THE CONSULATE, 347 



snake," were lost in a similar manner; the former 

 being seized and taken under just as he had 

 reached the beach, where the water was only- 

 waist deep. During my sojourn at Lagos I fre- 

 quently shot some of the brutes measuring eighteen 

 feet in length, they being much larger than the 

 ordinary West Indian shark. 



We had no difficulty in passing the bar in the 

 " Advance," which is a strong paddle-wheel vessel, 

 well suited for the purpose; and passing the French, 

 Italian, and Hamburg factories, where a good deal 

 of bunting of different nationalities was exhibited, 

 we anchored in front of a whitewashed iron house, 

 the Consulate, before which all the Europeans, 

 about twenty, and a large crowd of natives, were 

 assembled to greet the new Governor. Mr. 

 McCoskry, the head of the principal English house 

 of commerce in Lagos, had been acting as Consul 

 for some time, and he and several of the mer- 

 chants invited us to an entertainment that evening, 

 which went off extremely well. The ex-king of 

 Lagos, Docemo, and his head chief, old Tappa, 

 came in great state to pay their compliments to 



