2-888-732 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

King Archibald Duke, Chief of Old Calabae, 1850. 'Chief of Old Calabar town, as he appeared on the quarter-deck of her Majesty's steam-sloop Rattler, wearing his crown and state sword. His loins were covered with a rich silk, and round his neck and ankles he wore a quantity of coral beads. His age is about twenty eight years; and he was created King about eight months ago, at the death of his uncle, Duke Epheram, who had so many slaves immolated with him as a human sacrifice'. Calabar, in what is now Nigeria, was an important port of slave embarkation in the Bight of Biafra. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.