198 
PALAVER HOUSES. 
ber tlie variable climate of Fernando Po, it seems truly 
astonisliiug tliat anything human could exist under 
the miserable circumstances in which so many of them 
are placed ; and yet they not only enjoy good health, 
but are robust. Cutaneous afFections are the most 
common, especially a bad variety of the African 
psora, also dracunculus or Guinea worm ; fevers occur 
most frequently at the commencement of the rainy 
season, but are not often fatal. Small-pox, that great 
enemy of mankind, especially the black portion, 
sometimes makes its appearance among them, car- 
rying off immense numbers ; nor has much been 
done to introduce the process of vaccination among 
these hardy islanders. 
At the entrance of their towns and villages, there is 
a hut for holding the palavers or councils of each com- 
munity; there is also one for the secret ceremonies of 
the buyeh-rupi or priest, and an elevated mound of 
earth, from which he utters his incantations, while the 
people walk round in procession. Of the number of 
inhabitants we can only hazard a surmise, since no 
authentic accounts could be procured on the subject 
from the natives themselves. Judging, however, from 
the known harems of some of the chiefs, as also the 
population of some of the smaller towns near Clarence, 
there must be at least from fifteen to twenty thou- 
sand persons scattered over the island. This agrees 
very much with what we learned from a liberated 
African, who had been at nearly all the towns. In 
