2^ MR. CHARLES BARTER ON THE 



through tlie 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 Eppah, 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 Rapliia 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 Olusiacece 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 E. 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 Fentadesma 

 buti/racea, but do not know the plant. 



AB/ubiaceous tree (common on the Niger) grows about this lake. 

 I cut down a tree, and obtained flowers, which grow in heads like 

 SarcocepJialiis ; 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 Calamus (perhaps 

 C. secundiflorus, for it is one of the commonest on the coast), 



