An African Despot 
the king’s house and approaching the king with¬ 
out any suspicion of treachery, he was attacked 
from behind and found himself surrounded by 
men with drawn swords. Drawing his own 
sword or wresting one from the hand of one of 
the assassins, he literally cut his way to his horse 
and escaped. From that time to the time of my 
arrival in Ejahyay, there was bitter enmity be¬ 
tween the two, and both were making all pos¬ 
sible preparations for any emergency. 
As a ruler, Areh would endure no opposition 
to his will. As a concession to the established 
ideas of the people, he pretended to consult 
twenty-four elders, but no one was ever known 
to oppose him in a conference, and no one ever 
lived to disobey him thrice. Ordinarily, execu¬ 
tions were performed by a special officer, but 
sometimes he would be in such a rage with the 
offender that he would rise from the judgment 
seat and strike off the head of the prostrate 
wretch with his own hand. Much of this feroc¬ 
ity was probably due to the fact that he was 
compelled to rule by force, as the people natur¬ 
ally did not venerate him as they would have done 
a legitimate ruler. Areh was not incapable how¬ 
ever of appreciating and rewarding excellencies 
of character and nobility of conduct. On one occa- 
57 
