THE KING’S “SO-SIN CUSTOM.”
SECTION A.
_First Day of the King’s Annual Customs._
Early on the Day of the Innocents (December 28th), a discharge of
musketry near the palace and a royal message informed us that the
Customs had begun, and that our presence at the palace was expected. We
delayed as long as was decent, and, shortly after noon, mounting our
hammocks, we proceeded by the usual way to the Komasi House.
In the Uhun-jro market-place, outside the Ako-chyo Gate, and not
attached, as it used to be, to the palace-wall, stood a victim shed,
completed and furnished. From afar the shape was not unlike that of an
English village church—a barn and a tower. The total length was about
100 feet, the breadth 40, and the greatest height 60. It was made of
roughly-squared posts, nine feet high, and planted deep in the earth.
The ground-floor of the southern front had sixteen poles, upon which
rested the joists and planks supporting the pent-shaped roof of the
barn. There was a western double-storied turret, each front having four
posts.[356] The whole roof was covered with a tattered cloth, blood-red,
bisected by a single broad stripe of blue check.
In the turret and in the barn were twenty victims. All were seated on
cage stools, and were bound to the posts which passed between their
legs; the ankles, the shins under the knees, and the wrists being lashed
outside with connected ties. Necklaces of rope, passing behind the back,
and fastened to the upper arms, were also made tight to the posts. The
confinement was not cruel: each victim had an attendant squatting behind
him, to keep off the flies; all were fed four times a day, and were
loosed at night for sleep. As will be shown, it is the King’s object to
keep them in the best of humours.
The dress of these victims was that of state criminals. They wore long
white nightcaps, with spirals of blue ribbon sewn on, and calico shirts
of _quasi_-European cut, decorated round the neck and down the sleeves
with red bindings, and with a crimson patch on the left breast. The
remaining garment was a loin-cloth, almost hidden by the “camise.” It
was an ominous sight; but at times the King exposes without slaying his
victims. A European under the circumstances would have attempted escape,
and in all probability would have succeeded: these men will allow
themselves to be led to slaughter like lambs. It is, I imagine, the
uncertainty of their fate that produces this extraordinary
_nonchalance_. They marked time to music, and they chattered together,
especially remarking us. Possibly they were speculating upon the chances
of a pardon.[357]
We dismounted, as usual, at the palace corner, and the Harmattan sun
made us take refuge under one of the sheds. A procession was walking
round the square—a mob of followers escorting the Sogan, or Horse
Captain,[358] who was riding bareheaded under a white umbrella. This
high official, who is under the Meu, opens the Customs by taking all the
chargers from their owners, and by tying them up, whence the word “So-
sin.” The animals must be redeemed, after a few days, with a bag of
cowries.
A gun, fired inside the palace, warned us that royalty was about to
appear. A corps of “Amazons” streamed from, and formed a rough line in
front of, the Komasi Gate. The King, under a gorgeous umbrella, and the
usual parasol upheld by his wives, stalked down a lane through the thick
crowd towards his own proper So-sin. This was a shanty fronting, and
about 150 paces from, the palace. It resembled the Uhun-jro, or market-
shed to the N.N.East, but it lacked the turret. Thirty barked and badly-
dressed tree-trunks, and a strong scantling of roughly-squared timber,
supported the first-floor, which was without walls. The thatch of the
pent-roof was hidden, as in the other So-sin, by a glaring blood-red
calico, with long black stripes along the ridge and eaves. Splints of
bamboo frond were planted in the ground, and a thin cord of “tie-tie,”
or tree-bark, railed off between them and the public a space, some four
feet broad, into which only the King is allowed to penetrate. I counted
nine victims on the ground-floor and ten above,[359] lashed to nearly
every second post of the front opposite the palace. They resembled in
all points those of the market-shed, and looked wholly unconcerned,
whilst their appearance did not attract the least attention. Yet I felt
haunted by the presence of these _morituri_, with whose hard fate the
dance, the song, the dole, and the noisy merriment of the thoughtless
mob afforded the saddest contrast.
Between the Komasi Gate and this “palace shed” was planted a tall
T-shaped pole, rough, black, and hung with white rugs at each end of the
crosspiece. This is a Bo-fetish, guarding the present Custom. Near it,
under a pair of exceedingly shabby umbrellas, sat, on the dignity of
caboceers’ chairs and stools, the representatives of the Agasun-no, the
highest fetisheer in the city. The head man, or deputy, wore a huge
flapped felt hat, and a body-cloth striped blue and white. When the
Agasun-no appears in person before the monarch the latter must remove
his sandals, prostrate himself before the church, kiss the ground, and
throw a little dust upon his forehead, whilst all the courtiers take a
sand bath, and white men stand up and bow. Methought they did not regard
us with an over-friendly eye, but such is, perhaps, the custom of
reverend men generally with respect to those not of their own
persuasion.
The King having visited his fetish, returned towards the palace,
surrounded by five of his principal officers. At a signal, we advanced,
bared heads, shook hands and snapped fingers with him; he cordially and
repeatedly returned the compliment, inquiring politely about our health.
He then returned to his station near the palace gate,[360] where the
Amazons, after sallying out and parading about the square amongst the
prostrate men, returned to him. The royal shed was ostentatiously small,
open, and covered with poor coloured cloths; a line of twelve umbrellas,
the two most gorgeous being outside, formed a verandah, and inside the
parasol showed the place of the King. He occupied a kind of couch,
strewed with handsome home-made cottons; in front of him, upon a mat,
crouched a Dakro, or messengeress, and behind him stood and sat a
semicircle of wives.
On the King’s proper right was a larger shed, somewhat like a two-poled
tent. The mat and thatch were covered with cloth, parti-coloured at the
sides and at the roof, whilst elsewhere it was of white calico, adorned
with grotesque shapes. Unlike its neighbour, it was closed all round
except at the entrance, which had for verandah two white umbrellas.
Inside, at the bottom, was a kind of diwan, and on the ground before it
sat a small black child in red, and two women with white caps and vests,
and blue pagnes, with four or five others hardly distinguishable. The
double posts supporting the entrance were clothed with red and pink
silk; about their middle hung a dozen abacot caps, and under the
verandah squatted a woman with a gun placed on a stool before her.
This tent contained the relics of the old King. His ghost is supposed to
be present, and all bow and prostrate to it before noticing the present
ruler.
To Gelele’s extreme right was planted a white flag, with a blue cross;
around the staff a group of armed women gathered. Immediately near the
King, but leaving a square space in front, were the Amazons, at squat,
with their gun-barrels bristling upwards; there were amongst them many
young girls in training for military life. A half-naked boy lay on the
ground within a few feet of the royal umbrellas, and children are
allowed behind the bamboos. On other occasions, juveniles, wholly nude,
wandered about, heedless of reproof, and I have seen two of them
fighting before the throne. Even the lowest orders crossed the presence
with an air for which, in Asia, their feet and calves would have
disappeared under the bastinado. The barbarous nature of the African
everywhere pierces through, whatever be the disguise.
On the left of the King were the Amazon drums and rattles. In the open
space between the throne and the bamboos lay the three calabashes
supporting the three chieftains’ brass mounted skulls, On two large mats
of palm-fibre were ranged shallow baskets, which acted as saucers to
calabashes some 2·50 feet in diameter. Three of them were adorned with
silver crescents and stars, whilst all were covered above and below with
various coloured calicoes—red, blue, yellow, pink, and striped.
Periodically, knots of eight or nine women came from the palace with
larger or smaller gourds of provisions, which they disposed upon a third
mat in front of the King.
In a much shorter time than it has taken the reader to peruse this
_mise-en-scène_ the caboceers and their followers, who were scattered
over the square, gathered into a dense semicircle near the bamboos. The
dignitaries sat or lay on the ground, unarmed, under their white, blue,
and fancy umbrellas. The little people were on foot behind them, and the
women and girls stood aloof, peeping as they best could. The total
number present, including about 300 children, might have amounted to
2500, and I never saw at Agbome a larger gathering.
The day opened with various preliminaries. Ten unarmed men were dancing
in line before the Komasi Gate when the King came forth. The sally of
the Amazons was succeeded by long and loud firing. After all were
seated, the old Yevogan led us up to the bamboos, where, fronting the
King, we exchanged salutations,—this was an invariable part of the
ceremony. The senior then conducted us to a place on the left or Meu’s
side of the male semicircle, close to a very strong band, whose two
chiefs wore Phrygian bonnets of red and blue velvet. A hole was dug in
the ground and a large white umbrella was planted over us for shade, the
“earth being beat tightly round it, similar to a large mushroom.”
Presently the Meu brought up a flask of gin and a calabash of Atá, or
bean cake, wrapped in plantain leaf, with a royal message that the
“white-man’s captain” had sent, according to custom, this food to the
King, and that he shared it with us (_formula_); whereupon we bowed our
acknowledgments.
Gelele then rose, and came from out his shed. His dress, besides the
usual _braccæ_ and a dark silk kerchief round his waist, was a blue-
flowered damask shirt, a table-cover, in fact, and this was knotted on
his left side. He formed an effective picture: a fine tall figure, with
shoulders towering above his wives, the head bent slightly forwards, and
his hands clasped behind his back. There were hushed murmurs of
applause, and the faces of his subjects expressed unaffected admiration.
Sundry of the King’s wives accompanied their lord, and stood or sat upon
the ground behind him. None was handsome, but some had the piquancy of
youth. Their strong point, as in the Italian and Spanish women, was the
_pettinatura_. The prettiest of the hair-dresses was a short crop, like
lambswool, sometimes stained blue, as with indigo. The plainest was the
melon-stripe, where the short hair was plaited in lines, exposing the
scalp between. The most grotesque was the semblance of pepper grains, or
of cloves stuck in a ham, formed by twisting up single little wool
spirals. Another peculiar _coiffure_ was the tuft, varying from one to
four, some small as thimbles, others large as the Turk’s-caps on lamp
chimneys[361]; they rose sharp and solid from the clean brown scalp, and
seemed made of black velvet, burned reddish by the sun. The princesses
wore the hair like a fez, bristling stiff to the height of six inches,
and looking compact as ebony wood. A few had bear’s ears, two tufts upon
the “region of cautiousness”; others wore the scarlet feather of an
oriole stuck in their sable locks.
Immediately behind the King stood three wives—one with the head shaven
and naked, the second with long hair, and the third with a princely
“fez.” They sheltered his uncapped pole with three gorgeous tent-
umbrellas of cotton velvets, whilst a fourth protected him with a gay
parasol. The first was a parody upon the _Sacré Cœur_—which the Dahomans
admire, probably because it suggests tearing out the foeman’s heart.
Each lappet of the valance was alternately green and crimson; in the
upper part was a larger cross, red or yellow, with a black or white
border, and below it, of the same hue, an object manifestly intended for
a human heart but broken into crockets. In the centre of this was a
better shaped heart with a small white medial cross; and both were
disposed apex downwards. The second showed an upper line of white
crosslets on black velvet; below it was a blue shark, edged white and
yellow, with a red and purple eye, resting upon crimson or claret-
coloured velvet, which was lined with a binding like that of the animal.
The third, and the most splendid, was capped with a very heraldic wooden
lion, painted the brightest saffron. The lappets showed the king of the
beasts grasping in the dexter paw a white scimitar, and below it a
biped, very negro, with dazzling white knickerbockers and no legs to
speak of, vainly upholding a blue sword blade. Both figures were on red
ground, _parsemé_ with little white crosses. This umbrella was equally
grandly lined, whereas the two former were white inside. The diameters
varied from six to ten feet, rendering them unmanageable in windy
weather. The poles were seven feet long, and instead of wires they had
square rods connected by strings, probably brought by the Portuguese,
and easily to be distinguished from the rude native stick frames. They
were kept open by a peg passed through the upper part of the handle.
Before the speech began, four bundles of palm matting, which lay inside
the bamboo barrier, were opened by the women. Each contained a lamp-
black drum, the largest three feet high, all with skin-heads lashed
tight to about a dozen large pegs projecting a few inches below the top.
They were decorated with small squares of red stuff in front, with
white, blue, and black cloths behind them, like four aprons of different
sizes. These are called Ganchya ’hun.[362] The word applies especially
to its peculiar sound or beat, and, by inference, to the song of which
it forms the accompaniment.
The King having hitched up his body-cloth, began an allocution in a low
tone, as if “nervous.” Men and women _huissiers_ and heralds, standing
on the right, and the youths calling themselves the “Donpwe,” proclaimed
attention by loud and long cries of “Ago!” Audience!—or “Oyez[363]!” On
the left a sharp double tap was struck on the cymbal, and all obeyed.
The King spoke with the head a little on one side, assuming a somewhat
goguenard air. His words were many and oft repeated; the genius, or
rather the poverty of the language necessitates verbosity. In so artless
a tongue it is only by “battology” and frequent repetition that the
finer shades of meaning can be elicited. The sense is short to relate.
“His ancestors had built rough and simple So-sin sheds. His father,
Gezo, had improved them when ‘making Customs’ for the ghost of Agongoro
(Wheenoohew). It is good to beget children who can perform such pious
rites. Therefore, he (Gelele) would do for his sire what he hoped his
son would do for him.” And some score of men sat listening—about to die!
Presently, the women in attendance placed the drums before the King, and
handed to him four hooked sticks. Upon these he spat, beat two of the
instruments, and spoke during the intervals of drumming. The “Ganchya,”
I was told, is a new ceremony.
After listening to loud applause, and being saluted with discharges of
musketry, the king retired behind the curtain held by his wives, and
whilst he drank, the subjects went through the usual ceremony.
After resting awhile, Gelele stalked to the fore. In his left hand was a
Kpo-ge,[364] or singer’s staff—a silver-headed and feruled stick, two
feet long. To the upper part was fastened a square of silk kerchief,
striped red and purple, and folded in a triangle. The apex was passed
through silver-lined eyelet-holes, like those that in former times,
amongst us, held the “beau’s” cane tassel. The king also wore the bard’s
insignia—double necklaces of beads, disposed like cross belts over the
breast, and with the usual pigtails behind. After singing for awhile, to
the great delight of the listeners, he danced, first to the men’s, then
to the women’s, band. He is, unlike his father, a notable performer, and
though the style is purely Dahoman and barbarous, the movements are
comparatively kingly and dignified. He was assisted in this performance
by a “leopard wife[365]” on each side, dressed in white waistcoats, and
striped loin-cloths extending to the feet. In their hair was a kind of
diadem of silver pieces, bright as new sixpences. At this sight the
people vociferated their joy. A herald, in a huge felt hat and bright
bracelets, and a jester, conspicuously ugly, with a tattered “wide-
awake,” a large goat-skin bag under the left arm, with chalked face and
legs, rose to their feet, and pointing at the King—a peculiarly
disrespectful action to European eyes—declared, in cracked, shouting
voices, that he was “Sweet, sweet, sweet as a white man!” Then followed
a chorus of soldieresses, and from the crowd loud “Ububu,[366]” made by
patting the open mouth with the hand. On the women’s side the “King’s
birds[367]” chirruped and twittered to justify their names.
Before sitting down, Gelele advanced to the front rank of male
spectators, and removing, with his right forefinger, the perspiration
from his brow, scattered it with a jerk over the delighted group. He was
then cooled by his wives, who rubbed him down with fine yellow silk
kerchiefs, and vigorously plied their round hide fans,[368] coloured and
embroidered.
Then, rising again, like a refreshed giant, the monarch danced to six
modes. When the time was to be changed, a chorus of women gave the cue
to their band by repeating certain meaningless technical terms, ending
with frequent repetitions of “Ko! ko! ko!” till the musician had learned
the right measure. Presently, two, and at a short interval, three wives
danced on each side of the King, keeping an eye upon him, and so
preserving excellent time. The fourth dance was more animated, and as
the monarch showed shortness of breath, an old Amazon addressed him,
“Adan-we![369]” He resumed his labours to the words, “Agida ’hun-to
Ko-’hun[370]!” and he advanced, stooping towards the ground, and rolling
one elbow over another, to show that he was binding captives.
Followed a little change of scene. The King, propping his elbow upon the
bard’s staff, and bending low whilst his wives surrounded him, sitting
on their hams, sang, and was responded to by what appeared a laughing
chorus, but which was a dirge—a single cymbal making melancholy music.
Then rising with uplifted staff, and turning towards the larger shed-
tent, he adored, in silence, his father’s ghost. This new and startling
practice was twice repeated.
Decorations were distributed—a pair of singers’ staves to a male and a
female, who received them with cries of “Tamulé[371]!” The King then
brought out by twos half a dozen double-pigtailed necklaces of yellow
beads, interrupted by red. Three were handed to the Meu, the Yevogan,
and a favourite singer, who put them on in due form. The rest were given
to the highest she-dignitaries, whose lips were white with kissing the
ground. Gundeme, the woman Min-gan, is white-haired and tottering.
Egbelu, the “Meu’s Mother,” has grey hair, sharpish features, and broken
front teeth. Na-dude Agoa,[372] the female Yevogan, is a huge middle-
aged woman, brown, and rolling in fat. Her hair is still black, and her
features not quite uncomely; her voice is strong and clear; moreover,
she speaks well. This is the officer who bare two sets of twins, first
girls, then boys, to the King. The two former, according to the ancient
usage of the empire, were betrothed to the Min-gan and the Meu, when the
wicked cousin won their _prémices_. Formerly, the royal ladies had only
temporary husbands, visiting all men who pleased them. As this caused
great scandals, the King has forbidden polyandry; but the husbands, as a
rule, must confine their marital attentions to the blood-royal. On
marriage, the daughters receive each a dowry of eighty slaves, male and
female, but the aged sons-in-law are expected to “spend money like
water.”
Presently, Gelele, who was sitting in front of the feminine Court,
handed sundry rolls of blue and pink cottons to the Meu. The high
dignitaries all rose excitedly, unfolded, and, standing at a distance,
stretched each cloth to show that it was an entire piece. A white
umbrella, opened and waved about by the Min-gan, a caboceer’s stool,
bran new, and sundry heads of cowries were placed before the presence.
This was the ceremony of raising a captain to the rank of Ajyaho,[373]
and, to the wonderment of all, Chabi, a young man and Left-hand
Commander of the Blue Guards, therefore under the orders of Adan-men-
nun-kon, was raised to the sixth rank in the realm.
The “Grandfather of Dahome” has ever been, I have said, the heir of his
subjects, whose widows, slaves, and all moveable property must be
carried to the palace. It is probable that the goods do not leave the
lion’s den without yielding considerable “heriot” as the lion’s share.
As a rule, the eldest son, or, if he be judged unfit, the successor to
the vacant office, inherits the deceased’s wives and makes them his own,
excepting, of course, the woman that bare him.[374] This was practically
proved to us. A file of fourteen women, two with babies on their backs,
twice issued from the palace, carrying big native boxes, grass-cloth
bags, old muskets, silver armlets and bracelets, home-made stools, hats,
pipes, sticks, umbrellas in ragged cloths, and similar valuables. Twice
the new wives and slaves crouched humbly before their proprietor. Soon
afterwards, forty-three male “chattels” of the deceased crawled on all-
fours from the left past the King, and did homage to their “live lord.”
When the King’s silver-mounted pipe had been lit behind the _tente
d’abri_ extemporized by the wives’ clothes, and had been handed to him,
we produced our cigars, and applied ourselves to the old liqueur case.
We persevered in distributing the contents amongst our Krumen and
followers—they are expected to drink kneeling—although the Buko-no
showed manifest disapproval of such waste. Presently, the cracked-voiced
Min-gan rose and explained what things had been done by the King to the
_novus homo_, and when supported by the Tokpo (a captain, but not of
royal blood), he committed himself to a recapitulation. All gave the
ruler that full feed of flattery which his soul loves. He may be said to
breathe an atmosphere of adulation, which intoxicates him. The wildest
assertions, the falsest protestations, the most ridiculous compliments,
the ultra-Hibernian “blarney”—all are swallowed in the bottomless pit of
poor human vanity, and midnight will often see him engaged in what ought
to be a very nauseous occupation.
Echili, the fourth caboceer of Whydah, then rose and performed the part
of a skull at the Nilotic feast. The Ajyaho, he said, rarely lived for
more than a year, and if Chabi, like those before him, should die of
poison, the crime must be punished. Then the fat Adanejan declared, in
his bull’s voice, that he and many caboceers had proposed for the
Ajyahoship another person, but that the King had chosen one trusty and
brave; moreover, that all poison would now be detected.
Whereupon the lucky man stood up, puffed like a pouter-pigeon by the new
clothes which the ministers had bound about his upper half; his hair was
brickdust red after much shovelling, and his right hand nervously,
methought, fingered his musket muzzle. After his “portrait” had been
duly taken, he spoke till the sun burned crimson above the western
horizon, even through the fringes and valances of our portable tent. He
had been raised from a simple captain to the position of a high
caboceer; he would soon achieve an act of loyalty and bravery; with much
boasting on the same pattern. After sundry prostrations, and other
speeches to this purport, he publicly assumed three new “strong names”:
1. Azon-kpo má-jí-won; 2. Achoroko; 3. Sevi kanyena-ma-se-
gbo-’gbwe.[375]
A chorus of plaudits received these distinguished sentiments. The Ajyaho
danced under his unfolded umbrella, and, backed by his fresh gang of
slaves, raised muskets and war-clubs to salute the King. Presently, Ago!
from the women, and the cymbal-taps from the men, proclaimed silence for
royalty.
The King, still sitting amidst his female group, then addressed the
Ajyaho, who stood up reverently in the front centre of the caboceer’s
semicircle. He added emphasis to earnest words by often shaking the
forefinger—as is done in North America to men, and in England to naughty
boys—at his last promotion, whom he exhorted to be brave and loyal, and
whom he warned not to obey any dignity except the Min-gan and the Meu.
Hereat the people clapped their hands. Silence being again enjoined, the
Ajyaho was once more strictly cautioned not to be deceived by his
brother chiefs.
Ensued the promotion of another captain, whose name was changed from
Koikon to Hon-je-no.[376] Before all the ceremonies could be concluded,
the wood became dark, and the store of provisions strewed before the
King was distributed. The Dakros placed the calabashes outside the
bamboos, whence they were removed by the several recipients. Suddenly,
as is his wont, Gelele rose, and came towards us. After snapping
fingers, I thanked him for the spectacle. He showed me the rum for our
hammock-men, and our share of provisions; after which we were all three
told that we must dance, sing, and drum—the latter accomplishment,
unfortunately, has not received from me the attention which it deserves.
Dr. Cruikshank and I willingly consented to dance with the King, knowing
it to be the custom, and that he greatly enjoyed it. We pleaded,
however, successfully for Mr. Bernasko, who, being a Reverend, could
only sing. Gelele showed much delicacy in the matter, often threatening
but not calling upon us to perform, lest our nerves might be startled by
so great an event, and saying that he would choose evening time, as the
sun does not suit white men.
Whereupon we withdrew. The provisions, which accompanied us, caused a
tumult till near dawn. _Pain et spectacles_ are apparently the cardinal
wants of these people; they sing, drum, and dance all the day, and they
fight for their wretched provision half the night. When not engaged in
these pleasures they are plundering the wherewithal to procure them.
Hence the melancholy state of the land.
Nothing could be poorer than the display above described; any petty hill
rajah in India could command more wealth and splendour. All was a barren
barbarism, whose only “sensation” was produced by a score of men looking
on and hearing that they are about to die.
I again sent a message to Chyudaton, officially objecting to be present
at any human sacrifice, proposing that lower animals be substituted for
men, and declaring that if any death took place before me, I should at
once return to Whydah. He replied that there would be no necessity for
the latter measure, and, with respect to the victims, that many would be
released, and that those executed would be only the worst of criminals
and malignant war-captives. With which crumb of comfort I was compelled
to rest satisfied. Hitherto the gang of victims has been paraded round,
under tortures, before the visitors, and in later years they have been
cruelly gagged; moreover, the executions took place within hearing, and
often within sight of the strangers.[377] It is, therefore, already
something to lower the demoralizing prominence of the death scenes.
SECTION B.
_The Avo uzu ’gbe,[378] or Second Day of the King’s So-sin Customs._
December 29th was again a _dies non_. The vile water had affected us
all, and the Reverend was in bed of a Harmattan. The King, therefore,
kindly deferred for a day the grand spectacle with which he intended to
surprise us. At 2.25 P.M., December 30, we mounted hammocks and
proceeded to the market-shed.
The picture was as follows. To the west of the Uhun-jro, the broad open
space opposite the gap which acts as gate, was another cloth-covered
tent, with wings of upright matting. A clean entrance led up to the
former, near which a tall flagstaff held a yellow flag with a broad
blood-red cross. The wings were railed off for the royal wives by the
usual Dahoman fence of palm-sticks and bark rope. The erection was
flanked by two large trees, about a hundred yards apart, and they were
connected by a semicircle of bamboos, bulging to the front and forming
the boundary between the sexes. To the north was the ominous victim-
shed, with its steeple-like turret, and with its score of wretches
gazing at the _fête_.
Our chairs were placed on the men’s side, or a little to the left of the
tent entrance line, and on the opposite side of the square near the
gate. Presently a motley group passed us three several times, moving as
usual to the right. First appeared the old To-no-nun and his six
eunuchs, who carried with difficulty a huge package, like a bagged tent.
Followed a hunchback, whip in hand, clearing the way. Visese-gan, the
sub-chief eunuchess, preceded about a score of women, carrying upon
their heads coarse palm-mats; they were followed by an escort, bearing
calabashes and baskets, each filled with about twenty bundles of
tightly-rolled cloth, stuck upright and compacted by an outside wrapper.
The total represented 120 bearers, but of these ten had no burden.
Valuing the minimum at 2 dols., and the maximum at 5 dols., and assuming
3 dols. to be the medium, the value shown to us was about £1320 (110 ×
20 = 2200 cloths = 6600 dols.). The rear was composed of a corps of
“leopard wives,” with silver-studded hair, and by a large band of women
who, as they passed by, openly “chaffed” us. After the third circuit the
mats were spread and the baskets were deposited at the entrance of the
tent, when thirty women, coming from the wings and opening the cloth
bundles, began to build the “Avo lilli,[379]” cloth heap or diwan.
Meanwhile, preceded by singing and dancing musketeers, the high
dignitaries passed before us, riding, under their umbrellas, the horses
which they have now ransomed, and followed by noisy bands. The two
schools showed themselves at a glance. Our friends, the Anlin-wa-
nun,[380] who is the “King’s place,” when royalty does not go to war,
the Binazon or treasurer, the Bi-wan-ton or Junior Meu, the Abo and the
Matro, uncle and brother, by the father’s side, to the present King,
either bowed smiling or came up to us and danced. The Matro, who holds
the high dignity of lieutenant Gau, is a fine, tall young man; he was
habited in a Moslem skull-cap, a large white body-cloth and canary-
coloured shorts. When his band and musketeers had formed an oval opening
opposite us, he danced with a face expressing great glee, instead of the
usual serious and inanimate look. Two of his retainers, a jester and a
soldier, conspicuous by his gloria of monkey-skin, rising from a band of
cowries, shouted in mediæval phrase, “A Matro! A Matro!” As the excited
chief took a musket and manœuvred with it, his people bawled out “Da-
mon.[381]” The honour was great, but the dust and the heat were
excessive.
The unfriendly “umbrellas,” namely those who dislike foreigners, as the
Min-gan, the Tokpo, the Woto, a small dark senior of royal blood, and
others, rode by, either affecting to ignore our existence or suddenly
looking the other way. We were much amused by the peculiarity of the
other groups, which either prowled or rushed about outside the bamboos.
The old To-no-nun and his fifty men went round the half-ring, passing
right and left, singing, dancing and clapping hands, taking aim with
muskets, and waving their long knives. Then came the Pani-gan-ho-to or
gong-gong men, four in number, and carrying single and double cymbals,
whilst a corresponding female band promenaded the space within the
bamboos. Twenty singers also walked about, preceded by a peculiar drum
borrowed from Ashanti and called Ganikbaja. At intervals stalked before
us the Men-ho-blu-to,[382] or “Company of Boasters.” These are a score
of local and negro Radcliffes and De Courcys who by especial permission
wear in “the presence” their broadbrims or white night-caps and their
dirty cloths over their shoulders.[383] Moreover they are allowed to
smoke long pipes, of which one was on the tomahawk principle; and all
over the square there were independent groups drumming and dancing
violently as if to throw off the exuberance of their animal spirits. So
at Aden I have seen a Somali, when walking quietly down the road, seized
by some unintelligible influence and fall to capering like a dancing-
master demented.
Meanwhile the Amazons, throwing a stratum of loose cloths and covering
them with a finer piece outspread, had built up a circular diwan 12 feet
in diameter by 5 to 6 feet high.[384] Most of them were of European
manufacture, many were made in the palace, and those that surmounted the
heap were the best silks, of brightest colours—pink, yellow, red and
tender green—which sound outrageous, but which look side by side
beautiful as a rainbow or a butterfly. All this finery is carried back
after the ceremony to the palace, and is not, as I was assured, given to
the people.
At 4.5 P.M. an increase of bustle and hubbub announced the approach of
the King. Preceded by boys and musket-men, cheering and presenting arms,
came the _Cœur de Marie_ umbrella, shading the fox-like features, the
black face and the ignoble white nightcap of Adan-men-nun-kon. After an
interval followed the royal escort—three male caboceers, a “Gobbo,” and
a woman captain, marching before a female host. The King wore a straw
calotte with a brilliant striped cloth, and was _toujours la pipe à la
bouche_. He sat woman-like on a little dingy nag, with a bell, and led
by a chain halter. Behind his lion-umbrella and parasol trouped chanting
soldieresses and a strong band, with seven skulls mounted on fancy
flags, followed by a dozen “leopard wives” and a rearguard of old women
and small girl recruits. The King passed three times in thirty minutes
round the market-place, waving hands to us, and the “Ububu” rang and
guns banged in all directions.
When the procession was over, Gelele took his seat in the pavilion, with
his wives on the right, and on both flanks a bevy of musketeer women
squatting motionless as statues. The male caboceers saluted, touching
the ground outside the bamboos with their foreheads and twice shovelling
up dust. A troop of men spread a thin line of single mats from the
victim-shed past the bamboo semicircle and southwards towards the Komasi
Palace: the extent was about 350 yards, and the breadth proved to be 12
to 13 feet. On each mat was placed a pole 14 feet long, tipped with a
short and blunt iron fork. Presently the six eunuchs brought up and
opened what had appeared a tent bag. This is the Nun-u-pwe-to[385] cloth
belonging to King Gezo, a patchwork supposed to contain a specimen of
every known manufacture, native or European. The pieces vary in size
from 1 to 10 feet, the colours are blue, yellow, green, pink, red, and
purple, and the patterns checked, striped, zig-zaged and barred. This
the King will wear about his person when Abeokuta has been taken. How he
is to support 1050 feet of stuff no one could explain, but the
investiture it appears has been deferred until the Grecian Kalends.
As the King issued from his tent at 5.4 P.M. the long cloth which had
been placed on the mats was upraised at arm’s length by the attendants
with the blunt iron fork passing through eyelet-holes. Thus exalted, it
stood more than twice the height of a man. When the novel screen had
been placed between the men and the women, Gelele passed up and down the
inside and the outside, waving hands when opposite us. This exhibition
of untold wealth excited the people, as their fearful noises testified.
The “Able-to-do-anything” cloth having being removed, the King ascended
the diwan by a five-rung ladder covered with calico, picked out with
pink reliefs. He was accompanied by four wives. One held a parasol,
which was repeatedly changed, and this she constantly twirled. The
second was the spittoon bearer, who also fanned the King with a yellow
silk kerchief, assisted by the more substantial hide circles of other
women who stood below and around the heap. The other two opened and
piled upon the diwan the green, blue, pink and speckled muslins with
which Gelele would “change cloth to-day.” It was waxing late, and
royalty had become fatigued and impatient: the King testily snatched the
bundles from the hands of his wives, and worked at them in double quick
time.
Presently Gelele mounted the platform and there disrobed, retaining,
however, his shorts, which were of satin yellow-flowered on a dark
ground. From his left shoulder hung, by a long sash of crimson silk, a
short silver-hilted sword. He first put on a toga of what appeared to be
green netting, like a mosquito bar, and took in his right hand a large
bright bill-hook ending in a circular bulge. He formed a most effective
figure, his swarthy stalwart form being thrown out against the glowing
western sky.
The various dances, all of them in the decapitation style, performed by
the King, corresponded with the number of “drums” or bands. On the male
side, sitting in the Meu’s or the minister division, were about twenty
men and youths with “tabl,” or tambourines, under their left arms; they
were habited in scarlet coats and queer bonnet-caps of red and black
cloth. Within the bamboo, was an equal number of women, similarly clad.
I will not trouble the reader with the names and details of the several
corybantic saltations, comprising the first set of eighteen and the
second of one dozen. The King performed only a few steps of each, and
then, out-stretching his left palm towards the _musique_ with an
imperious gesture, he caused it to stop. Still the labour was severe, as
the free use of the forefinger, the yellow silk, and the hide fans
proved. The thirteenth dance of the second set was called “Agbata,” a
performance borrowed from the “Nago” people, and much admired for the
kicking and jumping which are its elements. It drew down unusual
applause: generally, however, shouts of joy, murmurs of wonder, and
discharges of musketry and cannon accompanied the whole performance. The
eunuchs and the caboceers made courtier-like speeches, the “niggers”
stolidly admired the grandeur of a king who can defray the expenses of
such exhibitions, and a wild group of frontier bushmen, who act as
guides to the army when on the war path, hailed and bellowed their own
melodies. These roughs were all armed with muskets, and they were led by
two chiefs in dingy red tunics, whose thick beards and straw hats, which
they did not remove before the King, rendered them conspicuous.
The _brouhaha_ was infernal. There was a momentary hush as the King,
having girt on with a cartouche belt a toga of white muslin, armed
himself with a lion-stick, and a musket, which he pointed at his
subjects pretending to fire. At this burst out a glorious shout of real
African laughter—yep! yep! yep!—whilst guns were fired in all
directions. The din increased when the brass-set skulls of the three
kings[386] were severally handed to the conquering hero. With these
trophies of his own peculiar prowess he toyed, and played various
childish antics, to the intense delight of the _mobile_, placing them
under his left arm, hiding them beneath his cloak, stretching them out
for better view, resting his elbow upon them, and waving them to us as
we bowed. He then loudly addressed the Po-su’s party, which stood on the
left of the semicircle.[387] They replied with noisy greetings, which he
acknowledged by a crab-like movement, advancing and retreating sideways,
with his left elbow akimbo, and jogged to the fore; this expressive
action is called “ago,” and means “I undertake to do it.” The King then
tossed off a bumper of rum from the brass cup on the crown of “Bakoko’s”
head, and sent it to us that we might pledge him: it was at least as
civilized as Lord Byron’s drinking cranium; and more so than the “bony
goblet”—“apparently not long before, it had been useful to the original
possessor”—out of which Mr. Duncan[388] caroused with King Gezo. I was
allowed to sketch the three calvariæ, and to handle the royal sticks and
caps. One was of the Fanti Company, a loose calotte of purple velvet,
with a yellow line on the crown, and a narrow band of white silk with a
border round the lower part. The second had a white shark on a puce-
coloured velvet; and the third, a cap of the Blue Company, resembled in
shape a Moslem “Takiyah,” but showed a green lion eating a claret-
coloured porcupine, fretted over with quills of yellow stitching. These
animals were all very heraldic and unintelligible.
The vociferous rapture of the subjects knew no bounds as the King danced
with his sword between his teeth, and exulted over Bakoko’s skull and
the breaking of Ishagga. The Buko-no eagerly asked me, if all the world
o’er I had ever seen so grand a sight? I have had to answer similar
queries in far more civilized countries; and I have ever found that
there is nothing easier than to convince people who already believe.
Presently the King began to hand down decanters of rum, a sign that he
was weary of pleasure—he had danced thirty-two dances. At 6.15 P.M. he
descended from the diwan, and mounted the smaller heap, whose cover was
a white cloth powdered with little ochre-coloured lions. Here the King
assumed his fetish war-dress, a body-pagne of chocolate-coloured
netting, and a dark blue indigo-dyed cloth, passing from the left
shoulder low down the right side: it was studded with charms and amulets
in small squares, stained with dry blood, and bordered with
cowries.[389] His umbrella was equally gloomy, and his large crooked Bo-
stick was swathed with alternate blue and white bandages. After
motioning with this weapon, he danced to the songs and instruments of
the fetishmen, and seized a musket, which he levelled but did not
discharge. He then came forward, and we advanced: after the usual
greetings, I requested him not to forget his English coat of mail, which
hint was whispered in his ear by the timid Beecham, who dreaded the
fetishry. After a little chatting, and being requested to return on the
morrow, we made for home with much pleasure,—there is none of Rimmel’s
perfumed fountains here.
END OF VOL. I.
[Footnote 356: We find in the History (print, p. 130) a single thatched
and open shed, with twelve men sitting on the ground: their hands are
lashed as now. The late king added a turret of one story, and the
present ruler a second stage. In the old illustration there are twelve
horses tied to the hinder posts, we saw but three.]
[Footnote 357: Exactly the same thing is observed in the History. “The
unhappy victims, though conscious of their impending fate, were not
indifferent to the music, which they seemed to enjoy by endeavouring to
beat time to it.”]
[Footnote 358: So (horse), and gan (captain).]
[Footnote 359: There were most probably twenty victims in the palace
shed, as in the market shed.]
[Footnote 360: So Jehoshaphat and Ahab, kings of Israel, placed their
thrones in a void place at the entering in of the gate of Samaria (1
Chron. xviii. 9). At Agbome, however, the city gates are not places for
sitting, and the market is only for bush folk.]
[Footnote 361: See Frontispiece, “The Amazon.”]
[Footnote 362: Hun, or uhun, is the generic name of a drum.]
[Footnote 363: The general word for “silence!” is “nágbó!” Both at
Abeokuta and at Agbome it is used when entering the house, so as not to
take the inmates by surprise.]
[Footnote 364: Kpo (a staff), and ge (thin).]
[Footnote 365: In the Ffon, kpo (a leopard), and ’si (a wife)—here
usually translated tiger-wives. They are the youngest and the fairest of
the harim.]
[Footnote 366: This is the “kil” of Persia and the “zagharit” of Egypt.
Here it expresses wonder and pleasure, and is mostly confined to the
men.]
[Footnote 367: A select troop of musicians known as akhosu (king), and
khwe (bird). They are of both sexes; but the sound generally proceeds
from the women. The male “king-birds” are attired, like Moslems, in
white petticoats.]
[Footnote 368: In Ffon, known as “Afafa”; in Abeokuta, “Agbebbe.”]
[Footnote 369: Meaning, “O brave white!”]
[Footnote 370: Explained thus: Agida (the bent drum-stick), ’hun-to
(drum beater), ko-hun (beat the drum), kaya (turning or wheeling about);
viz., Drummer, use thy drum-stick, and we will turn about.]
[Footnote 371: A corruption of the Fanti “Endamenen,” O brave man!]
[Footnote 372: Explained by, “I eat one thing not, right”; _i.e._, I
cannot eat or embezzle anything.]
[Footnote 373: See chap. viii.]
[Footnote 374: Especially in the royal family. So in 2 Samuel, xii. 8,
we read that Nathan gave David’s master’s wives unto David’s bosom. In
that barbarous state of society women are inherited like cattle.]
[Footnote 375: The caboceers, like the kings of Dahome, assume a first
name or names after any remarkable action or event. Those in the text
are taken from the Bo-fetish jargon, and are not intelligible to the
vulgar. The first was thus interpreted: Azon-kpo (a training stick), má
(not), jí (afraid, synonymous with si, or khe-si), won (portent, evil
omen, especially a child); _viz._, (I am) a club not afraid (to slay),
portents (that menace the king). The second was explained, “I will
punish all who will not serve my king.” The third means, Sevi (an evil-
doer), kanyena (a bad thing), ma-se (never listens), gbo (don’t! or
leave off!), ’gbwe! (emphatic, _e.g._, gbo-’gbwe, I tell you to leave
off!); _viz._, “People plead for offenders, but I will not suffer this
if any one harm the king.”]
[Footnote 376: It is a Bo-fetish name, interpreted to mean “The man in
charge of the King’s door.” Hon (door), je (waits), no (within).]
[Footnote 377: See Mr. Duncan (vol. i. pp. 250-252). The people say of
him that he was a good war-man, as he used to walk up to, and to inspect
the corpses.]
[Footnote 378: Avo (cloth), uzu (change), ’gbe (to-day).]
[Footnote 379: Avo (a cloth), and lí or lilli (smoothen!)]
[Footnote 380: This is a Bo name, and imperfectly understood. The words
are Anlin (a hole in the ground), wa (make), nun (a thing).]
[Footnote 381: Da (fire!) mon (as you are), _i.e._, “May you fire
straight!” said in praise to one of high name.]
[Footnote 382: Men (man), ho (great), blu (do), to (he who does).]
[Footnote 383: Throughout Yoruba and the Gold Coast to bare the
shoulders is like unhatting in England. These men were exempted from the
necessity by a mere caprice of the King, not because they have in any
respect distinguished themselves.]
[Footnote 384: To the north of this diwan, outside the bamboos, a small
heap of silks was raised upon mats, in honour of Addo-kpon, of whom more
presently.]
[Footnote 385: The word has already been explained. Mr. Duncan also
describes this “noble piece of patchwork,” making it 600 yards by 2; and
in another place 1000 yards by 8 (vol. i. p. 264; and vol ii. p. 27).]
[Footnote 386: Described in chap. ix.]
[Footnote 387: Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 247), saw King Gezo perform
similar antics.]
[Footnote 388: Vol. i. pp. 239, 240.]
[Footnote 389: Cowries may be remarked in the musket stocks. According
to Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 261), they are an honourable distinction,
given as medals to civilized armies. The stock is repeatedly smeared
with the victim’s blood, coat after coat, till the thickness is
sufficient to form a setting for the shell, around which it soon dries.
Although only one cowrie is given per head, some old soldiers have their
weapons entirely covered over with them. This custom, of course,
stimulates murder, and excites perpetual jealousies in the service. I
have heard the same said of a certain modern English decoration.]
Transcriber's note:
pg 53, Changed: "rash Governor Tetesole was" to: "Testesole"
pg 67, Changed: "Hs was ever hospitable and generous" to: "He"
pg 67, footnote 81, Changed: "says that traveller vol. i." to:
"traveller (vol."
pg 71, Changed: "were lodged in jail ll they could be" to: "till"
pg 80, Changed: "different man. Mr. Beccham was" to: "Beecham"
pg 84, Changed: "the oil-palm _Elæis Guineensis_)" to:
"oil-palm (_Elæis_"
pg 99, Changed: "have enjoyed the “demonaic scene" to: "demoniac"
pg 117, Changed: "Other have gone so far as" to: "Others"
pg 149, Changed: "decribed as the head war-man" to: "described"
pg 174, Changed: "ablution neccessary on return home" to: "necessary"
pg 192, Changed: "courses, like the palace encientes" to: "enceintes"
pg 226, footnote 345, Added ,” after: "game is the Sa’ Leone “Wari"
pg 226, footnote 345, Changed: "the Bao Usawahili" to: "the Bao of
Usawahili"
pg 239, Changed: "which the Dahomams admire, probably" to: "Dahomans"
Minor changes in punctuation have been done silently.