Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-21

|
OF the most important personages of
the royal household is the cook, not on
account of his culinary powers,
which are exceedingly limited, but
| because when a change of dynasty
is decided upon, it is the cook
who promptly effects the change by
administering a dose of poison to the
King in one of the dishes served UP
to him. Another official of great in
| fiuence in the Dahomian Court is the
Mehon," who is the Prime Minister
of the King. There are always two
Melons old and in full practice,
the other young and learning expert
ence from the other, who has grown
gray in his peculiar political admins
| tration of this kingdom. The old
Mehon is known as the Sc King Ear"
because everything has to be made
known to the King through him, and
| all the royal orders are committed to
| his charge for execution or publica-
ton. 1t is ON his model that the
young Mehon forms himself, and after
some years tuition the latter is as
full of diplomatic cunning and as free
from all trammelS of honesty and
| morality as his MASTER who can then
| die in peace, for he has successor who
will preserve the fame and renown Of
| the DahOmian Constitution. The
| King, however, does not hold the Me-
hons in the same reverence as he does
the cook; and if the royal anger is excit-
ed he will infict heavy fine and even
| imprisonment upon one of these Min
listers. The fine does not aff1ict the
| Mellon greatly, as he Immediately
makes a raid upon his neighbors, but
| imprisonment touches him disagree
| ably. AT times the Mellon disciple
gets tired OF waiting to succeed to the
full power, in which case he accom-
plishes his object by inviting his
teacher to breakfast.
] AS in the Ashantee Court at Coo
massie, so IN Dahomey, the Kings
mother exercises an immense amount
Of influence and power. Unfortu-.
nately it's exercise is entirely for
the maintenance of the evil character
OF her sons reign, the savageness Of
whose disposition she carefully nurses
and sustains. They are a ouple
worthy Of each other. Throughout
the country the various villages have
their chiefs OF caboceers, who strictly
maintain the character Of the admin
stratlon by simply following the es-
tabliShed customs in all ordinary cases
and If anything extraordinary arise,
it is referred to the King, whose de-
ciSiOn is enforced without word or
comment. The Governor of Whydah,
| however, is an official of real power.
with the title of .tJevoghen.' On ac-
count of his having this power, the
King has person constantly about him
who acts as a spy, and takes care that
there is no plotting against the supreme
authority and no mitigation of
the cruelty and severity of Dahomian
rule. Under this rule there are two
kinds of duties levied, ordinary and
special. The ordinary duty is levied
principally on palm oil, which is the
| chief article of country produce
brought to Whydah for export When
the natives bring oil to the factories or
the market the officials of the King
take portion for their master, who
also takes portion of all other prod
uce brought to sale, as we'll as of the
fish caught in the lagoons. The spe-
cial levy is made when the royal pleas
ure is set upon taking anything His
| Majesty wants from his unfortunate
subjects, and his wishes are most eff
fectually carried out by his officials. A
raid having been determined upon in a
council Of ministers, secret agents
spread themselves about in the towns
and villages destined for plumber, and
all at once the inhabitants find them
selves stripped Of their property in the
name of the King. 1t is only the prin-
clpal chiefs who are safe from these
raids; ordinary caboceers are not ex-
empt.
! In addition to the wealth acquired
by these duties the royal treasury is
also vastly enriched by the fines laid
upon the people on the slightest pre-
text. If any one resists a heavy and
| probably a most unjust fine, he is
brought to a better frame of mind by
being put into the most unsavory
prison. If the fine resisted be small
one few strokes of a rod, eientifcal-
ly applied, are generally sufficient to
open his purse-strings. Another mode
OF extracting fine is by Selling every
thing OF value that can be found, and
then removing the roof of the house
which no one dare restore until the
fine has been paid. If the man really
has what is demanded he will then
probably produce it and obtain permits
sion to restore his house. If he has
not, he must work until he has paid