GRANDY. "Their creed is an odd mixture. They believe in two beings, equal in power; the one doing good, the other evil; and they pray to the demon to allow them to remain unmolested by the magicians, who are constantly endeavoring to injure them."
MR. STANLEY. "In Dahomey the tiger is an object of religious regard; but the people wisely deem it the safest mode of worship to perform their acts of devotion to his skin only, and it is stuffed for that purpose. The government of this country is entirely despotic. The sovereign may cut off as many heads as he likes, and dispose of his subjects' property as he thinks fit, without being accountable to any earthly tribunal. He has from three to four thousand wives, a proportion of whom, trained to arms under female officers, constitute his body-guard."
CHARLES. "What a royal regiment! all queens; why the sight of them would strike terror into an English army. I should throw down my weapons directly."
MR. STANLEY. "But their enemies are not so gallant, and hesitate not to fight this female army, who very often gain the advantage by being so well disciplined."
MR. BARRAUD. "In Dahomey, at a particular period of the year, a grand annual festival is held; and, amidst feastings and rejoicings, deeds are done from which the civilized mind recoils with horror. Numbers of human victims are sacrificed in solemn form.
"They are generally prisoners of war set aside for the purpose; but as seventy is the required number, should there not be so many prisoners, the king makes it up from his own subjects. Their bodies are thrown to wild beasts, while their heads are used to decorate the walls of the royal palace! Still more barbarous is the notion of enjoying the gratification of trampling on the heads of their enemies; and, in order to do this, the King of Dahomey has the passage leading to his bedchamber paved with the skulls of his enemies!"
EMMA. "O cruel murderous people! Sail on, Charles, and leave them far behind. Is not the next coast Ashantee?"
CHARLES. "Yes; Ashantee is at present the most powerful state in all Western Africa, and, in fact, rules over a considerable portion of it. The natives are remarkable for oratory, and will discourse fluently on a given subject for hours. A taste for music is also extensively cultivated, and their taste is evidenced by the native band at Cape Coast Castle, which plays admirably by ear several of the most popular English tunes. The Ashantees, and the natives of the countries contiguous to this coast, build their houses of mud and sticks, which composition they call 'swish.'"
MR. WILTON. "They are a more civilized set than the people of Dahomey; and the Danes have furnished us with a portrait of one of their kings, whose name was Opocco. Here is the account:—'The monarch was seated on a throne of massive gold, under the shade of an artificial tree with golden leaves. His body, extremely lean, and inordinately tall, was smeared over with tallow mixed up with gold dust. A European hat, bound with broad gold lace, covered his head; his loins were encircled with a sash of golden cloth. From his neck down to his feet cornelians, agates, lazulites, were crowded in the form of bracelets and chains, and his feet rested on a golden basin. The grandees of the realm lay prostrate on the ground, with their heads covered with dust. A hundred complainers and accused persons were in a similar posture; behind them twenty executioners, with drawn sabres in their hands waited the royal signal, which generally terminated each cause, by the decapitation of one or other of the parties.'
"The Danish envoy was introduced; and passing a number of bloody heads, recently separated from the bodies, approached the throne. The magnificent flaming prince addressed him with the following most gracious questions:—'I would willingly detain thee for some months in my dominions, to give thee an idea of my greatness. Hast thou ever seen anything to be compared with it? 'No! lord and king,' replied the obsequious envoy, 'thou hast no equal in the world!' 'Thou art right,' said Opocco, 'God in heaven does not much surpass me!' The king drank some English beer from a bottle, and then handed it to the Dane; the latter took a little, and excused himself by saying that the liquor would intoxicate him. 'It is not the beer that confounds thee,' said Opocco; 'it is the brightness of my countenance which throws the universe into a state of inebriety!' This same king conquered the brave prince Oorsoock, chief of the Akims, who slew himself. He caused the head of the vanquished prince to be brought to him, decked it with golden bracelets, and in presence of his generals directed to him the following speech:—'Behold him laid in the dust, this great monarch, who had no equal in the universe, except God and me! He was certainly the third. Oh! my brother Oorsoock, why wouldst thou not acknowledge thyself my inferior? But thou hopedst to find an opportunity of killing me; thou thoughtest that there ought not to be more than one great man in the world. Thy sentiment was not to be blamed; it is one in which all mighty kings ought to participate.'"