entirely occupied by a bedstead frame that was being made
up inside on account of the small size of the door.
This had to be removed before we could get in with the
baggage at all. While this removal was being effected with
as much damage to the house and the article as if it were a
quarter-day affair in England, the other chief arrived. He
had been sent for, being away down the river fishing when
we arrived. I saw at once he was a very superior man to
any of the chiefs I had yet met with. It was not his attire,
remarkable though that was for the district, for it consisted of
a gentleman’s black frock-coat such as is given in the ivory
bundle, a bright blue felt sombrero hat, an ample cloth of
Boma check ; but his face and general bearing was distinctive,
and very powerful and intelligent; and I knew that Egaja, for
good or bad, owed its name to this man, and not to the mere
sensual, brutal-looking one. He was exceedingly courteous,
ordering his people to bring me a stool and one for himself,
and then a fly-whisk to battle with the evening cloud of sandflies.
I got Pagan to come and act as interpreter while the
rest were stowing the baggage, &c After compliments,
“ Tell the chief,” I said, “ that I hear this town of his is thief
town.”
“ Better not, sir,” says Pagan.
“ Go on,” said I, “ or I’ll tell him myself.”
So Pagan did. It was a sad blow to the chief.
“ Thief town, this highly respectable town of E g a ja ! a
town rvhose moral conduct in all matters (Shedule) was an
example to all towns, called a thief town ! Oh, what a wicked
world! ”
I said it was ; but I would reserve my opinion as to whether
Egaja was a part of the wicked world or a star-like exception,
until I had experienced it myself. We then discoursed on many
matters, and I got a great deal of interesting fetish information
out of the chief, which was valuable to me, because the whole
of this district had not been in contact with white culture ; and
altogether I and the chief became great friends.
• Just when I was going in to have my much-desired tea, he
brought me his mother— an old lady, evidently very bright
and able, but, poor woman, with the most disgusting hand and
arm I have ever seen. I am ashamed to say I came very near
being sympathetically sick in the African manner on the
spot. I felt I could not attend to it, and have my tea afterwards,
so I directed one of the canoe-shaped little tubs, used
for beating up the manioc in, to be brought and filled with hot
water, and then putting into it a heavy dose of Condy’s fluid,
I made her sit down and lay the whole arm in it, and went
and had my tea. As soon as I had done I went outside, and
getting some of the many surrounding ladies to hold bush-
lights, I examined the case. The whole hand was a mass of
yellow pug, streaked with sanies, large ulcers were burrowing
into the fore-arm, while in the arm-pit was a big abscess. I
opened the abscess at once, and then the old lady frightened
me nearly out of my wits by gently subsiding, I thought dying,
but I soon found out merely going to sleep. I then washed
the abscess well out, and having got a lot of baked plantains, I
made a big poultice of them, mixed with boiling water and
more Condy in the tub, and laid her arm right in this ; and
propping her up all round and covering her over with cloths I
requisitioned from her son, I left her to have her nap while I
went into the history of the case, which was that some forty-
eight hours ago she had been wading along the bank, catching
crawfish, and had been stung by “ a fish like a snake ” ; so I
presume the ulcers were an old-standing palaver. The hand
had been a good deal torn by the creature, and the pain and
swelling had been so great she had not had a minute’s sleep
since. As soon as the poultice got chilled I took her arm out
and cleaned it again, and wound it round with dressing, and
had her ladyship carried bodily, still asleep, into her hut, and
after rousing her up, giving her a dose of that fine preparation,
pil. crotonis cum hydrargi, saw her tucked up on her own plank
bedstead for the night, sound asleep again. The chief was
very anxious to have some pills too ; so I gave him some, with
firm injunctions only to take one at the first time. I knew
that that one would teach him not to take more than one for
ever after, better than I could do if I talked from June to
January. Then all the afflicted of Egaja turned up, and
wanted medical advice. There was evidently a good stiff
epidemic of the yaws about; lots of cases of dum with the