THE PROCESSION.
On Saturday, December 19th—Ember Day, it will be remembered—we prepared
for the penance of reception. An early visit was paid by the King’s
chief physician and archi-magus, Buko-no Uro: a thin, dark, and somewhat
castey-looking senior. He was close shaven, to hide the frostiness of
his wool; simply clad in white shorts, and in a large silk cloth with
none but the ordinary silver ornaments. He looked somewhat leaner than
before, probably the result of his latest nuptials with one of the
King’s stalwart daughters. This personage came of course solely to renew
old ties, to apologise for not having built a proper house, and to
enquire about every one’s health, from the most Exalted of the Empire to
my humble self. The real errand at once peeped out: Harpagon[191] wanted
a list of presents, and was especially curious to know whether various
items specified to Commodore Wilmot, chiefly a carriage and pair, were
_en route_. After reading out to him the official document touching
these matters, he allowed for a time the subject to lie, resolved to
stir it up again at the earliest opportunity. By way of showing
friendship he announced that our reception would take place to-day, and
that on the morrow we should proceed to Agbome: he also declared in an
off-hand manner that, even before presentation at the palace, we might
walk about when and where we pleased. Kana, I have said, is country
quarters; the sort of state imprisonment with which visitors are
honoured at Agbome, is not the rule here. He therefore graciously
granted us no favour, but our right, with which he departed, telling us
to eat and dress at once, as the King was preparing for our reception.
I knew well from experience that these ceremonies never take place,
except in some emergency, before the afternoon. Moreover, it is the
first wish of every Dahoman official to hurry “his strangers” as much as
possible for two reasons. The minor is, that by making white men,
especially in uniform, sit for a few hours in the open air fronting a
mud wall, called a palace, he enhances the opinion of his power amongst
the people. The major is, his desire to make favour with the King, who
when issuing from the interior wishes to be received by the visitors,
and looks crookedly at the “minister” if they be not present. Something
must be added on the score of African brain-looseness: these people have
as little idea of time as of numbers.[192] The stranger, however, must
be prepared to do battle with this nuisance from the beginning, and the
struggle will endure unto the bitter end, when dismissal brings matters
to a crisis. I ended by proposing that for the future a messenger should
be sent direct by the king, not by the landlord as at present, to inform
visitors that the hour of attendance was at hand. But, even should this
be granted, the messenger will have, to some extent, the same
inducements as has the landlord in discomforting visitors.
Under the then circumstances, So-kun, our guide, began, about 10 A.M.,
the systematic African worrying[193]: it was, however, of no avail, and
we put off the evil time till 1 P.M., which proved to be only one hour
too soon. The business of the day was to begin with the procession of
caboceers, a ceremony as old as the time of Mr. Norris, who has left a
notice of it. Followed by new and handsome hammocks, we were conducted
to the Gbwe-hun-’li,[194] a clear space partially shaded with ragged
trees: it is about 100 paces N.N.E. of the “English House,” and for many
generations it has been the seat of these operations. Then ranging our
sticks facing northwards, we formed the focus of stare and gaze, the
smaller rabble being as usual conspicuous. Two Klan, or Ai-hun-da-
to,[195] jesters, came up, and in hopes of dole did their best to amuse
us. These African “Sutari” are like the guiriots or buffoons, those
Senegal professionals, who mingle in every crowd, and whose sole object
in life is to make men laugh. Ever racking their wits to please, they
evince the true negro poverty of invention: there is a lack of variety
in their tricks which soon renders them lively as a professionally
engaged mourner or a Turkish mute. Some of them take to the trade early
in life, they are in fact born and hereditary buffoons. They are
remarkable for their ugliness, to which they add by white-washing face,
arms, and legs. The staple of their entertainment consists in “making
faces,” as children say, wrinkling foreheads; protruding tongues, and
clapping jaws like apes; in a little rude tumbling,[196] in ugly dancing
and agitating the clunes, in drawing in the belly to show emptiness, in
smoking a bone or a bit of cassava by way of pipe, in producing from
huge bags[197] yams and maize paste, of which they bolted mouthfuls, or
by pretending to be deaf and dumb—a favourite trick here. They offered
us some provisions, and we had the laugh against them by accepting and
passing them on to our servants; and they imitated my notes by
scratching a sweet potato with a stick. I need not add that they are
bull beggars all.
Shortly after we had taken our seats appeared, borne aloft on a negro’s
head, a table which was fated to be one of our best friends in Dahome.
It was a venerable article, once intended for cards, but the violent
hands of the _negraille_ had long ago denuded it of green baize, had
stripped off its veneer, and had reduced its single leg to a singularly
smashed and shaky state. A glance at it never failed to elicit a request
for a new “tavo,” and a reminder that the Commodore had promised a
_remplaçant_. After two or three had puzzled their brains for a quarter
of an hour with the intricate problem of opening it, another would
produce from a calico-covered calabash sundry case and other bottles of
gin and similar spirits, sometimes wine, and always tolerably pure
water, from the palace. These elements of endurance were supplied to us
with a praiseworthy regularity: hardly did we take our seats on any
occasion, when lo! the table. The King seemed to be pleased by our
appreciating the contents of his cellar: he frequently sent us messages
bidding us not to spare them, and, though the Landlord frowned, I took
especial care to make our followers invariably empty whatever was set
before us. As a rule, the whites, even the French, and the mulattoes
engaged in the _comercio_, are so overawed by the presence of one “whose
smile is life and whose frown is death,” that they would never venture
upon such a liberty, consequently the King thinks that they fear him.
Presently a hum of voices from the north answered the first of the
salutes. Under two tent umbrellas, one virgin-white and the other
figured,[198] and accompanied by two courtiers, walked the bearer of the
royal cane, Bosu Sau.[199] He is a half-brother to the king; dark, not
ill-looking, but showing no resemblance to the ruler. Followed by his
band, drums and rattles, and by his armed escort, he advanced, snapped
fingers with us, and presented the stick. We drank with him three
toasts, beginning with his master’s health. A salute was then fired, and
presently Bosu Sau and his chiefs sat down upon their tall Gold Coast
stools placed on our left, and thus forming part of an oval opening
north, where the saluters presented themselves.
Then the companies began to pass round, and first those of Whydah. In
all these displays it is “funeral order,” juniors first. A white
umbrella, a pair of silver horns,[200] announced Nulofren, who, habited
in the costume of the day, an armless tunic of red and yellow striped
silk, was bestriding a little nag. After the latter had been led three
times round us with a halter, and the equestrian had thrice waved hand
to us as he passed the opening of the spectator-ring, he was lifted off
by a pair of slaves. His fifty soldiers then formed line, whilst the
commander advanced and bowed; he then danced and fired a gun, the rest
presenting arms; finally, he snapped fingers, made compliments, and
retired to the enjoyment of stool and umbrella. Such was the programme
of the whole affair, whose resemblance to European tactics suggested
imitation.
Nulofren was followed by Nuage, of Whydah, another half-brother of the
king, a tall, dark, thin man, with a chief’s silver armlets and thread
pigtail depending down his dorsum. He rode past smoking a pipe.
The third was “the place”—meaning a confidential slave—of Wenu, who was
unable to be present. He rode past, waved hands, danced, fired, and took
his seat on our left: not, however, like the caboceers, upon a chair.
The fourth was the Prince Chyudaton, a caboceer of note and influence,
one of the King’s many cousins, supposed to possess the ear of royalty,
and lately appointed second Yevogan of Whydah. He is a young man, tall
and well-made, of coaly complexion, broad-faced, and with a
prepossessing expression. The English subjects speak highly of him: the
French, whose “landlord” he is, declare him to be cunning and
interested. He certainly knows the habits of white men, and it was long
ago proposed that he should visit England, the principal advantage being
that after return he might venture upon the truth, which a meaner man
would not dare before royalty.[201] When this was mentioned to the King,
he readily consented, declaring, however, that he must retain as
hostages Mrs. Bernasko and her children. I much regretted not seeing
more of this young man, but the jealousy of the “English landlord”
managed successfully to isolate me. On the present occasion Chyudaton
was smoking a bad Bahia cigar,—a bit of civilization to be expected from
one so conversant with “European society”; he wore a tunic of green
silk, and his decoration was a pair of mushroom horns. He performed the
decapitation dance, looking most amiable the while.
The French and English flags, preceding a company of dancing soldiery,
announced the Yevogan, or viceroy of Whydah. In contrast with his
lieutenant, he is the old school of Gezo’s officials, and he is perhaps
the worst type. He was born at the hereditary little village[202] of his
family, Dokon, about two miles to the east of the Kana Gate of Agbome.
His appearance revolts: it is a compound of a bovine cerebellum, a
deeply-wrinkled brow villainously low, a double prognathousness, massive
lips with bad lines, thickly-lidded, blear and yellow eyes, and the
expression of a satyr. Mr. Duncan found him an “excellent fellow,” which
in one sense is true. He is as bad as he looks, and his avarice is only
to be equalled by his rapacity. If two strangers dispute at Whydah, 500
dollars for instance being the subject, and the litigants proceed to the
Yevogan for justice, he at once confiscates half the amount in question
to the King, that is to say, to himself; and a third quarter will
certainly disappear amongst the caboceers and Fetishmen.[203] Until
lately, he has, like all the older officials, known white men only as
slavers, and as the most abject order of traders. He treats everyone
with equal superciliousness. This insolence has more than once brought
him into trouble, and in May last he was placed under arrest in his own
house for incivility to strangers. Yet he is ever rude of manner, and
requires to be treated in kind: “civil or rough,” as the occasion
requires, but much more of the latter than of the former. On this
occasion he wore, as a white man, a felt hat, which he doffed to us
thrice; then dancing a few steps, he came forward to snap fingers, and
attempted, partly in jest but much in earnest, to pull us from our
seats.
The caboceers were followed by the companies, of which the first was
that of the Ahanjito or singers and of the Hunto or drummers; in fact,
the local bards, troubadours, or laureates, who are not less powerful in
Dahome than in other wild lands, from Wales to Nepaul. The
distinguishing mark was the horse-tail “chauri,” with a man’s jawbone
above the handle. They were preceded by nine “fancy flags,[204]” adorned
with all manner of figures, animate and inanimate, cut out of coloured
cloth and sewn upon the plain ground. These were followed by a truly
barbarous display: eight human crania dished up on small wooden bowls
like bread-plates, at the top of very tall poles,—a ninth remaining
ominously ungarnished. After passing round in view without umbrellas,
the musical warriors, who are _preux chevaliers_ and extra-doughty
worthies, formed line opposite me, and waving their “chauris,” sang to a
pretty tune certain words in my praise,[205]—
Burton (pronounced Batunu), he hath seen all the world with its kings
and caboceers:
He now cometh to see Dahome, and he shall see everything here.
They were dressed in rich silks, and eleven of them wore horns. After
dancing solos they sat down on our right, where before stood the common
herd of gazers, chiefly boys.
Then, preceded by the Union Jack (why?) and four flags, came the
Akho-’si—“King wife,”—or Eunuch Company. There were three chiefs, two in
black felt and one in horns; the corps, however, is no longer
distinguished, as in the days of the History, by carrying bright iron
rods. The head man presented the royal stick, whereupon I rose and drank
to the King’s health. He then informed me that he had been commissioned
by the Chief Eunuch, the principal palace dignitary, to guide my steps.
The rest of the pageant was a rapid pass round of the _corps d’élite_.
My Blue, or English escort of the last day, with their Colonel, Anaufen,
in a cap of crimson velvet, followed an unfurled flag, fired, and
saluted. The Achi, or bayoneteers, were headed by their commander in a
man-o’-war’s man’s cap, about twenty in number; they were tall, large,
and evidently picked men, dressed in blue cloth tunics, and armed with
heavily loaded guns. They are recognised by a kind of eye on their
conical caps, also of blue cloth, two horizontal parentheses of white,
and a dark central dot.[206] Followed a few carbineers, whose half-
shaven heads showed them to be slaves of the palace: they are known as
Zo-hu-nun—“Fire at the foe’s front.” A white flag with a blue anchor at
the end of a waving red stripe, denoted the Gan’ u’ nlan Company, the
“Conquerors of all animals,” so called from the size of their guns,
which are expected to kill, not to wound[207]: forming part of the
artillery with the Agbáryá,[208] or blunderbuss men; they are chosen for
size and strength, and much prefer themselves to the commonalty of the
army. They followed a tattered Jack and a fancy flag, and their chiefs
bowed to us, whilst the men, resting the butt upon the ground, fired
resonant charges.
At 2 P.M., when the review was over, the Yevogan again came up, shook
hands with us, and preceded by the most numerous of the companies, his
own men, set out palacewards, leaving us to follow.
All our party then formed file, led by the youth Buko, carrying the
King’s cane which had reached us at Whydah, by So-kun, the English
guide, and by the solemn eunuch De-Adán-de. Mr. Hilton preceded the
hammocks with the flag of St. George, followed by the Reverend Bernasko,
supported on both sides by Beecham and Valentine.[209] I went next with
my armed Krumen in bright caps and “Pagnes”; behind me was Mr.
Cruikshank, then Governor Mark, and lastly the boy Tom. Between the
ceremonial trees of Gbwehun-’li and the palace of Baynamme,[210] the
distance is about a quarter of an hour in hammocks: the different
interruptions multiplied it by three; at every 100 yards a 3-pounder
ship’s swivel fired a blank shot, and was carried on the shoulder of a
single porter to the next station. The direction was north, with a
little westing. A broad well-worn and carefully cleaned road—all those
about Kana are the same—hard with water-rolled pebbles, wound through
grass plots, scatterings of wild cotton heaps, and tufts of croton
(_Croton tiglium_) between fields of maize and “thur” (_Cajanus
indicus_), and under the noble trees detaching the divers homesteads. An
abundance of Fetish was also present.
Presently we struck upon the eastern angle of the palace. These
buildings in Dahome are all made upon the same pattern: a swish wall of
five courses or steps,[211] about 20 ft. high, forms the enceinte; in
many places it appears ruinous; it shows patches of matting, and when
new ground is taken in, a fresh palm fence denotes that labour is
deferred to another day. The shape is an irregular square or broken
oblong, and the circumference must be sufficient to contain the wives,
soldieresses, and female slaves, composing the _personnel_ of the
feminine court. The gates vary in number; they are usually from eight to
ten. They are thatched sheds about 100 ft. long, built against the clay
wall, and 60 ft. to 70 ft. high; though the roof ridge is tall enough
for two stories, the deep and solid eaves rest upon posts barely 4 ft.
tall, planted at 14 to 15 ft. from the back wall, and the two nearest
the entrance are provided with earth benches.[212] The slanting roof of
thick grass is kept in position by stout bamboo splints. Inside, the
ground is raised about 1 ft.; the material is a stiff red loam, in parts
rudely pipeclayed. Outside the entrance there are invariably two stunted
and pollarded trees, here as favourite a fashion as formerly in France;
and often a pole connecting them forms a gallows, from which jo-susu,
vo-sisa, or Fetish calabashes, and other talismans depend. Each tree
also has its bundle of Bo-sò, or Bo-sticks,[213]—truncheons, 3 to 4 ft.
long, zebra’d or spotted with red and white, and at times inscribed with
Moslem prayers; they resembled on a small scale the barber’s pole of old
England and of modern America. The external gateways act as guard-
houses: in the interior, as far as can be seen, they correspond with the
external, and the King always receives in these barnlike sheds. After
the fashion of the old Whydah rulers, he is ever changing his sleeping
apartment.[214]
After a few minutes we arrived at the Akoreha,[215] or eastern market,
where we were received by a consistory of Bo Fetishmen; on their right
were holy women in decent garb, petticoated to the ankles, and
distinguished by flowers in the hair, and by long necklaces of cowries.
The chief carried by way of sceptre a wonderfully-worked axe of bright
brass, called by the people Asiovi, and known to the Portuguese as Facão
de Bo. Lustily cheered, we passed the several gates of the palace, each
showing from one to three umbrellas of the guard, the captains on
chairs, and the men on the ground sitting motionless with guns and
blunderbusses pointed skywards, and like a picadil of spears. Turning
down another open space, called Ajyako, we proceeded to the Addogwin, or
western market. I did not recognise a place once familiar to my eyes:
the palace fence of dry brown palm-leaves had disappeared for a bran-new
dark-green matting, and the form of the clearing had changed: nothing
recalled the old locality but a huge tree on the north side.
When opposite the western or main gate, the usual large barn-like
thatched shed, supported on posts, we dismounted, as is the custom, to
make _congées_. On the right were two duck-guns, and a _machine
infernale_ with five bell-mouthed brass barrels, mounted on a dwarf
bed,[216] and with a single flint lock: on the left were four wall-
pieces and one wooden case, which was probably empty. Twenty-four
umbrellas, ranged in line, covered an equal number of the highest
dignitaries in the empire. A somewhat lengthy description of this place
will be required: it is the fac-simile in male of the feminine palace-
interior, and it represents the soldiery of Dahome, minus the King,
halted or encamped upon the line of march.
The army, or what is nearly synonymous, the nation of Dahome, is
divided, both male and female, into two wings—the Right and the
Left.[217] They are so called from their relative position to the
throne, which here was represented by the entrance dividing the captains
and their retainers into two bodies.
The right or senior wing is commanded, _ex-officio_, by the Min-
gan,[218] the first of the two great Bonugan or civilian captains “of
the outside.” He is, therefore, the Premier of the empire amongst
men[219]; the she-Min-gan, being within the palace, takes precedence of
him. He leads in the field the first battalion of the right wing, and,
as head of the police, he is supposed to speak from the people to the
King. Being _exécuteur des hautes œuvres_, he is also entitled “Men-wu-
to, or man-slayer”; and, as he kills for the king proper, in the case of
sacrificial or distinguished deaths he is expected to use his own hands,
leaving the humbler sort to his assistants. The present “_M. de Dahome_”
is a tall, dark, thin old man, by no means decrepid, with a neat and
well-made small cranium, but decidedly the look of a headsman. I have
said all Dahoman officials are in double pairs: his lieutenant is the
Adanejan (by the English called “Adonijah”), the “King’s Cousin,” and a
favourite at court. The woman Min-gan is Gundeme,[220] and she has an
assistant.
Under the Min-gan, or civilian Premier, is the Gau,[221] or leader of
the second battalion of the right wing, and military Commander-in-Chief.
He is, in the absence of the Min-gan, the head of the Ahwan-gan,[222] or
war captains of the outside. The present officer is a tall and large old
man, with a wrinkled forehead, nervous and ricketty: it is almost time
that he should “go to sleep.” His second in command is the Matro,
brother to the present King. The corresponding officer amongst the
Amazons is known as Khe-tun-gan,[223] and her deputy is the
Zokhenu.[224]
The chief civilian Captain of the Left is the Meu,[225] who is the
second subject in the empire. He speaks from the King to the people,
collects the revenues, receives tribute, declares war, appoints,
according to some, the Gau and the Po-su, and has the charge of all
strangers visiting the King. He also executes the criminals of Addo-
Kpon, the Bush King, an institution which, with the reader’s leave, I
will explain at a future time.[226] The present tenant of office was
once celebrated for his memory, and could so class facts that he never
forgot name or event: with the poor mnemonical aid of a few beans or
seeds he managed the complicated affairs of Dahome. In those days his
power was great, and he required to be bought at a high price. He is now
an old, old man,[227] with hollow cheeks and toothless gums, which make
his mouth appear lipless—the only predicament which produces this
phenomenon in Africa. He easily forgets; he appears to be half asleep;
and he is manifestly becoming childish. The King has occasionally hinted
at his retirement, but the decrepid senior clamours to be kept on,
declaring, perhaps truly, that do-nothingness would kill him: his
exceeding rapacity and big eye[228] would, if unglutted, certainly cause
his death. But he has served as a “politic blade” many a king. At times
he waxes bright, and calls to mind the Captain Springatha so facetiously
depicted by the commander of the “Hannibal of London.” His favourite
garb is an unclean shirt, an alpaca jacket worn to rustiness, and broad
silver armlets—Mr. Duncan’s “silver gauntlets”—upon the brown sleeves,
when he manages to look exceedingly mean. His lieutenant is styled the
Bi-wan-ton.[229] Though not of royal blood, he has lately succeeded to
the name and rank of a nephew of the King who debauched the twin
princesses due in marriage to the Min-gan and the Meu. The culprit is
imprisoned, but, as a scion of royalty, he receives food from his own
house, and he is allowed a single slave. No intercourse with his wives
is permitted. Thus his greatest punishment is what we administer to our
convicts gratis. The corresponding officer among the Amazons is known as
the Akpadume,[230] and her deputy is the Fosupo.[231]
Under the Meu, and related to him, as the Gau is to the Min-gan, ranks
the Po-su.[232] He may also be described as the head war-man to the Meu,
under the Commander-in-Chief. The present incumbent is by no means of
prepossessing presence. He is a youngish warrior, black, lean, and
muscular. The loss of an eye when Gezo attacked Abeokuta, adds to his
scowling look. He appears ever sick or surly; and his wool, worn longer
than usual, stands upright in little tufts and pigtails, like a thrum
mop. His lieutenant is the Ahwigbamen, one of the King’s brothers. Under
the Po-su ranks the Ajyaho, the “Jahou” of the History, and there called
“Captain of Horse.” Though not a neuter, he is the chief of the eunuchs,
whose offences he punishes. He swears witnesses, and he has medicines to
elicit the truth.
These high officials, the Min-gan and Meu, the Gau and Po-su, or one of
them, failing the Ajyaho, lead the four battalions which the Dahoman
army numbers in the field. The Amazons are, it has been seen, similarly
conducted.
The third personage in the realm is the Yevo-gan, whose functions I have
described. By the state law of Dahome, as at Benin, all men are slaves
to the King, and most women are his wives. The blood-royal is the only
freedom in the country, and it probably does not exceed two thousand
souls.
After the Bonu-gans, the Owu-tu-nun (royal attendants), and the Ahwan-
gan, rank the Akhi ’sino,[233] or great traders, who pay over duties to
the King. They are in fact the “merchant princes” of Dahome, and they
certainly lead a more useful life than the Ahwan-gan, or military class,
which will do nothing but eat and drink, dance, make war, and attend
Customs. In the fifth rank are the petty governors and captains, to whom
the King gives the insignia and the property of their predecessors, and
who are degraded for the most trifling reasons—the neglect of some
ceremonial, or the evil report of a messenger.
Returning to the western part of the palace, where sits the little host
of high officials, we find them inspecting their retainers, especially
the companies which had saluted us. These militia troops were marching
round, singing, dancing, firing, and performing other evolutions
distinguished by immense noisiness. We finished in hammocks our three
official tours of the Addogwin market-place, each time stopping to
salute the Sublime Porte. At 2.45 P.M., after the last salutation, we
retired about a hundred yards, and, facing eastwards, sat down till
summoned to “the presence.”
The heat was excessive, and the dancers’ dust stained us red. After
half-an-hour, a silver bell and pair of horns hurrying up, motioned us
to arise and advance. This person was the To-no-nun, or chief eunuch,
whose functions, including those of his brother official, the Kan-gbo-
de, must, at the risk of wearying the reader, be explained before I can
hope to make the interior of the palace intelligible. So complicated are
the various offices and the ceremonious receptions amongst these people,
who own no other study in life!
The To-no-nun[234] is the chief of the Owu-tu-nun,[235] or body
attendants upon the sovereign, the others being the Binazun, the Buko-
no, and their followers. This head eunuch is the fourth personage in the
realm—royalty not included. He is the minister of the palace interior,
beyond which his authority does not extend; he attends the King’s
person, and on great occasions he interprets between the women officers
and strangers. Outside, he commands the corp of eunuchs, who have an
especial residence in the city. During the late Gezo’s reign, he was on
great occasions the organ of communication between his master and the
Meu; it was also his duty to rinse out the glasses in which toasts were
drunk, and to swallow the water, a custom now obsolete. The present
incumbent is very old, with a peculiarly baboon-like countenance, and it
is hardly possible to distinguish him from a senior of the other sex. He
affects silver horns and a blue broadcloth long coat, of quasi-European
cut, which, trivial as the comparison may appear, forces upon the mind
the idea of a magnified blue-bottle fly; and he loves to buzz about as
fast as his emaciated limbs can carry him. He had a narrow escape at the
accession of the present ruler: properly speaking, he should have
accompanied his liege lord to Deadland. Gezo, however, left express
orders that he must be spared, lest, in the hands of a young and
inexperienced king, the ceremonial of the Dahoman Court might suffer let
or change. He is now safe, as he is held to have been re-emplaced by the
Gbwe-wedo,[236] who is called To-no-nun or chief eunuch “for the present
King.” By the custom of this strange kingdom there is a chief To-no-nun,
eunuchess “of the inside.” She is called the Yavedo,[237] and her second
in command, the sub-To-no-nun for the present King, is the Visese-gan.
The Kan-gbo-de[238] is another personal attendant, whose duties, like
those of the To-no-nun, do not extend beyond the palace gates. He is the
chief of the royal huissiers, and inspects the guards at the several
entrances. He wears round his neck a large silver bell, and his
attendants have similar but smaller articles, to proclaim silence before
the King speaks: they also precede the royal steps, to remove any sticks
or stones likely to offend. The late dignitary attached to the old king
used to present strangers; he was, however, permanently degraded for
wilfully riding on horseback up to the royal gate. The present holder of
the office is a young man, and his assistant, forming the normal Dahoman
“happy pair,” is the Kakokpwe, the dignitary who met us at Whydah. The
chief warrior of the Kan-gbo-de is the Ko-ko’aje, who, having been
captured at the attack on Abeokuta, was bought by a gentlewoman, and
converted into a husband and Abeokutan “gentleman.” The Dahomans swear
that he must be retaken.
The Bi-na-zon,[239] whom the missionaries, ever thinking of Pharaoh,
call “chief butler” for the worst of all possible reasons, is the King’s
head store-keeper. He has charge of the royal cloth, cowries, and rum,
and thus he corresponds with our “treasurer.” He is a subject, and not
of the blood-royal; but a pleasant fellow withal. The corresponding
officer of the inside, is called the Vi-de-k’alo.
[Footnote 191: There is this kind of man at every negro court. The
“Narrative of the Portuguese Expedition of 1798-99” exactly describes
Buko-no-Uro in the person of “Fumo Anceva,” at the Court of the Muata
Cazembe.]
[Footnote 192: When Commodore Wilmot was at Agbome he gave silver
watches to many of the chiefs. The main-springs were all broken at the
first opportunity, but they did not the less “sport” these ornaments on
all public occasions.]
[Footnote 193: The African keeps you waiting with an exemplary _calme_:
if you keep him waiting he shows all the restiveness of a wild animal.
This is generally the case with barbarians; I have remarked it in the
South of Europe.]
[Footnote 194: Meaning bush (gbwe), cotton-tree (hun), road (’li, for
ali).]
[Footnote 195: Klan is a jester, a clown; ái (heart), hun (drum), dá
(play), to (father).]
[Footnote 196: The “cartwheel” is here called “alogwe”; by the Egbas,
“okiti.”]
[Footnote 197: These wallets are of three kinds: the single bag of skin,
called “glo”; the large double pouch of the same material, known as
“akpataklo”; and the cloth sack named “váté.” The History tells us that
jesters used to amuse Agaja the Conqueror, by swallowing tubs full of
frumenty, and that these men generally stuffed themselves to death in a
few years.]
[Footnote 198: In this land the umbrella is a rude kind of curiologics,
faintly resembling European blazonry, and an armourist could tell the
troops from the flag. In symbolism they precede Mexican writing. The
newly-made caboceer is presented with a virgin-white article of palace
manufacture, and he is expected to illustrate it by his actions. The
principal figures are knives and decapitated heads and faces, cut out of
cloth and sewn on the alternate lappets of the valance. The knives are
straight, and shaped like a butcher’s, the handle blue, the blade red.
The face is ruddy, with white eyes; and the head, which is clean cut off
at the neck, wears an azure cap shaped like the East Indian ear-cloth.]
[Footnote 199: The King’s eldest brother, Godo, is never seen in public.
A tall, dark, and unprepossessing man, and a notable drunkard, he was
set aside by his father, who, after the affair at Abeokuta, nominated
his second son, Gelele, as the most likely of the family. In any Asiatic
country such a senior brother would certainly be put to death, and in
many the younger brothers would be either blinded or be rendered
imbecile by medicines. So far Dahome is mild in her manners.]
[Footnote 200: Many are made of tin. There are two shapes: one, the
thimble-formed, with lateral openings; the other, somewhat like a small
mushroom or a giraffe’s horn, with ridgelets radiating from the centre
of the domelet.]
[Footnote 201: As will appear, the highest officials in the land
(excepting only the blood royal) are _bonâ fide_ slaves to the king, and
therefore cannot say what they please.]
[Footnote 202: It consists of a number of thatches enclosed in a clay
wall and surrounded by fine palm plantations.]
[Footnote 203: The consequence is, that white men for the most part, and
black men when they dare, take their own measures at Whydah. Before my
arrival a merchant shipmaster having been robbed by a mulatto clerk, put
him into the hands of a Brazilian slaver. The latter hung up the culprit
by the thumbs and lashed his wrists tight to a pole, pouring upon them a
powdered wood like sand, which caused the flesh to swell with
intolerable pain. It reminded me of the days of 1724-25, when John Gow,
the pirate, would not plead. “The judge ordered that his thumbs should
be squeezed by two men with a whipcord till it did break, and then it
should be doubled till it did again break, and then laid threefold, and
that the executioners should pull with their whole strength.”]
[Footnote 204: The favourite ornament of the flag, like the umbrella, is
a blue-handled red-bladed knife on each alternate valance-flap, the
other being occupied by decapitated heads wearing the East Indian kan-
top, or ear-cap, which the Egbos call “filla,” having probably derived
it from the Fulas.]
[Footnote 205: As these people have no written language, anything that
happens in the kingdom, from the arrival of a stranger to an earthquake,
is formed into a kind of song, which, rhythmless and rhymeless, is
taught to professional men, and is thus transmitted to posterity. The
stranger, however, may find himself strangely named. European
nomenclature not being pleasant to negro ears and tongues, every white
man in the land has, as on the Gold Coast, a nickname. The Father
Superior of the French mission is known as Nyan gli—“Padre Curto,”
opposed to a tall brother, Nyan gágá, “Long father.” Another missionary,
M. L——, being of highly nervous temperament, was dubbed Penan, or papaw
leaf, which resembles the aspen. Mr. Beecham, being much addicted to
meat, and walking about with rounded shoulders, became Kpon ’akra, the
hunchback-vulture. I at once was known as Kwabna, Tuesday, from landing
at Whydah on that day, and afterwards as “Ommoba,” from a well-known
Fanti character.]
[Footnote 206: The first bayoneteers were organized by the old Meu, or
second minister, in the days of King Gezo: at first they were 200 in
number. The reader will bear in mind that the _corps d’élite_ and the
officers in the Dahoman army are the same amongst the women as amongst
the men.]
[Footnote 207: Gan’u (conquering), nlan (any animal). Thus I explain Mr.
Duncan, vol. i. p. 236: “Next came a regiment belonging to a country
called Ginoa, commanded by a female of the same name. This regiment
consisted only of 300 women. This corps make no prisoners, but kill
all.”]
[Footnote 208: This word must not be confounded with agbájá, a
cartridge-box, which Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 226) erroneously writes
agbwadya.]
[Footnote 209: Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 216) was “amused by the vanity of
the old governor of Whydah,” who showed a great anxiety to precede him,
with a view of showing superiority, and, presently riding up, ordered to
the rear his attendant, who seemed mortified. In Dahome the introducer
precedes the presentee, but not with any idea of superiority.]
[Footnote 210: Or Banyanyamme, a strong name given by the builder, Gezo,
when he was substituted for his eldest brother. It is not intelligible
to my interpreters.]
[Footnote 211: In Dahome these swish steps are called “ko-hwe.” The
palace and the city gates are allowed five; chiefs have four tall or
five short, and all others three, or as the King directs. The singbome,
or double-storied building, 30 to 40 feet high, and described by old
visitors at Kana, no longer exists.]
[Footnote 212: Locally called “Pwé,” the Abeokutan “Okpo.”]
[Footnote 213: For an explanation of the Bo Fetish, see chap. xvii.]
[Footnote 214: The only Englishman known to have been admitted into the
King’s sleeping chamber was Mr. Norris, who, in 1773, described it as a
neat detached room, separated from the court in which it stood by a
breast-high wall, the top of which was stuck full of human jawbones. The
little area within it was paved with the skulls of neighbouring princes
and chiefs, placed there that the King might trample upon them.]
[Footnote 215: This is said to be a Whydah word, the name of a town
“broken” by one of the elder kings.]
[Footnote 216: Apparently a favourite old weapon. Mr. Norris mentions,
in 1772, a “blunderbuss with five barrels.”]
[Footnote 217: There are no regiments, properly so-called, as supposed
by Mr. Duncan.]
[Footnote 218: Said to mean “We are all captains.” The word is variously
spelt Miegan, Minghan, and by the History, Tamegan. The Abeokutans call
him the “Otton.”]
[Footnote 219: M. Wallon erroneously ranks the Mingan after the Meu. He
makes the same mistake in saying that the Gau and the Po-su are equal.
Mr. Duncan (p. 231) casually alludes to the “Me-gah, the King’s
principal jailer,” and as wrongly tells us “the higher officers of the
household are allowed to adopt their official titles as their family
names (N.B., there is none), Mayho (for “_the_ Meu”) being in the
Dahoman language, Prime Minister.”]
[Footnote 220: She is thus alluded to by Mr. Duncan, vol. i. p. 248:
“The head or commander of one of his majesty’s female regiments, named
Godthimay.”]
[Footnote 221: There are many ways of writing this word. Commissioner
Forbes prefers Agaow, M. Wallon, Gao, and the History, Agaow, with a
suspicion of derivation from the Turkish Agha!]
[Footnote 222: Ahwan (war), and gan (a captain). This rank includes all
officers that can bring ten to a hundred dependants or slaves into the
field.]
[Footnote 223: Meaning Khe (bird), tun (hammering), and gàn (metal).]
[Footnote 224: The Zoheino of the History.]
[Footnote 225: The word is said to mean “his raiment fits him.” It is
spelt with more or less error, Mayho, Mayhoo, Mahu, Mehou (there is no
aspirate, but a diæresis), and Mayo. The Egbas of Abeokuta translate the
title “Osin.”]
[Footnote 226: Mr. Duncan (vol. i. pp. 250-251), describes a horrible
scene “in which poor old Mayho, who is an excellent man, was the proper
executioner.”]
[Footnote 227: Eight years ago, M. Wallon made him ninety. But negro
longevity is very uncertain in these lands, where, to sum up the almost
diabolical wisdom of the white man, people say “He knows his own age.”]
[Footnote 228: Covetousness: a common Ffon phrase is, “E su nukun” (he
has a big eye). Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 217), calls him an “excellent old
man, and very different from the generality of uncivilised Africans, not
having that covetous and selfish disposition usual with them.” Now it is
notoriously the contrary.]
[Footnote 229: Bi (all), wan (love), ton (belonging to), meaning that
the King’s love is over all those whom he has made.]
[Footnote 230: Hence Mr. Duncan’s Apadomey regiment, and Apadomey
soldiers (vol. i. pp. 232, 233).]
[Footnote 231: The Phussopoh of the History.]
[Footnote 232: I have alluded to this dignitary in chapter ii. The name
is written by Commander Forbes, Possoo, and by M. Wallon, Poissou.]
[Footnote 233: Akhi (market), si for asi (a wife), no (mother).]
[Footnote 234: To (town), no (mother), nun (mouth), meaning that all
must obey him. Commissioner Forbes writes the word Toononoo, and M.
Wallon, who understood even less of the language, Tolonnou.]
[Footnote 235: From Owu (a body). These personal attendants are entirely
distinct from the warriors.]
[Footnote 236: “Otton-iweffa” is the title of the second chief eunuch at
Yoruban courts.]
[Footnote 237: Ya (they), vedo (think).]
[Footnote 238: Kan (rope), ’gbo (cut, or finished), and de (octroi, or
town dues). This is an enigmatical title, after true Dahoman fashion,
alluding to the official having command of the rear guard. When the rope
which, stretched across the road, forms the turnpike of these regions,
is removed by the master of the custom-house, all can proceed. Commander
Forbes spells the word Camboodee, and M. Wallon translates it “Grand
Chambellan.”]
[Footnote 239: Bi (all), na (I), zon (walk).]