APPENDIX V.
Reading edition
DAHOMEY, ITS PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS.
The following letter has been received by the Duke of Wellington from the celebrated lion-hunter, M. Jules Gerard:—
[Times, August 18, 1864.]
“Monsieur le Duc,—Your Grace is well aware that few men gain by being seen close, unless they are men of intellect and merit. The King of Dahomey, despite his cognomen, which signifies the ‘Eternal’ or the ‘Infinite,’[288] fully justifies that rule to which he is no exception. Physically he is similar to the other blacks of his country—tall, well built, a head like a bull dog. The most usual expression of his countenance is that of cunning and cruelty.[289] His moral qualities are in perfect keeping with his physical conformation; he is more gracious than the Kings who have preceded him, fanatical for old traditions and customs. The traditions of that microscopic court are to turn the whites to the best possible account (exploiter les blancs), but especially to induce them to make presents. It is the custom to excite the people with sanguinary spectacles, so as to be able to carry off the neighbouring population when a slave-dealer makes an offer to the King and also at the annual custom of human sacrifices.
“I have just spent twenty days at Kana, where the King was staying for the celebration of the lesser ceremonies. On the day of my presentation I was conducted across the Market-place, where twelve corpses were exposed to view on separate sites. Six were hung up by the feet, the six others were upright, like men about to walk. Those whom I saw close were horribly mutilated and not beheaded.[290] An enormous pool of blood covered the ground beneath the scaffold, giving unmistakeable evidence of previous sacrifices and of the tortures which accompanied them.[291] Our reception by the King was brilliant, very cordial for myself as well as for the French Consul[292]; but we were soon able to convince ourselves that this was but a comedy always performed by this poor Paladin to get the presents brought by the whites. Born and brought up in the midst of these spectacles, which would be ridiculous if they were not horrible, the present King is actually more fond of them than his subjects. I saw him on that day admiring with the delight of a child the grotesque dances and ridiculous pantomime of his ministers, and then of the princes, and then of all present, for our amusement. A most infernal music, which nearly deafened us, delighted the King, who seemed to be in a state of ecstacy; and this, M. le Duc, lasted for six hours. On the following day his Majesty invited us to witness a procession of the King’s riches. On reaching the square of the Palace (read huts) an agreeable surprise had been prepared for us. The entrance gate was flooded by a pool of blood two yards in width, and on each side a column of recently decapitated heads formed two immense chaplets. It is true that on this day the King wore the emblem of Christ on his breast. It must be presumed that it was the cross of execution that he meant to imply by this ornament. As regards the procession of his wealth, it consisted of a few old carriages, bath chairs carried by men with figures like Polichinello. One thousand women carried each a bottle of liquor on her head, a brass basin in the shape of a footbath to receive the blood of the human victims on the day of the King’s banquet; an image of the Virgin; various baskets-full of human skulls; an image of St. Lawrence, as large as life, carried by blacks; finally the drum of death.
“At another festival the King commanded on foot his Amazons, who manœuvred with the precision of a flock of sheep. On the Market-place already mentioned each step was ornamented by a dead body; and the King came and went in the midst of pools of blood and fragments of human flesh in a state of putrefaction. On this occasion he had daubed his face with coal.[293] The ceremony terminated by a mad dance, in which the King took part, dancing vis-a-vis to drunken soldiers and musicians. Such are, M. le Duc, the man, the Government, and the people whom we have hitherto hoped to turn into a path less contrary to the laws of humanity. I regret that Captain Burton should have arrived at Kana just at the moment of the King’s departure, as he might have been enabled to see and judge of all these things.
“I am, M. le Duc, your most obedient servant,
“JULES GERARD.
“P.S.—On the day of his departure the King invited us to a review of his army prepared for war. It was from 12,000 to 14,000 strong, comprising 12,000 Amazons, 1000 men of the bodyguard, and 2000 archers.[294]”
N.B.—The letter is interesting, as giving the darkest view of things Dahoman.—R. F. B.
THE END.
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