FROM ZEGZEG TO BADAGRY. 
323 
30tli. — I informed the king I was short of money, on which he 
generously sent me a duck and four thousand cowries (little more 
than a dollar). The eunuch, the king’s head man, begged of me 
my remaining pistol, two dollars, and a scarlet cap, which I was 
necessitated to give him. He also wanted my ass to make a fetish, 
but this I refused to let him have. This evening I sent for the 
ass from a neighbouring pasture, when I found the poor animal 
had been shot in the side with two poisoned arrows. I have no 
doubt but this cruel action was performed at the instigation of the 
disappointed eunuch. The beast became a complete skeleton, and 
after languishing for six days in great agony, I desired Pascoe and 
Jowdie to take him to a short distance, and cut his throat. When 
the king heard of the circumstance, he immediately ordered the 
carcass to be cut into quarters, and conveyed to his house. After 
which he ordered the meat to be dressed, and having assembled 
his wives and head men, they regaled themselves on it with pecu- 
liar satisfaction. Wishing to pay for so delicious a treat, the king 
sent me a goat and a thousand cowries for the dead ass. 
The people of Yariba are not very delicate in the choice of 
their food ; they eat frogs, monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, mice, and va- 
rious other kinds of vermin. A fat dog will always fetch a better 
price than a goat. Locusts and black ants, just as they are able to 
take wing, are a great luxury. Caterpillars also are held in very 
high estimation. The caterpillars are stewed, and eat with yams 
and tuah. Ants and locusts are fried in butter, and are said to be 
delicious. I could never make up my mind to taste any of these 
rich insects ; Pascoe, however, is particularly fond of them, and 
calls them land-shrimps. 
It is a custom in Katunga, when the king dies, for his eldest 
son, first wife, and all the head men of the kingdom, to drink poison 
over his grave, and are afterwards buried with him. None of the 
