Outside the village I came across the skull of a young
elephant, from which I extracted the teeth. The only report of a white man
having been here before was long ago, when, some of the old men told me,
he came from Assini direction, but turned back again. The village was
neatly laid out in streets and was beautifully clean.
'Another three hours' pull, still bearing northwards, brought us to the
village of Essuati, a smaller place than Niba, but very prettily laid out
with trees, surrounded by seats in its central street. The people here, as
at Niba, were mainly engaged in agriculture.
'Crowds came to see the "white man," many of the women and children never
having been to Axim, the nearest place where whites are to be found, and,
consequently, had never seen one before.
'After a few days' stay here I returned to the coast. While there I came
across a curious fish-trap, a description of which may not be
uninteresting. Across a stick planted in the river-bed a light piece of
bamboo was tied, and at its further extremity was suspended a string
carrying fish-hooks. Above these a broad piece of wood, suspended so as to
be half in and half out of the water, acted as a float and spindle.
Pages:
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181