1827.] Luck and Ill-Luck. 155 



As these good effects speedily followed my advice, the king transferred 

 to me the marks of gratitude which he received from his people for these 

 unexpected changes, lie wished to associate me in his power; and tlie 

 proposal, when he made it to the elders of the nation, was received with 

 unanimous acclamations. Nothing remained but to proceed to my installa- 

 tion. From time immemorial, the consecration of the kings of Dahomay 

 consists in marching them before the people and the army, mounted upon 

 a superb white elephant, one of the fetiches of the country, according to 

 the movements of which the priests prognosticate the brilliancy and dura- 

 tion of the commencing reign. I give this warning to legislators. I thought 

 I should respect some ancient prejudices of the country : I raised my new 

 laws on the foundation of the old, and when I was on the point of obtain- 

 ing the object of all my cares and all my toils, the old bases shook 

 under me, and afterwards the new edifice. 



'* An insondo, a miserable insect about the size of one of our ants, but 

 the most formidable enemy of the elephant, had insinuated itself into the 

 proboscis of the animal on which I was mounted in triumph. Irritated by 

 the stinging of the insect, my elephant at first shewed great impatience, 

 to the great astonishment of the populace : but the pain he suffered soon 

 raised his fury to the highest pitch. Uttering the most dreadful cries, and 

 rushing forward in rage, he dashed to pieces his huge forehead on a neigh- 

 bouring rock. I was saved; but another danger, of no less magnitude, 

 awaited me. The priests declared me unworthy, not only of the throne, 

 but of life : the prosperity of the state had been compromised ; my 

 innovations had raised against me the shade of Trudo Audati, and tho 

 mortal gods of Dahomay. The king was attached to me he owed mo 

 his life ; but the death of his fetiche had alarmed his superstition. Ho 

 balanced for a while, but gratitude finally prevailed ; and he commuted my 

 punishment to exile, after ordering me a very tolerable bastinadoing, to 

 quiet his conscience. 



" An insect which bred on the shoals in the midst of the Adriatic exposed 

 Venice, in the height of her power, to more danger than all the kings of 

 Europe leagued against her ; an insect flung me from a throne, and changed 

 perhaps the destinies of an entire continent ! 



" I afterwards learnt that the people of Dahomay regretted me: they 

 sent after me into the kingdom of Juida but I had already left the coasts 

 of Guinea. Their emissaries thought they could fill my place by any 

 man of the same colour, and proposed to one of the Europeans, whom they 

 met, to accompany them. He accepted it ; my services to Dahomay were 

 turned over to him ; he was loaded with riches and honours. That man 

 was. . . Bernard ! tf 1 was fond of revenge, I should have rejoiced at the 

 accident which placed my ungrateful subjects under the power of a mere 

 intriguer, without any capacity. 



" I have not much more to say. I returned to France, and turned au- 

 thor, in the hope of finding in literary labours that repose and happiness 

 after which I had so long sighed. I thought I had only to write for poste- 

 rity but was soon disabused by my contemporaries. An interesting 

 work which I composed, on the manners, customs, and politics of the bar- 

 barous kings of Africa, was regarded by the censors as a satire against the 

 sovereigns of Europe. The work was forbidden, and the author was in 

 no small danger of being sent to the Bicetre or the Bastille. I still, how- 

 ever, panted after glory ; and not being able to be a great physician or a 

 great general, I wished, at all events, to have my name inscribed on the 



X 2 " 



