Chapter 25. Ibadan At Its Extremity—Bloody Strifes

§1. Home DEFENCES

¶2 THE preceding section has given us an idea of how matters were for the Ibadans at Kiriji. Now, whilst all this was going on at the seat of war, the Ijebu and Egba kidnappers were not inactive at home, raiding the Ibadan farms, sometimes successfully, but sometimes repulsed, but making farming risky and unsafe until a scheme was evolved of a complete organization for home defence.

¶3 There are three main points from which the attacks may be expected (a) the farms contiguous to those of the Egbas ; (6) the route leading to Ijebu Igbo; and (c) that leading to Ijebu Ode. Arrangements were perfected by building forts. in a central point in each of these main routes, for the better protection of the farmers. Whilst the hunters were in the forests, hunting for game and on the look-out for kidnappers, the farmers could work in their farms with composure and confidence. They were instructed to hasten to the forts with their women and children at a given signal by the hunters. The men went to their farms well armed, and were ready for any emergency.

¶4 The fort in the direction of the Egbas was left in charge of some hunters, and a few old warriors left at home. But the Egbas once surprised the fort at Itosi and carried away much people ; some of them, however, were rescued by the hunters who pursued after the kidnappers.

¶5 In the direction of Ijebu Igbo, where the forest was thickest, the forts were in charge of the principal hunters, the chief of these were Ajiya, Obisesan, Odeyale. These kept the fort while the younger hunters were dispersed about in the forests. The fort was the rendezvous of the women and children. By this arrangement the defeat of the Ijebus became such a constant and regular thing that the vulgar people put it into a song:

¶6 Are de, are de, For the flight, for the flight, Igbayi l’are ma de o, Now is the time to flee, Oni yoyo-go. Ye clothed in Yoyogo.

¶7 Yoyogd is a coarse and loosely woven sort of cloth which the Ijebus were accustomed to wear at this period. The fort in the direction of Ijebu Ode was built at the point of

¶8 divergence of the roads leading to Ijebu Ode and Ijebu Remo, the convergence of the roads being at the middle of the fort, enclosed with a wall all round. This was in charge of certain cavalrymen left in town, there being no scope for their services among the crags of Kiriji. Associated with these were the Sango chief priest and one Ogungbesan.

¶9 The only fight which took place in this direction was on Palm Sunday, the roth of April, 1881, and was far-reaching in its results. When the alarm was given, a mounted messenger was sent post haste to the town to call up those in charge of this direction. Solaja and Sonikan, sons of Soderinde the Balogun of the Cavalry, performed feats of valour that day, and distinguished themselves. In the thick of the fight, Solaja with his horse dashed into the Ijebus, knocking down two or three, and returned with a captive on his horse. Seeing this, Sonikan the elder brother, not to be outdone by his younger brother, performed the like feat, and also returned with a captive. This was a signal for a general rout. The Ijebus, who scarcely ever saw a horse in their country and could not face a cavalry charge, gave way and were pursued as far as Odo Ona kekere in the Ijebu Ode route, and about 20 captives were taken among them. At Odo Ona kekere, the Ijebus met reinforcements and there they made a stand. The struggle here was fierce and obstinate, and the brave captain of the Ijebus, whilst leading and encouraging his men, was shot down dead: a general rout was the consequence, and in the pursuit, among other captives made, was Omitogun, the brother of the old Balogun of the Ijebus.

¶10 This distinguished captive was well treated at Ibadan. When the report of what had taken place reached the camp, the war chiefs sent back to say that Omitogun was to be allowed to go back home to arrange for his own ransom and on his own terms ; but that he was to exert his influence at home with the authorities there so that the roads may be opened for trade, remembering that they never had any quarrel with the Ijebus, and never attacked their farms, and that the Egbas, whose cause they said they were espousing, had slyly opened a roundabout road for themselves via Eruwa to trade with the interior Yorubas.

¶11 Omitogun himself had another tale to tell. He bought and took home with him some corn, beans, etc., to show his people at home. Ibadan, which was reported to be on its last leg and on the verge of starvation, was actually revelling in plenty such as they never enjoyed at home !_ The farmers had no outlet for their produce whilst the Ijebus, who are nearly all traders were sorely in need of foodstuffs.

¶12 This circumstance made a deep impression on the Ijebus, there was no more raiding in this direction. Its further development had a far-reaching effect which bore fruit in the following year, as we'shall see.

§ 2. CLOSURE OF ROADS AND THE RESULTS

¶14 The greatest needs of the Ibadans now were ammunition and salt, and the only route by which they could obtain them even in small quantities wasthe roundabout way via Oke Igbo to Ondo and thus to the coast. Hence they endeavoured to keep on friendly terms with Derin Ologbenla, the Bale of Oke Igbo, and humoured him every now and then by sending him presents of slaves.

¶15 Derin was an Ife prince, and as to the Ifes themselves, although their army was in the Ibadan camp, yet their sympathies were all on the other side. |

¶16 But it happened in March, 1881, that the Ibadans suspecting treachery in a town named Osu, situated between Ile Ife and Ilesa, sent a small force secretly by Awo, son of the late Labosinde, against the place, to capture it by surprise in order to keep their rear Clear of any trouble But all the towns in the neighbourhood were in the secret of the expedition and in sympathy with the Ekitis as men striking for freedom, therefore it leaked out. Osu was prepared and reinforced against a surprise, and hence the expedition failed.

¶17 The town of Osu not being far from the city of Ife, to suspect Osu is to suspect Ife itself, and Derin of Oke Igbo, taking this as a cause of offence, openly declared tor the Ekitis and endeavoured to close even this road to all Oyos by allowing the Ijesas to kidnap caravans on the road. But the Ogunsua or Bale of Modakeke, knowing that the safety of his town is linked with that of Ibadan, by protecting caravans and attacking kidnappers did not allow the road to be altogether closed. In vain the Ifes tried'to win the Ogunsua over: the position of Modakeke to Ife is analogous to that of Belfast to the south of Ireland; the Modakekes are Oyos and of the same tribal affinity with Ibadan with which their own Safety is linked.

¶18 The price of salt rose so high that a pound of salt could not be had for less than ten shillings when it could be obtained at all. Poor people therefore could not even think of preparing their meals with salt ; those who could obtain a few grains of it, ate their meals insipid, and then qualified the tastelessness in their mouths with the few grains of salt afterwards !

¶19 But the distress in the country was not all on one side. The Egbas also were indirectly affected by this closure of the roads

¶20 against the interior tribes. They were free to trade with Lagos indeed, but they wanted prodyce from the interior and slaves to work their farms. They therefore managed to open a circuitous route to Ketu and Eyio, where they and the Porto Novians established a market to trade with all Oyos from different parts of the country, but they still rigidly excluded the sale of ammunition, only cloth and salt were the articles of merchandise, and even this was considered a godsend by the interior folks, for their distress from want of salt was by this greatly alleviated.

¶21 An anecdote from an actual occurrence will forcibly illustrate the point of desperation to which these people were driven at this time :

¶22 A man with his wife and daughter—a marriageable voung woman—went to Ejio to trade. At the close of the fair, the woman was being taken away by an Egba man; a hue and cry was immediately raised, and the Egba was arrested as a manstealer. He denied the charge and told his tale. The woman had been bartered to him for salt and cloth, he only claimed what was his by right. Upon investigation it was found that he was quite right, the seller was the woman’s own daughter! She had bartered away her own mother for salt ! But the man could not allow his wife to be taken away, a compromise must be made. So after he and the woman had consulted together they agreed that this undutiful daughter was to be given to the Egba in exchange: they showed him that the mother was old and would be of little service to him, whereas the young woman might be taken by him for a wife and that they, the parents, would regard the cloths and salt as an adequate dowry given by him. The Egba man was highly pleased with the offer and went home delighted with having had the best of the bargain, and the parents on the other hand were satisfied that to all intents and purposes their daughter had been comfortably settled. This was by no means a solitary instance of desperate acts such as this.

¶23 The distress at the seat of war at this time was indescribable : the Oke Igbo road being closed there was a great dearth of ammunition. The Ekitis knowing this from escaped slaves often came as near as possible to the gate of the camp and assaulted them. The Ibadan army would be drawn up but they could not return the fire of the enemy. They could hardly muster 100 kegs of powder throughout the whole army, and this they reserved for an extreme case of emergency. The writer was present in the camp on one such occasion, when Chief Babalola sent a slave wife of his round to all the traders present in the camp for even a handful of powder if possible. From private soldiers who had not

¶24 exhausted their allowance, and others who did not use theirs in previous fights she collected a small quantity in exchange for food ! The writer being a friend of the Seriki’s brother, asked him confidentially on that occasion, ‘‘ Supposing the Ijesas and Ekitis were to come upon you suddenly one day to rush the camp, what will you do?’ He replied, ‘‘’Tis true we have no ammunition, but there are not wanting among us about 5,000 accomplished swordsmen who will be more than a match for the Ekitis with their guns at close quarters, and they know it or they would have attempted to do so.’

¶25 Further, the Ekitis often taunted them by appearing on top of a rock where they could well be seen by the Ibadans, and tantalized them by emptying kegs of gunpowder on the rock, throwing a lighted torch on the pile, and blazing all away.

¶26 The muster for battle at this time took place almost every day. The Ekitis came as near as possible to the camp, firing into it. The method adopted by the Ibadans to meet the present crisis was to assemble near the gate of the camp, and thence make a sudden and vigorous dash on the Ekitis driving them back to the battlefield: then the swordsmen would spread themselves in the valley and trenches awaiting those who would venture near ; the Ekitis being on higher ground could be seen by them much sooner. Now and then as opportunity offered they would pounce upon them sword in hand, and often come back with captives. Thus they would hold out till about five or six in the evening before the main Ibadan army marched out, when they could not all fire more than one round before nightfall.

¶27 For months and months affairs dragged on in this way, each party being afraid of the other. The sentries at the camp gate were doubled for fear of a night attack.

¶28 On one occasion a few kegs of powder were obtained at Ejio at a very high price ; when these reached the camp such a shout of joy was raised as if they had won a victory; a Feu de jo1e was fired that evening. The shout was heard at the Ekiti camp. But this joy was short lived, for a grave danger threatened the Yoruba country from another direction.

§ 3. DISTRESSING EPISODES

¶30 A. Dahomian Invasion.—The Dahomians, who had hitherto confined their depredations to the Egba and Egbado districts, now for the first time advanced into the western districts of Yoruba proper. The Ibadans, since the destruction of Ijaye, on whom it would have devolved to meet this threatened danger, heard this news with chagrin; they could only chafe but could

¶31 render no helpin that quarter. In fact it was their pre-occupation that rendered such unprovoked invasion possible. It was said that the Dahomian guide and counsellor in this enterprise was Afin the Chief of Ketu, and in May, 1881, the following towns were taken: Ejio, Obanifisunwa, Ilaji, Atas4, Oke’le, Iwere, Aiyetord and Igdna.

¶32 Lawore the Aseyin marched out in defence of the district but he narrowly escaped with his life; at Igana a young man who, kneeling before him, was shooting arrows on the enemy was suddenly approached by the Dahomians and his head taken off ! The Aseyin himself had to escape on horseback.

¶33 This conduct of Afin in introducing the Dahomians into this part of the country gave pain to all, but retributive justice soon overtook him, for at the next campaign of the Dahomians, his own town Ketu was taken and himself slain. The other towns taken with Ketu were Idikumo, Iselu, Dain, etc.

¶34 Ketu is an ancient town bordering on the Sabe and Oyo countries. It is a place badly watered, their drinking water being miles away from the town. They used deep underground tanks for storing rain water. The scarcity of water in Ketu has passed into a proverb. ‘‘ Omi d’oyin ni Ketu”’ (‘‘ Water becomes honey in Ketu’’). The destruction of Ketu was about the 17th of July,

¶35 In order to record all the ravages of the Dahomians together we shall have to anticipate the dates of events in the history.

¶36 Their third campaign was again in the western districts of Yoruba Proper—lIlesan, Ibisé, Oke Amu, Ago, Huku, Gbagba, Ago Sabe, Irawo, Owo, and for the second time Ilaji, were all destroyed. This was in 1887.

¶37 Their fourth campaign was against the towns bordering on Egba districts, and also on the western districts. Berekodo, Oke Tapa, Aiyete, Bako, Gangan, Igbo Osa, Idofin, Idire, Papa, Gbunginu were all taken. Eruwa was deserted. This was about the year 1890.

¶38 Thus far they went, when a higher Power decreed their fall ; they were themselves subjugated by the French.

¶39 Travellers in the western districts will find all the towns enclosed in double walls. The city of Oyo was connected with the village of Awe by a wall. This outer wall was called ‘“‘ Odi Amola,”’ or by some, ‘‘ Odi Amonut.”’ The former term indicates ‘‘ The Wall of Safety,’’ used by those to whom it has proved a source of safety and the latter term, ‘‘ The Wall of Loss,” used by those to whom it has proved unavailing for security.

¶40 B. Destruction of Ile Bioku.—Ile Bioku was one of the Yoruba

¶41 towns in the Oke Ogun district between Eruwa and Iseyin, and consequently under the protection of the Ibadans.

¶42 The following is a short history of its foundation and destruction.

¶43 Ile Bioku was quite a modern town built by two friends, Bioku and Lebebi, Bioku being the Chief. It was one of the towns beautifully situated on a hill and easily defended against a hostile attack, and consequently, for the safety it afforded, it got peopled rapidly and soon became a prosperous town.

¶44 There were several men of note in this town besides the founders, é.g., Oguntaiye the Areagoro, Odunmbaku the Ikolaba, Aremu the Jagun, Alawo and his son Ladipo (both being men of note), also Oje, Adebawonpe, and Maborisaje.

¶45 Bioku lived to a good old age, and the town prospered under him. At his death he was succeeded by Lebebi the co-founder. Ovyedokun, son of Bioku, was the head of his house. But Lebebi did not outlive Bioku long, he also died and was succeeded by Ajadi as the head of his house. Oyedokun, son of Bioku, now became the head chief of the town, and so the succession would have continued in the two families alternately had all continued well.

¶46 Alawo also died about the same time and was succeeded by his son Ladipo. Oyedokun, son of Bioku, however, was a bad ruler; he soon disgusted all the chief men in the town. When he could no longer be endured Ajadi, the next man to him as ruler, left the town with a large following and founded a settlement at the foot of the hill, leaving [le Bioku to Oyedokun and his party.

¶47 In order to avenge himself for this defection Oyedokun sent to Ibadan to invite an army to destroy the new settlement ; but the Are Latosisa, then at the head of Ibadan, sent one Aiyeleru to reconcile the two parties, but he failed in his efforts and returned to Ibadan.

¶48 Now, with the Ibadans away from home, Oyedokun sent a similar message to Chief Ogundipe at Abeokuta to come and destroy the new settlement. Ogundipe responded to the call with alacrity and came with an Egba army, as he had been seeking occasion to go against Itabo, a small suburb town of Ile Bioku.

¶49 The alleged cause of offence to Ogundipe was that when the Egbas fled from Ijaye in March, 1862, one of his wives (then in delicate state) fellinto the hands of anItaboman. Chief Ogundipe offered to redeem her, but the man refused to part with her. After t.e child was born Ogundipe sent two slaves to the man in exchange for mother and child, but the man still declined the offer. For this reason Ogundipe now embraced this opportunity of going against the settlement of Ie Biokn hoping to recover his wife and

¶50 child at the suburb. His route lay through Eruwa, he invited the Bale of this town to join him, but he declined. But Ogundipe having gone forward, the Bale went with an army by a shorter route to assist the doomed town, their kith and kin.

¶51 The Egbas were actually repulsed by this handful of men of the new settlement, and were in full retreat when Omisina, Oyedokun’s brother sent to tell Ogundipe not to lose such a splendid chance of victory by retreating so hastily as the ammunition of his foes was all but exhausted and the Egbas had victory close at hand. Ogundipe, hearing this, returned to the attack, and ammunition failing the men of the new settlement, the town was taken. Of the chiefs who escaped were :—Ajadi, Ladipo, Adewogba. Omisina the traitor was hunted down by the remnant of the people and was discovered in a cave at Itabo, thence he was brought back, slain, and his family sold into slavery.

¶52 In order to avenge themselves on Oyedokun the remnant that escaped sent to him a message of submission and offer of reconciliation. Negotiations followed and all the terms of peace settled, it only remained for him to come down from the hill to perfect the terms which could not be conveniently carried out by messengers. He did so, and as the men lay prostrate before him and pourparlers were going on, all of a sudden they rushed upon him and butchered him to pieces; and in order to show their abhorrence of him they roasted his flesh in the fire and had a taste of it all round.

¶53 Thus the remnant that escaped gathered themselves together and formed another settlement in the plain opposite Ile Bioku, and they called it Lanlaté and had Ajadi as their Bale.

¶54 The remnant of the old town of Ile Bioku soon joined thern here. Like all other Oke Ogun towns, the people of this place are industrious, food is plentiful and they seem quite contented.

§ 4. NEw DEVELOPMENTS, CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE

¶56 After the Dahomian invasion and the destruction of the market towns of Ejio and Ketu distress prevailed again in the country. At this crisis the ALAFIN of Oyo sent a special deputation to Abeokuta to negotiate through Chief Ogundipe foi the opening of the roads for salt. It was an opensecret that the ALAFIN connived at the combination against the Ibadans and the consequent closure of the roads ; but the want of salt touched even His Majesty himself as well as his people; hence his action.

¶57 At this period the ruling chiefs of Abeokuta were four, v7z., Ogundipe the Balogun of Ikija, Onlado of Kemta, Ogundeyi of Iporo, and the Jaguna of Igbein. Ogundipe was the leading chief,

¶58 Onlado was at the head of all the Ogbonis, and Ogundeyi of the war party, the Alake beinganonentity. It wassaid that Ogundipe and Onlado were more in consort, the public meetings were generally convened either at Ogundipe’s gate or in the front of Sodeke’s house. Ogundipe was always the spokesman, queer in his ways but shrewd in his methods. He generally spoke in his own name. Public acts were said to be done by his order, but he was only carrying out the conclusions which himself and his colleagues had arrived at. Thus it was given out that the Eruwa road to Oyo had been opened under the auspices of Chief Ogundipe. Eruwa now became the market town for the exchange of commodities with the further interior.

¶59 It was also shrewdly suspected that Ogundipe, as the friend of the Are of Ibadan, was doing his utmost to relieve the Ibadans at this time. He had always been against the closure of the roads, but he could not get his colleagues to see with him. Cloth, salt and spirits were the articles sent to the Eruwa market in exchange for slaves and produce from the interior, but all but one of the socalled demijohns of rum, and cases of gin sent up by Ogundipe, were gunpowder secretly being sent to the Are. . The gatemen at the tall gates were supposed to know nothing about them, a glass of rum or of gin was poured out of the genuine package for them and the whole passed free, especially as it was known to be Ogundipe’s, and this particular road was under the charge of the Egba Oke Ona, of whom Ogundipe was the head, as the river route was under the immediate charge of the Egba Agbeyin. This favour of Ogundipe’s was highly appreciated by the Ibadans.

¶60 This Eruwa market was called the Erebe market, only guns and gunpowder were prohibited as articles of trade.

¶61 But the road to Eruwa’ was now and again infested by two notable highway robbers, Kurakura, a Gambari slave of Chief Ogundeyi, and Gata, an Ilorin outcast, a notorious robber. Both of them were sharing the spoils with their masters, of whom Ogtimefun was one. One-fourth of the booties went to them, the remaining three-fourths to the robbers themselves.

¶62 In spite of this, the Eruwa market and the secret supply of Ogundipe were a great boon to the Ibadans but for the supply of a whole army something more was required, hence all their efforts were bent on keeping the Oke Igbo route open.

¶63 Derin the Chief of Oke Igbo now the Oni elect of Ife, seemed at this time to have the key of the whole situation in his hands, and his favour and goodwill were sought by all. The Ibadans sent him slaves, and excellent native cloths and other valuables as presents that he might keep the road open. The Ilorins sent

¶64 him horses, the Ekiti kings sent him baskets of kola nuts and other valuable presents, and other costly presents came also from Ijebu and from Abeokuta that he might keep the road closed.

¶65 The Ogunsua of Modakeke refused to ally himself with the Ifes, and a well-to-do Ofa man resident at Oke Igbo was as a bone in Derin’s throat, as the safety of their respective towns depended upon thesafety of the Ibadans. So this road could not be altogether closed.

¶66 About this time the rumour spread that Derin of Oke Igbo with the confederates sent to tell the Ibadan chiefs that if they wished for peace they should send to beg the King for he also had his grievance. There was his nephew Lawani harboured at Ibadan, who, on leaving Oyo, emptied the palace of all the royal treasures so that he, the ALAFIN, was practically a poor King. To this the Ibadans replied, ‘‘ He is our prince, what can we do to him? We cannot eject him out of the town, and we cannot touch his property, since he was allowed to leave Oyo with all he brought with him we cannot question his right to them.’’ However, they sent accredited messengers to Oyo to beg the King to arrange matters for them, pledging their devotion and loyalty to him.

¶67 His Majesty, as was his wont, returned them a fair answer, and sent them a few Oyo fighting men and a Babalawo (Ifa priest) ostensibly to make charms for their success: but the Ibadans, having reason to believe that the action of the priest was just to the contrary, drove him out of the camp.

¶68 About this time Sneider rifles were introduced by the Ijesas. The Ijesas at Lagos purchased a large quantity with cartridges for their country people ‘‘ for the defence of the fatherland.” At first the Ibadans did not know what they were nor their deadly character ; they made a mock of them for the Ijesas did not know how to use them properly. Being short compared with their long Dane guns, and making but little noise when fired, they called out to the Ijesas in jest, ‘‘ Are you reduced to using tobacco pipes now? Dosend me one” (O ku témio). But the scene was soon changed when certain Ijesa young men who had learnt the use of these weapons at Abeokuta during the Dahomian invasions there came over to teach and to help their people in the use of them, Labirinjo of Lagos, Gureje and Apara of Abeokuta being the principal leaders. Moreover they formed a rifle corps which they carefully instructed.

¶69 These new weapons of precision now struck terror into the Ibadans. ‘‘ What is this?’’ ‘‘ What is this?’’ they began to say when they saw their effects upon the body of the slain. To quote an instance :—In the battle fought on the 15th May, 1881,

¶70 Chief Akintola was shot through the leg as he sat on horseback, the same bullet killed the horse and a page standing by! To make matters worse for the Ibadans, their precarious supply of the coarse gunpowder for their Dane guns was exhausted. - They were greatly perturbed by this new development, thinking that the British Government at Lagos must be supplying the Ekitis with new weapons, especially when they saw the rifle corps in uniform. From a great distance in the battlefield men, women and children were shot dead within the Ibadan camp, some mortally wounded, others crippled for life !

¶71 Ogedemgbe accorded these rifles a doubtful welcome. ‘‘Sooner or later,” saidhe, “the Oyos will get possessed of similar weapons, and what is to become of us then, unless we can finish them up before they do, which is very doubtful ? ”

¶72 It became a matter of great difficulty for the Ibadans to muster together and troop into the battlefield on the day of battle. When they assembled at the gate of exit the rifles wrought havoc amongst them, every man had to try and find his way through nooks and corners, crawljng along valleys, picking out shelters till they could approach near enough within the range of their Daneguns, to return the fire: others, sword or cutlass in hand, would crawl still nearer to pounce upon them. In this way some Ijesas were caught with rifles and cartridges which were examined with great curiosity. They were so perplexed in mind that they sent home for a native missionary—one of their sons—and laid this matter before him. ‘‘ Whyshouldthe Lagos Governmentsupply the Ekitis with such weapons to fight us ?”’ It wasthenexplainedto them that the Lagos Government had nothing to do with it; the Ijesas at Lagos formed a committee which purchased these weapons, and sent them up wa Aiyesan, Itebu, to Ondo, and thence to Ilesa to assist their countrymen.

¶73 ‘‘Can any of you chiefs be held responsible for whatever a man may buy at the Ibadan markets and bazaars for their friends at Oyo and Ogbomoso ?—No.—So then this matter stands.”

¶74 Still, ‘they were hardly satisfied, feeling that such strange weapons and men to teach the use of them could not have left Lagos without the Governor’s knowledge.

¶75 At this crisis they sent again to the Awujale of Ijebu on the 28th June, 1881, craving either for the opening of the roads or for his arbitration: but the Ijebus did not even allow the messengers to enter the town of Ijebu Ode; they were refused a hearing.

¶76 Now, about the month of August, 1881, Derin of Oke Igbo as the Owoni elect of Ife came forward, professing to arrange terms of peace for the belligerents. His messengers met those of the

¶77 Ibadans and the Ekitis on the battlefield and everything was arranged for the restoration of peace, but the whole thing broke down when it came to the last point, who was to decamp first. The Ijesas said, ‘‘ We are in our country and you came from afar, how can you say we should leave our country?’’ The Ibadans replied, ‘‘ Nobody said you were to leave your country, you are only asked to retire from the camp into the town of Mesin Ipole behind you, so as to give us the chance to extricate ourselves from the defile through which we must pass. Bitter experience has taught us never to decamp in the face of an enemy for thus it was in 1865 when decamping from Iperu after peace had been made between us and the Egbas and Ijebus, the Egbas pursued after us, and we bought our retreat dearly. Should we repeat the same thing here under the very eyes of the Ekitis it will mean annihilation for us in these ravines and precipices. Retire to the town and so put some distance between us, and we will then decamp.”’

¶78 As neither party would agree to decamp first the negotiations failed and the war was resumed.

¶79 At this failure of the negotiations the people began to murmur against the Are for bringing all these troubles upon them ; matters came to such a pass that the Are, on the rst September, was going to take poison and put an end to his life, but his family and the chiefs begged him not to do so. “It is God’s will that things should be so,” said they. ‘‘Such a thing has never happened to us before, but God wills it so.”

¶80 On the 18th September, 1881, they sent again to the Awujale, and again he would neither arbitrate nor open the roads, but sent them a taunting reply, ‘‘ If you are tired of the war, come home.” They returned the reply, ‘‘ How can we come? We are in a defile.” ;

¶81 The Jjesa rifle corps still continued to do havoc amongst the Ibadans. On the 26th December the Ibadans received a terrible blow by the death of Belo, the brave son of the late Osundina (whose younger brother became afterwards so well known as Chief Apampa). He was a born soldier, and second to none in the whole camp. The death produced such a shock that his body could not be taken to the camp for fear of causing a panic ; from the battlefield it was conveyed outside the camp walls to Ikirun for interment. The mourning for this chief was deep and universal, for he was a very good man. On the news reaching home, all markets and bazaars were broken up for the whole day and the town went into mourning. Thus bloody strife continued on both sides for months and years.