us
liquors, in order to do away any evil impression they might secretly
have received, and obtain their suffrages, though it should be at the
expense of half the goods in their possession. There is hardly any
knowing who is monarch here, or even what form of government
prevails; independently of the king of kings himself, the redoubtable
Adooley, four fellows assume the title of royalty, namely, the kings
of Spanish-town, of Portuguese-town, of English-town, and of
French-town, Badagry being divided into four districts, bearing the
names of the European nations just mentioned.

Toward the evening, they received an invitation from the former of
these chieftains, who by all accounts was originally the sole
governor of the country, until his authority was wrested from him by
a more powerful hand. He was then living in retirement, and subsisted
by purchasing slaves, and selling them to Portuguese and Spanish
traders. They found in him a meek and venerable old man, of
respectable appearance. He was surrounded by a number of men and
boys, his household slaves, who were all armed with pistols, daggers,
muskets, cutlasses, swords, &c., the manufacture of various European
countries. In the first place, he assured them, that nothing could
give him more pleasure than to welcome them to Badagry, and he very
much wondered that they had not visited him before. If they had a
present to give him, he said, he would thank them; but if they had
not, still he would thank them. A table was then brought out into the
court before the house, on which decanters and glasses, with a
burning liquor obtained from the Portuguese, were placed. In one
corner of the yard was a little hut, not more than two feet in
height, wherein had been placed a fetish figure, to preserve the
chief from any danger or mischief, which their presence might
otherwise have entailed upon him. A portion of the spirit was poured
into one of the glasses, and from it emptied into each of the others,
and then drunk by the attendant that had fetched it from the house.
This is an old custom, introduced no doubt to prevent masters from
being poisoned by the treachery of their slaves. As soon as the
decanters had been emptied of their contents, other ardent spirits
were introduced, but as Richard Lander imagined that fetish water had
been mingled with it, they simply took a tea-spoonful into their
mouths, and privately ejected it on the ground. The old chief
promised to return th