ARTICLES OF TRADE. 181 



traders, and thence pass through the hands of 

 three or four merchants into the possession of 

 the Eboe dealers. They receive in return, slaves, 

 rice, goats, fowls, calabashes, mats, country beads, 

 horses of a small breed, and elephants' teeth ; 

 they also trade in Goora nuts. Cowries are the 

 best medium of exchange ; with these any pur- 

 chases may be made. 



The elephants' teeth, of which a great num- 

 ber are every week on their way down the river, 

 after passing through various hands are carried 

 to different parts of the coast. Some reach 

 Bonny and New Calabar ; others, and I think 

 the greater portion, are taken to the Benin 

 traders, and probably to Popo. 



With the Eboes, the best articles of trade are 

 guns, powder, cottons of a showy pattern with 

 red and blue stripes, and knives fitted in an 

 ornamented case and which they wear suspended 

 from the left side. They also manifest a great 

 partiality for rum, small looking-glasses, and 

 cowries : the latter will purchase any article 

 from Eboe up to Boosa, and passes current in 

 every part of the interior. 



A very extensive trade in palm-oil, red wood, 

 and ivory, might, with proper management, be 



