seized promiscuously by lawless violence from among the crowed, who suspected no evil. At any time when the king wishes to send a message to his deceased relation in another world, he delivers the errand to some one standing near, and then strikes off his head, that he may go and carry it. The roofs of the huts of this king's place of residence are ornamented all over, as are also the pavements before the doors of his huts, with the jaw bones and sculls of human beings.
In Western Africa, there is another kingdom, called Ashantee, whose king is far more a tyrant than the king of Dahomey. When the English Commissioners, not many years since, had arrived at the capital, which was but a wilderness of low and conical huts; it was at a time when the annual man butchery took place, for the sake of the dead. The following is the account as published — Universal Traveler, page 420:
"During their stay, the Commissioners witnessed scenes so dreadful, that it seemed to sink the Ashantee character even below the ordinary level of savage life. The custom of human sacrifices is practiced here, on a scale still more tremendous than at Dahomey. The king had lately sacrificed, on the grave of his mother, three thousand victims, and at the death of the late sovereign, his predecessor, the sacrifice was continued weekly, for three months. * * * On these occasions, the Caboceers and princes, in order to court the royal favor, would often rush out from the presence of the king, and the first man they met they would drag to the sacrifice. While this
