The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-01-06
THE AMAzons OF pAHoMev.
Female Soldiers Who Are Moro Savage
and Dangerous Than Men.

Female Soldiers who Are Moro Savage
and Dangerous Than Men.
In 1868 Sir Richard Burton, then Cap
tain Burton, was sent by Lord Russell on
a mission to Dahomey with presents from
the queen. On his return he told his wife
that he had seen enough dreadful sights
TO turn his brain. At that time there
were no Europeans at Dahomey, and the
savagery of the king and his people amply
accounted for the fact. Burton's story
OF the mission is full of curious things,
and his widow has done well 10 republish
the work which would otherwise be diff
cult of access. Perhaps the most interest
ing part of it is that which relates to the
so called amazons--" women crueler and
fercer than men,"
Burton explains their origin as troops
by saying that the state of Dahomey in
cluded many more women than men, and
that military duties were therefore not un-
suited to the superfluous ladies. He adds;
"At the Dahomeyan court, curious TO say
In Africa women take precedence Of men,
yet, with truly Hamnitic contradictions
ness the warehouses; say, we are no longer
females, but malesP and soldier disgrac
Ing himself is called, in insult, woman.
II is clear, therefore, that they owe their
dignity to the fiction of being royal wives.
Wherever a she soldiery is, celibacy must
he one of its rules"
Burton's account of these ladies is very
graphic. He says: "I saw all these women
troops marching on service out OF Kama.
The officers, distinguished by their white
head cloths and by an esquiress at arms,
generally small slave girl, carrying the
fnHsket, led their commands expected
to see Penthesileas, Thalestrises, Dianas--
lovely namesl | saw old, ugly, square
built frows, trudging 'grumpily' along,
with the face of cook after being much
'nagged' by the 'missus.' The privates
carried packs on cradles like those of the
male soldiery, containing their bed mats.
clothes and food for week or fortnight,
mostly toasted grains and bean cake, hot
with peppers.
"Cartridge pouches OF two different
shapes were girt round their waists, and
slung to their sides were water gourds,
fetch sacks, bullet wallets, powder Gala
bashes, fans (sic), little cutlasses, wooden
pipe cases enveloped in leather tobacco
bags, flint, steel and tinder and lilliputian
stools, with three on four legs, cut out Of
single blocks. Their weapons were slung,
and behind their backs dangled their
hats, scarecrow felts, extinguishers of
white cotton useful as sacs de mutt, um-
brellas of plated palm leaf and low
crowned, broad brimmed homemade straw
hats"
Compared with this force in "heavy
marching order" we will give Burton's
account of another detachment in "review
order:" "It was now the nmazons' turn
I5 advance and they came up in better
style as regards marching and firing than
their brother soldiers. They passed us
with feu d'enfer,' and when the dust
was not flying the smoke hung like pail
upon the ground. These soldiery wore
tunics of gray baft, stained brown with
blood and barks, covering the bosom and
extending to the knees like men, short
drawers and white sashes hanging 10 the
right"
The same amazon warriors at the an
nual games, or kings customs, which
include great slaughter Of criminals and
prisoners, are thus described: Fourteen
of the tallest and most staggering, not
including small girl, formed n line, and
two mistresses of the ceremonies, armed
with horse tail chauris, chanted and some
times pranced to give time in rear. The
toilet was the pink of propriety--a vest, a
pagne. shorter u& ergarb and Fion
chokoto, or 'pantalettes,' longer than the
male article and extending to the knees. Z"
st. James Gazette.