DAHOME.
CHARACTERISTIC OF THE WESTERN AFRICAN -- LOCALITY OF DAHOME -- THE
FIVE DISTRICTS -- DAHOMAN ARCHITECTURE -- “SWISH” HOUSES -- THE
VULTURE AND HIS FOOD -- THE LEGBA -- SNAKE WORSHIP IN DAHOME --
PUNISHMENT OF A SNAKE KILLER -- ETIQUETTE AT COURT -- JOURNEY OF A
MAN OF RANK TO THE CAPITAL -- AFRICAN HAMMOCK -- SIGNIFICATION OF THE
WORD DAHOME -- CEREMONIES ON THE JOURNEY -- KANA, OR CANANINA, THE
“COUNTRY CAPITAL” -- BEAUTY OF THE SCENERY -- THE OYOS AND GOZO’S
CUSTOM -- APPROACH TO KANA -- A GHASTLY ORNAMENT -- “THE BELL COMES”
-- THE AMAZONS -- THEIR FEROCITY AND COURAGE -- THEIR WAR TROPHIES
AND WEAPONS -- REVIEW OF THE AMAZONS -- ORGANIZATION OF THE FORCES.
There is a very remarkable point about the true negro of Western
Africa, namely, the use which he has made of his contact with
civilization. It might be imagined that he would have raised himself in
the social scale by his frequent intercourse with men wiser and more
powerful than himself, and who, if perhaps they may not have been much
better in a moral point of view, could not possibly have been worse.
But he has done nothing of the kind, and, instead of giving up his old
barbarous customs, has only increased their barbarity by the additional
means which he has obtained from the white man.
Exchanging the bow and arrows for the gun, and the club for the sword,
he has employed his better weapons in increasing his destructive
powers, and has chiefly used them in fighting and selling into slavery
those whom he had previously fought, and who respected him as long as
the arms on both sides were equal. And the strangest thing is that,
even considering his captives as so much property, the only excuse
which could be found for the savage cruelty with which he makes raids
on every town which he thinks he can conquer, he has not yet learned
to abolish the dreadful “custom” of human sacrifices, although each
prisoner or criminal killed is a dead loss to him.
* * * * *
We now come to one of the strangest kingdoms on the face of the earth,
that of Dahome; a kingdom begun in blood and cruelty, and having
maintained its existence of more than two centuries in spite of the
terrible scenes continually enacted--scenes which would drive almost
any other nation to revolt. But the fearful sacrifices for which the
name of Dahome has been so long infamous are not merely the offspring
of a despotic king’s fancy; they are sanctioned, and even forced upon
him, by his people--fit subjects of such a king.
It is situated in that part of Africa commonly known as the Slave
Coast, as distinguished from the Gold, Ivory, and Grain Coasts, and its
shores are washed by the waters of the Bight of Benin. Dahome alone, of
the four great slave kingdoms, Ashanti, Yomba, Benin, and Dahome, has
retained its power, and, to the eye of an experienced observer, even
Dahome, which has outlived the three, will speedily follow them.
On its coast are the two celebrated ports, Lagos and Whydah, which
have for so long been the outlets by which the slaves captured in the
interior were sent on board the ships. Lagos, however, has been already
ceded to England, and, under a better management, will probably become
one of the great ports at which a legitimate trade can be carried on,
and which will become one of the blessings instead of the curses of
Western Africa.
Whydah, being one of the towns through which a traveller is sure to
pass in going into the interior of Dahome, is worth a passing notice.
Captain Burton, from whom the greater part of our knowledge of this
strange land is derived, states that the very name is a misnomer. In
the first place, we have attributed it to the wrong spot, and in the
next we have given it a most corrupted title. The place which we call
Whydah is known to the people as Gre-hwe (Plantation House), while
the real Hwe-dah--as the word ought to be spelt--belongs rightly to a
little kingdom whose capital was Savi.
Originally a port belonging to the king of Savi, and given up entirely
to piracy, it passed into the hands of Agaja, king of Dahome, who
easily found an excuse for attacking a place which was so valuable as
giving him a direct communication from the interior to the sea, without
the intervention of middle-men, who each take a heavy percentage from
all goods that pass through their district. From 1725, when it thus
passed into Dahoman hands, it rapidly increased in size and importance.
Now it presents an extraordinary mixture of native and imported
masters, and we will endeavor to cast a rapid glance at the former.
The place is divided into five districts, each governed by its own
Caboceer; and it is a notable fact, that nowadays a Caboceer need not
be a native. The post of Caboceer of the Soglaji, or English quarter,
was offered to Captain Burton, who, however could not be tempted to
accept it even by the umbrella of rank--equal to the blue ribbon of our
own system.
At the entrance of every town there is the De-sum, or Custom-house, and
close by it are a number of little fetish houses, wherein the trader is
supposed to return his thanks to the propitiating demons. The streets
are formed by the walls of enclosures and the backs of houses; and,
as Dahoman architecture is regulated by law, a very uniform effect is
obtained. The walls are mud, popularly called “swish,” sometimes mixed
with oyster-shells to strengthen it, and built up in regular courses,
each about two feet and a half in thickness. By law, no walls are
allowed to be more than four courses high.
The hot sun soon bakes the mud into the consistence of soft brick;
and, were it not for the fierce rains of the tropics, it would be very
lasting. As it is, the rainy season is very destructive to walls, and
the early part of the dry season is always a busy time with native
architects, who are engaged in repairing the damages caused by the
rains. There is a small amount of salt in the mud, which increases
the liability to damage. On the Gold Coast the natives ingeniously
strengthen the swish walls by growing cactus plants; but the negroes of
Dahome neglect this precaution, and consequently give themselves--as
lazy people proverbially do--a vast amount of needless trouble. There
are no windows to the houses; but the roofs, made of grass and leaves
fastened on a light framework, are made so that they can be partially
raised from the walls, like the “fly” of a tent.
In spite of the presence of localized Christian missions, and the
continual contact of Islamism, the system of fetishism is rampant in
Whydah. No human sacrifices take place there, all the victims being
forwarded to the capital for execution. But, according to Captain
Burton, “even in the bazaar many a hut will be girt round with the Zo
Vodun, a country rope with dead leaves dangling from it at spaces of
twenty feet. (Zo Vodun signifies fire-fetish.)
“_After_ a conflagration, this fetish fire-prophylactic becomes almost
universal. Opposite the house gates, again, we find the Vo-siva
defending the inmates from harm. It is of many shapes, especially a
stick or a pole, with an empty old calabash for a head, and a body
composed of grass, thatch, palm leaves, fowls’ feathers, achatina
shells. These people must deem lightly of an influence that can
mistake, even in the dark, such a scarecrow for a human being.
“Near almost every door stands the Legba-gbau, or Legba-pot, by
Europeans commonly called the ‘Devil’s dish.’ It is a common clay
shard article, either whole or broken, and every morning and evening
it is filled, generally by women, with cooked maize and palm oil, for
the benefit of the turkey buzzard. ‘Akrasu,’ the vulture, is, next to
the snake, the happiest animal in Dahome. He has always abundance of
food, like storks, robins, swallows, crows, adjutant-cranes, and other
holy birds in different parts of the world. Travellers abuse this
‘obscene fowl,’ forgetting that without it the towns of Yoruba would be
uninhabitable.... The turkey-buzzard perched on the topmost stick of a
blasted calabash tree is to the unromantic natives of Africa what the
pea fowl is to more engaging Asians. It always struck me as the most
appropriate emblem and heraldic bearing for decayed Dahome.”
The Legba, or idol to whom the fowl is sacred, is an abominable image,
rudely moulded out of clay, and represented in a squatting attitude.
Sometimes Legba’s head is of wood, with eyes and teeth made of cowries,
or else painted white. Legba is mostly a male deity, rarely a female,
and the chief object of the idol maker seems to be that the worshipper
shall have no doubt on the subject. Legba sits in a little hut open at
the sides; and, as no one takes care of him, and no one dares to meddle
with him, the country is full of these queer little temples, inside
which the god is sometimes seen in tolerable preservation, but in most
cases has sunk into a mere heap of mud and dust. Some of these wooden
Legbas may be seen on the 552nd page, but they are purposely selected
on account of the exceptional delicacy displayed by the carver.
[Illustration: (1.) CABOCEER AND SOLDIERS. (See page 556.)]
[Illustration: (2.) PUNISHMENT OF A SNAKE KILLER. (See page 565.)]
Snakes are fetish throughout Dahome, and are protected by the
severest laws. All serpents are highly venerated, but there is one in
particular, a harmless snake called the “Danhgbwe,” which is held in
the most absurd reverence. It is of moderate size, reaching some five
or six feet in length, and is rather delicately colored with brown,
yellow, and white. The Danhgbwe is kept tame in fetish houses, and,
if one of them should stray, it is carefully restored by the man who
finds it, and who grovels on the ground and covers himself with dust
before he touches it, as he would in the presence of a king. Formerly
the penalty for killing one of these snakes was death, but it is
now commuted for a punishment which, although very severe, is not
necessarily fatal to the sufferer. It partakes of the mixture of the
horrible and the grotesque which is so characteristic of this land. Mr.
Duncan saw three men undergo this punishment. Three small houses were
built of dry sticks, and thatched with dry grass. The culprits were
then placed in front of the houses by the fetish man, who made a long
speech to the spectators, and explained the enormity of the offence of
which they had been guilty.
They then proceeded to tie on the shoulders of each culprit a dog, a
kid, and two fowls. A quantity of palm oil was poured over them, and on
their heads were balanced baskets, containing little open calabashes
filled with the same material, so that at the least movement the
calabashes were upset, and the oil ran all over the head and body. They
were next marched round the little houses, and, lastly, forced to crawl
into them, the dog, kid, and fowls being taken off their shoulders and
thrust into the house with them. The doors being shut, a large mob
assembles with sticks and clods, and surrounds the house. The houses
are then fired, the dry material blazing up like gunpowder, and the
wretched inmates burst their way through the flaming walls and roof,
and rush to the nearest running stream, followed by the crowd, who beat
and pelt them unmercifully. If they can reach the water, they are safe,
and should they be men of any consequence they have little to fear, as
their friends surround them, and keep off the crowd until the water is
reached.
The whole of the proceedings are shown in the illustration on the
previous page.
In the distance is seen one of the culprits being taken to his fetish
house, the basket of calabashes on his head, and the animals slung
round his neck. Another is seen creeping into the house, near which the
fetish man is standing, holding dead snakes in his hands, and horrible
to look at by reason of the paint with which he has covered his
face. In the foreground is another criminal rushing toward the water,
just about to plunge into it and extinguish the flames that are still
playing about his oil-saturated hair and have nearly burned off all his
scanty clothing. The blazing hut is seen behind him, and around are the
spectators, pelting and striking him, while his personal friends are
checking them, and keeping the way clear toward the water.
We will now leave Whydah, and proceed toward the capital.
When a person of rank wishes to pay his respects to the king, the
latter sends some of his officers, bearing, as an emblem of their rank,
the shark-stick, _i. e._ a kind of tomahawk about two feet long, carved
at the end into a rude semblance of the shark, another image of the
same fish being made out of a silver dollar beaten flat and nailed to
the end of the handle. One of the officers will probably have the lion
stick as _his_ emblem of the trust reposed in him; but to unpractised
eyes the lions carved on the stick would answer equally well for the
shark, and both would do well as “crocodile” sticks, the shapes of the
animals being purely conventional.
The mode of travelling is generally in hammocks, made of cotton cloth,
but sometimes formed of silk: these latter are very gaudy affairs.
The average size of a hammock is nine feet by five, and the ends are
lashed to a pole some nine or ten feet in length. Upon the pole is
fixed a slight framework, which supports an awning as a defence against
the sun. The pole is carried not on the shoulders but the heads of
the bearers, and, owing to their awkwardness and rough movements, an
inexperienced traveller gets his head knocked against the pole with
considerable violence. Two men carry it, but each hammock requires a
set of seven men, some to act as relays, and others to help in getting
the vehicle over a rough part of the road. Each man expects a glass
of rum morning and evening, and, as he is able to make an unpopular
master very uncomfortable, it is better to yield to the general custom,
especially as rum is only threepence per pint.
Being now fairly in the midst of Dahome, let us see what is the meaning
of the name. Somewhere about A. D. 1620, an old king died and left
three sons. The oldest took his father’s kingdom, and the youngest,
Dako by name (some writers call him Tacudona), went abroad to seek his
fortune, and settled at a place not far from Agbome. By degrees Dako
became more and more powerful, and was continually encroaching upon the
country belonging to a neighboring king called Danh, _i. e._ the Snake,
or Rainbow. As the number of his followers increased, Dako pestered
Danh for more and more land for them, until at last the king lost
patience, and said to the pertinacious mendicant, “Soon thou wilt build
in my belly.” Dako thought that this idea was not a bad one, and when
he had collected sufficient warriors, he attacked Danh, killed him,
took possession of his kingdom, and built a new palace over his corpse,
thus literally and deliberately fulfilling the prediction made in haste
and anger by his conquered foe. In honor of his victory, the conquerer
called the place Danh-ome, or Danh’s-belly. The “n” in this word is a
nasal sound unknown to English ears, and the word is best pronounced
Dah-ome, as a dissyllable.
The great neighboring kingdom of Allada was friendly with Dahome for
nearly a hundred years, when they fell out, fought, and Dahome again
proved victorious, so that Allada allowed itself to be incorporated
with Dahome.
It was a little beyond Allada where Captain Burton first saw some of
the celebrated Amazons, or female soldiers, who will be presently
described, and here began the strange series of ceremonies, far too
numerous to be separately described, which accompanied the progress of
so important a visitor to the capital. A mere slight outline will be
given of them.
At every village that was passed a dance was performed, which the
travellers were expected to witness. All the dances being exactly
alike, and consisting of writhings of the body and stamping with the
feet, they soon became very monotonous, but had to be endured. At a
place called Aquine a body of warriors rushed tumultuously into the
cleared space of the village under its centre tree. They were about
eighty in number, and were formed four deep. Headed by a sort of
flag, and accompanied by the inevitable drum, they came on at full
speed, singing at the top of their voices, and performing various
agile antics. After circling round the tree, they all fell flat on the
ground, beat up the dust with their hands, and flung it over their
bodies. This is the royal salute of Western Africa, and was performed
in honor of the king’s canes of office, which he had sent by their
bearers, accompanied by the great ornament of his court, an old liquor
case, covered with a white cloth, and borne on a boy’s head. From this
case were produced bottles of water, wine, gin, and rum, of each of
which the visitors were expected to drink three times, according to
etiquette.
After this ceremony had been completed, the escort, as these men proved
to be, preceded the party to the capital, dancing and capering the
whole way. After several halts, the party arrived within sight of Kana,
the country capital. “It is distinctly Dahome, and here the traveller
expects to look upon the scenes of barbaric splendor of which all the
world has read. And it has its own beauty; a French traveller has
compared it with the loveliest villages of fair Provence, while to Mr.
Duncan it suggested ‘a vast pleasure ground, not unlike some parts of
the Great Park at Windsor.’
“After impervious but sombre forest, grass-barrens, and the dismal
swamps of the path, the eye revels in these open plateaux; their
seducing aspect is enhanced by scattered plantations of a leek-green
studding the slopes, by a background of gigantic forest dwarfing
the nearer palm files, by homesteads buried in cultivation, and by
calabashes and cotton trees vast as the view, tempering the fiery
summer to their subject growths, and in winter collecting the rains,
which would otherwise bare the newly-buried seed. Nor is animal life
wanting. The turkey buzzard, the kite, and the kestrel soar in the
upper heights; the brightest fly-catchers flit through the lower
strata; the little gray squirrel nimbly climbs his lofty home; and a
fine large spur-fowl rises from the plantations of maize and cassava.”
As is usual with African names, the word Kana has been spelled in
a different way by almost every traveller and every writer on the
subject. Some call it Canna, or Cannah, or Carnah, while others write
the word as Calmina, evidently a corruption of Kana-mina, the “mina”
being an addition. All the people between the Little Popo and Acua
are called Mina. We shall, however, be quite safe, if throughout
our account of Western Africa we accept the orthography of Captain
Burton. Kana was seized about 1818 by King Gozo, who liked the place,
and so made it his country capital--much as Brighton was to England
in the days of the Regency. He drove out the fierce and warlike Oyos
(pronounced Aw-yaws), and in celebration of so important a victory
instituted an annual “Custom,” _i. e._ a human sacrifice, in which the
victims are dressed like the conquered Oyos.
This is called Gozo’s Custom, and, although the details are not
precisely known, its general tenor may be ascertained from the
following facts. One traveller, who visited Kana in 1863, saw eleven
platforms on poles about forty feet high. On each platform was the dead
body of a man in an erect position, well dressed in the peasant style,
and having in his hand a calabash containing oil, grain, or other
product of the land. One of them was set up as if leading a sheep.
When Mr. Duncan visited Kana, or Cananina, as he calls it, he saw
relics of this “Custom.” The walls of the place, which were of very
great extent, were covered with human skulls placed about thirty feet
apart, and upon a pole was the body of a man in an upright position,
holding a basket on his head with both his arms. A little further on
were the bodies of two other men, hung by their feet from a sort of
gallows, about twenty feet high. They had been in that position about
two months, and were hardly recognizable as human beings, and in fact
must have presented as repulsive an appearance as the bodies hung in
chains, or the heads on Temple Bar. Two more bodies were hung in a
similar manner in the market-place, and Mr. Duncan was informed that
they were criminals executed for intrigues with the king’s wives.
At Kana is seen the first intimation of the presence of royalty. A
small stream runs by it, and supplies Kana with water. At daybreak the
women slaves of the palace are released from the durance in which they
are kept during the night, and sent off to fetch water for the palace.
They are not fighting women or Amazons, as they are generally called;
but the slaves of the Amazons, each of these women having at least one
female slave, and some as many as fifty.
The very fact, however, that they are servants of the Amazons, who are
the servants of the king, confers on them a sort of dignity which they
are not slow to assert. No man is allowed to look at them, much less
to address them, and in consequence, when the women go to fetch water,
they are headed by one of their number carrying a rude bell suspended
to the neck. When the leader sees a man in the distance, she shakes the
bell vigorously, and calls out, “Gan-ja,” _i. e._ “the bell comes.”
As soon as the tinkle of the bell or the cry reaches the ears of any
men who happen to be on the road, they immediately run to the nearest
footpath, of which a number are considerately made, leading into the
woods, turn their backs, and wait patiently until the long file of
women has passed. This hurrying of men to the right and left, hiding
their faces in the bushes and brakes, is admirably represented on the
569th page.
They had need to escape as fast as they can, for if even one of the
water-pots should happen to be broken, the nearest man would inevitably
be accused of having frightened the woman who carried it, and would
almost certainly be sold into slavery, together with his wife and
family.
As might be expected, the attendants at the palace are very proud of
this privilege, and the uglier, the older, and the lower they are,
the more perseveringly do they ring the bell and utter the dreaded
shout, “Gan-ja.” The oddest thing is that even the lowest of the male
slaves employed in the palace assume the same privilege, and insist on
occupying the road and driving all other travellers into the by-paths.
“This,” says Captain Burton, “is one of the greatest nuisances in
Dahome. It continues through the day. In some parts, as around the
palace, half a mile an hour would be full speed, and to make way for
these animals of burthen, bought perhaps for a few pence, is, to say
the least of it, by no means decorous.”
The town of Kana has in itself few elements of beauty, however
picturesque may be the surrounding scenery. It occupies about three
miles of ground, and is composed primarily of the palace, and secondly
of a number of houses scattered round it, set closely near the king’s
residence, and becoming more and more scattered in proportion to their
distance from it. Captain Burton estimates the population at 4,000. The
houses are built of a red sandy clay.
The palace walls, which are of great extent, are surrounded by a
cheerful adornment in the shape of human skulls, which are placed on
the top at intervals of thirty feet or so, and striking, as it were,
the key note to the Dahoman character. In no place in the world is
human life sacrificed with such prodigality and with such ostentation.
In most countries, after a criminal is executed, the body is allowed
to be buried, or, at the most, is thrown to the beasts and the birds.
In Dahome the skull of the victim is cleansed, and used as an ornament
of some building, or as an appendage to the court and its precincts.
Consequently, the one object which strikes the eye of a traveller is
the human skull. The walls are edged with skulls, skulls are heaped in
dishes before the king, skulls are stuck on the tops of poles, skulls
are used as the heads of banner staves, skulls are tied to dancers, and
all the temples, or Ju-ju houses, are almost entirely built of human
skulls. How they come to be in such profusion we shall see presently.
Horrible and repulsive as this system is, we ought to remember that
even in England, in an age when art and literature were held in the
highest estimation, the quartered bodies of persons executed for high
treason were exposed on the gates of the principal cities, and that
in the very heart of the capital their heads were exhibited up to a
comparatively recent date. This practice, though not of so wholesale
a character as the “Custom” of Dahome, was yet identical with it in
spirit.
* * * * *
As the Amazons, or female soldiers, have been mentioned, they will be
here briefly described. This celebrated force consists wholly of women,
officers as well as privates. They hold a high position at court, and,
as has already been mentioned, are of such importance that each Amazon
possesses at least one slave. In their own country they are called
by two names, Akho-si, _i. e._ the King’s wives, and Mi-no, _i. e._
our mothers; the first name being given to them on the _lucus a non
lucendo_ principle, because they are not allowed to be the wives of any
man, and the second being used as the conventional title of respect.
The real wives of the king do not bear arms, and though he sometimes
does take a fancy to one of his women soldiers, she may not assume the
position of a regular wife.
About one-third of the Amazons have been married, but the rest are
unmarried maidens. Of course it is needful that such a body should
observe strict celibacy, if their efficiency is to be maintained, and
especial pains are taken to insure this object. In the first place, the
strictest possible watch is kept over them, and, in the second, the
power of superstition is invoked. At one of the palace gates, called
significantly Agbodewe, _i. e._ the Discovery Gate, is placed a potent
fetish, who watches over the conduct of the Amazons, and invariably
discovers the soldier who breaks the most important of the military
laws. The Amazons are so afraid of this fetish, that when one of them
has transgressed she has been known to confess her fault, and to give
up the name of her partner in crime, even with the knowledge that
he will die a cruel death, and that she will be severely punished,
and probably be executed by her fellow-soldiers. Besides, there is a
powerful _esprit de corps_ reigning among the Amazons, who are fond of
boasting that they are not women, but men.
They certainly look as if they were, being, as a rule, more masculine
in appearance than the male soldiers, tall, muscular, and possessed
of unflinching courage and ruthless cruelty. To help the reader to a
clearer idea of this stalwart and formidable soldiery, two full-length
portraits are given on the next page. Bloodthirsty and savage as are
the Dahomans naturally, the Amazons take the lead in both qualities,
seeming to avenge themselves, as it were, for the privations to which
they are doomed. The spinster soldiers are women who have been selected
by the king from the families of his subjects, he having the choice
of them when they arrive at marriageable age; and the once married
soldiers are women who have been detected in infidelity, and are
enlisted instead of executed, or wives who are too vixenish toward
their husbands, and so are appropriately drafted into the army, where
their combative dispositions may find a more legitimate object.
In order to increase their bloodthirsty spirit, and inspire a feeling
of emulation, those who have killed an enemy are allowed to exhibit a
symbol of their prowess. They remove the scalp, and preserve it for
exhibition on all reviews and grand occasions. They have also another
decoration, equivalent to the Victoria Cross of England, namely, a
cowrie shell fastened to the butt of the musket. After the battle is
over, the victorious Amazon smears part of the rifle butt with the
blood of the fallen enemy, and just before it dries spreads another
layer. This is done until a thick, soft paste is formed, into which
the cowrie is pressed. The musket is then laid in the sun, and when
properly dry the shell is firmly glued to the weapon.
The possession of this trophy is eagerly coveted by the Amazons,
and, after a battle, those who have not slain an enemy with their
own hand are half-maddened with envious jealousy when they see their
more successful sisters assuming the coveted decoration. One cowrie
is allowed for each dead man, and some of the boldest and fiercest of
the Amazons have their musket butts completely covered with cowries
arranged in circles, stars, and similar patterns.
The dress of the Amazons varies slightly according to the position
which they occupy. The ordinary uniform is a blue and white tunic of
native cloth, but made without sleeves, so as to allow full freedom to
the arms. Under this is a sort of shirt or kilt, reaching below the
knees, and below the shirt the soldier wears a pair of short linen
trousers. Round the waist is girded the ammunition-belt, which is made
exactly on the same principle as the bandolier of the Middle Ages.
It consists of some thirty hollow wooden cylinders sticking into a
leathern belt, each cylinder containing one charge of powder. When they
load their guns, the Amazons merely pour the powder down the barrel,
and ram the bullet after it, without taking the trouble to introduce
wadding of any description, so that the force of the powder is much
wasted, and the direction of the bullet very uncertain. Partly owing
to the great windage caused by the careless loading and badly fitting
balls, and partly on account of the inferiority of the powder, the
charges are twice as large as would be required by a European soldier.
Captain Burton rightly stigmatizes the existence of such an army as an
unmixed evil, and states that it is one of the causes which will one
day cause the kingdom of Dahome to be obliterated from the earth. “The
object of Dahoman wars and invasions has always been to lay waste and
to destroy, not to aggrandize.
“As the history puts it, the rulers have ever followed the example of
Agaja, the second founder of the kingdom; aiming at conquest and at
striking terror, rather than at accretion and consolidation. Hence
there has been a decrease of population with an increase of territory,
which is to nations the surest road to ruin. In the present day the
wars have dwindled to mere slave hunts--a fact it is well to remember.
“The warrior troops, assumed to number 2,500, should represent 7,500
children; the waste of reproduction and the necessary casualties of
‘service’ in a region so depopulated are as detrimental to the body
politic as a proportionate loss of blood would be to the body personal.
Thus the land is desert, and the raw material of all industry, man, is
everywhere wanting.”
[Illustration: (1.) “THE BELL COMES.” (See page 567.)]
[Illustration: (2.) DAHOMAN AMAZONS. (See page 568.)]
Fierce, cruel, relentless, deprived by severe laws of all social
ties, the women soldiers of Dahome are the only real fighters,
the men soldiers being comparatively feeble and useless. They are
badly and miscellaneously armed, some having trade guns, but the
greater number being only furnished with bow and arrow, swords, or
clubs. All, however, whether male or female, are provided with ropes
wherewith to bind their prisoners, slave hunts being in truth the
real object of Dahoman warfare. From his profound knowledge of negro
character, Captain Burton long ago prophesied that the kingdom of
Dahome was on the wane, and that “weakened by traditional policy, by a
continual scene of blood, and by the arbitrary measures of her king,
and demoralized by an export slave-trade, by close connection with
Europeans, and by frequent failure, this band of black Spartans is
rapidly falling into decay.”
He also foretold that the king’s constant state of warfare with
Abeokuta was a political mistake, and that the Egbas would eventually
prove to be the conquerors. How true these remarks were has been
proved by the events of the last few years. The king Gelele made his
threatened attack on Abeokuta, and was hopelessly beaten. In spite of
the reckless courage of the Amazons, who fought like so many mad dogs,
and were assisted by three brass six-pounder field guns, his attack
failed, and his troops were driven off with the loss of a vast number
of prisoners, while the killed were calculated at a thousand.
How recklessly these Amazons can fight is evident from their
performances at a review. In this part of the country the simple
fortifications are made of the acacia bushes, which are furnished
with thorns of great length and sharpness, and are indeed formidable
obstacles. At a review witnessed by Mr. Duncan, and finely illustrated
for the reader on the 576th page, model forts were constructed of
these thorns, which were heaped up into walls of some sixty or seventy
feet in thickness and eight in height. It may well be imagined that to
cross such ramparts as these would be no easy task, even to European
soldiers, whose feet are defended by thick-soled boots, and that to a
barefooted soldiery they must be simply impregnable. Within the forts
were built strong pens seven feet in height, inside of which were
cooped up a vast number of male and female slaves belonging to the king.
The review began by the Amazons forming with shouldered arms about two
hundred feet in front of the strong fort, and waiting for the word of
command. As soon as it was given, they rushed forward, charged the
solid fence as though thorns were powerless against their bare feet,
dashed over it, tore down the fence, and returned to the king in
triumph, leading with them the captured slaves, and exhibiting also
the scalps of warriors who had fallen in previous battles, but who were
conventionally supposed to have perished on the present occasion. So
rapid and fierce was the attack, that scarcely a minute had elapsed
after the word of command was given and when the women were seen
returning with their captives.
The organization of the Amazonian army is as peculiar as its existence.
The regiment is divided into three battalions, namely, the centre and
two wings. The centre, or Fanti battalion, is somewhat analogous to our
Guards, and its members distinguished by wearing on the head a narrow
white fillet, on which are sewed blue crocodiles. This ornament was
granted to them by the king, because one of their number once killed
a crocodile. As a mark of courtesy, the king generally confers on his
distinguished visitors the honorary rank of commander of the Fanti
battalion, but this rank does not entitle him even to order the corps
out for a review.
The Grenadiers are represented by the Blunderbuss Company, who are
selected for their size and strength, and are each followed by a slave
carrying ammunition. Equal in rank to them are the sharpshooters, or
“Sure-to-kill” Company, the Carbineers, and the Bayonet Company.
The women of most acknowledged courage are gathered into the Elephant
Company, their special business being to hunt the elephant for the sake
of its tusks, a task which they perform with great courage and success,
often bringing down an elephant with a single volley from their
imperfect weapons.
The youngest, best-looking, most active and neatly dressed, are the
archers. They are furnished with very poor weapons, usually bow and
small arrows, and a small knife. Indeed, they are more for show than
for use, and wear by way of uniform a dress more scanty than that of
the regular army, and are distinguished also by an ivory bracelet on
the left arm, and a tattoo extending to the knee. They are specially
trained in dancing, and, when in the field, they are employed as
messengers and in carrying off the dead and wounded. Their official
title is Go-hen-to, _i. e._ the bearers of quivers.
The greater number of the Amazons are of course line-soldiers, and if
they only had a little knowledge of military manœuvres, and could be
taught to load properly, as well as to aim correctly, would treble
their actual power. Their manœuvres, however, are compared by Captain
Burton to those of a flock of sheep, and they have such little
knowledge of concerted action that they would be scattered before a
charge of the very worst troops in Europe.
Lastly come the razor women. This curious body is intended for striking
terror into the enemy, the soldiers being armed with a large razor,
that looks exactly as if it had been made for the clown in a pantomime.
The blade is about two feet in length, and the handle of course
somewhat larger, and, when opened, the blade is kept from shutting by a
spring at the back. It is employed for decapitating criminals, but by
way of a weapon it is almost worse than useless, and quite as likely to
wound the person who holds it as it is him against whom it is directed.
The razor was invented by a brother of the late King Gezo. On the 558th
page is an illustration of one of the war-drums of the Amazons. It was
taken from the slain warriors in the attack upon Abeokuta.