Note 256 — Chapter IX

It seems a peculiarity of climate in those lands, and the History can supply several instances, that compels individuals and tribes mortally and wantonly to insult a rancorous and hateful race like that of Dahome and then entirely to forget the injury, so as to take no precautions against vengeance. The History tells us that the people of “Wemey,” a petty village near “Porto Novo,” that could perhaps muster one to every hundred Dahoman warriors, sent a challenge to one of the greatest of the kings, threatening, if not attacked, to march on Agbome. The king returned, as usual, an ironical answer, saying that he would soon dispatch his Gau with guns, powder, and iron (lead being here unknown), for the use of his brave foe; attacked the place, which he found unprepared, and “broke” it, without the people making an effort at self-defence. So in 1728, Governor Testesole, of Whydah, exasperated by the insolence of the Dahoman traders, whipped one of their principal men at the flag-post, and said that he would serve the King (Agaja) in the same manner, if he could. That governor was, of course, murdered.