Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/802

766 DAHOMEY product is palm-oil, which is made in large quantities throughout the country. The district of Toffo is particularly noted for its oil-pal in orchards; these are chiefly owned by the officials of the capital, many of whom have houses and grounds there. Palm-wine, said to be superior to the finest cider, is also made, but the manufacture is pro hibited excepting in the bush, as the process destroys the tree. Next to palm-oil the principal vegetable products are maize, guinea-corn, cassava (the substitute for bread), yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, cocoa-nuts, oranges, limes, and the African apple, which grows almost wild. The country also produces ground-nuts, Kola-nuts, pine-apples, guavas, spices of all kinds, ginger, okros (Hibiscus), sugar-cane, onions, tomatoes, and papaws. Cattle, sheep, and goats are scarce, and fowls are not plentiful. The medium of exchange is the cowrie, which is imported from Zanzibar by the European merchants. At Whydah fifty cowries make a string, and fifty strings one " head; " a dollar is worth four heads; the head is Is. IJd., and a string therefore about a farthing. Inland, the value of the cowrie is enhanced by reducing the number in the string. The climate of this part of the Slave Coast is the same as on the remainder of the Bight of Benin. Whydah is considered slightly more healthy than either Lagos or Badagry. Near the sea the heat is not excessive, the average temperature being about 80 Fahr. The year may be divided into four seasons : summer, the rains, autumn, and the harmattan. During the summer, which continues from March to May, the heat is greatest, and dysentery prevails. The rains are ushered in by violent thunder storms, and they last from May until August, with a break of fine weather in June; at the close of the rains thunder storms are again prevalent. This is the coolest season of the year, but mosquitoes and sandflies abound. The autumn months are from September to November; thunderstorms and tornadoes occur at intervals; the climate assumes a more unhealthy phase, and Guinea worm is troublesome. The harmattan, so called owing to the prevalence of a cold dry wind which blows from the north and north-east, continues from December to February. It prevails for several days in succession, and alter nates with winds from the south and south-west; its approach is generally foretold by a thick white fog known as " the smokes." During its continuance the thermometer falls about 10, there is not the slightest moisture in the atmosphere, vegetation dries up or droops, the skin parches and peels, and all woodwork is liable to warp and crack with a loud report. This season is considered healthy, but in the intervals of the harmattan wind, when it is usually hot, mild fever may be expected. Tornadoes occur occasionally. During nine months of the year the climate is tempered by a sea-breeze, which is felt as far inland as Abomey. It generally commences in the forenoon, and in the summer it often increases to a stiff gale at sundown. The history of Dahomey before the last 200 years is un known. The country now occupied by Dahomey and Porto- Novo was, at the commencement of this period, comprised in the extensive kingdom of Ardrah, of which the capital was the present town of Allada, on the road from Whydah to Abomey. About the beginning of the 17th century the state became dismembered on the death of a reigning sovereign, and three separate kingdoms were constituted under his three sons. One state was formed by one brother round the old capital of Allada, and retained the name of Ardrah; another brother migrated to the east and formed a state also called Ardrah, but now known under the name of Porto Novo; while the third brother travelled northwards, and after some vicissitudes established the kingdom of Dahomey. The Western Ardrah, or Allada, appears to have been subsequently further subdivided by the formation of the separate kingdom of Whydah to the south. About 1724-28 Dahomey, having become a power ful state, invaded and conquered successively Allada and Whydah. Towards the north it was unable to extend its power, being hemmed in by the Mahees and the still more "powerful Eyos or Oyos. The people of Whydah who escaped massacre or capture retreated along the coast to the west, and established themselves in the islands of the lagoon about Great Popo. The Whydahs from time to time made several attempts to recover their country, but without success, while on the other hand the Dahomana failed in all their expeditions against Popo. It is related that the repulses they met with in this quarter led to the standing order that no Dahoman warrior is to enter a canoe. The Dahomans have at several times penetrated along the beach towards the east as far as Badagry, but the king of Porto Novo became jealous of their incursions, and invoked the aid of the Eyos to put a stop to them. This was the state of affairs at the accession of Gezo about the year 1818. This monarch, who reigned forty years, raised the power of Dahomey to its highest pitch. He boasted of having first organized the amazons, to which force he attributed his successes. In 1825 he attacked the Eyos at Cana and abolished the tribute, thus freeing his country from the incubus on the north-east. He next (1840) overran Atakpame on the west, and subjugated the Mahees on the north. Shortly after this began the quarrels with Abbeokuta, which continue to this day, and have proved one of the main causes of the decline of the Dahoman power. In 1848 Gezo fell unexpectedly on Okiadan and completely destroyed it. In 1851 he attacked Abbeokuta, the centre of the Egba power, but was beaten back. Gezo never recovered from this blow; he died in 1858, and was succeeded by his son Gelele. Gelele s principal exploit was the capture of the Egba town of Ishagga in 1862. He slew the chief and carried off amongst the prisoners some native Christian converts and a native scripture-reader called William Doherty. This unfortunate man was crucified on a tree at Abomey, and his body was seen in this position by M. Euschart, a Dutch merchant of Whydah. In 1864 Gelel6 attacked Abbeokuta and received an exemplary defeat, which will probably be sufficient to prevent him from again seriously attempting the capture of the place. Abomey has been frequently visited by representatives of the British Government. The later missions have had a threefold object the suppression of the slave trade, the abolition of human sacrifices, and the dissuasion of the king from attacking Abbeokuta. Little result has ever been obtained from any of these visits. From the time of Captain Burton s visit in 1863 there was little change in the political situation of Dahomey, until the spring of 1876, when in an evil moment Gelele" caused an Englishman resident in Whydah to be treated ignominiously. Brought to task by the commodore on the station the king refused to pay the fine of palm-oil awarded, and defied the British flag. Accordingly, for the fourth time in the history of Dahomey, a blockade of the coast was proclaimed. Throughout the history of Dahomey, with very few exceptions, Europeans appear to have been treated with kindness, but they have often felt the inconvenience of placirg themselves within the power of an uncivilized despot. It has always been an object with the king to secure the presence of white men at his " customs," and even casual visitors to Whydah have found themselves compelled to accept an invitation to visit the capital. Once there the length of their stay has depended on the caprice

of the king, and even the envoys of European powers have