348 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



Freeman, They were both followed by about a 

 score of parasol bearers, each man carrying an 

 iinbrella of bright-coloured silk, about ten feet in 

 circumference, besides a lot of frousey-looking 

 nearly naked men and women, said to be their 

 sons and daughters. Tappa, a fine old chief, is 

 said to have about sixty children, and Kosoco, 

 the former king, who was deposed by the English, 

 over a hundred. 



At this time Lagos was a very dirty native town, 

 having altogether only half-a-dozen decent houses 

 made of clay or wood, habitable by Europeans ; the 

 only really good substantial house of brick belong- 

 ing to Mr. Carrena, formerly a slave-dealer, now a 

 merchant in palm oil; but since then roads have been 

 made, houses built, and the place has begun to 

 assume a more civilised appearance. All the best 

 sites of land were appropriated by missionaries of 

 different denominations, so that it was almost im- 

 possible to get a bit of ground fronting the river 

 to build a house, even when Freeman, the first 

 Governor, landed. 



Lagos and Abeokuta, a large town in the 



