The Land of Fetish

This travelogue and ethnographic account recounts journeys along West African coasts and interior settlements, combining scene descriptions, encounters with local rulers and communities, and detailed observations of religious and fetish practices, including offerings to river, tree, and lightning deities and rituals for illness, twins, and protection. It reports on coastal towns, slave-trade legacies, markets, peculiar legal and funeral customs, military and political events involving Dahomey, Ashanti, and other polities, missionary activity, and colonial administration. Vivid anecdotes illustrate ceremonies, human sacrifices, female military units, sanitary conditions, and clashes between indigenous and European institutions.