INTKODUCTION. XI 



Desert, kola or goorali nuts, guns, swortls, and European goods. Much of this traffic is carried on across 

 the Desert, although Ilorii) is not two hundred and fifty miles b}' the road from the Bight of Benin. 



8. Yoruba, properly so called, lies immediately to the north of Iketu, Egba, and Idzebu, and approaches 

 within sixty miles of the sea-coast. This division is by far the largest of the eight kingdoms which compose 

 the Yoruba country. Its area may be estimated at thirty thousand square miles, and the population at 

 about eight hundred thousand souls. This estimate may seem large ; but it must be observed that the 

 principal-towns in this part of Africa are from ten to twelve miles in circuit, and densely peopled. There 

 are thousands of houses in such towns, and each house usually contains from twenty-five to sixty-five 

 persons. The large towns of the Yoruba kingdom are, Ibadai), Ide, Ife, Iwo, Idzaye, Oyo or Ago-Odia 

 the capital, Ogbomoso, Ofa, Ikisi, Isaki, Isehii), Igana, and Isabe ; and besides these crowded cities there 

 are a multitude of smaller towns containing each from two to fifteen thousand people. The kingdom of 

 Yoruba embraces the two former kingdoms of IfS and Isehiij, which are now integral parts of the nation. 

 Another ancient line of hereditary kings resides at Itabo, a small village near Bi-olorui)-kpelu, among the 

 mountains. 



The entire Yoruba country, comprising the eight kingdoms above mentioned, has an area of about fifty 

 thousand square miles, with a population of nearly two millions. The extent of sea-coast claimed by the 

 two kingdoms. of Lagos and Idzebu is about two hundred miles. 



The Slave Coast, of which Lagos is nearly the central point, has been formed partly by the sands of an 

 immense drift, which left the coarser materials in the interior of the country, and partly by the gradual 

 upheaval of the laud — an action which is still going on, not only here, but at El Mina and Cape Coast 

 Castle. For these reasons the sea grows deeper quite slowly from the sandy beach, which is always 

 lashed by a violent and dangerous surf. The various little rivers which descend with a rapid current 

 from Yoruba are compelled to creep along tlie coast within a mile or two of the surf, till they meet with 

 the Ogui) at Lagos, where they spread out into a broad lagoon called Osa, and force a tumultuous passage 

 into the sea. Hence the landing at Lagos is always dangerous, although there are about two fathoms 

 ■water on the bar. 



Between Abeokuta and the sea the country is nearly level, quite free from stones, and mostly covered 

 with dense entangled forests. Beyond Abeokuta the surface is undulating or hilly, and is generally well 

 supplied with gneiss, granite, claystone, and quartz rocks. This part of the country is mostly open or 

 free from forests, therein resembling some of the partially wooded prairies of Nortli America. It is worthy 

 of remark that this whole region is entirely free from swamps. The streams are clear, rapid, and rocky, 

 and the soil is everywhere dry and firm. From the sea to the interior the surface of the country rises 

 gradually and almost imperceptibly, and yet so rapidly, that the tides do not extend ten miles above the 

 mouth of the Ogui), and the plain at the Ogbomoso is one thousand three hundred and five feet above 

 the level of Lake Osa at Lagos. 



The chain of mountains formerly marked on the maps of Yoruba has no existence. The only mountains 

 in the country consist of isolated peaks, or little clusters of rugged hills, which rise abruptly from the 

 surrounding plains, sometimes to a height of a thousand feet. 



NATURAL PRODUCTIONS AND CLIMATE. 



The only metal known to exist in the Yoruba country is iron, which in some places is quite abundant. 

 The copper mines of Efoi) are hypothetical ; but lead mines are known to exist beyond the Niger. 



The plants of Yoruba arc similar to those of Western Africa generally. I observed, however, an 

 unusual number of North American genera, together with many others not mentioned in Ilooker's Niger 

 Flora. Comparatively few of the somewhat numerous plants which are common to the interior of Africa 

 and the East Indies are noticed in that work. Pine-apples are never found here in the forests, as they 

 are in Liberia ;* and there is but one species of Datura, — whereas on the Gold Coast there are two, one 

 of which has a double and sometimes a triple corolla. The Cactus, which grows so vigorously at Cape 

 Coast Castle, is never seen in Yoruba ; but Euphorbias of various species are abundant. Grape-vines of 



* In the Yoruba language the pine-apple is called okpaimbo (nlqie ambo), the white maiCs palm. Tlie orange also 

 appears to have been received from the whites, as it is called orombo (oro ambo), the white man's mango. 



