~ : DAHOMAY. 
fovereign being permitted to wear fandals. In the hand is 
ufaally” carried ee a cutlafs or wooden club; that of an 
officer of {late is ivory. Inferior caboceers carry a fort o 
blunt fabre, en se ad blade and wooden handle ; warriors 
wear beset is called a grafs-cloth, made in the country of the 
fin of palm-tree leaves, parted into {mall threads, knotted 
and wove, and tinged with variousdirty dyes, whichis wrapped 
round the loins. They alfo wear a cartouch-box of their 
own manufacture, a powder-flafk of calibafh, with many gro- 
tefque ornaments and fetifhes, which, together with the un- 
couth devices painted on their faces and bodies, give them a 
very fiend-like appearance. LEvery n man carries 
alfo a tobacco pouch, containing 
h e or two tobacco pipes, in a neat 
{fs of the women confifts of a greater 
number of articles than that of the men. Their ornaments 
are beads and cowries, and rings of filver or bafer metal. 
Their ears are anda fo as to admit a coral pla of the fize 
‘body than their nei hbot urs ; esiue themfelves with a 
pemendie ular incifion, which leaves a mark between the eye- 
rows, 
Circumcifion is univerfally praGifed in Dahomay, but not 
t fo early an age as am e Jews ; and it is fo indifpen- 
fible that the pone do not admit the careffes of the uncir- 
umceife rtain operation, Peewee r to this country, is 
likewife ceonmes upon the women: * prolo ongatio artificia- 
lis labiorum pudendi, capelle mamillis fimillima.’” T 
ahoman women do not admit the embraces of their huf. 
bands during preensney nor at sage time of fuckling, which 
continues two or three years, nor ee ne of ae 
enia ; uring w which they retire — the 
lotted for their reception. The pro enue Hicenfed by vil 
authority, are obliged to confine the oa lves to a particular 
diftriG, and are fubje& to an annval ta 
- The general character of the Oboes is marked by a 
mixture of ferocity and politenefs. They are brave, hofpi- 
nerous; and, where the oo of their go- 
occafion a kin 
leaves Calmina, where he generally mile, ane repairs to 
Abomey, a eae capital, and he burial-place of his 
family. invites, by cial meflengers, called 
ss. half. heads,” becaute half of their beads is fhaved, the 
ropean governors a s the folemnization 
of this feftival. r bri ae ‘his annual prefent, 
confifting of various articles, in alae amounting to about 
508. fterling. 
. For a — the king returns more than an equiva- 
pe a young sei ave, an one fine cotton 
‘s 
rt 
anes: vig on ee arrival at Ab y, they are 
with a falute of cannon, and eerie in fuitable apartme 
The celebration of the “ Cuftoms” ufually continues abou 
a month, during which there is fome public exhibition every 
fourth, or market day, the intermediate days being employed 
ra 
re 
of the monarch and his exploits and t 
warded according to the merit of their derapotiions The 
bards alfo rehearfe the whole hiftory of their country, which 
continues feveral days, they fit at the king’s 
nother day is allotted Ha feailing in the market- 
place, where tents are pitche commodation 
e king, caboceers, white aie and embailadors from 
foreign ftates. Vari other f{cenes are exhibited during 
of the favourite fer- 
he rabble, eas aah for thie fport, contend for the 
vants 
feveral prizes. But, ufion of blood commonly for 
part of a oman echieae this - is clofed with 
together with feveral 
other pumas: is thrown, bound, from the ftage, to be mur« 
dered below 
The Dsianens difplay great ingenuity, confidering the 
rude fimplicity of their tools, in their {pecimens of art. Al- 
though their looms d machines, yet the 
manufaQure cloths of cotton, held in high eftimation among 
themfelves, and often purchafed by the Europeans f 
a a hi They likewife weave ia of 
t only the 
but carpe se tools, ¢ 
They have alfo pace or filver-{miths, who make brace- 
lets, banal for cutlaffes, rings for the finge rs, and other 
trinkets of brafs or filver, which they melt in crueibles of 
their own manufacture e likewife earthen pots, 
ater jars, and other utenfils, of ra - bape e 
cookery of th homa m a few dithes ; 
efe, however, are excellent; of which black foup 1 is i 
chief. This is made either of flefh or fith, with a variety of 
mucilaginous vegetables, well feafoned with pepper and 
falt, and enriched with p An exquifite flavour is 
very light white and delicate fermented bread of calavanfes, 
firit ftripped of the hufks, and a kind of pafte or flummery of 
fermented Indian corn, not yee blanc-mange, though not 
fo adhefive. “The Dahomans are at all times very cleanly in 
their perfo ons, and particularly ‘fo slag ieee to os — 
and the utenfils ufed in the kitchen and a 
good foup is manufactured in Dies ote of calmed and 
Ot-a 
Con a remarkable fpeech of Adahooneou to Mr. Abfon, 
when he was informed of what shad i paffed i in England on the 
trade 
never go to war for the ‘purpofe of fupplying mage ge fhips 
with flaves, and that they never fell their wives and children 
for the fake of procuring a few kegs of brandy. - We c can- 
Not, 
