Chapter XII

Conversation with the King of Dahomey continued--Visit Coomassie,
another Palace of the King--Great Number of Human
Skulls--Skulls of Kings taken in Battle--Death-drums--Peculiarity
of Skulls--Craniums of the Fellattahs--Skulls of
Rival Kings--Criminal Case heard by the King, and his
Award--Death of my Servant Maurice--Regret of the King--Christian
Burial of my Servant--The King’s Kindness to me--My
increasing Illness and Depression of Spirits--Method of Procuring
Food in the Bush by the Dahoman Soldiers--My Alarm
at the Dangerous State of my Wound--Make Preparations to amputate my
Limb--My Recovery--My Last Conversation with the King--The King’s
Presents to the Queen of England--Present from him to her Majesty of
a Native Girl--Escorted out of Abomey, and Departure for
Whydah--Absurd Custom--Canamina--Ahgrimah--My Pigeons from the Kong
Mountains--Non-Arrival of some of my Carriers--Punishment
awarded them for their Roguery on their Arrival 273