“At Cokalo, a Bowchee village, where we arrived on the 27th, the inhabitants were so poor, that they sent us nothing but corn; but the chief, in honor of our arrival, made a fetish, and having roasted a fatted dog, stewed a snake in oil and water, and boiled a quantity of corn. He then invited his people to a feast; and they partook of the good things set before them with peculiar relish. With a benevolence truly amiable, a small bowl of the corn so prepared, enriched with a portion of the reptile, and the liquid in which it had been dressed, was brought me from the chief’s table; and, supposing it to be fish swimming in oil, I ate a mouthful or two with a very good appetite. It had, however, a peculiar, although certainly not a disagreeable flavour with it, and I carelessly asked a person standing near, the name of the animal I was eating; but on his assuring me that it was part of a _land_ fish, my appetite forsook me, and Pasko, who had been casting many a longing eye on the delicate morsel, devoured the remainder with looks of infinite delight, asserting that it equalled in goodness the best dried ling he had ever tasted.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Prepare some oysters, as shown in No. 54, and when poured upon the toast in their dish, strew all over their surface equal quantities of bread raspings and grated cheese; hold a red-hot shovel over the top until it becomes slightly coloured, and eat this little delicacy while hot.
Sources: The passage is from Richard Lander, Records of Captain Clapperton's last expedition to Africa, Vol. 2, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Francatelli, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes of 1852, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — burgundy cloth, amphora stamp.