The record-union., 1893-01-19
HORRORS OF DAHOMEY.
The Frightful Human Sacrifices
Practiced There.
One Thousand Slaves Put to Death
When the Present King Was
Crowned-A Beautiful Country
The Object of the Present French
Invasion of 1t.

The military operations of the French
against Dahomey have caused public at
| tention to be directed more than ever be-
fore to this little-known country, whose
name for many years has been a synonym
for savage cruelty, for of all the tales Of
oarbarlty which Africa has given to the
world, and they are innumerable, no one
has ever exceeded the story of Dahomey.
The atrocities which are an every day
sight in this out-ot-the-way corner of the
Dark Continent are all the more terrible
IN that they are perpetrated in the name
OF religion, and every massacre, however
hldeous, is really a sacrifice.
THE DAHoMAN RELIGION.
The religion of the Dahomans is form
of nature worship. They believe in one
| great supreme being, whom they consider
too far removed from earth to concern
himself in the least about human affairs.
| but who delegates his power to host of
inferior deiueS, who have their homes in
the fields, the forests, the springs; who
preside over the crops, the rains, and the
| sunshine. To these sacrifices are annually
made with great pomp and ceremony Of
things as precious as the worshipers can
procure. Nothing is more precious than
human life, and the King, who rules Da-
honey like a demi-god, being regarded
as such by his people, make every year
such sacrifices as he deems becoming to
the dignity OF monarch who terms him
self the brother of the stars. These an
nual sacrifices are called the "customs."
and every year from sixty to one hum
| dred victims are put to death, partly in
honor of the gods and partly to carry
news to the dead.
The Dahomans believe in the immortal
| lty of the soul, and also that every soul
enters the other world i'll precisely the
same condition in which it leaves this:
that king is forever king; that a slave
can never hope for freedom. Every year.
when the season for the "customs' ap-
proaches, q certain number of persons.
| sometimes the Kings own subjects, some-
! times captives taken in war, are selected
for the sacrifice. The native Dahomans
are alone intrusted with the duty of bear
ing the Kings messages to the dead, and
each, In turn, is brought to the King on
| the great day OF the festival. The supreme
ruler of Dahomey wispers into the ear of
the doomed man the message he is to con-
Vey TO the other world anu he is imme-
diately decapitated in Dahomey no
sanctity is attached TO human remains.
The bodies OF the victims are dragged to
the suburbs OF Abomey, the Capital.
where clouds of hungry vultures wait for
the coming feast, and in few hours moth
ing is left of the unhappy victim but the
| bones. Nor are these inferred and hun
! dreds OF acres of ground in the vicinity
of the Capital are strewed with the whit
| ened relics OF mortality. The skulls alone
are preserved; carefully cleaned, they be-
come trophies, and are seen everywhere
in the vicinity OF the Capital, on door
posts, on poles, on the cornices Of the
houses, while the walls OF the temple are
! almost 2ntirniU pDODnnca1 Nft l.,
| reminders.
FATE OF THE SLAVES.
The Kings people are rarely subjected
to the horrid tortures that fall to the fate
of the slaves. The Dahomans are war
like people, and every year raids are or
! ganized into the neighboring country to
recruit the number of slaves. In the
palmy days of the slave trade sacrifices of
| the captives were by no means so numor-
Gus as after its suppression. Then slave
was valuable, and the cupidity of the
King prevented such destruction of prom
erty as was involved in the sacrifice of
human life. But since the suppression
of the traffic in human flesh the lives of
slaves are comparatively worthless in
| Dahomey, and hundreds are annually
put to death with the most savage tor
lures. They are dismembered limb bv
limb; they are tied to posts and hounds
are set to worry them to death; thew are
securely fastened to the ground near the
nests Of the ierocious ants of the country
! that attack them and tear their flesh. bit
! by bit, away, the spectacle of a still liv-
ing man with his body half eaten bv the
ants being not infrequently seen. Near
the royal palace there are long avenues.
| and when the King desires to receive an
embassy with unusual pomp gibbets are
erected, and on these are hung. head
downward, dozens Of hapless slaves.
. flasN. rEtn in = Al.
soldiers, until death puts an end to their
sutferings. Even before the breath has
left the body, however, the vulture. in
Dahomey sacred bird, begins his work.
and the screams of the sufferers. torn IN
pieces by the greedy birds, render the
vicinity of the palace hideous. Shocking
as are the daily exhibitions OF cruelty i6
this terrible country, they are far s;1r-
passed by the scenes which take place
when monarch is crowned The pauy
King provides himself as speedily as nos
sible with sufficient number at victims
and then celebrates the ''grand customs.,'
in which from 500 to 900 men are put to
death IN order to provide the deceased
King with suitable retinue in the other
world. Then blood flows in streams.
On the accession of the present ruler so
great was the number of those thus wan
tonly slain that large trench was made
in the ground, in which a canoe was
placed. The blood of the murdered men
was conducted by conduits into the
trench until its quantity was sufficient TO
float the boat.
CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY.
Yet Dahomey is country the character
of which recalls the lines of the old
hymn, where every prospect pleases
and only man is vile." Near the coast
the land is low and sandy, but a few
miles from the sea the forests of the in
terror begin, and present a scene of Ieafv
grandeur such as can be seen nowhere
outside of the tropics. Most Of the trees
are OF gigantic size, while intertwined
creepers and vines, overhead and under
foot, render the progress of the footmen
almost impossible. Further on the for
ests give way to rolling lands of wonder