n out like birdlime. While the Duke is at dinner, or
breakfast, he usually has some foofoo before him. This he rolls in his
hands into small balls, of about two inches in diameter, before he
partakes of it: it is, however, but justice to remark, that his Majesty
always washes his hands both before and after each meal.

There is a superstition, prevalent among these people, concerning food
that is forbidden, which is pointed out to them from time to time by
their doctor, or rather by the fetish men, who are the interpreters of
his supposed will; the doctor himself being a mere wooden image; one of
which is always carried about in the suite of the Duke. At the time of
our visit, the Duke was forbidden to eat beef or fowls, consequently he
never allowed them to be put on his table. He was occasionally permitted
to eat fish, because, I presume, he was supposed to have a fancy for it.
At these times, the Duke's attendants are forbidden to taste fish.
Although the Duke does not eat beef or fowls, he occasionally orders the
animals to be sacrificed as an offering to the devil: for the Calabar
people say, that "God is a good man, and will not hurt them; but the
devil is a bad man, and it is therefore necessary to appease him."

The natives of this country all shave on the day previous to Calabar
Sunday; and it is curious enough that they all do so according to the
Mahommedan mode, excepting when they make devils, that is, go into
mourning, at which period, they not only omit shaving, but put on their
worst clothes.

The captain of an English vessel, calling one day on a black gentleman,
with whom he was on very friendly terms, opened the door suddenly,
without ceremony, breaking a slight fastening, and found his friend
under the hands of one of his wives, who was performing for him the
office of a barber; a discovery which so offended the prejudices of the
native, that he could never summon courage after that circumstance, to
look the captain full in the face.

The Duke, King Eyo, and several black gentlemen, breakfasted, and began
their trade, on board the James to-day. The form of breaking trade here
is not so ceremonious as at the Bonny, being merely done by the Duke's
visit a few days after the arrival of a vessel, when refreshments are
provided for him and his suite, after which he selects whatever goods he
wants, and the trade is then open to all his subjects.

_Sunday, 23_.--There were four guns fired in the town thi