Note 149 — Chapter V

The History informs us that the Dahomans were formerly called Foys, and other authors have changed the word to Fohi, Fay, and Fouin. It is clearly derived from Ffon, which some write Ffun and Efun, the old national name for the Dahoman and his language. I am unable to state whether it has a common derivation with the so-called Efong people of Kakanda, living between Yoruba proper and the Niger and Kwara rivers. What makes me suspect a mysterious and forgotten connection is the prevalence of the Afa practice (see chapter xii.) in Dahome, which arose in Ife of Kakanda (Wanderings in West Africa, Abeokuta, chapter v.). Ffon must not be confounded with Efŭtŭ, the language of a single tribe, Winnebah, on the Gold Coast. Those writers are in error who call the Dahoman tongue “Ewe.”