The acquisition of slaves - much more common among African freed people than among enslaved people themselves - played a major role in the accumulation of property and construction of a network of dependents. The enslaved people belonging to Francisca da Silva and José Pedro Autran not only performed labour and generated income for their owners, but they also served as a cadre of dependents whose existence enhanced their owners' prestige. They were valued, moreover, as devotees of the orishas, and they performed necessary tasks in the ritual domain, first in Salvador and later in Ouidah. As mentioned above, one of these enslaved people, Marcelina Obatosi, returned to Bahia as a freed woman to lead the terreiro after Iyá Nassô and her family had established themselves in Ouidah. No evidence survives that Francisco Gomes de Andrade owned slaves either in Brazil or West Africa. However, like Francisca and José Pedro, many Bahian freed people took slaves and former slaves back to Africa with them. Many also bought slaves after their return to West Africa and, over time, incorporated some of them into their households and lineages. Francisco may have done likewise in the process of consolidating his position in Lagos during the 1840s.