THE WESTERN COAST. 
£97 
ped one species of serpent, as the most powerful 
fetiches, especially one of immense size, which 
they termed the Grandfather of the snakes. With 
the discovery of this snake, at some fortunate pe- 
riod, the snake-worship probably originated ; for 
the ancient Whidanese* related, that they found 
him when he deserted another country on account 
of its wickedness. This snake-worship, therefore, 
presents no inexplicable phenomenon in the history 
of the human mind, for it resolves into the more 
general doctrine of fetiches, which is only a species 
af the common belief in the virtue of charms. 
Dahomy is a fertile and cultivated country ; the 
soil is a deep, rich, reddish clay, intermixed with 
sand, scarcely containing a stone of the size of an egg 
in the whole country. It is extremely productive of 
maize, millet, beans, yams, potatoes, cassada, plan- 
tain, and the banana ; indigo, cotton, tobacco, palm- 
oil, and sugar are raised, as well as a species of black 
pepper. Bread, and a species of liquor, or rather 
diluted gruel, are formed of the lotus berry. Ani- 
mals, both wild and tame, are numerous, and the 
lakes abound in fish. The maritime districts of 
Whidah and Ardra, before they were ruined by 
the Dahomans, were highly cultivated and beauti- 
ful. ' 6 The vast number and variety of tall and 
if spreading trees, 5 ' says Smith, " seeming as if 
" they had been planted for decoration, fields of 
the most lively verdure, almost wholly devoted 
