346 THE AMAZONS. 



the captain would be carried there in a hammock, 

 taking with him some handsome silks and other pre- 

 sents for the king. This monarch lived by hunting 

 his neighbours and by selling them to Europeans. 

 There was a regular war-season, and he went out 

 once a year, sometimes in one direction, sometimes 

 in another. Kings in Africa have frequently a body- 

 guard of women. A certain king of Dahomey had 

 developed this institution into female regiments. 

 These women are nominally the king's wives ; 

 they are in reality old maids — the only specimens 

 of the class upon the continent of Africa ; they are 

 excellent soldiers — hardy, savage, and courageous. 

 In the siege of Abbeokuta, the other day, an Amazon 

 climbed up the wall ; her right arm was cut clean off, 

 and as she fell back, she pistolled a man with her left. 

 When the king returned from his annual campaign, he 

 sent to all the white men at Whydah, who received the 

 special title of the " king's friends," and invited them up 

 to witness his " customs" and to purchase his slaves. 

 In the first place, the king murdered a number of his 

 captives to send to his father as tokens of regard ; and 

 the traders were mortified to see good flesh and blood 

 being wasted on religion. However, slaves were always 

 in abundance. They were also obtained from the settle- 

 ments upon the coast. The Portuguese Angola could 

 alone be dignified with the name of colony. The 

 Dutch, English, and French settlements were merely 

 fortified factories, half castle, half shop, in which 

 the agents lived, and in which the dry goods, rum, 

 tobacco, trade powder and muskets, were stored. There 

 were native traders who received a quantity of such 

 goods on trust, and travelled into the interior till they 

 came to a War-town. They then ordered so many 



