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TO MY MOTHERLAND.
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these could successfully defend the place against any number. It could also hold out against a long siege, for not only is there always a supply of provisions stored away to last for at least two years, but the interstices of the rocks and other places unattainable except by the inhabitants, are susceptible of cultivation, although the amount of produce thus obtained would hardly be equivalent to their ordinary consumption. The same evening we arrived I called to pay my respects to the chief, from whom I received the usual kind treatment: he presented me, as did the chief of Awaye, with a fine pig. The Balagun also gave me a large "rooster." I left the next morning with a thousand blessings from the people, for the woman who with her children I had aided in saving from slavery, had told the matter to all her friends, as she did also at Berecadu and at Abbeokuta, and they, with all the warm gratitude of the African's nature, were exceedingly lavish in their acknowledgments of the deed. We arrived at Berecadu on the evening of the same day, without any incidents on the journey worth recording. At one of the crossings of the Ogun, we met a large company of Ibadan soldiers, again lurking like wild beasts to seize any unsuspecting native who in such times should venture out to their farms. They had taken possession of a few huts on the banks of the

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