Me tell dem if they like about my trabels, but dat berry long story." The dinner consisted of two fowls cut in half and grilled over a fire, fried plantains, and, to the astonishment of the travelers, green peas, followed by cold boiled rice over which honey had been poured.

Their host had placed plates only for two, but they would not sit down until he had consented to join them.
Two girls waited, both neatly dressed in cotton, in a fashion which was a compromise between European and negro notions.
After dinner the negro presented them with two large and excellent cigars, made, as he said, from tobacco grown in his own garden, and the astonishment of the travelers was heightened by the reappearance of one of the girls bearing a tray with three small cups of excellent black coffee.
Their host now asked them for the story of their journey from the coast, and the object with which they had penetrated Africa.

Mr.Goodenough related their adventures, and said that they were naturalists in search of objects of natural history.

When he had finished Ostik, in obedience to a whisper from him, brought in a bottle of brandy, at the sight of which the negro broke into a chuckle.
"Me tree months widout taste dat.

Once ebery year me send down to coast, get coffee, tea, sugar, calico, beads, and rum.