584 Adami''s Account of the 



l)y tlic roofs. It falls, and secures the 

 animal : tlie natives tlieii iinthatcli a 

 part of the building;, and shoot it. They 

 are never to be seen 'during day-light, 

 and the places to wiiioh tiiey retire seem 

 to be wholly unknown to the natives. 



BATS. 



In the centre of the market tliere is a 

 large tree, very similar to the mulberry, 

 except that the branches grow horizon- 

 tal. This tree presents a most extraor- 

 dinary spectacle ; for along its branches, 

 thousands of bals, of the largest spe- 

 cies, hang suspended by their claws, 

 snd with their heads downwards, during 

 the day, and do not snem to be at all 

 ilisturbcd by the noise beneath them, 

 although not in a state of somnolency. 

 I shot several, each of which measured, 

 between the extremities of the wings, 

 two feet ; the form of their head bears a 

 strong resemblance to that of a horse, 

 bnt having the eyes, teeth, and whiskers 

 of all immense rat. 



THE PEOPLE. 



The natives of Dahoniy are a fine 

 looking pcoj)le, docile, and to their 

 su[)eriors, submissive even to extreme 

 servility, which arises, no doubt, from 

 the tyrannical form of Iheir government ; 

 as it holds every man's life in the stale 

 disposable at will, and every man's 

 daughter subservient to the sensual 

 pleasure of a despotic savage, who is 

 their governor. These people are indus- 

 trious, and apply themselves to agricul- 

 ture, as well as to the manufacturing of 

 articles for domestic tise; and (ho mar- 

 ket of Grewhc exhibits a pleutiful sup- 

 ply of native produce. 



ARDRAH. 



The town of Ardrah, so called by the 

 natives, or Porto Nova, by the PorUi- 

 jjupse, is situated between Wydah and 

 Lagos, being forty-six miles from the 

 former, and fil'ty from the latter, and 

 lies in latitude 6° 26' north, and longi- 

 tude 3° 42' east, of Gr'-cnwich, and 

 distant from the sea about twenty-five 

 miles. 



Ardrah seemed 1o me to be the most 

 populous town (Ceiiiii excepted) of any 

 that I had visited in Africa, and contains, 

 prol)ably, from seven to ten thousand 

 inhabitants. 



It is built in a very irregular manner, 

 as towns in Africa generally are. The 

 liouses are made of clay, detached from 

 each other, w ilh a high wall surrounding 

 eacli, in many of which are loopholes 

 for musketry. 'J"he form of the town is 

 elliptical, or rather is half an ellipsis: 

 and along the lino of its circumfeience 



Country extending from 



there is a deep ditch, the clay from 

 which has been raised into a wall about 

 four feet high, and as many thick, some 

 part of which is loop-holed. 



Between the town, on its north- 

 western extremity, and the wall, are 

 many well-cultivated fields, producing 

 calavancies, maize, and pumpkins. The 

 surrounding country is champaign, and 

 finely wooded, the soil sandy and su|)er- 

 ficial, and the substratum is a bed of 

 red loam or marl. 



The morning after my arrival, and 

 just as the rays of the sun were gilding 

 the horizon, I was much surprized to 

 see a group of blacks performing the 

 ceremonies of the Mahometan religion, 

 because I had never seen any other reli- 

 gion prevail lliaii Paganism, in any of 

 tiiose towns in Africa where 1 had been. 

 I, however, found that many persons 

 in Ardrah professed the Mussulman 

 faith, and were dressed after the Moor- 

 ish fashion, with large loose trowscrs, 

 short shirt, and sas'h. 



Outside and parallel with the wall, at 

 the north-west extremity of the town, 

 is the road which leads to Hio, a coun- 

 try of great extent, and inhabited by a 

 |)owerful and warlike nation; the capi- 

 tal of which, according to the natives' 

 account, lies about NNE. from Ardrah, 

 at the distance of nine days' journey, or 

 180 miles, allowing a traveller to pro- 

 ceed at the rate of twenty miles a day. 



To the King of Hio the Ardrah peo- 

 ple pay tribute, as he protects thcni 

 irom the incursions of the Dahomians, 

 whose king has always been very jea- 

 lous of their rivalry in trade. 



The natives of Ardrah are industrious, 

 and have acquired some proficierjcy in 

 the arts, particularly in manufacturing 

 cotton and iron. Cloths of various pat- 

 terns, though simple, are made by them, 

 both of cotton and grass, but chiefly of 

 the former, into which they frequently 

 weave threads taken from the red India 

 silk taflRty, having no red dye which 

 they can render permanent. The plant 

 which yields indigo is indigenous to the 

 soil ; in fixing the colour extracted from 

 which, they show much practical know- 

 ledge, although the process differs but 

 little from the mode which Mr. Pwrk 

 saw adopted at Sansanding. Cotton 

 thread is always dyed before it is woven 

 and dressed. Kidskins are tied all over 

 in knobs, very tight, then soaked for 

 some days in a strong dye, and, when 

 untied, exhibit a pattern resembling a 

 star, or rays of blue and wdiite radiating 

 from round blue spots. There arc three 



