Omaha daily bee., 1890-05-23

|
| officer OF artillery. Meanwhile the
alarm had been given; the Senegaless
| rltlemen arrived on run and swept of
the first ranks Of the Dahomans. The
| Amazon was caught, thrown TO the
| ground and her neck cut. She was one
! OF the Razor Virgins
AT the same moment Mr.. Bayol, the
| governor, signalled to the gunboat Sane,
at anchor just off the battle field. Inn
mediately n hailstorm of bombs and
| Hotchkiss balls rained over the Daho-
mans. The firing was of great prccis-
ion, and groups of ten or twelve savages
were hardly formed when bomb was
| sent bursting among them, and when the
smoke had cleared, nothing could be
seen standing up.
Despite this the Dahomans displayed
an extraordinary and obstinate courage.
During two hours they hurled them
selves toward the few frame houses OF
the settlement, and reached several
times to the bottom of the outside stair
case of the telegraph office, where they
were shot down close to the muzzle.
Five Europeans and white lady found
themselves shut up in the telegraph Of
flee. They blazed away during the
whole fight. The clerk Of the telegraph
office fired 120 cartridges for his share.
lhully Illt DduOlldils Heu To lIle ulutr-
brush, leaving from 800 to 600 OF their
people on the ground.
On the European side there were four
teen dead and fifteen wounded, among
whom were five or six Europeans. But
for the gunboat Sane the Dahomans
would have succeeded in invading the
houses, and they would have killed
everybody. They numbered 1,SO0 or
1900.
The famous Dahoman Amazons, though
not so numerous now as in former times;
still constitute the best part of the army
which King Kondo has led to the gates
OF Porto Novo, which is under French
protectorate.
The corps of about twenty-five hun
dred women is mainly recruited from
the young girls of the best families in
Dahomey, designated by the caprice of
the king for military service. They
live in barracks like regular soldiers
and are sworn to perpetual virginity.
Nevertheless, one-third of the ANA
zon corps is composed of immoral women
whose lives have been spared on the
condition of their enlistment, and of
quarrelsome wives complained of by their
husbands
One company of the Amazon regiment
bears the name of Razor Virgins" be-
cause they are armed with razor five
feet long, which is terrible weapon in
African fights, and is used in time of
peace to decapitate the. men sentenced
to death by the Dahoman king, who
also uses his Amazons as public execu
TONERS.
Another company is named the big
Muskets, every woman soldier being
accompanied by a slave who carries the
heavy tlintloct. The "Sure-to-Kill"
company is formed of the best sharp
shooters; there are also the Gardiner"
and the 'Bayonet" companies.
That of the ARROW Bearers is COM
posed of girls yet too young for actual
fighting but who are employed as re-
connoitering parties and in the ambu
lance corps, primitive as the latter is.
One, the elephant" company, is not
destined for the battlefield, but for hunt
ing the elephant and procuring the
ivory for the royal treasure. The most
daring, agile and athletic girls are ad-
mitted in that company, which might be
called the civil or private service of King
kOndO