Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/640

 636 DAHOMEY ing as many wives as his means will permit. The head of the family has absolute authority over his wives and children, even to the extent of selling them into slavery ; but this power is seldom exercised. Slaves are well treated, and it is generally difficult to distinguish them from members of the family. The Dahomans recognize a supreme deity, but believe that he is too great and too high to trouble himself about human affairs. They therefore pay their worship only to minor deities, all of whom are connected with some material object. The principal deities are ranked in distinct classes. The most important is the snake god, who has 1,000 snake wives. Next come the tree gods, of which the silk cotton (bomlax) and the poi- son tree are the most powerful, each with 1,000 wives. A third group are the sea gods, the chief of which is represented at Whydah by a high priest, who ranks as a king and has 500 wives in virtue of his office. Human sacrifices are made to the sea god, the victim being thrown into the water, when he is at once de- voured by the sharks. The thunder gods con- stitute a fourth group. "When a person has been killed by lightning, burial is not lawful. The body is laid on a platform and cut up by women, who hold pieces of the flesh in their mouths and pretend to eat them. Besides thgse superior deities there are hosts of inferior gods. Fetish houses are seen in every direc- tion, and fetish men and women are numerous. These fetishers or priests undergo a regular education in the mysteries of their calling, and speak an esoteric language which none but themselves can understand. Nearly one fourth of all the women belong to this order. One of ( their chief employments is visiting the world of spirits. It is a general belief that a man when dead takes in the next world the same position that he held in this; so that a king is a king for ever, and a slave never becomes free. When^a Dahoman feels unwell, he imagines that his deceased relatives are calling him to join them, and he hires a fetish to communi- cate with them. The priest covers himself with a cloth, falls into a trance, and on recov- ering pretends to have visited the other world and delivered the message sent by the sick man. The Dahoman villages and towns are all similar in appearance, architecture being regu- lated by law. The walls are mud mixed with oyster shells to strengthen it, and built up in regular courses, each about 2 ft. thick. No walls are permitted to be more than four cour- ses high. The sun soon bakes the mud hard, and but for the heavy rains it would be very lasting. There are no windows, but the roofs, made of grass and leaves fastened on a light framework, can be raised for the admission of light and air. At almost every door stands the legba pot, a common clay shard, which is filled morning and evening with cooked maize and palm oil for akrasu, the turkey buzzard, which like the snake is regarded with the utmost rev- erence. The government of Dahomey is a pure despotism. There are two kings properly, the city king and the bush king, each having his throne, court, army, officers, and customs. The bush king regulates tillage and commerce ; the city king rules the cities, makes war, and manages the slave trade. The former is sel- dom seen excepting by those who visit the in- terior for the express purpose. His palace is about six miles from Abomey. The city king has a palace in Abomey and a country resi- dence at Kana, an interior town of about 4,000 inhabitants, 57 m. N. of Whydah. The city king is the only one generally known to Eu- ropeans, as he alone comes in contact with the traders. He has entire control over the lives and liberties of his subjects, who invest him with the attributes of deity. None ever at- tempt to resist his sanguinary decrees, but each considers himself favored if permitted to sacrifice his life to the king's pleasure. In ap- proaching him they prostrate themselves flat on the face and crawl on all-fours, 4 kissing the earth and throwing dust on their p'ersons. He is treated like a demigod rather than a man. When he eats or drinks he is shielded from view with umbrellas or extended cloths, while his courtiers fire guns, ring bells, and bend to the ground. If he sneezes, all within hearing burst into shouts of benediction. When a mes- sage is sent to him, it is done in the most cir- cuitous manner, and after passing through a number of inferior officers it is whispered into the king's ear by the daJkro, a woman attached to the court, who prostrates herself on all- fours. As the life of every man, so the per- son of every female belongs to the sovereign. Once a year all marriageable girls are requir- ed to appear before him. He selects some for his harem, some for his guards, for some he chooses husbands, and others he returns to their parents. The number of, the king's wives is indefinite, but he has usually from 3,000 to 4,000. His body guard is composed entirely of women, forming a regiment from 1,200 to 2,500 strong. These are also nominal- ly the king's wives, but are seldom so in reali- ty, though like the members of his harem they are kept in seclusion. They drill in private, and when they go out a bell is rung before them, and all men are compelled to leave the road, or to turn their faces until they have passed. About one third of these amazons have been married ; the remainder are maid- ens. They are strictly chaste, and one who transgresses is usually executed by her com- rades. They are more masculine in appear- ance than the male soldiers, are tall and mus- cular, and possessed of unflinching courage and ruthless cruelty. To inspire a feeling of emulation, they are allowed to take the scalp of a slain enemy and exhibit it on reviews and public occasions. They also fasten cowry shells with coagulated blood to the butts of their muskets, one being allowed for each man slain. Their ordinary costume is a sleeveless tunic of blue and white native cloth, termina-