XX INTRODUCTION. 



oflfer sacrifices and make cliarms to promote the prosperity of the town, and have various noisy processions 

 to the temples and sacred groves. Once a year, at the close of the dry season, they spend several days in 

 burnino- ofi' the prairies and in hunting. On the chief's hunting day, hundreds of people of both sexes 

 attend him. The game is taken with dogs and clubs, as the use of guns would be dangerous. 



The government of the country is a monarchy engrafted on tlie ancient patriarchal rule. Every house 

 contains several families under the government of a bale or lord of the house, every town has its bale or 

 lord of the land, and the whole nation is under a king. The adult males are also apportioned under rulers 

 who stand interinediate between them and the bale, or governor. The king, the governor, and the head 

 of the family has each his associate or lieutenant, and the elders under him are his counsellors. Even the 

 king is bound by the laws of the land, of which the elders are the conservators and exponents. The laws 

 are generally good, except in so far as they are connected with idolatry and polygamy. They are rigidly 

 executed, and sometimes with displeasing promptness ; but causes are always decided by the ruler and his 

 council according to testimony. 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



In regard to intellect the Yorubas occupy a low position. All their arts are rude, and the people are 

 wholly destitute both of literature and science. But they are by no means deficient cither in natural 

 shrewdness, or in that sort of common sense which is adapted to their condition. Their language also, 

 which is surprisingly rich in abstract terms, is a proof that they are accustomed to think. Since their 

 acquaintance with white men they evidently begin to feel the aspirations of intellect, and their desire to 

 improve is leading to good results. At Abeokuta several hundred persons have learned to read their own 

 language. 



Like other rude people, the Yorubas are much addicted to the marvellous. In the opinion of many, the 

 power of a white man is almost infinite. He can look around on all the passing events of the earth, he 

 can stop the clouds in their course,* and even create cowries whenever he may need them. They seize 

 with avidity on every extravagant story they may hear. Marvellous things have been told me of the asori 

 or io-i nl4, a tree somewhere in the interior, to which they attribute all the properties of the deadly upas; 

 even birds that fly near it fall dead. The common people, old men, and grave chiefs have repeatedly 

 aflBrmed the existence of a unicorn, which they describe as a large antelope with a straight black horn in 

 the middle of its forehead. When I visited Ilorii) in 1855, this story was repeated ; and my host, Nasamu, 

 an intelligent Bornese, added others still more wonderful. lie assured me that somewhere eastward of 

 Nufe and Yakobu there was a tribe of men, called Alabiru, who had inflexible tails about six inches in 

 leno-th. The Alabiru were a very ingenious people, especially in working iron; and all the fine swords in 

 Sudan were made of iron from their furnaces. Beyond this tribe was another called Alabiwo, distinguished 

 by a small goat-like horn projecting from the top of the head just above the margin of the hair. Somewhere 

 in the same region was a tribe called Alakere, the tallest of whom were scarcely three feet in height. 

 Beincr a weak people, the Alakere surrounded their towns with walls of iron. * Nasamu had never seen any 

 person of these tribes; but he asserted that there was one of the horned women then in slavery at Ofa, 

 about thirty miles east of Ilorii). She always wore a handkerchief around her head, because she was 

 ashamed of her horn. In reply to my question, whether any of the tailed men were in slavery in or near 

 Ilorii), he replied, " Who would have a slave with a tail ?" A few days after this I received a visit from an 

 Arab trader, who confirmed all the statements of Niisamu, and added others of his own. Among the rest 

 he told of a tribe of people south of Mandara who have four eyes. A Negro from beyond the Niger 

 proceeded to inform me how these eyes are situated in the head, but the Arab corrected him and showed 

 me exactly where each of them is placed. In short, it is manifest that all the floating stories of upas 

 trees, unicorns, &c., have originated with the wandering Arab traders, who are equally distinguished by a 

 vivid imagination and a small regard for truth. In the simple Negroes they find ready listeners to all 

 their wonderful stories, and they were not at all pleased with the incredulity of an-Nasran, the Christian. 



The moral character of the Yorubas exhibits strong contrasts. On the one hand we are shocked at their 

 occasional human sacrifices, their unlimited polygamy, and their custom of allowing the heir to inherit all 

 his father's wives except his own mother. Their universal covetousness, their deficiency in regard to 

 conscience, and their want of manly self-respect disgust us. On the other hand we see much to admire 



• At the close of the dry season I was observing the movements of a black thunder cloud, when an old farmer 

 said to me imploringly, Dzo, dze 6 i-6 fu ni ! Phuse let it ram for us ! 



