Chapter IV: A Walk Round Whydah (2)

Bending northwards, we find the French Fort, as usual—in these days, at least—the finest building in the place, with all the military air proper to the Grande Nation: it is, indeed, the only tenement that does not cry for repair. Still, it is a peaceful establishment, belonging to M. Régis (Ainé), of Marseille, the well-known emigrationist now reduced to palm- oil. It occupies the site of the old French Fort, whose governor, in the days of Louis XVI., had such influence over the country, and which in its career was twice destroyed by the Dahomans, whilst several governors lost their lives. Barbot[87] gives a detailed history of its original foundation in 1669-1671, by MM. Du Bourg and Caralof, with the consent of the King of Whydah, for the French West Indian Company. The old traveller places the factory at “Pilleau or Pelleau”—names now unknown—“a little beyond the swamp, and two miles from the sea.” It is badly situated; the air hereabouts is malarious, and hotter than at the other three forts. Behind, or northwards, is Salam Français, or French Town, peopled, like the rest, by the descendants of the Fort grumettos. They are now reduced from 1500 to a very small number, and they are considered a treacherous runaway race, the worst hammock-bearers at Whydah.[88]

A marble tablet over the drawbridged gateway of the French Fort informs us that it was restored by M. Régis, in 1842, and it is said that the repairs cost as much as though it had been re-made with stone. The main building fronting the sea southwards is tiled, not thatched, a necessary precaution, as will be seen, against the fires here frequent, and it has a tall central belvedere. The two bastions to the north-east and south- west have been whitewashed and repaired; the former, being nearer the town, mounts six guns, not including four fixed in the swish; and the latter had a telegraph for signalling to the ships in the roads. Besides which, a battery without _affûts_ lies on the ground opposite the entrance. The ditch is uncleaned and efficient, whilst the three remaining walls of the enceinte are of coarse red clay, and by no means in good order, suggesting the idea of a “dicky,” which is also characteristic. The immense compound contains a well, a cooperage, a smithy, a trellised arbour, and other necessaries. Outside the gateway it was proposed to found an establishment for the French missioners, who sensibly went eastwards, and found a site one to three degrees (F.) cooler. Here one of the agents attempted to plant cotton, and necessarily failed for want of regular labour.

It is not unamusing to compare with fact M. Wallon’s account of this factory. Its disinterestedness in supplying rival _barraconniers_ with Zanzibar cowries, its high sense of honour, provoking the hostility of the Yevo-gan, and its grand prospects as a civilizing and Christianizing agent, are dreams—not of the wise. The connection of France with Whydah has not been, and is not, a credit to our rivals; nor is he their friend who tells them the contrary. The Maison Régis is a barracoon, a slave- yard, where, with detestable hypocrisy, “emigrants[89]” and “free labourers” were lodged in jail till they could be transported _à loisir_. Such is the establishment which a French naval officer pretends to praise. But M. Wallon himself, when in the “Dialmat,” had proceeded to the capital in order to procure 40,000 hands. If the house has become a centre of licit commerce, it has not to thank its proprietor, his agents, or the officers that aided and abetted him. Finally, after the death of King Gezo, who mightily affected Frenchmen, it has fallen into utter contempt; the present ruler treats its _gérant en chef_ as a servant. M. Daumas, although calling himself French consul, was, after his last visit to Kana, in 1863, ordered not to quit Whydah, and he was compelled to fly on board a French man-of-war.

We now resume our route westwards, passing sundry fine houses, especially those of M. Nobre, a friend of Gezo, who during the same year followed his royal patron to the dark world, and of M. J. C. Muniz, whose African son has just come into possession of his property. Issuing from the habitations, we visit the westernmost point of Whydah Town, the Zo Mai ’Khimen Kpota, or “Fire Come not in Market Hillock.[90]” It is a swell in the open ground, which commands a full view of the shipping. Here we may see the coffee-like shrub which produces the fruit known on the Gold Coast as the “miraculous berry.[91]” A little to the N.W. are two huge cotton trees; that nearer the town is called Foli Hun, or Foli’s Bombax, with the following legend attached to it.

The Whydahs, assisted by the Popos, had made many a stout-hearted but vain attempt to recover their city, especially under their brave leader Shampo, a refugee Dahoman. This general, growing old, was succeeded in the command by his son Foli or Fori (the “Affurey” of the History), and, in 1763, when Tegbwesun (Bossa Ahadi) was on the throne, the fugitives once more attacked his garrison.

At first the Whydahs were successful; they marched in without opposition: and when old “Honnou,[92]” the viceroy, attempted to defend his town, they wounded him and repulsed his troops. “Baddely,” the second in command, fought bravely, till, pressed by a superior force, he was compelled to shelter himself under the guns of the French Fort, and the latter, although the enemy had begun to burn down the suburbs, ungratefully politic, fired nothing but blank cartridge to defend their friends.

The Whydahs and Popos, inspirited by this treacherous proceeding, advanced through the town; after another action to the S.E. of, and just outside, the suburbs, where the Godome entrance now is, they drove the enemy into the bush. When passing the English factory, one of the savage soldiery espied a white woman, Governor Goodson’s “wife,” combing her long hair, and protruding her head from the window, to see, I suppose, the “fun.” Exclaiming, “What animal can that be?” the man pierced her throat with a musket-ball; upon which the Englishman let fly a storm of grape-shot and musket-bullets, which made a prodigious havoc amongst the friendly Whydahs. The Portuguese Fort, suspecting some treachery, took up the fire, and all the others followed suit, thus completing the discomfiture of the townspeople. The Dahomans, who, under “Baddely,” were lurking near, and collecting their men from the plantations, resumed the offensive with such fury, that they killed thirty out of thirty-two hostile umbrellas, or general officers. Foli, overwhelmed with grief and shame, sat down under that Bombax and shot himself. In memory of his deeds, the fourth market-day at Whydah is called Foli-’hun-glo.[93]

This was the second occasion upon which the English gave Whydah to the Dahomans. Tegbwesun acknowleged that his good son had the sole merit of the victory, and the memory of “Ajangan” is still green in the land. To the present day the King always remarks officially to Englishmen who do not understand him, that from the first the British were the greatest friends of his family.[94]

There is now no society in Whydah[95]; the quondam millionaires retain their hospitality, but not the means of gratifying it. The old days of sporting, picnics, and processions, of dancing, loving, drinking, and playing, are gone, probably never to return. The place is temporarily ruined, and dull as dull can be, except when the occasional breaking of the blockade gives it a kind of galvanic life. Such was the case in October, 1863; the roads were stopped on the 7th, and three days afterwards a fine steamer, carrying 900 souls, got off between Godome and Jackin.[96] All the principal venturers gave a banquet, ending in a _tripotage_, which began at 4 P.M., and ended ten hours afterwards; none but the members of the Lyons Mission were exempted from attendance; even the non-slaving traders and others were there drinking pro-slavery toasts which would have given a philanthropist “fits.”

All here is now in transition state. Slave exporting is like gambling, a form of intense excitement which becomes a passion; it is said that after once shipping a man, one must try to ship another. And the natives of Whydah give the licit dealer scanty encouragement. Having lived so long without severer toil than kidnapping, they are too old to learn labour, they allow their houses to fall, their plantations to re-become bush, their streets to be half-grown with rank grass, and their swamps to reek undrained.

Let us hope that a step in advance is now being taken. Much might be expected from the soldier-like discipline of Dahoman despotism, if compulsorily applied to honest labour.

[Footnote 44: Travels in Western Africa in 1845-1846. By John Duncan, late of First Life Guards.—Vol. i. p. 185.]

[Footnote 45: Hwe, in the Ffon dialect, means a house and grounds, as in Grehwe, for which see the next note. No one, however, could explain to me the etymological meaning of Hwe-dah.]

[Footnote 46: Gre, or Gle—it is hard to know which to write—is a “plantation,” not a “garden,” as it is often translated; Gre-ta, or Gle- ta, is a bush or uncleared ground; and Gre-ta-nun, or Gle-ta-nun, is a bush man. Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 141) says, “The former name of Whydah was Grihwee, or Grighwee, but since its subjection to Dahomy it has become part of that territory, and received its present name”— the reverse being the case.]

[Footnote 47: The Viceroy never goes to war; he is supposed to look after Whydah. His deputy, the Sub-Viceroy, is expected to be present at all campaigns.]

[Footnote 48: The History of Dahome mentions a third, now ignored, “Nabbakou,” the “titular god of the English Castle in Whydah.” See chap. xvii. of this book.]

[Footnote 49: In the Dahoman tongue, “Zojage” is a Frenchman, “Agudayevo” a Portuguese or Brazilian, “Kan-kan-yevo” a Dutchman, “Payonunyevo” a Spaniard, and “Glensi” an Englishman. The “English mother,” an officeress at Court, is called “Glensi-no.” In Mr. Duncan’s time the Portuguese quarter was far superior to all the others; it is not so now.]

[Footnote 50: Namely, five priests, MM. Borghero, Emile Cordioux, Verdelot, Nodiet, and Vermorel, all French except the first, and one minor, François Cloud, who is about to proceed for ordination to France.]

[Footnote 51: See Annales de la Propagation de la Foi (No. 206, January, 1863). Paris: 34, Rue Cassette.]

[Footnote 52: These articles are one of the curses of the West African coast. Your white friend can pay you no higher compliment than to wind up the abominations, and your black friend will start, if he has them, half-a-dozen at the same time.]

[Footnote 53: So during the late fire at Whydah, the Chacha, M. Fr. de Souza, when he saw his house destroyed, very nearly died of passion. The same uncontrollable fits of rage have been observed amongst the Hottentots and the South African bushmen.]

[Footnote 54: The following is a list of the Portuguese, Brazilians, mulattos, and civilized Africans now remaining at the great mart. Five Portuguese, viz.:—

1. Antonio Viera da Silva, established at Whydah, Grand-Popo, and Agwe.

2. Francisco de Souza Maciel.

3. Ignacio de Souza Magallaes: Whydah, Porto Novo, and Badagry.

4. Jacinto Joaquim Rodriguez: Whydah and Porto Novo.

5. J. Suares Pereira: Whydah and Agwe.

Fourteen Brazilians:—

1. Francisco Antonio Monteiro.

2. F. J. Medeiros, now at Agwe (some say he is a Portuguese, born in the United States).

3. Francisco Olimpio Silva, at Porto Seguro.

4. Marco Borges Ferras.

5. João Pinheiro de Souza, commonly called Taparica.

6. Gulielme Martins do Nascimento.

7. Marcelino dos Martins Silva.

8. Ricardo Augusto Amadie: he speaks French and English.

9. João Victor Angelo.

10. Josè Francisco dos Santo, commonly called Alfaiate, _i.e._, the Tailor.

11. Angelo Custodio das Chagas.

12. João Antonio Dias.

13. Francisco Giorge.

14. Domingo Rafael Martinez, son of J. Domingo Martinez.

And four Brazilian women, viz.:—

1. Maria Elena do Carmo.

2. Benevinde Teresa de Jesus.

3. Leopoldina Teresa de Jesus.

4. Maria da Piedade do Nascimento.

N.B.—There are a few Brazilians of minor importance attached to the above houses.

The ten following are Africans or Brazil liberateds, who are mostly Nagos (Egbas) or Whydah men. None of them is at all important, and there are a few others whose names do not deserve mention.

1. João Antonio de Rego.

2. Elisbaõ Lino.

3. Thobias Barreto Brandao.

4. Joaquim das Neves.

5. Damião de Oliviera, who is considered the best mason at Whydah.

6. Antonio d’Almeida.

7. Josè de Fonçeca Muniz, the son of the late J. C. Muniz.

8. Pedro Pinto da Silveira. This is the well-known slaver, Pedro Cogio, of Little Popo. He has a son residing at Whydah, and managing the affairs of Josè Alfaiate. His name is,

9. Domingo Francisco da Silveira.

10. Pedro Fellis d’Almeida.

All these are “God-men,” which, in Anglo-African, is opposed to “devil- men,” or heathenry.]

[Footnote 55: No one could explain the meaning of this word. Zó means the later rains, and must not be confounded with Zò, fire, which is pronounced with a depression of the voice. The Yoruban languages, like the Chinese, depend upon accents and intonations which are not ours. For instance, So and Soh, slightly aspirated, is a stick. Sò, with a falling of the voice, has the same signification as Khevio-sò, thunder. Só, with a rising of the voice, means a horse; and with an almost imperceptible variation of voice, means bring; _e.g._, Só, zò, wá, bring hither fire! Sô (pronounced Saw), means yesterday or to-morrow, a fair specimen of linguistic poverty, and leading to numerous mistakes. But these delicacies of intonation are inherent in monosyllabic tongues. That childish form of human language also delights in imitative words, as Koklo, a “cackler” or fowl (in Prakrit Kukkur), Kra-kra, a watchman’s rattle, and so on.]

[Footnote 56: Wanderings in West Africa. Abeokuta, chap. iii. See also Mr. Duncan, vol. i. p. 121.]

[Footnote 57: Vodun is Fetish in general. I hardly know whether to write it Vodun or Fodun, the sound of the two labials is so similar. New comers are apt to confound this Fetish with the Azan or fringe of dried palm-leaf, which, fastened about a tree, places it under the protection of the Bo-Fetish. When a man wears the latter round his throat, witchcraft can do him no harm; and, if a war captive, he may not be killed.]

[Footnote 58: The food which it contains is called Legba-nun-dudu, or “eating for Legba.”]

[Footnote 59: There are two kinds, Akrasu, the common _Percnopter niger_, and a larger grey species, with a very hooked beak, called by the people Akkun.]

[Footnote 60: How strong a superstition this worship is, may be gathered from the annals of the monotheistic Jews, amongst whom Maacah, the queen-mother of Asa, set up the “horror” in a grove.]

[Footnote 61: There is also a great demon in Egba land, who uses a knobstick, called Oggo, and who therefore is known as Agongo-Oggo.]

[Footnote 62: A Description of the Coasts of North and South Guinea. By John Barbot, Agent-General of the Royal African Company and Islands of America, at Paris. This old book is a mine of information.]

[Footnote 63: It was the mess-room of the governor and his officers, with whatever strangers might be staying in the place.]

[Footnote 64: English Town is one of the most populous parts of Whydah, and lies behind its fort. Like the other quarters, it is chiefly inhabited by the descendants of fort slaves, and they are bound to do corvée for English visitors. They speak a little of our language, and they muster perhaps 300 families.]

[Footnote 65: See Appendix iii., Despatches from Commodore Wilmot, respecting his visit to the King of Dahomy, in December, 1862, and January, 1863. Presented to the House of Commons by command of Her Majesty, in pursuance of their address, June 16, 1863.]

[Footnote 66: Don (young), and pwe (small or young, as in Pwe-vi). These are a troop of _petits jeunes hommes_, who must do something to distinguish themselves, organized by the King for his especial service, and to counteract the lazy and crafty veterans. These _moutards_ are under a head-man, and each great Caboceer has at least one Don-pwe.]

[Footnote 67: Or Danhgbwe-hwe, or Vodun-hwe, _i.e._, Fetish House _par excellence_. In all these words the _n_ is highly nasal. A common snake is called Danh; the python, Danhgbwe, a purely Whydah word, which must not be confounded with Dagbwe, “good.” Dr. M‘Leod corrupts the word to Daboa. ’Gbwe means a bush, but according to my interpreters it is no component part of Danhgbwe. Hwe signifies, I have said, a house and grounds, in fact the whole establishment, as distinguished from Ho, a room (as in Zá-ho, a ceiling’d or storeroom).]

[Footnote 68: No, at the end of a compound word, means primarily mother (_e.g._, Danhgbwe-no, snake-mother): tropically, master of, or in the Arabic sense, father of (_e.g._, Abu Hanash, father of snake). Its general use shows the superior dignity of the lower sex in Dahome.]

[Footnote 69: Mr. Duncan witnessed this “absurd and savage custom,” and detailed it in vol. i. p. 195.]

[Footnote 70: There the python has exceeded, I am told, nineteen feet in length. Dr. M‘Leod says that in Dahome many have been found from thirty to thirty-six feet long, and of proportional girth, but he does not say that he saw them.]

[Footnote 71: Man’s natural sense of personal fear probably originated the many fanciful ideas concerning the sævissima vipera:—it is truly said, _Timor fecit deos_. The surpassing subtlety of the brute, the female supposed to devour the male, and the young their parent, with the monstrous imaginative offshoots—dragons, fiery snakes, the great sea- serpent,—all such romantic zoology seems to have originated from one and the same source.]

[Footnote 72: In bygone days at Baroda of Guzerat I studied snake- charming under a native professor, when some of my brother- officers—after filling the house with the hugest ranæ, to testify their abhorrence of frog-eaters—killed in waggishness a fine cobra. The terrified Hindu would never again “darken” those doors.]

[Footnote 73: The orgies are derived from the old Fetish practices, which may be found in Bosman and Barbot.]

[Footnote 74: It is an old Whydah title dating before the conquest. In the old days, the “Coke” was the head Caboceer in the absence of the Yevogan (Dr. M‘Leod, p. 68). I cannot find the title now. The word is spelt with a complexity of error. The History gives Yavoughah; Mr. Duncan, Avogaw and Avoga; Captain Wilmot, Yavogah; and others Yavogar, showing how easily the H, the R, and the highly nasal N, may be confounded by unpractised ears. The French prefer Jevoghan. Commander Forbes, who realized the fact that Ffon is a monosyllabic tongue, but who did not take the trouble to ascertain the only important part of his discovery, namely, what the syllables are, produced the curious etymology Ee-a-boo-gan. The word is Yevo-gan, “White man’s captain,”—Whydah being held to be a white man’s town. Yevo means a white man, the oibo or oyibo of the Egbas. Ye is a shadow, and vo signifies ripe or red. Gan has been explained as a captain or chief, and must not be confounded with gàn, metal. Again, Commander Forbes and M. Wallon tell us that the P. N. of the Yevogan is Dagbah, Dagbwa, and Dagba. The phrase Da-gba implies “he holds a large gourd or calabash”—Whydah being, as it were, the king’s cornucopia—it was a title which the present man took for himself. Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 117) erroneously explains the word to signify that the King would drink water with him—the strongest mark of friendship.]

[Footnote 75: The present sub-viceroy, being a cousin and a particular friend of the King, has unusual powers of persuasion; but such is by no means always the case. The “Prince,” of whom more hereafter, is considered a firm friend to the English nation.]

[Footnote 76: The first gate made when building the house is always so named.]

[Footnote 77: Uhon (gate), and Nukon (before), _i.e._, the space before the gate.]

[Footnote 78: By the natives it is called Ayyan or Soyyan; held in the hand, a leaf prevents the gun from bursting, and the sticks are used in thunder-worship, hence the name in the text. It is a tall shrub, with broad ensiform leaves, like a Pandanus, but of a darker green, and it grows all about the coast, extending as far as Agbome. Sometimes it is pollarded, and in this state it is set round other sacred trees.]

[Footnote 79: Vol. i. p. 196. Commander Forbes was also misinformed when he states, “When Da (de) Souza died, a boy and a girl were decapitated and buried with him, besides three men who were sacrificed on the beach at Whydah (vol. i. p. 33). All denominations at Whydah deny this; nor is it probable after the deceased’s life-long opposition to this particular enormity.]

[Footnote 80: Captain Canot; or, Twenty Years of an African Slaver. Entertaining, but superficial; the author manifestly does not know that “Chacha” is a title, not a name.]

[Footnote 81: There are some four “Ajudo” hereabouts, all so called by the old De Souza, meaning “Deos me ajudò”—God helped me. Some wrongly write Ajido. Others prefer Ajuda, help, aid; the full phrase being “Com ajuda de Deos”; hence the Ajuda Palace, in Portugal. From directions of letters, I believe Ajuda and Ayuda to be the popular Portuguese and Brazilian names for Whydah.]

[Footnote 82: “A more generous or benevolent man perhaps never existed,” says that traveller (vol. i. p. 194. See also vol. ii. p. 295).]

[Footnote 83: So called from the day of his birth, a Gold Coast custom. The word is here corrupted to Cocò. Kwabna (Tuesday) and Wednesday are “strong days” of birth; children that appear on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays are “weak as water.” Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 193) remarks, “On no account will a native sleep with his head towards the sea, nor enter a new house to take possession as a dwelling on a Tuesday or Friday, both those days being reckoned unlucky.”]

[Footnote 84: The mother was a large woman from Agwe, dashed to the old Chacha. Her name was Akho-’si, _i.e._, King’s wife, but she had no connection with royalty.]

[Footnote 85: The following is a list of the present heads of the De Souza family, all being “Hijos de Whydah”:-

1. Francisco Fellis de Souza.

2. Manoel „ „

3. Antonio „ „

4. Juliaõ „ „

5. Januario „ „

6. Candido „ „

7. Antonio „ „ vulgarly called Pito.

8. Andrea „ „

9. Julio „ „

10. Lino „ „

11. Josè „ „

12. Pedro „ „

13. Ignacio „ „

The names of the sisters who are at all distinguished are:—

1. Maria Amalia Fellis de Souza.

2. Sabina „ „

3. Francisca „ „

4. Antonia „ „

There are many young children; about a hundred are known. The only grandson of any importance is Antonio Francisco de Souza, son of “Kwaku,” and aged about twenty-eight. The late Isidore left two boys, Leandro Sancho and Sicinio Agripo, and two girls, Maria das Doses and Joanna Isidora, who are looked upon as Africans.]

[Footnote 86: Zo (fire), Ma (not), I (come), ’Khi (from akhi, market), Men (in).]

[Footnote 87: Book 4, chap. i. Where also may be found a long account of the squabbles of the two founders, and of the disputes with their seniors, the Dutch Company.]

[Footnote 88: The French factory is composed as follows:—

1. M. Marius Daumas, agent _en chef_ of the factories of M. Régis, since 1863 French Consul for Whydah and Porto Novo (where he mostly resides), and chief of the Whydah factory.

2. M. Béraud.

3. M. Ardisson.

4. M. Pellegrin.]

[Footnote 89: Most people know that with the _profession_, “emigrant,” like “captive,” means a purchased slave.]

[Footnote 90: Kpota means a gentle rise of ground, opposed to Sò, a hill, and to Sò dáho (literally big hill), a mountain.]

[Footnote 91: The Fantis call it Sabla or Sambalá (which the Preface to the History, p. viii., and Introduction, p. 5, turn into Assabah, and opine to be an oxyglycus) and the Ffon terms it Sisnah. It is the Ossessossa of the Bonny R., and grows everywhere on the Gold Coast and in the Bights. The fruit is a brab-like berry, cherry-red and yellow, with a thin white pulp and a large black stone. It is hardly capable of making “a lime taste like a very ripe china orange, or vinegar like sweet wine” (loc. cit.), but it sweetens water with a cloying taste, and remains long upon the palate. Perhaps it might be useful in sugar- making. Dr. M‘Leod exaggerates still further its peculiarities:—“Whoever eats this berry in the morning, must be content, at least for that day, to forego the natural flavour of every kind of food, whether animal or vegetable” (pp. 21-22).]

[Footnote 92: These names are from the History, which ignores the Governor’s “wife,” merely saying that Mr. Goodson had prepared to give the rebels a very warm reception, and had fired into them accordingly. On the other hand, King Gezo has often told the tradition as above narrated. The “wife” might have been, and ten to one was, some fair mulatress.]

[Footnote 93: Commander Forbes (vol. i. p. 114) says, “This was market- day at the four-day market at Forree.” The _l_ in Foli is sounded somewhat like the peculiar Sanskrit (ळ).]

[Footnote 94: See in Commodore Wilmot’s Despatch the usual garbled account of this affair; such as it is, however, people believed it in Whydah till I collected the true details. Some, indeed, and they were not few, referred it to the first capture of Whydah by the Dahomans.]

[Footnote 95: Dr. M‘Leod (A Voyage to Africa), in 1803, considers Whydah the “Circassia of Africa, not from the fairness, but from the glossy blackness of the ladies’ skins, and the docility of their dispositions.” Commander Forbes (1849) seems to have suffered from the “meretricious gaze of the females,” which he attributes to the “personal depravity of the slave merchants.” I saw no signs of this debauchery; the people were civil and respectful—the one thing needful in the African.]

[Footnote 96: According to some, in the preceding month a brig had cleared from Grand Popo, carrying 300 head.]