Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1892-03-17
AaAssxs.

France is again at peace with
Dahomey. She pays the king Of
that country an annual pension,
and he has consented to surrender
his claims to the port Of Koutauou,
which was the great bone Of conten-
tion during the recent troubles.
No one can tell how long the king
will leave the French unmolested.
but his army was so severely pun
ished in the battles Of 1890, that
the king win probably be willing to
pocket his pension, and live in
peace with his white neighbors Tor
ysnrste comes The French lurinx
this brief war got an insight into
the fighting qualities Of the women
worriors Of Dahomey. The French
never faced q more valiant savage
army than these women proved to
be. Time and again they rushed
up to the French entrenchments in
spite of a storm Of bullets, which
laid hundreds Of their numbers low,
and engaged in a hot hand-to-hand
contest with the enemy. The stand
ing army of Dahomey consists of
two bodies; q female corps called
the Amazons, known in Dahomey
by the titles of ''The Kings Wives"
and "Our Mothers;" and a male
corps composed of the palace guards,
court criers and other officials, and
the male adults in Abomey, the
capital. Behind these two corps is
the male population of the kingdom, |
which is liable to be called out, in
part or as whole, to take part in
any expedition, and thus forms a
sort of reserve. The female corps,
or to use common expression, the
Amazons, was raised about the year
1879, when body of women, who
had been armed and furnished with
banners, merely as a stratagem to
make the attacking force appear
larger; behaved with such unex-
pected gallantry as to lead to the
forming Of permanent corps of
women. Up to the reign Of Gezo, |
who came to the throne in 1918, the
Amazon force was composed chiefly
VI cfiiuinols, snoe sss cIfansasoa5 an |
the Dahomey sense of the word.
Wives detected in adultry, and ter
magants and scolds were drafted
into its ranks; and the great major
ity of the women given to the king
by the provincial chiefs, that is,
sent to him as being worthy Of death
for misdemeanors or crimes, were,
instead OF being sacrificed at the
Annual Custom, made women sold
iers. Gezo, who largely made use
of the Amazons to keep his own
subjects in check, and to promote
military rivalry, increased and i'm
proved the force. He directed every
head of family to send his daugh-
ters to Abomey for inspection; the
most suitable were enlisted, and the
corps was thus placed on new
footing. The women Of Dahomey
have for many generations past en-
dured all the toll and performed all
the hard labor of the country, have,
for the weaker sex, an exceptional
physique, which enables them to
bear hardships and privations as
well as, if not better, than the men;
and this, no boubt, was an impor-
tant factor in the causes which led
to the formation of the corps. As
Captain Burton noted, "the women
were generally tall, muscular and
the men smooth, full breasted,
round limbed and effeminate-look-
ing" The whole military force of
the kingdom ID between $4,000 to
20, 1000 combatants, of whom pro-
badly over I, 200 are Amazons, while
the male corps Of the standing army
does not exceed 5000. The
Amazons are taught to disregard
obstacles, dangers, wounds, and
death itself; hence, they often dis
play ferocious courage which car
ries all before it. Their chief aim
in battle is to carry of q large
number of trophies Of their prowess
in the shape Of prisoners, human
heads and jaw bones. They show
utter callousness to human suffer-
ing. They deny all assistance to
wounded prisoners, and all prison.
ers, who are not destined to slavery
are kept in q condition Of semi
starvation that soon reduces them
/ IN uoro sknlofnur A.ua~~r. -