Chapter XII: The Presents Are Delivered

At night a violent tornado, whose sheets of flying water could hardly be called rain, and a heavy shower in the morning, convinced our hosts that we were “good men, whose palaver would be soft as water, not hot as fire.” The next day (December 22) ought to have been one of rest, but the King could not curb his impatience to see the presents sent by Her Majesty’s Government. A final attempt to make me open the boxes was vainly made by the Buko-no, who then forwarded them under protest to the palace. I could see, however, by his face that the absence of certain highly coveted articles had been reported, and had excited royal dissatisfaction. Our offering[333] to the King and to the English mother[334]—whom, by-the-bye I have never seen—were at once shown and given over to the Buko-no, as a matter of little moment.

At 10.15 A.M. we set out to the Komasi Palace, and placed our chairs opposite the Agwaji gate. Presently Prince Chyudaton, after prostrating, shovelling dust, and kissing the ground, before the Komasi entrance, under the tree with the ominous fruit, joined us. The party was completed by the Buko-no, who issued from the palace, by the fat Adanejan, and by the Bi-wanton, or junior Meu, who acts as the Master of Ceremonies in the absence of his principal. These worthies were in poor “Hausa tobes,” showing that we were not likely to see royalty that day.

After waiting causelessly half an hour, we received a summons to enter. Removing our uniform caps, we passed through the Gate of Tears into a deep, gloomy barn, so dark that we could hardly distinguish the two characteristic features, women selling provisions on the right, and on the left Gezo’s immense war-drum, chapletted with skulls.[335] The inner court, which we were fated to learn by heart, bore a family resemblance to that of Kana. Here, however, the westerly side was a partially whitewashed royal store-house for cloth, cowries, and rum—the notes, silver, and copper of the country. At its northern extremity, a rough ladder led to an immense boarded-up window in the second story, and giving to the whole the appearance of a grange. At the bottom of the court was the usual thatched barn, like the men’s guard-house outside; and four white, with three tulip-tinted, umbrellas, showed the King’s place. The square was scattered over with trees and fetish. On the right side were five Legbas under one little thatch. To the left rose four fetish huts, each containing a dwarf whitewashed idol. The most remarkable figure, a Janus, composed of two naked bodies joined _à tergo_, was made of dark clay, with glaring white eyes, and two pair of antlers, bending inwards. Probably this “Auld Hornie” has been borrowed from the Portuguese idea of Sathanas.

The list of presents has been given in the Preface. I may be allowed to say of them a few words.

1. The tent was found to be too small, and, indeed, to sit under it for an hour would have been hardly possible. We were obliged to pitch it with our own hands, which evinced complication, and, in a land of white ants, metal, not wooden, pegs were required, as Mr. Edgington, whose cards fell in a shower from the boxes, should have known. The article was handsome, more so, perhaps, than anything belonging to the King; yet the only part of it admired was the gingerbread lion on the pole-top.

2. The pipe was never used, Gelele preferring, for lightness, his old red clay and wooden stem.

3. The _belts_ caused great disappointment: all the officials declared that _bracelets_ had been mentioned to Commodore Wilmot. Africans are offended if their wishes are not exactly consulted, and they mulishly look upon any such small oversight as an intended slight.

4. The silver waiters were very much admired, and their use was diligently inquired into.

5. The coat of mail was found too heavy; and, as it will certainly be hung up, fired at, and broken by the King, a common cuirass would have been better. The gauntlet was too small, and, like the former article, not galvanized.

But what about the carriage and horses?

I vainly for the dozenth time explained the difficulty of sending them. It was disposed of at once with consummate coolness. Carriages had been brought, and could come again. If the horses died upon the beach at Whydah, no matter. King Gezo, after obtaining an equipage, had taken the strong name Nun-u-pwe-to, and the son burned to emulate the sire. My hints touching the propriety of some concession, on their part, in the cause of humanity, were as cavalierly ignored.

A few words touching presents to African princes, the sole object of whose foreign friendship is to obtain them, and with whom those who pay the highest are, and ever will be, the most powerful. I have already mentioned one requisite for contenting them, namely, attending to their wishes. A second and a third are, that the gifts should be rich and showy, or, at least, well _assortis_,[336] and that they should not come too often. It is commonly supposed in England, that anything is good enough for a barbarian; and I have seen presents sent out which a West- African chief would hardly think of giving to his slave. The old days of the _traité_ familiarized the higher ranks with a kind of magnificence, and they have not forgotten it.

At Dahome, everything given to the King is carried to the palace during the hours of darkness, and is concealed with care from the multitude. On the other hand, the meanest article presented by him, after being paraded round the square, that the King’s munificence may be known to the whole world, is sent in state to the happy recipient’s house. Under these circumstances, it is some satisfaction to know that the “dash” in these regions, like the bribe in Asia, is omnipotent.

On the present occasion, the King never even uttered an expression of gratitude. His disappointment soon pierced through his politeness, which was barely retained by a state of feeling best expressed in our popular adage,—“Better luck next time,” especially in the matter of an English carriage and horses.

When the tent had been pitched, the other boxes were carried by three juvenile captainesses under the King’s barn-verandah, and we were summoned by the old slave women to open them. Despite their respect, and almost adoration, for the royal person, all the barbarian officiality present made trial of the pipe and of the gauntlets. They asked us to do the same, when I informed them that such was not our idea of respect to crowned heads. The young Amazons presently bore the gifts into the interior, carefully closing the door,—a huge, rudely cut board, carved into a human head, with stripes for hair, a face, and a knife, with other fetish objects, stuck about it. The messengers brought us water and Akansan bread,[337] which my companions mixed with the element. A bottle of Medoc was produced from the royal cellar: it was lukewarm, and far too sour to drink. Yet I have no doubt but that it was bought with gold. This is the inevitable result of trading with slavers, who sell the worst of everything for the highest prices; the refuse of European markets for a cargo which, if successful, fetches ten times its cost price. Upon this subject the Dahomans have not been blinded; but, like children, they want to eat and to keep their pudding, to combine the profits of illicit with the benefits of licit commerce, and the constant formula is, that what white men have done, white men must undo.

Presently the young women returned, bearing the royal request that we would withdraw to our former place under the thin tamarind. This was to enable the “King’s wives” to inspect the tent without approaching too near us. The Amazons again disappeared to report, and they soon brought back a dismissal decanter of rum, with the evil tidings that my “Message” would be heard at another opportunity.

At 1·15 P.M. we retired, after the unusually short _corvée_ of three hours. The rain-sun was dangerous when it broke through the clouds, despite occasional puffs of cool sea-breeze. We entered the house in time to escape a heavy storm from the east, rising against the lower wind. It had all the characteristics of a tornado, rattling, crackling thunder, with prolonged electric crepitations; vivid, rose-coloured, forked lightning appearing to lick the earth with the tip of its fiery tongue; and gusts, that tore the thatched roofs from the houses, and sounded like discharges of artillery. Parenthetically, we hardly ever had a shower without these displays of electricity, and the Whydah men characteristically complained that I had brought them too near heaven. Rain fell in lozenges, like the cross-hatching of engravers’ shadows, and afterwards in perpendicular torrents, that flooded the clayey ground in a few minutes. The mass of storm shifted gradually to the north, and cleared away after two hours, allaying for as many days the vehement plague of dust.

I will conclude this chapter with a few words touching our landlord, who holds much the same position, in respect to King Gelele, as did Dr. Dee to Queen Elizabeth. He is, I have said, the son of the late ruler’s pet mediciner, and for many years he was a man of little note. Having attached himself to the actual monarch when the latter was a cadet, and by no means a favourite son, he predicted to him a crown; whence his present influence. He soon exchanged his little huts, which many at Agbome remember, for a large establishment, and he was enriched by the usual process. When the King desires to honour a subject, he gives him a larger, or a smaller, gang of slaves. By selling these, and applying them to palm oil, Fortunatus obtains wealth, without which, in Africa, there is no true nobility.

I soon had a conversation with the Buko-no, on the subject of his speciality, the Afa[338] divination. It is a profitable trade; every one in the country who can afford it “gets Afa,” as the phrase is. Even English and other mulattoes consult the oracle, without, however, owning to the belief. The master and student must repair to sacred, retired, and shady spots, scattered about the fields and bush.[339] After long ceremonies the diviner finds out the symbol representing the features of the neophyte; he then demands a heavy initiation fee; ten heads are the minimum required even from a poor man, whilst the rich would pay a hundred. The pupil then receives sixteen palm-nut counters, and is taught their use. As he cannot learn much of so dark an art, he must take professional advice on all important matters; but the subsequent fees are light, being chiefly presents of fowls and provisions. Finally, the neophyte is taught by the “Master of Afa” what to abstain from—beef or mutton, brandy or palm-wine, like the Rechabites obeying their father Jonadab. Afa begins before the Dahoman’s birth, informing his parent what ancestor has sent him into the world; it is his intimate companion and councillor throughout life until he reaches the grave which it has predicted to him.

The Buko-no ignored the Yoruban triad, Shango, Oro, and Obatala; but he agreed with the Egbas about Afa. Seeing that I had some knowledge of the craft, he produced from a calico bag his “book,” a board, like that used by Moslem writing-masters, but two feet long by eight inches, and provided with a dove-tail handle. One side of this _abacus_ contained what are called the sixteen “mothers,” or primary, the other showed as many children, or secondary, figures.[340] Each was in an oblong of cut and blackened lines, whilst at the top were arbitrary marks—circles, squares, and others, to connect the sign with the day. It began with the Bwe-Megi, the figure, assigned to Vodun-be—fetish day, or Sunday,—whose mnemonic symbol was six dots in a circle; whilst Monday had a sphere within a sphere. It was a palpable derivation from the geomancy of the Greeks, much cultivated by the Arabs under the name of Al-Raml (الرمل), “The sand,” because the figures were cast upon the desert floor. “Napoleon’s Book of Fate” is a notable specimen of European and modern vulgarization. The African Afa is not, as in Asia, complicated with astrology; and no regard being paid to the relative position of figures, it is comparatively unartful. Two details proved to me its Moslem origin: the reading of the figures is from right to left, and there are seven days, whereas the hebdomadal week is beyond the negro’s organization.[341] The Buko-no, however, is not bigoted; he is more knave than fool. Before his retainers he must keep up the farce of faith; but in private he freely owns that the Afa, by which a tree can be destroyed and the hour of man’s death can be predicted, is merely the means of livelihood—the King’s Afa always excepted.

This rationalistic admission, however, did not prevent the Buko-no at once making a sacrifice to his god, for having brought a “good stranger” to the King. The dancing and singing in his “compound” lasted till dawn, and in token of the favourable issue of his divination, he sent us next morning a dish of palm oil, stained yams, stewed with pieces of boiled goat. This, considering his habitual parsimony, was going far.

The Senior sets out on his nag, with his suite, to the palace, at six or seven every morning. He squats or stretches himself, dozing, smoking, chatting, eating, and drinking, in one of the outside sheds, ready to be summoned at a moment’s notice within. Sometimes, but rarely, he revisits his house for an hour about noon, when he barricades the door, and is not “at home.” The post-meridional are spent like the morning hours, and he is rarely dismissed before dark, often not till deep in the night. These people seem hardly to take natural rest; the drum and the dance may be heard at his quarters until dawn, and he declares that if this mode of life were changed he should fall ill. Like the Dahoman dignitaries in general, he must be sober, under pain of “King’s palaver.” He cannot be said to have an hour’s liberty, or to be his own master for a day, whilst the King is in the city. He leads the life of the East Indian Dhobi’s dog, “Na ghar ka, na ghat ka.[342]” Such is the routine of a Dahoman noble. What an existence to love!

The Buko-no has lately married a young princess,—

“Blythe and buxome at bedde and boarde,”

with whom Love is yet the Lord of all: we shall presently meet her in the palace. According to etiquette, he must prefer her to all his other spouses, of whom he has eighty. He is perpetually begging us for aphrodisiacs[343]; and on one occasion his wives, overhearing the request, loudly accused him of taking away their good name. He is very jealous of these ladies, and often declares that a woman is the only thing which a man should not share with his friend. We constantly hear them singing, chattering, and quarrelling within; but they rarely appear; and on one occasion he accused my Krumen of making too free with our “fair” neighbours. They are mostly black, rarely brown; like Shakspere’s waves, they “curl their monstrous heads” into the semblance of a prize cauliflower, and their dress is a long white sheet, extending to the ankles, passed under the arms and over the bosom. At times the faster lot play at bo-peep, when _le brutale_ is away; but as they are never alone, matters cannot go too far.

Christmas here was distinguished by a violent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, the latter, as the old traveller says, “more like fountains than drops, and hot, as if warmed over a fire.” Our modern copy of the ancient Saturnalia opened with a cool, grey morning, almost as clouded and sunless as could be expected in the Black North. We duly drank to the land we live out of, and the day ended with a heathenish dance of the hammock-men, to whom rum had been issued. The Mission servants joined, and the boy Richard Dosu distinguished himself by the activity of a rat, the cunning of a fox, and the impudence of a London sparrow. The next day was a half Harmattan, which made the natives don warm wrappers, lose appetite, and shun the bath. We un-Ascians delighted in the cold, dry air, accumulating positive electricity, and throwing off the negativity of the humid plain-heat. We bade adieu to anorexy, felt “_hinc sanitas_” now, and were ready to hymn, with holy Mr. Herbert,—

“Sweet day! so cool, so calm, so bright.”

Our first passage of arms with “Pantakaka,” the old Buko-no, occurred on Christmas eve. The King has virtually abolished the custom of cribbing, cabining, and confining visitors till the Message is delivered.[344] To my request that the landlord would provide us with a guide, as we purposed going out shooting in the morning, he returned various frivolous excuses. I at once sent an interpreter to the Prince Chyudaton, who, in reply, begged pardon for the old man’s folly, and requested me not to act before his visit. He came to us in the morning, heard my complaint, and went with it to the palace. In the evening, the Buko-no met us with an ample apology, a quarter of beef, a promise of a guide, and an offer of introduction to the “princess.”

The King usually supplies his guests with pure water: in our case, however, the courtesy was neglected. We had forgotten—future travellers will not—to take a large dripstone filter, and we were beginning to suffer from the white, clayey stuff brought to us by our lazy hammock- men and servants. The element is here about as scarce as in Thorold Square and Hollybush Place. _Sin dagbwe diyye!_—“Good water this!” is a cry ever heard in the streets, and pots full are sold in every market. We therefore engaged four Sin-no or “water-mothers,” as they are called, to supply us with a sufficiency for the day. Unfortunately, as soon as they could collect a few cowries, they would stay at home for a week.

To reduce our establishment, I sent back five of the Mission boys to Whydah, with orders to wait for and to return with our letters. They would do nothing: their sole efforts were confined to eating and talking, in which two pursuits, but in these only, I must own that they displayed all the Anglo-Scandinavian energy and competition. As is usual in the land, every one was afflicted with “a paralytic distemper which, seizing the arm, the man cannot but choose shake his elbow”:—they gambled from morning till night. The favourite game is Aji-do[345]; probably the most ancient form of _tabliers_, or tables; but here it is far from the civilization of “_evangiles de bois_.” It is played on a board, with twelve cups, the antagonists taking the six nearest to them; four _tesseræ_, dropped into each, are moved round from left to right, until the last cowrie falls upon two or three of the adversary’s, and takes them. There is another, and a somewhat more complicated game, called Sigi-to.[346]

On St. John’s Day (December 27), Mr. Cruikshank, when returning from the palace, where he had been treating an Amazon for a deeply-seated inflammation of the eye, saw the war-chiefs arriving at the capital from the last out-stations, and parading before the palace. This was a hint that the Customs would commence at once.

[Footnote 333: We presented to the King:—

1 picture.

1 box French perfumery.

2 pieces merinoes.

1 piece crimson silk.

1 silk kerchief.

1 case curaçoa

1 dozen coloured glass tumblers.

And to the English Mother:—

1 fathom silk kerchief.

1 piece figured calico (Madras).

Mr. Bernasko gave to the King:—

1 carpet.

1 case of liqueur.

1 piece blue Danes.

To the Buko-no:—

10 yards silk.

1 piece Madras.

2 silk kerchiefs.

1 pair razors.

Sundry other presents of cloth must be given to the landlord and to the chief officers. These, however, I reserved for the exit.]

[Footnote 334: At the Court of Dahome every man must have at least one mother, and she may be twenty years his junior. The King’s actual parent is now alive; when she departs, he must supply her place by selection. For each monarch in the dynasty there is, as will be seen, an old woman mother. The “mothers” of the high officials are the corresponding honours. For instance, the she-Min-gan is popularly called the “he-Min- gan’s mother.” Many have two “mothers,” an old one for the last, and a young one for the present reign. Visitors communicate with the “mothers” of their several nations. As will be seen, “mothers” is the official title of the “Amazons”— hence the custom.]

[Footnote 335: This, the national oriflamme, is called Nu_n_ (with a very nasal N, sounding like Nú, a thing), ú (that), pwe (able), to (he that does). It is a title assumed by King Gezo, and meaning, “He is able to do anything he likes.” As will be seen, it was first taken by him when he imported from England a carriage and horses, and it is applied to a cloth, and to other articles of Dahoman vanity.]

[Footnote 336: In Dahome, for instance, at the present time: A silver liqueur-case, with six bottles, each labelled, and a dozen strong and ornamented glasses; a pair of portable mahogany tables, about three feet in diameter; a dozen good chairs for guests: they must be of iron, or they will be broken in a month; a strong lantern for night use; English Union Jacks, and other flags—the bigger and gaudier the better. On one occasion the King sent me a message, that he vehemently wanted some large banners inscribed with Her Majesty’s august name. Finally, all these African kings, from Gelele to Rumanika of Karagwah, are delighted with children’s toys, gutta-percha faces, Noah’s Arks; in fact, what would be most acceptable to a child of eight—which the negro is. Unfortunately, I could find none upon the coast, where they are used only in the Batanga ivory trade.]

[Footnote 337: See chapter v. This custom of placing a table before the visitor with “plenty of refreshment, both of solids and liquids,” was practised by King Gezo.—Mr. Duncan, vol. i. p. 243.]

[Footnote 338: The Dahoman form of the Ifa of Egba-land, the god of wisdom and prophecy. His origin is from the mythical city of Ifé, or Fé, as the Ffon contracts the word. I have given rough outlines of the worship in “Wanderings in West Africa,—Abeokuta,” chap. iv.]

[Footnote 339: I have sometimes found them so engaged. It is an ancient practice. So Cain and Abel sacrificed in the fields (Gen. iv. 8); Isaac meditated, or prayed, in the country (Gen. xxiv. 63); Elias on Mount Carmel; John the Baptist in the Desert of Judea; Jesus in the Garden of Olives; and Mohammed on Jabal Nur.]

[Footnote 340: The following note will explain the use of the palm-nuts, and the names of the figures:—

In throwing Afa, the reverend man, or the scholar, if sufficiently advanced, takes sixteen of the fleshy nuts of a palm, resembling the cocoa-tree; these are cleared of sarcocarp, and are marked with certain Afa-du, or Afa strokes.

When fate is consulted, the 16 nuts are thrown from the right hand to the left; if one is left behind, the priest marks two; if two, one (the contrary may be the case, as in European and Asiatic geomancy); and thus the 16 parents are formed.

The 16 are thus named and made:—

1. Called Bwé Megi: it is the Mother of all.

2. Yeku Megi.

3. Wudde, or Odé-Megi.

4. Dí-Megi.

5. Losu Megi.

6. Urán Megi: an inversion of No. 5.

7. Called Abla Megi.

8. Akla Megi; or Abla inverted.

9. Sá Megi.

10. Guda Megi: an inversion of No. 9.

11. Turupwen Megi.

12. Tula Megi.

13. Lete Megi; or Tula inverted.

14. Ká Megi.

15. Ché Megi.

16. Fú Megi: considered the Father of all.

These 16 parents may have many children. Nos. 13 and 2, for instance,

make

17

—and so on, showing an infinite power of combination.]

[Footnote 341: When travellers talk of an African week, they unconsciously allude to the great markets, which give their names to the days, and which recur at different intervals in different places. Here there are four. The first is the Ajyahi, in Agbome: it was Ajyahi day on Saturday, February 6, 1864. The second is the Miyokhi, a large market at Kana; also the Uhun-jro, in Agbome: Sunday, February 7, 1864, would be called Uhun-jro day. The third is the Adogwin, at Kana, and the Fousa, a little provision market, near the Dahome Palace. The fourth is the Zogbodomen, near Agrime; also the Ako-de-je-go, near the Gau’s house at Agbome. The word means Ako (family), de (one), and jego (tuck up clothes to fight). All these old names are mysterious, and little known to the people—the missionaries call them “parables,”—and they admit of many interpretations. Some explain it by, “If the King leave his crown to one son, the rest must obey him”; others by, “If any people boast their valour, let them come to Dahome and see.”]

[Footnote 342: “A washerman’s dog, neither of the house nor of the ghaut” (where the master washes).]

[Footnote 343: Similarly, Captain Phillips relates to us that the uxorious old “King of Whidaw,” when about to marry (probably a 3000th wife), applied to him for a rundlet of brandy, as a Christmas present for the bride’s friends and his “cappashiers,” and for a “strong-back medicine” for himself. He sent the ship’s surgeon, who gave him a dose of cantharides, “which so heated the old man’s reins that he became as it were, a youngster once more,” and on the next morning related to the strangers various impertinences.]

[Footnote 344: Dr. M‘Leod, who had made himself obnoxious, received a message, when applying for permission to depart, that he was to become a _King’s slave_, meaning, not one who had actually to labour, but a state prisoner. This, which he justly calls the “bleakest prospect imaginable,” was a mere temporary act of caprice.]

[Footnote 345: From Aji (the Guilandina Bonduc seed, which was originally used in it), and dò (a hole). The game is the Sa’ Leone “Wari,” the Ashanti Warra, the Fanti Wal, the Egba’s Ajo, and the Bao of Usawahili and Zanzibar: it is played in a great variety of ways.]

[Footnote 346: From Sigi (the dice with which it is played), and tò (a town). The dice made in Agbome are very rude; but manifestly an imitation of the European.]