SLAVES IN CHAINS, 
249 
chains at once pointing out that they were newly- 
captured slaves. After we left the spot one of the 
King’s headmen went into them, and from the screams 
which followed, we judged it probable they were receiving 
punishment for drawing the attention of the white 
strangers to their unhappy condition. 
In another part of the towm, the officers entered into 
a small court-yard, round which were several huts ; in 
one of these they saw a boy with a ring round his neck, 
to which a chain was attached and fastened to the hut ; 
it was sufficiently long to allow him to come outside. 
Two headless goats were lying near this hut, which they 
were informed Obi had just offered in sacrifice. It is to 
be hoped that the poor boy was not reserved for a 
similar purpose. There is too much reason to believe, 
however, that human sacrifices are here practised in the 
most horrible manner : sometimes the poor creatures are 
dreadfully mutilated, and left to linger until death ter- 
minates their sufferings, on which they are thrown into 
the river, but it could not be ascertained that the 
number was great ; they are mostly slaves, or persons 
convicted of great offences. 
The appearance of Aboh during the rainy season is at 
once sufficient to account for its unhealthiness at other 
periods of the year. By the testimony of aU parties, it 
was declared to be very sickly at most times, but 
especially on the exposure of the muddy deposits on the 
subsidence of the periodical floods. We are less 
astonished at the prevalence of fevers, often fatal even 
