On reaching the
Niger a canoe was hired with a crew of rowers. In this all the
cases, filled with the objects they had collected, were placed,
the whole being put in charge of the Houssas, Moses and King John,
who had been seized with a fit of homesickness. These were to deliver
the cases to the charge of an English agent at Lagos or Bonny, to
both of whom Mr. Goodenough wrote requesting him to pay the sum
agreed to the boatmen on the safe arrival of the cases, and also to
pay the Houssas, who preferred taking their wages there, as it was
not considered advisable to tempt the cupidity of any of the native
princes along the river. Should they be overhauled the Houssas
were told to open the cases and show that these contained nothing
but birds' skins and insects, which would be absolutely valueless
in the eyes of a native.
When the precious freight had fairly started, the party crossed
the Niger in a canoe, arrangements having already been made with
the potentate of a village on the opposite side for a fresh relay
of carriers, twenty men being now sufficient, owing to the gaps
which had been made in the provisions in the goods, by the payment
of the carriers and presents, and, in the cases, by the despatch
of eight of the largest of these to the coast.
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