II 
UP THE OGUN 
Lagos is situated on an island of sandy for¬ 
mation, its shores washed by the Ogun river, the 
ocean, and a beautiful lagoon. This town, 
under the dominion of a king named Kosoko 
who was supported by the Portuguese, was at 
one time a stronghold of the slave trade; but it is 
now a flourishing English colony. It is a tra¬ 
dition among the natives of Lagos that when the 
English conquered Kosoko, shells were seen 
darting about the streets everywhere and hide¬ 
ously shrieking, “Kos-so-ko! Kos-so-ko!” If 
Kosoko believed this, it is not surprising that he 
gave up the fight. For some years, Kosoko was 
very active in his efforts to stir up some of the 
native tribes to help him regain his throne and 
revive the slave trade, and in one of the revolu¬ 
tions caused by his intrigues I came near losing 
my life. But I will say more of this later. 
Our destination was the city of Ejahyay situ¬ 
ated on the direct route to Rabba on the Niger. 
The first part of the way we could go either by 
land or by the river Ogun. We decided on the 
W 
