an unlimited
variety of form and hue. They varied from the tiny opaque beads of all
colors used by English children for their dolls, to great cylindrical
beads of variegated hues as long and as thick as the joint of a finger.
The love of the Africans for beads is surprising. The women wear them
round the wrists, the neck, and the ankles. The occupation of threading
the little beads is one of their greatest pleasures. The threads used
are narrow fibers of palm leaves, which are very strong. The beads,
however, are of unequal sizes, and no African girl who has any respect
for her personal appearance will put on a string of beads until she has,
with great pains and a good deal of skill, rubbed them with sand and
water until all the projecting beads are ground down, and the whole are
perfectly smooth and even.

Next in number to the dealers in beads were those who sold calico, or,
as it is called in Africa, cloth, and gaudily colored kerchiefs for
the head. These three articles--beads, cotton cloth, and colored
handkerchiefs--complete the list of articles required for the attire and
adornment of males and females in Africa. Besides these goods, tobacco,
in dried leaves, short clay pipes, knives, small looking glasses, and
matches were offered for sale. The majority of the saleswomen, however,
were dealers in eatables, dried fish, smoked fish, canki--which is a
preparation of ground corn wrapped up in palm leaves in the shape of
paste--eggs, fowls, kids, cooked meats in various forms, stews, boiled
pork, fried knobs of meat, and other native delicacies, besides an
abundance of seeds, nuts, and other vegetable productions.

After walking for some time through the streets Frank and his companions
returned to the boat, where, half an hour later, the captain joined
them, and, putting off to the Decoy, they continued the voyage down the
coast.

The next morning they weighed anchor off Addah, a village at the mouth
of the Volta. They whistled for a surf boat, but it was some time before
one put out. When she was launched it was doubtful whether she would
be able to make her way through the breaking water. The surf was much
heavier here than it had been at Accra, and each wave threw the boat
almost perpendicularly into the air, so that only a few feet of the end
of the keel touched the water. Still she struggled on, although so long
was she in getting through the surf that those on board the ship thought
several times that she m