Note 243 — Chapter IX

We read in the History that the great Agaja was “pitted with the small-pox, or perhaps tatooed in imitation of it, as is customary in the country.” And we are especially informed that at Whydah both sexes thus adorned their cheeks and foreheads—a practice now obsolete. The old Dahoman sign was a perpendicular incision between the eyebrows: the women marked the lower parts of the body with various devices. The modern is described in the text. Mr. Duncan (vol. i. p. 266), wrongly asserts “the Dahomans are not marked at all, except such marks or tatooing as the parents may choose to inflict on the lower parts of the person by way of ornament.” The Alladas used to make an incision in each cheek, turning up the flesh towards the ears, and allowing it to heal in that position—a hideous device also forgotten. The sixth king, Sinmenkpen (Adahoonzou II.) died of small-pox in 1789. The late Gezo, after marching on Popo, is said to have fallen from the sequelæ of the same terrible disease, which has thus killed two kings out of a total of eight.