71 



DAOKNIIAM. 



DAHOMY. 



from the famous bridge eastward to the AluU, along that river and 

 through the Hothrnthum Paas in the southern Carpathian*, down to 

 KarUburg on the Manx, where it joined the Moond road. Tin- 

 Roman* Abandoned Dacia to the Gothi in the time of Aurelian. 

 The OoUu in their turn gave way to the Hun* about A.D. 376. 

 After the death of Attila, Dnoia waa aeiwd by the Oepid* Gotba, 

 whoM kingdom waa destroyed by the Longobard* and Avars A.D. 

 566. The next invader* were Scythian* or Slaves, who, governed 

 by their ' Chagans,' or Khans, held *way over the country till the 

 time of Charlemagne. Finally, the Magyar* overran Dacia, and 

 settled in it during the Mb century. The sculpture* on Trajan's 

 column establish the identity of the Dacian* with the modern 

 Wallach* in rtature, feature, and drew. 



(Paget, Ifunyary and Trantylrania ; Dictionary of Ancient Oeo- 



DAOKNHAM. [ESSEX.] 



DAOHKSTAX, a country situated on the western shores of the 

 Caspian Sea, between 41 and 43 N. lat. It i* a mountainous 

 country as its name implies, with the exception of a narrow plain 

 that skirU the Caspian shore, and i* traversed by the road from 

 Baku to Derbend. Though forming a part of the Russian government 

 of Georyia, the different tribes which inhabit the valleys on the 

 eastern declivities of Mount Caucasus are governed by independent 

 petty sovereigns; only those which possess the low and hilly 

 country towards the sea are subject to the Russians. Corn of different 

 kinds, hemp, tobacco, and madder are grown in the valleys. Cattle 

 breeding is the chief occupation of the inhabitants. The chief town is 

 Derbend, by which name the province of Dagheston is also sometimes 

 designate*!. [DERBEND.] Kubc, a town built by the Russians since 

 their occupation of the country, stands about 50 miles south from 

 Derbend, and has 000 inhabitants. It ha* straight, wide, and regular 

 streets, like most Russian towns, and is strongly fortified. The old 

 town of Kuba, which was the seat of a Khan, was abandoned by the 

 Ruasiana on account of its unhealthy situation in the lower grounds 

 on the coast Tarki, about TO miles N.N.W. from Derbend, and a 

 few miles from the coast of the Caspian, has a population of 10,000. 

 It was formerly called Semender. It is built on the slopes of three 

 hills, the highest of which is crowned by the Russian citadel. 

 [GEORGIA.] 



DAGHO, or DAGO, an island at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, 

 about 41 miles long, and varying from 27 to 37 miles in breadth, lies 

 between 68 4' and 59 N. lat, 22 20' and 23 8' E. long. It i 

 comprehended in the Russian province of Esthonia, and is divided 

 by a small channel called the Selc Sund, from the island of Oesel 

 which lies to the south. Its area is 434 square miles. The inhabitants, 

 about 10,000 in number, are Esthonians; they are employed in 

 husbandry, grazing, and fishing. They also carry on a little trade by 

 the port of Tewenhaven, which lies on the western side of the island 

 near Cane Dagherort The coasts are cliffy, and shoals render the 

 approach dangerous. There is a lighthouse near the village of 

 Dagherort The Swedes, to whom the Danes ceded Dagbo in 1645, 

 ceded it in their turn to Russia under the treaty of Kystadt, 

 in 1791. 



DAHOMT, a celebrated and for some time powerful negro kingdom 

 of Western Africa, lying inland from the part of the coast of Guinea 

 called the Slave Coast It is bounded west by Ashantee, from which 

 it in divided by the river Volta, and extends east to the Niger. Its 

 southern boundary is the sea, the principal port being Whydah, but 

 Lagoa, Porto-Novo, Badagry, the Popoes, and the Nert, have petty 

 king* of their own ; and it extends to the base of the Kong Mountains. 

 From rut to west the territory extends about 180 miles, and from 

 Whydah on the coast to the northern boundary nearly 200 miles. 

 lu capita), Abpmey, is placed in 7 59' N. lat, and in about 1 20' 

 K. long. The city contains about 80,000 inhabitants, which number 

 is greatly increased at the periods of the festivals being held. It is 

 about eight miles in circumference, surrounded by a ditch, and entered 

 by six gates, formed of a clay wall, through which are two openings, 

 one for the king exclusively, the other for the people ; each opening 

 ia ornamented with skulls, and inside them are piles of skulls of men 

 and beacta. In the town are several batteries, and on the coast-road 

 about a mile from the town are two 32-pounder carronades, all 

 u*ele*sly placed for purpose* of defence. There are no (hops, but 

 two Urge and several small market*. There are three royal palaces, 

 and aeTral large house* for the ministers, all surrounded by high red 

 day walls, inc[o.ing Urn .pace, for parks or gardens. The houses 

 are only of one story, with the exception of two in the royal palace*. 

 There an no itreeta, a* each bouae itands within its own inclosing 

 brick wall There are barracks, a pottery, and a dye-house, and 

 uutnerou* fetish house*. Within the town there is much waste land 

 and aome farm* under cultivation. A great drawback on the town i* 

 the insufficient supply of water, which is only to be procured from 

 MOM mall 00*7 raeerroir* at some ditance on the plain, and from 

 rain-water collected in pit* smeared with palm-oil. 



Even the name of Dahomy may almoet be said to have been 

 unknown in Europe till tome time after the beginning of the last 

 century. Dauma, which wa* thought to be the same kingdom, is 

 indeed mentioned by Leo Afrioanus along with several others, of 

 which he merely aay* that they lie couth of Nigritia; and that name 



i* found placed where Dahomy lie* in several map* published towards 

 the end of the 16th century. It occur* so placed even in the ' Man* 

 of Sir Jona* Moore'* Mathematics,' published under the care of 1 >r. 

 Halley in 1681 ; bat in another map published by Hal ley in 1700 it 

 ia omitted, and it doe* not again appear for a considerable time. The 

 moct recent account* indeed now represent the whole of that part of 

 Africa a* occupied by other states. The Dahomana for the first time 

 made their appearance on the coast where the European establish- 

 ment* were in the reign of their king Trudo Andati, or, as other 

 accounts call him, Guodja Trudo, who is said to have succeeded to the 

 throne in 1708. This prince, who appear* to have been a person of 

 remarkable talent as well as of inordinate ambition and warlike 

 ferocity, having determined upon securing to himself a share of the 

 European commerce, in forcing his way to the coast captured in 1724 

 the chief town of the kingdom of Ardra, the most powerful state that 

 lay between him and the sea. Here he found a Mr. Bulstrodo Lamb, 

 who resided in the place as factor for the English African Company. 

 Lamb wa* detained in captivity for nearly three years, but was treated 

 with extraordinary kindness and consideration by the black monarch, 

 who till now had never set his eye upon either a white man or the sea, 

 We believe the earliest account of Dahomy that exists is a very curious 

 letter written by Lamb after he had been for some mouths in captivity 

 to bin superior, Mr. Tucker, governor of the English fort at Whydah 

 (the Juiila of the French and Fida of the Dutch). It is dated from 

 Abomcy in November 1724, but did not appear in print till it was 

 published at the end of a ' New Voyage to Guinea ' by William Smith, 

 Esq., which appeared at London in 1745. Smith hod been ou the 

 Slave Coast in the beginning of March 1727, when he found that only 

 a few days before his arrival the king of Dahomy had effected the 

 cmiqucst of the state of Whydah, lying along the coast, and had laid 

 in ruins the English, French, and Portuguese forts situated at its 

 capital, Sabi. We have the continuation of the narrative in the ' Full 

 Account of some Part of Guinea,' published at London in 1734 by 

 Captain William Snelgrave, who arrived at this part of the African 

 coast only a few weeks after Smith, and while the king of Dahomy 

 and his troops still occupied the territory. The narrative of Snel- 

 grave, who visited the Dahoman camp, is exceedingly curious. In 

 1729 be made a second voyage to the same coast In the interval the 

 king of Dahomy and the governors of the French and Knglixh forts 

 had again come into collision ; and just before Snelgrave's arrival Mr. 

 Testefole, the English governor, who hod imprudently endeavoured 

 to excite the people of Whydah to an insurrection against their Daho- 

 man masters, had been seized by the latter and put to death. Snelgrave 

 bos from the information of others brought down his account to the 

 end of March, 1732, at which time a new quarrel had ended in tbe 

 destruction of the Dutch, Engliah, French, and Portuguese forts at 

 the town of Jaquin, the only other part of the Slave Coast where there 

 were any European establishment*. Guadja Tmdo died this some 

 year, and was succeeded by his son Bossa Ahadee. A work entitled 

 'Memoirs of the Reign of Bossa Ahadee, with an Aivmml of a Journey 

 to Abomey in 1772,' was published in 1789 by Mr. Robert Norria of 

 Liverpool, a person who had been engaged for eighteen years in the 

 African trade. It was reprinted, with many correction* and additions 

 by the author, in ' The History of Dahomy, compiled from Authentic 

 Memoirs, by Archibald Dalzel, Esq., Governor of Cape Coast Castle,' 

 4 to, London, 1793. This last-mentioned work brings down the history 

 of Dahomy through the reigns of Ahadee, a detestable tyrant, the 

 scourge of his own subjects and the torment of all his neighbours, for 

 forty years ; of his son Adahoonzou II., by whom he waa succeeded in 

 1774, and who continued his oppression and his ferocious wars; and of 

 the first years of that of Adahoonzou's son and successor Wheenoohew, 

 who mounted the throne in 1789. The continuation of the history of 

 Dahomy for some years farther is giveu in a little work entit: 

 Voyage to Africa, with some Account of the Manners and Customs of 

 the Dahominn People,' by John M'Leod, M.D., 12mo, London, 1820. 

 Mr. M'Leod visited this part of Africa in 1803. At that time Dahomy 

 rcenis to have exercised sovereignty over all that part of the coast of 

 < iiiinra. The reigning king was a younger eon of Whocnoohow, the 

 rlilcr having been set aside because one of his toes overlapped another. 

 The name of the present king is G<<zo. In 1849, when Lieutenant 

 Forbes wont to Abomey on a mission to procure the abandonment of 

 the slave-trade, he found the system of the slave-hunts in full vigour; 

 nor could he prevail in his visit, as the king fairly told him he could 

 not afford it, as the greater part of his revenue was derived from that 

 source. The population of the kingdom, owing to its devastating wars, 

 he estimates at not more than 200,000 ; the regular army amount* to 

 about 12,000, of whom 5000 are Amazons, but this i increased to 

 about 24,000 when the king takes the field, and the camp-followers 

 more than equal tbe army in number. These Amazons are supposed 

 not to marry. They live in barracks within tbe precincts of the 

 palace, and are under the care of eunuchs ; they have long distin- 

 guished themselves by their fearless bravery, and not less by their 

 sanguinary ferocities. The worn, or rather slave-hunts, are annual, 

 commencing in November or December ; and are decided upon at the 

 customs, when the assembled people demand to be led against some 

 town or nation which they name. At the custom or festival in June 

 1850, an expedition was demanded, for a second time, against 

 Abeahkeutab, one of the Amazons saying, " We are no longer women ; 



