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The following anecdote will show how limited is the power of these 'kings. He of Apollonia wished to sell this southern patch of ground, worked by the natives, it being, in fact, the terminal tail of the Izrah reef and the key of the property. But one Etié, head-man of Kikam, bluntly refused. Presently this chieflet agreed to sell to Mr. Grant the whole tract, a length of one thousand fathoms from north to south, the breadth being left undetermined. But Etié was deep in Messieurs Swanzy's books, and he wanted ready money. The tempter came in the shape of Mr. Dawson, a native missionary whom I met a score of years ago at Agbóme, and whose name appears in all narratives of the last Ashanti war. Although an employé of the Tákwá or French mine, he bought for himself, paying 200l., the best part of the reef (100 fathoms), leaving the butt-end, of inferior value, to Mr. Grant. This was a direct breach of contract, and might be brought into the local law-courts. I advised, however, an arrangement
Kikam was the only place in Apollonia where we met with churlish treatment; no hospitality, however, could be expected when the strangers were supposed to be mixed up in a native quarrel. Unwilling to linger any longer in the uninviting and uninteresting spot, we ordered our hammocks, set out at noon, and, following the line over which we had travelled, reached Axim at 5 P.M.
On the other hand, the reefs and rocks of Axim Bay have wholly disappeared, with some exceptions seen off Kikam and Esyáma. Looking inland we find the shore mostly subtended by a marigot, or salt-water lagoon, a miniature of those regular rivers which made the Slave Coast what it was.
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