badagry.  In walking through the town, the strangers were followed by an immense crowd, but met with not a word nor a look of disrespect.  The men took off their caps as they passed, and the women remained kneeling.  The market was well supplied with raw cotton, cloths, oranges, limes, plantains, bananas, onions, pepper, and gums for soup, boiled yams, and acassous, a paste made of maize and wrapped in leaves.

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Lander's Travels from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.