The Memorial Edition
OF THE
WORKS
OF
CAPTAIN
SIR RICHARD F. BURTON,
_K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c., &c., &c._
* * * * *
VOLUME IV.
A MISSION
TO
GELELE, KING OF DAHOME.
* * * * *
_IN TWO VOLUMES._
VOLUME II.
[Illustration: THE KING’S VICTIMS.]
A MISSION
TO
GELELE, KING OF DAHOME
WITH NOTICES OF
THE SO-CALLED “AMAZONS,” THE GRAND CUSTOMS,
THE YEARLY CUSTOMS, THE HUMAN SACRIFICES,
THE PRESENT STATE OF THE SLAVE TRADE,
AND
THE NEGRO’S PLACE IN NATURE.
BY
CAPTAIN SIR RICHARD F. BURTON,
K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S., &c., &c., &c.
(LATE COMMISSIONER TO DAHOME,)
AUTHOR OF “A PILGRIMAGE TO AL-MADINAH AND MECCAH.”
EDITED BY HIS WIFE,
ISABEL BURTON.
“If a man be ambitious to improve in knowledge and wisdom, he should
travel into foreign countries.”—PHILOSTRATUS IN APOLL.
“Every kingdom, every province, should have its own
monographer.”—GILBERT WHITE.
Memorial Edition.
* * * * *
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOLUME II.
LONDON:
TYLSTON AND EDWARDS.
MDCCCXCIII.
_(All rights reserved.)_
Printed for the Publishers at
THE MECCAN PRESS,
3, Soho Square, London, W.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
* * * * *
CHAPTER. PAGE.
XIV.—The King’s “So-sin Custom”—(_Continued_)
Section C. 1
Section D. 6
Section E. 12
Section F. 18
XV.—Of the so-called Amazons and the Dahoman Army 42
XVI.—Addo-kpon, the Bush King’s So-sin Customs
Section A. 58
Section B. 59
Section C. 62
Section D. 66
Section E. 70
Section F. 72
XVII.—Of the Dahoman Religion 88
XVIII.—The Sin-kwain, or Water-sprinkling Custom 111
XIX.—Of “The Negro’s Place in Nature” 118
Note.—Adahoonzou’s Speech 140
XX.—The Day of Triumph 145
XXI.—Dahome and her Capital 154
XXII.—The Firing to Whydah, and Conclusion of the Customs 169
XXIII.—The Delivery of the Message 180
XXIV.—Return to the Seaboard 193
Conclusion 204
APPENDICES.
I.—Itinerary 215
II.—Rev. Mr. Bernasko’s Account Current with Captain 220
Burton
III.—Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Mr. Bernasko 222
Copy of Commodore Wilmot’s Report.—No. 1 227
Copy of Commodore Wilmot’s Report.—No. 2 251
IV.—Catalogue of the Dahoman Kings 265
V.—Dahomey, its People and Customs 303
A MISSION
TO
GELELE, KING OF DAHOME.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XIV.—(_Continued_).
THE KING’S “SO-SIN CUSTOM.”
SECTION C.
_The Bonu-gan nun Kpon ’gbe dié,[1] or Third Day of the King’s Customs._
At half-past 3 P.M., on the last day of 1863, we hammocked to our former
place before the south-eastern or Komasi Gate, and found the _séance_
much as it was before. On this occasion, however, besides the standing
dish of three royal skulls, there were on the King’s proper left, eleven
“neptunes,” or broad shallow brass pans of Abeokutan crania, nine or ten
to each.[2] A dozen men were capering before royalty; when they had
ceased, knelt, and shovelled, eight others performed the “Ganchya”
dance, in which the hands are washed in imperceptible water, or rubbed
like a draper’s assistant.
Within the bamboos, women passed before the throne from left to right,
bowed to Gezo’s ghost, and after prostrating to the King, presented
arms. First came a procession of eighteen Tansi-no, or fetish women, who
have charge of the last monarch’s grave,[3]—slow and solemn old gipsies,
in gold-trimmed broad-brim felts or white night-caps. They were preceded
by bundles of matting, eight large stools, calabashes, pipes, baskets of
water, grog, and meat, with segments of gourd, above and below, tobacco
bags, and similar commissariat articles; and they were followed by a
band of horns and rattles. Eight stools, or chiefs with their attendant
“Amazons,” and young female slaves of the palace, made obeisance, whilst
armed women sang dirges in the minor key, clapped hands, and presented
arms. Followed a dance of six Amazons to a very weak band.
Presently two messenger-women came from the right end of the square,
ushering twenty-one umbrellas—of which two were coloured, and the rest
white—divided into three parties, accompanied by the usual band and
canteen. The chief was the she-Min-gan, whose back was all pigtails
depending from the score of coral and metal necklaces with which she had
been decorated. Joined by the Adanejan’s “mother,” a middle-aged
officeress, stout as the most “bulbous” Englishwoman, and round in every
part where curves should be, she performed a knife dance. The pair then
took muskets and skirmished, whilst the others formed up and pranced
before the King. Finally, the Min-ganess disposed herself opposite the
throne, upon the knobs of two war sticks stuck in the ground—it was
Britannia sitting as she does in pence on the edge of her shield.
The King then rose and walked forward to throw cowries, the local money,
amongst his subjects. All removed their ornaments and girt their loins;
it is a point of honour to fight for the royal bakhshish, and nob and
snob join in the melée. No notice is taken if a man be killed or maimed
in the affair; he has fallen honourably fighting for his sovereign. Some
lose eyes and noses; the Dahomans gouge like Lancashire “purrers” or
Sœstudalian peasants, bite like hyenas—I have seen a hand through which
teeth met—and scratch like fisherwomen or cat-o’-mountains. We speedily
withdrew our chairs. The King, habited in a toga of tender green, came
forward to the bamboos, and stood as _agonistarch_ under his umbrellas
and parasol, which were upheld by nine women and by two very small
girls. He took from baskets, which were brought up in turn to him, heads
of strung cowries, and tossed them high up to the crowd, who fought for
them as if they were gold. The bundles were torn to pieces in a moment,
so were the strings, and at times there was a scramble, a bite, and a
scream about a single shell.[4]
The King, surrounded by his guard, then perambulated the square by west
and south, still throwing strings of cowries; from where we stood, the
dust-blurred mass of fighting negrohood looked like the dæmons of some
mediæval picture, or the dreams of Father Pinamonti. When royalty had
returned to the bamboo, we were summoned to “fight for cowries,” and not
being in uniform we scrambled like school-boys, omitting however the
Dahoman adjuncts. When our attendants and the Moslem deputation had
received their share, we regained our old places. The palace gate was
thrown open, and through it we saw the women all hustling one another as
the men had done.
The chief of the hunchbacks,[5] Lizi-dogo-bo-je’gbwo-to-men,[6]
wielding, with arms like Rob Roy’s, a circinal-edged hide-whip, and
assisted by his attendants, soon cut a way through the crowd. After
“Lizzy’s” performance appeared a body of fetishers in three parties,
headed by Boro and Zenhwe, their captains. The first seven carried on
their heads each an ugly “wee wudden goddity,” supposed to walk by
itself after nightfall. These “Bo” are dwarfish attempts at humanity,
male and female—the sexes made very distinct—lamp black and red, with
white caps and pagnes.[7] The second party, consisting of ten men, bore
in their hands as many iron fetish sticks, from 4 feet to 6 feet long,
capped mostly with a barrel cone like a modern Moslem cresset, apex
downwards, and topped with rude iron imitations of land tortoises. The
third party, also ten in number, was the band.
Having danced with much effusion and paraded their godlings, the
fetishers defiled to the right and vanished from the crowd. The King
then walked up to the victim shed, and paced down its length within the
railing. To the score of wretches there sitting pilloried he threw with
two hands as many heads of cowries, and these were placed by the
attendants upon the caps of the recipients. He conversed freely with
several of them. The others, though I could see no sign, were probably
gagged, for the reason before stated. He then came up and snapped
fingers with me, when a hint was given that at my intercession several
victims would be pardoned. This also is a Dahoman formula. I pleaded for
them, saying that mercy is the great prerogative of kings, when nearly
half of them were brought up before Gelele, were untied, and were placed
by their keepers on all fours to hear the royal clemency.
An “Ago!” and a ting! tang! caused a deep hush, and the Min-gan, whose
beard and hair were brick-red with dust, uttered a long, dreary, drowsy
speech, much reminding me of a certain “Great Eltchi.” The substance
was, that the chief of a tributary town, Izatakuno, having sent instead
of cowries palm kernels to the King, he, the Min-gan, ashamed to report
such an outrage, had captured the prisoners exposed at the palace shed.
The high officer again powdered his hair and reclined on one arm, whilst
the King informed him that the proceeding was duly approved of, and that
the pardoned rebels must be speedily removed from his sight. His right
royal speech was followed by an uproar of cymbals, the usual two
decanters of rum were sent to us, and thus we got “pass,” or permission
to leave “the presence.”
That night was our “watch night,” which the hammock men kept for us with
potations pottle deep of trade spirits.
SECTION D.
_The So-nan-wen-kan ’gbe,[8] or Fourth Day of the Kings Customs._
The first day of the new year (1864) was chosen for the ceremony of
loosing horses, which is not usually performed till a fortnight after
the opening of the Customs. Mr. Cruikshank was feverish: the labour of
pleasure in Dahome is somewhat hard; I therefore went alone to the usual
place, and found there a new hat. It belonged to a dark youth, M.
Joaquim de Cirqueira Lima. He had been brought up at Berlin, and there
had attracted considerable notice. Presently returning to Africa, he
became head clerk to the Hamburg factory at Lagos; and at the death of
his father, the headman of Brazilian emigrants, who had received an
umbrella from the King, he had gravitated to the quality of “Whydah
gentleman.” All the chief caboceers were sitting in poor clothes under
old blackened and war-soiled umbrellas, which will be laid aside to-
morrow. There was a suspicious gathering of vultures on the tree under
which our chairs were disposed. Can their sagacity extend to guessing
that death is near?
Seven men were prancing before the King, whose brother Anlinwanun
substituted for them an untired troop. After their obeisances and
salutations, the bamboo barrier was enlarged for the Amazon dances. A
peloton of fifty wives and fighteresses, several of them “half-heads”
and others with a haircrest along the poll-ridge, stood up: then,
turning towards the tent where Gezo’s ghost was, they capered and they
sang in chorus and in solo to the Amazon band on the left of the throne,
lauds of the old King. After that performance fourteen of the tallest
and most swaggering, not including a small girl, formed line, and two
mistresses of the ceremonies, armed with horsetail chauris, chanted and
sometimes pranced to give time in rear. The toilette was the pink of
propriety,—a vest, a pagne, a shorter undergarb and Ffon chokoto or
“pantilettes,” longer than the male article, and extending to the knees:
it is a provision which might be naturalized in all countries where
_caleçons_ are not _de rigueur_. When the time was to be changed, one or
both of the Blue Companies advanced towards the band with pin toes
straight in front, ungracefully throwing out first one arm, then the
other, with one or two fingers extended, and clapping palms on the
thighs or on something fleshier. Thus the measure was taken up by a
single cymbal, and finally by the full band. The dancers stamped,
wriggled, kicked the dust with one foot, sang, shuffled, and wrung their
hands—there is ever a suspicion of beheading in these
performances—bending almost double, ducking heads, moving sideways to
right and left, fronting and facing everywhere, especially presenting
the back, converting forefingers into _strigils_, working the arms as in
Mediterranean swimming, and ending in a _prestissimo_ and very violent
movement of the shoulders, hips, and loins. Then whilst the rest reposed
on short stools there was a grand _pas de deux_. The whole merits of the
ballet were time and unison: nothing could be less graceful or more
deficient in the poetry of motion. All ended with kneeling, bending
heads to the ground, and rubbing palms.
Thereupon Adan-men-nun-kon of the guard, supported by a three-deep
column of fifty men, stood up, and, in the bawling barking tone affected
by the real brave, declared that as the Fanti Company had sung about
breaking Abeokuta, so the Blue had sworn to destroy it. The sentiment
was seconded by the Gau and the Matro with such jumping and breast
beating that a stranger would suppose them to be in a violent rage. The
general uproar of captains, the dance, and presenting arms, sticks and
knives, testified their general joy, and they chanted to the effect that
they would not only knock down the walls of Abeokuta, but they would
also carry away the bits for Gelele their King. It reminded me of the
Southern heroes who carried Mr. President Lincoln’s coffin, and were
“bound” to bring him back in it, and have not done so.
The women having re-formed a single peloton five deep, Ji-bi-whe-ton,
their coloneless, issued from the midst of them; her scalp was clean
shaven and shining, a single little lock held a silver knob like the
finial of a tea-pot, and her chief ornament was the common _fleur-de-
lis_ of silver attached by a chain to her neck. She wore a vest, pink
before and white behind, with a drooping slovenly collar: a black
leather cartridge-belt kept in position her long blue striped waist-
cloth and confined on her left hip an ammunition bag, whilst her right
hand grasped the muzzle of a short musket, to which were hung many
charms. In hoarse manly tones she called out severally her best women,
each of whom sharply responded “Tamulé! O Brave!” presented them to the
King, handed to them their cowries, placed the bundles upon their heads,
and dismissed them. Some of the more forward made short speeches with a
pert air, and struck their bosoms, as to say, “I am the woman to do it,
I.” At times a dozen or two stood up, sang and raised one or both arms,
the forefinger as usual being extended, thus swearing to brave deeds
before the King.
Similarly Adan-men-nun-kon presented his chosen warriors, who, unlike
the women, prostrated themselves. At one name, Mocho,[9] the
captainesses laughed satirically, showing the rivalry ever existing
between the two sexes. The women, naturally somewhat incontinent of
tongue, also supply all omissions and explanations of the men’s
speeches, whilst these dare not interrupt their sister soldiers. On the
other hand the full private, the jester, the bush man, in fact every
one, addresses his sovereign without interruption, demanding and
receiving audience and justice. So far the despotism is quite _en
règle_: it is the progressive democratic, not the barbarous
aristocratic. Lastly, there was a general “Tamulé!” the women sang and
clapped hands, whilst the _élite_ danced. This example was duly followed
by the men.
Silence having been once more proclaimed, the King spoke fiercely about
the capture of Abeokuta, and he was seconded by Adan-men-nun-kon the
Brave. The women fired, the men blew their horns, and both companies,
masculine and feminine, sang to this purport: “We refused to let our
King furnish his father’s grave with any skulls and bones save those of
the Egbas. These we swear now to procure for him. If the foe soar in the
air we will fly, if he dive we will follow him, if he sink in earth we
will descend after him.” The King excitedly informed them that he would
see the oath kept. The Blues rushed tumultuously afar, skirmishing and
firing: presently they returned at a _pas de charge_, and clustered
before the King, whilst the women chanted Nago songs, in which they are
said to excel.
After the heralds had cried “Oyez!” the King ordered them to sing again,
when they recited the past prowess of the two principal companies. Once
more Gelele, with violent gestures and wildly tossing his arms, declared
that he must go and break Abeokuta. Two baskets of cowries were brought
out, the Amazons carried off their share, and an old messenger woman
bore the other to the men, who after prostration loaded it upon their
shoulders.
The King made a third warlike speech, to the effect that dirty cloth
must be washed, and that his honour must be redeemed by destroying
Abeokuta. The women sang, both sexes presented arms, and jesters blew
loud blasts with their tusk-horns. Again the Amazons chanted to the
funereal tinkle of a single cymbal, succeeded by a full band. After
sundry dances, all sat down, touched with their foreheads the ground
opposite the old King’s tent, and then saluted, with the usual three
_batta-palmas_, his royal son. Wearing many silver studs in a Turkish
cap-like mop of hair, fifteen princesses, mostly daughters of Gelele,
and wives of the Adanejan and other officers, issued from the palace,
and knelt in two lines close to the throne. On the Meu’s side appeared
the seven Bo images mentioned yesterday, preceded by two fetisheers in
peculiar dress. A So[10] was brought up to us, a bull-face mask, of
natural size, painted black, with glaring eyes and peepholes, the horns
were hung with red and white rag strips, and beneath was a dress of
bamboo fibre covering the feet and ruddy at the ends. It danced with
head on one side, and swayed itself about to the great amusement of the
people.
Presently our chairs were hastily removed, and we retired to the eastern
shed, whilst the natives, flying in confusion, occupied the southern
side of the square. Women dressed in every shade of colour came
streaming from the palace, and turned to the right; so that, on passing
the King, they presented as usual the dexter shoulder. They were
preceded by the To-no-nun and a single bell: after the first turn he and
his twenty eunuchs took post at the eastern corner of the palace wall,
and in bird-like voices, cried out to the public to admire what was
passing.
First came thirteen old mothers of the chief captains, followed by
eighty women, some with their sticks of office, each carrying in a
calabash two heads of cowries. After them trooped forty women and girls
with ten strings per head in plates and platters. Then, preceded by
small girls, walked the fifteen married princesses in fine raiment. The
rest of the procession consisted of nineteen women, bearing on their
pates bottles of rum; forty women, each with two heads of cowries;
twenty women and young girls, known by their nude bosoms, with ten
strings each; and, lastly, the she Meu and Min-gan with thirteen
attendants. They circumambulated the square thrice, singing, in peculiar
tones, the exploits of the late and of the present King, and enumerating
their victims.[11] The presents are for distribution amongst the lieges
during the coming night. They have much diminished: in Gezo’s time there
were 1000 carriers. After the third round some huddled into the palace,
and the rest, after again forming up before the King and reciting his
titles, followed. It was the usual African inconsequence—£100,000 to
carry £20.
Shortly after 6 P.M. we returned to our old sitting-places. The woman
Meu, standing amongst twenty chief captainesses, habited in Hausa tobes,
addressed her male colleague, who, like the others, was lying elbow-
propped on the ground. She informed him that the King, who was worthily
making the Customs of his sire, had brought out rum and cowries for his
singers—the bards who, in Dahome, preserve all history.[12] Then the
she-Min-gan addressed the men, to the effect that Dahome expects every
man to do his duty. Ten bottles of rum and 120 heads of cowries were
finally given to the women, and we were graciously dismissed.
SECTION E.
_The Zan Nyanyana, or Evil Night._
As we wended our way homewards from the palace to the city gate, we
found both sides of the road lined with bamboo railing, to keep the
thoroughfare clear for the King: it serves its purpose effectually as
policemen and Life Guards in England. To-night Gelele will walk in
procession with his wives, and attended by the high officials, from the
Komasi House to the Uhun-jro marketplace, where the Min-gan will perform
sundry executions with his own hand.
As sometimes happens, the subject of Men-huwu[13] or human sacrifice in
Dahome has been thoroughly misunderstood by the press and the public at
home. It is by no means done to “keep up the good old customs of the
country.” The object is not to “offer a valuable and acceptable present
to Heaven”; nor is it penance or self-deprivation done because the thing
parted with is precious or coveted. The King takes no pleasure in the
tortures and death, or in the sight of blood—as will presently appear.
The 2000 killed in one day, the canoe paddled in a pool of gore, and
other grisly nursery tales, must be derived from Whydah, where the
slave-traders invented them, probably to deter Englishmen from visiting
the King.
It is useless to go over the ground of human sacrifice from the days of
the mild Hindu’s Naramedha[14] to the burnings of the Druids, and to the
awful massacres of Peru and Mexico. In Europe the extinction of the
custom began from the time of polite Augustus. Any Encyclopædia will
show that human sacrifice, like slavery, is almost universally a
concomitant of a certain stage of civilization, and that with the
increase of knowledge it disappears for ever.
Human sacrifice in Dahome is founded upon a purely religious basis,
which not only strengthens but perpetuates the custom. It is a touching
instance of the King’s filial piety, deplorably mistaken, but perfectly
sincere. The Dahoman sovereign must, I have said, enter Deadland[15]
with royal state, accompanied by a ghostly court of leopard wives, head
wives, birth-day[16] wives, Afa wives, eunuchs—especially the chief
eunuch,—singers and drummers, King’s “Joto’si,” and “King’s Devils,”
bards and soldiers. This is the object of what we have called the “Grand
Customs,” when the victims may amount to a maximum of 500. We find the
same process extending through the continent to the south-eastern
country of the Cazembe, who shows an equal veneration for his “Muzimos,”
or ancestral ghosts. Every year, moreover, decorum exacts that the first
fruits of war and that all criminals should be sent as recruits to swell
the King’s retinue. Hence the ordinary annual customs. We can hardly
find fault with putting criminals to death,[17] when, in the Year of
Grace 1864 we hung four murderers upon the same gibbet before 100,000
gaping souls at Liverpool, when we strung up five pirates in front of
Newgate, when, during the late age of “hanging Mondays,” the Latinist
exclaimed,
Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die,
With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply;
and when our last but one Christian king killed a starving mother of
seventeen, with an infant at her breast, for lifting a yard of linen
from a shop counter. A Dahoman visiting England but a few years ago
would have witnessed customs almost quite as curious as those which
raise our bile now. With respect to slaying captives, it must be
remembered that this severity depends upon the nature of African wars;
with these people, _lex talionis_ is the highest experience of law, and
after defeat quarter is given only to those who are reserved for slavery
or for sacrifice. There is, therefore, a shade of excuse for it. The
executions are, I believe, performed without cruelty; these negroes have
not invented breaking on the wheel or tearing to pieces their victims,
as happened to Ravaillac and the half-witted Damiens. Finally, it must
be remembered that throughout the year Customs’ time is the only period
of punishment—that the sacrifice is done openly, enabling all to witness
the consequences of crime, and that it seems to wither away all minor
offences of violence.
There are always at least two Evil Nights during the annual customs, and
there may be more. Commander Forbes, I have said, owns that King Gezo
had reduced the number of his victims to thirty-six. The present King
has reduced them to thirty-nine or forty. But this number must be
doubled, to include the female victims killed by the Amazons in the
palace, and not permitted to be seen by man.[18] The presumed total of
the “butchery bill” will therefore be seventy-eight or eighty.[19]
As all who leave the house during the evil night are beheaded, it is not
easy to learn what is then enacted. Our bearers, however, afterwards
sang a song, how the King had asked a man of the Min-gan, which officer
had presented the gift, how the man was charged with a message to Gezo,
saying that the Customs were being properly performed, and how he and
his fellows are clubbed with knob-sticks.[20] I could not find out
whether, like the Meriah victims of the Khonds, who hardly thanked
General Campbell for saving their lives, the doomed are intoxicated: it
is probable, the object being to send them to the other world in the
best of tempers. Although the missionaries deny the fact, I believe that
the King[21] begins by using a broad sharp blade upon the neck of a
kneeling criminal, after which the same is done to others by the Min-
gan, the Meu,[22] and their assistants.
Dahome, it will be seen, shows to advantage by the side of Abeokuta,
Ashanti, and Benin. When I visited, in 1860, what Mr. Duncan calls that
“saintly place of so many converts,” one “basket sacrifice,” as the
Egbas delicately call it, had just been performed; one occurred during
our week’s residence in the town; and a third immediately after we had
left. At Komasi, one man is slain per diem, except on the Wednesdays,
which are the King’s birthdays; moreover, the death of every caboceer
demands a number of victims, whereas in Dahome only a single slave
accompanies the Min-gan and the Meu, such honour not being permitted
since the early part of Gezo’s reign to any other caboceer. Finally,
when I visited the city of Great Benin, in 1862, I saw three violent
deaths in three days, though the yearly ceremonies had ended, and the
large open space before the palace was strewed with human skulls and
bones.
But although the Dahoman Customs have been greatly exaggerated and admit
some little palliation, the annual destruction of human life is terribly
great. However trivial an action is done by the King, such as inventing
a new drum, being visited by a white man, or even removing from one
palace to another, it must be dutifully reported by some male or female
messenger to the paternal ghost.[23] I can hardly rate the slaughter at
less than 500, in average years of the annual Customs, and at less than
1000 during the year of the Grand Customs. At exceptional occasions,
especially of the King’s illness, many are slain on the suspicion of
witchcraft,[24] which here, as everywhere in Africa, is a capital
offence. During the earthquake which prostrated Accra in 1862, Gelele
was informed that his father’s ghost had been seen bathing in the sea,
and was returning to Agbome. According to Mr. Bernasko he slew two
slaves,—others say the unfortunate captives from Ishagga,[25]—and was
surprised to hear that the earthquake had been felt where his father’s
name was unknown. The History mentions part of the palace wall at Agbome
being overthrown in the days of Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II., 1774-1789),
when the Europeans, improving the occasion, tried to reform the royal
manners. “It does not, however, appear that this representation produced
any alteration in the King’s behaviour.”
It is evident, that to abolish human sacrifice here is to abolish
Dahome. The practice originates from filial piety, it is sanctioned by
long use and custom, and it is strenuously upheld by a powerful and
interested priesthood. That, as our efforts to abolish the slave export
trade are successful, these horrors will greatly increase, there is no
room to doubt. Finally, the present King is for the present committed to
them; he rose to power by the goodwill of the reactionary party, and
upon it he depends. There is a report that his grandsire Agongoro
(Wheenoohew) was poisoned because he showed a propensity to
Christianity, and the greatest despots are in Yoruba easily told to “go
to sleep,” or are presented with the parrot’s eggs. Gelele, I am
persuaded, could not abolish human sacrifice if he would; and he would
not if he could. The interference of strangers will cause more secrecy,
and more decorum in the practice; but the remedy must come from the
people themselves.
During the last reign, the victims, gagged and carrying rum and cowries
for the people, were marched about, led with cords, and the visitors
were compelled to witness the executions.[26] In 1862-63, the wretches
were put to death within hearing, if not within sight, of the white
visitors. In 1863-64, the King so far regarded the explicit instructions
which I had received, that no life was publicly taken during daytime.
This is, let us hope, the small end of the wedge.
SECTION F.
_The Minai Afunfun ’khi Uhun-jro men Dadda Gezo[27]; or Fifth and Last
Day of the King’s “So-sin Custom.”_
During the night, at times the deep sound of the death-drum and the loud
report of a musket informed us that some mortal spirit had fled. The 2nd
of January, 1864, opened with a preliminary “palaver,” brought by the
Buko-no. Some years ago, during the reign of Gezo, when all were
employed at the palace, a fire nearly destroyed the city; consequently
came forth a royal ordinance, directing every hearth to be kept cold on
that day, except within the royal precincts. But, though this
restriction does not apply to white visitors, our vexatious host could
not help trying his hand at an _avanie_ by which he gained little but
contempt.
I was debating whether to decline attending at the palace, as desired to
do on the “glad day,” when, as if the King had divined my intention, the
Prince Chyudaton called upon me at an early hour and explained that all
those slain during the last evil night were criminals and captives. At
11 A.M. we proceeded, armed with all our patience, to the Komasi House,
where was to take place the ceremony called by strangers “The Procession
of the King’s Wealth,[28]”—it should be rather “Of the Royal Poverty.”
The approach to the palace was not pleasant. The north-eastern or
market-shed was empty; out of its tenants, nine had perished. Four
corpses, attired in their criminals’ shirts and nightcaps, were sitting
in pairs upon Gold Coast stools, supported by a double-storied scaffold,
about forty feet high, of rough beams, two perpendiculars and as many
connecting horizontals. At a little distance, on a similar erection, but
made for half the number, were two victims, one above the other. Between
these substantial affairs was a gallows of thin posts, some thirty feet
tall, with a single victim hanging by his heels, head downwards. Lastly,
planted close to the path was a _patibulum_ for two, dangling side by
side. Fine cords, passed in several coils round the ankles and above the
knees, attached them to the cross-bar of the gallows, and the limpness
of their limbs showed that the “dear breath” had lately been beaten out
of them. There were no signs of violence upon the bodies, which were
wholly nude; they had been mutilated after death, in respect to the
royal wives, and very little blood appeared upon the ground below.[29]
We then passed to the south-eastern gate of the Komasi House, where the
palace shed was also untenanted. In front of sundry little black dolls,
stuck in the ground at both sides of the entrance, lay a dozen heads.
They were in two batches of six each, disposed in double lines of three;
their faces were downwards, and the cleanly severed necks caught the
observer’s eye. Around each heap was a raised rim of white ashes. These
victims had probably been slaughtered directly in front of the gate, as
there were traces of blood there: the bodies had been removed, so as not
to offend the King. Within the palace entrance were two more, making a
total of fourteen. Thus, during King’s “Evil Night,” twenty-three human
beings had lost their lives.
We sat under the thin shade of the tree garnished with queer fruit and
white flags, enjoying the Harmattanish weather, and were greeted by
sundry nobles, who politely thanked us for honouring the day with
uniform. After a long _séance_ we entered the Podoji, or palace-yard, in
which we had pitched the tent. It was crammed with dignitaries, male and
female, all habited in their gaudiest attire. The time of royal mourning
had now passed by, and merriment was once more restored to the nation.
In the centre of the court, which was divided into two by a fence-work
of matting, rose a sugar-loaf-shaped pavilion of native make, called the
Tokpon. It was supported by a strong central pole, on the top of which,
pedestalled upon a little oval, was a small white-capped fetish figure
holding a hatchet in the right hand: above it hung a flag, also white,
with a chocolate-hued spread eagle in the centre. Posts of strong
scantling, disposed in an inner circle, propped up the heavy flaps, and
the outer edge was kept extended by iron rods, some four feet long,
planted in the ground and passed through eyelet-holes. Thus was
generated a draught which, despite crowding, kept the interior cool. The
cloth was of the coarsest material, gaudy but rainwashed; red and yellow
were the predominant tints, varied with patches and rags of check. The
grotesque ornaments, of different coloured cloths, sewn on to the
outside, were lions devouring men and beasts, turkey-buzzards with wings
abased, blue snakes, four-legged birds holding swords, and other
symptoms of the “ridiculous trade,” heraldry. The entrance was garnished
with the usual galleries for Vo-sisa, little flags, and Bo-so or fetish
stick-bundles: on its proper right squatted the band of women, on the
left were ranged calabashes of food and drink. A white calico curtain,
passed round the iron bars, prevented our seeing the women and children
that crowded the interior, and the mat wall that divided the Podoji
showed us only the standards and the umbrellas of the female troops.[30]
Conspicuous objects on the left of the pavilion were two Ajalela or
fetish pots, made by the present King.[31] Both are lamp-black, shaped
like amphoræ, about four feet high, and planted on tripods. The larger
was solid, the smaller was cullendered with many small holes, and both
were decorated with brass and silver crescents, stars, and similar
ornaments. The second, when filled with water and medicine, allows none
to escape, so great is its fetish power; an army guarded by it can never
be defeated, and it will lead the way to Abeokuta. Towards the end of
the procession the smaller vase was carried off by the men, after they
had made obeisance to the King. The women, with similar ceremony,
presently removed the other.
We were seated but a short time under the thin tamarind tree when a fall
of matting on the proper left of the pavilion and almost in front of us,
was raised, and the royal leopard wives and Amazons, copiously
besilvered, ushered in the King. He was more dressed than usual, in a
skull-cap of puce-coloured satin and a toga of violet silk; a rapier,
the gift of Captain Wilmot, was swung to his shoulder by a crimson silk
sash, and an ignoble necklace of imitation jewellery lay upon his broad
breast: he walked under a red parasol, with the usual plated spittoon by
his side. To the music of a full band he crossed the court, waiting to
return our salutes as we advanced towards him, and entered the Tokpon,
when its white curtain was removed. We then betook ourselves to our
chairs, which were placed near the royal fetisheers, who sat grouped
under a black and tattered umbrella, fronted by about twenty iron sticks
planted in the ground, some cresset shaped and quaintly capped with the
tortoise, others crescents and demi-lunes, and mostly decorated with
pendants of cowries. Immediately by our side squatted a little knot, the
King’s sons, the youngest of whom might be twelve years old. Dako, the
eldest, who had just been made a caboceer, was a plain youth about
twenty, with an unpleasant countenance. He is, I believe, the heir
apparent. Presently we were joined by the Hun-to-ji, or king’s
silversmith, a high official, whose long calico gown, white pantaloons,
straw hat, slippers and European chain, proved his Brazilian descent.
Under him are workmen who will convert dollars—gold has no value
here—into chains, rings and crucifixes: all are of the rudest make, and
when tested with nitrate of silver they become lead coloured.
This was to be, as is the present King’s practice, a mixed Custom. It
began with a general salutation on the part of the singers and drummers,
who in silver horns and bracelets danced before the throne, and waved
their horse-tail fly-flappers. They were followed by the chief
ministers, splendid in silk robes of Hausa cut, resembling the Arab’s
“aba,” short sleeved and hanging to the ankles: as there must be
something ill-sorted about the African, their multitudinous necklaces
and silver charms reposed upon common, and by no means cleanly, trade
shirts. A troop of “Guiriots,” or jesters, knelt before the throne,
pushed and shoved one another, contorted their countenances, and
exchanged all manner of buffooneries to amuse the King. The Kpo-
fen-’su,[32] captain of blunderbusses, headsman, and headman of jesters,
a living old skeleton, wore a long red cap hanging on his shoulder, with
broad white circles of chalk round his eyes and mouth, that made his
countenance look at a distance like a leather-covered skull. This pipe-
claying, and here and there a streak of black made with gunpowder, are
the only remains of the “uncouth devices painted on the face and body,
and giving a very fiend-like appearance.” The coadjutress in the inside
is similarly goggled. The jesters were followed by a dozen pursuivants
armed with gong-gongs, who advanced bending towards the throne, and
shouted the “strong names,” or titles. Conspicuous amongst them was an
oldster in a crimson sleeveless tunic and yellow shorts; his head was
red with dust, he carried a large bill-hook, and he went about attended
by four drums and one cymbal.
After this preliminary, the processions began to pass round the yard.
The line, which affected a funereal slowness, marching to the sound of
one cymbal and a chorus of women, was composed of eighty-five men; first
the ministers, then the governors, and lastly the minor chiefs. They
were led by the new Ajyaho, who was bareheaded; his right hand rested
upon a long cane, and his left held a bill-hook; a brass-hilted sword
and a little dirk were stuck in both sides of his belt. Next came the
Min-gan, who had a deer’s head of thin brass hanging from his girdle;
and who, in quality of king’s Calcraft-in-Chief, carried a long,
straight, and sheathed blade. Then bent the old Meu, supporting himself
upon a beadle’s silver-headed cane; attached by a narrow fillet or
bandeau of velvet to the left side of his head was a small silver-
mounted dirk or dagger, worn point downwards. The Yevogan, like all the
rest, carried a cane; he was armed with a bill-hook, and from his girdle
depended a brass-scabbarded blade. The Adanejan wore silver horns and
bracelets, and displayed his finery over an old trade shirt. He was
followed by his father, the Alo-lokpo-nun-gan,[33] a brother of the late
king, who wore four knives, in pairs, attached to both temples by a hoop
stiff with silver. Of the rest some went bareheaded, others had caps;
one wore a tin crown, a circlet and four branches meeting at the poll;
and several had flat silver plates three to four inches in diameter,
fixed tightly on the scalp by a concealed lock of hair. There was a
profusion of necklaces and bracelets; not a few displayed themselves in
the dignity of cast-off merino coats and ancient capes hardly extending
to the waist; all wore long sashes hanging down their left sides, and
besides carrying long staves they were well armed. Here was an old
cavalry sabre with open guard, there a straight blade with silver hilt,
there a broad-headed Dahoman bill-hook. Sizing was not the rule; in
places a quasi-dwarf was followed by a tall fellow who could eat from
off his neighbour’s head. As these Guys passed the entrance of the royal
pavilion they did obeisance, and after the third turn they formed line
opposite the tent, knelt, bending low, and, at a given signal of a
fugleman on the right, touched the ground with their foreheads and
arose. This was the invariable conclusion of each act, and the whole was
about as sensible as those Temperance and other gatherings with flags
and banners, which make men wonder what satisfaction rational beings can
derive from them. Each procession lasted from eight to twenty minutes.
The ministers were followed at some interval by another Indian file of
fifty men, the chief captains, body-servants, and headmen of singers and
drummers. They were conducted by a “Lali,[34]” or half-head, with the
right side of his pericranium clean shaven, and the left in a casing of
silver, that looked like a cast, or a half melon. This unique cap was
solid below, barred above, and disclosing the black hair beneath; it was
fastened to the head by a tight string. Each man had his musket. Two
were under Ta-bla[35]—huge broad-brims, stiff with tin plates nailed on
a surface of red cloth, and edged with frames of trade looking-glasses
flapping in the air. I much wondered who could have been the hatter.
Adan-men-nun-kon, the Capitano Sparafucile, was there, fierce as ever,
with red scarf and cartridge-box, a war axe on his left shoulder, and a
carbine on his right. The To-no-nun carried a bunch of keys. There were
the two tall casque men with their very long guns, habited in black
frock coats, over which hung their coral necklaces, and with common
pagnes, knotted on the left sides under the European garb, so as to make
them appear deformed. The Buko-no, our host, joined them, having
previously extracted from a large calabash a dozen necklaces, a pair of
mushroom-shaped silver horns, and a watch that wanted only glass and
main-spring. In the rear were two blunderbusses, and the last was a
melancholy-looking Grimaldi, smoking a bone by way of pipe, whose ashes
he occasionally halted to remove.
At the end of the third circuit, a chosen few received presents of rum
and bracelets; all kissed the ground, and presented arms, a knife in the
right and a gun in the left hand; whilst bells tinkled and snake-bone
and watchmen’s rattles were sprung. Again the fall of matting was
raised, and issued from the harim a corresponding procession of she
ministers. Before these noble dames began marching round, sundry old
messengeresses, slaves of the palace, knelt in line upon the open space
in front of us, forming the demarcation between the sexes. In the pride
of that utterly gratuitous virtue, celibacy, they passed demurely round,
reserved as nuns, and for the same reason: they rarely allowed a glance
to fall upon us males, pitying, I presume, our poor hearts. First came
the five great honours of the empire,—the Ajyaho, the Min-gan, the Meu,
the Yevogan, and the Adanejan. The Min-gan had a bill-hook in her left
hand, as executioneress of the inside; the others used staves or sticks,
and all carried swords at their left sides. These five were habited in
long Hausa tobes of red silk, the upper garb light and the skirt heavy,
and two wore tin crowns over red calico. They were followed by the
lesser dignities in blue, striped togas of similar cut, and some had
their heads bound with white calico, like the male singers and
fetisheers. This file walked somewhat faster than the men, to the music
of a band playing in the tent. After the third circumambulation, they
formed up in line before the King, waved both hands four times, and
quickly retired behind the matting.
Then came the captainesses, forty-two in number, corresponding with the
men. First stalked two “silver half-heads,” with pouches on their right
sides, cartridge boxes round their waists, and bill-hooks whose handles
were swathed in cloth. Then came the Khe-tun-gan and the Akpadume, the
she-Gau and the Meu, elderly women, far too stout for active service.
Behind them were two heroines, decorated with beards of monkey skin, and
men’s nightgear of white calico. A pair of bayonet women followed, with
silver sharks on their red “Liberty Caps.” Number nine was a very bulky
old figure, in the cook’s bonnet of the ’Mman, or Madcap company
described at Kana: she is one of the captainesses of the right, or Min-
gan’s side. There were also steeple-crowned broad-brims, as amongst the
males. Some had shaggy skull-caps, like pepper-corn hair, stained a deep
indigo, and others had applied the dye to their locks which contrasted
well with the silver ornaments. Others had big fool’s caps of stuffs
striped white, blue and red, and hanging over their shoulders. All wore
sashes with the ends depending in front; and carried, at half-cock,
muskets or blunderbusses, with the muzzle cap off. Some were decorated
with a human skull, or with a lower jaw, fixed to a thin brass plate
dangling from the waist. At the end of the performance they formed line
before the King, saluted, firstly, with the right hand; secondly, with
presented guns and knives, and again disappeared within the harim.
After the drummers and heralds had played some antics before the royal
tent, dancing, springing rattles, and powdering themselves with dust, a
very ridiculous procession was formed. The male ministers had changed
their dresses for motley, and staff-propped, with left shoulders
covered, and pipes alight—both showing them to be privileged
persons—they again promenaded before the King. The Ajyaho wore, like
Prince Chyudaton, a straw hat with a broad black ribbon; the meagre face
of the black Min-gan was buried in a vast old felt, and a cockaded
cocked hat of the last century, very dingy and frayed, and worn on the
wrong side, well suited the age-bleared eyes, the hollow cheeks, and the
fallen-in lips of the fox-like Meu. The latter also had fastened on his
silver armlets over a trade shirt. The best man of the party was the
Yevogan, who, residing at Whydah, had achieved a chimney-pot hat, whilst
the others were fain to be content with caps, straw hats, billycocks,
cotton extinguishers, sailors’ waterproofs, crocodile caps, calico
fillets, and even bare scalps. Adanejan smoked a German student’s pipe,
the others being reduced to long and short white clays—mostly French,
with monkey and skull bowls—to native manufacture, or to none. Each time
the procession passed the royal tent, the old and tattered garments were
changed for others just as bad. At the end they bowed with their hats
before the King, bared their bodies to the waist, knelt, made obeisance,
and retired.
Then was the turn for the men captains, who also, like the ministers,
appeared before the King with wrapped-up shoulders, smoking pipes: all
were armed with muskets as before. One old officer of the ’Mman Guards
carried a double sword, like huge scissors. The To-no-nun and another
official wore the robes of an Egyptian fellah. The Buko-no was habited
in an ancient Turkish rug, which he held magnificent, and he smoked with
an air a pestilent Bahia cigar. After the third tour, they tucked up
their clothes, knelt down, and saluted the King ceremoniously by kissing
the ground, palm-clapping in three sets, again kissing the ground,
clapping palms, and finally by rising and upraising weapons.
This necessitated two other processions from the inside, namely, of she
ministers and captainesses, who were muffled up, and who smoked like the
men. At the close of the circumambulation the members of both bodies sat
on their heels before the King, alternately kissed the ground four and
clapped palms three times, and then rising presented arms. A few of the
warrioresses sang in “the presence” with the forefinger emphatically
cutting the air. This brought on a male chant touching Abeokuta, which
also concluded with raised weapons. The rum, which had been copiously
sent from the King’s pavilion, now began to take effect upon the African
brain. Our table was soon spread with liquor, baskets of oranges, and
boiled manioc, whilst the chiefs were supplied by their wives and slave
girls with food and drink brought in large calabashes.[36] It is the
habit to dine before the King at Agbome. The Buko-no’s “Princess” came,
attended by twenty of her women. She was a brown girl, about eighteen,
with the comeliness of that age, and much resembling the King: her
coralled arms were rounded, and her hands well made; a number of
necklaces hung upon a high and ample bosom, modestly covered with a fine
white cloth, and a double row of brass and silver circlets, like new
sixpences,[37] studded her cauliflower _coiffure_. Whilst the slave
girls behind, were spreading a table-cloth upon dried reeds, she retired
to the rear, and kneeling,[38] bent to the earth. She then served her
husband with her own hands, touched the ground with her forehead, and
bent before him with averted head during the whole meal, never raising
her face, as it would be deemed “bold” to stare at him; but using,
Lesbia-like, a roving eye. The old Harpagon having washed his hands, ate
with a claw like that of a prey-bird, and seemed to enjoy the sensation
caused by the buxom wife’s presence.
The misery of the display moved my compassion. In the whole assembly
there was hardly a redeeming point of picturesqueness or appropriateness
except the “Porto Novo” Moslems. As they stood at the other end of the
court, their swart faces were set off by snowy turbands encircling tall
red caps, and hanging down somewhat in the “Taylasan” style, whilst
their showy shawls, thrown over the left shoulder, their neat sandals,
their full dark pajammas or drawers, and their ample white shirts, made
them appear different and superior beings. The wretched pagans, however,
had imitated them: amongst the occupants of the harim I saw two poor
copies of “Al-Islam.”
A troop of “Joto-si,” drummers, and half heads, of all ages, made
obeisance before and presented arms to the King. Then the Min-gan arose,
and addressed his men, to the cries of “Tamulé!” from the women, upon
the subject of Abeokuta. He said that Gezo’s son had just made a custom,
and had killed criminals for his father, who must desire the destruction
of Egba-land, and he called upon me by name to testify to the same.
Thrice as he spoke, the Meu stood up, and with outstretched right hand,
vociferated “Yáté!” meaning, in Fanti, “we understand.” The King
responded briefly, that whereas ashes never smoke, the cinders in that
palace would burn down many a house.
In these slow proceedings, 3.40 P.M. had already sped before business
began. Presently an occasional rattle, the _vagitus_ of women calling
out, in bird-like tones, the King’s titles, and the long firing of
heavily loaded muskets by the male soldiery behind us and on our right,
announced the beginning of the end. The first motley group that passed
us was composed of drums, duck-guns, muskets, small infernal machines on
wheels, blue-clad bayonet women, blunderbusses of brass and iron,
soldieresses in grass-cloth skirts, and their band of loud braying
horns, one duck-gun, one huge blunderbuss, small metal whistles and long
flageolets, two dozen razor women, with as many knife women, and,
finally, a captainess of Gezo’s force. They halted before the throne,
danced, played, fired guns, cheered, presented arms, and having received
largesse in rum and cowries, passed out of the palace-yard through the
main gate by which we had entered it. Followed a Mau-no[39] fetish woman
under her umbrella, with a troop called Lisa-’si,[40] waving peculiar
iron rods, serpent-shaped, like the classical Jove’s thunderbolts, as
expressed by poets and painters: some wore white turbands, others were
bareheaded, and all were hung about with long strings of white and black
beads. The party was brought up by slave girls carrying baskets and
calabashes. Then, preceded by six bellowing horns, stalked in slowly,
and with measured gait, the eight Tansi-no, who serve and pray for the
ghosts of dead kings. In front went their ensign, a copper measuring-
rod, fifteen feet long, and tapering to a fine end: behind it were two
chauris and seven mysterious pots and calabashes wrapped in white and
red checks. The old women seemed to wear about forty cloths each, which
may account for their elephantine development _à tergo_: they were
followed by three little girls, and they “louted” low as the vulgar herd
before the King.
The Aro company of archers danced in the presence, and recited the royal
titles. The _valuables_ now appeared, and almost any pawnbroker’s shop
could boast a collection more costly and less heterogeneous. The only
remarkable article was the carrier, who represented—in Cuba—a large sum.
Sixteen brilliant banners held horizontally, preceded a wheelbarrow with
a fancy red and blue flag. Three brass, four copper, and six iron pots,
curiosities on account of their great size. Four long horns in calico
_étuis_. Five huge fans, followed by razor women. Eight images, of which
three were apparently ship’s figure-heads white-washed, and the rest
very hideous efforts of native art. Sixty-seven women with brown faces,
and bead mittens and gauntlets on their wrists. Twenty-one girls
carrying[41] cylinders of red and white beads. Seventeen women with
silver plates fastened to the sides of their skulls, habited in red
clothes, and handling bead cat-o’-nine-tails. Twelve women, also in red.
Seventeen fetish pots, three jars, one silver-plated urn, attended by
singing women. Twenty casque-women with red tunics, and plumes, and
black horsetails. Eight helmet girls, with red plumes, dark crests, and
coats, and white loin cloths. Six pieces of plate, a tree, a crane, a
monkey, and other things which I could not distinguish. Some were four
feet high, and all were apparently silver, borne by many women on
boards: of these three were double, and the whole were intended as
jewels to decorate the present King’s grave. After singers and dancers,
a huge drum, carried by a woman porter, whilst the performer walked
behind her mate, “leathering” it with a will. Three large chairs,
preceding about fifty Gbe-to,[42] or elephant huntresses, clad in
chocolate and dark blue, and ostentatiously eschewing white. They had
huge tufts of hair, affected large heavy guns, and were conspicuous for
bustles of talismans behind and strings of cowries in front, adorning
bits of bone, relics of the enemy. Four pots in their cloths. A large
silver-mounted ebony box, like a bullock trunk. One big stool, one
common trade box, and one calabash. Two iron horns shaped like palm
leaves, and a dozen small girls preceding the mysterious Zan-ku-ku.[43]
It was a portable screen, work, of blue checked and striped cloths,
upheld by women with muskets and sticks, and it contained a gold-topped
crimson umbrella. Zan-ku-ku is the “place” of the old King: no one is
supposed to know what is inside. Men turned away their heads, and my
questions remained unanswered till we returned home. A large band with
twenty muskets, and three women in broad-brimmed felts. Fourteen fetish
women, who perform rites for the last sovereign’s ghost, in white caps
and tunics of bright yellow grass-cloth. Five black girls, dressed in
blue, who were saluted with drums and horns as they passed us. Six flags
turned towards the right hand, a caboceeress under an umbrella, a pipe-
bearer, and a dozen unarmed girls. Two women carrying water breakers,
three with pots from which depended white streamers, and two large glass
jars. A line of 703 women and girls with “grey-beards,” seltzer jars,
country pots of “pitto[44]” or native beer, and bottles of trade rum and
gin, the size of the receptacle becoming small by degrees, and the whole
supported by a rear-guard. The liquor will this night be distributed in
the market-place to the multitude: and the heralds behind us returned
praise by crying out the King’s “strong names,” trilling out the words
by patting their lips, while the women around the monarch uttered the
Khé or bird sound. A motley group surrounding two women in big felts. A
band and a troop of bardesses,—the first rank with eight singer’s
staves, distinguished by their triangles of glazed calico, the second
being an armed and an unarmed company: they paraded round the court,
played and sang on the right of the tent entrance, and received glasses
of rum. At this time the King kindly supplied us with cashew fruits
(alakazú), tiger-nuts (f’iu), and the red fruit of the Lisé tree noticed
at Whydah. It certainly rained meat and drink that day in the palace,
but, I suspect, nowhere else.
Then came two girls, waving round and round small white flags, upon
which were horned and rainbow-coloured serpents swallowing their own
tails. A band in front of the late King’s great war-drum, “He-is-able-
to-do-any-thing.” Ten smaller drums of the King’s, called Addugba, and
common instruments. Seven troubadour-women, holding horse-tails and
twirling flags in their left hands: their heads were wrapped in
kerchiefs of red, shawl pattern, and their short scarlet cloaks had
yellow hoods showing lions with upturned tails. Assisted by fifty women,
they danced long and violently before the King, whilst the band,
squatting near the flag of the tent-entrance, regaled us with stunning
music. A woman carrying a huge battle-axe perforated like a fish-slicer.
Forty-two girls bearing baskets of cowries on wooden platters—sixpence
above and £200 below! A large flag, two immense native stools of black
and white wood, covered with cloth; two articles like warming-pans, of
copper and brass, a drum rudely carved with native figures, and an
escort of bayonet women. Two “black white men,” natives of the country,
dressed in trousers and blouses, but shoeless, walking under ragged
parasols.[45] Another of Gezo’s drums, about the size of a bullock,
carried by four men, with two poles lashed along its sides. Another
European piece of plate on a wheeled car, covered with red calico;
bayonet women, and a large box of skulls. Finally, the Agran-hohwe,[46]
or jaw-umbrella, whose white top and lappets were thickly studded over
with these pleasant reliques.
Then the royal equipages began to pass, the animals being men harnessed
with ropes. Most of them are old barouches and other presents given to
the kings when slavery was an important branch of English commerce, and
when the Home Government supported William’s Fort. Many of these
heirlooms are becoming valuable as antiques. The first were of home, or
native, manufacture—a blue-green shandridan, with two short flagstaffs
attached to the front. Two things, like Palkigaris, or _broncards_,
supporting a light umbrella. The present King’s cab-brougham, with a
lion on the panels. Two American trotting wagons, with leathern hoods. A
band of flageolets, followed by a man in a red blanket, with the Badawi
hood. After a space, a male slave carrying a long blue pole, topped with
an imitation knife, stained red. Another broken-down vehicle. Two large
old canopied hammocks, the one of red velvet, the other of yellow silk,
belonging to the late king, and borne by men. The present sovereign’s
little roan pony, with black points, led also by a man. A peculiar old
sedan-chair, dating from the days of Mr. Nash. Another state hammock; a
wheeled platform, with a bench for two, behind a large wooden horned
eagle and a bunchy plume of feathers; a rocking-horse, with housings and
bridle, on wheels; rattles; a large green chariot, of venerable
appearance, belonging to King Gezo; four hunchbacks, two flags; an
enormous red-and-green board, for playing “tables,” carried on two men’s
heads; another antiquated shandridan, followed by a band of horns and
chanting knife women; a large Gold Coast chair on a small nag; two big
Katake, or war foot-stools; a Men-ta-’zinkpo,[47] or large chair,
adorned with four or five human crania, and with its footstool cut out
of one piece; a French drum and tambourine; a small drum, with twelve
skulls; three boxes; a platform on wheels, followed by women; a Bath
chair, with a fringed red silk umbrella attached to it; a fighting man,
in wood, with drawn sword—probably the figure-head of some “Ajax”; a
large hammock, with bead hangings, and a pole inlaid with brass; four
umbrellas; a small troop of she-hunchbacks; bands; little iron and brass
swivel guns, carried on women’s heads; a peculiar sedan-chair, with gold
and red hangings, held high in the air, with four parasols to show that
it is used by the King; drummers; a metal soup-tureen; nine large
bottles, covered with red cloth and hung with cowries; urns, jars, and
_pateræ_ of vermilion-coloured earthenware, adorned with gingerbread
gilding, very large, and decorated with hangings of white and red
calico. Such was the _fripier’s_ collection which passed in motley
confusion before the King, whilst the carriers sang, danced, and made
obeisance.
Then defiled a body of armed women preceding seven umbrellas, of which
two were very gorgeous, shading nine “leopard wives” in bright clothing,
with swords, and a profusion of silver studs in their wool. Like the
others they made salutations, drank rum, and received small presents
from their lord. Another string of frippery, consisting of two home-made
images with white heads and blue skins, like the Egban Yemaya or Goddess
of Books; a short St. Lawrence and Gridiron; a Dominican friar and other
statuettes; the skulls of Bakoko and of his two companions, carried in
honour on young girls’ heads; a tree under a globular glass shade; red
jars before described; fancy native stools with and without cowries;
umbrellas and parasols also adorned with shells, and many minor items
which I had not time to note.
Presently the Vi-de-k’alo[48]—the Amazon Bi-na-zun, or storekeeper—a
portable personage, dressed in a white body cloth and a pink skirt, with
a broad-brimmed and gold-laced hat, apparently beaver, upon a head
swathed in calico, appeared, shaded by a red parasol. She was followed
by three long-poled flags, tricolour, and eagles, dating probably from
the days of the elder Napoleon; a troop of girls with jugs, ewers, jars
and “lustre” pottery, seven desks of old shape, basins and pitchers all
empty, pipe cases six feet long, four large stools, two parasols, and a
fat sheep with a necklace of cowries and a cloth over its hinder parts.
The next party was headed by twenty blunderbuss women in red caps, with
silver sharks. Then eight fine umbrellas, denoting as many of the late
King’s “leopard wives,” old and worn out women richly clad in red and
yellow silk cloaks, with fillets, bracelets, and sword-hilts of silver;
the most dignified propped themselves with beadle’s sticks. A silver
half-head woman with four bracelets, emitting from a long brass trumpet
lugubrious noises. Twenty-three fetish sticks in cloth bags; a red
velvet cushion with silver lions on it; glass platters; heaps of
cowries, like mould puddings; porcelain jars; a curious China vase, and
the two scarlet shields of the harim. Next came the Yavedo, female To-
no-nun or chief eunuchess, who is also the elder of Mr. Dawson’s two
mothers, in a black crested casque and red plumes, followed by two fancy
and crimson flags; six kettledrum girls, in scarlet caps and boddices,
and blue skirts with figures of red cloth sewn on; drums and drumlets; a
calabash with a pyramid of four skulls; two women with long tails, of
which they caught hold after dancing and bounding before the King[49]; a
group of fifty Nago or captive Egba women in dark indigo dresses,
celebrated as dancers, and jingling peculiar rattles thickly covered
with cowries; an old cut glass chandelier slung to a wonderful white
bird of native build eating a blue snake; seven parasols, and stools
carved and imaged.
Already, to our joy, those who had passed out of the palace gate before
the King, and had thrice walked round the square in single file, began
to return. Then appeared the living representatives of the mothers of
the Dahoman dynasty. As will be seen the first three queens are not
represented, showing that their names have been forgotten. The places of
“Zoindi,” the present sovereign’s mother, who still survives, and
Danhli-ke,[50] the parent of the “Bush king,” were under white
umbrellas, followed by baskets, calabashes, chairs, footstools, and a
band: the retinue might be composed of a hundred people. The
representatives were stout old women, remarkable, like the five others,
for breadth of beam and brim.
A torn flag, neptunes full of skulls, calabashes, stools, pots, and
other articles of furniture, preceded Agotime, mother of Gezo, and
Nutobe, the parent of the corresponding “Bush king.[51]”
Two umbrellas, buff-coloured and fancy, with a band, accompanied a
dwarfish dignitary with silver crown, big-topped staff, and red train
borne by followers. This was Senunme, mother of Agongoro (Wheenoohew),
the grandfather of the present King.
A pair of umbrellas, buff and fancy, with seats, calabashes, and other
necessaries, composed the _cortége_ of Hunajile, mother of Sinmenkpen
(Adahoonzou II.).
An elderly woman in a red coat, with a white handkerchief under her
broad brim, represented Chai, the mother of Tegbwesun (Bossa Ahadi).
A similar umbrella, succeeded by skulls and rattles, denoted Addono, the
mother of Agaja the conqueror (Guaja Trudo Audati).
The rear was rapidly brought up. It consisted of various other “drums
for Ganikbaja”; women in red nightcaps, with a silver shark on each side
fastened by a string; a band of small girls, four wall pieces, fancy
flags, four pikes with pink hangings and cross pieces like our old demi-
lune, carried by women in fools’ caps slashed blue and rose; razor
women; a huge scimitar; an English union-jack; all kinds of bands; five
plain standards attended by a large troop; four small girls with red
pennons; a company of singers, commanded by an old woman in a broad
brim, and followed by two chairs, muskets and blunderbusses. After this
party had formed up in line before the King, and had delivered
themselves of a song, whose length appeared uncalled for, came eight
skull-standards, carried by women in indigo; the Komasi drum; two brass
shields, segments of circles; six headwomen with bracelets and armlets
above the elbow, with white and spotted body-cloths, silver horns and
caps like cook’s bonnets; then two broad blades worked like fish-
slicers, rising from skulls; sundry black hide shields like tea-trays,
ten women carrying Bo-kpo or forked crutches swathed with red calico. A
crowd of thirty umbrellas now defiled through the yard, the headwoman
sitting upon her tall stool to watch the retinue marching by. Finally
the she Min-gan again passed before us, when we remarked that two of her
retinue were habited in the striped nightcaps and shirts of the executed
criminals, whose wardrobes here, as in England they say, become the
perquisite of Jack Ketch. The number tallied with the three naked
corpses suspended near the city gate, and this satisfied me that we had
seen all the males slain on this occasion, and that the women victims,
whose spoils had been taken by their _bourreaux_, did not exceed in
number the men.
The ceremony was necessarily hurried, because it began late, and was
exceedingly complicated; our jaded old host groaned with misery whenever
I proposed another question. The more time was wasted, because every
little party formed up opposite the royal tent entrance, made obeisance
according to the several ranks, and secured cowries and rum before
retiring. Women of rank merely touched the spirits, and poured the
remainder down the throats of their followers; and, despite the urgency
of messengers, none appeared willing to slur over or to hurry through
his or her honours.
After a stunning salute of blunderbusses we were called up to meet the
King, who came forward to shake hands and to snap fingers with us. As he
admired my regimental sword, I placed it in his hands: he returned it,
saying that we would speak about the matter at another time. He then
requested me to take the measure of his big Tokpon tent. As something
was said about our attending on the morrow, I put forward a request that
we might be allowed to pass the Sunday at home. This he at once conceded
with the best grace: visitors obtain everything (unimportant) which they
ask from him, whilst the “difficulty makers,” his ministers and
officials, grant nothing that they can possibly refuse.
Seven mortal hours of _séance_ had halted by before the elder Yevogan
led us out of the palace. Though it was waxing dark we could see the
railing still lining the streets. We hurried past the dead bodies, upon
which the heat had already taken effect; and we were right glad to find
ourselves once more _à table_.
The next day, Sunday, was emphatically one of rest to eyes and ears
dazed and fatigued by the confusion of multitudinous objects rapidly
passing, and by the terrible din of a Dahoman crowd. The only drawback
to our comfort was that the Message had not been given, although we had
been nearly a fortnight with the King. The Buko-no bore the major part
of the blame: this Cagliostro was probably awaiting the permission of
his Afa.
[Footnote 1: Bonu-gan (civilian captains, or ministers), nun (thing),
kpon (look), ’gbe (to-day), dié (this).]
[Footnote 2: The calabashes full of skulls are called men-ta-doka-men.]
[Footnote 3: The Dahomans, like other Yorubans, and the people of the
Gold Coast, bury in the house, choosing a room which is afterwards kept
locked. So Alexander ab Alexandro informs us that, before the Laws of
the Twelve Tables, the Romans interred corpses in their habitations,
using as coffins large casks and other vessels—whence arose the _lares_,
or ancestral ghosts. Gezo, I am told, is inhumed at the Komasi Palace in
a small room under a temporary thatch and matting shed, which will be
replaced with swish when there is blood enough to make it. According to
some authorities, the Tansi-no are all women, and descendants of kings,
who attend upon the royal graves, whilst these broad-brimmed personages
are called Bassaji, great fetish women representing the ghosts of former
monarchs.]
[Footnote 4: A head of cowries (= 2 shillings) keeps a poor man for
about four days, or £9 2s. 6d. per annum. An officer expends about £75
per annum, which is the rate of living of a Moslem gentleman and his
household in Syria.]
[Footnote 5: The “Gobbo” is here an institution. These deformities,
which are very common, contrary to the case of Africa generally, are of
both sexes and of all ages. We repeatedly saw troops of little she
hunchbacks.]
[Footnote 6: Lizi is his proper name. Dògò (the “languti” of India,
which we generally translate T-bandage), bo (and), je (falls into),
Agbwe-to (a certain sea-fetish, here used for “the sea,”) men (in). The
meaning is, “In his indispensables he falls into the sea,” that is to
say, “He is brave and fears nothing.”]
[Footnote 7: The first was a blue dwarf, in a grey pagne, with a hat on
head; the second, a blue woman, with protuberant breasts; the third, a
red dwarf with white eyes, clad cap-à-pié in red and brown; the fourth
was a small black mother and child in a blue loin-cloth, with a basket
or calabash on the former’s head; the fifth, ditto, but lesser; the
sixth, was a pigmy baboon-like thing, with red face under a white skull
cap, a war club in the right hand and a gun in the left; and the seventh
much resembled the latter, but was lamp black, with a white apron
behind. They were carved much as the face cut on the top of a stick by
the country bumpkin in England.]
[Footnote 8: So (horse), nan-wen (will break), kan (rope), ’gbe (to-
day). As I have said, the horses had been returned, but this is probably
the old name of the fête-day.]
[Footnote 9: If a man “get Afa” (Chapter xii.), before the births of his
children, the first boy is called Amoso, and the girl Alugba; the next
are named Mocho and Alugba-hwe, and so on.]
[Footnote 10: This is probably the Soh Soh of Commander Forbes (vol. ii.
p. 120), who considers it to be a representative of the thunder god. I
could not find in this buffoonery any mystic meaning: the attendants
only begged from us.]
[Footnote 11: All is repeated “by heart,” and a tenacious memory is
required. But the practice is hard: I rarely passed a palace, when the
King was out, without hearing a loud singing lesson within.]
[Footnote 12: The bards are of both sexes, and the women dwell in the
palace. These chroniclers and narrators of native tradition are here
called “Wenukhodoto,” in Egba, “Owgbo.” The King keeps a whole troop of
these laureates, very different from him of Bonny, who could afford only
“Poet Close.” On the other hand, the latter could plead the well-known
to Anglo-Indians “But, I’s English.”]
[Footnote 13: Men (man), huwu (killing). There is no euphuism, as in
Yoruba, where such murder is called the “basket sacrifice.” Koklo-huwu
is the sacrifice of poultry.]
[Footnote 14: Or killing a man. So Indra became a god, by the Aswa-medha
or horse sacrifice.]
[Footnote 15: In the History (p. 204) we read that the moment the death
of the King was heard of in the palace, the women began to kill
themselves and one another: when Sinmenkpen departed life, 595 perished.
Gezo ended this abomination by extorting a solemn fetish oath from all
his chiefs, men and women. Yet it must be unpleasant to find oneself at
Agbome when the King dies: I should imagine that a foreigner would not
be safe there at such a time.]
[Footnote 16: Birthday wives are those married on the King’s birthday.
The Joto ’si are half-heads, male and female, who correspond with the
“’Kra,” or “’Kla,” of the Gold Coast, and rank in Dahome next to the
eunuchs. Joto is the ancestor, whom Afa, or the Book of Fate, declares
to have sent the child into the world, and the child calls him Joto-
che—my Joto. The King’s Devils are those who have charge of his Legba or
priapus (History, p. 204).]
[Footnote 17: Commodore Wilmot (Appendix III.) should have inserted
“criminal” when asserting that the King of Dahome sacrificed his own
countrymen.]
[Footnote 18: The missionaries were at pains to hoodwink my eyes upon
this subject, which, however, like all things at Agbome, could not be
kept secret. When setting up the King’s tent in the palace-yard, I saw
poles being planted for a scaffold.]
[Footnote 19: Dr. Lankester calculates six deaths per mensem, as the
loss caused by crinoline in London.]
[Footnote 20: This agrees with the History. Others say that, like the
Khond victims, they are suffocated by the assistants, who hold their
noses and mouths. Decapitation, it will be observed, is the favourite
mode of execution at Dahome.]
[Footnote 21: Dr. M‘Leod (p. 65) declares it was known when “his
majesty” condescends to become the executioner, and relates that on one
occasion a poor fellow objecting to it, and declaring that he was
unacquainted with the way, the King cried “I’ll show it you”; and with
one blow, being very expert, made his head fly many yards from his body,
highly indignant that there should have been the least expression of
reluctance.]
[Footnote 22: Others say that the Meu executes only Addo-kpon the bush-
king’s criminals.]
[Footnote 23: All the victims, however, are not killed. On January 31st,
1864, two, a youth and a maiden, were offered up (officially), and kept
alive to sweep King Gezo’s grave. The sporadic sacrifice mentioned in
the text was known to former travellers. “The immolation of victims is
not confined to a particular period, for at any time, should it be
necessary to send an account to his forefathers of any remarkable event,
the King despatches a courier to the shades, by delivering his message
to whoever may happen to be near him, and then ordering his head to be
chopped off immediately; and it has not unfrequently happened during the
present reign, that, as something new has occurred to the King’s mind,
another messenger (as Mr. C—nn—g very justly observed, like the
postscript of a letter) has instantly followed on the same errand,
perhaps in itself of the most trivial kind.”—Dr. M‘Leod, p. 64.]
[Footnote 24: It must not be forgotten, that even in the days of the
Religio Medici, all are denounced as infidels and atheists who deny the
reality of witches.]
[Footnote 25: Joseph Madarikan, an Egban boy recaptured from the
Dahomans in March, 1864, asserts that a man named Moses Oshoko, an
Ishagga convert, was crucified by the Dahomans, and that William
Doherty, an English subject, was not killed: that he has been put under
one of the chief captains, who was charged to be ready to produce him,
if demanded, even after twenty years.]
[Footnote 26: M. Brandaô, a Portuguese merchant, was so terrified by the
executions, that he fled to Whydah, and fell sick there.]
[Footnote 27: Minai (we go to), afunfun (the small mat tent under which
the King sits), ’khi (for akhi, a bazar or market), Uhun-jro men (in the
Uhun-jro space, or on the Uhun-jro day), Dadda Gezo (for Grandfather
Gezo).]
[Footnote 28: There is, or used to be, the same annual ceremony in the
city of Great Benin, called the “Coral Feast.”]
[Footnote 29: M. Jules Gérard (Appendix III.) seems to imagine that the
mutilation preceded the execution, which I believe is not the case. The
same error has been noticed in Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 220). Mr. Norris,
in 1772, exactly describes the gibbets, with the naked and mutilated
victims hanging by the ankles, and he says that they had been clubbed on
the head, as by the old Roman “Ammazzatore.” A few days afterwards I
saw, in the market-place, a dog similarly suspended, as a Vo-sisa, or
fetish to prevent disease.]
[Footnote 30: This Tokpon is accurately described by Mr. Norris, but the
illustration in the History (opposite p. 135) has been drawn by the
artist upon his imagination. The same may be said about all the plates
in that book. Commander Forbes (vol. ii. p. 33) is but little more
correct. Mr. Cruikshank measured, at the King’s request, his largest
Tokpon, and found it to be 54 feet in diameter, by about the same
height, supported by twenty-four posts, besides the central pole, and
raised at the flap by eighty-five iron rods.]
[Footnote 31: As Gezo sat under the Adanzan shed, so Gelele performs the
Ajalela fetish. The pot reminded me of that given to the old
Janissaries.]
[Footnote 32: The Poh-veh-soo of Commander Forbes. The name means Kpo
(leopard), fen (claw), ’su (grown); _viz._, “He can prey on all beasts,”
and is a title originally given by Tegbwesun.]
[Footnote 33: Alo (hand), lokpo (one), nun (mouth), gan (captain).]
[Footnote 34: Any “half-head” is called a Lali.]
[Footnote 35: The Ta-bla is so called because tied to the head. Some
fetisheers, especially women, wear, perched upon the tops of their
polls, and lashed on, the cranium not being able to get into the
_coiffure_, ridiculous little steeple hats of straw, with the broadest
brims, and the thinnest possible steeples.]
[Footnote 36: These in Ffon are called “Kago,” amongst the Egbas
“Panshukú.”]
[Footnote 37: These, I suppose, are the coronets of silver mentioned by
Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 254).]
[Footnote 38: So Dr. M‘Leod says, “By thus constantly practising
genuflexion upon the hard ground, their knees in time become almost as
hard as their heels.”]
[Footnote 39: From máu (fetish of moon), and nò (a mother).]
[Footnote 40: From Lisa (fetish of sun), and ’si (a wife).]
[Footnote 41: In this part of Africa “carrying” always means on the
head.]
[Footnote 42: Gbé (a bush, not to be confounded with Gbè, the world),
and to (father, or he that does).]
[Footnote 43: Zan (night), ku-ku (dead dead), meaning that Gezo, like
Queen Anne, has departed this life.]
[Footnote 44: This is the beer of Dahome. It is either of rice or of
maize—the former being by far the more delicate—and is made in the usual
African way. The grain is soaked, sun-dried upon a mat, and wetted with
water, till germination develops the saccharine principle. It is again
sun-dried, coarsely ground and boiled with water; after which it is
cooled and drunk. The main objection to it, as to palm wine, is that it
will not keep. The older travellers seem agreed to hold it an
unwholesome beverage. I have ever found it the reverse.]
[Footnote 45: The King is said also to have similar “white _women_,” but
I did not see any. Dr. M‘Leod (p. 106) notices these black whites, whom
the King would authorize to assume the European dress, carry an English
umbrella, and wear shoes.]
[Footnote 46: Agran means a jaw-bone (inferior and human).]
[Footnote 47: Men (man), ta (head), ’zinkpo, for azinkpo (a native
chair). Azinkpo yevo is a white man’s chair.]
[Footnote 48: Vi (child), de (any), k’alo (stretching out the arms as
when a child wishes to be carried).]
[Footnote 49: The reader will find this dance described in chapter xvi.]
[Footnote 50: Danh (the rainbow), li (stand), and ke (the world).]
[Footnote 51: Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 254) thinks of these old women as
if they were really royal mothers and grandmothers, and he makes one to
be a century old, “being surprised to see with what agility they moved,
considering their years.”]
CHAPTER XV.
OF THE SO-CALLED AMAZONS AND THE DAHOMAN ARMY.
A chronic exaggeration touching the mis-called “Amazons[52]” has of late
years prevailed in England. Mr. Duncan found it “certainly a surprising
sight in an uncivilised country.” Commander Forbes, who drew, as artists
say, “from feeling,” was the first to colour the melodramatic picture
with a “sensation” and picturesqueness, a sentiment and a wild romance,
in which the real object is wholly wanting. He begins his account with
the untravelled statement that “there is not a more extraordinary army
in the world than that of the military nation of Dahome.”
The origin of the somewhat exceptional organization is, I have said, the
masculine _physique_ of the women, enabling them to compete with men in
enduring toil, hardships, and privations. I have remarked this corporeal
equality of the sexes in the grand Bonny and the “Oil Rivers” of the
Biafran Bight, where the feminine harshness of feature and robustness of
form rival the masculine; and writers upon Siam have made the same
observation.
Bosman (1700) allows the kinglet of Whydah 4000 to 5000 wives, who,
besides labouring in the fields, were used to execute the royal
sentences.[53] The monarch of Yoruba, according to Clapperton, could
boast that his wives, of whom some composed his body-guard, would,
linked hand in hand, reach clean across his kingdom. The late King Gezo
used to boast that he had organized the Mi-no; but the History depicts
them before he was born. The Europeans who visited Agaja (1708-1730),
found the Dahoman Court much as it is at the present day. “If the chief
officers wished to speak to the King they first kissed the ground, then
whispered their pleasure into the ear of an old woman, who communicated
it to the King, and brought his answer.” The same volume also informs us
that the warlike monarch, when his force had been reduced by the
“Eyeos,” “armed a great number of women like soldiers, having their
proper officers, and furnished like regular troops with drums, colours,
and umbrellas, making at a distance a very formidable appearance.” With
these, in about A.D. 1728, he attacked and defeated the combined host of
the Whydahs and Popos, and since that time the Amazons have ever been a
power in the empire.[54]
Doubtless Gezo, one of the most successful amongst the Dahoman monarchs,
regarded the feminine force with favouring eye. He depended upon it to
check the turbulence and treachery of his subjects, and to ensure his
own safety, for
“Qui terret plus ipse timet; sors ista tyrannis
Convenit.”
He may have also wished to cause rivalry, by the example of what is in
most cases illogically termed the “weaker sex.[55]” Perhaps, like the
old-school Anglo-Indian Nabob, he may have preferred the maid to the
man-servant.
Gezo ordered every Dahoman of note in the kingdom to present his
daughters, of whom the most promising were chosen, and he kept the corps
clear of the servile and the captive. Gelele, his son, causes every girl
to be brought to him before marriage, and, if she pleases, he retains
her in the palace: the only subjects exempt from this rule are the old
English and French slaves at Whydah. These girls, being royal wives,
cannot be touched without danger of death, they never leave their
quarters unless preceded by a bell to drive men from the road, and all
have slaves who act as spies. The sexes meet on the march and in the
field: at parades, as has been shown, they are separated by the typical
bamboo. A peculiar fetish, placed by the priests at the Agbo-dewe gate
of the royal abode,[56] induces, by reason of the purity of the place,
certain pregnancy[57] in the soldieress that sins. Instances have been
known where conscience has made the offender coward enough to sicken, to
confess, and to doom her paramour, if not herself, to a cruel death.
They have also a “pundonor.” Like
“That Mary Ambree
Who marched so free,”
many an Amazon captured at Abeokuta[58] has refused to become a wife
till the captor, weary of opposition, has killed the _acerba puella_ as
a useless animal.[59]
Of Gelele’s Amazons about two-thirds are said to be maidens, a peculiar
body in Africa, where—though 11,000 may have been buried at Cologne—no
one expects to find the _integra puella_, much less the old maid.[60]
The remaining third has been married. That an element of desperation
might not be wanting, women taken in adultery and liable to death, are
dashed to the King and duly enlisted. Besides these criminals, the
Xanthippes, who make men’s eyes yellow, are very properly put into the
army, and Africa is well stocked with the noble army of martyrs that
begins not with Socrates, and that ends not with Mr. Thomas Sayers.[61]
It is evident that such an organization presents nought of novelty: the
systematic organization is more logical and less harmful than the
volunteer furies who, as Abolitionists, urge men to ruin and to death.
The soldieress, at least, joins in the danger: this thing does not.
David flying from Absalom left ten of his concubines to guard his palace
at Jerusalem. The Greeks probably derived their Amazonian myth from
exaggerated reports of the strength and valour of the Caucasian women.
With respect to the visit of Thalestris, who desired issue by the
conqueror of Asia (which Arrian has exploded), it is no more than what
many a Badawiyah will solicit from the traveller who in fair fight beats
off her husband and brother. Amongst the Homerites of South Arabia it
was a law for wives to revenge in battle the deaths of their husbands,
and mothers their sons. The Suliote women rivalled the men in defending
their homes against Osmanli invaders. The Damot or Abyssinian Amazons of
Alvarez (1520) would not allow their spouses to fight, as the Jivaro
helpmates of Southern America administer caudle to the sex that requires
it the least. The native princes of India, especially those of Hyderabad
in the Deccan, for centuries maintained a female guard of Urdu-
begani[62] whose courage and devotion were remarkable. Bodies of
European fighting women are found in the celebrated “Female Crusade,”
organized in 1147 by order of St. Bernard. Temba-Ndumba, among the Jagas
of Southern inter-tropical Africa, according to old travellers, made her
subjects rear and teach their female children war, but she was probably
mad.[63] The Tawarik women rank with men like the women of Christianity,
and transmit nobility to their children. Denham found the Fellatah wives
fighting like males. According to Mr. Thompson (1823), the Mantati host
that attacked old “Lattaku” was led by a ferocious giantess with one
eye. M. D’Arnaud (1840) informs us that the King of Bahr, on the Upper
Nile, was guarded by a battalion of spear women, and that his male
ministers never enter the palace, except when required to perform the
melancholy duty of strangling their master. At present the Tien-Wang, or
Heavenly King of the Tae-pings, has 1000 she-soldiers.
Sporadic heroines, like Tomyris and Penthesilea of the Axe, are found in
every clime and in all ages, from Semiramis to the artilleryman’s wife
of Saragossa. Such were Judith and Candace; Kaulah the sister of Derar,
and her friend Oserrah; the wife of Aban Ibn Saïb; Prefect Gregory’s
daughter; Joan of Arc; Margaret of Anjou; Black Agnes; Jeanne Hachette;
Begum Sombre; Kara Fatimah; Panna Maryan, and many
“A bold vigaro stout and tall,
As Joan of Arc, or English Moll,”
—charmers far too numerous to specify. Many a fair form was found stark
on the field of Waterloo. During the late Indian mutiny the Ranis were,
as a rule, more manly than the Rajahs. And at present the Anglo-American
States and Poland show women who, despite every discouragement, still
prefer the military profession to all others.[64]
The regimen in which these women are compelled to live, doubtless
increases their ferocity in fight. It is the essence of training every
animal, from a game cock to a pugilist, and a married she-soldier would
be useful only as a mother of men. Commander Forbes thus explains the
action of forced celibacy: “The extreme exercise of one passion will
generally obliterate the very sense of the others; the Amazons, whilst
indulging in the excitement of the most fearful cruelties, forget the
other desires of our fallen nature.” But all the passions are sisters. I
believe that bloodshed causes these women to remember, not to forget,
LOVE; at the same time that it gratifies the less barbarous, but, with
barbarians, equally animal feeling. Seeing the host of women who find a
morbid pleasure in attending the maimed and dying, I must think that it
is a tribute paid to sexuality by those who object to the ordinary
means.[65] Of course they are savage as wounded gorillas, more cruel far
than their brethren in arms.
“For men at most differ as heaven and earth;
But women, worst and best, as heaven and hell.”
The existence of the Amazons is the second great evil of the empire. The
first is, or rather was, a thirst for conquest, which, unlike the
projections of civilized lands, impoverish and debilitate the country.
The object of Dahoman wars and invasions has always been to lay waste
and to destroy, not to aggrandize the empire by conquest and annexation.
As the History puts it, the rulers have ever followed the example of
Agaja, the second founder of the kingdom: aiming at conquest and at
striking terror, rather than at accretion and consolidation. Hence there
has been a decrease of population, with an increase of territory, which
is, to nations, the surest road to ruin. In the present days the wars
have dwindled to mere slave hunts—a fact which it is well to remember.
The women troops, assumed to number 2500, should represent 7500
children; the waste of reproduction, and the necessary casualties of
“service,” in a region so depopulated, are as detrimental to the body
politic as a proportional loss of blood would be to the frame personal.
Thus the land is desert, and the raw material of all industry, man, is
everywhere wanting. Finally, as regards the Amazons, nothing so
outrageously insults manly pride in the adjoining nations as to find
that the warriors who attacked them so stoutly are women—and some of
them old women.
The dress, the _physique_, and the personal appearance of the Amazons,
have repeatedly been described in these pages. I have also alluded to
the organization of the corps, which requires, however, more detail.
The soldieresses are not divided into regiments, as is supposed by Mr.
Duncan. There are, however, in the “Household Brigade,” three distinct
divisions or commands, female as well as male.
The Fanti Company[66] takes the centre, and represents the King’s body-
guards. These women wear round the hair, which requires scanty
confinement, narrow white fillets, with rude crocodiles of blue cloth
sewn on to the band.[67]
The right wing, under the Gundeme, or she Min-gan, and the Khe-tun-gan,
or female Gau. It is not distinguished by any peculiarity of costume.
The left wing, in charge of the Yewe or she-Meu and the Akpa-dume, who
is the coadjutress of the Po-su.
The King generally pays “distinguished strangers” the compliment of
placing them in command of his bodyguard, which honour, however, does
not entitle them even to inspect the corps. The “Bush-king” has also his
captains both on the men’s and on the women’s sides. There are
lifeguards and commanders for all the deceased sovereigns; moreover,
every high official has his head war-man or war-woman, with a recognized
title. The _cadre_ of commissions, in fact would become a country
numbering twenty millions instead of some 150,000.
These three corps[68] consist of five arms, under their several
officers—
1. The Agbarya or blunderbuss-women, who may be considered the
grenadiers. They are the biggest and strongest of the force, and each is
accompanied by an attendant carrying ammunition. With the blunderbuss-
women rank the Zo-hu-nun, or carbineers, the Gan’u-nlan, or Sure-to-kill
Company, and the Achi, or bayoneteers.
2. The elephant huntresses, who are held to be the bravest. Of these
women, twenty have been known to bring down, at one volley, with their
rude appliances, seven animals out of a herd.
3. The Nyekplo-hen-to, or razor women, who seem to be simply an
_épouvantail_.
4. The infantry, or line’s-women, forming the staple of the force, from
whom, as in France, the _élite_ is drawn. They are armed with tower
muskets, and are well supplied with bad ammunition; bamboo fibre, for
instance, being the only wadding. They have but little ball practice.
They “manœuvre with the precision of a flock of sheep,” and they are too
light to stand a charge of the poorest troops in Europe. Personally,
they are cleanly made, without much muscle; they are hard dancers,
indefatigable singers, and, though affecting a military swagger, their
faces are anything but ferocious—they are rather mild and unassuming in
appearance. They fought with fury with Gezo before Abeokuta, because
there was a jealousy between them and their brother soldiers, and
because they had been led for many years by that king to small but sure
victory. They fled, however, with the rest, when a little perseverance
would have retrieved the fortunes of the day.
5. The Go-hen-to,[69] or archeresses, who in Gezo’s time were young
girls—the parade corps, the pick of the army, and the pink of dancers.
They were armed with the peculiar Dahoman bow,[70] a quiver of poisoned
light cane shafts—mere birdbolts, with hooked heads, spiny as
sticklebacks—and a small knife lashed with a lanyard to the wrist. They
were distinguished by scanty attire, by a tattoo extending to the knee,
and by an ivory bracelet on the left arm. Their weapon has naturally
fallen in public esteem. Under Gezo’s son, they are never seen on
parade; and when in the field they are used as scouts and porters; like
our drummers and doolee-bearers, they also carry the wounded to the
rear.[71]
In 1863, I saw all these women troops marching, on service, out of Kana.
The officers, distinguished by their white head-cloths, and by an
esquiress-at-arms, generally a small slave girl, carrying the musket,
led their commands. They were mostly remarkable for a stupendous
stratopyga, and for a development of adipose tissue which suggested
anything but ancient virginity—man does not readily believe in fat “old
maids.” I expected to see Penthesileas, Thalestrises, Dianas—lovely
names! I saw old, ugly, and square-built frows, trudging “grumpily”
along, with the face of “cook” after being much “knagg’d” by “the
missus.” The privates carried packs on cradles, like those of the male
soldiery, containing their bed-mats, clothes, and food for a week or a
fortnight, mostly toasted grains and bean-cake, hot with peppers.
Cartridge-pouches of two different shapes were girt round their waists,
and slung to their sides were water-gourds, fetish-sacks, bullet-
wallets, powder-calabashes, fans, little cutlasses, wooden pipe-cases
enveloped in leather tobacco-bags, flint, steel, and tinder,[72] and
Lilliputian stools, with three or four legs, cut out of single blocks.
Their weapons were slung, and behind their backs dangled their hats,
scarecrow felts, “extinguishers” of white cotton useful as _sacs de
nuit_, umbrellas of plaited palm-leaf, and low-crowned, broad-brimmed
home-made straws, covered with baft more or less blue.
After a careful computation in 1863, I obtained the following
results:—Before ten A.M. were counted 1439, mostly weaponed; they then
marched in knots, in all 246; making, when we retired to breakfast, a
total of 1685. The movement was interrupted till our return, when the
King set out with a body-guard of 353. Thus the grand total was 2038,
and at most, allowing for omissions, 2500. But of these one-third were
unarmed, or half-armed, leaving the fighting women at a figure of 1700.
Mr. Bernasko and others, who exaggerate the consequence of the country,
asserted that, this being a small campaign, a large corps of Amazons
remained at Agbome, but I subsequently ascertained that such was not the
case.[73] Mr. Duncan (1845) reckons 6000 women soldiers (in vol. i. p.
227), and 8000 Amazons (vol. i. p. 231). Commander Forbes and Mr.
Beecroft (1849-1850), give 5000, but the heroines, like the commissariat
cattle in Afghanistan, were marched out of one gate and in through
another.[74] M. Wallon (1856-1858), besides dreaming of twenty or
twenty-five howitzers, carronades, and bronze mortars on campaigning
beds, assumed the number to be 5000; but his figures are all seen
through a magnifying medium.[75] Mr. Enschott (1862), after inventing a
park of artillery, furnished Dahome with 10,000 Amazons, which Commodore
Wilmot (1863) reduced to a half. The fact is, these “most illustrious
viragoes” are now a mere handful. King Gezo lost the flower of his force
under the walls of Abeokuta, and the loss has never been made good.
If the feminine force of Dahome is poor, the male is poorer far. The
History asserts, that “fear never enters the Dahoman mind”; but that
race has been long extinct, and Nagos, slaves, and mongrels occupy its
place.[76] The women are as brave as, if not braver than, their brethren
in arms, who certainly do not shine in that department of manliness.[77]
Except a few guards, the _huissiers_ of the palace, there are absolutely
no regulars; all are military men—even the singers, the hunchbacks, and
the eunuchs; they live in the town, and they are a mere militia, trading
and mechanical bourgeois and slaves. Dr. M‘Leod (1803) describes the
5000 to 6000 men whom he saw bivouacking near Grigwee (Whydah) as a
“wild-looking group, and armed in the most irregular manner, some with
musket, others with swords, spears, and clubs.” I inspected them when
setting out in 1863. Of the soldiers, about one-third was armed with
swords and Tower muskets, or more generally with cheap trade guns; the
others were serviles, used for carriage; some had the artless bow, many
carried only a knife or a war-club; and all were provided with the
inevitable rope to secure “chattels.” I need hardly repeat that the
object of a Dahoman war is to capture, not to kill. It was not easy to
form an estimate of their numbers, but, reckoning all hands, 15,000 men,
and certainly not more, might have passed through Kana.[78] This would
leave, at the end of a week’s march, 8000, and a maximum of 9000, both
sexes and all arms included; and these are the numbers that are
estimated, by English officers who afterwards visited their deserted
camps, to have been “out” when attacking the towns of Ishagga (1862),
Igbara (1863), and Abeokuta (1864).
The reader will see that I differ totally from Mr. Duncan[79]: “After
all I have seen of Africa, I believe the King of Dahomey possesses an
army superior to any sovereign west of the Great Desert”; and from M.
Wallon: “L’armée de Dahomy est donc suffisamment aguerrie et assez forte
pour lutter avec avantage sur son terrain même avec des troupes
disciplinées, extenuées par de longues marches, par le climat et
dépourvues d’artillerie.” And when Commodore Wilmot declares that “they
(the Amazons) would prove formidable enemies with good weapons, if they
possessed discipline and real courage,” it is equivalent to saying that
they would be good soldiers if they were good soldiers.
The capture of Abeokuta, and the massacre of its population, have ever
been, since Commander Forbes’ time, the pet theme of Dahoman bard and
warrior, and the King’s daily thought and nightly dream. To those who
know anything of the subject, it is evident that the capital of Egba-
land will, like threatened folks, live long. Gelele has twice attempted
to retrieve his father’s honour, but he and his troops have never dared
to cross the Ogun River, in fact to sight the city. This year will be
the third attack, and if it prove a failure he will not try another
assault for many a long day.
Thus Dahome steadily loses _prestige_. Weakened by traditional policy,
by a continual issue of blood, and by the arbitrary measures of her
King,[80] and demoralized by an export slave trade, by close connection
with Europeans, and by frequent failure, this breed of black Spartans is
rapidly falling into decay. The Abeokutans, far from feeling their old
terror of the King, now openly boast that they will “whip” the man who
attacked them with women. Had the capital of Egba-land not engaged in a
four years’ war with Ibadan, the Lord of the Amazons would not have
retired in safety from Ishagga and Igbara. At present, the Egbas, shut
up within their walls, are afraid to take the initiative; but some day
the King’s pet prophet will lead him to measures involving the loss of
his army, and possibly of his life.[81]
[Footnote 52: The word is probably some barbarian term Grecised. It has
three popular derivations—the Scythian, Amm Azzon, which the Greeks
interpreted, “without breasts”; ἄνευ μὰζου, without a breast (the
right), mythically believed to have been removed for the better use of
the bow; thirdly, ἄμαζωσας, or women living together. In Dahome the
soldieresses have two titles, Akho-’si, also applied to the eunuchry,
means king’s (Akhosu) wife (’si). The other and equally popular name is
Mi-no, our (mi) mothers (no). The system of motherhood is completely
mistaken by Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 228). The commonalty rarely know
their ranks and titles, and scarcely even their private names. The
doings inside the palace are always spoken of _sotto voce_. The Anglo-
African calls them “Ama-johns,” for which also a derivation might
perhaps be found.]
[Footnote 53: Of these women 300 to 400 would be sent to strip the
offender’s house, and to lay it level with the ground. But the King of
Dahome, it must be observed, distinguishes between his wives and his
soldieresses. At Court the former are unarmed, the latter carry weapons,
and do not commonly expect his particular attentions. The difference has
been overlooked by Dr. M‘Leod (p. 38), and by almost all subsequent
writers.]
[Footnote 54: Mr. Bulfinch Lambe, present at the capture of Ahada by the
same king, in 1724, mentions 2000 royal wives, but does not allude to
“Amazons,” which may be explained by the brevity of his communication.]
[Footnote 55: Because we make it so. The feminidæ, like the females of
the equidæ, show little corporeal inferiority to the males, and the best
proof is, that amongst tribes living in the so-called State of Nature,
women are generally the only labourers. We may etiolate them, as in New
England, or we may expand them, by beef and beer, to grenadiers, as in
olden England and in the north of Europe. To the present day, the woman
of the Scotch fishing islands is the man of the family, who does not
marry till she can support what she produces; and the times are not long
passed since she was, amongst the Southrons, a barber, a mason, and a
day labourer. It appears to me that in England there is a revival of the
feminine industries; and when it is asked, “What shall we do with our
old maids?” I would reply, that many might be enlisted. When Mr. Duncan
was asked by the King of Dahome if the same number of English women
would equal the Amazons, he, of course, answered _no_; we had no female
soldiers in England, but we had women who, individually and voluntarily,
had equally distinguished themselves. Such feminine troops would serve
well in garrison, and eventually in the field. The Medea of Euripides
preferred the risks of spear and shield amongst men to a single casualty
after the manner of women. The warlike instinct, as the annals of the
four quarters of the globe prove, is easily bred in the opposite sex. A
sprinkling of youth and beauty amongst the European Amazons would make
campaigning a pleasure to us; and the measure may be taken into
consideration when our new-fangled rage for neutrality shall be
succeeded by more honourable and less “respectable” sentiments; and when
the model Englishman shall be something better than a warm man of
business, with a good ledger, and “the dean’s daughter” to wife.]
[Footnote 56: Agbo (gate), dewe (search out, viz., your fault). Some say
that all the fetishes can discover crime.]
[Footnote 57: Others believe that the fetish, like the bitter water of
the Jews, causes bowel disease.]
[Footnote 58: This was written before the latest Dahoman attack, and
when last off Lagos (May 9, 1864) I heard the same thing.]
[Footnote 59: Though opportunity, which makes the thief, is decidedly
deficient, there have been, there are, and there ever will be,
occasional scandals. As a rule, these fighting _célibataires_ prefer the
_morosa voluptas_ of the schoolmen and the peculiarities of the Tenth
Muse.]
[Footnote 60: Dr. M‘Leod sadly errs (pp. 51, 53) when saying, “A
mutinous wife or a vixen, sometimes the treasure and delight of an
Englishman,—the enlivener of his fireside, and his safeguard from
_ennui_,—is a phenomenon utterly unknown in Dahomy; that noble spirit
which animates the happier dames in lands of liberty being here, alas!
extinguished and destroyed.” He is apparently somewhat a _farceur_, that
doctor. According to Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 141), if a man commit
adultery with the wife of another, and the case is laid before the King,
the offender is doomed to serve, so long as he is capable, in the
capacity of a soldier, and when unfit for that service, he was generally
offered as a sacrifice at one of the King’s annual Customs; but the
latter part of this cruel sentence has been abolished by the late King
of Dahome (Gezo), who is much more merciful than his predecessors.]
[Footnote 61: Commander Forbes wrongly, I believe, states that the King
gives Amazons in marriage to his warriors; he “dashes” his daughters and
the palace slaves, but he keeps the fighteresses for himself. Commodore
Wilmot (Appendix III.) asserts, that the King rarely takes the Amazons
to wife; on the contrary, he has several children by them.]
[Footnote 62: Urdu (a camp), begani (feminine of beg, a captain).]
[Footnote 63: In “Savage Africa,” a book which has before been quoted,
we read that this amiable Ethiopian pounded in a mortar her own male
child to make an invulnerable ointment; that she resolved to turn the
world into a desert, and did her best; and, finally, that waxing worse
with years, she took a lover to her arms by night and dined off him next
day. Of course this black Scourge of God was poisoned.]
[Footnote 64: On the other hand, the notorious Queen Zinga, or Jinga of
Angola, as she is called by the old travellers, daughter of the King who
died in 1640, kept, we are told, about her Court, fifty or sixty young
men for amatory purposes, dressed and named like women, whilst she
assumed the male dress and name; a touching tribute to the superiority
of masculine human nature in the mind of the feminine. The Court of
Loango offered a third anomaly, truly typical of the childish African
brain. The Macouda, a female officer of high rank, cohabited with any
man of her choice; the issue was accounted blood royal; and if her
concubators were unfaithful, death was their penalty. A touching tribute
to the superiority of the female in those regions. In Dahome the woman
is officially superior; but under other considerations, she still
suffers from male arrogance. The King has repeatedly said to me, that a
woman is still a woman. And when the Amazons boast that they are not
women but men, they stand self-convicted of the fact, that however near
to equality the sexes are, there is still always a somewhat of
preponderance of the active over the passive half of humanity.]
[Footnote 65: Instances of this organization must occur to every man who
has had a somewhat extended experience. I once knew an amateur nurse who
was kindness personified to the sick man, and who, after curing him,
always conceived to him a chronic aversion.]
[Footnote 66: The Blue (Blú or Brú) Company corresponds, on the men’s
side, with the Fanti.]
[Footnote 67: The captainesses of the life-guards are, as has been said,
Danh-ji-hun-to and Ji-bi-whe-ton. Those of Gezo were on the right Akutu,
on the other side Humbagi. The captain of the present King’s male
lifeguards is Adan-men-nun-kon, of the late ruler Gulonun, which is said
to mean “Tower musket.”]
[Footnote 68: In the field, however, as has been said in chapter viii.,
the Dahoman army numbers four divisions.]
[Footnote 69: Go (quiver), hen (hold), to (one that does). The bow is
called Dápo, and the arrow Gá.]
[Footnote 70: Go (quiver), hen (hold), to (one that does). The bow is
called Dápo, and the arrow Gá.
2 It is not straight nor a segment of a circle, but partly both, the
lower end being much less bulged than the upper horn, which, to protect
the strain, is armed with iron rings. The Dahomans ignore the crossbow,
nor have they, like the Nagos and Makhis, an iron guard for the right-
hand fingers, or a leather on the left wrist. The only efficient poison
comes from the Makhi country. Mr. Duncan (vol. ii. chap. 8) found poison
in the Dassa mountains north of Dahome, and the arrow heads of superior
manufacture.]
[Footnote 71: A man killed in battle is carried within the frontiers of
Dahome and buried in his fatherland. The Yoruba custom of “Ettá”
prevails here to a certain extent. When a traveller dies at a distance
from home, his companions must bring back for sepulture clippings of his
hair and nails.]
[Footnote 72: Called Dekiya, and made of scrapings of palm-trunk mixed
with a charcoal, known as Addisin, and sold in every market.]
[Footnote 73: When the King sets out upon a campaign, he carries with
him even the hammock-bearers of his European visitors, and the fishermen
of Whydah, who are like the butchers and bakers of an English town.
Moreover, all the runaways are sent up in irons to the capital.]
[Footnote 74: This trick is not beyond the African brain. Captain John
Adams (Remarks on the Country from Cape Palmas to the River Congo;
London: Whittaker & Co., 1823) mentions a French officer who easily
detected it when the army of the King of “Hio” (Oyo) was marched past
him. It was usually numbered at 100,000, the majority being cavalry; and
for centuries it has been the terror of the southern country.]
[Footnote 75: That officer makes the Dahoman kingdom to contain 800,000
to 900,000 souls. He gives Whydah, 20,000 to 25,000; Allada, 15,000 to
18,000; Agbome, 30,000; and the Dahoman army, 25,000 to 30,000.]
[Footnote 76: Commander Forbes rightly stated this in vol. i. p. 19.
“Strange and contradictory as it may sound, this great nation is no
nation, but a banditti, and there are few pure Dahomans.” Even the local
papers remarked the fact during the last attack.]
[Footnote 77: I have heard much of the English West India regiments and
of the negro corps of the Northern Union. But the testimony of white men
under fire with them, and—one of the best criterions of the soldier’s
efficiency—the list of officers killed and wounded in the few skirmishes
which have taken place during my service on the West African Coast
(1860-64), convince me that they are worth even less than Sepoys. All
men “well trained, well treated, well led, and well supported,” will of
course fight; but the Jamaicans and the West Africans will behave
perhaps the worst. I by no means include the Hausas, the Mandengas, and
other Moslem races, a material from which tolerable and even good
soldiers, as blacks, can be made.]
[Footnote 78: Mr. T. B. Freeman (1842) set down the number at 65,000.
The official figure of King Gezo’s army when he attacked Abeokuta
(1851), and that which will be adopted in history, is 16,000 Dahomans,
viz., 10,000 men, and the rest women, against 8,000 Egbas. For the whim
of truth the numbers should be inverted; but this would rob the
“deliverance” of its “providential” element.]
[Footnote 79: Vol. i. p. 240.]
[Footnote 80: It is said that Gelele has resolved to grind the faces of
his subjects for ten years, of which six have now elapsed. After that
time they will be applied to honest labour, and a man shall live on a
cowrie a day, so cheap will provisions become. He thus inverts the
Quinquennium Neronis, and however allegiant may be his people, he will
probably carry severity too far. But lately forty families have fled in
a batch to “Porto Novo” as a land of liberty, and they will be followed
by others.]
[Footnote 81: These remarks were written at Agbome, in January, 1863,
six weeks before the King’s utter failure at Abeokuta.]
CHAPTER XVI.
ADDO-KPON, THE BUSH KING’S SO-SIN CUSTOMS.
SECTION A.
_Of Addo-kpon, the Bush King._
One of the Dahoman monarch’s peculiarities is, that he is double; not
merely binonymous, nor dual, like the spiritual Mikado and the temporal
Tycoon of Japan, but two in one. Gelele, for instance, is King of the
city, Addo-kpon[82] of the “bush”; that is to say, of the farmer folk
and the country as opposed to the city. So the late Gezo’s _alter ego_
was Ga-kpwe.[83] This country ruler has his official mother, the Danh-
li-ke; his Min-gan, or chief executioner the Wimekho; and his Meu, or
master of ceremonies, the Awesu, father of the Whydah Yevo-gan. His
palace is at Akpwe-ho, a village on the road to Aja, about six miles to
the south-west of Agbome; as it is still built of matting and will not
be made of swish until Abeokuta is taken, I was not permitted to see it.
The house is furnished with male and female officers, eunuchs, and
wives, besides which, criminals and victims[84] are set apart at the
Customs. Thus Dahome has two points of interest to the ethnologist—the
distinct precedence of women, and the double king.
Our travellers are wholly silent upon the subject of this strange
organization.[85] I presume that the duplicate was invented of late
years to enable the King to trade like that Farmer Monarch—
“Who rams and cows and lambs and bullocks fed.”
Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II.) first assumed the direct monopoly of
commerce which his forefathers had held ignoble, but his successors
dropped it. It cannot be now said of Dahomans—
“They have a king who buys and sells,”
and yet Addo-kpon derives all the advantages of the industry of the
palace, in which many things, as pottery, pipes, mats, and cloths, are
manufactured and monopolized.
SECTION B.
_The Nun-kpon ’gbe Addo-kpon-ton,[86] or First Day of the Bush King’s
So-sin Customs._
On Monday, January 4th, 1864, we resumed the labours of “pleasure,”
without which, some one has truly said, life would be very endurable.
At two P.M. we passed through the city gate, where we were disgusted by
seeing the corpses still sitting and suspended. It was a hideous
spectacle, the turkey-buzzards picking at—but I will spare the reader’s
feelings: suffice it to say, even our hanging in chains was not more
barbarous.
We were somewhat late: as the parasol showed, royalty had already taken
its station. Whilst bowing to the King, we were informed that he wished
us again to “fight for cowries,” and, like himself, to dance before the
people. I excused ourselves rather to see how he would treat the matter;
peeled finger-tips and a sprained _annularis_ on a previous occasion had
interfered with my writing, about which he was most anxious; moreover,
the drivers had again ousted us, thus spoiling another night’s rest. The
ministers made the usual difficulty about delivering the Message, but an
answer came back at once. The King knew that white men do not “wrestle
for shells,” but that having admired my “bravery” and cunning—I had
rolled the Reverend over—he was desirous of seeing it again. Under the
circumstances, however, I must not fight, but receive cowries from him
at once. As regards the dancing, he had promised to show the lieges his
white friend’s performance, and he hoped that they might not be
disappointed. What answer could be made to a reply so amiable?
We found a small concourse of people, and about two dozen men were
kneeling before an equal number of baskets containing cowries. The
subject of the palaver was the eternal Abeokuta. Adan-men-nun-kon came
to me, and in a loud tone declared that I had fought well for cowries,
and was a strong man, like my company, the Blues. Whereupon the King
called me up to the bamboos, and with _force complimens_ presented me
with two heads, which I carried off amidst the applause of the people.
Mr. Cruikshank and the Reverend were similarly honoured. A little
excitement was caused by two men being severally hustled off to prison,
whilst the new Ajyaho stood up and explained their offence. They began
life as common soldiers, and had risen to be captains. Receiving on this
occasion no cowries, they had sent three impertinent reminders by the
chief ministers to say that they were in the presence; whereas the King
is the King, and does with his own what he wills. These men were greedy,
and must be punished accordingly. After which Gelele dismissed the
speakers for making too much noise. They carried off their cowries, the
males “presenting arms” with muskets, the women with sticks and knives.
Then we had for three hours, without intermission, the usual Amazon
dance and song, chorus and solo, with the whole _corps de ballet_, and
several _pas de deux_, ending in _prestissimo_ movements very fatiguing.
The King himself tapped a fast measure on a little tom-tom, and when his
officers pointed out this to us, we rose and bowed, whilst those around
presented arms, and royalty acknowledged the salutation with a small
crooked stick. Gelele made a speech about Abeokuta, when the Bo-chio
figures appeared, for a short time, and the normal patrol, a band with
skull-flags and drums, passed up the square.[87] The Amazons then sang a
song of disgrace for those who would not fight, and a pair of Ursine
dances concluded with a ferocious allocution by the Po-su. At the end of
this scene the women knelt and clapped hands before Gezo’s ghost.
Presently the caboceers approached the bamboos, and reclined on the
ground whilst the King again addressed them. A favourite captain, the
Toffa, had lately died, and another was to be promoted to his post. Some
of the ministers had proposed one of the royal brothers as heir, but the
King had replied, that although “Tanistry” may be lawful, it is still
the will of Mau (God) that when the sire dies the son should inherit.
Another Toffa was then elected, with the usual ceremonies.
When nearly dark, we were dismissed. The hammock men rushed frantically
past the place of execution to escape its terrible atmosphere.
SECTION C.
_The Second day of Addo-kpon, the Bush King’s So-sin Customs._
We deferred our exit till 3 P.M. of January 5th, for the sun was
terribly hot. On reaching the old place, we found three jesters
professionally at work before the King: as might be expected, two of
them were beating the third, who was pretending to cry. The Meu then
gave a pair of bead necklaces to each of the chief ministers, who, after
acknowledging the present, knelt before and solemnly saluted a large
basketful of “Wo” pudding.
Presently began the drum-beat, known as “Gblo.” At the further end of
the square appeared about twenty men, three of whom had tails of some
undistinguishable material ringed with black and yellow; these
appendages were fastened to small square pads of red cloth, adorned with
cowries, and the pincushion was girt round the waist over the loin-
wrapper. They pranced up to us with the left leg forwards, bending
slightly as they touched the ground, and a peculiar movement of the
glutei made the tail which out-topped their heads revolve like a
Catherine’s wheel. They were loudly greeted by the people, and were
presently joined by a volunteer with an irregular “fixing” of blue
cloth; he elicited equal applause. After saluting the King, they
disappeared. As has been shown, there is a similar female institution
within the palace.[88]
There had been some question amongst us touching the proper
signification of “Addo-kpon,” which the Buko-no professed inability to
explain. A message was sent by a Dakro woman to the King, who at once
honoured me with a full account of it. I acknowledged this philological
civility by returning “compliments.”
We were then summoned before the throne. The old man Meu, who required
perpetual prompting, addressed me with his childish treble in the usual
loud and would-be startling tone, “Mashna,” _i.e._, Commissioner. To
this the official response is an equally vehement “Wé!—adsum.[89]” He
then presented me with a singer’s Kpo-ga, or staff, and Mr. Cruikshank
with another, somewhat less silvered. We bowed and retired, the weight
of new honours pressing heavy on our shoulders. After sitting down, we
were again summoned by the old Meu, who informed me that the King had
been pleased to put me in the place of his Min-gan, or chief
executioner, whilst my companion was to perform before him as his Meu,
or master of ceremonies. I was then invested with a Bonu-gan-jei, or
“caboceer beads.” This was a double necklace of 240 greenish beads, with
eight cylinders of red coral; behind it hung a pigtail of sixteen cotton
strings, the thread being spun by a woman on the right of the throne.
The coral was sham, and the beads were poor imitation of the Popo
article called “Ketu.” Mr. Cruikshank and the Reverend were also
presented with similar symbols of high dignity and African
parsimoniousness.
The King had repeatedly fixed a day for me to dance before him, and had
deferred the operation probably with the delicate motive of allowing me
time to prepare myself for so great an event. Now, however, the hour had
come. I collected my party in front of the semicircle of caboceers, gave
time to the band, and performed a Hindustani _pas seul_, which elicited
violent applause, especially from the King. My companion then danced a
Dahoman dance with Governor Mark as fugleman, and his _disinvoltura_
charmed the people. It was then the Reverend’s turn to perform. He
posted himself opposite the throne, placed upon another stool his
instrument, a large flutina or concertina, and having preliminarily
explained the “God-palaver.[90]” bravely intoned his favourite hymns.
They were, Matthias (words by the excellent Dr. Watts, and singularly
out of place in Agbome), Arnold’s Job, with a refrain (making _more_
rhyme to _endure_), and Martin Luther’s “Old Hundreth” (opening with
“All people that on earth _do_ dwell.”) How is that the Wesleyan mind
cannot forego its fondness for this Ennian literature? The people stared
and chuckled a little, but—
Omnibus hoc vitium est cantoribus, inter amicos,
Ut nunquam inducant animum cantare rogati,
Injussi nunquam desistant.
The Reverend being in his pulpit, so to speak, gave his listeners a good
half hour of edification.
When the instrument was mute, the King proposed a modification. The
Reverend was to play and sing, whilst Mr. Cruikshank and I must dance as
before on both sides.[91] It was almost too ridiculous, but we complied
for a short time. My second _pas seul_, which ended the affair, was
greeted with firing guns and presenting arms by all my company, men and
women, especially the latter, to whom the salutation had been especially
directed. It required some strength of mind to prevent holding oneself a
manner of prodigy; the people evidently thought the power of dancing, of
using a sword, of learning enough to understand them in a month, of
writing down everything seen so as to recall it to their memories, and
of sketching objects so that even they could recognize them, to be an
avatar of intellect.
We then retired to a little distance, and sat aligned fronting the King,
whilst all the caboceers, in tumultuous throng, danced around us with
loud songs and cries of praise and congratulation. The parson then
intoned in “quick metre,” despite the singing master,[92]
“O, let us be joyful, joyful, joyful,
When we meet to part no more”
—an injunction involving consequences possibly even more lugubrious than
that truly abominable (to the African traveller at least) description of
future bliss in a land where there is
“No veiled sun, no clouded sky,
But sacred, high, eternal noon.”
Thus the Reverend acquired the title of “Missionary Governor.[93]” We
then withdrew our chairs to the south-eastern corner of the square, and
sat there till dark, watching the circumambulation of the King’s women.
It was the same scene as on New Year’s Day, and it ended our immediate
labours in the presence. Again the vultures spotted the large tree
before the palace gate. Surely they must have a sense of “time,” telling
them when to expect a feast. For to-night is a second Zan Nyanyana, a
Nox Iræ, when Gelele, as Addo-kpon, will slay the remainder of his
criminals and victims.
Our dancing had so excited the multitude, that we had hardly dined
before an irruption of friends by the score, all wishing to learn “white
man’s fashion,” crowded the house; and to increase confusion, arrived
the outward-bound mail-bag, bringing its usual amount of care and
excitement—such a contrast with the ataraxy and the _comme il faut_ calm
that characterize the more refined Anglo-Tropical mind. I thanked my
star for sending me to Dahome, and did not “endorse” the sentiment—
“Oh! la belle chose que la poste.”
SECTION D.
_The Be-du-’gbe,[94] or Third Day of the Bush King’s So-sin Customs._
Operations began at 7 A.M. on January 6th, when the King sent us four
baskets of akkara, or bean-cake yellow with palm-oil, and four pots of
ahan-vo[95]—“red liquor,” or native beer. His father brewed with maize,
but being a Diomedes, holding himself superior to his sire, he employs
for the purpose “white man’s rice.” The produce is rhubarb-coloured,
subacid, anything but “bub,” weak but wholesome and refreshing.
Our old host, of whose meddling propensities we had every day to
complain, visited us at 8 A.M., when we knew that nothing would be done
before noon, and authoritatively ordered us breakfastless to the palace,
for which he was, of course, ejected. Formerly English strangers were
lodged with the Meu, whom they found an intolerable stickler for
etiquette. Thence they were transferred to the Buko-no, and now the King
should be directed to build for them a private house; meanwhile lodging
them with the Prince Chyudaton.
At 10 A.M., in no very placid state of mind, we made for the palace. The
nine dead bodies had been removed after the fourth day of exhibition,
and in their stead were eight others, whose limp limbs showed that they
had lately met their doom. Four were hanging head downwards on single
gallows; a pair, one above the other, was seated, in their rude San
Benitos, on a rough scaffolding; and two were lying prone upon
horizontal planks raised on poles twenty feet high, with their heads
protruding from salt-bags of the common matting. We were again assured
that all were criminals and captives, and that the two last mentioned
had been thus grotesquely laid out for stealing the King’s salt—which
was probable. A little beyond the bodies, the top of a conical tent of
crimson cloth, a smaller Tokpon, intended for the King’s nightly
lodging, protruded from a mat fence covered with sadly tattered cloths.
Instead of dismounting at the south-eastern angle of the palace, we rode
behind our host—who, by-the-bye, had declared that whilst he did not
dismount we should[96]—to the thin-shadowed tree before the Komasi Gate.
Then we were fronted, as usual, by a semicircle of men and boys; and
sundry of the caboceers came to greet us with “mawnin’.[97]” One of
them, the Gbe-wedo, wanted remedies for a bad Guinea-worm. A medical man
visiting Agbome has no holiday; every twenty-four hours he will find a
fresh but a feeless case; and if he wants “practice,” he has only to
provide himself with what drugs and instruments the limited dispensaries
of the West African Coast allow. On the ground at each side of the
palace entrance were four heads, recently removed; this time they were
almost hidden behind little fences of grass. Thus the total number of
deaths for Addo-kpon, the Bush King, were sixteen, whereas Akhosu
Gelele, the City King, slew twenty-three; and a total of thirty-nine
lives were forfeited during the So-sin Customs of Agbome, in 1863-64.
At 10.45 A.M. we entered the palace, and found the larger Tokpon pitched
and surrounded with white cloth. Few spectators had assembled, and the
Ken-tin, or chief singer, occupied the centre of the yard, with nineteen
men kneeling behind him in two rows. He wore thimble-horns, a crimson
velvet cloak, like a caballero in the days of Gil Blas, and a scarlet
loin-cloth; he held the insignia of his order, a silver-mounted sword, a
bard’s staff, and a large black-horse tail. As the ceremony, which was
almost the same as the Display of the King’s Poverty lengthily described
on January 2nd, began earlier this day, the King entered at 11.45 A.M.
He was habited in a toga of blue and yellow tartan, and a green velvet
toque, with two horizontal stripes of silver lace; his principal
ornament was a necklace of cut and stained glass set in Mosaic gold, and
worth a few shillings. He came up, affably shook hands and snapped
fingers with us, and told me to write down everything seen on that
occasion—which I will not do. The whole affair was mean in the extreme.
The ministers and captains, male and female, paraded as before; but this
being the Bush King’s fête, they were fewer in number, and not so richly
attired as before. Baskets of cassava were as usual distributed to the
crowd, and there was no want of provaunt in the palace—its only merit.
Before entering the yard, the King had sent a message to ask me if I had
any objection in joining the display. My reply was, by no means, if he
wished it, and would allow us to walk by ourselves under parasols, which
are not permitted to the lieges. He freely consented, and with all
ceremony we circumambulated, in uniform, and with our head-decorations
and singer’s staves, the palace-yard from left to right, and not
regarding the throne as we passed the entrance. The bands of women in
the pavilion, and of men outside, frantically greeted us with cries of
_Yevo!_—the whites! After the third round we formed up in line and bowed
to the King, who was sitting upon a raised daïs with a clear approach
lined with bottles of liquor, calabashes of food, and the women of the
palace. He took up a fine gold-laced Spanish broad-brim,[98] and sending
out six flasks of Curaçoa and other liqueurs, pledged us all in turn.
The procession was succeeded by terribly lengthy speeches from the
Adanejan and the Gan, who complimented Gelele upon having so worthily
performed his Customs in the presence of white men. The addresses were
concluded amidst loud exclamations of _Un ’so!_ “I answer you,” and
_Yati!_ meaning, in Fanti, “I have heard,” the haranguers raising arms
and forefingers. These people have certainly practised as much as any
American politician the art of public speaking; they can talk for an
hour without saying anything.
At 3.15 P.M. the “wealth” began to pass, and terribly slow was this part
of the proceedings. The King attempted to lighten our labour by sending
us liquor, water, fruits, and a Moslem sweetmeat called Du-du-kwia, an
African imitation of the Arabian Halwa.[99] Baskets of provisions and
cowries were brought in great numbers from the palace, and most of the
caboceers had complicated dinners carried by their wives and slave-
girls. The smallest gift from the King was received with cries of “Wé!”
This was well; the royal hand is looked to, not the value of what it
out-deals. We were not provided with “pass-rum” before darkness came on,
and as we hurried housewards, the light railings along the road told us
that the indefatigable King’s labours had by no means ended. Firing of
guns disturbed the night, gin and rum were distributed, and cowries were
thrown; this we learned next morning, when a patient came with a finger
badly bitten in the struggle.
SECTION E.
_The E na-nyin hun,[100] or Fourth Day of the Bush King’s So-sin
Customs._
We listened to Hope’s flattering tale about a holiday, but at 2.15 P.M.,
on January 7th, we were unexpectedly summoned to the palace. The Tokpon
and the human heads had been removed from the entrance sides, nor was
there any connecting splotch of blood. Eight men danced on the male
side, the bamboos were then extended, when seven women, a small girl,
and a mistress of ceremonies in the rear, began to perform. As the sun
was sinking low, the King left his shed with a _peloton_ of fifty wives,
holding a singer’s staff, and shaded by a red-and-green parasol; after
adjusting his toga, he bowed to the tent occupied by his father’s ghost.
He sang to a male band, whilst the women joined in the chorus, and then
he inverted the process. The gist of the chant was, that miserable are
the sires of poor men who cannot honour them with offerings of wo-
pudding and greens in silver-mounted calabashes, such as Gezo was now
receiving. The sentiment was heard with the “khé” and the “Ububu” on
both sides. Six women then joined the King in singing and dancing. After
repeated performances to honour Gezo, Gelele presented us with half a
loaf of sugar and a basket of salt, for which we returned thanks. The
King presently sang in praise of his visitors, and danced repeated
solos. When this ended, a general ballet of women tumultuously advanced
amidst numerous discharges of guns, lasting till darkness came on. Mr.
Bernasko was then summoned to play “music” before royalty, but his sweet
sounds were drowned in negro noise. At last silence was obtained, and
the Meu, addressing us by our names, informed us that the morrow would
be a day of rejoicing, when both Akhosu and Addo-kpon would fire guns to
show that the days of mourning and punishment had gone by, and that all
who had attended the Customs would be “passed” with presents. He also
conveyed to us the royal wish that we should come early, as all
ministers caught napping are heavily fined, and—the crafty oldster had
served under three sovereigns—he privily warned his colleagues that the
Englishman, being a “King’s man,” would be before them all, and thus get
them into trouble. But they scoffed at him, and said, “These whites,
before they can leave the house, must bathe, and dress, and drink tea;
with them ‘early’ means after sunrise.”
During the night, the old King’s ghostly tent, the corpses, and both the
So-sin sheds, were removed. The place looked charming as before:—Nature,
serenely fair, wore upon her lovely face an ironical smile at what she
had witnessed amongst her sons.[101]
SECTION F.
_The So-debwe[102]—Fifth and Last Day of the So-sin Customs._
I awoke my people at 4 A.M. on January 8th, and before 5 we were seated
in front of the palace. Our old host had not slept that night, lest we
should give him the slip, and we found but one minister, the Abwejekun,
waiting to receive us. The early gong-gong men, one with a brass bell,
the other with a cymbal, apparently of silver, and both double
instruments, were standing at the gate, striking first the long and the
short tube, and reciting the “strong names” of the King and his
ancestors. As each lingering caboceer appeared, we tolled a large bell,
brought up from Whydah by Mr. Bernasko, and gave him a glass of gin,
with the solemn promise of reporting him to royalty, who had been made
aware by messenger of our arrival. All replied that great men do not
sleep at night,[103] and with comical ruefulness resigned themselves to
their fate.
The early morning at Agbome is full of beauty. As the “grandmother and
grandchildren[104]” waxed faint in the south, a lovely roseate blush
overspread the pale cheek of the eastern firmament, the earth’s ruder
forms were enveiled in soft gauzy blue, and the cool refreshing zephyr—
“The sweet first breathings of the hour of prime.”
—the “respiration of morn,” as the Persians call it, made distant music
amongst the tree-boughs.
At dawn about 200 male guards issued from the palace. The several
companies, under their captains, take this duty by turns; they pass
their nights in the Podoji, or yard, and by day they are relieved by the
Amazons. During Customs time they are more numerous than usual. Each
troop, as it passed us with flags and bands, halted and discharged guns
and blunderbusses, which were responded to within the palace. The
ministers also fired: they must be careful this day; if their weapons do
not behave well, the King reprimands them publicly, and perhaps fines
them.
At 6 A.M. we were conducted by the Meu to the palace gate, which was
still closed. We were placed in front of all the ministers, whom we had
outranked by early rising, and as they made obeisance, we salámed to the
Sublime Porte. We then turned to a band of drums and cymbals behind us,
and, in company with the Meu and Chyudaton, we performed a little
prancing in Dahoman style.
Shortly afterwards the large umbrellas were disposed under the King’s
shed, and at 7 A.M. Gelele, with a knot of she-soldiery, stalked under
his parasol to his accustomed place. We were at once summoned, thanked,
and complimented for having paid due honour to royalty—in this country
punctuality is _not_ the politeness of princes. Behind us the delinquent
ministers lay on the ground backed by the “Don-pwe people,” to whom in
such cases all the caboceers are committed for punishment. The sole
exceptions are the Min-gan and the Meu, who in case of delinquency are
prevented from entering their homes.
The Buko-no then lengthily and eloquently related our exploit, and
reported the Yevo-gan and Prince Chyudaton as in fault. They looked at
me with a jocose deprecation, and covered their heads with dust, whilst
the “Don-pwe” struck up a loud uproarious song, ending in a laughing
chorus, to deride the late men. The fat Adanejan, unhappily for himself,
joined us, and was added to the list; all laughed as he stretched out
the hand of deprecation towards the “small young men.” I then invoked
for these offenders the royal pardon, especially mentioning the old Meu,
whose warning had been neglected. The King, however, replied, that they
were in the hands of justice, from which even he could not save them,
and that they must sleep abroad and be fined in rum for preferring to
his service the bed and the “kicksey-wicksey.” Nothing could be said
against this slight penalty, and I was pleased with the opportunity of
proving to the ministers that in more important matters they might fight
a losing battle.
The two captains who had been locked up for shameless asking, now
received formal pardon, which they acknowledged by a dust-bath. Adanejan
was then made chief of the Ganchya drum, whose black head and brown body
rendered it conspicuous amongst the women’s band; he also, after
removing his necklaces, vigorously shovelled up earth. The King sent to
inform us that as it was too late to hear all the songs, he would at
once “pass” the singers and drummers, and then dismiss us to breakfast.
A bard, with official staff, then came forward and sang—
Gezo was a forest in which wild beasts (viz., his subjects) dwelt
securely,
And now Gezo has left to his son that forest.
The performer presently retired, and with his brethren danced a round
before the King.
The Blue and Fanti Companies thereupon received each a maiden flag of
white croydon, which is to bear their honours when they shall have won
them. The King sent to me a message that I must return in time for the
next Customs; my reply was that in such matters everything depended upon
orders from home. This elicited many flattering expressions, which
ceased only when the Gau arose and swore with violent gesticulation that
Abeokuta—the word wearies me!—must be taken this year, with a Kpwe-
to[105], or, as the Arabs say, with a Katl-am, or general massacre. The
Commander-in-Chief then called me up, and we performed together a short
_pas de deux_, with left shoulders forward, corresponding arm akimbo,
and ditto leg in the air. The Adan-men-nun-kon seconded the prophecy,
and the Mafro, an old caboceer, declared that when a wound is healed men
see the scar, meaning that on my return I should find the Egba capital
“broken,” and her people captives.
These speeches were mingled and concluded with singing, dancing,
drumming, and all manner of interruptions. By way of varying the
sameness, I gave a wine-glass of water instead of gin to a Klan or
jester-soldier, who was making all laugh by counterfeiting, and well
too, the dying agonies of a wounded man, by pretending to weep, and by
uttering wild cries, with similar savage facetiæ. He carried it in
triumph to his chief, without whose leave it could not be tasted; and
presently a loud Yep! yep! yep! from the crowd—so utterly different from
the hearty English Ha! ha! ha!—proclaimed the success of the trick. The
King, when informed of it, was abundantly amused, and the poor fool was
told that he must be punished for taking the glass. I replied that a
jester, who could not distinguish gin from water, deserved a mild
discipline; and the fellow exclaimed ruefully, “Preserve me from
drinking with _you_: you first give me the wrong stuff, and then you get
me a whipping!”
The women presently danced, sang, and drummed, and the she-Gau sent to
inform me that when a weight is too heavy for one, two may lift it;
meaning that the Blue and Fanti Companies were sure of victory. The Ji-
bi-whe-ton, or second in command of the latter, came out from the ranks
and exclaimed, the Yevo (albus) has now heard us talk, he shall
presently see our deeds. A fire for cooking must be made slowly,[106]
not so when one would burn an enemy’s town.
Meanwhile the ministers of both sexes had invested themselves in their
long Hausa tobes of ceremony. The Dakros placed in their hands divers
bundles of cloths, which were severally unfolded and held out
horizontally by the dignitaries. The recipients were called up according
to precedence of rank or merit; each shouted, “Wé!”—Adsum!—and rushed
forwards with affected hurry, capering as in childish glee. They knelt
down, with one hand on the head, whilst the ministers passed the cloth
plaid-fashion over their right shoulders and under their left arms. They
then returned and sat in batches. When the largesse was all distributed,
the two Meus of both sexes again called out the names of those whom the
King had honoured, and told them that they had “got pass.” During the
whole proceeding the women sang a chorus, and as each fresh cloth made
its appearance they greeted it with the Khe-cry, and the men with loud
Ububus. Followed dances on both sides of the bamboos.
Meanwhile the King’s smoker stood up before the throne. He was a black
youth, in an ochre-stained kilt, with a pigtail of sombre-coloured
cotton, and he used a long stem ending in a bowl as big as a cocoa-nut.
The office is one of the true African fantasticals, and the favoured man
is supplied from the royal pouch.
It was then our turn. When summoned, I went up hurriedly, according to
“etiquette”: it was past 8 A.M., and the sun was fierce, but the King
could not alter the custom and direct me to wear a hat. After being
addressed by the Meu, I was invested with a handsome cloth, of palace
manufacture—green, red, and yellow cotton; by formula it is called a
“counterpane,” and the King tells the presentee that it is meant for his
bed.[107] Mr. Cruikshank and the Reverend, the boy Tom, and the Buko-no,
were similarly honoured. After half an hour’s candidature for sun-
stroke, we bowed our thanks and retreated.
A small party of archers from the Agoni, or northern country, near
Makhi, then knelt before the King and dusted themselves. These bush-men
also boasted of the aid they would render to the army when attacking
Egba-land. Suddenly, as usual, there was a stir. We hurriedly arose and
went to the usual shed, where we sat, whilst the palace-women, carrying
cowries and rum-bottles, thrice circumambulated the square. When the
precious burdens were deposited before the throne we returned to our
umbrellas, and the King dispensed with the ceremony of crying out our
names and singing whilst we received his gifts. We were presented with
twenty heads[108] and as many plates of cowries, with ten bottles of rum
from Gelele, to which the mysterious Addo-kpon added an equal quantity.
I then was paid five heads for dancing—my first fee of the kind—and my
companion’s salary was similar. Finally, two decanters of rum announced
the happy moment of dismissal. It was already 11 A.M., but “indecent
haste” was forbidden; we followed at a funereal pace, the boys who had
been seized by the neck to carry the King’s costly gifts, and no short
cuts through the town were permitted by our conductor, So-kun, the
“English guide.” On the road we were informed that these were not the
grand presents—which, of course, will never come—and consequently that
they must be shared with the chief officers. About noon, after a
_séance_ of seven hours, we were able to break our fast.
It was past three P.M. when we were summoned to conclude the festivities
of the day. We repaired to the Uhun-jro market-place, and we found
pitched upon the spot, whence the red victim-shed had been removed, a
Do-ho,[109] or little cloth pavilion, intended for the King. It
resembled that under which he sat before the Komasi Gate; behind, and
connecting it with it, was a mat-tent, for privacy; and in front had
been planted a line of five umbrellas to shelter the Amazon officers.
Shortly after we had taken our places on the north of the pavilion, two
parties of Moslems, one numbering three, the other four turbands, passed
before us. To the left, or southwards, the distance was filled with
umbrellas and a dense dark crowd, whilst at times individuals and squads
of fetisheers and warriors flitted about the Champ de Mars. The
Harmattan wind presently began to blow with violence, raising the red
dust from the sun-parched ground—no pleasant preparation for those about
to view a Dahoman advance in heavy marching order.
First appeared a line of scouts, bayoneteers, and blunderbuss-men,
wearing a substitute for rifleman’s green—in Europe an error, but here
“no mistake.” They were habited in kilts, or cap-à-pie suits of freshly-
cut palm-leaf; some wore it like a _gloria_ round the head, others had
only the breast thatched, and the contrast of the verdure with the black
skin was peculiar. This is an old custom of the empire. The “eyes of the
force” were escorted by about 200 veterans, the remains of the Grande
Armée that had found its Moscow at Abeokuta. They marched in open order
like our light infantry skirmishers, and at times halted, knelt, and
delivered fire, all the muzzles being of course raised too high. Finally
they advanced tumultuously till they reached the northern extremity of
the market-place, where they formed line about 500 yards from us.
Then came the royal escort, the main body of the little army, men and
boys, about 500 strong. The King, who was in the centre of the battalia,
rode a little nag, smoking his usual pipe. He had drawn with
gunpowder[110] three broad lines upon his face, one straight from hair
to nose, and two curved from ears to nostrils. Everything about him was
in gloomiest war-style, the large umbrella was darkest indigo, the small
parasol chocolate-brown. Unlike his war-men, he wore over a short white
cloth a kilt of cotton stuff, scolloped at the edge, and darkened with
goat’s clotted blood and various barks; it was dotted with charms,
triangles of darker material, and small feathers protruding from bits of
cane. A bronze-coloured fillet encircled his head, and its long ends
fell upon his right and left shoulders; from his neck depended a short
horse-tail fly-flapper, whilst two of larger size, white and black, hung
from his sinister side. Through his belt was stuck a short Dahoman
_briquet_, and over his shoulder was a crooked club, spiked at the top,
and armed along the point of percussion with a line of large square-
headed nails. He wore sandals, and anklets of cowries and black seeds:
altogether he looked like “business.”
As we arose and mutually bowed, the King descended, and fired from the
hip five guns and carbines, very lightly loaded. He then remounted, and
made the three customary rounds of the market-place, followed by a few
“salvage-men” in green, fourteen standards, one pink and six white
umbrellas, the show-shields, and the skull-drums. The rear-guard
consisted of 100 men, accompanying the shabby umbrellas, which here
denote soldiery; at times they skirmished in European fashion, with a
fire pretty well _nourri_. After the third turn an order, sent to it by
means of messengers, who ran bawling along the noisy chattering line,
converted the rear into a van, which retired in turn, fraying out in a
line of light troops. The King then marched down to the south side of
the marketplace, where his parasol showed him to be sitting amongst the
women soldiery.
A fetish company of men and boys presently passed us at a run, carrying
implements of their craft, huge cressets, crescents of iron hung with
cowries, and various images, idols, and _simulacres_, chiefly of the Bo-
fetish—a crucified turkey-buzzard of wood with red dots on a white body,
another spotted animal encoiled by a snake, and sundry things
undescribable. This party also formed up with the veterans, at the
northern end of the Uhun-jro space.
It was now the Amazons’ turn to advance, and they came up in better
style as regards marching and firing than their brother soldiers. They
passed us with a _feu d’enfer_, and when the dust was not flying the
smoke hung like a pall upon the ground. The King was followed by unarmed
wives, who were fanning their lord and carrying a few weapons for his
proper use. The soldiery wore tunics of grey baft, stained brown with
blood and barks, covering the bosom and extending to the knees like the
men, short drawers, and white sashes hanging to the right. The King
dismounted, danced to an “Amazon” band, and again rode thrice round the
market-place, followed by his rear-guard singing and firing. After the
third turn he walked up to where our umbrella was pitched, and
discharging several carbines, he danced a simple morris, called Hun-
gan,[111] before a semicircle of armed women, who were chanting and
cheering him lustily. After this, he took from one of his head
fetishmen, a fine tall priest, with Abyssinian features, a crooked club,
covered with blue and black cloth, and ringed with Indian cowries, and
he performed another saltation. Then, holding my wrist, Gelele led me
out, and we danced opposite each other amidst tempestuous applause. On
this occasion the King expects strangers not to refuse him; I therefore
had the honour of executing a very notable decapitating movement. Mr.
Bernasko, as a “god-man,” was excused, and a slight fever had detained
Mr. Cruikshank at home; the performance, therefore, did not last long.
The King, after dancing, turned round and drank from a small case-
bottle, or decanter, with the usual noise and averting of faces on the
part of his subjects. I observed that before putting it to his lips he
allowed a few drops to fall upon the ground. This is not an oblation to
the gods as in ancient Europe, but the offering to ancestors, especially
to the paternal ghost, as made by the Chinese. Gelele showed me all his
fetish sticks, requesting that they might be sketched, and presently
retired to his little pavilion, where the scouts coated in grass danced
before him. He continued his attentions by sending food and drink at
short intervals, till we were surrounded by bottles and calabashes. One
gourd contained pomegranates, poor in the extreme, half ripe, bitter,
and preponderant in seed and rind. Another calabash, I was told, showed
a specimen of his own war-food, bananas, excellent Akansan, powdered red
pepper, in an Achatina shell, and a few pods of Malaguetta pepper,[112]
which were greedily seized by the Reverend. A massing and scattering of
umbrellas far to our left told us that the caboceers were on the move;
it was waxing late, and all was hurried. The chiefs were distinguished
by the vast variety of charms and amulets hung about their arms, necks,
and limbs, and some held a leaf of the Ayyan, or thunder fetish shrub,
to prevent their guns bursting. These talismans are intended to create
an artificial courage; all peoples having their own peculiar stimuli.
The Englishman nerves himself by a sense of duty and hope of profit. The
Frenchman by visions of glory, and of late years by a bargain with
Heaven that, if spared, he will believe in the Immaculate Conception.
The German remembers the Rhine and its “ichor divine.” The Russian
thinks of a kind of a demi-god; whilst in southern Europe the true
fetish appears in the shape of the cross, the medal, and the relic. The
braver Orientals, mostly Moslems, spur themselves by visions of
Paradise, and by the prospect of escaping the “Squeeze of the Grave”;
and the more cowardly Hindus and Chinese, regarding what is scandalously
called Dutch courage, as the spur of heroism, “bhang themselves”
accordingly. In many, if not in all, parts of Pagan Africa, the Congo
for instance, the negro will not think of fighting without fetishes that
will bring him safe out of battle; and even the less timid North
American must propitiate imaginary supernatural powers before he sets
out to “raise hair.”
The caboceers, like their King, passed round three times.[113] As a
rule, skirmishers, flags, and fetish preceded the captain of the party,
who walked or rode under his umbrella, whilst a full band and
stragglers, all firing heavily, brought up the rear. Each group numbered
from 10 to 100 men and boys, and was separated by a short interval from
its neighbours.
The ceremony much resembled that of the Entrance Day, but it was far
more military; it was the march of the Dahoman army, whereas the other
was the triumphal return from war. As sunset approached, the gale
increased. The King sent to say that, at a future and more favourable
time, I should see another review, and then passed, surrounded by his
“Amazons,” to the north of the Komasi Palace. We waited till the ground
was clear, and retired—not unwillingly.
The recreant ministers spent the night under sheds at the King’s gate,
being forbidden to enter their homes. The punishments of high officials
are here very capricious. Dr. M‘Leod mentions a chief magistrate being
ordered by the King “not to shave his beard, pare his nails, or wash
himself for a certain number of moons, and in this dirty state to sit
daily at the palace-gate several hours for public inspection.” This
exile continued till 5 P.M. of the next day (January 9th), when royalty
was induced to relent by a storm of thunder and rain, the latter falling
in peculiar spurts like jets of heavy drops. Agbwejekon, however, the
only caboceer who did his duty, was temporarily rewarded with
precedence, and was publicly presented with a fine cloth, a wife, and
ten heads of cowries. Next time the chiefs will not be outwitted: they
will pass the whole night in the square.
I will conclude this chapter with an account of the Dahoman campaign.
The King marches in the midst of his host, surrounded by his Amazons. At
the halt, a mat enclosure is made for him and them. The royal quarters,
known by their superior size, are pitched far from the rest, and beyond
danger of ambush. The males camp promiscuously in little huts. They move
at all hours, generally by night, guided by captives kidnapped from the
place about to be plundered; these men are disguised, tied up, and led
in the rear; and after returning to the capital, they are released with
presents. As may be imagined, not a few of them desert, to the great
peril of the invader. A few soldiers in the garb of traders, with cloth
and tobacco, precede and accompany the force to attract stragglers, who
are at once kidnapped. The army advances by circuitous ways, cutting its
own roads through the bush; a favourite plan is to spread false reports
about the intended direction, and to double round upon a town which has
heard that the foe has passed onwards. Great circumspection is ordered
when nearing the destination; no talking is allowed, though the soldiers
may snap fingers; and even smoking is forbidden. The point of attack is
secretly reconnoitered by a chosen spy during the day. They surround the
fated place so cautiously, that it is often taken unawares; and they
assault, as usual amongst barbarians, before dawn, with a rush, uttering
hellish cries and yells. The only village defences are prickly plants,
and these the troops are trained to despise. Any one appearing is at
once decapitated[114]; when weapons are thrown down, the prisoners are
tied up; their arms, however, are not pierced for cords, as asserted by
the Egbas. As a rule, their object is to capture, not to kill; only the
old, the sick, and the “unmerchantable” lose their heads, which serve as
trophies. The chiefs are reserved for public sacrifice. When the town is
broken, the conquerors raise in the centre a clay-heap, which is girt
with dry palm-leaf; the wretched fugitives may, after returning to their
ruined homes, place some of this material upon their necks, and appear
before the King, who then spares their lives. The army, even if
victorious, hurries back, after losing for every 100 prisoners some 200
of their own men by famine, fatigue, and privations, many of them self-
inflicted. During the whole campaign, even if it last six months, the
warriors may not remove their tunics for ablution. The marching-food is
scanty and poor enough to cause scurvy, and a single calabash of water
must often suffice for three days. We cannot wonder that the host is
decimated by disease, especially by small-pox.
The present ruler has lately made a huge “gong-gong,” a main tube or
cone crowned with thirty-nine small bells, denoting the number of towns
which he has broken. But all these towns would doubtless fit into a
middling-sized English village. It is amusing to hear the wild boasts of
the captains; one man has 40,000 followers, another thinks he has
16,000—remove the last two or three ciphers, and the remainder may be
correct. On the other hand, it is curious to consider the inconsequence
of those attacked, who, as I have said, after deliberately insulting and
provoking a quarrel with the King, will make no preparations for war; in
fact, will never think of the matter till they hear the death-cry at
their doors, and they find themselves hurried to Agbome, where they will
grace the next Customs.
In a previous volume,[115] I have described the warfare of the Egbas. It
is pitiful enough, but that of the Dahomans is worse. There is nothing
more contemptible than these negro slave-hunts: the “mild Hindu,” as the
Field of Paniput and many others may prove, has shown himself by far a
better soldier than the West African. Individually, the Dahoman dares
not desert upon the march, but he “malingers” readily, and he is so far
from being brave that the idea of amputation makes him faint with fear.
The decay of the old kingdom, and the deterioration of blood, are not to
be mistaken.
[Footnote 82: Addo (the light yellow Popo bead, which does not melt in
the fire), kpon (see!). It must not be confounded with Adda-kpun, or
oyster.]
[Footnote 83: Ga (market-day), kpwe (when it comes, _scil._, it must be
full).]
[Footnote 84: Some said that the palace shed was the King’s victim
depôt, the market shed, Addo-kpon’s: others confined the King’s especial
sacrifices to the turret of the market shed. Many men declared that the
King’s sacrifices were all captives, Addo-kpon’s all criminals; more
denied these distinctions.]
[Footnote 85: Mr. Bernasko (Appendix III.) mentions “Athopon,” which he
erroneously translates “hearth, a place in which a fire is made.” All
other books ignore the bush king’s existence.]
[Footnote 86: Nun (thing, custom) kpon (we look at) ’gbe (to-day), and
Addo-kpon-ton (belonging to Addo-kpon).]
[Footnote 87: This patrol begins at dawn and lasts through the day and
night. The African never yet invented an hour, but as the bands perform
at nearly equal tri-horal periods, he is here seldom at a loss for
finding his time. From 6 A.M. to 8 A.M. is the Ahan-’é, mostly of bone
rattles, followed till 11 A.M. by the Broh, rattles and drums. From 11
A.M. till noon is the Gan or Panigan, “gong-gongs,” with heralds
recapitulating the titles and exploits of all the Dahoman dynasty; this
was established by the present King; Gezo ordered it only once a day,
before dawn. From noon to 3 P.M. is the time of the Wime-hun—cymbals and
flutes, followed till sunset by the Goawe—mostly drums. From 6.30 P.M.
till 9.30 to 10 P.M., the Agbaja, tom-tom, beats; the Kpwen, or horns,
sound till midnight, relieved at 3 A.M. by the Akko; finally, the early
gun, or “gong-gong,” and the heralds’ work begin at 3 A.M. and end at
sunrise. The bands consist generally of a man and four boys. They sit
upon mats under a tree, before the palace gate, strike up at times, and
accompany the soldiers of the patrol.]
[Footnote 88: Mr. Norris well describes the dancing of the women: “Each
had a long tail fixed to her rump, which seemed to be a slip of leopard
skin sewed up and stuffed, which, by a dexterous wriggle of her hips,
she whirled round like a string with surprising velocity.” Mr. Duncan
shows disapproval of the practice, but Mr. Duncan belonged to the
respectable class, which “approves of” only its own practices. “Four
tall men, singularly dressed, and with bullocks’ tails tied so as to
hang over their hips behind, arranged themselves in line in front of his
Majesty, and by passing at the side step, lowering and poising the body
by the bend of the knee, causing the tail to make a circular motion of a
disgusting appearance.” Why “_disgusting?_”]
[Footnote 89: So E! or Hé! in the Egba tongue, is a respectful
acknowledgment, like Sir! or Madam! The Ffons sometimes say, Mi-se, we
hear, _i.e._, understand.]
[Footnote 90: So in the History (p. 131), Mr. Norris fixed the barrel of
the chamber-organ to the _hundred and fourth_ Psalm, at the request, and
for the future amusement of his host, “Bossa Ahadi.”]
[Footnote 91: Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 255) found it rather a difficult
task to dance and to play that “ancient Israelitish instrument”—the
Jew’s harp—at the same time.]
[Footnote 92: Who informs us that “when this air is sung quick
throughout, it is converted into an exceedingly vulgar jig-tune.”]
[Footnote 93: Yewe (god), nun (side), hun-to (drummer, ship captain,
governor).]
[Footnote 94: Be (joy; others say, live thou!), du (eat), ’gbe (to-day,
the Happy Day, because it ends the deadly part of Addo-kpon’s Customs).
It is also known as Bekpa-men ’gbe; meaning, Bekpa (mat-fence), men
(in), ’gbe (to-day: _subaudi_, we will go). Commander Forbes, whose
names and “customs” are equally unintelligible, writes (vol. ii. p. 33)
“Ekbah-tong-ek-beh,” and translates, “Display of the King’s wealth.”]
[Footnote 95: Ahan (any liquor), and vo (red). Ahan yevo, is “white
man’s liquor,” meaning rum.]
[Footnote 96: He did not dismount, to show how high he was in the King’s
esteem, who allows this liberty to be taken by his subjects on the
“Happy Day” only. He wished us to walk on foot, that the people might
see that we were the slaves of the King.]
[Footnote 97: “Good morning.” The people easily pick up a few words of
foreign languages, which, however, they can never master.]
[Footnote 98: The old prints in the History, though mostly drawn from
imagination, all show the King wearing one of these hats.]
[Footnote 99: A confection of sugar, milk, almonds, spices, &c.]
[Footnote 100: E (he), na-nyin (will pass, _i.e._, release from duty of
further attendance), hun (drum, viz., drummers and singers).]
[Footnote 101: As we found from the gathering of the turkey-buzzards for
a week afterwards, the corpses were thrown into the town moat, near the
Komasi Palace; during the “Atto-year” their place is on the north of the
enceinte. They are not disposed of, as Mr. Duncan says, “in a large pit,
at a considerable distance from the town.” In all cases their skulls,
which here are prized as much as by the Anthropological Society of
London, are subsequently removed, and are probably afterwards exhibited
as the trophies of heroic deeds.]
[Footnote 102: Meaning “thunder to-day,” so great will be the noise of
musketry.]
[Footnote 103: Great men are supposed to transact business at that
time.]
[Footnote 104: The Gold Coast name of the Southern Cross.]
[Footnote 105: Kpwe (plenty), and tó (here, there, and everywhere; not
to be confounded with tò, the world).]
[Footnote 106: Cuisinely considered, I believe this axiom to be
distinctly incorrect.]
[Footnote 107: The custom of presenting a “fine striped cotton cloth,”
is found in the History (p. 146), and the “counterpane” is also named.]
[Footnote 108: Or forty shillings. There are always fifty strings of two
score shells to the vulgar, and ten less to the royal, “head.” Moreover,
the strings are “shroffed,” or “cabbaged,” by the palace women, and must
be re-counted. According to the History, three to six were deducted as
perquisites from a string of thirty-nine. In Captain Phillips’ time
(1694) the King of Whydah gave out cowries in a smaller, and received
them in a larger, measure than any of his subjects.]
[Footnote 109: Do (a “bamboo” mat), and ho (a room). Some called it
Kpla-kpla.]
[Footnote 110: Not with a charcoal-blackened face, as declared by M.
Jules Gérard, Appendix iii.]
[Footnote 111: Hun (drum), and gán (big). My ear can detect no
difference between this adnoun and Gán, a captain.]
[Footnote 112: Here called Attakun, whereas Attakín is Cayenne pepper. A
present of this Guinea pepper from one soldier to another is considered
an insult, hinting that the recipient requires something to heat his
blood.]
[Footnote 113: The following list of chiefs who appeared this day is
banished to a foot-note:—
1. Advance guard representing royalty, 4 umbrellas, 40 men and boys
escorting Agugun and Ayohi, custodians of the palace. 2. The three great
ministers of the crown; a large chair, a parrot or fetish image and
stick, 3 flags, fancy umbrella (lappets with knives and heads of many-
coloured cloth), and 50 men were the “place” of the Min-gan, who was
sick. 3. Seven deviced flags, 2 red and black shields, 2 big chairs, 1
blue striped umbrella accompanied the Meu, riding his white nag. Two
large chairs, an English and a French flag, a pony, mats, calabashes, 4
men with boarding-pikes, attitudinising an attack, a white umbrella,
drums and band, with 4 deviced flags accompanying the Yevo-gan, who
danced before us. Then came Addo-kpon, the Bush King’s “place,” a heavy
line of razor and musket-men preceding an unridden horse, 2 men and 2
umbrellas, with two flags. Behind Addo-kpon marched the King’s brother
and great dignitaries. 1. The new Ajyaho, preceded by fetish sticks of
iron, followed by huge stools, 1 flag brown and tattered, 1 deviced, and
1 white and blue, a white umbrella, and an old brown ditto. 2. The
Akpulogan, or governor of Ahada, whose escort was very mean, many of his
men being absent on service; a head and knife flag, 2 white banners, a
horse, and a big stool. 3. The So-gan, with a noisy band, and 1
umbrella, buff and deviced. 4. The Ganze, with similar escort: he is a
young man, having been lately promoted. 5. The To-metti, with 2 flags,
one white, the other white and blue, and some 50 men; he also has lately
succeeded his father, who was one of Gezo’s brothers. 6. The Afarigbe,
own brother to Gelele; in his suite 5 men, with hair tightly bandaged in
calico, like Fetishmen. 7. The Anlin-wa-nun, with an English flag, his
party passing at the double. 8. The Tokpo, with knife and head umbrella.
9. The Bokovo, captain and brother to the late king. 10. The Adanejan,
with a party of 150 men firing lustily, red flag and fancy banner, a
horse, and in the rear 2 white umbrellas, 1 white pennon and 1 red. He
sent compliments to us by one of his slaves, an Ishaggan captive, who
looked the personification of mirth. 11. The Bin-wan-ton, with a small
party, and umbrella knife and head. 12. The Bi-na-zon under a white
umbrella, and a large party, amongst whom were sundry of the present
King’s young sons, who fired before us. 13. The Gwe-be-do, or second
eunuch. 14. The Buko-no, or King’s magician, attired _en militaire_—blue
drawers, tunic with cowries on black ground, straw cap dyed red and
supplied with chin-strap, and a small sword stuck in belt, and tomahawk
in right hand. He asked me if I had ever seen such a gun (_i.e._,
firing) at Abeokuta, and took place by my side. 15. The Attirive,
brother to the late king, with 2 umbrellas, 1 white and 1 head and
knife. 16. The Aho, another of the blood-royal, followed by three of the
princes; he had a blue umbrella, and a fancy blue flag. 17. The Voda,
brother to the present king, with a white umbrella. 18. The Nonnovo, who
is said to be a woman passing as a man, the eldest daughter of Gezo,
and, but for the Salic law of Dahome, his heir to the kingdom. 19. The
Tokunonfisan, captain and subject, with an English Union-Jack. 20. The
Gofle, a son of the old Meu, also with British flag. 21. The Chyudaton,
with a very small party. 22. The Kwenun, before an akhi-gan, or “king’s
merchant,” now promoted to captaincy of all traders at Whydah. He is a
large fat old man, grotesquely Silenus-like, but not unintelligent. 23.
The Men-jo-ten, second caboceer of Ahada, with white umbrella and fancy.
24. The Asogba-hosen, brother to the present King, with a bluish
umbrella, and a few attendants, chiefly boys. 25. The Awonyon, with a
white umbrella, a fancy flag, an iron stick crescent-topped, and 2
fetish images, one of them black, with a long white unicorn-horn. 26.
The Toja, a white umbrella, son to a brother of the late king. 27. The
Ahopwe, brother of Gezo, with a head and knife umbrella. 28. The
Assogba’u, with very few attendants. 29. The Enekpehun, another brother
of Gezo, with a blue and white umbrella. 30. The Nuage, a brother of the
present king. 31. Bosu-sau, on horseback, with white umbrella and bluish
flag. 32. The Nuase, a knife and head umbrella. 33. The Metokal, a white
umbrella. 34. The Vinyi-hun-to. 35. The Ajewanun, a French tri-colour.
36. The Khwechiri, a Whydah captain. 37. The Nolufren, ditto. 38. The
Mecho-nun. 39. The Bokpwe, a white flag. 40. The Ganzu. 41. The Adan-
vokun. 42, 43. Two new captains, names unknown. 44. The Jogbwenun. 45.
The Honjenun. 46. The Agbado. In the _arrière_ came the high military
officers, preceded by their escorts, firing hard. 1. The Gau, with an
awful flag, a crimson man sprawling on a white ground, a blue and white
flag, and smaller blue pennons, a black stool, and a pair of blackened
and tattered umbrellas. 2. The Matro, or second Gau, passing at a run,
with two white umbrellas and 1 head and knife. 3. The Po-su, a white
flag, with 2 pink and 1 buff umbrellas. 4. The Ahwig-bamen, or assistant
Po-su, with his band playing and his men firing, 1 white flag with green
beasts eating one another, and 2 tattered umbrellas, one of them head
and knife. 5. The Agbwi, with 2 white and 1 blue flags, and 2 white
tattered umbrellas. 6. The Allohan, another tattered umbrella. 7. The
Ahwesi, 1 plaid umbrella, and 4 white. 8. The Aovi, 1 white umbrella,
and 8 flags preceding. 10 (_sic_ in first edition). Very tattered
umbrellas, showing where the servants of the king were. 11. Fetisheers,
with Bo-chio images. 12. The royal “place,” with 9 flags, 2 huge stools,
2 red and blue shields, 1 head and knife umbrella, and another striped,
with blue lined valances. Thus the total number of parties was 58.]
[Footnote 114: Mr. Duncan, in more than one place (vol. i. pp. 233, 253,
261), declares that scalps are taken by the Dahomans. The custom appears
to be now obsolete; I did not find a trace of it.]
[Footnote 115: A Flying Visit to Abeokuta, chap. vii.]
CHAPTER XVII.
OF THE DAHOMAN RELIGION.
I cannot but admire the incuriousness of so many travellers who have
visited Dahome and have described its Customs without an attempt to
master, or at least to explain, the faith that underlies them. Their
excuses must be the difficulty presented by the incorporation of
manifold elements, and the various obstacles to exploring a religion
which every man, to a certain extent, makes up for himself. “Perhaps,”
said a Dahoman officer to Captain Snelgrave, the first European who
visited his country (1627), “that God may be yours who has communicated
so many extraordinary things to white men; but as that God has not been
pleased to make himself known to us, we must be satisfied with this we
worship”; and Captain Phillips truly remarks of the Whydah people, “In
truth they have so many things they call fetishes that I could never
understand the true meaning of the word.”
Fetishism, according to the older opinion, is, like the negro’s personal
conformation, a fall from the primitive inspired and spiritual belief of
mankind. The researches of our modern day tend to establish the fact of
a fossil ancestry of immeasurable inferiority to the present _Homo
sapiens_, the effect of a selection ever active throughout a course of
ages. Consequently anthropologists will substitute, even in the Hamite,
a rise above instead of a fall from the philosophic Adam: they will
consider his superstitions as the dawnings of belief struggling to
attain the brightness of day, equally inferior in the moral or
sentimental qualities to the Asiatic, and to the European in the
reflectives and the perceptives.
Africans, as a rule, worship everything except the Creator. Yet there
is, even amongst this people, a “_sensus numinis_” which raises them
above the Andamanian “Minkopi,” the Australasian races, and the idiots
or imperfect brain formations amongst the higher families. I will not
delay to inquire whether the Yoruban deity, confused and indigested as
the idea is, has not been greatly modified by converse with Al-Islam, or
whether it was not derived from Christians driven southwards during the
Vandal persecutions.
The Ffon name for the deity is Mau.[116] The Roman Catholic missioners
have preferred to call themselves Mau-no or Mau-mother, as opposed to
Vodun-no or fetish priest. On the other hand, Mau is the moon,[117] a
distinct trace of Sabæanism; as the feminine principle, it made man in
conjunction with Lisa or Se,—a male, the fetish representative of the
sun, of which more hereafter.[118] The Fanti or Wesleyan missionaries,
who translate Mau as “all the gods,” or “the unknown God,” prefer Yewhe,
or Ji-wule-ye-whe.[119] It is evident that, in the Dahoman mind, the
_numen_ has not had time to separate itself from material objects, or to
vindicate its right to Latria as opposed to Dulia.
This Mau, or Ye-whe, is the Esquimaux “Pirksoma”—“he who is above”—an
entity wholly undeveloped, and, for the same reason, the imperfect
intellect of both races. Being incomprehensible, the Supreme is judged
too elevated to care for the low estate of man; and consequently is
neither feared nor loved. The sentiment almost universal amongst negro
races corresponds with the views of many thinkers in modern or in
ancient Europe, who look upon the Deity as the Cause of Causes and the
Source of Law, rather than as a local and personal fact. It has, at
least, saved the African from anthropomorphism—a besetting peculiarity
of the Aryan race, whose hostility to a pure theism lingers, even at the
present time, in that Semitic faith which has become the creed of modern
Europe. Thus, so easily do extremes meet, and such is the radical
identity of creeds, the negro’s Deity, if disassociated from physical
objects, would almost represent the idea of the philosopher.
It has been doubted whether, in the present state of human nature, a
belief so abstract as Monotheism, asomatous and non-local, is a
sufficient proof for the weakness of mankind. As there is in man a
_besoin d’aimer_, so his veneration requires, they say, a Creator, whose
image he is. The Athanasian looks upon deism as atheism, and holds all
but a personal god no god or a useless god. In England the mind of
Milton found comfort in a Father, who, unable to forgive the
disobedience of his creatures, accepted the agony of a sinless Son; and
he saw nothing irreverent in recording a divine dialogue of Arian and
Calvinistic theology. Truly, says the Yoruban proverb, “The wisdom of
this year will be as folly in another.”
The African—somewhat like the vulgar Asiatic and European, especially
the southron—holds the illogical belief that his dark, silent, eternal
Deity can be influenced by intercessions animate and inanimate, human
and bestial; that the leopard and the crocodile, like the walí (saint)
and the prophet, and that the fetish shrub, like the Salagram, the
Karbela clay, or the bit of True Cross, may, by some inexplicable
process, control the inscrutable course of mundane law. These articles,
however, must not be confounded, as they often are by Europeans, with
the Platonic inferior deities. In some points they preserve a family
resemblance with the old Gebr faith. Thus the latter had, for instance,
Izad as angel or fetish for the sun, Mohr for the moon, Awa for water,
Gowad for air, Amardad for trees, and Bahman for cattle.
In Africa the list of fetish or worshipped objects is nearly endless.
Some powerful and indescribable influence residing in the elements, in
beasts (mostly the destructive), and even in man (generally human
benefactors), enables them to work present weal and woe, and wins for
them propitiation or deprecation. The tendency of humanity to worship
Nature and her powers extends from Pliny[120] to the American savage. It
recognizes as its temples, caverns, valleys, trees, and forests. The
Yorubas, of whom it must be remembered the Dahomans are a family, have
advanced from the adoration of the material object towards a
personification of Nature’s works, and these we consider idols or
_simulacres_.[121] There is another idea which in these lands often
makes and breaks gods. A man about to undertake a danger or a difficulty
looks about as, according to the same Pliny, the Romans did, for some
supernatural aid. He takes the first object, be it bird or beast, stock
or stone, seen in the morning when leaving his house, and he makes it
his Genius. If it prove useful, worship and sacrifice are not wanting:
on the other hand, a stronger “medicine” is sought.
In the days of Bosman (1700) the little kingdom of Whydah adored three
orders of gods, each presiding, like the several officers of a prince,
over its peculiar province.
The first is the Danh-gbwe, whose worship has been described.[122] This
earthly serpent is esteemed the supreme bliss and general good: it has
1000 Danh’si or snake wives, married and single votaries, and its
influence cannot be meddled with by the two following, which are subject
to it.
The second is represented by lofty and beautiful trees,[123] “in the
formation of which Dame Nature seems to have expressed her greatest
art.” They are prayed to and presented with offerings in times of
sickness, and especially of fever. Those most revered are the Hun-’tin,
or acanthaceous silk cotton (_Bombax_), whose wives equal those of the
snake, and the Loko, the well-known Edum, ordeal, or poison tree, of the
West African coast. The latter numbers few Loko-’si, or Loko spouses: on
the other hand, it has its own fetish pottery, which may be bought in
every market. An inverted pipkin full of cullender holes is placed upon
the ground at the tree foot, and by its side is a narrow-necked little
pot into which the water offering is poured. The two are sometimes
separated by a cresset-shaped fetish iron, planted in the earth. The
_cultus arborum_, I need hardly say, is an old and far-spread worship:
it may easily be understood, as the expression of man’s gratitude and
admiration. The sacred trees of the Hindu were the Pippala (_Ficus
religiosa_), the Kushtha (_Costus speciosus_), the sacred juice of the
Soma, which became a personage, and many others. The Jews, and after
them the early Christians and the Moslems, had their Tuba or Tree of
Paradise. Mr. Palgrave, traversing Arabia in 1862-63, found in the
kingdom of Shomer or Haíl distinct tree worship, the acacia (Talh) being
danced round and prayed to for rain. In Egypt and other Moslem lands
rags and cloths are suspended to branches, vestiges of ancient Paganism.
North European mythology embraced Yggdrasil, or the world tree. We no
longer approach the gods with branches of this sacred vegetation in
hand; still the maypole and Christmas tree, the Yule log and the church
decorations of evergreens, holly and palms, and the modern use of the
sterility-curing mistletoe, descend directly from the treovve-ordung, or
tree worship of ancient England. It is also curious that snake worship
is generally connected with it: so in the North European system,
Nidhoegg, the abyss-worm, lay coiled at the foot of Yggdrasil.
The youngest brother of the triad is Hu, the ocean or sea. Formerly it
was subject to chastisement, like the Hellespont, if idle or useless.
The Hu-no, or ocean priest, is now considered the highest of all, a
fetish king, at Whydah, where he has 500 wives. At stated times he
repairs to the beach, begs “Agbwe,” the Samudra-devta or ocean god, not
to be boisterous, and throws in rice and corn, oil and beans, cloth,
cowries, and other valuables. He doubtless knows the rule mentioned by
Captain Phillips, that the weather is better during the wane of the moon
than at its full and change. At times the King sends as an ocean
sacrifice from Agbome a man carried in a hammock, with the dress, the
stool, and the umbrella of a caboceer; a canoe takes him out to sea,
where he is thrown to the sharks. The Custom for this element is made at
Whydah, in a place near the greater market, and called Hu-kpa-men. It is
a round hut, with thatch and chalked walls; outside is a heap of bones,
whilst skulls, carapaces of the tortoise, and similar materials, cumber
the interior. The priest is a fetish woman, who offers water and Kola
nuts to, and expects rum from, white visitors.
These deities, originally of Whydah, have spread throughout Dahome, and
men now forget their first habitat. We may add a fourth, “So,” or
“Khevioso,”[124] the thunder fetish, whose weapon, as amongst our
classics unlearned in brontology, is here still supposed to be Abi, the
lightning.[125] This deity is worshipped at Whydah, in a So Agbajyí, or
thunder closet. It has about 1000 wives throughout the country. When a
man is killed by the electric fluid,[126] which renders sepulture, as
amongst the Romans, unlawful, these women place the body upon a
platform, and cut from it lumps, which they chew without eating, crying
to passers by—“We sell you meat!—fine meat! Come and buy!” This is the
nearest approach to cannibalism shown in Dahome. I saw nothing of the
blood-drinker described by Mr. Duncan, who, when offered a draught mixed
with rum, “could, with a good heart, have sent a bullet through his
head.”
In the following general list I have preserved no other order than that
dictated by my interpreters; the _Dii servatores_ and _compitales
sospitatores_ and _viales_, are all mixed.
1. Afa, as has been said,[127] is the messenger of fetishes and of
deceased friends. Its fetisheer is here called Buko-no, and by the
Egbas, Babbalawo. The people say of him, “The priest who is most cunning
takes to Afa,” meaning that it pays best; consequently, Buko-nos swarm
throughout the land. When Afa predicts evil the votary must perform the
catholicon—“Vo-sisa.” Ground is cleared near the house or in the bush, a
mat is then spread, and a short staff or thick peg is driven through the
latter; the worshipper, with his fetishman, who taps a small cymbal with
an iron rod, pours upon the wood first water and then the blood of a
fowl, whose body becomes, of course, the holy man’s perquisite. As has
appeared in the previous pages, there are many different forms of vo-
sisa.
2. Bo, a huge Priapus built of clay, and placed in markets, at gates,
and in rooms. He is the especial guardian of warriors, defending them
from fire and sword; and in his honour they are hung with cowries and
horsetails. The images called Bo-chio, the crutched stick, either
planted in the ground at home or carried abroad, when travelling, and
the Bo-so “struppi,” or bundles of truncheons painted and speckled, are
sacred to this great fetish.
3. Legba, also a Priapus and a Janus, whose appearance and worship have
been described.[128]
4. Gùn, or Gù, the iron fetish. It is the god Ogun of Abeokuta, where
human sacrifices are offered to it. In Dahome it has not that honour.
5. Hoho, the twin fetish,[129] that protects those exceptionals. At
Allada the birth was infamous, as men would not believe that a woman
could have two children by one husband; at Agbome, where population is
wanted, the mother is honoured. So at the mouth of the Benin River the
parent and offspring are put to death, and in the city of Great Benin
the King makes presents to the progenitrix. Amongst the Fanti, the Attah
is also respected, whereas in the Bonny River the twin-mother is called
a “she goat,” and is slain. The twin fetish has no wives, and its
offerings of little pots and irons have been minutely described.[130]
6. Sapatan, or small pox, the Buku god of Abeokuta, and the Sitla Devi
(small-pox goddess) of the Hindu.[131]
7. Takpwonun, the hippopotamus.
8. Kpo, the leopard—a royal Fetish.[132]
9. Gbwe-ji, the great bush Fetish, which helps huntsmen and foresters.
It is in the shape of a small snake, marked like a boa.
10. Kpate, the first Whydah man who, sighting a ship from his
plantation, brought it to anchor by waving a cloth tied to a long pole,
and led the captain into the town. Like Triptolemus, he is worshipped as
a benefactor to mankind.
11. Kpase, the man who helped Kpate.
12. Nate, the storekeeper of the sea, who is worshipped by fishermen,
and by those who work by water.
13. Avrekete, a fetish which steals the keys from Nate and gives to
man—hence he has some 500 wives.
14. Aizan, one of the many street gods which protect the market and the
gate. It is a large or small cone of clay, with a pipkin or a stone on
the top or at the base. Upon these are poured the consecrated
trash—flour, palm-oil, and boiled beans; sometimes fowls are killed for
it.
15. Agasun, the old Makhi Fetish that ruled Agbome before Dako conquered
it. It aided his enterprise, for which reason the Agasun-no, or head
fetishman, is at the capital equivalent to the Hu-no of Whydah. Its
emblem is not known. The abode of the great fetisheer, and the respect
paid to him by the King and multitude, have been described.[133]
16. Li (pronounced with ळ, the peculiar Sanskrit _l_) was a great fetish
at Whydah, in charge of the town before it was conquered by Agaja. The
place of worship is a little shed in the bush to the west of Savi.
17. Lisa, the fetish of Khwezioso, the sun. Its emblem is a red clay
pot, with a cover of the same material, striped white; on the top is a
rude chameleon (agaman), that animal being the messenger of Lisa. It is
placed upon a swish-heap and filled with water. Sometimes meat and other
food are offered to it.
18. Dohen, a Whydah fetish. It calls vessels and strangers to the
English Fort when that building is empty, consequently it is worshipped
there. Goats and fowls are sacrificed to it, and beans are especially
offered up.
19. Nesu, the proper Ffon fetish of Agbome, established by Agaja the
Conqueror. It is worshipped in large sheds called Nesu-hwe, adjoining
the various palaces. Its water pot is known as Bagwe, and when the
fetish women, guarded by Amazons, pass in strings towards the wells,
they are fetching the element for the mysterious rites of Nesu.
20. Ajaruma, the protecting Fetish of white men at Whydah. He also is
represented in the English Fort by a tree and a pot inside a room.
21. Tokpodun, the crocodile, formerly worshipped at Allada and Savi,
where Captain Phillips was not allowed to shoot it. All are now killed
off.
22. Zo, the fire Fetish. A pot is placed in a room and sacrifice is
offered to it, that fire may “live” there, and not go forth to destroy
the house. The Zovodun has already been described.[134]
23. Aydo-whe-do—commonly called Danh, the Heavenly Snake, which makes
the Popo beads and confers wealth upon man—is the rainbow. Its emblem
is, I have said, a coiled and horned snake of clay, in a pot or
calabash. This utensil, duly whitewashed, is placed at the foot of a
silk-cotton tree, or near hills of white ants, which are called Danh’s
houses. The Dahomans do not, as the French missionaries suppose, adore
insects.
Abeokuta has her _lares_.[135] Benin boasts a profusion of domestic
altars, which are here unknown. The Dahomans practise, however, like all
Yorubans, the worship of their own heads, in order to obtain good
fortune.[136] They do not, however, honour like the Egba traveller,
their big toes.[137] The “head” worshipper, after providing a fowl, kola
nuts, rum and water, bathes, dresses in pure white baft, and seats
himself on a clean mat. An old woman with her _medius_ finger-tip dipped
in water, touches successively his forehead, poll, nape, and mid-
breast—sometimes all his joints. She then breaks a kola into its natural
divisions, throws them down like dice, chooses a lucky piece, which she
causes a bystander to chew, and with his saliva retouches the parts
before alluded to. The fowl is then killed by pulling its body, the neck
being held between the big and first toe; the same _attouchements_ are
performed with its head, and finally with the boiled and shredded flesh,
before it is eaten. Meanwhile, rum and water are drunk by those present.
A quaint superstition!
The fetisheer is all powerful in Dahome. The last monarch was notably
desirous of modifying the horrors and the expenses of the national
worship; his son has been compelled to walk in the old path of blood. As
has been said, the King dismounts at the Agasu-no’s door, and prostrates
to him; besides which, he is guided in all his movements by his Buko-no.
When a grandee passes the house of a common priest, the latter comes to
the entrance, pronounces an allocution in the unintelligible hierarchic
tongue, whilst an acolyte shrieks a response to his recitative, and both
expect largesse.
There are writers, Captain Adams for instance, who would treat all the
ecclesiastical body in West Africa as mere impostors, which is much as
if a Zulu, unable to master the subject of Christianity, were to accuse
every European priest and parson of deliberate fraud. Fetish, moreover,
is, throughout the dark continent, the strongest engine of government—a
moral police—whose sudden removal would break up society.[138] In Dahome
it gains strength from the peculiar form of tyranny; wherever despotism
exists it must rest upon a strong and popular faith, and it will find in
its ministrants the most persistent and conservative allies, as they are
the most interested in repelling relaxation of discipline. A notable
case may be seen nearer home. The French Republic was satisfied with a
latitudinarianism of the amplest. The Napoleonic empire must conciliate,
if it cannot win over, the _parti-prêtre_. But the polished despotism
tempers the superstition and credulity of the ignorant many by the
scepticism and the rationalism of the educated few. The barbarous
tyranny admits only the thaumaturgic extreme. Amongst the turbulent
Fanti there is considerable infidelity touching fetish and its priests;
the Dahoman must believe and tremble.
Theological studies are strict in this section of Yoruba. The peculiar
fetish is chosen after a fit of ecstacy: abnormal brain action is not
uncommon amongst the negro races. During the fit the subject rushes, as
one distracted, to the idol, and, after violent exertions, sinks
fainting on the ground. When he recovers, the headman informs him what
fetish—the sea, for instance, or the snake—has come to him; and that, he
adopts for life. This ecstasy is the Hal (حال) of Arabia, the demoniacal
possession of the Days of Ignorance, the “spirit of prophecy” amongst
the Camisards or Shakers, the “spirit” in Methodism, and the “jerks” and
“holy laugh” of the camp-meeting. I have not seen it in Dahome, but old
residents have described it to me—all in almost identical terms. In many
points it resembles our modern spiritualism, which a late writer (“From
Matter to Spirit”) prefers to “fix upon some cause, even if false, than
upon none.[139]”
The neophyte is then removed from his friends to the fetish quarter of
the town. There he learns the holy fetish Jargon, which is
unintelligible to the uninitiated: the technical phraseology and the
professional twang—in fact, what John Foster calls “the vulgar of
religious authorship”—are the only traces of this enlightened process
still lingering in England. The course, which extends through two or
three years, ends with the songs, the dances, and the multifarious
ceremonies of the religious calling. The relatives then ransom the
acolyte, by paying sundry heads of cowries and clothes, goats, and fowls
to the principal; and the youth, gaudily dressed, is escorted home,
where, for three months, he will not make himself understood. At Agbome
there is an ordination. The aspirant is taken before the King, who
invests him in a new cloth, changes his name,[140] and addresses him
touching his future duties.
Many fetisheers retain their secular callings. Those who have the “cure
of souls” receive no regular pay, but live well upon the benevolences of
votaries who desire health or wealth, issue, and length of days, to
detect a wizard or to destroy a foe. Formerly they had as many _fueros_
as a Mexican ecclesiastic, and were not liable to capital penalties. It
was found advisable to alter the system, and to punish them under a
legal fiction: whilst the fetish is “upon” the criminal, he is safe;
when the fit has passed off, he is put to death.
Still, these fetisheers have many privileges. Both sexes, for instance,
may wear dresses forbidden to the commonalty, and personal vanity in
Africa emphatically knows no sore. The men shave half their heads or
confine the hair in white calico: many also carry a chauri, or fly-flap,
of horse or cow tail. Their costume is arbitrary, parts of it having
been borrowed, apparently, from the Portuguese priests at Whydah. The
women, especially the wives of the small-pox god, are also “half-heads”:
some decorate their hair with bunches of small East Indian cowries,
beads, or bright flowers, others with the feathers of little red birds
planted upright, so as to make them resemble horned owls; whilst others
wear the Tabla, or broad-brimmed steeple-hats, with tall thin crowns,
before described. There are many other _coiffures_—caps adorned, like
the hair, with shells and bouquets, fillets, and so forth. They cover
the bosom with kerchiefs; and gaudy-coloured cloths, extending to their
feet, are girt round the waist, where the stuff turns over with a fall
or narrow flap. Both sexes, especially the Mau, or moon fetish women,
prefer, as ornaments, long strings of cowries doubled back to back, with
a single black seed[141] separating the pairs. These are passed,
baldric-like, over the shoulder, and hang down by the side. I have
alluded to their other implements in the course of these pages.
About a quarter of the female population in Dahome may be
fetisheeresses, and girls are married to the fetish before their birth.
These Vodun-vi[142] are trained like the men, and though but slaves, are
greatly respected by the laity. How the sea-marriages and others are
conducted, no one knows; scandals are, of course, rife, but who can
substantiate them? The husband may not chastise or interfere with his
wife whilst the fetish is “upon” her, and even at other times the use of
the rod might be dangerous.[143] During the Customs these women pass the
forenoon in begging cowries: about four P.M. they don their clerical
habits at the fetish house, march in Indian file to the squares, where
the public dances are performed, and so excite themselves by music and
violent exercise that ecstatic fits are often induced. When the fête is
over, they re-assume the laical garb and return home.
The most peculiar, and perhaps the least noticed, tenet of Dahoman
religion is the “continuance theory,” which was apparently raised to a
doctrine by the sons of Misraim, and which the great Lawgiver of Israel
almost expelled from his system. Of the Egyptians it was said that they
lived in Hades rather than on the banks of the Nile: the Dahomans call
this world their “plantation,” and the next their “home.” I am unable to
decide whether it is a spontaneous idea, or whether it immigrated in
olden times, as all Africa’s poor arts and arms show a once general
intercourse, from that neutral region between the Semite and Hamite. We
trace it throughout pagan Yoruba and the Gold Coast, and it shows no
signs of a Christian or Moslem origin. It is essentially prosaic, as
among the vulgar of Europe. Former travellers vaguely allude to a rude
notion of futurity in the native mind: perhaps the idea has since grown;
possibly, the observer failed to break through native secretiveness.
Ku-to-men, or Deadland,[144] is the place which receives the “nidon,” or
ghostly part of man proceeding from him after death. This “next world”
offers none of those rewards and punishment by which, according to the
Semitic animist, the balance of good and evil in this life is to be
struck. He who escapes punishment here, is safe hereafter; there the
earthly king is a king, the slave a slave for ever and ever; the hunter
and warrior shall continue their favourite pursuits, and all will busy
themselves with the affairs of the living. When sunshine accompanies
rain, the people say that the ghosts are going to market, and with us
the devil beats his wife. It is impossible to determine whether the
departed are looked upon in the light of our spirits, souls, ghosts, or
pale shades wandering by the gloomy river: they are probably nothing but
the embodiment of the animal horror of death. Consequently, Satan and
other Semitic machinery are absolutely unknown. Ku-to-men is, in fact, a
Swedenborgian reproduction of this world, and it is placed under the
earth. Of course it has been visited as often as St. Patrick’s
“purgatory.” Many men, falling ill, believe themselves to be summoned by
some ancestral ghost: they repair to certain priests—mostly those of the
small-pox, the iron, the poison-tree, and the rainbow gods—not those of
the snake or the sea—and pay a dollar fee for the holy man to descend
and deliver their excuses. The fetisheer covers himself with a cloth,
and, after his trance, reports how, down among the dead men, he found
the shades eating, drinking, and making merry. He will even bring back
from Hades rare beads known to have been buried with a certain corpse;
and sometimes he must pawn his clothes to obtain a specimen or a
counterfeit. One of these worthies on the Gold Coast, after returning
with a declaration that he had left a marked coin in Deadland, dropped
it from his waist-cloth at the feet of the payer whilst drinking rum.
But _populus vult decipi_. Some fetisheers, exactly like our mediums,
pretend to summon the ghosts. On the other hand, the departed often
returns to earth in the body of a child, and yet remains in Deadland—an
idea which some travellers have confounded with metempsychosis. Curious
to relate, the Dahomans have a morbid fear of losing life: death is
never mentioned in the King’s presence except by some euphuism, as “the
tree has fallen.” As a rule, the more precise the knowledge of and the
belief in a future world, the less value do the believers attach to
present existence.
With so many priests the people must have numerous ceremonies. The
child’s name is given on the eighth day after the Buko-no has pronounced
what ancestor has sent it. The Genesitic precept (xvii. 10), here called
Adda-gbwibo, is not confined to the priestly practitioner. At Whydah it
is effected between the twelfth and sixteenth year; at Agbome it is
deferred till the twentieth: consequently, many fall ill after it, and
some die. The roughly-performed operation is rendered peculiar by a
double cut above and below: it is rather in the Moslem than in the
Jewish fashion, but it is doubtless indigenous, as amongst many tribes
of Central Africa. Hot sand is applied as a styptic to the wound; the
patient is dieted with ginger soup and warm drinks of ginger water, pork
being especially forbidden to him. The sister operation, excision,
wonderful to say, is entirely unknown; the reverse being so much the
custom, that a woman in the natural state is derided by others. The
_artiste_ is some ancient _sage femme_, and the effect is an
exaggeration of that which particularized the Hottentot Venus dissected
by Cuvier.
The Dahoman marriage is somewhat complicated. The aspirant sends to his
intended father-in-law’s house a man and a woman with two double flasks
of rum. These Mercuries open the affair, after many preliminaries, by
saying, “Our uncle wishes to wed one of your girls.” The parent inquires
and learns the suitor’s name, after which the proxies retire. If Afa
return a favourable reply, the family is informed of the coming event,
and the empty flasks are sent back, to signify consent and to grant
affiance. This honour is acknowledged by two other and full flasks; at
the same time two heads of cowries and two cottons for his _fiancée_
being forwarded by Cœlebs. He then collects as much cloth as he
can,[145] and this task may occupy three years, during which he is
expected to perform all Customs which the girl may have omitted, such as
sacrifice for her grandmother and other relatives.
On the “happy day”—which is always Sunday—three messengers with flasks
of rum are sent by the bridegroom at morning, noon, and sunset, to beg
their daughter from her parents. A large _cortége_ brings the bride to
her future home. The father and mother are seated upon chairs, and
ensues a general feast and carouse, as many goats and pigs as possible
being cooked; the banquet begins and ends with water and then rum.
After midnight the bridegroom retires to his sleeping chamber, and sits
on his couch. Three or four fetish-women, holding the girl’s wrists,
lead her in and place her two hands in his, saying, “Take your wife, we
give her to you; flog her if she is bad, and feed and clothe her well if
she pleases you.” They then drink water, rum, gin, and liqueurs with the
new couple; and at three or four A.M. retire, leaving them to become
_baron_ and _feme_.
The Dahomans are not behind the people of Europe in attaching an
extravagant value to the _primitiæ_. According to Mosaic custom, the
bridegroom at once bears rejoicing to his people the piece of grey or
white baft which covers the nuptial couch. On the bride’s side, a young
girl, left purposely in the house when the parents and friends have
retired, runs off with the discoloured “languti,” or T-bandage, here
universally worn. Great rejoicings follow the demonstration that the
daughter has proved herself an _illibata virgo_. Should the other thing
happen, some men send home their brides in wrath,[146] and demand back
their property of the father, who seeks out the author of his family
disgrace and compels him to pay substantial damages.
If all has passed off well, the husband, early on Monday morning,
carries cowries and rum as presents to the parents of his spouse. The
bride, after a week’s cohabitation, returns to her old home. On the
first Saturday she cooks food, and sends it to her master, who on the
next morning returns a gift of cloth, and from ten to forty heads of
cowries: dollars, however, are not refused. On the same evening the
bride returns permanently to her abode, and on Monday morning she visits
the market and buys liquor and provisions as a final feast for her
husband’s family. When the short period, corresponding with our
honeymoon, has elapsed, she joins the rest of the wives in the field or
the plantation, and subsides into a quasi-servile position. The vile
trick of alluring the unwary into _crim. con._, is as well understood at
Agbome as at Abeokuta.
The barren woman is called, in Ffon, “wen-si-no”; the Dahoman, however,
does not, like the Egba, attribute her misfortune to bad health, nor is
the word insulting, as it generally is in Asia and Africa. As usual,
throughout savage Africa, osculation is unknown, even by name, and an
offer to “salute” on the part of a white man is attributed to a display
of his cannibal propensities.
Curious to say, there is in barbarous Dahome a coroner’s inquest after
every death. The kings, who here monopolize murder, hearing that many
masters killed their slaves, established in all the towns “Gevi,” or
officers charged with controlling the abuse. When a death is reported
they must inspect the body; and their fee for certifying a natural death
is a head and a half of cowries. Then begins the chio-nun, or “corpse
time or mourning,” during which the weeping relatives must fast, and
refrain from bathing, but not from singing and dram-drinking. The body
is shaved, washed, and habited in its best attire, with bracelets,
necklaces, and other ornaments, not forgetting a piece of cloth as a
change of raiment when arriving in Deadland. A coffin is made of bamboo,
or of native or foreign wood; its huge size denotes, as in the Congo
regions, a caboceer. The body is disposed on one side, as if sleeping.
Except under peculiar circumstances,[147] the corpse, as usual in Guinea
from the Kru country to the south coast, is interred, either in its own
house or in the abode of certain ancestors. An oblong grave is dug for
the coffin: the paupers, who are buried wrapped up in palm matting, are
placed, as among the Moslems, in a niche offsetting from a circular pit.
The body is lowered with ropes, earth is filled in, and the ground is
smoothened with water. After mourning nine days, the men and women
relatives and friends visit the wives and family of the deceased, join
in the myriology, and dash to them cowries and cloths to decorate the
last home.
“Here bring the last sad gifts—with these
The last lament be said;
Let all that pleased, and still may please
Be buried with the dead.”
When a human sacrifice is made the head is placed upon the grave, and
the body is interred alongside of the corpse so honoured. Usually they
plant over the dead an Asen, or short cresset-shaped iron, upon whose
flat top water or blood, as a drink for the deceased, is poured. When a
Dahoman is interred abroad, a little earth from his tomb is brought
home.[148]
At Whydah missionary enterprise is still young; it is therefore not to
be judged as if it had enjoyed a fair trial. But all who know how deeply
rooted is fetishism in the negro brain, will despair of the nineteenth
succeeding better than the sixteenth century. In our modern day the good
work has begun here with the curse of sectarian theology upon it:
Catholics and Protestants working against one another in the same field.
I leave Messrs. Wallon and Dawson to speak each for the success of his
own “doxy,” and for the probable failure of the others:—
M. WALLON.
“Des bannières, des tableaux pieux, des images, des médailles
distribuées comme grisgris, deviendraient fétiches pour eux et les
disposeraient à connaître les signes qu’ils doivent respecter. Avec leur
tendance à nous considérer comme réellement supérieurs à eux et leur
croyance que cette supériorité nous est acquise par celle de notre Dieu,
ils renonceraient bientôt aux leurs pour adorer celui que nous leur
prions de connaître! Les femmes et les vieillards seraient là comme
partout les plus difficiles à vaincre; mais on s’emparerait aisément de
l’esprit des enfans dans un pays qui de lui-même a une véritable
disposition à la civilisation.”
All of which is contradicted by actual experiment.
MR. DAWSON.
“Fetish has been strengthened by the white man, whom the ignorant blacks
would not scruple to call a god if he could avoid death.[149] Gezo told
me that, hearing the white man’s god was at the beach, he was surprised,
thinking that he lived above, but ordered the Yevo-gan to bring him on
shore. When this was done, the people found ‘gods many,’ like their own,
the work of men’s hands, only better made, and brought them, with firing
and drumming, to a house built for them in the town. The King had now
not only his own but the white man’s gods, and thus he easily prevailed
over the Oyos, whom his father could not drive out. Were not these
grounds strong to compel the African’s mind to a complete reliance on
the efficacy of his fetish?”
Much of which has been proved to be true by the “inexorable logic of
facts.”
I cannot better conclude this chapter than with the words of an old
traveller: “It is morally impossible by mere human ministry to convince
the people of their errors and gross paganism, as it is to convert all
other blacks, unless Providence would effect a prodigious change in
their natures by its infinite irresistible grace.”
[Footnote 116: So the popular saying, Azo ewadelo Mau na dokpwenuwe (If
you walk and work, Mau thanks you, _i.e._, God is of the man who
works).]
[Footnote 117: Lisa-ji (lisa, or sun-sky) is the east, because the sun
comes out of it. Mau-ji is the west, because the moon is supposed to
begin there. Gbwe-ji (bush sky—also a fetish, which will be described)
is the north, under which lies the interior forest. Hu-men (in the sea)
is the south, for evident reasons. A small oriole, which soars like a
sky-lark, and strikes its wing-feathers together with a noise like the
locusts’ flight, is called Avo-kan ’gbe-khe—the bird that weaves cloth
(for Mau).]
[Footnote 118: Sé, which has been translated God and Spirit, means
rather the Ekra of the Gold Coast, also written Okra or Okla, ’kra or
’kla—one that has the Umbra, or ghost of another.]
[Footnote 119: Meaning Ji (the sky), wule (glittering), ye (a shadow—any
shadow), whe (the sun). The mulatto, the “tapoyer” of old travellers, is
called in Ffon Ye-whe-vi, or Ye-whe-child, because he has no fetish. He
is thus opposed to Vodun-vi, fetish child.]
[Footnote 120: (Lib. ii. chap. v.) Pliny, however, probably believed in
the Archeus of Nature, its original and all pervading principle.]
[Footnote 121: Ydoles, according to the old writers, were human or
bestial forms. “_Symulacres_,” or _simileetes_, are defined by
Maundeville, as “ymages made of lewed wille of man,” as two-headed or
four-armed figures.]
[Footnote 122: Chap. iv.]
[Footnote 123: Atin, contracted to ’tin in Ffon, is any tree.]
[Footnote 124: This word is peculiarly Whydah, whence I judge the
Dahoman fetish to have been first adopted there from the Shango, or
Jupiter Tonans of Yoruba.]
[Footnote 125: So we still say “thunderbolts.” According to Barbot, on
the Gold Coast (I have heard the same everywhere, from that place to
Camaroons), “when it thunders they say the Deity—with reverence be it
spoken—is diverting himself with his wives.” The Anglo-African is, “Man
for top, he play for bush.” Others again say, “Great devil he talk
angry.” A common imprecation in Dahome is, So ye mi, “Thunder fall upon
me if,” &c., &c.]
[Footnote 126: The corpse of a free man can be ransomed for ten heads,
that of a slave never.]
[Footnote 127: Chap. xii.]
[Footnote 128: Chap. iv.]
[Footnote 129: Hoho-no is the mother, Hoho-vi the children. The Dahomans
do not kill Albinos (here known as “men-wewe” or white bodies), of whom
I saw several in the capital: all were of the normal leucous type.]
[Footnote 130: Chap. x.]
[Footnote 131: In the Dahoman vocabulary by Commander Forbes our “small-
pox” is translated _Akpotin kpe-vi_, and explained in a foot-note, “A
poh tee peh vee; literally, small a poh tee.” But _Akpotin_, in the
Whydah dialect is a _box_, not a _pox_—hence the mistake, which is but
one in a thousand made in that vocabulary.]
[Footnote 132: In Dr. M‘Leod’s time it was confined to Dahome proper,
“but they deem it the safest way of worship to perform their acts of
devotion to his skin only, after death, which is stuffed for that
purpose.”]
[Footnote 133: Chap. x.]
[Footnote 134: Chap. iv.]
[Footnote 135: The images or teraphim of Laban and Micah (Gen. xxxi. 19,
30; Judges xvii. 5).]
[Footnote 136: So the Jews swore by their heads. The ceremony is called
in Ffon, E (he), wa (makes), ta (or ta-kun, the head), nun (thing). The
Egbas call it the “Olori li ori,” or Good Genius of Head.]
[Footnote 137: In Ffon, “Afo-su”; in Egba, “Ikpori.”]
[Footnote 138: So it has been popularly said of M. Renan’s views, that
an immense revolution, and one which Christians never desire to see,
would immediately follow their general reception.]
[Footnote 139: Though objecting to the name, which involves a theory, it
appears to me, after long inquiry, to be the action of an abnormal state
of the brain, which renders it, to an unknown and as yet undefined
extent independent of the external senses. It is less powerful in the
sanguine or lymphatic Englishman than in the peoples of Continental
Europe; and is most remarkable in the highly nervous temperament of the
Anglo-American.]
[Footnote 140: There are in Dahome no hereditary or heraldic surnames
and sire-names like those of Europe. All are personal and significant;
they are mostly given by the King, who often renews them. So in 2 Kings,
xxiii. 34, Pharaoh-nechoh turned the name of Eliakim, son of Josiah, to
Jehoiakim. And lately, Napoleon I. made all his vassal brethren assume
his first as the dynastic name.]
[Footnote 141: It is called Attikun, and is said to be produced by a
tall tree growing at a distance from Agbome.]
[Footnote 142: Vodun (fetish), vi (a child). The name is especially
applied to children claimed by a fetish.]
[Footnote 143: The old travellers inform us, that in their days these
ladies used to lord it over their lords to such an extent, that to
espouse a sanctified woman was like marrying an heiress in civilized
lands.]
[Footnote 144: Ku (dead), to (land), men (in, here pleonastic). It is
the “Samanmadi” of the Fanti, and the “Ipo-oku” of the Egbas. Mr. Duncan
(vol. i. p. 116), mentions a Custom held on April 11, 1845, “to ensure
to the spirits of departed friends a safe and easy passage across the
great waters westward. They mean the river Votta (Volta). If this custom
were not kept up, they believe the spirits would wander on the banks for
the space of 100 years, before they would have performed sufficient
penance for their friends’ neglect.” But this is a mixture of European
classical belief and the creed of the Gold Coast, especially of the Ga,
or Accra race, whose ghosts dwell beyond the Volta.]
[Footnote 145: The price of a wife, “young and uncorrupted,” in
Virginia, about 1620, was 100 lbs. of tobacco, each pound worth three
shillings.]
[Footnote 146: The Jews were more ferocious (Deut. xxii. 21).]
[Footnote 147: As royal blood must not be shed, Tegbwesun (Bossa Ahadi)
threw his brother Zingah into the sea off Whydah.]
[Footnote 148: Amongst the Egbas and various tribes of the Congo family
(Douville, Voyage au Congo, vol. i. chap. 13), various small parts of
the body are brought home to be reinterred.]
[Footnote 149: This is good testimony upon a point which only interest
or the veriest ignorance would dispute. Almost every West African tongue
testifies that the speakers consider white men supernatural beings on
account of their vast superiority, in all the arts of life, to these
poor pagans. The Krumen call Europeans Ku-be, or the ghost-tribe; the
Efik tribe of Old Calabar, Mbum Ekpo, or spirit men, and the Mpongwe of
the Gaboon River, M’buiri or ghost, and so on.]