Note 74 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
This trick is not beyond the African brain. Captain John Adams (Remarks on the Country from Cape Palmas to the River Congo; London: Whittaker & Co., 1823) mentions a French officer who easily detected it when the army of the King of “Hio” (Oyo) was marched past him. It was usually numbered at 100,000, the majority being cavalry; and for centuries it has been the terror of the southern country.