KING EYO, AS AN INTERPRETER. 547 



at once get out of their own reckoning into ours, nor, when they knew the day 

 of divine appointment, were they ready to give it the observance required. 



" At Duke Town there was special difficulty in getting public meetings 

 for divine worship and interpreters to be our mouths to the people. King 

 Eyamba sometimes undertook the duty, not very willingly, and was apt to 

 fall asleep during the discourse, so that, on awakening when the time came 

 for his interpretation of what had been said, he was utterly nonplussed. His 

 brother Ekpenyong — Mr Young, as he was called by our countrymen — was a 

 much more intelligent man, and after the king's death acted for some time as 

 interpreter ; but he could not be implicitly trusted to render faithfully what 

 he heard, nor to abstain from giving his own comment, which might do away 

 with the effect of the declaration of divine truth. For instance, on one occa- 

 sion, when Mr. Anderson thought he was faithfully giving to the audience in 

 Erik what he had just spoken in English, he learned by subsequent informa- 

 tion that Mr. Young was giving directions about some work he wished the 

 people to set about. On another occasion, Mr. Anderson had as his subject 

 the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and in interpreting what was said 

 of the condition of the former in the present life, Mr. Young added, ' I wish 

 I were like that man.' 



" At Creek Town we had in King Eyo one who was far in advance of 

 his fellow-countrymen, and who was really desirous of promoting our object, 

 so far as instruction in the common duties and moralities of life was concerned. 

 He was careful to give us a meeting in his yard regularly on Sabbath, and 

 even proposed to call in the people of his town by tuck of Egbo drum, so as 

 to secure a large audience. Him we could trust faithfully to interpret what 

 was said, whatever his own view of the truth might be; frequently, after 

 doing so, propounding his own objection or difficulty with all frankness, or 

 putting his question for further elucidation of the statements made. One 

 difficulty was constantly coming up — a difficulty as obvious to the savage on 

 attaining a right view of the divine character as to the sage, and as great to 

 the latter as to the former — th* existence of evil in the universe of a God 

 infinite in goodness and infinite in power. But these difficulties and ques- 

 tions we were glad to hear, indicating, as they did, how the truth struck the 

 native mind, and the line of instruction to be taken in order to convey the 

 one to the other. 



" It was felt, however, that the method of teaching through interpreters, 

 however good they might be, was unsatisfactory, and that, to get close to the 

 people and effectually to reach their minds, it was necessary to acquire their 

 tongue, the Efik. To this all the agents have addressed themselves as a first 

 duty, and all, male and female, have made the acquisition who have been 

 long enough in the country to do so. A few notes respecting the Efik may 

 be interesting to those who incline to the study of languages. It is a dialect 



