138 REPORT— 1864.. 



miles, -with a population of about 150,000. The Customs of the Dahomans are 

 divided into Grand and Yearlj^ The Grand Custom takes place only after the 

 death of a king. The last Grand Customs were performed, in November 1860, 

 by Gelele, the present sovereign, to honour the name of his sire Gezo. Eeports 

 from the Wesleyan missionaries show that very little change has taken place as 

 regards the number of victims during two-thirds of a centuij. The Yearly Cus- 

 toms were first heard of by Europe in the days of Agaja the Conqueror (1708-27). 

 They form continuations of the Grand Customs, and they periodically supply the 

 departed monarch with fresh attendants in the shadowy world. The number of 

 victims at the Annual Customs has been greatly swollen by report. During the 

 author's second ^'isit to Agbome forty men were put to death, an equal number of 

 women presumably being sent to the next world ; but if so, the execution took 

 place within the palace. The men were all criminals and war-captives: no innocent 

 Dahoman is ever killed on these occasions, and the king judges in person those 

 accused of capital offences. He is so particular about the lives of his subjects, that, 

 throughout the empire, coroners' inquests must follow every death and certify that 

 it has not been violent. The time of execution is during the hours of darkness ; 

 and of these Zan Nyanyana, or "Bad Nights," there were two — January 1 and 

 January 5, 1864. The public stay within doors under pain of death, and the king 

 personally superintends the executions. Some are cluboed ("am7)uizzati"); others 

 are beheaded by the Mingan, or premier. After death the bodies are exposed in 

 the Uhunjro market-place for a few days. The men, attired as during life, in shirts 

 and nightcaps, are seated in pairs upon Gold Coast stools, supported by a double- 

 storied scaffold, about 40 feet high, of rough beams, two perpendiculars and as 

 many connecting horizontals. Between these patibula are galleries of thin posts, 

 about 30 feet tall, with single or double victims, hanging head downwards ; cords, 

 passed in several coils round the ankles and above the knees, attach them to the 

 cross bar of the fatal tree. These tokens of the king's piety are allowed to renuiin 

 exposed for several days, after which they are thro'\\m into the city ditch. It is 

 not, however, at the Customs that the great loss of life takes place. Whatever 

 action, however tiivial, is performed by the king, it must dutifully be reported to 

 his sire in the shadowy realm. A victim, almost always a war-captive, is chosen ; 

 the message is delivered to him, an intoxicating draught of rum lollovdng it, and 

 he is despatched to Hades in the best of humour. Captain Burton continued : — " I 

 heard of only one case where the %dctim objected to lose his life. Even those who 

 were prepared for the Customs (which I witnessed) sat looking at the various 

 ceremonies, healing time to the music, and eyeing all my movements. At my request 

 the king pardoned about half of them, but no man thanked me. There are two 

 ethnological peculiarities in Dahome which require notice — the corporeal duality 

 of the king, and the precedence of women over men. The monarch is double — 

 two kings in one. Gelele, for instance, rides the city, and Addo-kpou governs the 

 bush — that is to say, the comitry and farmer folk. The latter has his palace, about 

 six miles from the capital, his high othcers, male and female, his wives and eunuchs. 

 Moreover criminals and victims are set apart for him at the Customs. With 

 regard to the position of women, it must be remembered that the king has two 

 comts, masculine and feminine. The former never enter the women's palace ; the 

 latter never quit it except on public occasions. The high officers of Doth courts 

 correspond in name and dignity : there are, for instance, the female " Min-gan " 

 and the male " Min-gan," the she-Meu and the he-Meu, and the woman offutcr 

 is called the " No," or, mother of the man. Strangers also tind maternal parents. 

 There is, for instance, an English "mother," who expects presents from her 

 protef/es. Some resident merchants have two " mothers," one given by the late, 

 the other by the present king. Rovalty itself is not exempt; there are "mothers" 

 for all the deceased rulers. The origin of this exceptional organization is, I believe, 

 the masculine physique of the women, enabling them to compete with the men in 

 bodily strength, ners'o, and endurance. The custom is of old date in Yoruba ; and 

 our histories depict the " Mino" (" om* mothers " — Aidgarly called amazons), before 

 the birth of the late King Gezo, who used to boast that he had organized a female- 

 army. He ordered every Dahoman to present his daughter, of whom the most 

 promising are chosen, and trained to arms. Gelele, the actual ruler, causes everj- 



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