JOURNEY FROM BADAGRY TO KATUNGA. o

hammocks which they supplied us with, I mounted my friend Ali’s

small horse, without a saddle, and Houtson and I agreed to ride

and tie, as my feet were cut and blistered with a pair of new boots

I had mounted yesterday, and I could only wear a pair of slippers. We set off in this state, accompanied by the caboceer of Jannah’s

messenger, named Acra, and Mr. Houtson’s boys. Puka, which we are leaving, has once been a large town, surrounded by a wall

and deep ditch; the wall is now down, and all the houses of the town in ruins. After leaving this place it soon became dark, and we

frequently lost our way. We could see, however, that the road in

the open part of the country was through fine plantations of corn;

the rest was through thick dark woods, where we could not see the

heaven over our heads, the path winding in every direction. My

slippers being down at the heels I soon lost them off my feet, which

were miserably cut; but I became so galled by riding without a

saddle, that I was compelled thus to walk barefooted, which was

the worst of the two ; for whenever I crossed an ant path, which

were frequent, my feet felt as if in the fire, these little animals

drawing blood from them and from my ankles. We halted at a

village called Isako, after passing several others on the road : here

the people offered us a house for the night, but on their telling us

that our people had gone on to a town a short distance off, we re- mained only a little w hile and set off again. They kindly gave us

guides with lamps to show us the way. Our short rest and ride had had a bad effect on us, and the road only wanted thorns to make our misery complete. However, after struggling on till

midnight, we arrived at a town called Dagmoo, where we found

our servants with the heavy baggage and the canteen, but our beds had gone further on, so that we were obliged to sleep in the market-

place, in the open air: even this, with a little cold meat, was better

than travelling.

Saturday, 10th.—The morning raw, cold, and hazy, and we had