THE MARCH TO AGBOME.
The King was detained at Kana, as we were afterwards informed, by sundry
cases affecting human life. Not fewer than 150 “Amazons” were found to
be pregnant—so difficult is chastity in the Tropics. They confessed, and
they were brought to trial with their paramours.[279] The King has
abolished the “Brehon judges” established by his father: the
malversation of these “justices in eyre” rendered reference to them like
“going,” as the old traveller has it, “to the Devil for redress.” He now
investigates each case personally, often sitting in judgment till
midnight, and rising before dawn on the next day; moreover, every
criminal has a right of personal appeal to him.[280] The crime was
_lèse-majesté_ rather than simple advowtry; all the soldieresses being,
I have said, royal wives. Eight men were condemned to death, and will
probably be executed at the Customs. The majority were punished either
by imprisonment or by a banishment to distant villages, under pain of
death if they revisit the capital, and some were pardoned.[281] The
partners of their guilt were similarly treated. Female criminals are
executed by officers of their own sex, within the palace walls, not in
the presence of men. Dahome is therefore one point more civilized than
Great Britain, where they still, wondrous to relate, “hang away” even
women, and in public.
In the afternoon of Sunday, December 20th, we effected a departure from
the English house. Sundry boxes were left behind, owing to the desertion
of the carriers, who are fast learning bad habits: yesterday they stole
an enamelled iron cup. The Court being at Kana, bell-women were a
nuisance on the road; at every five minutes the hammock-men huddled us
into the bush. Arrived at the Akoreha, or eastern market-place, we sat
down near the Buko-no’s house, awaiting his escort. Here fetish women
crowded upon us, clapping palms for a present. They were easily
dispersed by their likenesses being sketched.
Already the sun began to cool,[282] though the sky was still all ablaze
with golden glory. After half an hour’s delay, the old Buko-no came up,
leaning on the Bokpo,[283] or crutch staff, which wards off the evils of
the way. Presently we remounted hammocks, and he, by means of a chair,
climbed upon the back of his little _bidet_—a mare followed by a foal.
The animals here are not larger than Shetland ponies, but they are
generally, as is the Maharatta-land “tattoo,” shaped like stunted
horses, showing the remains of good blood. They have fine noses, well-
opened eyes, and sharp ears. As in Yoruba generally, the tits are
excessively vicious, and if approached by a stranger, they will fly at
him with a scream. This is doubtless owing to the brutality of their
negro grooms. They are, when mounted, invariably led like donkeys, by a
halter—the bridle, like the stirrup, being unknown. The little jades are
almost hid in the local saddle, enormous housings of blue cloth, padded,
quilted, and worked outside with white thread, while huge curtain
tassels depend to their knees. As a rule, the rider is lifted on and off
by his slaves. Whilst on horseback he passes his arm round the neck of a
man walking by his side, and his waist is supported by the same
attendant’s near arm.[284]
The Buko-no was habited in the usual “Chokoto,” or little drawers, with
a long shirt about his body, and a black-ribboned Panama hat. His escort
of thirty-three retainers was that of a Dahoman noble on a journey, and
the common people on the road knelt and clapped palms as he passed. He
was preceded by nine musketeers, who danced and sang the whole way with
unwearied energy. His fetish stick was carried before him in a calico
_étui_ by a man in a long white cap like the extinguisher-shaped
nightgear of our ancestors. The Buko-no rode under the shade of a large
white umbrella, and was closely followed by his axe man, who gave orders
as one having authority. The train was brought up by the band, chiefly
boys, with three drums, a couple of tom-toms, two single cymbals, and a
pair of gourd rattles: they kept up a loud horrid noise throughout the
march. About a dozen carriers were scattered about the _cortége_ bearing
a pipe and tobacco bag, a Gold Coast chair, a footstool and calabashes,
and bundles of clothes and matting.
From Kana to Agbome all is historic ground, and the land is emphatically
the garden of Dahome, showing a wondrous soft and pleasant aspect. The
soil is sandy, with the usual pebbles overlying red and yellow clays,
and where grass is not, the surface is a succession of palm orchards and
grain fields belonging to the King and to his ministers. Many of the
trees are pollarded, as in Teneriffe, by removing the tops and branches
to thicken the shade; these are mostly observed round the frequent
villages that stud the fair champaign. The road, six or seven miles
long, separating the two capitals may compare with the broadest in
England, and although to the eye it spans a plain, there is an
imperceptible rise of about 694 feet, which extricates us from lowland
Africa. For the convenience of the royal carriages it is carefully kept
clear of grass, which would obliterate it in two months; yet the
Africans, accustomed to nothing but Indian file, wear single paths in it
like sheep tracks. It is a study of the national character to see each
following his neighbour in goose line down a road upon which four
coaches could be driven abreast.[285]
After a few yards we dismounted at a spot where a log placed traversely
on the ground showed us the Kana ’gbo-nun,[286] or Kana Gate. It had the
usual surroundings of fetish sheds and spaces cleared for worship, and
all the natives when stepping over it removed their caps. The next names
were “Pakhi,” so called from an ancient chieftain slain by King Dako and
“Ekpwento” a “Bo” name—both holy places, with barriers of the Thunder
Fetish shrub stretching nearly across the road. After half an hour we
passed on the left Legba ’si-gon,[287] a clearing with many dwarf
thatches where the Legba-priest comes forth and prays for the King and
for the largesse of white visitors. A few yards further, and to the
right of the road, was a compound, showing only the tops of conical
huts; this is the Bweme, or country place of the Agasun-no,[288] here
the Archbishop of Canterbury, who ranks at Agbome next to the King.
Rapidly we pass the following interesting sites:—Brú-vodun, the fetish
of the “Bru” (blue) or English Company; Arima, a fetish of the same
corps; Aizan ’li, the road of Aizan,[289] a holy place for the ’Mman or
Gezo’s Mad Company; Bagidi-Samun, so called from an old king of Adan-we;
the Adan-gbno-ten,[290] where the king halts when going from Agbome to
Kana; and the Avrekete Loko ’li, or road of Avrekete[291] Loko tree.
They are clean spaces, adorned with pots, sticks, flags and tents: many
of them have circlets of the Thunder Fetish shrub often surrounding a
taller tree, and the latter is usually a giant Bombax, with the Azan or
fetish-fringe round the trunk.[292]
About an hour of slow marching brought us to the Adan-we Palace.[293] It
lies on the right of the road, a heap of matting half buried in trees.
According to the people it was built by Tegbwesun (1727-1774) and the
King still sleeps here when he leaves Agbome in the evening for Kana.
Around it, but especially to the north, is the cradle of the Dahoman
empire, the classic Uhwawe, corrupted into Dawhee by Mr. Norris, who
calls it “the ancient residence of the reigning family, and the capital
of their little territory before they emerged from their original
obscurity.[294] The “Awawe people,” though long subjects of the empire,
still preserve, like the Agoni and others, their old name. Opposite the
Adan-we is Addein, a village also conquered by the first Dahoman king,
Dako. Then came the Akwe-janahan,[295] the market of these two
settlements, where a few women were sitting at sale; it is said to be
the half-way place.
The road now was bordered with the Locust that affords the Afiti sauce,
by the Egbas called Ogiri. It is a tall irregular tree, with a leaf like
a young fern; the fruit dangles to a long cord, and when ripe it is
scarlet-red, and about the size of a billiard ball. Presently the soft
external substance falls off, leaving the core, a green sphere not
larger than a musket bullet, and from it sprout long bright green pods
curiously twisted. When ripe the seeds are fermented to a mass strong as
assafœtida, and form in palaver sauce a favourite ingredient, which,
however, the stranger will not relish before some time. It is the “wild
tamarind” of Mr. Dalzel, and in the landscape it forms a most effective
feature.
Followed in rapid succession on both sides of the path the fetish
clearings of Daji, a princely worship, Gá-sá-uhun[296] and Logun-aizan
’li, a Bo-name given by King Gezo. The next was a mud-house and a farm
belonging to royalty: it is called Nyakho-gon, the place of Nyakho, the
ruling chief, who was captured and slain by Dako. Another sacred place,
Vodun-no Deme, a fetish of the Fanti company of Amazons, led to a
bifurcation of the road. The left branch is a short cut to the Jegbe
Palace, of which more afterwards. Close to the junction are the little
hut villages of Attako and Ishagga, named after the conquests of the
present reign: when the King breaks a town he builds another, and is
supposed to place there the poor remnants of his captives. A little
beyond and in the road is the Ugo ’li[297]: here is the celebrated shea
butter-tree, alluded to by every traveller, and apparently the only
fruitful Bassia in the country. It is short-trunked, twelve to fifteen
feet high, thick-branched, and mango-shaped, with a tender green leaf,
at first of a dark colour, then waxing yellow and affording a dense
shade, in which a small market is held. It is now flowering, and it will
bear fruit in the rains. Then came a clear space on the left of the
road, called Van-van from a Nago town conquered by Gezo. A “joji[298]”
or tall gallows of thin poles, with the Azan fetish fringe to prevent
the passage of calamity, then halted us: a wisp of grass was handed to
each of us, and we were desired to throw it away to the fetish; whom may
Allah blight! The land around is called Leflefun,[299] from the Nago
people, whose chief, Cháde, was slain by King Gezo, and who were finally
settled here. The eye dwells with delight upon the numerous country
villages, like the 115 towns of the tribe of Judah, and upon the thin
forest of palms rising from the tapestry of herbage, here waving, there
cut short, which combine to make this spot the Fridaus or Paradise of
Dahome-land.
Presently we arrived at another terminus or bifurcation, the left path
leading to the houses of the Matro and the Adanejan, the Komasi Palace,
and the Uhunjro market. The next notable place was the Patin-’li, where
the now grassy road widens out, and shows two ragged lines of figs,
calabashes, locust, and oil palm trees. This is also an Adan-gbno-ten or
swearing-place, where the King halts before entering Agbome from Kana,
to receive the oaths of fidelity, and to hear the brave talk of his high
officials, especially the military. A heap of ashes,[300] the usual sign
of entering a great fetish place, points to a white village of Bo-hwé,
tabernacles,[301] or fetish hovels, under huge cotton woods, beginning
at about 350 yards from the town gate. The guardian or Janus is Bo, who
is Legba on a larger scale. The nearest fetish huts are six in number,
and are disposed across the road; a neat compound for spiritual meetings
rising from the grass on the right hand. The hovels contained effigies
of chameleons, speckled white and red; horses known only by their
halters; squatting men, like Day and Night at masquerades, half mud-
coloured and half spotted; others brown all over, and grinning with
cowrie-teeth; and the largest a huge chalked gorilla, intended to be
human, and completely disgusting. Beyond it, to the right of the path,
was a single swish room, a fetish place, where the King sits before
entering his capital; around it cluster dwarf thatches sheltering
attempts at leopards, and other holy beasts. Near the city gate is
another village of fetish hovels, where a trivia leads on the right to
the Yevogan’s hereditary hamlets, straight in front to the capital, and
by the left to the Jegbe, the present ruler’s country palace.
We are now at the Dosum-wen Agbo-nun,[302] the feature which gives its
name to Agbome, the capital. The word signifying the “town within the
enceinte,” or “precincts”; and it has the anomaly of being, and probably
of ever having been, with gateways and without walls. The Agbo is a mud
screen of five steps or courses, like the palace enceintes, fifteen to
eighteen feet high, and about 100 yards long. It is pierced with two
wedge-shaped gaps; that to the right, as you front it, is open for the
public; the other, and the larger, on the left, is reserved for the
ruler. The latter is permanently blocked up with a stout hurdle, six
feet high; the former is closed every night by a pair of similar fences,
tied to stout side-posts. Before the wall is a shallow moat, well worn
by human feet. Being pool-fronted during the rains each more important
gate is entered by a clay mound or by two solid beams, overlaid with
rough planks, forming a bridge. Beyond the passage, at the ends, the
moat is dense grown with trees, especially with the thick and thorny
acacia bush—in these lands one of the best defences—and it is prolonged
round the capital. It is never cleared. The outside grass is removed,
lest in burning the stubbles the Zun[303] might catch fire. There are
tunnels through the acacia bush where people may go to gather leaves and
plants for simples: none of the lieges, however, are permitted, under
pain of severe palaver, to cross the ditch except by the established
entrances. There is a superstition touching these bridges. In former
reigns, if any subject happened to fall when treading one of them he
lost his head, even as in olden times happened to a dancer so committing
himself or herself before the King.[304]
Arrived at the Kana gate we descended from our hammocks, whilst all our
attendants bared their shoulders, removed their hats, and furled our
umbrellas, as if it were part of the King’s palace. Passing in, we found
on the ground, at each side of the gate, a small black figure called a
Bo-chio. A little higher up, and let into the clay of the gap-side, is a
human skull,[305] with thigh bones and other amulets hanging about.
Inside there are two guardhouses, leading to the Agbonun-’khi, or “gate
market,” one of the rude little bazars scattered about the town. Beyond
it, and placed to defend the entrance, are the remains of a broken-down
battery. On the ground, to the right of the road, lie thirty-six, on the
left thirty-five old guns, with their touch-holes rivalling their
muzzles, and with trunnions in many cases knocked off, showing the
insolent security of the place, and giving it already the aspect of a
ruin. Behind the right-hand battery is the residence of the Gau, behind
the left that of the Po-su; so, in the city of Great Benin, the “Captain
of War’s” establishment is at the entrance. Both are the usual masses of
huts, enclosed in the normal clay wall. The establishment of the
Commander-in-Chief is called Gau-sra-men[306]; it is backed by “Gau-hwe-
gudo,” an open space of grass and dwarf corn plants, and that quarter of
the town is still known as Agbo-kho-nun,[307] the site of the old gate
which Agaja the Great removed to its present position. It is evident, at
the first glance, that Agbome is built less closely than Whydah; and
that the open spaces and gardens, even in the thickest part of the town,
have greatly the better of the houses.
The blacksmith’s quarter, a field dotted with open hovels, leads to the
large enceinte of the old Meu: it contains a prison for minor offenders,
and the walls are defended by a _chevaux de frise_ of sharpened sticks.
We then arrived at an open space with a few trees to the eastward of the
“mighty carcase,” called the Agbome Palace. The _place_ was bounded on
the north by the usual entrance to a Dahoman royal abode, a huge barn-
like shed, built by Agaja, the fourth king, and called “Agrin-go-
men”—“In Agrin’s Quiver.[308]” On the west is the Ji-hwe, or Lofty
Abode, by strangers called the Cowrie-house. It is a two-storied barn
under a heavy thatch. The red-clay walls are split from top to foot, and
almost all of the thirty-eight windows, or rather holes, in the frontage
sides, and four in the short ends, are shored up with sticks. Long lines
of cowries are suspended from the windows during the Customs, to
astonish the weak minds of the lieges, and these “bawbees” are
afterwards removed.
Having learned my ceremonial by heart, I positively refused to dismount
at this place, and I found afterwards that it was a mere impertinence on
the part of the Buko-no. We passed along the southern wall of the Agbome
Palace, our direction being from N.E. to S.W. On the summit were a few
rusty iron skull-holders, an upright spike to pass through the cranium,
with a ring as handle, and in the lower part a thin crescent-shaped bar
for the base of the head to rest upon. There was only one human relic, a
great alteration since the days of Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II.), who,
though six slavers were awaiting their loads at Whydah, excited the
admiration of his subjects by taking off 147 heads to complete the
“thatching of his house.[309]” The custom is evidently dying out, and
Agbome will soon ignore what the Persians would call her
“kallehmunar.[310]”
After passing a huge unrepaired rent in the Palace walls, whose
miserable tattered aspect was an emblem of the decaying Empire, and
after hastening from its dirty drains, mere holes with a bright shrub
springing from a foul pool, we came to a second barn-like shed. It is
called the Agwaji Gate, and was built by King Tegbwesun (Bossa Ahadi).
Turning an angle we debouched upon the palm leaf fence, denoting the new
gate of the present King, which, according to custom, he is expected to
complete. Near it is another large shed, known as Agrin-masogbe.
We then reached the _Grande Place_ of Agbome, the scene of Gezo’s
displays and receptions, but neglected by the present King. The aspect
reminded me of the History’s description, “An assemblage of farmyards
with long thatched barns.” Of these there were about a dozen, large and
small, intended to shelter the soldiery. As usual, a few shady trees,
chiefly the thick-leaved ficus, relieved the baldness of the view. On
the N.E. side, springing from the enceinte, was the Singbo, or two-
storied house built by King Gezo, and his favourite place of residence.
Covered with a pent-roof thatch, the walls were of clay, whose redness
blushed through the thin coat of chalk acting whitewash, and the front
was pierced for eight windows with large shutters of pale-green, and
small wickets. The doorway was un-European, a dwarf barn of Dahoman
fashion, and we found there three umbrellas, white, blue, and pink, the
former belonging to the Governor of the Palace.
This dignitary is an old servant of Gezo, once the Kan-gbo-de, or King’s
store-keeper, but degraded, as has been said, for presuming to ride up
to the royal gate. He is now known as Kpon-ne-mi—“Look for me!”
According to custom we dismounted before this palace. The fat old man,
in brass bracelets and pink checked cloth, prostrated himself in front
of the gate, whilst we stood and bowed to it. He then snapped fingers,
and returning to the half-opened door, whispered in consultation with
some of the female inmates. Presently he returned with the formula,
“That the King’s wife, having inquired about every one in England,
desired us to go and eat, after which we should have her message.”
Leaving the Singbo, we passed on the right another huge barn entrance to
the enceinte, supported by fourteen mud pillars, and called Adan-
jro-’ko-de.[311] It shelters the two howitzers presented to the late
Gezo by the French Government; they are not better treated than the
English presents at Abeokuta. Under a tree in the square-centre is a
curious relic of the past—a fine brass gun, gone in the touch-hole, and
bearing as inscription, “Dordrect, 1640—Coenraet Wegewaert me fecit.” It
is therefore almost coeval with the Dahoman kingdom.
The broad road on the south of the Agbome palace was now lined with
gazers, and the Court being at Kana we did not suffer from the bell-
women, the peculiar plague of the place. Advancing, we turned another
abrupt angle, and, facing west, passed on the left to the roomy and
comparatively comfortable house of Prince Chyudaton, where the luckier
French lodge. A few doors further placed us at the Buko-no’s
establishment—cow-houses, ultra-Arcadian in their simplicity—of which
the first sight was enough. These people so dearly love domesticity that
they make their houses prisons to all inside, where there is no
possibility of privacy. From within you see only tall red walls, with
perhaps a few tree tops, and thatch roofs above and beyond it, making
the saddest impression upon a lover of liberty. On the other hand, every
word uttered can be heard throughout the building, thus securing, as in
a ship, the two greatest and opposite undesirables. It is evident that
the King, unlike him of Ashanti, does not visit the strangers’ quarters
and drink palm-wine with them.[312]
The establishment lies to the west of the Agbome palace, insulated as
usual, and the parallelogram of about 300 ft. each way is not quite
square with the cardinal points, our principal room fronting E.S.East.
The enceinte is bisected by a high wall with a single door, which is
carefully closed at night. Our landlord and his many wives are to the
eastward of us; we could hear the laughter of these merry dames, but
only one old specimen ever leaves the house by that door. We occupy the
western half, lately vacated by Sedozau, a son of the King, and the
first item of two sets of twins presented to royalty by the she-Yevogan,
who thus took the initiative in making him a father. We entered by a
southern gateway with the customary thatch: in aftertimes the King’s Dr.
Dee was ever hanging it with his superstitious frippery. The door was a
screen of bamboo fronds with native hinges, a pole working in wooden
cups. This entrance led into a kind of outer court, containing only a
shed for the hammock-men, who left it uncleaned for two months. An
opposite doorway opened upon the backyard, a mixture of filth and fetish
of which more presently. Another adit through a wall to the right led to
our private quarters: it had fortunately a stout wooden planking, which
we closed when privacy was desirable.
Our lodging was a barn 45 feet long, by 27 feet deep. A thick thatch,
like the East Indian chappar, descended within 4·50 feet of the ground,
and rested on a double line of strong posts buried in the earth. The
north-eastern angle of the roof formed a kind of false gable, or single
pavilion wing like the Kobbi of Abeokuta, here called “kho-zwe,” or
house-corner. The verandah had an earth-step, some eight inches high, to
keep out the rain, with a descent to the floor of tamped earth. The low
ceiling was of rough sticks, plastered, like the walls, with native-
whitewash.
After the verandah we entered the “hall,” an apartment 20 feet by 10. On
the left was an earthern _estrade_, about thirty inches high, a sleeping
platform for domestic servants. In front was a small dark room, hot to
the last degree, as are all places in this country where the wind cannot
penetrate. I at once knocked a window through the back wall of clay,
which was two feet thick, provided it with a shutter made out of a
claret case, and turned it into a tolerable study. Attached to it was a
dark and windowless store-room, whence the “drivers” sallied out once a
week; having, however, a door, a lock, and a key, it saved us many a
gallon of rum and bag of cowries. On the right of the hall and study
were two small dark rooms, and, lastly, an open verandah occupied the
whole depth of the house under the false gable; it had in one corner a
raised earth-rim for a balneary, and a drain to draw off the water.
Opposite this verandah a strip of courtyard was divided by a jealous
party wall from the Buko-no’s quarters.
The front court, facing to the E.S.East, commanded a view of the top of
a pollarded calabash, and a blasted tree upon which the early vultures
prospected for carrion. The back yard[313] contained sundry heaps of
offal, the “cook-houses,” and the _lares_ of the young prince, who had
been given by his father to the Buko-no, with the object of learning
medicine, and perhaps of preventing poison. I must describe them at some
length to show the intricate practical worship of this people. Shortly
after my arrival, hearing my _velléité_ for curiosities, even under
sacrilegious circumstances, two fetish youths made their appearance in
the evening, knelt down before the domestic altar, prayed, broke some of
the images, and went away declaring that they had called out the fetish,
and that I might, after this _evocatio deorum_, do my worst. Similarly
we removed all the fetish from the lodging-house, and the Buko-no only
laughed—this was _en règle_: of course we could not have turned it out
of his.
The roof of the Bo-kho, Bo-temple, or _Lararium_, had been allowed to
fall, exposing the worshipful inmates to every weather. There were two
sets of grotesque figures ranged in a row opposite one another. That to
the south numbered six. 1. A bit of iron-stone clay stuck round with
feathers, and planted on a swish clay step a couple of inches high. 2. A
little Bo-doll, in a cullender or perforated pot. 3. An earthenware
basin with a circular base, surrounded with the Azan or fetish palm-
girdle, and the Asen (Sein?), or Twin-iron[314] stuck in the ground
before it. 4. A Nlon-gbo, or sheep fetish, very easily confounded
with—5. An Avun, or canine, provided with any number of claws. Finally,
No. 6 was an awful looking human face in alto-relief, flat upon its
base, a swish square, with a short stake planted behind it, three small
earthen pots rising from its wrinkled forehead; its huge gape of cowrie
teeth, and eyes of the same set, in red clay, were right well calculated
to frighten away, as it is intended to do, witchcraft from the devotee.
The other set occupied three sides of the dwarf roofless hut ruin, and
embraced everything necessary for man’s welfare. A red clay kpakpa, or
duck,[315] with a line of feathers round its neck, and an artificial
tail, if duly-adored, makes the prayerful strong. A Bo male image, half
black half white, even to the wool, and hung with a necklace of beasts’
skulls; with a pair of Hoho-zen, or twin pots, two little double pipkins
of red clay, big pipe-bowls, united like the Siamese twins, and covered
with white-washed lids to guard the water offering, would protect
Sedozau and his brother from the ills to which twin-flesh is heir. There
was also a So-hwe, or “stick-beat,” a wooden stump eighteen inches high
and eight inches in diameter, wrapped in old palm-leaf and dirty calico,
with a string of cowries hanging from its sooty summit, and an Achatina
shell on the higher of the two dwarf steps forming its base. If a stone
be struck upon the top of this invaluable article the enemy certainly
sickens and dies. Defence against disease was secured by a clay
parallelogram, puddinged half with cowries and half with pottery-bits
stuck edgeways, and supporting an Asen-iron and an Asiovi or fetish axe;
by a red clay Boman with a beard of poultry feathers and the left side
stuck with fragments of earthenware; and by a Bo-pot containing a heap
of black earth rising to a ball and supporting a fetish iron. Proper
respect for the rainbow was shown by the presence of its favourite
ceramic,[316] containing a clay snake, with two small red feathers for
horns. Finally, there was a pair of “Iro” or philters, which, rubbed on
after the bath, obtain from man loan of moneys, from woman the _don
d’amoureuse merci_: the one was a pot, the other a calabash, full of
filthy-looking grease, capped by the skulls of a dog and of some other
animal, one to each.
For the distances and other peculiarities of the road between Whydah and
Agbome, the reader is referred to Appendix I. It may be observed that
the length of the journey has shrunk, with wonderful regularity, to the
present year. Mr. Lamb (1724) gives 200 miles from the port to the
capital; Mr. Norris (1772), 112 miles; Mr. Dalzel (1793), 96 miles;
Commander Forbes (1849), 90 miles; Commodore Wilmot (1863), 65 miles;
the general opinion being 75 miles.[317] I found (1864), by meridional
observations of Sirius, a direct distance of 51 and one-sixth
geographical miles between the beach-town Whydah and the English house,
whilst my sketch map gave 62 to 63 indirect miles.
[Footnote 279: We read that in the reign of Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II.),
a female conspiracy in the palace caused the sale of 150 men from the
villages near Kana, for dishonouring the King. Their innocence was not
discovered till too late.]
[Footnote 280: Mr. Duncan was present at two of these appeals (vol. i.
p. 259).]
[Footnote 281: This leniency and amenity of discipline form a curious
contrast with the horribly barbarous punishments which, according to
Bosman and Barbot, followed such an offence two and a half centuries
ago. In 1845 Mr. Duncan was informed that the victims at the Kana
sacrifice “had been guilty of adulterous intercourse with one of the
King’s wives, in consequence of which they were sentenced to be put to
death by being beaten with clubs, and after death mutilated” (vol. i. p.
220). The object of the mutilation is here, I believe, wrongly stated.]
[Footnote 282: Mr. Duncan twice asserts (vol. ii. pp. 260, 288), that
“it is a custom in Dahomey for all strangers of note visiting that
capital to arrive and depart as nearly as possible when the sun is at
its meridian.” The practice is now obsolete.]
[Footnote 283: Literally a Bo-staff. It is known by a little petticoat
called “Avo,” or cloth, bound on below the crutch, and concealing the
medicine.]
[Footnote 284: So King Gezo told off two attendants to hold Mr. Duncan,
the Lifeguardsman, on his horse, and was much surprised by a trot and a
gallop.]
[Footnote 285: In the “African Times,” an ignoble sheet, which, I should
hardly say “by permission,” constitutes itself the organ of the African
Aid Society of London, there has appeared for many an issue an
advertisement headed “Aguapem Mountain Road,” and sending round the hat
in the usual style. This is no bad way to coax the British gold out of
the British breeches-pocket. But beyond that nothing. Such a road, once
made, would be buried in vegetation after a few months, unless kept
clear at a great expense. Secondly, like that of Kana, it would be cut
up into paths: the negro has no shoes, consequently he must tread,
despite all our endeavours, on a place softened by those who precede
him.]
[Footnote 286: Agbo (town-gate, or enceinte with wall and ditch), and
nun (side, or mouth). A house-gate is called hon-to, from hon (a door),
and if large, hon-to’gbo (big gate).]
[Footnote 287: Legba (the Dahoman Priapus), si for asi (a wife, _i.e._,
a votary), and gon (a place).]
[Footnote 288: For an explanation of Agasun, see chap. xvii. No is
“mother,” the use of which word has been before noticed.]
[Footnote 289: For an explanation of Aizan, see chap. xvii.]
[Footnote 290: Adan (brave), gbno (swear), ten (place). Others pronounce
the word Adan-blon-noten, and explain it, Adan (brave), blon (swear),
and noten (stop).]
[Footnote 291: For an explanation of Avrekete, see chap. xvii.]
[Footnote 292: For an explanation of this term, see chap. iv.]
[Footnote 293: Said to mean Aden (brave), and we (white). Mr. Duncan
(vol. i. p. 216) calls it “Adawie, three miles and a half from
Canamina.”]
[Footnote 294: See also chap. v.]
[Footnote 295: Akwe (cowries), janahan (if you have not got _scil._, you
can buy nothing).]
[Footnote 296: Ga (bow), sa (throwing), uhun (bombax tree).]
[Footnote 297: Ugo (shea butter-tree), ’li (for ali, a road). According
to Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 285) this valuable tree was destroyed
throughout the land at the suggestion of the Spanish and Portuguese
slavers— which is incredible. He well describes the fruit and its
various medicinal uses.]
[Footnote 298: Jo (wind), ji (upon).]
[Footnote 299: The Leffle-foo of Commander Forbes (vol. i. p. 68).]
[Footnote 300: Called Afin (ashes), zuru (heap), ji (upon).]
[Footnote 301: Levit. xxiii. 40.]
[Footnote 302: Meaning the town-gate of Dosum-wen, the name of the
keeper. It is called by Europeans the Kana gate. I have already
explained the meaning of Agbo-nun. Dr. M‘Leod (p. 95), translates
Abomey, by “Let me alone.” (!)]
[Footnote 303: In all Yoruba towns the bush adjoining villages and towns
is spared for defence and shelter: at Abeokuta it is called “abu-si,”
and here “zun.”]
[Footnote 304: See Dr. M‘Leod (p. 59). Mr. Duncan (vol. ii. p. 289),
being lame, was permitted by the fetishman, on the King’s order, to ride
through the gate, “at which every man seemed much amazed.”]
[Footnote 305: Skulls are also nailed to doors, in token of respect for
some dead enemy.]
[Footnote 306: Sra means the slaves’ quarters, near the master’s house.]
[Footnote 307: Agbo (the enceinte), kho (old), and nun (side, or
mouth).]
[Footnote 308: Others say by Aho (Adahoonzou I.) the second king. It is
related that when he importuned for more land Agrin, a petty chief of
the place, the latter exclaimed, “Wouldst thou build in Agrin’s quiver?”
He was duly slain, and the gate was erected according to his words. The
etymon is too like that of “Dahome” (chapter v.) not to excite our
suspicions.]
[Footnote 309: According to the History, the war-order of the King to
his Gau was to “thatch his house,” and in those days human skulls were
placed on the roofs of the sheds at the palace doors. None of the
natives knew the phrase, which is perhaps obsolete. The Komasi Palace,
built by Gezo, is quite free from this manner of ornamentation.]
[Footnote 310: A skull minaret. After a massacre, the heads were built
up with lime into a kind of tower, the Oriental modification of our
contemporary hanging in chains.]
[Footnote 311: Adan (brave), jro (likes), ako (family, tribe), de (any
one). Meaning, if any people be brave and like (to fight, let them come
and take Dahome). Commander Forbes spoils all this fine sentiment in his
“Dangeh la Cordah.”]
[Footnote 312: Nor is it at present “etiquette” for the King of Dahome
to visit even his highest officers.]
[Footnote 313: Here called “Kho-gudu,” the “Ipaka” of the Egbas.]
[Footnote 314: It is formed of two iron cones, cymbal-shaped, and very
like the extinguisher of a candle, fastened to a single stem six inches
long. It is generally planted in a lump of clay behind the Hoho pots,
which will presently be explained, and thus forms a domestic altar.]
[Footnote 315: Clearly an onomatopœtic word, like our “Quack.”]
[Footnote 316: For a more detailed notice of these pots—each deity has
its own—the curious reader will consult chapter xvii.]
[Footnote 317: M. Borghero (1861) made 150 indirect kilomètres to Kana,
but he passed round the longer Toffo road. M. Jules Gérard (1863)
reckoned fifty indirect English statute miles from Whydah to Kana.]