Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/323

 DAHOMET!. 267 Little PopOj the Aneho and Plavijo of tlie natives, is an old Portuguese settle- ment dating from the end of the seventeenth century. Many of its inhabitants come from the Gold Coast, and still speak the dialect of their ancestors. Depend- ing politically on the king of Greji^ which lies on the north side of the lagoon. Little Popo had in 1884 no less than three chiefs, all claiming the title of king, and each supported by one or other of the foreign and native nationalities. The German suzerain is represented in Togo and Little Popo only by the Hamburg and Bremen traders settled in the seaports. The village chiefs and fetish priests are still the true masters of the land. Agice {Ahgwey, AJigo), 6 miles east of Little Popo, ft)unded in 1821 by the Minas, belongs politically to France, under whose suzerainty it has become a place of refuge for the persecuted of all the surrounding regions. All races and religions are thus represented in this republic, which is wrongly described as a kingdom, its chief magistrate being charged only with the executive power. Pound about are grouped several other petty states, constituting a republican confederacy and including Abanankem, bearing the French name of Baranquere. Great Popo, the Fla of the natives, also founded by fugitives, is a mere group of scattered huts, which, thanks to its favourable position on a channel always open to the sea, has developed a considerable foreign trade. French influence is dominant in this thickly peopled district, which with Agw^ has an estimated population of 120,000. Dahomey. East of Great Popo begins the Dahomey territory, guarded by the important town of Glehwehj known to Europeans by the various names of Fida, Hevedah, Whydah, Wida. The old writers called it Juda, and its inhabitants were said to be Jews, while the neighbouring river Allala, whose real name is Efra, became the Euphrates. During the flourishing days of the slave trade, from sixteen to eighteen thousand were annually transported from Ajiida, as the Portuguese called this place, which at that time had a population of thirty- five thousand. The tutelar deity of Whydah is the snake, and its famous fetish temple is served by priestesses, called " mothers " or " sisters " of serpents, and recruited by the abduction of young girls on feast days. Whydah belongs by right of conquest to Dahomey since 1 725, when it received its name of Glehweh, or "The Farm," indicating the part it played in supplying the capital with provisions. A neighbouring town was also called Ardra, or the " Calabash," because its produce was destined for the royal kitchen. The Yevo- ghan, or " Chief of the Whites," the local governor, who *' opens the roads" for travellers going inland, is the third personage in the state, although his power has long been neutralised by foreign, and especially Portuguese influence, which is here dominant. Since the blockade of the Dahomey coast was raised by the English in 1877, the trade in palm-oil, the best on this seaboard, has acquired a great de- velopment, notwithstanding the nimierous restrictions placed on free intercourse