Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/803

Rh found it impossible to break through the tedious etiquette of the savage court. As a notable instance of vexatious delay, Mr Skertchley, who visited Whydah in 1871, was induced to go to Abomey under promise of return to the port in eight days, and was compelled to remain eight months.

The &ldquo;customs&rdquo; consist of an annual festival which takes place about October, and lasts several weeks. During the saturnalia many human victims are put to death with great barbarity. At one stage of the customs the unfortunate wretches, chiefly captives taken in war, are dressed in white shirts and long white night-caps and tied into baskets. They are then taken to the top of a high platform, and paraded on the heads of amazons, together with an alligator, a cat, and a hawk in similar baskets. The king now makes a speech explaining that the victims are sent to testify to his greatness in spirit-laud, the men and the animals each to their kind. They are then hurled down into the middle of a surging crowd of natives, and meet with a horrible death. At another stage of the festival human sacrifices are offered at the shrine of the king s ancestors, and the blood is sprinkled on their graves. The skulls are used to adorn the palace walls, and the king s sleeping-chamber is paved with the heads of his enemies. The skulls of the conquered kings are turned into royal drinking cups, and their conversion to this use is esteemed an honour.

Amazons.—But the most singular institution of this strange race is found in the treatment of the female sex. About one-fourth of the whole are said to be married to the fetish, many even before their birth, and the remainder are entirely at the disposal of the king. The most favoured are selected as his own wives or enlisted into the regiments of amazons, and then the chief men are liberally supplied. Of the female captives the most promising are drafted into the ranks as soldiers, and the rest become amazonian camp followers and slaves in the royal households. With such an appropriation of the women it is not surprising that the population of Dahomey is found to be decreasing. No estimate can be formed of the number of inhabitants, but evidences of depopulation strike the traveller. It is a mistake to ascribe the diminution to human sacrifices, for the number of these is compara tively insignificant, and the victims are principally foreign captives. The army of Dahomey was formerly held in high repute, but its prowess was probably overrated. The ainazous form the flower of the army. They are marshalled in regiments, each with its distinctive uniform and badges, and they take the post of honour on the flanks of the battle line. Their number has been variously stated. Captain Burton had a good opportunity of judging, as he saw the army marching out of Cana on an expedition in 1862, and h-e computed the whole force of women troops at 2500, of whom one-third were unarmed or only half armed. Their weapons are blunderbusses, flint muskets, and bows and arrows. &quot;Whether their arrows are poisoned or not is a point on which there is difference of opinion. A recent writer estimates the number of amazons at 1000, and the male soldiers at 10,000. The system of warfare is one of surprise. The army inarches out, and, when within a few days journey of the town to be attacked, silence is enjoined and no fires are permitted. The regular highways are avoided, and the advance is by a road specially cut through the bush. The town is surrounded at night, and just before daybreak a rush is made and every soul captured if possible ; none are killed except in self-defence, as the first object is to capture, not to kill. The season usually selected for expeditions is from January to March, or immediately after the annual customs. The amazons are carefully trained, and the king is in the habit of holding &quot; autumn manoeuvres &quot; for the benefit of foreigners. Many visitors have witnessed a mimic assault, and they are agreed in ascribing a marvellous power of endurance to the women troops. Lines of thorny acacia are piled up one behind the other to represent defences, and at a given signal the amazons, barefooted and without any special protection, charge and disappear from sight. Presently they emerge within the lines torn and bleeding, but apparently insensible to pain, and the parade closes with a march past, each warrior leading a pretended captive bound with a rope. It is said that at the death of the king a horrid scene ensues ; the wives, after the most extravagant demonstrations of grief and breaking and destroying everything within their reach, attack and murder each other, and remain in an uproar until order is restored by the new sovereign. The throne descends rightfully&quot; to the eldest son, but, as in the case of the present monarch, a younger brother is not unfrequently preferred, should the chiefs consider the heir unfitted to assume the reins of government.  DAILLÉ [], (1594-1670), one of themost learned Protestant divines of the 1 7th century, was born at Chatellerault, in January 1594, and received his education at Poitiers and Saumur. For seven years from 1612 he was tutor to two of the grandsons of the illustrious M. du Plessis Mornay, and in 1619 he accompanied them in a tour through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Flanders, Holland, and England, which lasted for two years. Having been ordained to the ministry in 1623, he preached for some time in the family of M. du Blessis Mornay ; and on the death of his patron he devoted himself to the grateful task of drawing up his Memoirs. In 1625 Daille was appointed minister of the church of Saumur, and in 1626 he removed to Paris. Of his works, which are principally controversial, the most important is the celebrated treatise Du vrai EmpJoi des Peres (1631), translated into English by Thomas Smith under the title On the Use of the Fathers (1651). In 1656 it appeared in Latin. The work is a most effective attack on the views of those who made the authority of the fathers conclusive on matters of faith and practice. DaiHe&quot; shows that their text is often corrupt, and that even when the text is correct their reasoning is often weak and inconsequent. He was greatly esteemed, even by his antagonists ; and his mild and amiable disposition, united to his learning and genius, led Balzac to exclaim, &quot; Cum talis sis, utinam nosier esses.&quot; In his famous Sermons on the Fhilippians and Colossio.ns, Daille has vindicated his claim to be ranked as one of the first of preachers, as weJl as one of the most able of polemics. Daille was president of the last national synod held in France, which met in 1659. In the discussions which occurred ho defended the universalism of Amyraut. His Apoloyie des Synodes d Alen^onel de Charenton (1655) was devoted to the same object. Among his other works were an Apologia pourles Eylises Reformees and La Foy fondee sur les Sainte Ecritures. Daille s life was written by his son Adrien, who retired to Zurich at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.  DAIMIEL, a town of Spain, at the head of a depart ment of the province of Ciudad Real, and about 20 miles north-east of the town of that name, with which it is con nected by rail. It is situated in a fertile plain on the Azuer, and is regarded as one of the most flourishing places in the La Mancha district. Linens and woollens are manufactured, and a purgative salt known as Sal de Inghilterra is extracted from the neighbouring marshes. Being of comparatively modern foundation, the town presents nothing very remarkable in its architecture. Population about 1 2,000.