PART XII.

SAVAGE DEATH AND BURIAL.

CHAP. XXVII.--Disrespect for human life not synonymous with

personal indifference to death--burial ceremonials in cannibal

Figi--the Figians no respecters of persons as regards this

custom--preparations for burying a living king--the “grave

grass”--paving the king’s grave--an affectionate son--“see,

his body moves, but it does so unconsciously”--Figian

symbols of mourning--mourning suits of leaves--the “causing

to laugh”--murder of the Figian sick--“pray don’t bury

me”--sexton’s work--the poorest savage sure of a comfortable

“narrow bed”--the howling of a dog considered ominous--ditto,

a cat’s clawing on the grave of a woman--how death came into

the world--the sacrifice of fingers--the token of the bloody

apron--the art of embalming--the corpse-praying priest--the

“sin hole”--ceremonies at the burial of King Finow--heroic

appeals to the departed king by his warriors--the scene at the

sepulchre--the journey of the sand bearers--shaving the head

and burning the cheek bones--twenty days’ mourning--the Mee

too Buggi--singular expression of fidelity--Finow’s faithful

fishermen--the Sandwich Islander’s badge of mourning--knocking

out the teeth--cutting the ears--putting the tongue in

black--a melancholy procession--the house of Keave--a pitiful

spectacle--no admittance to the sacred building--the Pahio

tabu--Heathen cities of refuge. Pages 337–360.

CHAP. XXVIII.--Burial rites in Samoa--burying alive--taking

his pigs to a better market--a Samoan inquest--Samoan

wakes--carrying a dead body about--Samoan coffins--dexterous

embalming--the mysterious grave fires--a trap to catch a lost

soul--burial customs of the New Zealanders--ornamenting

the dead body--the sexton in Borneo--the weeping-stone of

the Permujans--burning the dead in Western Sarawak--the

burning less efficacious than burying--the hereditary office

of sexton--difficulties of finding a sexton--sepulchral

rites of the Sea Dayaks--useful things for consumption in

the next world placed in the grave--Sea Dayaks who fall in

battle not disturbed--Mourning among the Indians of North

America--dirtiness the most favourite symbol--tombs in the

air--exorcising an evil spirit--custom of the Sacs and Foxes--of

the Tahkalis--of the New Caledonians--a New Caledonian

suttee--barbarous treatment of the widow--her scorching, and

her three years’ mourning and drudgery--the village of the

dead--burial unknown among the Mandans--a Mandan place of

skulls--praying to the dead--singular ceremonies attending the

interment of an Ojibbeway--Ojibbeway mourners--disposing of

the property of the dead--a Chippewa ghost story--an invisible

presence--a spirited ghost--veneration for the dead--a royal

funeral. Pages 361–385.

CHAP. XXIX.--Funeral rites in Damara land--dutiful behaviour

of the eldest son of the deceased--a Damara tomb--offering a

pail of milk at the grave--the Koossan method of disposing of

their dead--deserting the sick--duties of the dead Koossan’s

wife--returning in the night to burn down the house--the

ox-tail hair necklace worn by the Koossan widower--Koossan

chiefs buried in the cattle-fold--the magic woman among the

Koossans--no recovering spilt water--no cure, no pay--fate of

the unlucky mortal whom the magic woman denounces--death in

Central Africa--waking a defunct man--no half-mourning among

savages--the guests who are invited to the wake--_Bota woga_--a

tremendous boose--a slave barracoon at Santanga--the sight

that M. Chaillu saw--a thousand bleaching skeletons--funeral

ceremonies in Angola--a jollification in consequence of the

death of his mother--the mortal remains of a Bechuana--planting

the top of the head with grass--the burying-ground at

Fetish point--disinclination of the natives to approach the

place of graves--the tomb of old King Passol--a wealthy

grave-holder--burying at Anbago, Western Africa--the bereaved

wife carried a pick-a-back--security for “Gungo”--a Barrodo

Beondo funeral--occupying the bed of the deceased--“making

a cry” among the Bulloms and Timannecs--King Archibongo

and his devil house--the painted widows--the “chop-nut”

test--Malagasey burial rites--ceremonials observed on the

death of Prince Razahooatrino--lying in state--the attendant

slaves and the fly fanners--subscription among the mourners

to pay the funeral expenses--1500 oxen slain and eaten at a

funeral feast--stepping over dead oxen--no special places for

burial in Madagascar--death in Australia--the name of the dead

never mentioned by the surviving relatives--perching dead old

women on tree boughs--“take that for dying!”--the Abyssinian a

believer in the doctrine of purgatory--dancing and singing and

face-scratching--funeral of an Ailat man--how the Sambo Indian

is buried--the body in the pitpan--running away with the corpse

to cheat the devil--artful device of the corpse-bearers--cutting

down the palm trees--the way to find out if “Wulasha” has

been cheated--what the traveller Stephens saw at La Rayas, in

Mexico--a _Christian_ burial--death in Dahomey--the very last

grand custom--the king’s ingenious device for the more ready

performance of human sacrifice--a victim saved--how a Dahoman

king is buried--providing his majesty with means for paying his

way in the next world. Pages 386–418.

[Illustration]

List of Wood-Cuts,

FROM DESIGNS BY HARDEN S. MELVILLE.

ENGRAVED BY H. NEWSOM WOODS.

PAGE

FORBE’S RECEPTION BY THE KING OF DAHOMEY 1

A MALAGASEY BALL 52

BORNEO 54

AUSTRALIAN WEAPONS 66

POLYNESIAN WAR CANOE 67

WAR DANCE OF NEW ZEALANDERS 88

DAYAK AND MALAY WEAPONS 93

POLYNESIAN GOODS BOAT 106

NORTH AMERICAN WAR WEAPONS 111

A CHIPPEWA WARRIOR 115

POLYNESIAN WAR TOOLS 122

THE EUROPEAN’S HUT IN THE WILDERNESS 133

TORRES’ STRAITS CANOE 147

AN AUSTRALIAN DUEL 154

AFRICAN ARMS 162

THE UNIVERSAL WEAPON 168

A SAVAGE BOWMAN 169

PAPUAN BLACKSMITHS 180

THE EXPLORER’S HIGHWAY 183

THE TWO DOGS OR NONE 192

BOATMEN OF ROCKINGHAM BAY 203

THE TRUE WORD EXPOUNDED IN WESTERN AFRICA 204

SAMOAN IDOL WORSHIP 218

A POLYNESIAN IDOL 221

SPECTRE OF A HEADLESS DOG 240

MAKING BROTHERS 243

THE DREAM OF LITTLE WASP 262

THE COVETOUS PAWNEE 275

AN IROQUOIS WARRIOR 280

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF BOUDA 289

PUNISHMENT FOR KILLING FETISH SNAKES 293

CEREMONY OF TOUCHING THE BULL 301

DIVINATION SCENE 307

MAKING RAIN 312

DU CHAILLU’S PEEP INTO A HEATHEN TEMPLE 321

THE WIZARD IN THE STOCKS 324

INHABITANTS OF THE FAN COUNTRY 336

BURYING ALIVE IN FIGI 337

MOURNING SUIT OF LEAVES 341

FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF KING FINOW 354

A SAMOAN SEPULCHRE 364

A MANDAN CHIEF 374

MANDAN PLACE OF SKULLS 375

“HE HEARD THEM RECOUNT THEIR VALIANT DEEDS” 380

DAMARA TOMB 387

AFRICAN WAKE 392

THE “MASTER OF LIFE” IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA 395

THE VERY LAST DAHOMAN “CUSTOM” 414

[Illustration: Forbes’s Reception by the King of Dahomey.]

PART VII.

SAVAGE KINGS AND COURTS.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Savage considered as a child of nature--A saltatory

welcome--Gezo, King of Kings--Items of Dahoman royal

treasure--Distribution of the presents--Kings and Ambassadors

joining in the scramble--The human sacrifices--A “Grand

Custom” of the year 1862--The King of Abó--The terrible Neam

Nam--Browowdi, King of Issapoo--A King of Old Kalabar--King Eyo

Honesty--The order of Egbo--The Mambo of Lunda--The Jaga.

At first sight it would seem hard to show a greater anomaly than

an unthinking instinct-obeying nation of savages consenting to be

controlled and governed by a fellow barbarian, equally unthinking, and

morally powerless; and the said anomaly is the more striking when the

savage is viewed as the vulgar view him,--as a free-born “child of

nature,” intolerant of rule, and guided in all his behaviour by certain

instinctive high-souled sentiments, and vast powers of mind, that

require only cultivation to fit their possessor for the achievement of

all that ever was yet successfully attempted by man. This, however, is

very far from the fact. Without doubt, and as we have only to refer

back to our own ancient barbarism to be convinced, the germ of perfect

manhood lies in every savage, but like the ore of gold and iron, the

true metal lies deep, and to free it from dross and make its lustre

apparent is a process neither easy nor rapid. Again, like golden ore,

in which the precious deposit shows here and there with a sheen that

undoubtedly reveals its presence, does the savage’s mind manifest its

existence in fitful flashes and glimmerings, that, alas! only reveal to

him what a helpless wretch he is, and what a terribly responsible thing

is life, with children and wife, and all its other precious belongings,

and which, in an instant, may be spilt and vanish like a capsized gourd

of water.

This--the end of life--is the end of everything with our brother the

savage; life to him is only good according to the ease it enables

him to get in the land he lives in. The first business of his life

is to make himself comfortable; the second is how to hold such

appurtenances to his comfort as he has gained. If he is a little man,

any man a trifle bigger coming his way may strip him, seize his wife

and children as slaves, knock him on the head, and appropriate his

hut; if he is a big man any two big men who choose to conspire may

serve him in the same cruel way: what then remains to be done, but to

combine for the good of the common weal? which may be aptly likened to

a common _wheel_--the chief being the _stock_, the various

_headmen_, or councillors, the _spokes_, or spokesmen, and

the _fellowes_, just as many savage fellows as the tribe, or band,

or _tire_ embraces.

Still, who is to be “king,” or “chief,” or “Jaga,” or “Mambo,” or

whatever else you please, as representing the stock or common centre

of the said wheel? About this question, however, we need not trouble

ourselves, and simply because, just as the queen bee is born in a hive,

so are men born commanders of men; that is, originally; the fact of

their descendants degenerating, and being totally unfit to wield a

sceptre is nothing to the purpose. Custom and Fashion then step in,

and these two of themselves are monarchs potent enough to settle the

gravest question that could possibly arise, even in the most civilized

countries in the world. Wherever a leader is wanted, a leader will be

found; he may be a wrong-headed leader, or conceited, or cruel, or

arbitrary; but so sure as he remains at the helm, for the short space

only of a year, you may depend that he is no make-believe; and the very

worst you can say of such an one is, that it is a pity that a king

should possess so many bad qualities; that he deserves to die for them,

if you please; nay, go as far as killing him, and how different are

your feelings than though you had killed a merely contemptible upstart.

Of course I talk of “killing” as a figure of speech, in its extremest

sense. There, however, is one king now existing whom, if with his life

would end the hideous work of blood and carnage prevailing in his

nation, might well be wished dead. I allude to the King of Dahomey,

who, as a trafficker in human beings, dead and alive, is an ulcer on

the face of the world; a man whose guilt is so black that it may never

be washed away, though they laved him in rivers of water as deep as

those of tears and blood that he has caused to flow.

We hear very little of this potentate. Now and then an adventurous

European will penetrate his awful domains, and give to the world some

account of the horrors he sees and hears; once in a while we read in

the African News that “the King of Dahomey threatens a massacre on such

or such a place,” or that the barbarous “annual custom” is about to

commence, with an enumeration of the victims already secured, and whose

blood is required to “water the late king’s grave.” Of all Englishmen

who have witnessed the abominations of Dahomey, none have recorded them

more graphically than Commander Forbes, and it is from his account

chiefly that what is here related of Dahomey is derived.

Commander Forbes’s first introduction to the King of Dahomey was, to

say the least, calculated to make a lasting impression on his memory.

Within a short distance of the royal residence Mr. Forbes and his

party halted at the house of a friend, and attired themselves in

full uniforms, and then moved forward to some shady trees to await

the arrival of the carbooceers who were to conduct them to the royal

presence. After the adventurous Europeans came a crowd of hammock-men

and other Dahoman followers. About a quarter of a mile from the halting

place stood a vast assembly of carbooceers and soldiers with umbrellas

of state, flat-topped and ornamented like those of the Chinese, and

banners of every hue and most varied devices. Beside the Dahoman

standards, each of which was ornamented by a human skull, floated the

national flags of France, England, Portugal, and Brazil, whilst every

carbooceer had his own particular pennon.

The first chief who advanced towards Commander Forbes’s party from this

gay crowd of carbooceers was Boh-peh, the governor of the capital,

dressed in a country cloth wrapped round his body, a slouched hat,

necklaces of coral and other beads, and armed with a handsome sword.

Behind him came a retinue of soldiers, his standard, his umbrella of

state, and his stool of rank; and, lastly, a band of most discordant

music. Arriving in front of Forbes’s party, he bowed, and then marched

from right to left round their seats three times, completing each

circuit with a low obeisance. On his third round he discharged three

muskets, and danced a short measure, then advanced and shook hands, and

seated himself on his stool of office, which its bearer had placed on

the Englishman’s right hand.

Ah-hoh-peh, the king’s brother, and Gaseh-doh, the chief of the

carbooceers of Dahomey, followed, with similar attendants and

ceremonies. When the whole party were seated, a body of the royal

household, having half their heads shaved, took position in front,

and sang a hymn of welcome to the Englishmen. The Dahoman guard

were showily dressed in scarlet, trimmed with beads and other

ornaments, with their heads covered by silver caps, some of which were

distinguished by a pair of small silver horns. In his right hand,

each carried a horse-tail whip, with which he beat time to the air

of the chant. Next advanced Poh-neh-soo (at once a military officer,

court-fool, and headsman) and his party of blunderbuss men, who

likewise fired a salute, and then drank healths with the Europeans;

after which, the latter entered their hammocks, and the entire party

proceeded towards the palace, amid the firing of muskets and short

brass guns.

The travellers found the palace of Dange-lah-cordeh surrounded at a

distance of twenty feet with human skulls, many of which had crumbled

with time, or had blown down. The square of the palace was filled with

armed people sitting on their hams, the polished barrels of their

muskets standing up like a forest. Under a thatched gateway sat the

king surrounded by his immediate wives; while on each side sat the

amazons all in uniform, armed and accoutred; and in the centre of the

square squatted the males. Hundreds of banners and umbrellas enlivened

the scene, and a constant firing from great guns and small arms

increased the excitement.

When near the king’s seat, the European party came to a halt, while

the carbooceers bowed down and kissed the dust. Passing before the

throne, they bowed and made the circuit of the square three times, the

carbooceers prostrating themselves each time. Then the Englishmen stept

from their hammocks and approached the king, who had been reclining,

but now rose, and several discordant bands struck up a quick step,

whilst guns were fired, and all shouted, except the ministers and

carbooceers, who prostrated and threw dust over their heads, as Mr.

Forbes advanced and shook hands with the king.

King Gézo, of Dahomey, was about forty-eight years of age, good

looking, with nothing of the negro feature, and his face wanting

several shades of being black; his appearance was commanding, and his

countenance intellectual, though stern in the extreme. Indeed, he

is described as being short of positively handsome only by a slight

squint. He was plainly dressed in a loose robe of yellow silk, slashed

with satin stars, and half moons, Mandingo sandals, and a Spanish hat

trimmed with gold lace.

Taking their seats facing the royal mat, the party entered into a

complimentary conversation, after which the ministers were introduced

by name to our countrymen. His Majesty then enquired if his guests

would like to see a review of his amazons, and of course his guests

were delighted at the offer. Three regiments were paraded, one being

distinguished by a white cap ornamented with the blue alligator,

another by a blue cross, and the third by a blue crown. The officers

were recognized by their coral necklaces and superior dresses; while

each carried a small whip which they freely plied when required.

Firing, rushing hither and thither, and advancing to the throne to

address the king, were the chief features of the review; at the

conclusion of which two amazon heralds, bearing long trumpets, blew a

blast and then blazoned forth the numerous names of Gézo, King of

Kings.

The king having asked Commander Forbes to drink, rose, and with his

glass in hand tapped that of each of his guests; then there thundered

forth a salute of guns almost drowned by the shouts of the multitude.

The ministers and carbooceers danced, and the ladies held clothes

before the king. Men must not see the king eat or drink. On the whole

it was Mr. Forbes’ distinct conviction that no king could have been

more civil or more condescending.

The same gentleman had the good (?) fortune to be present at the

ceremony of Ek-bah-tong-ek-bah, or “display of the king’s wealth,” an

exhibition of a perfectly unique character and finding no parallel

throughout the world. The fundamental principle of the King of

Dahomey’s government is profuse generosity to his subjects. His

constant aim is to inculcate the notion that his riches are boundless

and his good nature none the less so. How hollow and fictitious are

both these assumptions was evident enough to Commander Forbes, although

for his head’s sake he dare not express such a conviction while in the

land of “Grand Customs.”

“It was little more than seven o’clock a.m. when we were informed that

a royal messenger had arrived to summon us to witness the custom to

be performed on this day--the Ek-bah-tong-ek-bah, or “display of the

king’s wealth.” At a little distance from our gate the road was fenced

off and a guard set on the temporary gate, so as to prevent any one

entering who was not invited to bear a part in the proceedings of the

day. They who wished to inspect the royal treasures which were to be

shown to the people assembled in the Ahjahee market-place.

“When we arrived at the palace square at the foot of the ladder leading

to the palace house, on each side were three human heads recently

decapitated, the blood still oozing; on the threshold of the entrance

gate was a pool of blood from six human sacrifices over which we had

to step. In the square was a huge model of an elephant caparisoned

on wheels, on which the king is drawn when going short journeys. The

king never walks, nor rides on horseback, but is either carried in a

hammock, or drawn on this elephant, or in a carriage or wheeled chair.

In the centre of the court-yard stood a crimson tent or pavilion forty

feet high, ornamented with emblems of human and bullock’s heads,

skulls, and other devices equally barbarous and disgusting. On the top

was the figure of a Dahoman standard-bearer (or half-heads, as they are

called, having half their heads shaved) bearing a standard, having for

a device a skull in a calabash standing on three other skulls. About

the yard were many flags of all colours, some having as their devices

men cutting off other’s heads, and others tying prisoners, and many

national flags, amongst which were several Union Jacks. In and about

the pavilion were the female host of ministers, carbooceers, amazons,

wives, and virgins. The king had not arrived; all were gaily dressed,

and armed, and accoutred.

“On the neutral ground where we stood facing the pavilion (while the

mayo and ce-a-boo-gan grovelled in the dust like mandarins kow-towing

to the royal chair) roamed an ostrich, an emu, several dwarfs,

hunchbacks, and albinoes, besides troops of dogs of almost every

country and variety. All the ministers and carbooceers were arrayed

in red-striped flowing robes laden with necklaces of coral and other

beads. Each wore a scimitar, a short sword, and a club.

“Presently, under a salute fired from musketoons and small brass pieces

within the court and cannon outside, the king arrived, dressed in a

white silk flowing robe flowered in blue and a gold-laced hat, and took

his seat in a sofa under the pavilion. Forthwith the bands struck up

and the heralds proclaimed that Gézo, the Leopard and the Hawk, had

taken his place; fifty-eight ministers and carbooceers at the same

time marched three times in single file, and at the third time all

prostrated and kissed the dust. So soon as this ceremony was concluded

the business of the day commenced. This is a public display of the

monarch’s wealth, carried on the heads of slaves through the town to

the market and back again. The procession consisted of between six and

seven thousand people.”

To enumerate, however, every item of “wealth” carried by these six or

seven thousand individuals would certainly be to weary the reader,

even though she were a lady, loving, next to possessing gold and gems,

to hear and read about them; besides, there is much among the Dahomey

“crown jewels” which the said lady reader could match in point of

value in her wash-house or lumber-room. Let us take a few notes of the

members of the procession:--

52 women carrying white flowered vases.

6 carrying jars.

10 carrying French ornaments under glass shades.

1 carrying a washing pan.

1 carrying a crimson cushioned rocking chair.

1 carrying a box.

1 carrying a washing-stand.

1 carrying a toilette table, drawers, and glass.

2 carrying stools.

3 carrying banners.

1 carrying a skull in a copper pan.

2 carrying calabashes full of skulls.

2 carrying shields.

Head bunseh’s mother in scarlet, wearing a Life Guardsman’s helmet and

plumes, and attended by a lady in Charles II. hat and plumes, both

magnificently dressed.

8 Malam’s wives.

Band of 20.

Guard of 100.

Band of 12.

4 women carrying pans of skulls.

2 carrying jars surmounted with skulls.

1 carrying a large pan of skulls.

1 carrying a banner.

2 carrying umbrellas over the king’s women and attendants, in crimson

cloth dresses and slouched hats trimmed with gold.

Band of 20.

Guard of 30.

2 women carrying pans of skulls.

2 carrying jars of skulls.

2 carrying a banner and two umbrellas each.

King’s grandmother, in head-dress of silver, crimson and silver robe

and train, held by a maiden bearing a gold-headed stick.

One of the King’s grandfather’s widows in scarlet and gold.

1 man carrying a banner.

1 carrying a tray containing three human skulls.

The King’s washing-tub borne by 30 guards.

2 men carrying a scarlet and gold sedan chair.

300 carrying dishes with a basket in each.

55 carrying blue glass goblets.

50 carrying white glass goblets.

6 carrying a drum trimmed with skulls.

1 carrying umbrella ornamented with eighty human jaw-bones.

Men carrying a native sofa. Etc. etc. etc.

All the possessions of the king, in fact, from his grandmother to

his washing-tub, were to be found, and made no doubt as a whole a

tremendous display, though it is by no means unreasonable to say that

the sum of the “king’s wealth” brought under the hammer of a London

auctioneer would realize little more than would the contents of any

first-rate villa-residence at Clapham or Richmond.

It should be stated, however, that as well as this household gear,

the royal exchequer was brought out and carried in measures. In this

again the king was fortunate as regards opportunity for display;

_cowries_ form the currency of Dahomey--and goodness knows

the many thousands of these it takes to make a single English

sovereign--therefore it was easy enough to arrange that, although in

form of money the king possessed no more than a little over a thousand

pounds, porter after porter should go trooping past, each with such a

load of money as made the mouths of the spectators water with envy.

Well, their longing was not to remain entirely ungratified. The king,

although a vastly rich, is not a greedy man; and annually he makes

presents to one and all of his loyal subjects; not in a hole and corner

sort of way, but publicly--with the mob before him, and the riches, the

cowries, the bales of cloth, the tobacco, and the kegs of rum in heaps

and piles and pyramids at his elbow; and scrambles the astonishing

gifts fairly and without favour--or so it seems. Let us, however, see

what Mr. Forbes has to say on the subject.

“On the last day of May, commenced the custom of the

Ek-que-noo-ah-toh-meh, or throwing the presents from the Ah-toh. It

is on this day human sacrifices are offered by the king among his

gifts to his people. In the centre of the market-place a platform was

erected twelve feet in height, enclosed by a parapet breast high. The

whole was covered with cloths of all colours, and surmounted by tents,

gaudy umbrellas, and banners of varied hues and devices, among which,

as usual, were several Union Jacks. On the west front of the Ah-toh,

which must have been at least one hundred feet square, was a barrier

of the prickly acacia, and within this were the victims for the day’s

sacrifice, lashed in baskets and canoes as on yesterday. A dense naked

mob occupied the area, whilst a guard of soldiers prevented them from

bearing down the barrier. Beyond, in all directions, were groups of

people collected round the banners and umbrellas of the different

ministers and cabooceers. The naked mob consisted of the soldiers of

the king, his brothers and sons, the ministers and higher cabooceers:

each carried a grass-cloth bag round his waist; and the actual business

of the day was a public display of the generosity of the king, who

scrambles goods of all kinds among these warriors.

“The king had preceded us, and as we took our seats under a canopy to

the right of the Ah-toh, His Majesty appeared on the platform under the

shade of a handsome umbrella of crimson velvet and gold, dressed in an

old black waistcoat, a white nightcap, and a cloth round his loins,

and was greeted with loud shouts from the military expectants, who now

formed into bands, and carrying their officers on their shoulders,

marched past the royal position, the king’s own taking the lead. This

they did three times, and then halted immediately under the king’s

position, who harangued them on the impropriety of fighting during the

scramble, and having thrown a few cowries by way of trial, commanded us

to join him.

“Ascending the ladder the appearance was truly novel: in three separate

heaps in different parts of the platform were three thousand heads of

cowries, several heaps of cloths, rum in kegs, and rolls of tobacco;

one side was occupied by tents for the royal wives; while others were

grouped about in different parts of the platform in gaudy dresses.

At the upper end stood the king surrounded by his ministers, and at

the lower were, under canopies of showy umbrellas, two tables bearing

liquors and glasses, one for the cha-cha, the other for ourselves.

After taking our seats we were directed to stand under an umbrella

facing the mob, and now commenced in real earnest the scramble, the

king labouring hard throwing down cowries, cloth, tobacco, etc. The

cowries appeared to be the property of the lucky ones who caught them,

but the cloths were instantly handed to the officers, and if not, a

fight ensued that was terrible to behold.

“The naked multitude emitted an effluvium only to be compared to the

fetid atmosphere of a slave ship, and as the mass oscillated, there

arose a vapour like the miasma of a swamp, as they were perfectly

bathed with perspiration.

“Besides throwing gifts to the soldiers, His Majesty was all smiles and

liberality in his donations to the ministers and a number of others;

but to no one was any large sum given. At one time he sent us a basket

containing ten heads of cowries and two pieces of cloth as a present,

and at another a constant supply of cowries and cloths to scramble

among the mob.

“Among the recipients of the royal bounty were two kings and several

ambassadors, including one from Ashantee called Cocoa Sautee.

“Towards noon the brigantine on wheels put off to discharge her

cargo of rum, tobacco, and cowries, which were added to the heaps on

the platform. The king’s party of soldiers keeping together, were

evidently the principal recipients, and we soon found that something

like an equal distribution among them was aimed at. A captain of

musquetoon-men, named Poh-veh-soh, at once a military officer, court

fool, and headsman, caught my attention, and I threw him three pieces

of cloth full of cowries; on receiving the third he was ordered off the

ground. Rum was distributed to the _élite_ on the platform, and a

breakfast provided for us, besides food for the ministers and wives.

“By two o’clock one of the heaps of one thousand heads of cowries had

been thrown away and part of another given to the higher classes. Some

three or four hundred pieces of cloth, a few kegs of rum, and rolls of

tobacco, having all disappeared, His Majesty retired to rest awhile.

“Would to God that I could here close the account of this day’s

proceedings, simply detailing the barbarous policy of raising the

worst passions of man in order to make people believe in the profuse

distribution of a pay which if doled out individually would be a mere

pittance. The crowd can have no idea of the sum scrambled for; all they

know is that a continuous shower is kept up for seven hours, and they

consider it must be immense. Even if a man gets none he is content to

know that he has been unfortunate, and should he proclaim his ill-luck

he would not be believed, each supposing the other to be disguising the

real quantity he has gained.

“During the royal absence a dead silence reigned as if by general

consent; when by accident it was broken it was reinforced by the

eunuchs sounding their metal bells, tolling the knell of eleven human

beings. Out of fourteen now brought on the platform, we, the unworthy

instruments of the Divine will, succeeded in saving the lives of

three. Lashed in their baskets these sturdy men met the gaze of their

persecutors with a firmness perfectly astonishing. Not a sigh was

breathed. In all my life I never saw such coolness so near death. It

did not seem real, yet it soon proved frightfully so. One monster

placed his finger to the eyes of a victim who hung down his head, but

finding no moisture drew upon himself the ridicule of his fiendish

coadjutors. Ten of the human offerings to the bloodthirsty mob, and

an alligator, and a cat, were guarded by soldiers, the other four by

amazons.

“In the meantime the king returned, and calling us from our seats at

the further end of the platform, asked if we should wish to witness the

sacrifice. With horror we declined, and begged to be allowed to save

a portion of them. After some conversation with his courtiers, seeing

him wavering, I offered him a hundred dollars each for the first and

last of the ten, while at the same time Mr. Beecroft made a similar

offer for the first of the four, which was accepted, and the three were

immediately unlashed from their precarious position, but forced to

remain spectators of the horrid deed to be done on their less fortunate

countrymen. What must have been their thoughts?

“The king insisted on our viewing the place of sacrifice. Immediately

under the royal stand within the break of acacia bushes stood seven

or eight fell ruffians, some armed with clubs, others with scimetars,

grinning horribly. As we approached the mob yelled fearfully and

called upon the king “to feed them--they were hungry.” It was at a

similar exhibition that Achardee (President of Jena) while looking

into the pit with the king was seized, thrown down, and murdered on

the spot. Disgusted beyond the power of description we retired to our

seats, where also the cha-cha had retreated; not so his brothers, for

I regret to say they remained delighted spectators of the agonies of

the death of these innocent victims. As we reached our seats a fearful

yell rent the air. The victims were held high above the heads of their

bearers, and the naked ruffians thus acknowledged the munificence of

their prince. Silence again ruled, and the king made a speech, stating

that of his prisoners he gave a portion to his soldiers, as his father

and grandfather had done before. Having called their names, the one

nearest was divested of his clothes, the foot of the basket placed

on the parapet, when the king gave the upper part an impetus and the

victim fell at once into the pit beneath. A fall of upwards of twelve

feet might have stunned him, and before sense could return the head was

cut off and the body thrown to the mob, who, now armed with clubs and

branches, brutally mutilated and dragged it to a distant pit, where

it was left as food for the beasts and birds of prey. After the third

victim had thus been sacrificed the king retired and the chiefs and

slave dealers completed the deed which the monarch blushed to finish.”

Again I would remind the reader that this horrible business is not a

thing of the past but of the present. True it was in the years 1849–50

that Mr. Forbes witnessed the horrors he describes, but had he been

in Dahomey in 1859–60 he would have witnessed as bad, or worse. Here

indeed, and taken from the _Times_ newspaper, is an account of the

very last Dahoman “Grand Custom.”

“The following information from Dahomey has been received at the Church

Missionary House, from the commander of Her Majesty’s ship Griffin, at

Little Popo, August 6th, 1862:--

“Sir,--I think it my duty to lay before you, with as little delay as

possible, the following information concerning Dahomey:

“On the 5th of August, when at anchor off Little Popo, I received a

letter from the shore, stating that Mr. Euschart, a Dutch merchant,

residing at Popo, had just returned from Dahomey, and that he had news

of great interest for my ear. This Mr. Euschart I have had frequent

conversations with, and I have every reason to believe that his

information is most accurate, trustworthy, and reliable. I therefore

borrowed a surf boat from a Dutch brig in the roads, and, having manned

her with ten of my own Kroomen, I with great difficulty effected a

landing, two boats out of three that tried the beach that day being

capsized, owing to the very heavy surf. I give the substance of Mr.

Euschart’s information as closely as possible, having jotted it down in

my note-book during our conversation.

“It appears that Mr. Euschart went to Whydah on business in the middle

of June, and on the 24th of June, while still at Whydah, received the

stick of the King of Dahomey, with an instruction that his presence

was required at Abomey. Mr. Euschart tried every method of evading the

journey, but without avail, the carbooceers of Whydah plainly telling

him that he would be carried to Abomey as a prisoner if he did not at

once willingly obey the King’s message.

“Accordingly at one p.m. on June 26th, having provided himself with six

hammock men, he left Whydah for Abomey, escorted by an armed party of

Dahomians, and reached Alada, the old residence of the King of Dahomey,

the same evening; June 27th, one p.m., left Alada, and arrived at

Tabour at ten p.m.; June 28th, 5.30 a.m., started for Kamos, through

swamp, and easily passed; 9.30 a.m., started, and arrived outside

Abomey at 7.30 p.m., the road on the way having been very good. He

was at once shown into a very fair house, and told to remain there

during the night. June 29th, received a message from the King that he

was to be presented the next day. June 30th, entered walled part of

town through Royal gate; received there by two head carbooceers, who

saluted him, saying: ‘King had never seen a Dutchman; King’s father had

never seen a Dutchman; and now they had plenty of people to kill they

were very glad to see a Dutchman.’ He was then ordered to drink the

King’s health four times, after which the carbooceers danced round him,

singing and firing guns. He was then conducted to the King’s palace,

and received there by the Prime Minister, who told him the King would

receive him next day.

“July 1.--Received by the king, who was seated outside the palace on

a raised dais, surrounded by amazons. He saluted the king in European

style. The king at once got up and shook hands with him, said he was

very glad to see a Dutchman, and continued talking in Portuguese for

about ten minutes. He was then ordered to return to his house and keep

inside three days.

“July 5.--He was brought to the market-place, where he was told many

people had been killed the night before. He first saw the body of Mr.

William Doherty (a Sierra Leone man), late a missionary and church

catechist at Ishagga. The body was crucified against a large tree--one

nail through the forehead, one through the heart, and one through each

hand and foot; the left arm was bent, and a large cotton umbrella

in the grasp. He was then taken to the market, where the king was

seated on a raised platform, from which he was talking to the people

much ‘war palaver,’ and promising them an attack upon Abbeokuta in

November. Cowries, cloth, and rum were then distributed. In front of

the market-place, rows of human heads, fresh and gory, were ranged, and

the whole place was saturated with blood, the heads evidently belonging

to some of the Ishagga prisoners who had been killed during the night,

after having been tortured in the most frightful manner.

“Until July 10th Mr. Euschart was ordered to remain quiet in his house,

and not to move or look out after sundown.

“July 10.--The ground shook violently--evidently, from the date, the

effect of the earthquake felt at Accra. Mr. Euschart was at once

brought to the market-place, where he found the king again seated on

the raised platform, surrounded by Amazons; the king told him that

the ground shaking was his father’s spirit, complaining that ‘Customs

were not made proper.’ Three Ishagga chiefs were then brought before

the king, and told they were to go and tell his father that ‘Customs

should be better than ever.’ Each chief was then given a bottle of rum

and a head of cowries, and then decapitated. Twenty-four men were then

brought out, bound in baskets, with their heads just showing out, and

placed on the platform in front of the king; they were then thrown down

to the people, who were dancing, singing, and yelling below; as each

man was thrown down he was seized and beheaded, the heads being piled

in one heap and the bodies in another; every man who caught a victim

and cut off the head received one head of cowries (about 2_s._).

After all were killed Mr. Euschart was conducted home.

“July 11.--Taken to another part of the town, where exactly similar

horrors were being perpetrated.

“July 12.--All the platforms were taken down, and the programme

appeared to be firing guns, singing, and dancing all day; there were

no more public sacrifices for ten days, but it is supposed many took

place during the nights.

“July 22.--Taken to see the ‘Grand Customs’ at the palace of the late

king, at the gate of which two platforms had been erected; on each

platform sixteen men and four horses were placed; inside the house

was placed another platform, on which were placed sixteen women, four

horses, and one alligator. The men and women were all Sierra Leone

people captured at Ishagga, and were dressed in European clothes;

each group of sixteen men seated, or rather bound, in chairs placed

round a table, on which glasses of rum were placed for each. The king

then ascended the platform, where he adored the Dahomian fetish, and

seemed to make obeisance to the prisoners, whose right arms were then

loosed to enable them to take up the glass to drink the king’s health.

After the king’s health had been drunk, the effects of the late king

were paraded and worshipped by the people as they passed; a grand

review of the troops then commenced, and as each marched past the king

harangued them, and promised the sack of Abbeokuta in November. Nearly

the whole of the troops wore fire-arms; a few select corps had rifles,

but the greater part were armed with flint-lock muskets. The artillery

consisted of about twenty-four guns (twelve-pounders). The number

of troops altogether could scarcely be less than 50,000, including

10,000 amazons, all apparently well disciplined troops. After the

review was over the prisoners were beheaded, their heads being hacked

off with blunt knives; at the same time the horses and alligator were

dispatched, particular care being taken that their blood should mingle

with that of the human prisoners.

“When all was finished Mr. Euschart was permitted to leave Abomey,

which, it is needless to say, he immediately did, having received the

magnificent _viatica_ of eight heads of cowries (16_s._), one

piece of country cloth, and two flasks of rum.

“Mr. Euschart firmly believes that Abbeokuta will, without doubt, be

attacked by the whole Dahoman army towards the end of November.

“T. L. PERRY, Commander.

“To the Governor of Lagos.”

It is instructive to turn from this, one of the last reports from

this land of human butchery, to another letter written as long ago

as November 27, 1724, by one Bullfinch Lamb, a “guest by compulsion”

of Trudo Andati, at the time in question King of Dahomey. The

epistle appears in “Dahomey and the Dahomans,” and would seem to

be the effusion of a gentleman connected with the service of the

British Crown, and who had got into a mess, rather through his urgent

commercial spirit than through any unavoidable exigence of duty or

voluntary adventure.

“November 17, 1724.

“Sir,--About five days ago the king of this country gave me

yours of the 1st instant, and immediately required me to answer

it in his presence, which I did, though in a very different

manner, so that if I do not recall it, I hope that you will

excuse that as well as this. As to the late conference I had

with his majesty, on receiving your letter, I think he does not

want to make a price to let me go, for when I pressed him much

to tell me on what terms he would send me away, his answer was,

he did not want to sell me, I was not a black man; but upon

my again pressing him he made a sort of jesting demand to the

sum of I think 700 slaves, about £10,000, or £14 a-head. Which

strange ironical way of talking, as I told him, made my blood

run cold in my veins; and, upon recovering myself, I asked him

if he thought the king of my country would listen to such an

outrageous proposal, and that you and the company would think

that both he and I had lost our senses, should I have writ

anything like what he said. Upon which he laughed, and told me

not to put anything of that in the letter; for that he would

order his head captain of trade to treat with you upon that

subject, and that if you had not something very fine for him

at Whydah you must write to the company. Upon which I told him

I feared I must die in his country, and that I would only send

for a few clothes and necessaries, which I desired he would

let his people bring for me, and he agreed to it, so that I

don’t find there is any other way of redeeming me than by the

company sending him a present of a crown and sceptre, which

must be paid for out of what remains due to the late King of

Ardah. I know nothing else but what he will think mean, being

stocked with great quantities of plate, wrought gold, and other

rich things, and also all sorts of rich gowns, cloths, hats,

caps, etc. He has likewise all sorts of common goods beyond

measure, and gives away booges like dirt and brandy like water,

for he is prodigiously vain and proud; but he is withal, I

believe, the richest king and greatest warrior in this part of

the world, and you may depend upon it in time will subdue most

of the countries round him. He has already set his two chief

palaces round with men’s skulls, as thick as they can lie on

the walls, one by another, and are such as he has killed in

war; each of which palaces are in circumference larger than St.

James’s Park, about a mile and a half round. I hope my royal

masters will take my case into consideration, and think of the

long and many sufferings I have had in their service, and what

a miserable condition I am still in, as it were, banished all

the pleasures of this life, not only from my wife, and other

friends, but all conversation in general; so that I am like

one buried alive from the world, and think nothing can come

near my unhappy fate, to lose my time and spend my youth, as it

were, for nothing in such a cursed place as this, and not see

a likelihood of getting out of it, but that I must end my days

here. To prevent all which, I hope that they and you, in their

behalf, will use your utmost endeavours, by such means as are

requisite, for my deliverance, which I shall very impatiently

pray to God to bring to pass. Governor Baldwin promised me in

his last, upon his arrival in London, he would lay my case

before our royal masters. Therefore, when you, write, I beg

you will remind him and them thereof, and note the contents of

what I now write. If any letters come from England for me, I

believe either them or anything else will come safe to my hands

by the king’s people. He is very willing I should have letters

come to me, or anything else. Nor will he be guilty of any mean

action in keeping anything from me, if it were twenty slaves.

Neither do I believe he would detain any white man that should

come here, but me whom he deems a captive taken in his wars.

He sets a great value upon me, he never having had a white man

here before, only an old mulatto Portuguese, which he had bought

of the Popoe people, at the rate of about £500, as near as I

could compute. And though this white man is his slave, he keeps

him like a great carboceer, and has given him two houses, and

a heap of wives and servants. It may be that once in two or

three months he mends (he being a tailor by trade) some trifle

or other for his majesty, but after the devil of a manner. So

that if any tailor, carpenter, smith, or any sort of white man

that is free, be willing to come here, he will find very good

encouragement, and be much caressed, and get money if he can be

contented with his life for a time; his majesty paying everybody

extravagantly that works for him. And then it might be one means

of letting me go with a promise of returning to trade with him;

but he now says, if I go, he does not know whether he shall

see any more white men, thinking they add to his grandeur; so

that if any fellow whatsoever comes up and goes down again, it

will possess him with a notion that more white men will come,

and so let me go in order to encourage their coming. Or, if my

little servant, Henry Tench, he at Whydah, and is willing to

come to me, it may in time be much for his interest, as now

being a boy, the king will be entirely fond of him, for, though

I do nothing for him, he has put me into a house and given me

half-a-dozen men and women servants, also a constant supply to

maintain myself and them. If I loved brandy, I might soon kill

myself, having enough of that, also of sugar, flour, and the

like. And when he kills oxen, which is often, I am sure of a

quarter, and sometimes a live hog, sheep, or goat; so that I

shall not starve (but this is nothing, I still want content).

And when he comes out in public, the Portuguese and I are called

out to sit all day in the sun, only our boys are permitted to

hold our kideysols or umbrellas over our heads; but then he

pays us pretty well for it, sometimes giving us two, sometimes

three or four grand cabess apiece, and a huge flask of brandy

to drink there, besides one or two more for each to carry home.

Most of the ink you sent me being unfortunately spilt, I beg you

will send me a packet of ink powder. His Majesty has likewise

got from me the greatest part of the paper, having a notion in

his head of a kite, which, though I told him was only fit for

boys to play with, yet he says I must make one for him and I

to play with, so I beg you will send me two quires of ordinary

paper and some twine for that use, and a score of matches, his

majesty requiring me sometimes to fire his great guns; and I am

much in fear of having my eyes put out with the splinters. He

has twenty-five cannon, some of which are upwards of a thousand

weight, so that a man would think the devil helped to bring

them here, this place being about two hundred miles distant

from Whydah, and at least one hundred and sixty from Ardah. His

Majesty takes great delight in firing them twice round every

market day, only now that his people are making carriages for

them. And though he seems to be a man of as great natural parts

and sense as any of his colour, yet he takes great delight in

trifling toys and whims, so that if you have anything of that

kind, I pray you will send them me, or any prints or pictures,

he much loving to look in a book, and commonly carries a Latin

mass book in his pocket, which he had from the mulatto; and

when he has a mind to banter anyone out of their requests, he

looks in his book as studiously as if he understood it, and

could employ his thoughts on no other subject; and much affects

scrawling on paper, often sending me his letters, but then he

sends an interpreter with a good flask of brandy and a grand

cabess or two.--Your humble servant,

“BULLFINCH LAMB.”

So that on the whole one cannot help wondering why it is that Master

Bullfinch--who in the course of his letter shows himself such a selfish

individual--cannot settle down and make himself comfortable. Whether

or no he ever escaped, the chronicle sayeth not; probably not; and

no great matter either, perhaps, considering Mr. Lamb’s unscrupulous

suggestion that half-a-dozen of his wretched countrymen might be

induced to thrust their heads into the mouth of this Dahoman lion, that

he, Master Lamb, might be enabled to escape.

Besides the King of Dahomey, there are many other monarchs big and

little in this quarter of Africa; but though they be ten times more

savage--if to be savage is to be remote from civilization and its

influences--we find not one as treacherous and thirsty for blood. In

the course of his explorations in Western Africa, Mr. Bakie had the

honour to meet several kings, among others the monarchs of Abó and

Igbo. Let us approach the former royal presence.

“We promised to come on shore the next morning and pay our respects.

I accordingly made an early start, and accompanied by Mr. May, Mr.

Crowther, and Dr. Hutchinson, proceeded in the gig and pinnace, the

crews of which were dressed in flaming red caps and shirts. Abó is

situated nearly a mile up a creek, the mouth of which is almost

invisible from even a very short distance. On entering it we found

it at first so extremely narrow that we had to lay in our oars and

use paddles, but, after a time, it opened into a wide expanse, the

surface of which was covered with canoes of various sizes. Numbers of

inhabitants were to be seen gazing at us, and altogether there was

more bustle and activity, and more signs of a trading people than

anything we had previously witnessed. Having reached the landing-place,

we marched in a kind of procession, headed by a Krú-man carrying the

English ensign, and accompanied by a royal messenger bearing a gaudy

flag. We had some little difficulty in keeping good order through the

narrow lanes, densely crowded as they were by the populace; as natives,

both men and women, were constantly coming towards us, and insisting

on shaking hands with us, which ceremony is here performed by the

two parties taking loose hold of the fingers of each other’s right

hands, and then slipping them, making at the some instant a snapping

noise with the aid of the thumb. We were not sorry to reach Ishúkuma’s

palace, a low dwelling of mud and thatch, with a small court some

twenty feet square in the centre. This was surrounded by a kind of

verandah, in which we were placed, a chair being brought for me, and

mats for the remainder of the company. Near us was a fetish, composed

of some old bones and a few trinkets, and close to this, under a canopy

of white calico, was a huge mat for his royal highness. Presently

he entered, accompanied by several of his wives, and other female

relatives, who all sat on his left. He seemed a little oldish-looking

man, of easy disposition, and not much intellect. He was attired in a

woollen nightcap, a white shirt, and in home-built pantaloons of native

cloth, shaped after an extreme Dutch design. The court was by this time

completely filled with crowds of natives, whose incessant noise and

chattering prevented us from commencing, and at last I had to request

him to enforce silence. This he attempted to do, in vain, until at

last, assisted by the more energetic of his spouses, and in particular

by a strong-minded sister, whose shrill tones, heard high above the

din, finally beat down all opposition, and produced a temporary calm.

I seized the moment, and, by our interpreter, told Ishúkuma, that we

had come to make his acquaintance and his friendship, and to ascertain

if the people were willing to trade with us. I expressed our sorrow

at hearing of the death of Obi, who had been the white man’s friend;

also our regret at the absence of his brother. I said that we were

desirous of fulfilling the promise made by the officers in the former

expeditions, and that we should try to do good to his country. He

replied by declaring his satisfaction at seeing white men here once

more, thanking us for our compliments, and offering, if we could wait

a few days, to send a special canoe for his brother. I told him that

we had a long distance to go, and that we must proceed while there was

plenty of water in the river, but that on our return we should again

call.”

Impressive, however, as must have been an interview with such awful

majesty, Mr. Bakie managed to survive it; indeed, so accustomed was he

to the company of kings as to make nothing of meeting two, and even

three, within a week. A day or so after his visit to the court of the

King of Abó, he brought his ships to anchor off the dominions of King

Ajé, and the result of a message to that august person was that he

would visit our traveller aboard.

“Presently Ajé was seen to approach in a large canoe, with seventeen

paddles of a side, and accompanied by several of his wives and some of

his brothers and their wives. Another salute was fired, after which

we received our visitors on board, and with some difficulty got them

all seated on the poop. Ajé is a tall, rather stout, young-looking

man, very superior in appearance to his brother, and is said in

manner and countenance greatly to resemble his father. He appeared

dressed in home-made scarlet cloth trousers, a scarlet uniform coat,

a pink beaver hat, under which, apparently to make it fit, was a red

worsted nightcap; no shoes, beads round his neck, and in his hand a

Niger-expedition-sword. After talking of general matters, I spoke of

his father, of Captain Trotter (a former explorer), of trade, and of

our wishes and intentions; on which he replied that he considered that

whatever his father wished or promised was binding on him, adding,

however, that we seemed very long in carrying out our part of the

agreement. I gave him a double-barrelled gun, a large sabre, a scarlet

robe, some cloth and beads, and some scissors, mirrors, and needles

for his wives, and also three krus (27,000) of cowries. This last, he

said, must be shared by his brother, on which I offered Tishukuma an

equal amount and gave him also other presents. With all Ajé seemed

dissatisfied, and asked why we did not give as much as Captain Trotter

did, on which I mentioned our long voyage, the many presents we had

given away, and our stock being exhausted. Still he asked for things

I had not, until I was obliged to speak more plainly, telling him how

unreasonable his behaviour was, and how unlike what I expected in a

son of Obi. He then laughed, showing that he was merely trying to get

as much as he could, a daily Abó practice. Ajé next asked for the

traders, who were sent for, and showed them a quantity of firewood,

yams, palm-oil, and a bullock he had for sale. He proved a very keen

hand, and only parted with his articles at a high price; he looked

to everything himself, saw things handed on board, and the cowries

counted. He gave me his dash, a bullock, and two hundred yams, which

latter were here, though very good, very small and rounded. I took

him round the ship, fired a swivel off before him, and showed him the

engine. I explained to him that as our provisions were nearly expended,

I could offer him but little, on which he said he would merely ask

for some biscuit, which I gave him. He was much amused with the

shower-bath, which he called all his wives to look at, and was much

pleased with a German accordion which I gave him.”

Mr. Bakie’s greatest adventure, however, was with the formidable King

or Chief of Neam Nam, whose subjects were regarded by surrounding

tribes as monsters of the blackest dye, and the chief himself as the

Fe-fo-fum of ogres. The natives begged him not to think of visiting

this nest of scorpions where he and his party would undoubtedly be

slain and eaten, and have to think themselves highly fortunate if

they escaped the most cruel tortures into the bargain. Bakie wanted

guides, but it was only on the most unheard-of terms that he was able

to procure them, as well as porters to carry presents wherewith to

propitiate the terrible Neam Nam. At last, however, these difficulties

were overcome, and the adventurers, after a considerable march, came

in sight of Mundo, a Neam Nam village. “I could not, however, induce

them to enter it, and, throwing off their loads, they decamped, leaving

only the interpreter in the firm grip of two of my followers. Nothing

daunted, my men took up the rejected loads and we proceeded towards the

village. On nearing it, the sound of several tom-toms and the shrill

whistle of their calls plainly indicated that the Neam Nam were on the

alert. A large party bearing their arms and shields issued forth to

meet us, and, drawing up in line across our path, seemed determined

to impede our progress. Heedless of the impediment, we proceeded on

our way, and my khartoumers, in the best spirits, joined lustily in a

song. The sight of the savages before us was imposing, each man guarded

the greater part of his body with a large shield, holding a lance

vertically in his right hand. The party were evidently surprised at

the confidence and unoffending manner of our approach, and evinced a

greater disposition to run away than to attack. On we went joyfully,

and when within two yards of them, their ranks opened, allowing us

a passage through them, of which as a matter of course we availed

ourselves, and entered the village (apparently deserted by women and

children), with the Neam Nam following in the rear, and passing through

a street of huts rather distantly situated from one another, we reached

a slight eminence commanding a fine view of a highly fertile country.

During our march the tom-toms continued their noise, but, regardless of

consequences, we took up our position under the shade of a magnificent

sycamore tree in the vicinity of a couple of huts; and, disembarrassing

ourselves of our baggage, we quietly seated ourselves in a circle round

it, exposing our fronts to the natives, who in great numbers soon

surrounded us, apparently astonished at the coolness we displayed;

they gradually closed, and, the front rank seating themselves, their

proximity became disagreeable, as they hemmed us in so closely that

several of them actually seated themselves upon our feet, indulging

at the same time in laughter and loud conversation which we could not

understand. Enjoining patience on my men, and convinced that, in case

of necessity, the harmless discharge of a gun or two would scatter

our visitors, I learnt with some difficulty, through the medium of

the Baer and Dor interpreters, that these savages looked upon us in

the light of bullocks fit for slaughter, and that they contemplated

feasting upon us; but they disputed the propriety of slaying us until

the arrival of their chief, who I learnt was not in the village. With

this knowledge, a hearty laugh and many jokes as to their condition

were indulged in by my brave companions, who, confident in their own

arms, behaved admirably. The excessive joy of our would-be butchers

ceased at the appearance of an aged grey-headed man, who, after a short

intercourse with the Baer interpreter, in a loud voice addressed the

mob in words to the following effect: ‘Neam Nam, do not insult these

strange men; do you know whence they come?’ ‘No, but we will feast on

them,’ was the rejoinder. Then the grey-headed old man, holding up his

spear and commanding silence, proceeded thus: ‘Do you know of any tribe

that would dare approach our village in so small a number as these

men have done?’ ‘No,’ was again vociferated. ‘Very well, you know not

whence they came, neither do I who am greatly your senior, and whose

voice you ought to respect. Their country must indeed be distant, and

to traverse the many tribes between their country and ours ought to

be a proof to you of their valour. Look at the things they hold in

their hands; they are neither spears, clubs, nor bows and arrows, but

inexplicable bits of iron mounted on wood. Neither have they shields

to defend their bodies from our weapons; therefore, to have travelled

thus far, depend upon it their means of resistance must be so puzzling

to us, and far superior to any arms that any tribe--ay, even our

own--can oppose to them: therefore, Neam Nam, I, who have led you to

many a fight, and whose counsels you have often followed, say, shed not

your blood in vain, nor bring disgrace upon your fathers, who never

have been vanquished. Touch them not, but prove yourselves worthy the

friendship of such a handful of brave men, and do yourselves honour by

entertaining them, rather than degrade yourselves by the continuance of

your insults.’

“This address seemed to have a beneficial effect with the majority. The

old man motioning two or three of them out of the way, seated himself

near me and endeavoured to converse with me, but failing, he called

the interpreter. His first wish was to examine my rifle: removing the

cap, I handed it to him. Long and silent was his examination, the most

inexplicable part seeming the muzzle, which, instead of being pointed,

had a hole in it. Placing his finger therein, he looked at me with

the greatest astonishment, and to give him a practical explanation,

I seized a fowlingpiece from the hands of my favourite hunter, and

pointing to a vulture hovering over us, I fired: and before it touched

the ground, the crowd were prostrate and grovelling in the dust, as if

every man of them had been shot. The old man’s head, with his hands

on his ears, was at my feet; and when I raised him his appearance was

ghastly and his eyes were fixed on me with a meaningless expression.

I thought he had lost his senses. After shaking him several times I

at length succeeded in attracting his attention to the fallen bird

quivering in its last agonies between two of his men. The first signs

of returning animation he gave was, putting his hand to his head, and

examining himself as if in search of a wound. He gradually recovered;

and as soon as he could regain his voice, called to the crowd, who one

after the other first raised their heads, and then again dropped them,

at the sight of their apparently lifeless comrades. After the repeated

call of the old man, they ventured to rise, and a general inspection of

imaginary wounds commenced. I attempted to carry on a conversation with

the old man, whose name was Murmangae, and learnt that the chief’s name

was Dimoo, and that he had but lately succeeded his deceased father in

the chieftainship. Gaining confidence, he again reverted to our arms,

which, however, he expressed a fear of touching, and requested to know

how the noise was produced; and whilst I was endeavouring to explain

the gun to him, the chief, accompanied by numerous followers, arrived.

To my disappointment, however, he treated us with great mistrust, and

drawing up his men seemed inclined to attack us, on which a lengthened

conversation between the old man and himself took place. At this

stage of the proceedings, a single elephant was seen approaching the

village. The chief, who had been standing, advanced towards me, and,

pointing to the elephant, abruptly asked if our thunder could kill

that. On my replying in the affirmative, ‘Do it,’ he said, ‘and I will

respect you.’ The aspect of affairs had now assumed anything but a

peaceful appearance; but relying upon my own resources and diplomacy,

I resolved on gaining the good will of the chief, and despatched one

half of my best shots to endeavour to bring down the elephant, whilst

with the other half, in case of emergency, I knew I could defend our

property. The brave fellows confidently sallied forth, although a few

of them only possessed rifles, much too light for the work expected of

them, whilst others had only double-barrelled fowling pieces loaded

with ball. They were followed by the whole of the savages to within

about three hundred yards of the elephant, when the hunters dispersed,

and simultaneously fired at the elephant, within a range of twenty

yards, from various directions. On the first discharge, the Neam Nam

and their chief exhibited every sign of fear, some by falling on the

ground, and others by taking to their heels. The elephant, a young

male with tusks about a foot long, received shot after shot in quick

succession. He merely elevated his trunk and ears, and moved round as

if on a pivot, until about two rounds had been discharged at his head

and shoulders with double charges of powder; he fell, and our prestige

was established. The chief and his followers recovering themselves,

approached more in the guise of petitioners than aggressors, and

stated that if we would only withhold our thunder, they would be our

best friends. Presents of beads to Dimoo and our old friend closed

the compact; and on being informed that similar valuables would be

given away for provisions, the chief proclaimed aloud the fact to

the bystanders, who declared they would furnish us with anything the

village contained.”

Still lingering in Western Africa we arrive at the Fernandian town of

Issapoo, whose king is named Browowdi. Mr. Hutchinson introduces us to

his majesty as well as to his palace.

The monarchy here, as in all Fernandian towns, is hereditary, not from

father to son, but from uncle to nephew. His palace was certainly

a most extraordinary place for human residence. Yet, on my getting

inside, his first exhibition to me was, as the interpreter explained

it, his throne and crown, the former consisting of a filthy stool, that

looked old enough and dirty enough to have been handed down in his

family for several scores of generations; and the latter, an equally

filthy old hat of bamboo leaf, with a monkey’s tail pendent from it.

Inside the house, the light came in through dozens of crevices in the

walls as well as the roof. The wall consists only of boards placed

side by side, reaching from the ground to the roof, all of which are

moveable, so that the inmate has only to shift one or two at any side,

and he lets himself in or out as he pleases. Across the house inside

are placed a number of poles, on which are suspended hats, skins, rusty

guns, cloth, and calabashes; but no windows, stools, beds, or tables,

save the old throne, and a tax-gatherer would find a great scarcity

of available chattels in the place. The coronation of a king is a

ceremonial that I have not yet had the pleasure of witnessing, but it

has been reported to me as one possessing interesting features. It is

so bound up with their notions of a spirit or devil, that I deem it

necessary to explain the peculiarity of their belief on this latter

point. Maaon is the title given to the devil, and the botakimaaon

(his high priest) is supposed to have influence with him through

communication with the cobracapella, the koukarouko. Their faith in

God, to whom the name of “Rupe” is given, is a loftier aspiration than

that of the devil, but they believe that the Deity’s favour can be only

obtained by intercession through the koukaroukos at the bottom, the

candidate for regal honours standing alongside, and all his subjects

_in futuro_ being about. This conference is, I believe, carried on

by means of ventriloquism, a faculty with which many of the Fernandians

are reported to be endowed. The botakimaaon then delivers to the king

the message from the koukarouko for his guidance in his high station,

shakes over him a quantity of yellow powder, entitled “isheobo,” which

is obtained by collecting a creamy coat that is found on the water at

the mouths of some small rivers, evaporating the water, and forming a

chalky mass of the residue. From the lightness as well as friability

of this article, I believe it to be of a vegetable nature. He has then

placed upon his head the hat worn by his uncle, and the crowning is

accomplished. After becoming a king, his majesty is forbidden to eat

cocoa, deer, or porcupine, which are the ordinary condiments of the

people; and the ceremonial is concluded by the latter having some of

the yellow powder rubbed over their foreheads by the botakimaaon, with

instructions to use the same material in like manner every morning for

seven days.

From Issapoo we accompany Mr. Hutchinson to Duketown, and on the road

that gentleman tells us of the iron palace that was sent out some

years since from Liverpool for the late king Eyamba; and which, though

now utterly ruined, may be recollected in its prime, as well as King

Eyamba, in the same enviable condition, and still another king, one

Archibong, though whether Archibong was Eyamba’s successor, or _vice

versâ_, is not quite clear. However, the reader may judge for

himself.

“No man was more impressed with an idea of the dignity attachable to

the trappings of royalty than Eyamba, and so he must have a carriage.

But the horses soon died, after dragging out life for some time. The

skeletons of two only were visible about Duketown, perfect _anatomies

vivantes_, at the time of my first visit there. Horses not being

native to this part of the country, it puzzled the lexicographers very

much to find a name for them in their Etick tongue, the language spoken

at Old Kalabar. At length they hit upon the term _Euang makara_,

which signifies “white man’s cow;” and to carry the absurdity further,

entitled Eyamba’s carriage _Efot euang makara_, which literally

means “white man’s cowhouse.” When I beheld the nature of the streets

and roads in and around the town, it was a marvel to me how Eyamba

could find a place broad or level enough for four wheels to roll upon.

But he did make out a few yards meet for that purpose; and there it

was his custom to have the carriage drawn before him by a number

of slaves, whilst he walked after it, with his shining brass crown

upon his head, and an immense party-coloured parasol held aloft by a

strong-armed man. The Irishman who got into a sedan chair, and, finding

the bottom out of it, said he might as well be walking, were it not

for the grandeur of the thing, had a nearer semblance to state than

this gander-brained monarch, who often used to boast of his desire to

see Wellington and Napoleon, that he might shew his pre-eminence over

them; and who was accustomed to sign all his letters and documents as

Eyamba V., king of all black men. Everything in this once magnificent

house was, on my visit to it, in a state of perfect ruin and decay,

for his majesty died a few years after it had been constructed. This

condition of affairs may be explained by the fact that there exists

among the people of Old Kalabar, as amongst the majority of the heathen

nations in western Africa, a silly superstition, that when a man dies

he requires the spirit of all that belonged to him in this world, his

wives, slaves, cloths, chattels, and furniture, for use in the unknown

world to which he has gone. In proportion to what his competency was,

and to the means of his friends to make a corresponding sacrifice for

him, so is his anticipated comfort in the next state to be measured.

I have been since informed that in a few hours after its fall there

was not a single piece of its structure to be found on the site of

its former location; for the inhabitants all acted as so many human

turkey-buzzards; and the earliest bird of course picked up his choice

of the best worms. Coming out of the palace, and not fifty yards from

it, although I had a hill to go down, a rut to scramble through,

and an eminence to ascend, I find myself in front of the Duketown

palaver-house, a species of senatorial forum, where all the legislative

matters of the country, the municipal affairs of the town, palavers on

matters public or private, are discussed and settled by the king and

the Egbos. The palaver-house consists of two walls running parallel for

about forty yards, terminated by a transverse wall, about as many feet

in length, and thatched with a stout bamboo roof. The end by which it

is entered is opened from side to side; a space of nearly eighteen

inches intervene between the tops of the walls running lengthways and

the roof; and there is an ascent from the road by half-a-dozen steps

to the floor, which is hard and smooth. In the centre of the entrance

is a huge hollow brass pillar reaching up to the roof, further in are

two more of equally imposing diameter, whilst between them are a large

bell and a piece of wood; the latter is drum-like in shape, with a

slit longitudinally in it, and fixed to the pillar. This is the Egbo

drum, which is beaten to alarm the inhabitants in case of fire, to give

notice of the attack of an enemy, or to signify the fact of a leopard

having been captured, each occurrence being indicated by a peculiarity

of beating the drum, which is known as soon as the sound is heard. In

the farthest corner of the house is a private sanctuary, into which

none but the privileged are admitted on occasions of Egbo meetings, and

outside the front are two flourishing ju-ju trees, with five pillars of

stone before them, said to be solidified basaltic lava, brought from

Prince’s Island, and erected there to the memory of five sovereigns of

Old Kalabar. Not far from this palaver-house was the residence of the

late king, Archibong I. There was nothing noticeable in it beyond that

of any other gentleman trader’s abode; but the king was one of the most

extraordinary specimens of sable humanity I ever met. He could neither

read nor write the English language, but spoke it in a very imperfect

gabble, and go to his house whenever you would, he was nearly always in

the condition in which he might be expected to agree with the sentiment

of Sancho Panza: blessings on the man who first invented sleep. On

the first day of the week, which consists of eight days, he was

accustomed to entertain all the supercargoes and surgeons in the river

at dinner, and this was called Chop-day. Duketown Chop-day is entitled

Aqua-el-dere, and is equivalent to our Sunday, but it is only as a day

of rest--drinking rum and palm wine being their chief devotions. They

wash their court-yards with cow-dung and water on that morning, and

the largest market in the week is held on Aqua-el-dere. Eyamba, when

king, adopted it as his chop-day because it was the most honoured in

the week, and he wished to be considered the most consequential man in

the country. King Archibong followed in his footsteps with reference

to the same practice. A similar custom is adopted on the second day of

the week, called Aqua-ibibio. The dishes served up at King Archibong’s

were very creditable to his culinary establishment. They consisted of

various kinds of soup, containing goat’s flesh, fish, pork, cocoa

leaf and root, plantains, bananas, with a variety of other dishes,

such as Apicius, Meg Dod, or Alexis Soyer never smiled upon, and which

are said to have contained “pepper enough in them to have scalded a

silver spoon.” These were followed by roast maize, ground-nuts, and

shrimps as a dessert. Mimbo or Mim-efick, the native name for palm

wine, was the beverage at these dinners. It is a milky fluid, having

sometimes an acid and sometimes a saccharine taste, and is procured

from a particular species of the palm tree, by tapping it at the top

and allowing the juice to exude into calabashes placed there to receive

it. One dish relished very much by the king was a plate of pounded

yam, made into the putty-like consistence of ju-ju wood, with a soup

entitled palaver sauce. The mode of eating it was by grasping a lump

from the dish, rolling it on the palm of the hand into the shape of a

racket ball, putting the index finger into the centre, dipping it into

the soup, and bolting it. The table was always neatly laid out with

silver service, and the viands were brought up in large calabashes;

covered with white cloths, on the head of a number of female slaves.

So much for departed Duketown kings and their eccentricities; now let

us turn, for it is worth while, to the present ruler of that locality

as well as of the neighbouring settlement of Creektown. It is worth

while as furnishing one of a hundred instances that might be quoted

of the good effected by the teachings of Christianity, as well as an

answer to those wondrously wise folk who sneer at missionaries and

their doings. “King Eyo Honesty” is the honourable title of the present

monarch of Duketown.

“King Eyo is anxious for the civilization of his people and the

cultivation of his country, but he has had no one to teach them

anything of the latter, and so the fruitful soil of his dominion lies

unproductive, save in the one material of palm oil. Those who agree

with me in thinking Christianity and civilization to be cause and

effect in Africa, as they are all over the world, will rejoice to hear

that he has given every countenance and assistance to the body of

Presbyterian missionaries settled at Old Kalabar. He speaks, reads,

and writes the English language very well, keeps his own accounts, and

translates the Rev. Mr. Waddell’s sermons into the Efick tongue for

his congregation. The king’s sons are the only members of his family

that have made an open confession of their belief in the doctrines

of Christianity, but Eyo enjoins the sacred keeping of the Lord’s

day, has no dinner for the traders when it comes round in its eighth

day rotation, has abolished the market formerly held on Sundays

at Creektown, commands the weekly attendance of his people at the

missionary service in the galvanised iron church, is most respectful

and attentive during worship, and follows the preacher, translating

sentence after sentence for the audience. He is a man past forty years

of age, about five feet eight inches in height, of a stout muscular

frame, with eyes and lips of the usual prominence observable in the

Æthiopian face, and grey whiskers. His dress consists of a cloth,

generally silk, tied round his loins, a silk handkerchief thrown over

his shoulders, a black hat with a gold band and a binding of the same

material about the edge. His ornaments are circlets of blue glass or

coral beads round his neck, wrist, and ankles, with a massive gold

ring on the index finger. He partakes freely of snuff, and this is

carried by his slave in a silver box. It is the only luxury in which

he indulges, for he never smokes, and from spirituous liquors no

man can be more abstemious. When he goes in state to Duketown, as

he always does on business occasions, to the trading ships in the

river, he is invariably accompanied by a train of large canoes, from

one of which a gun is fired to announce his approach as the royal

party turns the angle opposite Oldtown. The king is always seated

in a six-oared gig belonging to the ship to which he is proceeding,

whilst the canoes contain his eldest son, young Eyo, and his three

brothers, with an innumerable host of slave attendants. He has a

gigantic parti-coloured parasol held over his head on these occasions,

as he has whenever walking about his town, or seated in one of his

court-yards, overlooking his trade books. The musical band accompanying

the king consists of an Egbo drum, placed transversely in the canoe,

which is not beaten on the ends as our drums are, but on the top of

its longitudinal surface with a pair of sticks; an instrument formed

of iron, as of the saucers of two shovels welded face to face, and

struck with a piece of the same metal; a cow’s-horn, blown rather

discordantly; and clattering-boxes made of bamboo matting, with a

string to them held in the hands like Spanish castanets, and shaken

vigorously to produce a noise by the agitation of the pebbles or pieces

of broken crockery-ware they contain. Yet, with this primitive attempt

at music, the banners flying from the canoes, the simultaneous hoisting

of flags on all the ships in the river, and the return of a salute from

the vessel to which he is proceeding, when the king’s party becomes

visible, gives the whole scene a very animated appearance.”

By-the-by, mention has several times been made of the curious

institution existing in this part of the world known as the order

of “Egbo.” It is a sort of negro brotherhood of kings, chiefs, and

free men, and the title is derived from “Ekpe,” the Efik name for

tiger. There are eleven grades, the three superior of which are not

purchaseable by slaves. In former times the Egbo title was confined

entirely to freemen, the second or third generation of a slave born

within the pale of an Egboman’s dwelling being liberated by this fact,

and allowed to purchase it after their parents were dead. It cannot be

compared to any institution familiar to European minds but to that of

Freemasonry. Previous to initiation, the Egbo candidate is obliged to

go through a number of ceremonial observances; as, for instance, on a

“Brass Egbo”--one of the superior grades--applicant’s admission into

that order, his body is daubed over with yellow dye to simulate brass,

and there is a sacrifice of animals on the occasion. The secrets and

meetings of Egbo men are strictly private. If a man, woman, or child

have a complaint of grievance against a master or neighbour, he or she

has only to give notification of it by slapping an Egbo gentleman on

the front of his body, or by going into the market square and tolling

the large Egbo bell. The gentleman apprised by the first-mentioned

form of notice, is bound to have at once an Egbo meeting to redress

the grievance complained of, and if this be found to be trivial the

punishment is inflicted on the complainant. When an Egbo man wants to

make a proclamation relative to a theft committed, or the recovery

of a debt, he sends out into the town what is supposed to be Idem,

or spiritual representation of Egbo, a man with a black vizard on

his black face, and the whole of his body covered cap-a-pie with a

fantastical dress of bamboo matting. This personage is sometimes

preceded by a few drummers, and he always has a bell fastened to his

side, which rings as he goes along. In his left hand he carries a bunch

of green leaves (for he is believed to have been exorcised from the

woods, and of course must keep up his sylvan character); in his right

is an enormous cow-hide whip with which he flogs every slave, man or

woman, whom he meets, as taste or inclination may suggest. A brutal

peculiarity of the Egboship is this, that the want of a single variety

of the title will expose him who is so unfortunate as to lack it, to

the lashings of the Idem of that particular grade which he has not

purchased. If an individual who is in possession of all the inferior

grades, and of three of the superior ones, happens to be out on the

day when the Idem of that particular Egbo that he was in want of is

walking, he is marked out from the common multitude and treated with

extra severity. Should the Idem not meet any slave in the streets to

whip on his rounds, he is at liberty to go into their houses and whip

them to his heart’s content. The sound of Egbo bells, and the name of

Egbo day, are enough to terrify all the slave population of Duketown,

and when they hear it they hide in every available place. Latterly

females have been permitted to buy Egbo privileges, but are not allowed

to be present at the councils of the Egbo gentlemen, nor to enter at

any time within the wall of the Egbo Palaver-house. When a yellow flag

floats from the king’s house it is understood to be Brass Egbo day, and

none but a few of the privileged are allowed to walk abroad. A strip

of cloth of the same colour nailed to any man’s door implies that his

house is under the powerful protection of Brass Egbo, the indication

being significant of the master’s absence from home. If an Idem meets

a European in his progress, where there are two roads or pathways

available, the Idem walks off on the one different from that which

the white man is approaching; if there be but one road, the latter is

expected to turn his back and let the supposed spirit pass unnoticed

and undisturbed. “Aqua Osong,” the last day of the Kalabar week, is

grand Egbo day, on which there is a carnival and Egbo procession, with

the usual amount of brutality. All legal and judicial proceedings in

the country are ushered in and carried out under Egbo demonstrations,

for the purpose evidently of keeping the law _in terrorem_ over

the slave population. And no stronger evidence of this can be adduced

than that a man tried and condemned by Egbo law has to forfeit all his

slaves and other property in his possession, no matter to whom this

latter may belong. These are all divided as prey amongst the highest

Egbo authorities. Persons sentenced to death by Egbo trial are allowed

what is considered a privilege of leaving this world in a state of

intoxication. There is a class of people called Bloodmen, who live

in the interior at the plantations, and whose presence in Duketown

does not give much comfort to the Egbo authorities. Sometime after

the death of King Eyamba in 1846, a number of slaves belonging to the

duke’s family ran away from their owners, and entered into a blood

covenant for mutual protection. In a short time others joined them, and

they now amount to several thousands. The present King of Duketown,

Duke Ephraim, is the lineal descendant of the master of the original

refugees, and consequently has considerable influence over them. Some

time back they tried to be allowed the establishment of a separate

Egboship for themselves, but were refused. They come into town

whenever any ceremonial is to be performed having reference to a deed

of blood; but what their relation is to the Egbo order still remains a

profound secret. The gentlemen at Old Kalabar have all private fetishes

at their houses--the skulls of human beings, the bones of leopards,

hippopotami, crocodiles, and manattis, arranged according to the

owner’s taste and fancy. Peculiar species of food are not eaten by many

families, from the fact that some members of them die after eating of

such condiments, and their ju-ju consequently places an interdict on

their use.

At Lunda, another settlement in Western Africa, the individual at the

head of the State is called the “Mambo.” This gorgeous personage,

together with his chief ministers, is thus described by the traveller

Valdez, to whom audience was given:

“The Mambo sat on a number of tiger-skins, so arranged that all the

tails radiated, thus forming the figure of a large star, and in the

centre was spread an enormous lion-skin, which covered a portion of

all the others. A stool, covered with green cloth and placed on the

lion-skin, formed the throne of the Mambo. This dignitary was dressed

in a most magnificent style, far surpassing in grandeur of display all

the other potentates of the interior of Africa. His head was adorned

with a mitre, about two spans high, in shape resembling a pyramid,

and formed of feathers of a bright scarlet colour. His forehead was

encircled by a diadem ornamented with a great variety of valuable

jewels of great brilliancy; a sort of frill or fan of green cloth,

supported by two small ivory arrows, was standing up from the back of

his head; the neck and shoulders being covered with a kind of spencer

or capuchin without sleeves. The upper part of this cape was ornamented

with the bottom of cowrie shells, under which was a row of imitation

jewels. The lower part had a most brilliant and dazzling effect, in

consequence of a great number of small mirrors, or square and round

pieces of looking-glass, being tastefully arranged alternately with

the precious stones all round it. His shoulders, breast, and back,

were thus covered with a garment at which no one in that resplendent

sunshine could for one moment look fixedly.

“The arms above the elbows were ornamented with a band of cloth of

about four inches broad, the borders and edges of which had attached

to them strips of skin, with hair of about four or five inches long

hanging down like a fringe. None but the Muata Cazembe, or prime

minister, and his nearest relatives are allowed to wear this badge of

royalty. From his elbows to the wrist the arms were ornamented with

sky-blue stones, while the yellow cloth, something similar to the

Highlandman’s kilt, extended from the waist to the knees. This garment

had two borders of about four inches wide, the upper one blue, and the

lower red.

“He also had a kind of girdle or swathe of several yards long, which

was worn in a rather peculiar manner; one end of it being fastened to

the other cloth by a small ivory arrow a little below the waist, and

the whole then wound round the body in small regular folds. A leather

belt which is girt round the body preserves this garment in its place.

Both are considered as the insignia of imperial authority.

“The insipo or girdle of hide is cut from the entire length of an ox’s

skin, and is about five or six inches in breadth. When the insipo is

girded on, the tassel of the tail is left trailing under a sort of fan,

formed by the folds or plaits as before mentioned. The Muata Cazembe

had hung from his insipo under his right hand a string of pearls, to

the end of which a small bell was attached, which, knocking against his

legs as he moved, rang at intervals. He had also pearls strung round

his legs from his knees downwards, similar to those he wore on his

arms. While the whole of his body was thus richly ornamented, his face,

hands, and feet were left entirely uncovered.

“The Muata Cazembe had seven umbrellas, forming a canopy to shelter him

from the sun. These varied in colour, and were fastened to the ground

with long bamboos, covered with stuff of different hues manufactured by

the natives. Twelve negroes simply clad, and each of them holding in

his hand a nhumbo’s tail, were stationed round the umbrellas.

“The nhumbo is an antelope about the size of a three-year old ox, and

of a chestnut colour, having a black cross along the back, and a great

deal of hair about the shoulder-blades--about the same quantity as a

horse has upon his mane and tail. It has cloven feet, head and horns

like a buffalo, and the flesh is excellent food. The nhumbo tails held

by the negroes were in the form of a broom, and the part which served

as a handle was adorned with beads of various colours. All the tails

were put in motion at the same time whenever the Muata Cazembe thought

proper to make a sign with a small one of the same kind, which he used

himself.

“At a short distance from him were negroes gravely employed in looking

for and sweeping away whatever was unpleasant or offensive to the

sight. After them came two other negroes, with baskets on their

shoulders, to pick up anything which might be overlooked; but the place

was so clear that not one of them could find anything to do, although,

according to custom, the appearance of being busy was kept up. Two

curved lines issued from the extremities of the Muata’s chair, and met

at the distance of twenty paces in front, opposite the Mambo. The line

on the left was marked by the point of a stick which was trailed along

the ground; that on his right by chalk. In front of these curved lines,

forming an avenue of about three spans in width, were two files of

figures resembling idols, beginning from the sides of the curved lines.

The size of these figures, which were only half-lengths, was about

twenty inches; they were nailed to sticks thrust in the ground, were

very rudely made, had Kaffir features, and were ornamented with the

horns of beasts. In the centre of the avenue was a cage in the form of

a barrel, containing another smaller figure.

“Two negroes sat on the ground near the two outermost figures fronting

the king, each having an earthen vessel full of live ashes before him,

and were employed in throwing on the fire a quantity of leaves, which

produced a dense aromatic smoke. The backs of the images being placed

towards the Muata Cazembe, from under the last--the one nearest the

earthen vessels--a rope was extended to the Mambo’s feet; for what

purpose I could not by any means ascertain.

“The two wives of the Mambo were the only ones present in the Chipango,

the gate of which was open. One of these ladies was sitting on a stool,

covered with a green cloth; her arms, neck, and bosom ornamented

with stones of different colours, and her head adorned with scarlet

feathers, like the head-dress of the Mambo, but shorter and smaller.

“The second wife sat on a lion’s skin at the left-hand side of the

gate, with no other dress than a cloth, which was entirely without

ornaments. Behind the two wives stood more than four hundred women of

different ages, all dressed in nhandas, a kind of interwoven cloth made

of the bark of trees.”

In another part of this strange country the ruler is known by the

euphonious title of “Jaga;” and whenever a vacancy occurs in the

government by the death of the Jaga, the Tendalla or prime-minister

convokes the heads of the electoral college, which comprises the

Macotas or counsellors, the Cazas or noblemen, and the Catondo or

commander-in-chief, who together with himself (the Tendella), compose

the cabinet council. When this body is assembled they proceed to

investigate the claims of the various individuals connected with the

families who are considered as legitimate aspirants to the regal

dignity.

Having first decided as to the family, their next inquiry has reference

to the individual best qualified to bear the royal dignity; but it is

seldom that matters proceed so far, for it is generally understood

beforehand by the members of the electoral college who is the

legitimate and popular claimant.

These important questions once settled, they next proceed to build a

suitable house for a new Jaga, and to lay out the garden, etc., and

also to erect houses for themselves around it. After these preliminary

proceedings, they next direct their steps to the residence of the man

of their choice, and unceremoniously entering, bring him out as if he

were a malefactor and present him to the multitude, who, amidst the

clang of marimbas and beating of drums, raise a simultaneous shout on

his appearance. He is then conveyed on the shoulders of his sons, or of

the people, to the Quilombo or fortified residence provided for him,

where he remains for several days, none being allowed to visit him,

with the exception of two relations and the Tendella. At the end of two

months he removes to a house previously prepared on the borders of the

River Undua, where he remains for twenty or thirty days. Here he may be

said to form his new ministry--deposing some officers and appointing

others. On this occasion he also selects his principal wife. When all

these arrangements are finished, the Jaga returns to the locality where

he intends to reside, and fixes the exact spot as follows:--Having

formed his Quilombo, he takes his bow and discharges an arrow, and

wherever it falls there he must erect his permanent residence, called

Semba. Around it are built the houses of his wives, who in general

amount to fifty in number. Next to these are located the senzales of

the Macotas and their wives of the followers of the former Jaga, and

lastly of those who were with the elected Jaga at the Senzald, where

formerly he acted as Maquita.

The last of these ceremonies is that called the Sambamento, after which

the Jaga is considered qualified to exercise all the functions of his

office.

The particular period at which this most cruel and barbarous custom

originated is not known. Some of the Jagas have been known to dispense

with it altogether.

When it is decided to celebrate the Sambamento, some of the Sovas or

Maquitas are dispatched to find the Nicango or victim. The person

selected is uniformly a black, who must have no relationship or

connection with the Jaga or any of the Maquitas or Macotas. When the

Nicango arrives, he is received at the Quilombo and treated in the same

manner as the Jaga; he is provided with everything he requires, and

all his orders are obeyed with the same promptitude.

The day on which the Sambamento is to be celebrated being appointed,

the Maquitas are informed of the fact, and as large a number of the

people as can be accommodated at the Quilombo being invited, they

all assemble in front of the residence of the Jaga. The Maquitas and

the Macotas form themselves into a circle, the rest of the people

assembling around. The Jaga then takes his seat in the centre of the

circle, on an iron stool, in a circular concave form with a hole

through the centre of the top. The Bansacuco is seated beside the Jaga,

together with all the concubines. The Cassange-Cagongue then strikes

the gong, which is of iron in the form of an arch, with two small bells

attached, and with a bar across it. The Cassange-Cagongue continues to

ring the bells during the ceremony.

The Nicango is then introduced and placed in front of the Jaga, but

with his back towards him. The Jaga being provided with a cutlass of a

semi-circular form, commences operations by cutting open the back of

the Nicango until he reaches the heart, which he extracts, and having

taken a bit of it he spits it out and gives it to be burned.

The Macotas in the meantime hold the corpse of the Nicango in such a

manner that the blood from the wound in the back is discharged against

the breast and belly of the Jaga, and falling through the hole in the

iron stool is collected by the Maquitas in their hands; they then rub

their breast and beard with it, at the same time making a great clamour

vociferating “Great is the Jaga and the rites of the State.”

The corpse of the Nicango is next carried to some distance, where it

is first skinned and then divided into small pieces and cooked with

the flesh of an ox, a dog, a hen, and some other animals. The meal

being prepared it is first served to the Jaga, next to the Maquitas and

Macotas, and then to all the people assembled, and woe to the unhappy

wight who has the temerity to refuse partaking of the repast from any

repugnance to the ingredient, as in such case the law made and provided

is that he and his family forfeit their liberty and are therefore at

once sold into captivity.

Singing and dancing conclude the Sambamento.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XVIII.

Dr. Livingstone’s reception by Shinte--A South-African

Chieftess--She gives her guests “a bit of her mind”--Breaches

of Court etiquette--Abyssinian cure for melancholy--Mr. Bruce

and the Lady Sittina--Greasing the King of Seenaar--Majesty in

Madagascar--A Malagasey palace--The Feast of the Queen’s Bath--A

Court ball in Madagascar.

Turning from Western to Southern Africa, let us see how royalty

comports itself. As in the former case there is a wide choice of

potentates, but we will take but two--Shinte, King of Makalolo, and

Manenko, Chieftess of Balonda.

“We (Dr. Livingstone and party) were honoured with a grand reception

by Shinte about eleven o’clock. The native Portuguese and Mambari went

fully armed with guns, in order to give Shinte a salute, their drummer

and trumpeter making all the noise their very old instruments would

produce. The kotla, or place of audience, was about a hundred yards

square, and two graceful specimens of a species of banian stood near

the end. Under one of these sat Shinte on a sort of throne covered with

a leopard’s skin. He had on a checked jacket and a kilt of scarlet

baize edged with green; many strings of large heads hung from his neck,

and his limbs were covered with iron and copper armlets and bracelets;

on his head he wore a helmet made of beads woven neatly together, and

crowned with a great bunch of goose-feathers. Close to him sat three

lads with large sheaves of arrows over their shoulders.

“When we entered the kotla, the whole of Manenko’s party saluted

Shinte by clapping their hands, and Sambanza did obeisance by rubbing

his chest and arms with ashes. One of the trees being unoccupied I

retreated to it for the sake of the shade, and my whole party did the

same. We were now about forty yards from the chief and could see the

whole ceremony. The different sections of the tribe came forward in the

same way that we did, the head man of each making obeisance with ashes

which he carried with him for the purpose; then came the soldiers, all

armed to the teeth, running and shouting towards us, with their swords

drawn and their faces screwed up so as to appear as savage as possible

for the purpose, I thought, of trying whether they could not make us

take to our heels. As we did not, they turned round towards Shinte and

saluted him, then retired. When all had come and were seated, then

began the curious capering usually seen in pictures. A man starts up,

and imitates the most approved attitudes observed in actual fight, as

of throwing one javelin, receiving another on the shield, springing on

one side to avoid a third, running backwards or forwards, leaping, etc.

This over, Sambanza and the spokesman of Nyamoana stalked backwards and

forwards in front of Shinte, and gave forth in a loud voice all they

had been able to learn either from myself or people of my past history

and connection with the Makololo; the return of the captives, the wish

to open the country to trade, etc. Perhaps he is fibbing, perhaps

not--they rather thought he was; but as the Balonda had good hearts,

and Shinte had never done harm to any one, he had better receive the

white man well and send him on his way. Sambanza was gaily attired,

and, besides a profusion of beads, had a cloth so long that a boy

carried it after him as a train.

“Behind Shinte sat about a hundred women clothed in their best, which

happened to be a profusion of red baize. The chief wife of Shinte, one

of the Matebele or Zulus, sat in front with a curious red cap on her

head. During the intervals between the speeches these ladies burst

forth into a sort of plaintive ditty; but it was impossible for any of

us to catch whether it was in praise of the speaker, of Shinte, or of

themselves. This was the first time I had ever seen females present in

a public assembly. Generally the women are not permitted to enter the

kotla, and even when invited to come to a religious service they would

not enter until ordered to do so by the chief; but here they expressed

approbation by clapping their hands and laughing to different speakers,

and Shinte frequently turned round and spoke to them.

“A party of musicians, consisting of three drummers and four performers

on the piano, went round the kotla several times, regaling us with

their music. The drums are neatly carved from the trunk of a tree, and

have a small hole in the side covered with a bit of spider’s web; the

ends are covered with the skin of an antelope pegged on, and when they

wish to tighten it they hold it to the fire to make it contract--the

instruments are beaten with the hands.

“The piano, named _marimba_, consists of two bars of wood placed

side by side here quite straight, but farther north bent round so as

to resemble half the tire of a carriage wheel; across these are placed

about fifteen wooden keys, each of which is two or three inches broad,

and fifteen or eighteen inches long--their thickness is regulated

according to the deepness of the note required; each of the keys has a

calabash beneath it from the upper part of each a portion is cut off to

enable them to embrace the bars, and form hollow sounding-boards to the

keys, which also are of different sizes according to the note required,

and little drumsticks elicit the music. Rapidity of execution seems

much admired among them, and the music is pleasant to the ear.

“When nine speakers had concluded their orations Shinte stood up, and

so did all the people. He had maintained true African dignity of manner

all the while; but my people remarked that he scarcely took his eyes

off me for a moment. About a thousand people were present according to

my calculation, and three hundred soldiers. The sun had now become hot,

and the scene ended by the Mambari discharging their guns.

“As the river seemed to come from the direction in which we wished

to go, I was desirous of proceeding farther up with the canoes, but

Nyamoana interposed numerous objections, and the arrival of Manenko

herself settled the point in the negative. She was a tall strapping

woman, about twenty years of age, and distinguished by a profusion of

ornaments and medicines, which latter are supposed to act as charms.

Her body was smeared all over with a mixture of fat and red ochre as a

protection against the weather, a necessary precaution, for, like most

of the Balonda ladies, she was in a state of frightful nudity, not so

much from want of clothing as from her peculiar ideas of elegance in

dress. When she arrived with her husband Sambanza, she listened for

some time to the statements I was making to the people of Nyamoana,

after which her husband commenced an oration, during the delivery of

which he picked up a little sand, at intervals of two or three seconds,

and rubbed it on the upper part of his arms and chest. This is a common

mode of salutation in Londa; and when they wish to be excessively

polite they bring a quantity of ashes or pipe-clay in a piece of skin

and rub it on the chest and upper front part of each arm; others drum

their ribs with their elbows, while others touch the ground with one

cheek after the other and clap their hands. When Sambanza had finished

his oration he rose up and showed his ankles ornamented with a bundle

of copper rings. Had they been very heavy they would have impeded his

walk; and some chiefs wore so many as to be forced to keep one foot

apart from the other, the weight being a serious inconvenience in

walking. Gentlemen like Sambanza who wish to ape their betters adopt

their gait, strutting along with only a few ounces of ornament on their

legs just as if they had double the number of pounds. When I smiled at

Sambanza’s walk the people remarked, ‘That is the way in which they

show off high blood in these parts.’

“When erecting our sheds at the village, Manenko, the chieftess, fell

upon our friends and gave us a specimen of her powers of scolding.

Masiko had once sent to Samoana for a cloth, which is a common way of

keeping up intercourse. After receiving it he returned it, because it

had the appearance of having had witchcraft medicine on it. This was

a grave offence; and Manenko had now a good excuse for retaliation,

as Masiko’s ambassadors had slept in one of the huts of her village

without asking leave. She set upon them furiously, advancing and

receding in true oratorical style, belabouring her own servants for

allowing the offence, and raking up the faults and failings of the

objects of her ire ever since they were born; in conclusion, expressing

her despair of ever seeing them become better until they were all

killed by alligators. Masiko’s people received this torrent of abuse in

silence, and as neither we nor they had anything to eat, we parted next

morning. In reference to the sale of slaves they promised to explain to

Masiko the relationship which exists between even the most abject of

his people and our common Father, and that no more kidnapping ought to

be allowed. We promised to return through his town when we came back

from the sea-coast.

“Manenko gave us some manioc roots in the morning, and had determined

to carry our baggage to her uncle Shinte. We had heard a sample of what

she could do with her tongue, and as neither my men nor myself had much

inclination to encounter this black virago we proceeded to make ready

the packages; but she said the men whom she had ordered for the service

would not arrive until to-morrow. I felt annoyed at this further delay

and ordered the packages to be put into the canoes at once: but Manenko

was not to be circumvented in this way; she came forward with her

people, seized the baggage, and declared that she would carry it in

spite of me. My men succumbed and left me powerless. I was moving off

in high dudgeon to the canoes when she kindly placed her hand on my

shoulder and, with a motherly look, said, “Now, my little man, just do

as the rest have done.” My feeling of annoyance of course vanished, and

I went out to try for some meat.

Ignorance of court etiquette in savage no less than in civilized

countries is a fruitful source of danger, or at least unpleasantness,

to the traveller ambitious to move in what the newspapers vaguely

describe as “select circles.” Mr. Stern, in his recent travels among

the Falashas of Abyssinia, was on one occasion advised of this fact in

a rather astonishing manner. Breakfast was served in the royal tent,

and it was during the progress of the meal that our traveller nearly

lost the esteem and regard he had hitherto enjoyed. “According to the

Abyssinian notion every man who claims to be of patrician descent,

should emulate the noises made by a certain unclean animal whilst

eating his meals. My ignorance of this elegant acquirement (for I had

unfortunately not yet attained it) drew upon me the frowns as well as

the whispered censures of the guests. Unconscious of the cause of this

unexpected notoriety, I asked whether there was anything peculiar in my

appearance or deportment that provoked criticism. ‘Certainly,’ was the

rejoinder, ‘your conduct is so ungentlemanly that all the guests think

you must be a very low fellow and quite unaccustomed to move in genteel

society.’ ‘And to what am I indebted for this good opinion?’ returned

I. ‘To the mode in which you eat; for if you were a gentleman you

would show by the smacking of your lips the exalted station to which

you belong; but since you masticate your food in this inaudible manner

every one believes that you are a beggar and accustomed to eat in that

unostentatious manner which pretended poverty prompts individuals to

adopt.’ I assured them that any breach of etiquette must be attributed

to the difference of the customs in my own country and not to the

low motive they assigned, an apology which amply satisfied the most

accomplished courtier in the royal tent.”