Chapter IV: Section D: The So-nan-wen-kan ’gbe,8 or Fourth Day of the Kings Customs (1)

The first day of the new year (1864) was chosen for the ceremony of loosing horses, which is not usually performed till a fortnight after the opening of the Customs. Mr. Cruikshank was feverish: the labour of pleasure in Dahome is somewhat hard; I therefore went alone to the usual place, and found there a new hat. It belonged to a dark youth, M. Joaquim de Cirqueira Lima. He had been brought up at Berlin, and there had attracted considerable notice. Presently returning to Africa, he became head clerk to the Hamburg factory at Lagos; and at the death of his father, the headman of Brazilian emigrants, who had received an umbrella from the King, he had gravitated to the quality of “Whydah gentleman.” All the chief caboceers were sitting in poor clothes under old blackened and war-soiled umbrellas, which will be laid aside to- morrow. There was a suspicious gathering of vultures on the tree under which our chairs were disposed. Can their sagacity extend to guessing that death is near?

Seven men were prancing before the King, whose brother Anlinwanun substituted for them an untired troop. After their obeisances and salutations, the bamboo barrier was enlarged for the Amazon dances. A peloton of fifty wives and fighteresses, several of them “half-heads” and others with a haircrest along the poll-ridge, stood up: then, turning towards the tent where Gezo’s ghost was, they capered and they sang in chorus and in solo to the Amazon band on the left of the throne, lauds of the old King. After that performance fourteen of the tallest and most swaggering, not including a small girl, formed line, and two mistresses of the ceremonies, armed with horsetail chauris, chanted and sometimes pranced to give time in rear. The toilette was the pink of propriety,—a vest, a pagne, a shorter undergarb and Ffon chokoto or “pantilettes,” longer than the male article, and extending to the knees: it is a provision which might be naturalized in all countries where _caleçons_ are not _de rigueur_. When the time was to be changed, one or both of the Blue Companies advanced towards the band with pin toes straight in front, ungracefully throwing out first one arm, then the other, with one or two fingers extended, and clapping palms on the thighs or on something fleshier. Thus the measure was taken up by a single cymbal, and finally by the full band. The dancers stamped, wriggled, kicked the dust with one foot, sang, shuffled, and wrung their hands—there is ever a suspicion of beheading in these performances—bending almost double, ducking heads, moving sideways to right and left, fronting and facing everywhere, especially presenting the back, converting forefingers into _strigils_, working the arms as in Mediterranean swimming, and ending in a _prestissimo_ and very violent movement of the shoulders, hips, and loins. Then whilst the rest reposed on short stools there was a grand _pas de deux_. The whole merits of the ballet were time and unison: nothing could be less graceful or more deficient in the poetry of motion. All ended with kneeling, bending heads to the ground, and rubbing palms.

Thereupon Adan-men-nun-kon of the guard, supported by a three-deep column of fifty men, stood up, and, in the bawling barking tone affected by the real brave, declared that as the Fanti Company had sung about breaking Abeokuta, so the Blue had sworn to destroy it. The sentiment was seconded by the Gau and the Matro with such jumping and breast beating that a stranger would suppose them to be in a violent rage. The general uproar of captains, the dance, and presenting arms, sticks and knives, testified their general joy, and they chanted to the effect that they would not only knock down the walls of Abeokuta, but they would also carry away the bits for Gelele their King. It reminded me of the Southern heroes who carried Mr. President Lincoln’s coffin, and were “bound” to bring him back in it, and have not done so.

The women having re-formed a single peloton five deep, Ji-bi-whe-ton, their coloneless, issued from the midst of them; her scalp was clean shaven and shining, a single little lock held a silver knob like the finial of a tea-pot, and her chief ornament was the common _fleur-de- lis_ of silver attached by a chain to her neck. She wore a vest, pink before and white behind, with a drooping slovenly collar: a black leather cartridge-belt kept in position her long blue striped waist- cloth and confined on her left hip an ammunition bag, whilst her right hand grasped the muzzle of a short musket, to which were hung many charms. In hoarse manly tones she called out severally her best women, each of whom sharply responded “Tamulé! O Brave!” presented them to the King, handed to them their cowries, placed the bundles upon their heads, and dismissed them. Some of the more forward made short speeches with a pert air, and struck their bosoms, as to say, “I am the woman to do it, I.” At times a dozen or two stood up, sang and raised one or both arms, the forefinger as usual being extended, thus swearing to brave deeds before the King.

Similarly Adan-men-nun-kon presented his chosen warriors, who, unlike the women, prostrated themselves. At one name, Mocho,[9] the captainesses laughed satirically, showing the rivalry ever existing between the two sexes. The women, naturally somewhat incontinent of tongue, also supply all omissions and explanations of the men’s speeches, whilst these dare not interrupt their sister soldiers. On the other hand the full private, the jester, the bush man, in fact every one, addresses his sovereign without interruption, demanding and receiving audience and justice. So far the despotism is quite _en règle_: it is the progressive democratic, not the barbarous aristocratic. Lastly, there was a general “Tamulé!” the women sang and clapped hands, whilst the _élite_ danced. This example was duly followed by the men.

Silence having been once more proclaimed, the King spoke fiercely about the capture of Abeokuta, and he was seconded by Adan-men-nun-kon the Brave. The women fired, the men blew their horns, and both companies, masculine and feminine, sang to this purport: “We refused to let our King furnish his father’s grave with any skulls and bones save those of the Egbas. These we swear now to procure for him. If the foe soar in the air we will fly, if he dive we will follow him, if he sink in earth we will descend after him.” The King excitedly informed them that he would see the oath kept. The Blues rushed tumultuously afar, skirmishing and firing: presently they returned at a _pas de charge_, and clustered before the King, whilst the women chanted Nago songs, in which they are said to excel.

After the heralds had cried “Oyez!” the King ordered them to sing again, when they recited the past prowess of the two principal companies. Once more Gelele, with violent gestures and wildly tossing his arms, declared that he must go and break Abeokuta. Two baskets of cowries were brought out, the Amazons carried off their share, and an old messenger woman bore the other to the men, who after prostration loaded it upon their shoulders.

The King made a third warlike speech, to the effect that dirty cloth must be washed, and that his honour must be redeemed by destroying Abeokuta. The women sang, both sexes presented arms, and jesters blew loud blasts with their tusk-horns. Again the Amazons chanted to the funereal tinkle of a single cymbal, succeeded by a full band. After sundry dances, all sat down, touched with their foreheads the ground opposite the old King’s tent, and then saluted, with the usual three _batta-palmas_, his royal son. Wearing many silver studs in a Turkish cap-like mop of hair, fifteen princesses, mostly daughters of Gelele, and wives of the Adanejan and other officers, issued from the palace, and knelt in two lines close to the throne. On the Meu’s side appeared the seven Bo images mentioned yesterday, preceded by two fetisheers in peculiar dress. A So[10] was brought up to us, a bull-face mask, of natural size, painted black, with glaring eyes and peepholes, the horns were hung with red and white rag strips, and beneath was a dress of bamboo fibre covering the feet and ruddy at the ends. It danced with head on one side, and swayed itself about to the great amusement of the people.

Presently our chairs were hastily removed, and we retired to the eastern shed, whilst the natives, flying in confusion, occupied the southern side of the square. Women dressed in every shade of colour came streaming from the palace, and turned to the right; so that, on passing the King, they presented as usual the dexter shoulder. They were preceded by the To-no-nun and a single bell: after the first turn he and his twenty eunuchs took post at the eastern corner of the palace wall, and in bird-like voices, cried out to the public to admire what was passing.

First came thirteen old mothers of the chief captains, followed by eighty women, some with their sticks of office, each carrying in a calabash two heads of cowries. After them trooped forty women and girls with ten strings per head in plates and platters. Then, preceded by small girls, walked the fifteen married princesses in fine raiment. The rest of the procession consisted of nineteen women, bearing on their pates bottles of rum; forty women, each with two heads of cowries; twenty women and young girls, known by their nude bosoms, with ten strings each; and, lastly, the she Meu and Min-gan with thirteen attendants. They circumambulated the square thrice, singing, in peculiar tones, the exploits of the late and of the present King, and enumerating their victims.[11] The presents are for distribution amongst the lieges during the coming night. They have much diminished: in Gezo’s time there were 1000 carriers. After the third round some huddled into the palace, and the rest, after again forming up before the King and reciting his titles, followed. It was the usual African inconsequence—£100,000 to carry £20.

Shortly after 6 P.M. we returned to our old sitting-places. The woman Meu, standing amongst twenty chief captainesses, habited in Hausa tobes, addressed her male colleague, who, like the others, was lying elbow- propped on the ground. She informed him that the King, who was worthily making the Customs of his sire, had brought out rum and cowries for his singers—the bards who, in Dahome, preserve all history.[12] Then the she-Min-gan addressed the men, to the effect that Dahome expects every man to do his duty. Ten bottles of rum and 120 heads of cowries were finally given to the women, and we were graciously dismissed.

SECTION E.

_The Zan Nyanyana, or Evil Night._

As we wended our way homewards from the palace to the city gate, we found both sides of the road lined with bamboo railing, to keep the thoroughfare clear for the King: it serves its purpose effectually as policemen and Life Guards in England. To-night Gelele will walk in procession with his wives, and attended by the high officials, from the Komasi House to the Uhun-jro marketplace, where the Min-gan will perform sundry executions with his own hand.

As sometimes happens, the subject of Men-huwu[13] or human sacrifice in Dahome has been thoroughly misunderstood by the press and the public at home. It is by no means done to “keep up the good old customs of the country.” The object is not to “offer a valuable and acceptable present to Heaven”; nor is it penance or self-deprivation done because the thing parted with is precious or coveted. The King takes no pleasure in the tortures and death, or in the sight of blood—as will presently appear. The 2000 killed in one day, the canoe paddled in a pool of gore, and other grisly nursery tales, must be derived from Whydah, where the slave-traders invented them, probably to deter Englishmen from visiting the King.

It is useless to go over the ground of human sacrifice from the days of the mild Hindu’s Naramedha[14] to the burnings of the Druids, and to the awful massacres of Peru and Mexico. In Europe the extinction of the custom began from the time of polite Augustus. Any Encyclopædia will show that human sacrifice, like slavery, is almost universally a concomitant of a certain stage of civilization, and that with the increase of knowledge it disappears for ever.

Human sacrifice in Dahome is founded upon a purely religious basis, which not only strengthens but perpetuates the custom. It is a touching instance of the King’s filial piety, deplorably mistaken, but perfectly sincere. The Dahoman sovereign must, I have said, enter Deadland[15] with royal state, accompanied by a ghostly court of leopard wives, head wives, birth-day[16] wives, Afa wives, eunuchs—especially the chief eunuch,—singers and drummers, King’s “Joto’si,” and “King’s Devils,” bards and soldiers. This is the object of what we have called the “Grand Customs,” when the victims may amount to a maximum of 500. We find the same process extending through the continent to the south-eastern country of the Cazembe, who shows an equal veneration for his “Muzimos,” or ancestral ghosts. Every year, moreover, decorum exacts that the first fruits of war and that all criminals should be sent as recruits to swell the King’s retinue. Hence the ordinary annual customs. We can hardly find fault with putting criminals to death,[17] when, in the Year of Grace 1864 we hung four murderers upon the same gibbet before 100,000 gaping souls at Liverpool, when we strung up five pirates in front of Newgate, when, during the late age of “hanging Mondays,” the Latinist exclaimed,

Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die,

With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply;

and when our last but one Christian king killed a starving mother of seventeen, with an infant at her breast, for lifting a yard of linen from a shop counter. A Dahoman visiting England but a few years ago would have witnessed customs almost quite as curious as those which raise our bile now. With respect to slaying captives, it must be remembered that this severity depends upon the nature of African wars; with these people, _lex talionis_ is the highest experience of law, and after defeat quarter is given only to those who are reserved for slavery or for sacrifice. There is, therefore, a shade of excuse for it. The executions are, I believe, performed without cruelty; these negroes have not invented breaking on the wheel or tearing to pieces their victims, as happened to Ravaillac and the half-witted Damiens. Finally, it must be remembered that throughout the year Customs’ time is the only period of punishment—that the sacrifice is done openly, enabling all to witness the consequences of crime, and that it seems to wither away all minor offences of violence.

There are always at least two Evil Nights during the annual customs, and there may be more. Commander Forbes, I have said, owns that King Gezo had reduced the number of his victims to thirty-six. The present King has reduced them to thirty-nine or forty. But this number must be doubled, to include the female victims killed by the Amazons in the palace, and not permitted to be seen by man.[18] The presumed total of the “butchery bill” will therefore be seventy-eight or eighty.[19]

As all who leave the house during the evil night are beheaded, it is not easy to learn what is then enacted. Our bearers, however, afterwards sang a song, how the King had asked a man of the Min-gan, which officer had presented the gift, how the man was charged with a message to Gezo, saying that the Customs were being properly performed, and how he and his fellows are clubbed with knob-sticks.[20] I could not find out whether, like the Meriah victims of the Khonds, who hardly thanked General Campbell for saving their lives, the doomed are intoxicated: it is probable, the object being to send them to the other world in the best of tempers. Although the missionaries deny the fact, I believe that the King[21] begins by using a broad sharp blade upon the neck of a kneeling criminal, after which the same is done to others by the Min- gan, the Meu,[22] and their assistants.

Dahome, it will be seen, shows to advantage by the side of Abeokuta, Ashanti, and Benin. When I visited, in 1860, what Mr. Duncan calls that “saintly place of so many converts,” one “basket sacrifice,” as the Egbas delicately call it, had just been performed; one occurred during our week’s residence in the town; and a third immediately after we had left. At Komasi, one man is slain per diem, except on the Wednesdays, which are the King’s birthdays; moreover, the death of every caboceer demands a number of victims, whereas in Dahome only a single slave accompanies the Min-gan and the Meu, such honour not being permitted since the early part of Gezo’s reign to any other caboceer. Finally, when I visited the city of Great Benin, in 1862, I saw three violent deaths in three days, though the yearly ceremonies had ended, and the large open space before the palace was strewed with human skulls and bones.

But although the Dahoman Customs have been greatly exaggerated and admit some little palliation, the annual destruction of human life is terribly great. However trivial an action is done by the King, such as inventing a new drum, being visited by a white man, or even removing from one palace to another, it must be dutifully reported by some male or female messenger to the paternal ghost.[23] I can hardly rate the slaughter at less than 500, in average years of the annual Customs, and at less than 1000 during the year of the Grand Customs. At exceptional occasions, especially of the King’s illness, many are slain on the suspicion of witchcraft,[24] which here, as everywhere in Africa, is a capital offence. During the earthquake which prostrated Accra in 1862, Gelele was informed that his father’s ghost had been seen bathing in the sea, and was returning to Agbome. According to Mr. Bernasko he slew two slaves,—others say the unfortunate captives from Ishagga,[25]—and was surprised to hear that the earthquake had been felt where his father’s name was unknown. The History mentions part of the palace wall at Agbome being overthrown in the days of Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II., 1774-1789), when the Europeans, improving the occasion, tried to reform the royal manners. “It does not, however, appear that this representation produced any alteration in the King’s behaviour.”

It is evident, that to abolish human sacrifice here is to abolish Dahome. The practice originates from filial piety, it is sanctioned by long use and custom, and it is strenuously upheld by a powerful and interested priesthood. That, as our efforts to abolish the slave export trade are successful, these horrors will greatly increase, there is no room to doubt. Finally, the present King is for the present committed to them; he rose to power by the goodwill of the reactionary party, and upon it he depends. There is a report that his grandsire Agongoro (Wheenoohew) was poisoned because he showed a propensity to Christianity, and the greatest despots are in Yoruba easily told to “go to sleep,” or are presented with the parrot’s eggs. Gelele, I am persuaded, could not abolish human sacrifice if he would; and he would not if he could. The interference of strangers will cause more secrecy, and more decorum in the practice; but the remedy must come from the people themselves.

During the last reign, the victims, gagged and carrying rum and cowries for the people, were marched about, led with cords, and the visitors were compelled to witness the executions.[26] In 1862-63, the wretches were put to death within hearing, if not within sight, of the white visitors. In 1863-64, the King so far regarded the explicit instructions which I had received, that no life was publicly taken during daytime. This is, let us hope, the small end of the wedge.

SECTION F.

_The Minai Afunfun ’khi Uhun-jro men Dadda Gezo[27]; or Fifth and Last
Day of the King’s “So-sin Custom.”_

During the night, at times the deep sound of the death-drum and the loud report of a musket informed us that some mortal spirit had fled. The 2nd of January, 1864, opened with a preliminary “palaver,” brought by the Buko-no. Some years ago, during the reign of Gezo, when all were employed at the palace, a fire nearly destroyed the city; consequently came forth a royal ordinance, directing every hearth to be kept cold on that day, except within the royal precincts. But, though this restriction does not apply to white visitors, our vexatious host could not help trying his hand at an _avanie_ by which he gained little but contempt.

I was debating whether to decline attending at the palace, as desired to do on the “glad day,” when, as if the King had divined my intention, the Prince Chyudaton called upon me at an early hour and explained that all those slain during the last evil night were criminals and captives. At 11 A.M. we proceeded, armed with all our patience, to the Komasi House, where was to take place the ceremony called by strangers “The Procession of the King’s Wealth,[28]”—it should be rather “Of the Royal Poverty.” The approach to the palace was not pleasant. The north-eastern or market-shed was empty; out of its tenants, nine had perished. Four corpses, attired in their criminals’ shirts and nightcaps, were sitting in pairs upon Gold Coast stools, supported by a double-storied scaffold, about forty feet high, of rough beams, two perpendiculars and as many connecting horizontals. At a little distance, on a similar erection, but made for half the number, were two victims, one above the other. Between these substantial affairs was a gallows of thin posts, some thirty feet tall, with a single victim hanging by his heels, head downwards. Lastly, planted close to the path was a _patibulum_ for two, dangling side by side. Fine cords, passed in several coils round the ankles and above the knees, attached them to the cross-bar of the gallows, and the limpness of their limbs showed that the “dear breath” had lately been beaten out of them. There were no signs of violence upon the bodies, which were wholly nude; they had been mutilated after death, in respect to the royal wives, and very little blood appeared upon the ground below.[29]

We then passed to the south-eastern gate of the Komasi House, where the palace shed was also untenanted. In front of sundry little black dolls, stuck in the ground at both sides of the entrance, lay a dozen heads. They were in two batches of six each, disposed in double lines of three; their faces were downwards, and the cleanly severed necks caught the observer’s eye. Around each heap was a raised rim of white ashes. These victims had probably been slaughtered directly in front of the gate, as there were traces of blood there: the bodies had been removed, so as not to offend the King. Within the palace entrance were two more, making a total of fourteen. Thus, during King’s “Evil Night,” twenty-three human beings had lost their lives.

We sat under the thin shade of the tree garnished with queer fruit and white flags, enjoying the Harmattanish weather, and were greeted by sundry nobles, who politely thanked us for honouring the day with uniform. After a long _séance_ we entered the Podoji, or palace-yard, in which we had pitched the tent. It was crammed with dignitaries, male and female, all habited in their gaudiest attire. The time of royal mourning had now passed by, and merriment was once more restored to the nation.

In the centre of the court, which was divided into two by a fence-work of matting, rose a sugar-loaf-shaped pavilion of native make, called the Tokpon. It was supported by a strong central pole, on the top of which, pedestalled upon a little oval, was a small white-capped fetish figure holding a hatchet in the right hand: above it hung a flag, also white, with a chocolate-hued spread eagle in the centre. Posts of strong scantling, disposed in an inner circle, propped up the heavy flaps, and the outer edge was kept extended by iron rods, some four feet long, planted in the ground and passed through eyelet-holes. Thus was generated a draught which, despite crowding, kept the interior cool. The cloth was of the coarsest material, gaudy but rainwashed; red and yellow were the predominant tints, varied with patches and rags of check. The grotesque ornaments, of different coloured cloths, sewn on to the outside, were lions devouring men and beasts, turkey-buzzards with wings abased, blue snakes, four-legged birds holding swords, and other symptoms of the “ridiculous trade,” heraldry. The entrance was garnished with the usual galleries for Vo-sisa, little flags, and Bo-so or fetish stick-bundles: on its proper right squatted the band of women, on the left were ranged calabashes of food and drink. A white calico curtain, passed round the iron bars, prevented our seeing the women and children that crowded the interior, and the mat wall that divided the Podoji showed us only the standards and the umbrellas of the female troops.[30] Conspicuous objects on the left of the pavilion were two Ajalela or fetish pots, made by the present King.[31] Both are lamp-black, shaped like amphoræ, about four feet high, and planted on tripods. The larger was solid, the smaller was cullendered with many small holes, and both were decorated with brass and silver crescents, stars, and similar ornaments. The second, when filled with water and medicine, allows none to escape, so great is its fetish power; an army guarded by it can never be defeated, and it will lead the way to Abeokuta. Towards the end of the procession the smaller vase was carried off by the men, after they had made obeisance to the King. The women, with similar ceremony, presently removed the other.

We were seated but a short time under the thin tamarind tree when a fall of matting on the proper left of the pavilion and almost in front of us, was raised, and the royal leopard wives and Amazons, copiously besilvered, ushered in the King. He was more dressed than usual, in a skull-cap of puce-coloured satin and a toga of violet silk; a rapier, the gift of Captain Wilmot, was swung to his shoulder by a crimson silk sash, and an ignoble necklace of imitation jewellery lay upon his broad breast: he walked under a red parasol, with the usual plated spittoon by his side. To the music of a full band he crossed the court, waiting to return our salutes as we advanced towards him, and entered the Tokpon, when its white curtain was removed. We then betook ourselves to our chairs, which were placed near the royal fetisheers, who sat grouped under a black and tattered umbrella, fronted by about twenty iron sticks planted in the ground, some cresset shaped and quaintly capped with the tortoise, others crescents and demi-lunes, and mostly decorated with pendants of cowries. Immediately by our side squatted a little knot, the King’s sons, the youngest of whom might be twelve years old. Dako, the eldest, who had just been made a caboceer, was a plain youth about twenty, with an unpleasant countenance. He is, I believe, the heir apparent. Presently we were joined by the Hun-to-ji, or king’s silversmith, a high official, whose long calico gown, white pantaloons, straw hat, slippers and European chain, proved his Brazilian descent. Under him are workmen who will convert dollars—gold has no value here—into chains, rings and crucifixes: all are of the rudest make, and when tested with nitrate of silver they become lead coloured.

This was to be, as is the present King’s practice, a mixed Custom. It began with a general salutation on the part of the singers and drummers, who in silver horns and bracelets danced before the throne, and waved their horse-tail fly-flappers. They were followed by the chief ministers, splendid in silk robes of Hausa cut, resembling the Arab’s “aba,” short sleeved and hanging to the ankles: as there must be something ill-sorted about the African, their multitudinous necklaces and silver charms reposed upon common, and by no means cleanly, trade shirts. A troop of “Guiriots,” or jesters, knelt before the throne, pushed and shoved one another, contorted their countenances, and exchanged all manner of buffooneries to amuse the King. The Kpo- fen-’su,[32] captain of blunderbusses, headsman, and headman of jesters, a living old skeleton, wore a long red cap hanging on his shoulder, with broad white circles of chalk round his eyes and mouth, that made his countenance look at a distance like a leather-covered skull. This pipe- claying, and here and there a streak of black made with gunpowder, are the only remains of the “uncouth devices painted on the face and body, and giving a very fiend-like appearance.” The coadjutress in the inside is similarly goggled. The jesters were followed by a dozen pursuivants armed with gong-gongs, who advanced bending towards the throne, and shouted the “strong names,” or titles. Conspicuous amongst them was an oldster in a crimson sleeveless tunic and yellow shorts; his head was red with dust, he carried a large bill-hook, and he went about attended by four drums and one cymbal.

After this preliminary, the processions began to pass round the yard. The line, which affected a funereal slowness, marching to the sound of one cymbal and a chorus of women, was composed of eighty-five men; first the ministers, then the governors, and lastly the minor chiefs. They were led by the new Ajyaho, who was bareheaded; his right hand rested upon a long cane, and his left held a bill-hook; a brass-hilted sword and a little dirk were stuck in both sides of his belt. Next came the Min-gan, who had a deer’s head of thin brass hanging from his girdle; and who, in quality of king’s Calcraft-in-Chief, carried a long, straight, and sheathed blade. Then bent the old Meu, supporting himself upon a beadle’s silver-headed cane; attached by a narrow fillet or bandeau of velvet to the left side of his head was a small silver- mounted dirk or dagger, worn point downwards. The Yevogan, like all the rest, carried a cane; he was armed with a bill-hook, and from his girdle depended a brass-scabbarded blade. The Adanejan wore silver horns and bracelets, and displayed his finery over an old trade shirt. He was followed by his father, the Alo-lokpo-nun-gan,[33] a brother of the late king, who wore four knives, in pairs, attached to both temples by a hoop stiff with silver. Of the rest some went bareheaded, others had caps; one wore a tin crown, a circlet and four branches meeting at the poll; and several had flat silver plates three to four inches in diameter, fixed tightly on the scalp by a concealed lock of hair. There was a profusion of necklaces and bracelets; not a few displayed themselves in the dignity of cast-off merino coats and ancient capes hardly extending to the waist; all wore long sashes hanging down their left sides, and besides carrying long staves they were well armed. Here was an old cavalry sabre with open guard, there a straight blade with silver hilt, there a broad-headed Dahoman bill-hook. Sizing was not the rule; in places a quasi-dwarf was followed by a tall fellow who could eat from off his neighbour’s head. As these Guys passed the entrance of the royal pavilion they did obeisance, and after the third turn they formed line opposite the tent, knelt, bending low, and, at a given signal of a fugleman on the right, touched the ground with their foreheads and arose. This was the invariable conclusion of each act, and the whole was about as sensible as those Temperance and other gatherings with flags and banners, which make men wonder what satisfaction rational beings can derive from them. Each procession lasted from eight to twenty minutes.

The ministers were followed at some interval by another Indian file of fifty men, the chief captains, body-servants, and headmen of singers and drummers. They were conducted by a “Lali,[34]” or half-head, with the right side of his pericranium clean shaven, and the left in a casing of silver, that looked like a cast, or a half melon. This unique cap was solid below, barred above, and disclosing the black hair beneath; it was fastened to the head by a tight string. Each man had his musket. Two were under Ta-bla[35]—huge broad-brims, stiff with tin plates nailed on a surface of red cloth, and edged with frames of trade looking-glasses flapping in the air. I much wondered who could have been the hatter. Adan-men-nun-kon, the Capitano Sparafucile, was there, fierce as ever, with red scarf and cartridge-box, a war axe on his left shoulder, and a carbine on his right. The To-no-nun carried a bunch of keys. There were the two tall casque men with their very long guns, habited in black frock coats, over which hung their coral necklaces, and with common pagnes, knotted on the left sides under the European garb, so as to make them appear deformed. The Buko-no, our host, joined them, having previously extracted from a large calabash a dozen necklaces, a pair of mushroom-shaped silver horns, and a watch that wanted only glass and main-spring. In the rear were two blunderbusses, and the last was a melancholy-looking Grimaldi, smoking a bone by way of pipe, whose ashes he occasionally halted to remove.

At the end of the third circuit, a chosen few received presents of rum and bracelets; all kissed the ground, and presented arms, a knife in the right and a gun in the left hand; whilst bells tinkled and snake-bone and watchmen’s rattles were sprung. Again the fall of matting was raised, and issued from the harim a corresponding procession of she ministers. Before these noble dames began marching round, sundry old messengeresses, slaves of the palace, knelt in line upon the open space in front of us, forming the demarcation between the sexes. In the pride of that utterly gratuitous virtue, celibacy, they passed demurely round, reserved as nuns, and for the same reason: they rarely allowed a glance to fall upon us males, pitying, I presume, our poor hearts. First came the five great honours of the empire,—the Ajyaho, the Min-gan, the Meu, the Yevogan, and the Adanejan. The Min-gan had a bill-hook in her left hand, as executioneress of the inside; the others used staves or sticks, and all carried swords at their left sides. These five were habited in long Hausa tobes of red silk, the upper garb light and the skirt heavy, and two wore tin crowns over red calico. They were followed by the lesser dignities in blue, striped togas of similar cut, and some had their heads bound with white calico, like the male singers and fetisheers. This file walked somewhat faster than the men, to the music of a band playing in the tent. After the third circumambulation, they formed up in line before the King, waved both hands four times, and quickly retired behind the matting.

Then came the captainesses, forty-two in number, corresponding with the men. First stalked two “silver half-heads,” with pouches on their right sides, cartridge boxes round their waists, and bill-hooks whose handles were swathed in cloth. Then came the Khe-tun-gan and the Akpadume, the she-Gau and the Meu, elderly women, far too stout for active service. Behind them were two heroines, decorated with beards of monkey skin, and men’s nightgear of white calico. A pair of bayonet women followed, with silver sharks on their red “Liberty Caps.” Number nine was a very bulky old figure, in the cook’s bonnet of the ’Mman, or Madcap company described at Kana: she is one of the captainesses of the right, or Min- gan’s side. There were also steeple-crowned broad-brims, as amongst the males. Some had shaggy skull-caps, like pepper-corn hair, stained a deep indigo, and others had applied the dye to their locks which contrasted well with the silver ornaments. Others had big fool’s caps of stuffs striped white, blue and red, and hanging over their shoulders. All wore sashes with the ends depending in front; and carried, at half-cock, muskets or blunderbusses, with the muzzle cap off. Some were decorated with a human skull, or with a lower jaw, fixed to a thin brass plate dangling from the waist. At the end of the performance they formed line before the King, saluted, firstly, with the right hand; secondly, with presented guns and knives, and again disappeared within the harim.

After the drummers and heralds had played some antics before the royal tent, dancing, springing rattles, and powdering themselves with dust, a very ridiculous procession was formed. The male ministers had changed their dresses for motley, and staff-propped, with left shoulders covered, and pipes alight—both showing them to be privileged persons—they again promenaded before the King. The Ajyaho wore, like Prince Chyudaton, a straw hat with a broad black ribbon; the meagre face of the black Min-gan was buried in a vast old felt, and a cockaded cocked hat of the last century, very dingy and frayed, and worn on the wrong side, well suited the age-bleared eyes, the hollow cheeks, and the fallen-in lips of the fox-like Meu. The latter also had fastened on his silver armlets over a trade shirt. The best man of the party was the Yevogan, who, residing at Whydah, had achieved a chimney-pot hat, whilst the others were fain to be content with caps, straw hats, billycocks, cotton extinguishers, sailors’ waterproofs, crocodile caps, calico fillets, and even bare scalps. Adanejan smoked a German student’s pipe, the others being reduced to long and short white clays—mostly French, with monkey and skull bowls—to native manufacture, or to none. Each time the procession passed the royal tent, the old and tattered garments were changed for others just as bad. At the end they bowed with their hats before the King, bared their bodies to the waist, knelt, made obeisance, and retired.

Then was the turn for the men captains, who also, like the ministers, appeared before the King with wrapped-up shoulders, smoking pipes: all were armed with muskets as before. One old officer of the ’Mman Guards carried a double sword, like huge scissors. The To-no-nun and another official wore the robes of an Egyptian fellah. The Buko-no was habited in an ancient Turkish rug, which he held magnificent, and he smoked with an air a pestilent Bahia cigar. After the third tour, they tucked up their clothes, knelt down, and saluted the King ceremoniously by kissing the ground, palm-clapping in three sets, again kissing the ground, clapping palms, and finally by rising and upraising weapons.

This necessitated two other processions from the inside, namely, of she ministers and captainesses, who were muffled up, and who smoked like the men. At the close of the circumambulation the members of both bodies sat on their heels before the King, alternately kissed the ground four and clapped palms three times, and then rising presented arms. A few of the warrioresses sang in “the presence” with the forefinger emphatically cutting the air. This brought on a male chant touching Abeokuta, which also concluded with raised weapons. The rum, which had been copiously sent from the King’s pavilion, now began to take effect upon the African brain. Our table was soon spread with liquor, baskets of oranges, and boiled manioc, whilst the chiefs were supplied by their wives and slave girls with food and drink brought in large calabashes.[36] It is the habit to dine before the King at Agbome. The Buko-no’s “Princess” came, attended by twenty of her women. She was a brown girl, about eighteen, with the comeliness of that age, and much resembling the King: her coralled arms were rounded, and her hands well made; a number of necklaces hung upon a high and ample bosom, modestly covered with a fine white cloth, and a double row of brass and silver circlets, like new sixpences,[37] studded her cauliflower _coiffure_. Whilst the slave girls behind, were spreading a table-cloth upon dried reeds, she retired to the rear, and kneeling,[38] bent to the earth. She then served her husband with her own hands, touched the ground with her forehead, and bent before him with averted head during the whole meal, never raising her face, as it would be deemed “bold” to stare at him; but using, Lesbia-like, a roving eye. The old Harpagon having washed his hands, ate with a claw like that of a prey-bird, and seemed to enjoy the sensation caused by the buxom wife’s presence.

The misery of the display moved my compassion. In the whole assembly there was hardly a redeeming point of picturesqueness or appropriateness except the “Porto Novo” Moslems. As they stood at the other end of the court, their swart faces were set off by snowy turbands encircling tall red caps, and hanging down somewhat in the “Taylasan” style, whilst their showy shawls, thrown over the left shoulder, their neat sandals, their full dark pajammas or drawers, and their ample white shirts, made them appear different and superior beings. The wretched pagans, however, had imitated them: amongst the occupants of the harim I saw two poor copies of “Al-Islam.”

A troop of “Joto-si,” drummers, and half heads, of all ages, made obeisance before and presented arms to the King. Then the Min-gan arose, and addressed his men, to the cries of “Tamulé!” from the women, upon the subject of Abeokuta. He said that Gezo’s son had just made a custom, and had killed criminals for his father, who must desire the destruction of Egba-land, and he called upon me by name to testify to the same. Thrice as he spoke, the Meu stood up, and with outstretched right hand, vociferated “Yáté!” meaning, in Fanti, “we understand.” The King responded briefly, that whereas ashes never smoke, the cinders in that palace would burn down many a house.

In these slow proceedings, 3.40 P.M. had already sped before business began. Presently an occasional rattle, the _vagitus_ of women calling out, in bird-like tones, the King’s titles, and the long firing of heavily loaded muskets by the male soldiery behind us and on our right, announced the beginning of the end. The first motley group that passed us was composed of drums, duck-guns, muskets, small infernal machines on wheels, blue-clad bayonet women, blunderbusses of brass and iron, soldieresses in grass-cloth skirts, and their band of loud braying horns, one duck-gun, one huge blunderbuss, small metal whistles and long flageolets, two dozen razor women, with as many knife women, and, finally, a captainess of Gezo’s force. They halted before the throne, danced, played, fired guns, cheered, presented arms, and having received largesse in rum and cowries, passed out of the palace-yard through the main gate by which we had entered it. Followed a Mau-no[39] fetish woman under her umbrella, with a troop called Lisa-’si,[40] waving peculiar iron rods, serpent-shaped, like the classical Jove’s thunderbolts, as expressed by poets and painters: some wore white turbands, others were bareheaded, and all were hung about with long strings of white and black beads. The party was brought up by slave girls carrying baskets and calabashes. Then, preceded by six bellowing horns, stalked in slowly, and with measured gait, the eight Tansi-no, who serve and pray for the ghosts of dead kings. In front went their ensign, a copper measuring- rod, fifteen feet long, and tapering to a fine end: behind it were two chauris and seven mysterious pots and calabashes wrapped in white and red checks. The old women seemed to wear about forty cloths each, which may account for their elephantine development _à tergo_: they were followed by three little girls, and they “louted” low as the vulgar herd before the King.

The Aro company of archers danced in the presence, and recited the royal titles. The _valuables_ now appeared, and almost any pawnbroker’s shop could boast a collection more costly and less heterogeneous. The only remarkable article was the carrier, who represented—in Cuba—a large sum. Sixteen brilliant banners held horizontally, preceded a wheelbarrow with a fancy red and blue flag. Three brass, four copper, and six iron pots, curiosities on account of their great size. Four long horns in calico _étuis_. Five huge fans, followed by razor women. Eight images, of which three were apparently ship’s figure-heads white-washed, and the rest very hideous efforts of native art. Sixty-seven women with brown faces, and bead mittens and gauntlets on their wrists. Twenty-one girls carrying[41] cylinders of red and white beads. Seventeen women with silver plates fastened to the sides of their skulls, habited in red clothes, and handling bead cat-o’-nine-tails. Twelve women, also in red. Seventeen fetish pots, three jars, one silver-plated urn, attended by singing women. Twenty casque-women with red tunics, and plumes, and black horsetails. Eight helmet girls, with red plumes, dark crests, and coats, and white loin cloths. Six pieces of plate, a tree, a crane, a monkey, and other things which I could not distinguish. Some were four feet high, and all were apparently silver, borne by many women on boards: of these three were double, and the whole were intended as jewels to decorate the present King’s grave. After singers and dancers, a huge drum, carried by a woman porter, whilst the performer walked behind her mate, “leathering” it with a will. Three large chairs, preceding about fifty Gbe-to,[42] or elephant huntresses, clad in chocolate and dark blue, and ostentatiously eschewing white. They had huge tufts of hair, affected large heavy guns, and were conspicuous for bustles of talismans behind and strings of cowries in front, adorning bits of bone, relics of the enemy. Four pots in their cloths. A large silver-mounted ebony box, like a bullock trunk. One big stool, one common trade box, and one calabash. Two iron horns shaped like palm leaves, and a dozen small girls preceding the mysterious Zan-ku-ku.[43] It was a portable screen, work, of blue checked and striped cloths, upheld by women with muskets and sticks, and it contained a gold-topped crimson umbrella. Zan-ku-ku is the “place” of the old King: no one is supposed to know what is inside. Men turned away their heads, and my questions remained unanswered till we returned home. A large band with twenty muskets, and three women in broad-brimmed felts. Fourteen fetish women, who perform rites for the last sovereign’s ghost, in white caps and tunics of bright yellow grass-cloth. Five black girls, dressed in blue, who were saluted with drums and horns as they passed us. Six flags turned towards the right hand, a caboceeress under an umbrella, a pipe- bearer, and a dozen unarmed girls. Two women carrying water breakers, three with pots from which depended white streamers, and two large glass jars. A line of 703 women and girls with “grey-beards,” seltzer jars, country pots of “pitto[44]” or native beer, and bottles of trade rum and gin, the size of the receptacle becoming small by degrees, and the whole supported by a rear-guard. The liquor will this night be distributed in the market-place to the multitude: and the heralds behind us returned praise by crying out the King’s “strong names,” trilling out the words by patting their lips, while the women around the monarch uttered the Khé or bird sound. A motley group surrounding two women in big felts. A band and a troop of bardesses,—the first rank with eight singer’s staves, distinguished by their triangles of glazed calico, the second being an armed and an unarmed company: they paraded round the court, played and sang on the right of the tent entrance, and received glasses of rum. At this time the King kindly supplied us with cashew fruits (alakazú), tiger-nuts (f’iu), and the red fruit of the Lisé tree noticed at Whydah. It certainly rained meat and drink that day in the palace, but, I suspect, nowhere else.

Then came two girls, waving round and round small white flags, upon which were horned and rainbow-coloured serpents swallowing their own tails. A band in front of the late King’s great war-drum, “He-is-able- to-do-any-thing.” Ten smaller drums of the King’s, called Addugba, and common instruments. Seven troubadour-women, holding horse-tails and twirling flags in their left hands: their heads were wrapped in kerchiefs of red, shawl pattern, and their short scarlet cloaks had yellow hoods showing lions with upturned tails. Assisted by fifty women, they danced long and violently before the King, whilst the band, squatting near the flag of the tent-entrance, regaled us with stunning music. A woman carrying a huge battle-axe perforated like a fish-slicer. Forty-two girls bearing baskets of cowries on wooden platters—sixpence above and £200 below! A large flag, two immense native stools of black and white wood, covered with cloth; two articles like warming-pans, of copper and brass, a drum rudely carved with native figures, and an escort of bayonet women. Two “black white men,” natives of the country, dressed in trousers and blouses, but shoeless, walking under ragged parasols.[45] Another of Gezo’s drums, about the size of a bullock, carried by four men, with two poles lashed along its sides. Another European piece of plate on a wheeled car, covered with red calico; bayonet women, and a large box of skulls. Finally, the Agran-hohwe,[46] or jaw-umbrella, whose white top and lappets were thickly studded over with these pleasant reliques.

Then the royal equipages began to pass, the animals being men harnessed with ropes. Most of them are old barouches and other presents given to the kings when slavery was an important branch of English commerce, and when the Home Government supported William’s Fort. Many of these heirlooms are becoming valuable as antiques. The first were of home, or native, manufacture—a blue-green shandridan, with two short flagstaffs attached to the front. Two things, like Palkigaris, or _broncards_, supporting a light umbrella. The present King’s cab-brougham, with a lion on the panels. Two American trotting wagons, with leathern hoods. A band of flageolets, followed by a man in a red blanket, with the Badawi hood. After a space, a male slave carrying a long blue pole, topped with an imitation knife, stained red. Another broken-down vehicle. Two large old canopied hammocks, the one of red velvet, the other of yellow silk, belonging to the late king, and borne by men. The present sovereign’s little roan pony, with black points, led also by a man. A peculiar old sedan-chair, dating from the days of Mr. Nash. Another state hammock; a wheeled platform, with a bench for two, behind a large wooden horned eagle and a bunchy plume of feathers; a rocking-horse, with housings and bridle, on wheels; rattles; a large green chariot, of venerable appearance, belonging to King Gezo; four hunchbacks, two flags; an enormous red-and-green board, for playing “tables,” carried on two men’s heads; another antiquated shandridan, followed by a band of horns and chanting knife women; a large Gold Coast chair on a small nag; two big Katake, or war foot-stools; a Men-ta-’zinkpo,[47] or large chair, adorned with four or five human crania, and with its footstool cut out of one piece; a French drum and tambourine; a small drum, with twelve skulls; three boxes; a platform on wheels, followed by women; a Bath chair, with a fringed red silk umbrella attached to it; a fighting man, in wood, with drawn sword—probably the figure-head of some “Ajax”; a large hammock, with bead hangings, and a pole inlaid with brass; four umbrellas; a small troop of she-hunchbacks; bands; little iron and brass swivel guns, carried on women’s heads; a peculiar sedan-chair, with gold and red hangings, held high in the air, with four parasols to show that it is used by the King; drummers; a metal soup-tureen; nine large bottles, covered with red cloth and hung with cowries; urns, jars, and _pateræ_ of vermilion-coloured earthenware, adorned with gingerbread gilding, very large, and decorated with hangings of white and red calico. Such was the _fripier’s_ collection which passed in motley confusion before the King, whilst the carriers sang, danced, and made obeisance.

Then defiled a body of armed women preceding seven umbrellas, of which two were very gorgeous, shading nine “leopard wives” in bright clothing, with swords, and a profusion of silver studs in their wool. Like the others they made salutations, drank rum, and received small presents from their lord. Another string of frippery, consisting of two home-made images with white heads and blue skins, like the Egban Yemaya or Goddess of Books; a short St. Lawrence and Gridiron; a Dominican friar and other statuettes; the skulls of Bakoko and of his two companions, carried in honour on young girls’ heads; a tree under a globular glass shade; red jars before described; fancy native stools with and without cowries; umbrellas and parasols also adorned with shells, and many minor items which I had not time to note.