ed for the purpose of
trade, they entered an extensive and romantic town, called Wow, which
is situated in a valley. The majority of the inhabitants had never
before had an opportunity of seeing white men, so that their
curiosity, as may be supposed, was excessive. Two of the principal
persons came out to meet them, preceded by men bearing large silk
umbrellas, and another playing a horn, which produced such terrible
sounds, that they were glad to take refuge, as soon as they could, in
the chief's house. The apartment, into which they were introduced was
furnished with a roof precisely like that of a common English barn
inverted. In the middle of it, which reached to within a few inches
of the floor, a large square hole had been made to admit air and
water to a shrub that was growing directly under it. The most
remarkable, if not the only ornament in the room, were a number of
human jaw bones, hung upon the side of the wall, like a string of
onions. After a form and ceremonious introduction, they were
liberally regaled with water from a calabash, which is a compliment
the natives pay all strangers, and then they were shown into a very
small apartment. Here Richard Lander endeavoured to procure a little
sleep having remained awake during the whole of the preceding night;
but they were so annoyed by perpetual interruptions and intrusions,
the firing of muskets, the garrulity of women, the unceasing squall
of children, the drunken petition of men and boys, and a laugh,
impossible to describe, but approximating more to the nature of a
horse-laugh than any other, that it was found impossible to sleep for
ten minutes together.

The market of this place is supplied abundantly with Indian corn,
palm oil, &c., together with _trona,_ and other articles brought
hither from the borders of the Great Desert, through the medium of
the wandering Arabs. According to the regulations of the fetish,
neither a white man nor a horse is permitted to sleep at Wow during
the night season: as to the regulations respecting the horses, they
knew not what had become of them; they were, according to the orders
of Adooley, to have preceded them to this place, but they had not
then arrived. With respect to themselves, they found it necessary, in
conformity to the orders of the fetish, to walk to a neighbouring
village, and there to spend the night. Their course to Wow, through
this creek, was north-by-east; and Badagry, by the route they came,
was a