, 1892-08-06
AN AMAZON ARMY.
Two Noted Africans Who are Now
in Paris.

They are Received Everywhere,
The Wonderful Country From
which They Came A Region
Yet Unknown TO White Men.
PARIS, August 6.-Two Africans are now
the talk Of this city. One is a bright and
rather pretty girl and the other bloody
old king. The Parisians speak of her as La
Jolie Negresse, and of him-well, they have
several titles which would not look we'll in
English, but the faYorite one may be trans
lated "The Old Black Monster" He is
the king of Dahomey and she is Sanabou.
Lieutenant NIXON recently passed tV o
years in Central Africa, crossing from tie
Benne river to the Congo and thence goir g
down to European stations. He travers,
a region as yet unvisited by white men,
and won the friendship of a great chief,
whose capital-Igb Igbode-has about 1900
inhabitants. The chiefs daughter, then
thirteen years old, exhibited wonderful
intelligence, and her curiosity to see the
world was so great that she begged per-
mission to go with the whites.
Her talent for languages astonished the
French, as she spoke all the dialects of that
part of Africa, and in a month acquired
enough French to converse with tOlerable
tiuency, Her father finally consented
to her departure, and she proved of
great value to Lieutenant NIXON as
an interpreter. On arrival in Paris her
grace, gayety and intelligence raised
her host of friends, and in learning Ian
guage, music and manners she is quite a
prodigy. Much is expected of her when
she returns to Africa.
Behanzin Hai-Djerry, king Of Dahomey
is creature of very different type. His
army of Amazons, his bloody sacrifices Of
captives and slaves, his horrible snake tenn
piles and general deYiltry have been related
by various travellers, especially Captain
Richard Il. BurtOn-and yet the old fellow
is talented; in fact, the Dahomans gener-
ally excel all other negroes of the slave
coast in bravery.
The French hold the only port on that
part Of the coast and strip Of land around
Whydah, the port town. They forbade
the Dahomans to take captiYes in the re-
giOn under their protection, and so the war
began but as'the latitude is Just north of
the equator there are only a few weeks
in the year that white men can carry on
war with any effectiveness. For two or
three months the rain falls almost inces-
sanity, and at other times the air, but a.
little way inland from the coast, is deadly
to other than African constitutions.
All the lowlands is tangled wilder
ness of immense trees and vines, with such
profusion of brilliant flowers as to daz-
zle the eye. In these forests are wild ami
mails and birds of every species known in
Africa, including vampire bats with three
feet spread Of wing, boa constructors forty
feet long and many small snakes, whose
bite is certain and sudden death. All the
sea on the coast abOunds in sharks of the
worst kind, while inland almost every in
sect is Yenomous, every shrub has thorn
and almost every reptile carries its peculiar
poison. After crossing to the higher lands
the French encounter the famous black
AmazOns, or female warriors.
Every inducement is used to keep the
female army as large as possible, and many
curious methods are employed to unseX
the women and make them ferocious. Any
unchastity, or even the appearance Of femi-
nine fondness, is punished with death.
One of the results has been that in less
than a century the population Of Dahomey
has declined from 100000 to 100000 and is
still rapidly declining. The French have
on two occasions made frightful slaughter
of these AmazOns and are now organizing
another cam Daign against them