THE GUINEA NEGROES 



367 



hands tied behind their backs, and they were led on to a stage, where a priest laid his hand 



on their heads, uttered some words of consecration, after which the victims were decapitated by 



a single sweep of a heavy broadsword. In the same year Whydah was conquered, and 4,000 



natives were sacrificed as a thank-offering. Human sacrifices were also offered in Dahomey 



at the Grand Custom, held 



after the death of a king, 



and were intended to supply 



him with an adequate spirit 



retinue, and at the Annual 



Custom, intended to send the 



dead kings some fresh slaves. 



The last Grand Custom was 



on the death of Gezo in 



1858, when the sacrifices 



lasted from July to October, 



and 500 people were slain. 



Most of the victims were the 



king's personal attendants, 



his chief eunuch, his wives, 



and a supply of soldiers, 



Amazons, and slaves. The 



skulls were collected and 



piled into pyramids, or used 



to decorate the walls of the 



palace. The corpse of the 



dead king was buried in a 



mausoleum, of which the clay 



was kneaded with rum and 



human blood. His relics are 



treated with the highest 



reverence. 



In the present century 

 the number of the victims 

 has been diminished, and the 

 Annual Custom took different 

 forms in alternate years. One 

 year there was an Attoh cere- 

 mony, in which the victims 

 were stunned by being hurled 

 from a high platform; they 

 were then executed, and their 

 bodies thrown to the mob, 

 who mutilated and smashed 

 them with clubs. On the 

 next year there was a So-sin 

 ceremony, in which horses 

 were slain as well as men. 



The Ewe religion is not 

 only practised in Guinea, but 

 has been carried across the 



Atlantic by slaves, and some Pholo leili by (/ie lale ms , Mary K i,, g si ey . 

 of its rites survive in Havti. A NATIVE OF THE OIL RIVERS, NIGER COAST PROTECTORATE. 



