The kingdom, since the abolishment of the slave trade, furnishes little of value to commerce, with the exception of olive oil.
The people, and the king in particular, have long furnished the subjects of the most marvelous of stories. Travelers have brought back accounts of the curious serpent house at Whydah. Here are kept the sacred fetich serpents.
The edifice is merely a round structure, with a conical thatched roof. The hut, as we should call it, is from ten to twelve yards in diameter and seven or eight in height. The walls consist of dried earth, similar to those of the dwellings. Two openings, on opposite sides, furnish the doorways through which these serpent divinities trail their hideous forms, in their passage in and out the sacred temple.
Strings of cotton yarn hang from the roof. On the floor, which, like the walls, is whitewashed, are several pots of water.
One traveler found as many as one hundred serpents within the sacred house. Another found but twenty-two on his visit. They were harmless, for their fangs had been removed.
The length of these reptiles varied from one to three meters. They had spindle-shaped bodies, which terminated gradually in a tail one-third the entire length of the body.
They had large heads, somewhat flattened and triangular, but shaped as if the corners had been rounded off. Their necks were somewhat thinner than their bodies.
Their color varied, ranging from a clear yellow to yellow green. Most of them were marked with two brown lines down the back; a few were irregularly spotted. Dr. Répin believed them to belong to the species of non-poisonous reptiles classified as pythons and adders.
As he watched them, some ascended and descended the tree trunks placed within the sacred house for them. Others suspended themselves by their tails, balanced themselves above his head, and peered down at him with their narrow eyes. Some were coiled up asleep under the rafters which supported the roof, after a feast from the last offerings of the faithful worshipers.
Strangely, weirdly fascinating as the sight was, and wholly devoid of danger, yet he could but give a sigh of satisfaction as he stepped into the open air.