CHAPTER II. 
RESIDENCE AT EYEO, OR KATUNGA, THE CAPITAL OF YOURIBA. 
Tuesday, January 24th. — Early this morning the king paid 
us a visit, accompanied by his favourite eunuch and Abaco the 
messenger. He had received previous information that he wished 
to have the presents intended for him this night ; and such is the 
crooked policy of these petty sovereigns of Africa, that no present 
can be given, no business or transaction of importance can be 
done openly : all must be conducted under the cover of night, and 
with the greatest secrecy, from the highest to the lowest. We 
first began inquiring after his health. I then told him that I was 
the king of England’s servant, sent by his majesty to beg his ac- 
ceptance of a present, which then lay before me ; that we had heard 
his (the king of Youriba’s) name mentioned in England as a great 
king ; that we now experienced the truth of the report ; that three 
white men, two of them my companions, and one a servant, had died 
on the road ; that another of my companions was at Dahomey, to 
ask the king of that country to allow him a passage through his 
dominions. I told him that all the Youriba people had behaved 
well to us ; that the caboceers of the different towns through which 
we had passed supplied us with every thing we wanted, especially the 
chief of Jannah, his friend, who had shown the greatest attention 
to us, and had given us a good man for a messenger, who had con- 
ducted us with safety and attention to his majesty’s capital. Upon 
this the messenger was ordered to make his prostrations, and his 
majesty rubbed his shoulders with his hand. I then told him that 
