166 KING OF EBOE. 



got under weigh, having presented the king with 

 a scarlet hunting-coat for his kindness and atten- 

 tion. At 6. 30 p. M. we anchored in four fa- 

 thoms water. The mate and rest of the invalids 

 were better. 



At five the next morning, December 5th, got 

 vmder weigh. The weather was thick and foggy. 

 By the marks on the banks, the river had fallen 

 seventeen feet. At 5 a. m. we descried the 

 town of Eboe, and at 6. 45 anchored off that 

 place. 



The next morning the weather was thick and 

 foggy, and about daylight the King of Eboe 

 came on board. He wore a cap of crimson 

 velvet, ornamented in a most peculiar manner 

 with the brass plates that are put over the key- 

 holes of doors ! He wore also Turkish trousers, 

 and had sixteen rows of coral round each ankle. 

 He was accompanied by the woman before men- 

 tioned, who certainly must be the stoutest and 

 heaviest woman in all the world, and was, be- 

 sides, a complete Hottentot Venus. Obie had five 

 canoes with him. I had all the men armed, and 

 a sentry posted at the gangway, as there were 

 too many anxious to get on board. I made Obie 

 a few presents ; and after fruitless efforts to in- 



