24 ME. CHARLES BARTER ON THE 
through the district about Lagos being disturbed by the ex-king 
Kosoko, and news that the Dahomeans were about to attack 
Abeocuta. This induced Dr. Baikie to visit Kosoko at his town 
of Eppab, distant about thirty miles from Lagos, on the Crado 
Lake. H.M.S. Brune, with Consul Campbell on board, went 
with us. This chief (Kosoko) received us with much courtesy, 
and expressed himself desirous of remaining on good terms with 
the English. His previous acts do not warrant the truth of these 
professions; but for the present no impediment exists to our 
moving inland. Dr. Baikie and myself will therefore leave about 
the 12th ; Lieut. Glover and Dalton will come up afterwards. 
The margin of the Crado Lake is nearly everywhere swampy, 
with but few tall trees, and scarcely any oil-palms ; it may be said 
to be bounded with Raphia vinifera, which luxuriates in the fetid 
black mud, now (in the dry season) covered with fallen leaves, 
through which the foot sinks, at every step, above the ancle. 
Behind this the land rises ; and about Eppah some rocks occur of 
soft iron conglomerate, with a rich loamy soil. 
Lofty forest trees are first met with here, amongst which some 
tall Clusiacee are conspicuous; one with crimson flowers I recognize 
as being abundant in the lower Niger. It is a slender tree, 70 
or 80 feet high, with branches only at the top, spreading out 
regular and drooping, so that in flower it resembles a gigantic 
crimson umbrella. All parts of this tree yield an abundance of 
yellow juice, resembling Gamboge when coagulated ; some has 
been collected and sent to R. Bentley, Esq., to ascertain if it has - 
any commercial value. Another large tree of this order I send 
dried fruits of, and some nuts ; the latter are very oily, and a kind 
of butter is prepared from them : I suspect this to be Pentadesma 
butyracea, but do not know the plant. 
A Rubiaceous tree (common on the Niger) grows about this lake. 
I cut down a tree, and obtained flowers, which grow in heads like 
Sarcocephalus ; perhaps it is some Nauclea; the leaves are of great 
size in the young plant, with large foliaceous stipules. “ Agidde,” 
or country bread, is generally wrapped in the flexible leaves of this 
plant when it is exposed for sale in the markets. A noble Com- 
posita was seen here in open places; it sends up a slender stem 
from 10 to 20 feet high, unbranched, with large pubescent leaves 
on the top; its flowers, which are not ornamental, are produced 
when the plant has reached its height, after which it dies. 
I send a large fruiting panicle of a species of Oalamus (perbaps 
C. secundiflorus, for it is one of the commonest on the coast), 
