544 



DAHOMY. 



Dahomy. small olive, and is of a dusky-reddish colour. The 

 pulp is firm, and almost insipid ; the stone hard like 

 that of the olive. After chewing the fruit, a glass of 

 vinegar tastes like sweet wine, a lime has the flavour 

 of a ripe orange; and the same change is produced 

 upon other acids, the berry having the surprising qua- 

 lity of converting acids into sweets. Like the other 

 inhabitants of tropical climates, the Dahomans plant 

 twice a-year, viz. at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, 

 after which the periodical rains set in. They may, in- 

 deed, be said to reap four, or rather two double crops ; 

 for soon after the maize appears above ground, they 

 plant callavanas betwixt the rows, which gives the 

 iields a very beautiful appearance. Whydah is a very 

 fertile country, but to Europeans the heat of the sun 

 is almost insupportable. 



Nor is the country destitute of various productions 

 adapted to commerce and manufacture. Of these, the 

 following may be accounted the chief: the indigo plant, 

 which is very common, but the natives cannot prepare it 

 for market : tobacco, which in several places grows 

 spontaneously, but also requires the hand of a Euro- 

 pean to prepare it for use : cotton, M r hich the natives 

 manufacture into cloth for their own use : pepper, of 

 the same species, and scarcely inferior in flavour to 

 that of the East Indies : the small berry just mention- 

 ed, which serves as a substitute for sugar : palm oil, 

 a very valuable production, which is exported in large 

 quantities for the use of the British wool-combers and 

 soap-boilers ; when mixed with potash, it is manufac- 

 tured into a very good soap : and peltry, such as tiger 

 and leopard skins, &c. but which are not of great va- 

 lue. Besides these, there is an infinite variety of other 

 valuable productions scattered over the country by the 

 liberal hand of nature ; but the natives are indifferent 

 to the blessings that surround them. 



Like other Africans, indolence is the most promi- 

 nent feature of their character. The men sleep and 

 smoke, enjoying in thoughtless security the present 

 moment, and regardless of the future; while the whole 

 labour of agriculture devolves upon the women. In- 

 deed, the general torpidity of this people justifies a com- 

 mon remark, that in Africa, in proportion as the soil is 

 fruitful, the inhabitants are averse to industry. They 

 are warlike, keep a secret inviolable, are much addict- 

 ed to plunder, and even make a merit of robbing the 

 white people. The Negro is very hospitable to other 

 Negroes ; is in general sober, and goes to excess only 

 in drinking brandy ; but he is vindictive, lying, and 

 obstinate ; and yet he cannot be denied the character 

 of gentleness. They are very cleanly in their persons, 

 and particularly so with regard to their food. Their 

 bread is made of maize or millet, sometimes baked, 

 and sometimes boiled into a thick pudding ; and then- 

 chief dish is a soup, composed either of flesh or fish, 

 with a variety of vegetables, enriched with palm oil, 

 and well seasoned with pepper and salt. 



The dress of the Dahomans is light, and suited to 

 the climate. That of the men consists of a pair of 

 striped or white cotton drawers of the manufacture of 

 the country, over which they wear a large square cloth 

 of the same, or of European manufacture. The head 

 is covered with a beaver or felt hat ; the arms and up- 

 per part of the body are naked, except when travelling 

 or performing any work ; then the large cloth is 

 thrown off, and the body covered wicb a frock without 

 sleeves. The feet are always bare, for none but the 

 sovereign is permitted to wear sandals. In the hand is 

 usually carried either a cutlass or a wooden club ; and 

 1 



Charac 1 el- 

 and man- 

 ners. 



Dress. 



every person is provided with a tobacco pouch, which Dahomy. 

 contains also a flint, steel, and tinder. In war they ^"""V"" 

 paint their faces and bodies, which gives them a most 

 terrific appearance. The women wrap cloths and hand- 

 kerchiefs round their bodies ; their necks, arms, and 

 ancles are adorned with beads and cowries, and their 

 fingers with rings of silver or other metal. Both sexes 

 are less addicted to the practice of cutting or tattowing 

 the body than their neighbours ; they make only a per- 

 pendicular incision, which leaves a mark between the 

 eye-brows. In Whydah, they cut then- foreheads and 

 cheeks in such a manner, as to give them the appear- 

 ance of being much pitted with the small-pox ; and the 

 women mark the lower part of the body with various 

 devices. 



When a young man wishes to marry, he makes his Marriage. 

 proposal to the young woman's father, who consults his 

 daughter. If she consents, the marriage contract is 

 concluded, and the bridegroom makes a present to his 

 father-in-law of cowries and brandy. When the young 

 woman is marriageable, the husband is informed, who, 

 as soon as the marriage is consummated, makes a pre- 

 sent to the bride, and another to her father. The men 

 may divorce their wives ; and the women have an equal 

 liberty of withdrawing themselves, without any forma- 

 lity, and of taking another husband. In such a state 

 of degradation are the women held, that they must 

 bend the knee when they present any thing to their 

 husbands, rise up only with their permission, and never 

 eat along with them, nor in their presence. As poly- 

 gamy is sanctioned both by custom and law, a man 

 may marry as many wives as he pleases ; adultery, 

 however, is punished with death ; and, indeed, every 

 instance of gallantry, in the married state, exposes the 

 delinquent to death or slavery. But what tends more 

 than any thing to eradicate all the parental aud filial 

 affections, is a principle of the state, that parents have 

 no property in their children. They are considered as 

 belonging entirely to the king, and are taken from their 

 mothers at an early age, and dispersed among the vil- 

 lages remote from the places of their nativity, where they 

 remain subject to the king's future destination of them, 

 and with little prospect of ever being again seen or re- 

 cognised by their parents. This arises from the king's 

 jealousy of family connections, which might lead to as- 

 sociations dangerous to his unlimited power. The con- 

 sequence is the almost total extinction of parental af- 

 fection and filial love. Parents, instead of cherishing, 

 endeavour to suppress those tender attachments to their 

 offspring, which they know will be violated as soon as 

 their children reach the age at which they can be taken 

 from them. 



From the shells of the calebash fruit they form, in a Manufac- 

 rude manner, their domestic utensils; and, with the tures. 

 implements of a forge very simply constructed, they 

 contrive to fabricate not only the necessary implements 

 of husbandry, but also carpenters tools, cutlasses, spears, 

 and other warlike weapons. The anvd is of stone, or 

 an old iron cannon ; and the hammer is a thick piece of 

 rounded iron, which they hold by one end. Besides 

 blacksmiths, they have also braziers and silversmiths, 

 who make bracelets, rings, and various trinkets of brass 

 or silver. They make also earthern pots, water jars, 

 and other utensils of the same materials. Nay, with 

 looms of a very rude construction, they manufacture 

 neat and durable cotton cloths, which are not only very 

 valuable among themselves, but are also purchased by 

 Europeans at a high price. Their dyes, especially 

 their blues, are very durable. They make very neat 



