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Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo
Remarks on the Country Extending from Cape Palmas to the River Congo Author:John Adams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 50 CHAPTER II. Dahomy—Grewhe, the trading town—Forts: French, English, and Portuguese—Governor Abson—King of Dahomy—Miraculous escape of a French sailor fr... more »om drowning—Country surrounding Grewhe, described—Fisherman and alligator—Ants—Hyenas : mode of taking them—Bats—Singular Customs— Ardrah ; the road to it: the country described— Tammata, a wealthy trader—Markets—Manufactures—Industry of the inhabitants—Hio: its extent —The Hio people described—Natives of Houssa— Badagry—Lagos—Cradoo lake—Trade of Lagos; customs; population—King Cootry: his levee; his fetiche—The devil's visits to Lagos: its policy— Hippopotami—Alligators: a large one killed by a watering party—Medium of exchange—Jaboos: their country and industry. Grewhe, which may be called the sea port of the kingdom of Dahomy, is in latitude 6 17' north, and longitude 3 6' east, of Greenwich. It is a populous town, and contains, probably, six or seven thousandinhabitants. In passing to it from the seashore, a lagoon is to be forded, which is a quarter of a mile over, and the same distance from the beach, to which it runs parallel to the east, and communicates with the sea at Popo, but terminates in a wooded morass to the west, which morass intersects the road to Ardrah. Three forts have been erected near the town (all since abandoned) by the English, French, and Portuguese; they are all built of clay baked in the sun, and the form of that belonging to the English is a parallelogram, with a high bastion at each angle having embrasures in them. Three sides of the parallelogram are occupied as storehouses, and dwellings for the company's slaves; the remaining one forms the governor's range of apartments, the windows of which front the sea, and from them vessels at anchor in the road are plainly seen. The whole is su...« less