PRODUCE OF EBOE. 103 



average value of a lad of sixteen may be taken at 

 sixty shillings, and that of a woman at something 

 more. 



Palm-oil is produced in immense quantities 

 about Eboe, and is collected in small gourds, 

 each capable of containing from two to four gal- 

 lons, from which it is emptied into trade pun- 

 cheons. Some of these, belonging to vessels in 

 the Bonny, I saw in canoes at Eboe ; but, gene- 

 rally, the gourds are taken in large canoes to a 

 market-place on the Bonny branch of the Niger ; 

 which branch being dry in the dry season, the 

 Eboe oil then finds its way through the Brass 

 creek to the Bonny. As I did not purchase any 

 oil at Eboe, I cannot with accuracy give the 

 price ; but I consider it may be procured in any 

 quantities there at four pounds per ton. Little 

 ivory passes through Eboe, the greater part 

 going overland to Lagos and Whydah, or down 

 the Bonny creek or Benin branch, both of which 

 flow out of the Niger above the town. If a regu- 

 lar trade were established with Obie, (and no man 

 can be more anxious for it,) I have little doubt 

 that he would soon stop up those channels, and mo- 

 nopolise and concentrate the trade. No man has 

 greater power to do this than he has, situated as 



