The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-14
A ROYAL MONSTER.
KING oBBAH OF BENIN AFRICA,
WORST SOVEREIGN.

~--~--~--~~-
A Distinguished and Brutal Canpi-
bal and SlayeF--His Massacre or
English Visitors viii End His
AtrOciOus Reign--In His Possession
Are Stores of Ivory Worth Millions.
From the New Orleans Picayune.
If England makes good its intention ia
punish King Obbah of Benin for the re-
cent massacre of an unarmed expedition
the most atrocious of the African mon.
archs will get a taste of the misery he mas
so generously bestowed upon tens OF
thousands of others. And that England
will do this there is little doubt, for in ad-
dition to avenging the deaths of her sub
jects, the conquest of Benin will open uD
country of immeasureable richness. Not
only this, but it will abolish one of ths
central points of the slave traffic in Al
RIGA, and go along way towards crushing
cannibaiisnt and human sacrifice.
The domain of King Obhah forms the
central section of the notorious slave coast
of the gulf of Guinea. This was a fayo-
rite resort of the slave hunter as far back
as a century ago. The ancestors of the
king helped the slavers in exchange tor
trifilng baubles, and when the foreign de-
mand ceased, the traffic was continued tor
native purposes, just as dt had existed be-
fore the advent of the foreign slaves
Slavery is a formidable part of the So
cial fabric of this African kingdom 1t
supplies a currency system; it does away
with the need of jails or penitentiares:
it is an exchangeaple commodity for the
riches of the slave cities in Northern Al
RIGA, and forms a scheme for the dispo-
sition of captives made in the petty wars
which are constantly being Waged.
King Obbah' domain adjoinS that Of
the late King of Dahomey, and next 10
the later is the kingdom of Ashantee
whose monarch, Prempeh, was summary
disposed of in October last by the British
Adjoining Benin on the east Is the domain
of the KING of Brass. This nest of king
doms forms large part or the Niger coast
protectorate, but owing IT, to the cruelties
rich country has been rendered next 10
useless for commercial purposes.
OF all these monarchs the King of Benin
! is about the worst. Very few white mem
| have ever visited the city of Benin, To-
| Gated some two hundred miles inland from
| the coast. Even the missionaries have
! given the city a wide berth, although they
! have penetrated to ali parts of the king
! dom of Ashantee Dahomey and Bra
! Capt. IL. l.. Galway, the British vice
/ sui of that district, visited the place
concluded a treaty with King Ado
| predecessor of Obbah.
Adoa was reckoned to be a ma
/ human monarch than Obbakn,ss
of the things witnessed by GiySo'ia{,
! seem to have reached the gRSf 49, 49,
rageous barbarism. HA.s-f,ek cSto,
At AIMS night ana 1nd TIE ne kaa1g corded a
at his, disposal. in the MOI. f fiygS
thing ne skw was the body cited
woman <ewho had been sacr1ffe two
k-WeeKSF before, according to rites,
u tHat the rain might stop. his
house were two bodies frighuti-
lated, and further away welodieS
fed.
When he examined his owe he
! found that the walls were axVith
many human skulls and bone here
were many blood stains on thSoma
| of them quite fresh, showing two
rooms had recently been ths OF
some wild slaughter.
The city OF Benin is quite live
having twelve or fifteen hundaseS
of clay. What the population only
| be conjectured, as the men are ntly
going on expeditions in the coThn
number of women and children city
is very great. Polygamy is eyely
practiced. The fathers look up5girI
children as so much property so
much money. They are Virtua,yeA
from birth, and eventually maniem
are sold by the dealers in the slartR
1t is believed that the city MIN
contains fabulous amounts of ivFor
many generations the natives hsen
compelled to give the reigning. a
certain amount of ivory, and asur-
rounding country is the richestle-
plants of any section Of Africa,ac-
emulation of tusks is figured tom
mense.
When Capt. Galway visiths
kings palace he saw enough to 1ce
him that the ivory of the kingdva9
worth millions. The palace is sured
by high walls of clay, and in theos1
ure were mum bers of shrines of ed
tusks. some of them of prodigiope.
Each shrine was guarded day anGe
by naked attendants, as the aversi-
tive is not above, stealing from MY.
although he well knows that deN
means death in a horrible form.
King Obbah has some pieces Of $40
bore cannon, and the slave dealerhe
taught his soldiers how to managens
Some of his soldiers are also armecT
old-style rifles, but the bulk OF thea
armed merely with native weapo
Against the rapid-fire guns which !
English will bring against them, they
be moved down like grass.
In the campaign against Prempeh
English won a bloodless victory by
ploying pyrotechnicS at night Inc
works scared the natives almost 10 oea
and depopulated the capital city OK
mast in less than half an hour. hlng
bah, however, has had more experience
modern warfare than the Ashantee NJ
and it is to be expected that he viii ma
a more stubborn fight.
For two years he has Waged a BueIrl
war against the Royal Niger Trading 90
pany, which maintains stations Tor ma
hundreds of miles along the river nag
These wars have been mainly direct
against the native employees OF the conf
ny, and thousands of them have been X
ed or captured within the past two yea
depredations and for that reason no r.
ular military expedition has been 81
against him. This has evidently ma
the king bold, as was shown by the rect
massacre of Englishmen.
To punish King Obbah will not be
easy matter. To reach the city of Bel
means a march of more than 200 mi
through an almost impenetrable count
where the danger Of falling into an ambl
cade. will be great. To guard again
rapid firing will be employed nearly eW
minute in the march of many days
number of these guns Will be kept IN J
van of the invading force, and thousat
of shots will be fired through the tn
brush to clear it of lurking savages.
this way a fairly safe road will be plop
through the country for the English.
Among the Benin warriors cannibalh
is rife. Animal flesh is designated as co
ing from dumb, inferior brutes, while :
man flesh is regarded as the proper mt
for great soldiers. The bodies of enena
killed in battle, even at great distans
from the city, are transported to Ben
with much labor for the purpose of 81
plying the population with an immese
feasting. The warriorsoeat first, then ns
male children are fed, while the woIei
and small girls receive the leavings.
| During the brief intervals of peace, w1en
there is a scarcity of war prisoners, slave
are sacrificed to appease the appetites q
the king and his leading warriors mi
execution ground In Benin Is near w
Ii II. H. l.