CASSA AND ITS INHABITANTS. 317 



Dido, the pilot of Cassa, frequently visited us, 

 bringing yams, cocoa-nuts, and fowls for sale. 

 The town of Cassa, to which he belongs, consists 

 of about forty huts, irregularly built among plan- 

 tain and banana trees. There are also a great 

 many cocoa-nut trees, the property of the na- 

 tives. The method adopted by these people in as- 

 cending these lofty trees, is as follows : — A piece 

 of the bark of a tree is twisted into a rope, and 

 two pieces of it are used ; one is secured round 

 the body of the tree and right shoulder of the 

 native, the other round the left thigh and foot- 

 ing; he then raises his leg and foot, supporting 

 the upper part of the body, and gradually slips 

 up. 



The natives of Cassa are a most indolent peo- 

 ple. Some few of the women paddle their own 

 canoes, and are very expert at spearing fish. They 

 also subsist on dogs, which they fatten for the 

 purpose, and consider monkeys a delicacy ; and 

 although they can boast of a few fine Spanish, 

 sheep, these are strictly kept as fetish, or sacred. 

 They frequently brought us fish for sale ; but 

 goats and sheep they could only obtain from the 

 Eboe people. Polygamy is common all over 

 Western Africa, each man calculating on his 



