DAHOMKY. 



221 



family of the negro stock. The country has been 

 known a-< I>aniua or Dahomey from the time 

 when i In 1 kingdom was founded, early in the 

 -.\ei:teeiith ci-niiiry. The nut ivos are industri- 

 deing cattle and Indian corn, and collect- 

 ;ni; i \.u-y .-ind rul.lM-r for export. They also pro- 

 duce i lie l>est palm oil obtained in UpperGuinea. 

 Tlif tir>! relation- of Dahomey \vit li Kuropean 

 countries began in the slave trade. The military 

 of the King is still employed in razzias on 

 tin- neighboring j>eoples. Human sacrifices play 

 an important part in the religious rites of the 

 Dahoini'vans. who arc fetich worshipers. Abo- 

 mcy. the capital, is seventy miles north of Why- 

 dah. A I tout ten miles nearer the coast is Can a, 

 the Kind's residence, which is held sacred be- 

 eaii>e it contains the royal burying ground. 



French Settlements. King Toffa, of Porto 

 Novo, placed his country under French protec- 

 tion in 1863, in order to save it from being ab- 

 sorbed by the British, who had occupied Lagos. 

 In 1868 the French negotiated with King Gedzo, 

 of Dahomey, for a seaport for their new posses- 

 sion, and obtained leave to occupy Kotonu. Ge- 

 Ide. the next King of Dahomey, and afterward 

 1'ielianziii, the latter's successor, confirmed this 

 cession, and yet they treated the French terri- 

 tory as though it were still a part of their king- 

 dom, and oppressed the European traders settled 

 there. The French, who took effective posses- 

 sion of Porto Novo in 1884, were compelled to 

 take retaliatory measures, but recoiled from ac- 

 tive warfare until 1890, when Gelele attempted 

 to drive them from Porto Novo. In two battles 

 before Porto Novo the Amazons were badly 

 beaten, and Behanzin, who had succeeded to the 

 throne, drew off his forces, and in October, 1890, 

 concluded a peace with the French, who shrank 

 from a costly campaign in the interior, such as 

 the English war in Ashantee, and were content 

 with obtaining a new confirmation of their right 

 to hold the coast districts, including Kotonu, 

 which had not been effectively occupied before. 

 As an indemnity for the right of the black King 

 to collect taxes, the French Government agreed 

 to pay him an annual rental of 20,000 francs. 

 This settlement, in the eyes of the ignorant mon- 

 arch, placed the French in a position of vassalage 

 toward him. The payment of what he consid- 

 ered tribute money, punctually rendered every 

 year, made him believe that they stood in awe of 

 his disciplined force, and, with the inflated pride 

 that is natural to savage despots, he felt con- 

 1'ulent that he could hold his own against a coun- 

 t ry so disorganized that it had no king. 



I ; ;ii ds of the Amazons. After the campaign 

 of 1890 the French were allowed to build up their 

 settlements, and the business of the Marseilles 

 houses and of German and other merchants trad- 

 in.u r in that region flourished until the clo-e nf 

 l*!H. Then the Amazons appeared in French 

 territory, pillaging and destroying the native 

 villages, and carrying off the people by hundreds 

 to Abomey. Victims were supposed to be wanted 

 for the annual human sacrifices. Yet it was not 

 to this alone, nor principally to this, that the 

 French attributed raids of such magnitude. 

 German factors at Whydah were said to have 

 agreed to furnish the contractors building the 

 Congo railroad with laborers, and Dahomey was 

 the source from which the supply was drawn. 



To fulfill his engagements, and thus earn large 

 sums of money, King Behanzin raided th< ; 

 lous villages of Porto Novo, at the same time 

 sending presents to the factories n tiie coast 

 with the object of inducing the French to wink 

 at his depredations. Gangs of laborers were be- 

 lieved to have been taken from Whydah to the 

 Congo on German steamers. They were not sent 

 as slaves, but were formally emancipated by Be- 

 hanzin as he turned them over to the German 

 agents. Hundreds of laborers furnished at Bo- 

 ma by other West African chieftains were like- 

 wise supposed to have been procured by the cus- 

 tomary slave raids. Belgian officers were said to 

 have been in Dahomey in 1888 and 1890 to nego- 

 tiate for laborers, and a Belgian agent is re- 

 ported to have conducted to the Congo several 

 hundreds of them in 1891 in two trips of a Ger- 

 man steamer. After several incursions of Be- 

 hanzin's warriors, in one of which the chief town 

 of Uantechif, containing three times as many in- 

 habitants as Porto Novo, was plundered, the 

 French governor sent messengers to Abomey, de- 

 manding the release of the prisoners that had 

 been carried off and the payment of an indem- 

 nity. The King, by way of an answer, sent the 

 heads of the French messengers borne in a basket 

 by a Dahomeyan warrior. Behanzin followed 

 up this defiance by pouring his forces into French 

 territory. One body advanced on Kotonu, while 

 three others, resting on Whydah as a base, men- 

 aced Kotonu. The French garrisons were aug- 

 mented as soon as possible from Senegal, and 

 were strong enough to hold the fortifications by 

 the end of March, when the Dahomeyans ap- 

 peared before Kotonu and Porto Novo, defended 

 by 350 and 400 troops respectively. While 6.000 

 Dahomeyans were encamped within four hours' 

 inarch of Porto Novo, Behanzin sent a message 

 to Lieut.-Gov. Ballot, as follows : 



I have never gone to France to make war, and am 

 pained to sec tliat France is preventing me from mak- 

 ing war against an African country. It is none of her 

 business. If you are not pleased, do what you like. 1 

 am prepared. 



On April 3, Ketome, containing 30,000 inhab- 

 itants, was burned. More native Senegalese 

 troops were immediately dispatched, but the 

 French commanders were directed not to at- 

 tempt any offensive movement. All the villages 

 in the neighborhood of Porto Novo were de- 

 stroyed, and the entire population of the lower 

 Uemi took refuge on the islands. Several gun- 

 boats were already in Benin, and others of light 

 draft for operating in the lagoons were bought 

 and ordered in England. 



War with France. The French Government 

 determined on a regular campaign, and M. de 

 Cavaignac, Minister of Marine, took charge of 

 the arrangements. For commander-in-chief. 

 Col. Dodds, who was in command of a regiment 

 of marine infantry at Toulon, was selected. Col. 

 Dodds was a mulatto, born in Senegal, who had 

 been in command of the military forces in that 

 colony, and had raised native troops there for the 

 last campaign in Dahomey, and drawn up most of 

 the plan of operations. The Dahomeyan- 

 armed in the beginning with worthless old muz- 

 zle-loading muskets. But while the French were 

 making ready for an aggressive campaign in a 



