IBADAN, a large and flourishing town of West Africa, in the Yoruba country, about 80 miles inland from Lagos, and about 50 miles to the north-east of Abeokuta. It occupies the slope of one of the hills of the Kong range, and stretches down into the valley through which the river Ona flows. The site is well drained by natural streams, but their waters are often polluted by the dead bodies flung out to the vultures. The mud walls by which the town is enclosed have a circuit of 18 miles, and it is encompassed by a circle of cultivated land about 5 or 6 miles in breadth. The houses are all low thatched structures, enclosing a square court, and the only break in the mud wall is the door; but the monotony of the streets is relieved by orishas or idol-houses, and open spaces shaded with trees. Most of the population are engaged in agriculture; but for a West-African town there is a great variety of handicrafts. The town is subject nominally to the king of Oya; but in reality it is not only an independent state but has a number of vassal towns. The government is in the hands of two chiefs, a civil and a military, the bale and the balogun∙, these together form the highest court of appeal. There is also an iyaloda or mother of the town, to whom are submitted all the disputes of the women. Any one causing a fire in the town, whether intentionally or by accident, is deprived of his possessions and put in prison. Ibadan has long had a feud with Abeokuta; and the two towns often engage in war with each other. In 1862 the people of Ibadan destroyed Ijaya, a neighbouring town of 60,000 inhabitants. Mr Hinderer, a missionary of the Church Society, established a station at Kudati on the outskirts of the town in 1853, and laboured there for seventeen years. The native church is still in ...