The Herald of Wales and Monmouthshire Recorder. — 1883-09-01 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

DAROVILT.  The most powerful fetish is Danh.gbwe, the tutelary saint of Whydah, and which is personified by the harmless snake so named. Its worship was introduced into Dahomey when the kingdom of Whydah was conquered and annexed. In Whydale,hidden from ;3:teNn profanew ef by etish t fghtil csko snake-house. -7noufs tfi• g acis cothredfireti! Mr. Skertchly, nothing more than a circular swish liut —the very model of the Parian inkstand to be seen in every toy-shop. From the room depended pieces of cotton yarn, and on the floor, which in common with the walls,was whitewashed, were several pots of water. The pythons, to the number of 22, were coiled on the top of the wall or twined around the rafters. Anthem° hideous reptiles are homed. To slay one, even by accident—for to do so purposely would not be dreamt of—used to entail instant sacrifice to the gods, and confiscation of all the offender's property to the fetish priests. Nowadays his punishment is not so severe, but still exemplary enough. The offender, after a meeting of all the fetishers of the neighbourhood is convened, is fleeted within a hut of stick, thatched with dry grass and built in the enclosure in front of the snakehouse. His clothes and body are well daubed with palemoil, mixed with the fat of the murdered snake-god. At a given signal the hut is tired, and the materials being like tinder, the unfortunate offender against the majesty of the fetish is enveloped inflamed. In excruciating torture he rushes out of the flames— his clothes on fire—to the nearest aster, pursued by the infuriated priests, who be-labour him with sticks, atones, and all sorts of rubbish. If he reaches the water he is free, and if he is fortunate to live, has i'sposted his crime. But few are able to run the gsuntlet, and expire before reaching the cooling water, clubbed to death by the fetishuien—the Danhglue e-no, or snake-mothers, as they are called. As the door of the anake.temple is always open, the snakes frequently wander out after nightfall. If any person meets one, he must prostrate himself before it,carrying it tenderly in his aims to the temple, when his humanity to the snake.g.N.l is rewarded by his I_ll iilg fined for meeting the snake; and if he cannot or will not pay, is imprisoned until the uttermost cowry is extracted from Peoples of the World.  He that does a bane thing, in zeal to serve his friend burns the golden thread that ties their hearts together  It is not so much for love of the world that we seek it, as it is to escape our own companionship. An aesthetic poet wrote, "The Muses kiss with lips of llama," but when he found the second word printed "muleehe talked like a burly pirate for five minutes. A Boston paper states that a Chicago grocer sells soap every tenth cake of which contains in its centre a gold dollar, and that the citizens of Chicago are in consequence getting to look tolerably clean.  "How did you like Europe?" "It's too splendid for anything !" was the reply. "And were you sick?" "Yes, awfully sick." "And was your husband good to you?" "Oh, he was too good for anything ! Just as soon as he found out I was sick he went and drank salt water, so as to be sea-sick in unison with me, aged Pm not his second wife, either!"  WALLACE'S for Boots and Shoes-01), ffigh-sinet, Names.