SCENE NEAR LAKE TCHAD.
"In his journey from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Guinea Dr. Rohlfs had many narrow escapes, not only from the hostility of the natives, but from fevers and other diseases which have caused the death of so many explorers. In the neighborhood of Lake Tchad, during the period of the inundation of the flat country surrounding it, he was obliged to travel for several days where the water was five or six inches deep, and frequently he was forced to wade where it rose to his waist. He suffered much from fever caught in this region; and so unhealthy was the locality that several of his Arab companions died from the diseases contracted there. He was the first European to make the complete journey over the route he followed, and it was nearly two years from the time he started from Tunis till he arrived at the Gulf of Guinea.
"After leaving the Niger he traversed a part of the kingdom of Dahomey, but did not visit its capital. Do you know for what Dahomey is famous?"
"Yes," replied Fred; "at least, I know one thing which travellers have mentioned—it has an army of women instead of men."
AN AMAZON OF DAHOMEY.
"Not exactly an army of women instead of men," said Doctor Bronson, "but an army of both. The Amazons, as the feminine warriors are generally termed, are in a separate division; and, according to Captain Burton, who has visited the country, they take precedence and insist that they shall be called men. They have officers of the same rank as the other portion of the army, and these officers are always of their own sex. There are about three thousand of these Amazons, and they are armed, as far as possible, with the same weapons as the men. They are said to be the bravest portion of the army, and are the great reliance of the king whenever a fortified place is to be attacked."
One of the boys asked how they were recruited.