Up the Ogun 
were much cramped in the canoe. We passed 
several villages on the river, and native etiquette 
required that 1 should stop and salute the “ head¬ 
man ” and make him a small present, and this 
afforded us another opportunity for recreation. 
My interpreter spoke “Pigeon English” and 
when he wished to know if 1 understood him, 
he would stop and say, “You sabby ?” But he 
seemed to understand all that I said, although 1 
did not always understand him. There is an 
abundance of fine fish in the river. Instead of 
using seines, the natives catch the fish in baskets 
or snares attached to ropes extending entirely 
across the river. These ropes are made of a 
native vine and often upset canoes, but, fortu¬ 
nately, our canoe escaped collision with any of 
them. 
We came in sight of the mud walls of Abeo- 
kuta late in the afternoon of the fifth day after 
leaving Lagos, and landed at a small village about 
a mile from the south gate of the city. For the 
accommodation of myself and my wife, the 
missionary of the American Baptist Mission, Mr. 
Priest, had kindly provided two horses of pure 
African breed. Mine was so small that my feet 
nearly touched the ground and it was with great 
difficulty, when 1 went down a steep place, that 
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