Note 189 — Chapter VII

It is called Gezo’s custom, and is performed at Kana, not at Agbome. Mr. Bernasko saw it in May, 1863; he describes it thus: “Near the second side of the (palace) wall were eleven platforms, erected on poles about forty feet high. On each of these was the dead body of a man in an erect position, clothed in the native style, each having in his hand a calabash or similar vessel, filled with oil, grain, or some other produce of the country. One was represented leading a sheep, also dead. All this was intended to illustrate that at Canna, of which they (the Dahomans) are now masters, they were once obliged to pay tribute.” The Kana custom is described by Mr. Duncan, vol. i. p. 219. In his day the bodies had been exposed about two moons and a half, till the skin, from exposure, had turned nearly to the colour of that of a white man. “The vulture was industriously endeavouring to satisfy his appetite, but the heat of the sun had dried the skin so as to make it impenetrable to his efforts.”