The number of Copies of this Work is limited to 320 for sale w the British
Isles and Abroad, and no other or cheaper edition will be issued.

From a photograph taken on board the Niger Coast Protectorate
Yacht while-the King was on his way to exile.

author of a quot;sketch of the peasantry of eastern russia,quot; quot;the aborigines
of tasmaniaquot; {-Zfld edition), quot;the natives of sarawak and
british north borneo,quot; etc., etc.

At the time of the destruction of the city of Great Benin, we seemed to
know very Httle about the city or the country, but its capture caused us
to seek out what had once been known and long since forgotten. Our ignorance
was due partly to the fact that Benin was, from the time of the first discovery
a decaymg city off the great high-roads of European commerce, and partly to
the obstacles placed in the way of Europeans getting there, by the natives,
a difficulty in which the unhealthy nature of the country came to the aid of
the blackman. The first Dutch chronicler tells us: quot;A man might write more
about this town if he were allowed to see it, as you may our towns at home; but
this IS not permitted here, but is forbidden and prevented by one who is always
given to attend upon you, to go with you, to show you the right way, so that no
one IS allowed to go alone through the town, which they say is because a stranger
should not lose his way, but nevertheless one may not go boldly just as one pleases.quot;
And this prohibition with regard to the visits of Europeans continued in force until
the very last Whether such obstacles were due to the fear of the denunciation of
human sacrifices and all their attendant horrors, or whether the ruling chiefs rightly
feared that once a European got a footing he would soon become master of the
country as he has an awkward way of doing, matters little now; but if a city ever
deserved its fate, that city was the city of Great Benin. At the same time, while we
canno avoid feelings of regret that an interesting old town and its old-world institutions
should have been destroyed, the horrors which met the Punitive Expedition, when

entered the sacred precincts, showed that the little war we waged was justified
beyond all expectation.

For an account of the impression the city produced on a European I cannot
do better than quote the words of my friend Mr. Cyril Punch :

quot; Benin has an extraordinary fascination for me which I cannot explain. Having
spent twenty years in the Niger Delta and Lagos back country, and visited most of
the places rom Bariba to Old Calabar, and surveyed them from the points of view
of trader, planter, and official, I can remember no place which stirs up the feelings
which the mention of Benin does. Looking back now, with later experiences of
official visits to out of the way corners, with one^s police or Haussa escort to take
care of one, those wierd visits to Benin City simply stand by themselves.

quot; All the rest of West Africa that I know is squalid. Squalor is just the one
idea that strikes one. Benin in the old days was more than squalid, it was gruesome.
What the exact influence of the place was, or rather what the cause was of the
influence felt, I cannot say, but the fact remains that no one who went there in the
old days came away without being impressed.

quot; It may be that Benin, through foreign influence growing from a negro into a
civilised town long ago and reverting to type, really gives the place its interest. One
was always stumbhng across traces of a deceased civilization akin to our own, yet
nothing in negro nature is really akin to us.

quot;As a town, Benin was inconsiderable compared with places like Ibadan,
Iseyhin, Shaki, Modakeke, and Abeokuta. There was no wealth, nor was there
even power, except the power of the influence of fetish, and the sense of the spirit
of a long past of atrocities, which, if not supernatural, were at any rate unnatural to
a degree which is indescribable. I remember the return of two of Miller Brothers\'
men from a visit they paid to Benin after I had been there. They arrived at
Guatun one evening, and showed plainly in their faces the mental strain that their
visit had been to them.quot;

In the preparation of this work I am indebted to Mr. C. H. Read for his courteous
permission to make use of the exhibits in the British Museum for illustrations, and to
the Council of the Anthropological Institute for the use of the blocks of the plaques m
the British Museum, from the paper by Messrs. Read and Dalton in the Journal of that
Institute. The photographs by Mr. Granville were kindly taken for me with a camera
I supplied him with immediately after the war. To Mr. Heawood, Librarian of the
Royal Geographical Society, I owe many thanks for assistance in hunting up the
records of the French traders after the time of the Dutch. Dr. Forbes, Director of
the Liverpool Museum, I have to thank for permission to illustrate some of the Bmi
articles under his care, and to Mr. J. Batalha-Reis, Portuguese Consul-General, I
owe thanks for assistance in obtaining information from the old Portuguese
chroniclers. To Mr. Jas. R. Boosé, Librarian of the Royal Colonial Institute,
Mr John Holt of Liverpool, and Mr. Jas. Irvine of Liverpool, I hkewise owe thanks
for the loan of books. Most of all am I indebted to Mr. Cyril Punch, who has been
so good as to revise the information I had collected, and who, besides supplying me
with valuable notes and sketches, has at the same time allowed me to choose for
pubhcation some of the most interesting of the many photographs he had taken
while in the Bini country. The reader will have no difficulty m gauging and
appreciating the large amount of his assistance, which was given at all times
frankly and cheerfully.

Page
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ix

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85
91

97
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125
131

Frontispiece - - King Overami.
Bronze Plaque : European out Shooting
do. do. : Bearded European
do. do. ; European armed with Matchlock
do. do. : European armed with Matchlock and Sword
Bronze Statuette : European Soldier, Sword and Rapier
D.R.\'s Illustrations of Head Dressing
Coral Beads..nbsp;. .

-31,37, Bracelets
Flat Ring ..
Ring, double crossed ..
Pinsnbsp;..nbsp;. .nbsp;. .

Whistle (?) ..
Pendant
Gilt Metal Shell
Pendant
Ivory Armlets
. Brass Armlets
Copper Armlet

Two Views of Small Brass Mask . .
Brass Bottle. .
Bronze Bracelet
Bronze Plaque : Fetish King
do. do. : Fetish Chief (?) ..
do. do. : Fetish King
Seal of Abraxos
Crucifixion Trees
Human Entrails on Altar

do. with Inlaid Plates
Wooden Head covered with Thin Brass
Altar with Wands and Pots

The Malaku\'s House in Gwato
Juju Altar in King\'s Compound
Three Bronze Heads
Bronze Head

Sketch to show how Tusk measured to pay for a Slave
Double Gourd Quiver . ,
Bronze Statuette

do. do. : Chief and Attendants with Shields (Fan
D.R.\'s Gourd Rattle ..
Court Fan
Bronze Group
Base Relief of Fig, 105

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Fig. 15-27, 29
„ 28.

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39.

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.. 44

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49-

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72-

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,,nbsp;SI.

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„nbsp;83.

90-94,
95-

96.

97,nbsp;98-

99.

100,
lOOA.
Id.

102.

103.

104.

105-

106.

107.

Bronze Plaque : Chief with Attendants and Shields and
Brass Double Bell Form
do. Figure with Double Bell Form
Brass Enchased Stool . .
Copper Polished Stool ..
114. Appliqué Work on Brass Stool
116. Wooden Kola Nut Box . .
do. do. do.
Bronze Ornamental Ada
Position in which Official Cutlass was held
Bronze Plaque : Ofamp;cial striking a Sistrun
Bronze Lamp Ladle

Designs on Rims of Hand Lamp (Fig. 126)
Sketch Plan to illustrate Scene at Court
Small Standard Lamp
Large do. do.
Hand Lamp ..
Snuffer
129, Bronze Plaque

Bronze Plaque : Bringing in a Prisoner
do. do, ; Warrior
do. do : Noble ,,
Ivory Armlet : Soldier with Bow . ,
Powder Keg (?)
Ornamentation on Fig. 139
Knife
144. Hoe
Axe

Sketch Plan of Markets
Bronze Plaque : Traders with Manillas
Market Women\'s Tray . .
Oboba Stream
Native Group
Drum
153, Details of Fig. 151

do. do. : Native with curious Hair Dressing
Abodoagmo and Family
Sketch plan of D.R.\'s Broad Street
Scene in Benin City
View of do, do.
Box with Shingled Roof
High Pitched Shingled Roof
Street in Benin City
King\'s Wall ..
House in Course of Erection
Ruined House

Outside Corner of King\'s Compound
Wall with Clay Figures in Relief . .
House Wall . .
171. Section and Plan of Wall and Roof Timbers
View of Benin City
do.nbsp;do.

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I.nbsp;The First Chroniclers—Ruy de Pina—Garcia de Rezende—Joao de Barros—Antonio Galvano—

Pecheco Pereira—The unknown Dutchman D.R—Peter de Marees—Arthus—De Bry—
Windam—Pinteado—John Bird and his Company (2)—De CarU—Sorrento—Fathers Francis and
Filip—Dapper—Blomert—Nyendael—Barbot — Landolphe (Quesné) — Legroing and Balon
(Labarthe) (3)—Palisot de Beauvais—King—Belzoni—Adams—Fawckner—Moffat and Smith—
Burton—Jacolliot—Cheetham and Clarke—C. Punch—Gallway—The massacre—The Punitive
Expedition (4)—Roupell\'s Chiefs—Various publications.

II.nbsp;The Discovery—Gomez—Sequeira—Aveiro\'s description of city—Guinea pepper—Benin Am-
bassadors (5)—Missionaries despatched to Benin—Factory established at Gwato—Prester John\'s
Crucifix—Size of Gwato and Benin—Fetishism—Juju—Bini face mark—Trading—Neighbouring
peoples (6)—Large canoes—The Ijos, or Jos, Cannibals—Salt—Trading—Slaves—Elephant
Tusks—Friendship with the Portuguese — Church built in Benin—List of Kings—Average
reign (7)—Warri and Benin formerly one state—First king came from Yoruba—his conquests—
the slave Ubini (8)—Native account of arrival of white men (9)—Their trade—Settlement at
Gwato—No white women—Dapper on the extent of the kingdom (11)—Description of country—
Water provided on the routes—Mythical people (12)—Barbot, Landolphe and Burton on the
extent of the kingdom—Landers\' references to Benin (13)—Population (14)—Cause of decay—
Civil war — Vestiges of Christianity — Crucifixes (13)—Native crucifixion derived from the
Holy Cross—Missionaries reprove the king—White woman marries king of Warri—Church—
Relics of forgotten ceremonies.

Our authorities for the early days of Benin City, or Great Benin, are Ruy de Pina
(1440-1523, Chronica de D. Joao IL); Garcia de Rezende (1470-1554), whose
account is a repetition of de Pina; Joao de Barros (1496-1570, Da Asia,)
whose records are evidently based on de Pina ; Antonio Galvano (Tradado,
Lisboa, 1563); and Duarte Pecheco Pereira (Esmiraldo de Situ Orbis, 1505-1520).
Ruy de Pina, Garcia de Rezende and Pecheco Pareira were contemporaries of the
discovery of the city. De Barros wrote in 1539 onwards, or more than fifty years
afterwards, and is considered the greatest authority on Portuguese, African and
Asiatic travels of his time ; he resided for three years in S. George of the Mine
(Elmina) not so very far from Benin.^ After the Portuguese, we have the Dutch
and other chroniclers commencing with the unknown Dutchman D.R., whose
account of Benin, frequently ascribed to Pieter de Marees, if not to the translator
Arthus, appears in De Bry, which I have made use of in the Frankfurt edition, 6th
part, 1604.^

Then we have Windam who went out to Africa and visited Benin in 1553
(Hakluyt ii., 2nd pt., p. 12). He was accompanied by Francisco Pinteado and

1nbsp;For this list of authorities and for translations from their works, I am indebted to my learned
friend Mr. J. Batalha-Reis, the Portuguese Consul-General in London.

2nbsp;Pieter de Marees addressed letters to his uncle Jan Sandra, a merchant in Amsterdam ; he
belonged to an expedition of two vessels which left Holland November 1600, and returned 21st March,
1602. The description of Benin is by D.R. and not by P. de M. ; see Tiele, Mémoire Bibliographique
(P- 152).

Nicholas Lambert, and does not seem to have well treated Pinteado, who died out
there. After them the next record is of John Bird, John Newton, Jas. Welsh,
Anthonie Ingram, Thos. Hemsted, Sam Dunne, Benson, and W. Bird, who left
London for Benin in February, 1588; the survivors of this party made a second
voyage to Benin in February, 1590 {ihid, p. 128). We have after this a Capuchin
named Denis de Carli mentioned (Churchill I., p. 578) as invalided home to Lisbon
in 1666-7, where he shortly died, and quot; who had been 16 years in Africk either in the
aforesaid Island St. Thomas, or the Kingdom of Benin and Overola.quot; Then we
have a reference by Merolla da Sorrento (Churchill IL, p. 676) to Fathers Francis
de Romano and Filip da Figuar, who were in Benin about 1682 to 1688. The next
writer was Dr. Olfert Dapper (Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche
Gewesten, Amsterdam, 1668) whose work was followed by that of D. v. Nyendael
(in Bosman\'s Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge van de Guinese, Utrecht, 1704). There are
other bare references here and there, but it appears to me that much of the accounts
of Benin published from the time of Nyendael to the nineteenth century is more or
less copied from Dapper. In the preface to his work, Bosman throws doubt on
Dapper\'s statements ; Nyendael does so likewise, plainly stating that Dapper never
was in Benin, which is quite true. Nyendael\'s description of the city is very fair,
but Dapper gives a much fuller description including much detail about the sacrifices,
and there are descriptions in his account not mentioned by other chroniclers, but
which have been coniirmed by members of the British Punitive Expedition. Dapper\'s
work appeared in 1668 (second edition, 1676), and in 1670, John Ogilby published
his celebrated work quot;Africa,quot; of which the portion relating to Benin is taken from
Dapper.^ In the preface Dapper says he obtained much information about the
country between Cape Verde and the Kingdom of Lovango from the writings of
Samuel Blomert, handed him by the historian Isaak Yossius ; he mentions that
Blomert\'s account was very full, containing a large amount of information not
previously recorded. Blomert he tells us lived several years in Africa. Dapper
himself did not visit Africa. Who this Sam. Blomert was is not clear.^

After Nyendael we have Jean Barbot (A Description of the Coasts of North and
South Guinea, ^c., London, fol. 1732) who copies Dapper without acknowledgment,
but with additions of his own for which he gives no authority. He was a Hugenot,
and before coming to England was Agent General of the Royal Company of Africa
and Islands in America, at Paris. His biographer (Biographie Universelle) says he
was too busy compiling the works of others to insert his own experiences. But if he had
ever been in Benin, he would probably have said so. The next recorded visitor was
Captain J. F. Landolphe, a gallant Frenchman who got so far as the Benin or For-
mosa River in 1769, and did not go up to Benin until 1778, after which date he made
repeated visits. (Mémoires du Capitaine Landolphe . . . rédigés sur son Manuscrit,
par J. S. Quesné, Paris, 2 vols., 8vo. 1823). Unfortunately Quesné appears to have
mutilated his friend\'s MS. so that the narrative is not quite so reliable as could be
wished. On one occasion in 1787, Landolphe took up with him to Benin two fellow

1nbsp;In the following pages, all extracts from Dapper are taken from a translation from the
Dutch which I have had specially made for this work. It is curious that in the second edition of
Dapper\'s work the plates have English as well as Dutch descriptions, and the identical plates
appear in Ogilby. I have not had an opportunity of seeing and comparing a first edition.

2nbsp;In A. J. van der Aa\'s Biographisch Woordenbock der Nederlanden, Harlem, 1853, there is
only one reference to a Sam. Blommart (Bloemart), a man who distinguished himself in Java and
then seems to have been lost sight of.

countrymen, Legroing and Balon, who were sent up by de Flotte, the latter being too
ill to proceed (P. Labarthe, Voy. à la Côte de Guinée, Paris, 1803). A friend of
Landolphe\'s was Palisot de Beauvais, the botanist, who also visited Benin (Notice
sur le Peuple de Benin, in the Décade Philosophique, No. 12, Année 9, 1801).
Beauvais who wrote the Flore d\'Oware et de Benin (Paris 1840) gave the name
Landolphia to the plants from which rubber is now obtained. Lieut., afterwards Com-
mander, John King, E.N. must have visited Benin between the years 1815 and 1821.
(O\'Byrne\'s Naval Biography, Lond. 1849). He saw much service on the Coast and
it is strange that his account ol Benin should only be known in its French garb
(Jour, des Voy., vol. xiii. Paris, 1823). In the meanwhile Belzoni, an Italian and a well-
known explorer in Egypt, got as far as Gwato, where he died on 3rd Dec., 1823, and the
wooden tablet on his grave was fast going to decay in 1838. After him, we have
Capt. John Adams (Remarks on the Country from Cape Palmas to the the River
Congo, Lond., 1823). Capt. Jas. Fawckner, who was wrecked on the coast, visited
the city in 1825 (Travels on the Coast of Benin, London 1837), and was followed
in 1838 by Mofifatt and Smith, surgeons to Mr. Jamieson\'s schooner, the Warree
(Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc., 1841). Then the famous traveller, Captain (afterwards Sir)
Richard Burton visited the city in 1862, and left us long descriptions of that visit,
and of the place (Eraser\'s Magazine, Feb., Mar. and April, 1863). After Burton,
the next record is that of a M. Jacolliot (Voyages aux Rivers du Niger, Paris, 1878)
whose own account of his doings at the court had better been left unpublished ;
he tells us practically nothing of the city.

The traders Samuel Cheetham, Hugh Crawford Clarke, and Henry were at
Guatun [Gwato] and Benin in the early sixties. Clarke wrote a pamphlet on his trip,
but it was probably privately printed.

In 1885, a party consisting of Clarke, Hilliard, Coxon and Henderson went to
Gwato with Vice-Consul Blair en route for Benin. Blair had fever, and the party
returned without going to Benin. Blair died in Benin river the day after they
returned. The Jekri people said he had been poisoned; but he died of simple
hyperperexia. The Jekri had a most profound fear of the Binis\' knowledge and use
of poisons. In 1888, a party consisting of Bleasby, Bey, Farquhar, and perhaps
others, went to Benin, but becoming impatient at vexatious delays, returned without
seeing the king at all. In i88g, C. Punch paid his first visit taking Powis with
him. He paid many visits after; on one occasion McNaught a doctor in Benin river
went with him, and on another Vice-Consul Annesley and Bleasby. In 1890,
Paton and Ochterton paid a visit to Benin, and later on, some others of Miller Bros.,
people.

The last visitor who recorded his visit before the Massacre, is Capt. Gallwey
(Geogr. Jour, ii., 1893). Capt Gallwey made a treaty with the King of Benin which
was not adhered to, and not only did the king lay obstacles in the way of trade, but
he also continued his customary massacres of slaves. Several British officers made
attempts at various times to get into Benin territory, but they were invariably met
by armed forces, and as they were under strict instructions not to come to blows, they
had in every case to retire. Towards the end of the year 1897, Vice-Consul Phillips,
of the Niger Coast Protectorate, determined on a peaceful mission to Benin. This
was in the absence of the Consul-General, Major Moore. Mr. Phillips, who had not
been long in the country, appears to have been badly advised with regard to the
expediency of the proposed mission. Messengers were sent to the King of Benin
advising him of the coming of the white men. The answers received were not favour-

able, and local chiefs, especially the two well-known chiefs, Dore and Dudu, begged
Phillips not to proceed. However, on the 2nd January, 1897, the Mission, completely
marmed so as not to arouse any fears or suspicion in the minds of the natives or the
King, left Sapele, and on the 4th January it started from Gwato. A few hours after-
wards, with the exception of Mr. Locke and Capt. Boisragon, all the white men, seven
in number, were massacred, together with a very large proportion of their Jekri and
Kruboy carriers. A full description of this disaster is given by Capt. Boisragon
(The Benin Massacre, London, 1897), After this, the British Government was of
course obliged to interfere, and under the command of Admiral Sir Harry Rawson,
the Punitive Expedition was sent out. By the 17th of February the city of Benin
was captured, and it was afterwards unfortunately destroyed by a conflagration which
the soldiery was unable to stem. This Expedition has been described by Com-
mander R. H. Bacon (The City of Blood, London, 1897).

In addition to the publications referred to above, a collection of notes of special
interest was obtained by Captain Roupell in 1898, from the following chiefs:—
Ariyo, Court Historian; Eseri, Ossa, Osuon, all Jujumen; Ihollo ii.. Master Wood
Carver, and Ine, Master Ivory Carver. These notes were kindly placed at my
disposal at the time by Sir Ralph Moor, Consul-General and Administrator-General
of the then Niger Coast Protectorate. I made use of them in my paper on Benin
Customs (Internationales Archiv f. Ethnographic, 1898), and they have since been
published in full by Messrs. Read amp; Dalton, in their important work (The Antiquities
of Benin, London, 1899). Another important work (Antique Works of Art from Benin),
was published by General Pitt Rivers (privately printed) just before his death in 1900.
Prof. von. Luschan has published several papers of which, as he is preparing a big
work on the subject, I need not mention any specially except Die Karl Knorrsche
Sammlung von Benin Alterthiimer, Stuttgart, 1901. Other writers on the subject
are Dr. J. Brinckmann, Dr. F. Carlsen, Dr. H. O. Forbes, Dr. Karl Hagen, Dr.
Eraser Heger, Mr. R. Quick, and Prof. Fred. Star. My various fugitive papers on
Benin subjects are incorporated in the present work.

In 1469, King Alfonso V. of Portugal contracted with Fernao Gomez to discover
one hundred leagues of coast every year for five years, starting from Serra Leoa
(Sierra Leone). In January, 1471, some of the men employed by Gomez had
reached Sa Jorge de Mina, and as on the fifth year of the contract, 1474, Ruy de
Sequeira arrived at Cape Sa. Catherina, 2°3o\' lat. S., the coast of Benin had therefore
already been examined. According to Antonio Galvao (2nd Ed., pp. 25-6) Sequeira
sighted or visited Benin about 1472. Aveiro discovered (in the sense of making
better known) the city in i486, or perhaps 1482. While it is probable, therefore,
that Sequeira discovered the city, Aveiro gave us the first description of it. His
account is reproduced here from Ruy de Pina\'s Chronica (Chap, xxiv., Discovery
of Beny.)- quot; This year, i486, the land of Beny was for the first time discovered beyond
the Mine in the Rivers of the Slaver, by Joham Affonso de Aveiro who died there.
It was from there that came to these Kingdoms (Portugal) the Guinea Pepper^ which
grew in large quantities on that land, and the samples of which were immediately
sent to Flanders and to other parts, being there estimated at high prices. And the

1 The Guinea pepper or grains (hence Grain Coast) were seeds of the Ammonium Paradisi, and
were a spice not a pepper; they are closely related to the Cardamoms which are the quot;pepperquot;
alluded to as from India.

King of Beny sent to the King (of Portugal) as Ambassador a negro who was his
captain in a seaport known as Ugato [Gwato], wishing to have news of our lands,
the people of Avhich had been (in Beny) considered a great novelty. This Ambassador
was a man of prudence and natural knowledge. He was received with great
festivities and was shown many of the good things of these Kingdoms, and he
was returned to his land in a ship of the King (of Portugal) who at the moment of
parting presented him, for himself and his wife, with rich dresses, and sent at the same
time to the King (of Beny) a rich present of things which he thought the latter would
greatly esteem, also holy and Catholic advice, with entreaty to embrace the faith,
and great censures for the heresies and great idolatries and feiticarias,^ which the
negroes profess in these lands. And with them then went some new Royal Feitores
to reside there and negotiate the said pepper and other things in the King of
Portugal\'s interest. However, as the country was afterwards found to be very
unhealthy and not so fruitful as had been expected, their commerce ceased.quot;^ De
Barros tells us (Decada i., Liv. iii. Cap. iii.) quot; Little profit came from what the
King (of Portugal) did in answer to the request of the King of Beny whose Kingdom
lies between the Kingdom of Congo and the fortress of St. George of the Mine;
because ... in the year 1486, the King of Beny sent to the King of Portugal for
Priests who could teach him the faith. This Ambassador of the King of Beny was
brought over by Joao Affonso d\'Aveiro who had been sent by the King (of Portugal)
to discover their coast, wherefrom he brought the first Pepper of Guinea ever seen
in Portugal, which we now call \' tailed pepper \' {de Rabo, i.e., with a tail) because it
is different from that which comes from India, the former having attached to it part
of the peduncle on which it grows. This the King (of Portugal) sent to Flanders ;
but it was not so much esteemed as the Indian one. And because this Kingdom of Beny
was near the fortress of St. George of the Mine, and the Negroes who brought gold to
its market wished to buy their slaves to carry their merchandises, the King (of Portugal)
ordered a new Feitoria to be established in a port of Beny called Gato [Gwato].
The King of Beny was very much attached to his idolatries, etc.quot; The same
chronicler also informs us (p. 183) that in 1540 an Ambassador from Benin brought
a cross (? crucifix) from Benin ; this was supposed to have come from Prester John.

In Pereira\'s Esmiralda, 1505, we read that there is a good road from Gwato to
Benin. Gwato is a league across from gate to gate ; there are no walls but there is
a deep ditch all round. Pereira states he was there four times. The houses are
built of sun-dried bricks covered with palm leaves. Benin, which is 80 leagues (sic)
long by 40 leagues {stc) broad, is always at war with its neighbours from whom
it obtains captives, whom we buy at from 12 to 15 brass or copper manillas.\' The

1nbsp;The word/ete/j generally used is merely a corruption of the Portuguese/««Vico, hence feiUceria or
feiticismo. B-.R.

2nbsp;On this Mr. C. Punch remarks: quot;The country had little of real value to the Europeans.
Ivory was scarce from a trade point of view, rubber was not known, palm oil and palm kernels were
not much worked, in fact the latter were earmarked as \' King\'s trade quot; and were tabu. For a time
slaves formed a consideration, but with the slave trade abolished there was little of value to keep
Europeans going. There were professions of friendship, great ceremonies, and much fetish, and then
after a time the Europeans found there was nothing in Benin to keep them there, and so time after
time intercourse has ceased, and the country gone to sleep again.quot;

Manilla=wflo, hand, anel or anilho, ring. These bracelets are still a medium of exchange in
other parts of Africa and are manufactured in Birmingham, and sent out by the Liverpool traders.
It is said that in some cases the natives are so particular that they test the manilla by its sound
when struck together, which they do behind their backs, and that, therefore, the mixing of the metal
has to be carefully attended to.

ways of these people are very extraordinary, he says, and he refers to many fetishes
which, however, he does not describe. East of Benin, loo leagues in the interior,
there is a people with a King called Likasagu,^ lord of many and possessed of great
power ; also another power whose chief amongst the negroes is like that of the Pope
amongst us. There are then references to men who live in mountains and woods ;
the negroes called them Oza. Up a branch of the Formosa river, loo leagues, there
is another land of negroes called Opu (p. 72), The people of Benin are fradus
marked with iron on the eyebrows, and this sign no other negro has but these, so that
they can easily be distinguished. Five leagues up the Forcados river there is a
trade in slaves, cotton cloths, palm oil, leopard skins, and blue beads with red lines
which the negroes call coris,^ which we buy for bracelets of brass and copper ; these
articles are sold for gold at Elmina (p. 73). The natives on this river are called
Huella ; further inland Subou [Sobo] is very populous ; there is plenty of pepper ; then
nearer the coast are negroes called Jos [Ijos] with much country, who are warlike
and cannibals, and their chief trade slaves and ivory. At Ramos there are people like
the Jos who eat human flesh as above mentioned ; there is no trade ; the population is
thick and there is plenty of timber; it is a collection of islands, and canoes are made
out of one piece of wood (p. 74). He gives the names of the various rivers and says
they are all inhabited by Jos, quot; who are eaters of men.quot; At Rio del Rey the people
are Jos, as already described, and all eat human flesh (p. 75). At a large village
on this river salt is obtained, and the biggest boats made in all Guinea ; some can
carry 80 men; some come 100 leagues and more from the upper part of the river ;
the people bring yams, slaves, cows, goats and sheep (called bozi) and sell them for
salt at this village. To our people they sell these things for copper manillas, more
valued than brass; a slave sells for 8-10 copper manillas; one copper manilla is sold
for a big elephant\'s tusk (p. 76).

In the collection of MSS., Alguns Documentos, p. 395, we read: quot; Durate Piries
writes on 20th Oct. 1516, to King Dom Miguel: quot; it is quite true I am a friend of the
King of Benin, because the King of Benin is a friend of all who tell him something
well of your Highness . . . We eat with his son . . . When the Missionaries arrived,
the King of Benin was very delighted ; the Missionaries went with the King to the
war and remained a whole year. The King could not do anything until the war was
over as for the great mystery^ peace was wanted. At the end of the year, in the
month of August, the King ordered his son and two of his greatest noblemen to become
Christians, and built a church in Benin, and they learnt how to read and did it very
well.quot; The letter was written during the war.

The list of Benin Kings given by Roupell\'s Officials is as follows:—■
quot;The Kings of Benin were as follows, but there have also been small Kings only
reigning a short time :—

1nbsp;Probably this would be the Oni of Ife the holy city of the Yorubas, though tradition says the
Bini came from a place north of the Niger originally, and lived under a King Lamorodu. C.P.

2nbsp;To this day they say in Portugal for, to be deceived, quot; to get a caurina.quot;

18.nbsp;Erizoyne or Egue, his sons were: Okenbuda, Ogegba, Omohoma,
Ogichowi, Okunteshi, Ogiewuha, Egueminara, Oguomo, Oguozi,
Ogieamagba.

21.nbsp;Esemede or Erediowa, his sons were; Adolo, Odiowa, Obunwekun,
Osague, Ewedoh, Ejebihen, Edulo, Iduhon, Osaboa, Eregbowa.

According to these Officials, the white men arrived at Benin in the reign of the

tenth King, Esige, or 424 years before the deposition of the twenty-third or last King
Eduboa. In this period there were thus fourteen kings, who, exclusive of the minor
ones must have had an average reign of over 30 years. We know as yet too little of
the terms of life of a negro in his native land (although an African native should have
as much chance of a long life in his own country as a European has in Europe), to
decide definitely that the kings did not reign so long as stated. The average reign of
the sovereigns of England since Egbert in 827 is 18 years; of the Saracen rulers of
Egypt, of whom there were 193 in 876 years (A.D. 641-1517) it was 4-|- years, (Stanley
Lane Poole, The Art of the Saracens, Lond. 1886), of the Askia family in Songhai (F..
Dubois, Timboucto, Paris 1897), about 11 years ; from the foundation of Ayuthia
in 1350 to its destruction by the Burmese in 1767, a period of 417 years, there are
said to have been 33 kings, giving an average to every reign of i3f years. (Chinese
Rep. xx., p. 351). Landolphe found that formerly quot; Owhere and Benin were one
Kingdom only, the present division being due to two brothers, one of whom reigned
in Benin, and the other of whom declared his independence, took up arms and set up at
Owhere [Warri]. Twenty years ago [i.e. about 1768] the last King was the sixty-first of
this Kingdom, Those of Benin are lost in the obscurity of time quot; (ii., p. 60). If about
one hundred years ago an exceptionally able observer was unable to trace the number
of kings, it is somewhat unlikely that tradition at the present day would be able to give
us more reliable information. If in about 1770 the King of Warri was the sixty-first
king of that country counting from the cleavage, and taking the average ruling life of a
Warri king to be the same as alleged of those of Benin, i.e, thirty years, then the cleavage
would take us back 1830 years, or to about B.C. 60, which is absurd. The records of
the Dahomy kings are probably as little to be relied on as those of Benin, and we may
presume that there were many more than 14 kings who reigned within the period
given. The list omits mention of the name of King Kambadje referred to by Dapper,
who must have died about the middle of the seventeenth century, but as it appears to
have been customary for kings to be known by two names occasionally, this king
may appear in the list under another name. The name of Jambra, king in Burton\'s
time, is also not mentioned in the list, nor that of Bowarre, who was king when
Adams paid his visit.

According to Roupell\'s Officials, quot; The people of this country sent to Ife, in
the Yoruba country for a King. Eweke was sent to them, he came with a few men,
he came to Benin City ; he went softly (slowly) into all the country ; if the people were
weak he fought with them and caught them; if strong, he talked cunningly with them ;
and he and his men sat down there and took their daughters to wife; then when they
had children, they called their wives and children and returned to this town. When
Eweka came here he found a small town, just a few housies in the part where the

white man now Uves ; Eweka bought a slave named Ubini—when he died he buried
him near him, and told all the world that whoever came and asked the name of this
country should be told Ubini or Aiye, so the Bini people became very plenty.quot;^ The
tradition that the Bini kings came from the west is curious, being contrary to the

Fig. I.—BronzeTlaque in British Museum
representing a|European out shooting accom-
panied by his dog. He wears a hat with
feather under which appears a band covering
the chin and neck, reaching to the lower lip,
and vandyked along the lower edge. He
wears a kind of surcoat punched with a con-
ventional design, a base [pleated skirt], knee
breeches and boots. He is armed with a
straight cross-hilted dagger, and holds a
matchlock in his hands, one end of the long
match being wound round his left wrist. He
is in the act of applying the match to the
priming. The dog is represented as wearing
a collar (Read and Dalton, Antiquities). Note
the miserable position and condition of the
man\'s legs.

Fig. 2.—Bronze Plaque in British Museum
representing a Bearded European. Note the
curious addition of figures in the three corners
of the plaque. The whole is full of detail
witness to the keen powers of observation of the
artist.

general rule that people drift westward. In this respect, however, the officials agree
with the tradition of the people at Warri, the Jekries, who claim to come from the

1 It must be remembered that among negroes it frequently happens that slaves reach a high
position through their own exertions. This slave Ubini may at his death have been occuping a
position of confidence, for it constantly happens that a negro king will trust a bought slave in pre-
ference to his courtiers ; on the fidelity of a bought slave he can rely.

west.^ It must be remembered that quot;the first capital was not Benin city as at
present, but a town farther north called Ado though not the Ado now known in the
Lagos colony. Great Benin up to the present time was called Ado. In the song
it is said: Obubu, exiado Obubu—don\'t go to Benin; and again \\J\\iado—Do you
understand Bini; Imahado—I do not understand Biniquot; (C. Punch). See also Dapper
injra.

Roupell\'s Ofiicials give the following note of the first arrival of white men, pre-
sumably Portuguese :—quot; This is how the white men first came to Ado. King Esige
or Osawe was very old and could not walk about, but all the time he could tell his
boys that he was a white man when he died. So they sent messengers with some
tusks as presents to the country by the big water (the Jekri country—the Benin
river) where white men used to come to trade, and they told the messengers to go and
salute any white men they found there and beg them to come, which they did, and ever
since then white men have come to Benin. The white men stayed long, many many

years they came to trade, and if a man comes to trade he must sit down and sell his
things softly softly ; they used to buy ivory, redwood, oil, gum, and slaves, but
principally ivory; in return they brought guns, powder, rum, salt, cloth, and silk; then
there was a different white man who used to come, but he only bought slaves; when
he came, a messenger used to come before him to tell everyone he was coming, then
if a man had any slaves to sell he could send to farm to get them, but he only paid a
poor price; one to four bags.^ These whitemen used to sit down at Gwato and there

^ At the present day, a bag of cowries contains about 20,000 shells, value about 10/-. The quot; softly
softlyquot; refers to the credit system which is essential to the native method of trading. See trade.

Fig. 5.—A well executed bronze statuette of a European soldier at the time of the first
arrival of the Portuguese in the pose of firing off his flint lock gun. The details are well carried
out, but in many points the touch of the native artist makes itself visible : thus we have the
shapeless contour of the right arm and the little fusils which bedeck the man\'s thighs—a species
of decoration, namely the dabbing of a miniature figure on to a large one, so characteristic of
savage art. The sword or knife (fig. 6) carried by this miUtary man, like the rest of the figure
has every indication of having been copied from a European model and the guard much
resembling a Toledo rapier (fig, 7) of the middle of the seventeenth century.

they built houses, big houses with big doors, in which they kept their goods and
slaves. We never heard of these white men bringing white women here, but the King
could dash (present) them for some girl to wife.quot;

According to Dapper, quot;the Kingdom of Benin, so called with us after its
capital. Great Benin, is bordered to the north-west by the Kingdoms of Ulkami
[Alkomy] Yabu, Isago and Udobo, to the north by that of Gabu, situated at an
eight days\' journey above the great town of Benin ; to the east, by the Kingdoms
of Istanna and Forkado or Ouwerri [Warii] and to the south by the sea. Kow
far the Kingdom of Benin extends from south to north, is as yet unknown, as some
places lie at a great distance from each other, being separated by impenetrable
forests, but from east to west it measures about a hundred miles [Dutch]. There
are many towns in this Kingdom, whose names are as yet unknown, except a few ;
for many unknown towms lie at a distance of eight or nine days travelling beyond the
town of Benin, near Ulkami, besides an innumerable quantity of boroughs and
villages along the river of Benin, and further up country. Near the mouth of the
Benin river, there is a village called Lubo, in the language of the country, and at
the left hand side, another Arbon or Argon, an open borough situated fifteen or
sixteen miles up the Benin river, along the bank, having about the length of a gun
shot [lit., shot with a small piece of ordnance] and the breadth of a musket shot.
The interior is all covered with underwood; only intersected by a few narrow foot-
paths where two people cannot walk side by side. Twenty miles [Dutch] or about
that, up the same river, at its main source lies a borough or village called Gotton
[Gwato] as long as Arbon but broader. Nine or ten miles from Gotton, fifteen
miles to the interior, lies the town of Benin, called with us Great Benin, there being
no other town of that size in all these countries, and by the natives Udo. At one
day\'s travelling from the town of Benin is a village or town called KofFo. The
country of Benin is all low and covered with woods, here and there intersected by
rivers, and full of morasses, but in some parts not sufficiently watered, especially
between Gotton and Great Benin, where the king has ordered the people to provide
travellers with water. There are large jugs filled with fresh and savoury water, as
transparent as crystal, with shells put beside them to drink from. No one is allowed
to take away one drop of water, except for the fixed price, which is put down by it,
although there is no watchman standing near. Among other rivers, this country is
watered by one called by the natives, Arbo, and by the white people, Rio de Benin,
which is Portuguese, and means River of Bqnin.^ It is situated eighteen miles more
to the east than Rio Lagos, flows into the sea with a broad and wide mouth, before
which lies a stretch of dry land, and has a rather good entrance for yachts and sloops,
but inland, near the villages Ardon and Gotton, it gets narrow and tortuous. Near
the mouth, in the middle, this river is ten feet deep at high tide. Further inland, it
has several ramifications; among others, one at four miles distance from the sea,
flowing into the River of Lagos.quot; Elsewhere, Dapper mentions that the king\'s
territory quot; reaches over many towns, villages and boroughs; for all around there is

1 Adams called the Benin River, the Formosa River. quot; The country called Benin is of consid-
erable extent, and situated principally to the north and west of the River Formosa, from which a
wide and deep creek branches, that leads to a town called Gatto, where vessels trading with Benin
have their factories. Craft of the burthen of sixty tons can navigate this creek to within four or five
miles of the town, which is distant from the Formosas thirty-five miles ; and the first dry land which
appears after entering that river is near Gatto, the intermediate country being a morass covered with
an impenetrable forest quot; (pp. log-rio).

no King that possesses so many beautiful towns and villages. Many kingdoms, as
Istanna, Forkado, Yabu, Isago, and Udobo, are also tributary to this kingdom,
although Isago is the mightiest kingdom indeed, and fears the King of Benin less
than all the others.quot;

With reference to Dapper\'s mention of Gwato, Mr. C. Punch writes me:
quot; Gotton or Guatun or Eguatun, now known as Gwato, was not, according to the old
traditions told me, the first place devoted to European intercourse, but the Ologbo
Creek. There were a people said to be living between Ologbo and Guatun called
Abiala, who were also said to be great witches, half men, half monkey, and that no
one could go to their country. They were of course found to be quite mythical, as
I naturally hunted round to find out what was meant by this curious description.
Anyhow, these mythical beings were supposed to be connected with quite the first
Europeans. The Aburaku had a catch phrase which was supposed to be primeval
white man\'s talk. All the Guattos used to know and laugh at it as a great joke ;
but I only learnt it euphonically like a parrot :

This seems nonsense, but it was evidently a saying of old time. The first line had
no meaning at all and was only supposed to be how the whitemen talk, the other two
lines passed into a proverb meaning \' Sick done, Sick done, Halloa, what\'s this sore
leg come up.\' In other words, \' One trouble is done. Are you sure the trouble has
_not broken out in a new place.quot;

Barbot does not speak with Dapper\'s^ enthusiasm of the kingdom. quot;Its extent
from south to north must be near 200 leagues, and its breadth from west to east
about 125 leagues, but it is a country not easy to travel in, being for the most part
very woody. The lands about Udo, the metropolis and those near the seaside, are
very well peopled and stored with towns and villages little frequented by Europeans,
it is also well inhabited towards Alkomy. However, although there is a vast number
of people in the Kingdom, yet in proportion to its extent, and in comparison with Fid a
[Whydah] and Ardra, it is not populous, the towns in many parts being at great
distance from each other; especially inland and near the riverquot; (p. 356.) In
Landolphe\'s time the chief of Benin was still quot; very powerful, several neighbouring
kingdoms being tributary to him, amongst others that of Juda [between Patagri and
Porto Novo] quot; (II. 62).

Burton (p, 409) surmised that in its palmy days, quot; the kingdom was bounded on
the east by the Kwari (Niger), westward by the land about Porto Novo, and southward
by the sea—its limit to the north does not appear. Two of its colonies are Badagry
and Lagos, and are called by the natives Aoni, or the offspring of Ini—Benin,quot; while
according to Gallwey, forty years ago the boundary was supposed quot;to reach to
within fifty miles of where Lokoja now stands; the south-eastern boundary is

1 Dapper\'s description of Warri is as follows:—quot; About 24 miles to the east of the Benin river,
another river, the Rio Forcado as it is called by the Portuguese, flows into the sea, near and about
which river lies the kingdom of Ouwerre or Forcado. The river, agreeably shaded by trees along
its banks, is half-a-mile wide, and navigable for a yacht drawing seven or eight feet of water. One
mile inland, on a branch of this river there lies a village of fishermen called Poloma, It is an
unhealthy country on account of the great heat, bad and suffocating vapours, by which people,
especially foreigners coming into the river to trade with the natives, who carelessly lay themselves
to sleep in the evening air or in the moonshine, are often very soon swept away,quot;

Ethiope River. Many states pay tribute to the king. The tribute is collected
yearly, the king sending his so-called war-men to collect it.quot; Gallwey is, however,
in error here for neither the Akuse people nor the Kukurukus would acknowledge
the King of Benin. As a fact they were always fighting the Bini, and it was to
fight them that the king was anxious to get European support and to obtain large
guns.

The travels of the Landers throw just a little light on the extent of the influence of
Benin and its neighbours. They tell us\' when at Badagry in 1830, that during the
lifetime of the late ruler\'s father, quot; and for countless ages before that period, Badagry
was a province of Lagos, and tributary to it, as Lagos is and has been from time
immemorial to the powerful King of Benin (I. p. 47).quot; They also tell us (1. p. 49) that
the body of the late chief at Badagry, quot; like those of his ancestors had been sent to
Benin in order that its bones might adorn the sacred temple at that place, agreeably
to an ancient and respected custom which has ever been religiously conformed to and
tenaciously held by the Lagos people.quot; At Katunga, about 200 miles N.N.W. of
Benin and about 50 from Rabba, it was expressly and repeatedly told to them
quot; that the monarch of this empire is brother to the King of Benin, but notwith-
standing this near relationship of the two sovereigns, not the slightest intercourse or
communication is maintained between Yarriba and that power, so at least
the inhabitants of this place [Katunga] have informed us; and the reason they
ascribe for it is that the distance between the countries is too great (1. p. 176), and
they were moreover told that the two kings quot; were of one father and one mother.quot;
During their stay at Kiama, about 50 miles S.W. of Busa, they heard that Ederesa,
the rightful heir to the throne of Nouffie [Nupe] quot;sought an asylum with one of
the chiefs of a state near the Kingdom of Benin (I. p. 234).quot; Finally at Wo wow,
about 25 miles S. of Busa, the king\'s head drummer, a Nupe man, told them quot; that
canoes capable of containing 500 men in each, and having thatched houses in them
are taken to Binnie [Benin] with great quantities of cloth, cotton, amp;c., by his
countrymen, amp;c.quot; (II. p. 117).

Of the connection with the distant Katunga, Mr. C. Punch makes some
interesting remarks : quot; Katunga seems to have been the name of the old town of
Awyaw of which Orangan was King. One of his sons became King of Benin and
took his father\'s money. Another became King of Ketu and took the \' crown,\' I
suppose the family honours. The Oni of Ife inherited the land, but it must be
remembered that Oni Ife (Kewhohas Ife) was originally the Alaffin. The Alaffin left
an officer at Ife when he went to war, and the officer became Oni Ife. He became
by degrees a sort of religious guardian of the royal tombs and treasures, and
eventually\' attained a position in some ways semi-religious more important than the
Alaffin. The Alaffin, however, is in my opinion the titular head of the Yorubas,
and by tradition the Benin Kings descend from him,quot;

Capt. Hugh Crow^ mentions a Bini embassy which arrived at Bonny during
one his visits, (p. 218). This was prior to 1812, but Crow\'s editors will have it (p. 190)
that Benin claims sovereignty quot; from Bonny to Calabarquot; which does not seem
probable.

1nbsp;Jour, of an Expedition to explore the Course and Termination of the Niger, 3 vols sm Svo
London, 1832.

As to the density of the population in the early days, the information is naturally
insignificant. Dapper says, quot; The country is populous, and there are especially many
noblemen.quot; Nyendael declines to call the town a city, and says it was reduced to a
village by its internal dissensions. Adams between 1786 and 1800 placed the popu-
lation at 15,000.^ Landolphe puts the population of Gwato at 3,000 (L, p. 53) while
his friends Legroing and Balon place it at 40 cases [compounds] (Labarthe, p. 172).

As far back as the year 1700 the city was already going to ruin. quot; In the
beginning of my description of this city,quot; writes Nyendael, quot; I informed you of its mean
state at present, that the greatest part of it lies desolate ; which is indeed deplorable,
for the surrounding country is as pleasant as could be wished; there is no interposing
hill or wood to rudely interrupt the agreeable prospect of thousands of charming trees,
which, by their wide extended branches, full of leaves, seem to invite mankind to
repose under their shade. The ruin of this town and the surrounding land, was
occasioned by the King causing two kings of the street [? Rios de Aros] to be killed,
under pretence that they had attempted his life, though all the world was satisfied to
the contrary, and thoroughly convinced that their overgrown riches were the true
cause of their death, so that the King might enrich himself with their effects, as he
did indeed. After this barbarity, the King found also a third man that stood in his
way, who being universally beloved, was timely warned of that prince\'s intention, and
accordingly took to flight, accompanied by three-fourths of the inhabitants of the town;
which the King observing, immediately assembled a number of men from the border-
ing country, and caused the fugitives to be pursued, in order to oblige them to return;
but they were so warmly received by this king of the street and his followers, that
they forced them to return with bloody noses, and give their master an account of
their misadventure. But he resolving not to rest there, made a fresh attempt, which
succeeded no better than the former; but this was not all; for the fugitive, thoroughly
incensed and flushed, came directly to the city, which he plundered and pillaged,
sparing no place but the King\'s court, after which he retired, but continued incess-
antly for the space of ten years to rob the inhabitants of Great Benin, till at last, by
the mediation of the Portuguese, a peace was concluded between him and the King,
by which he was entirely pardoned all that Avas past, and earnestly requested by the
King to return to his former habitation ; however, he would not trust himself there,
but lives two or three days journey from Benin, where he keeps as great a court and
state as the King. The returning citizens were affably and amicably received by the
King, and given honourable positions, in order to induce the rest to return, which
probably they will not do, as they are very well satisfied where they are. It is there-
fore to be feared that the greater part of the town is still likely to continue uninhabited.quot;

Before closing this chapter, it may be as well to make some reference to the
vestiges of Christianity which have been met with, as relics of the teachings of the
early Portuguese missionaries. When the city was taken by the Punitive Expedition,
as Dr. F. N. Roth informed me, one brass image of Jesus Christ without a
cross, about 8quot; or 9quot; long was found; also several small crucifixes about iiquot; long,
such as are worn by Roman Catholics. It was of these that Dr. Allman wrote in

1 In Landolphe\'s time the population of Warri was estimated by him at 12,000 to 15,000 souls
(I., p. 312). Adams writing about the same date says, quot;The capital of Warri is divided into two
towns, distant from each other half-a-mile. The most populous one is that in which the King resides,
and the combined population amounts propably to 5,000 souls, (p 123). Rob. Norris estimated
Abomey, the capital of Dahomey, to have 24,000 inhabitants. (Memoirs . . . King of Dahomey.
Lond. 1789, p. 92).

the \' Lancet,\' quot; I picked up a bronze figure of our crucified Saviour ; this, with other
emblems of Christianity found in the city, led me to believe that the custom of human
crucifixions, as practised by the natives, was derived from the representations of the
Crucifixion of our Saviour, introduced probably, by the Portuguese.quot;

As we have seen above from the old Portuguese chroniclers, the discoverers
christened many natives, and built a Christian Church, but the seeds of the Christian
religion do not appear to have found a congenial soil, for in or about 1686, that is
long after the first appearance of the Dutch, we find Portuguese missioners reproving
the King of Benin for permitting human sacrifices at quot; the making of the father.quot;
Gallwey is, of course, in error when he states (p. 128) that Christianity has never yet
reached this country.

At Warri, the missioners appear to have been more successful than in Benin,
though succeeding travellers give evidence of continuous falling away. According to
Father Jerom Merolla da Sorrento (Churchill L P- 676), Vice-Superior Father Angelo
Maria d\' Aiaccio [Corsica] and Father Bonaventura da Firense [Florence] requested
the king to cause his subjects to be properly married, and not allow them to go about
naked until they were marriageable. The king\'s acquiescence was made conditional
on their obtaining for him a white woman for a wife, so they obtained a young
Portuguese lady from the island of St. Thomas. The king married her, and his
subjects reformed. About this time, there was another missionary in St. Thomas,
who visited Warri every six months to baptise the people, for doing which he obtained
two slaves.

Dapper says of the religion of the people of Warri, quot; they have nearly the same
customs [as the Bini], but they do not sacrifice so many men and cattle, considering
it a cruel deed, and the devil\'s work; so that these people could be converted to
Christianity with a little teaching. Neither are any Fetizeros or devil-charmers
allowed in the country, nor do people poison each other so easily as in Benin. The
natives and even the King keep a little to the Roman Catholic religion. There is a
church with an altar in the town of Ouwerre, with a crucifix with the images of Mary
and the Apostles, two candlesticks standing beside them. The blacks also enter this
church with the paternoster continually in their hands, like true Portuguese, reciting
them with other popish prayers. They are outwardly very religious, and can read
and write, being very fond of Portuguese books, pens and paper.quot; At Warri, writes
Landolphe, quot; In the middle of a large square, we observed a cross covered with about
fifty church lamps, which had been erected by the Brasil missionaries, who had
baptised the then king, under the name of Manual Otobia. The reverend father
built him a beautifully carved chapel, representing the crucifixion and the holy
women quot; (II., p. 37). It was at Warri too, that Lieut. King quot;found in this kingdom
evidences of the Roman Catholic religion, which has been introduced by the Portu-
guese. At Christmas, he saw a procession going from the town to a small village,
which carried a crucifix and other emblems of Christianity.quot; Lieut. King was at
Warri about the same time as Capt. Adams, whose account reads, quot; On entering the
first apartment of the palace, we were much surprised to see, placed on a rude kind
of table, several emblems of the Catholic religion, consisting of crucifixes, mutilated
saints, etc. Some of these articles were manufactured of brass, and others of wood.
On enquiring how they came into their present situation, we were informed that
several black Portuguese missionaries had been at Warre, many years since, endeav-
ouring to convert the natives into Christians; and the building in which they
performed their mysteries, we found still standing. A large wooden cross, which had

withstood the tooth of time, was remaining in a very perfect state, in one of the angles
formed by two roads intersecting each other. We could not learn that the Portuguese
had been successful in making proselytes; indeed. King Otoo\'s subjects appeared to
trouble themselves very little about religion of any kind.quot;

At Warri, too, Burton (p, 153) quot;caught sight of a tall crucifix close to Ebewa\'s
[an influential trader\'s] house. It still bore a crown of thorns, in bronze, nailed to
the centre where the arms meet the body, and a rude M of the same material
was fastened to the lower upright.quot; Burton thought the monks\' good work lived after
them, for he adds quot; At Warri, we saw none of the abominations which afterwards
met our eyes in the city of Benin.quot; There is probably some truth in his argument,
but it must be remembered that Warri lies near the sea, is very accessible to
foreigners who object to human sacrifices, and hence the hold on a people of such
customs where they exist would naturally be weakened, for it is to be hoped there
are not many Europeans who encourage murder as did M. Jacolliot\'s friend (p. 297).

Lieut. R. K. Granville tells me that quot; At Big Warri, a Jekri will take you to
see what the monks did; there is nothing to be seen except a large open common
covered with grass very like a European sward, and curiously enough at Benin city
there is a similar common covered with the same grass,» only much larger.quot; Was
the locality shown to Granville a place where a crucifix had once stood, as seen by
Adams and Burton, and was the Benin sward the site of the church built by the
Portuguese in 1516 ?

With regard to this survival of missionary work I may add w^hat Mr. Punch
writes me : quot; They used to have services in the Malaku house at Eguatum [Gwato],
and they were very like the Roman Catholic Church services. A congregation
which, as in other places, contained an unduly large proportion of women and
children assembled in the Malaku house. The Ahuraku sat in a carpet covered chair,
and drawled or intoned prayers, occasionally ringing a bell and rattling a stick. The
congregation chanted responses.quot;

Old records silent—Fine physique—Good carriage—No deformities—Women not equal to the men—
Burton considers women graceful (i8)—Bini ambassadors at Bonny—Albinos—Hair dressing (ig)
—Old illustrations—Plaiting—Oiling—Coiffure lasts three years—Various fashions—Artificial
tresses (20)—Matted hair—Shaven polls—Varieties of dress—Clothing of rich and poor (22)—
Upper portion of_;body nude—Dress of rich\'women and poor women—Comparison with Wydah
and Gold Coast—Dress of a court official (23)—Ample kilts (24)—Young people naked until
clothed by the king—Feast when clothed—Nakedness at court—Men clothed and wived at same
time—Women clothed and married—Coral necklaces the only dress—Copper bangles—Coral
necklaces—Iron rings—Brass bracelets—Cowrie garters—Shark\'s teeth (25)—General use of
coral—Coral worked into hair—Fiadors coral necklaces—Burton\'s notice of coral collar (26)—
Chiefs covered with a profusion of coral—King\'s coral net—King\'s coral belt, etc.—Valuable
coral gifts—Origin of the coral—Use of coral on the West Coast—Variety of personal
ornament (27)—Play upon patterns—Agate insets—Fetish bracelets—Copper tubes—Curious
finger ring—Glass inset; no enamel—Porpoise-like pendant—Gold plated ornaments (30)—
Curious connecting ring—Armlets and leglets—Native and European figures—Fertility in
design—Cicatrisation (33).

Of the physical characters of the people the old chronicles naturally tell us very
little. Dapper says, quot; The men are finer in stature than the women.quot; On the road to
Benin, Fawckner writes, quot;I was at once struck with the person of the chief; his
stature, mien and deportment at once bespoke him to be a ruler and governor. He
was about five feet nine inches high, his limbs well formed, and of beautiful propor-
tions. He was surrounded by many of his people, who were all like himself, well
made, robust, and of the most exquisite symmetry, differing only from him in com-
plexion, theirs being of the blackest jet and glossy as ebony, whilst his was a paler
and more subdued satin, approaching to that of an American Indian; which contrasted
with his pearly teeth, well formed mouth, and over-arching brow, beneath which his
small dark eye darted forth an eagle glance of scrutiny, forming a countenance well
calculated to inspire a beholder with profound dread, it ever he had previously heard
of the character of the man.quot; (pp. 55-56). And later he says of the people quot;they
are as black as jet, but the boldest and finest race of people we saw in the country.
Few are less in stature than five feet nine inches ; their carriage is erect and graceful
m the extreme, and we never once saw a deformed person among them ; on the con-
trary we noticed several pre-eminently remarkable for their symmetry. One in
particular, whom, by way of distinction, we used to call \' the handsome man,\' was
fully entitled to that appellation. He was about twenty-two years of age. His
features seemed cast more in the European mould, being interesting and well pro-
portioned ; his teeth were regular and of pearly whiteness ; small feet and knees, and
a well-formed leg ; when walking he used his sword as a stick, and with his gun
resting on his right shoulder, he presented an unusually graceful appearance, and
would have been an excellent model for the pencil of the artist, or chisel of the
sculptor. This character applies only to the men ; the women fall infinitely below
them in respect of personal beauty and proportion their bodies are, moreover, tatooed

with various grotesque figures, and distinguishing marks, which combine to render
them very inferior to their lords in graceful comeliness.quot; (pp. 64-65).

Crow, at Bonny, saw two Bini men, said to be relations of King Pepple at
Bonny, who had come as ambassadors from Benin. He describes them as quot; two
remarkably fine looking men of from thirty to forty years of age, well-formed and
about six feet high. Their looks and manner were of a superior order, and they
walked in majestic style ... I never met with any black princes so sensible and well
informed as these men, who had so noble and commanding an appearance.quot;
(pp. 218-9).

According to Burton, quot; The wives and daughters of freemen had olive-coloured
skins, tolerably regular features, with splendid eyes, and in some cases tall graceful
figures and drooping shoulders, a formation never seen amongst the Guinea or Gullah
nigger.quot; (p. 410). Mr. Cyril Punch tells me that quot;in spite of the disgusting atrocities
of the place, of the poverty and general decadence of Benin, I must say the Benin
type of features was distinctly more refined than any other negroes in West Africa.
They were lighter in colour, and the features were much cleaner cut. The Ojomo
[a very high official] for instance, had refined, almost intellectual features, and most
dignified well-bred manners.quot; At Gwato Burton found quot; the men are rather a fine
race, tall and muscular ; many are very powerful.quot; (p. 280).\'

1 Of the Warri people Dapper writes : quot; The men are beautifully built, and so are the women,
who are rather pretty according to the ideas of beauty prevalent in this country.quot;

Landolphe saw a partial albino with quot;his skin covered with variegated
patches about the size of lentils, with fair hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes.quot; (IL, 83).
Fawckner also saw an albino whose father and mother were both black. His head was
shaved to the crown, where a small tuft of white wool was allowed to grow just like

that on the back of a lamb, or
the tail of a white poodle dog ;
his eyes were of a beautiful
pink, and shaded with a light
brown eyebrow. The light
affected his sight in a consider-
able degree, and he was unable
to see clearly during the middle
of the day. He was the only
one of such singular peculiarities
noticed in the town, quot; although
I met several persons, perhaps
equally curious, whose bodies
were covered with spots of black,
white or brown.quot; (pp. 86).^ Ag-
uramassi bragged to Mr. Punch

of the strength of the Bini men, but Mr. Punch challenged him to produce a man
who could lift the brass stool {see illustration) over his head ; several of his men tried
and failed. Mr. Punch had a very big Krooman named Selby who lifted the stool
easily.

The first recorder, D. R., tells us quot;they cut their hair in many and various
ways, almost every individual having something special,quot; and he supports his state-
ment by profiles showing a variety of methods of head dressing, which are reproduced.
Some of the head dressing is that followed by the Sobos at the present day.

Dapper describes the hair dressing of the women only; he says they quot;make
up their hair in an elegant fashion and plait it in the shape of a wreath on the top
of their heads ; dying one half black, and the other half red.quot;^

Nyendael says quot; The men don\'t curl or adorn their hair, but content themselves
with letting it grow in its natural way, except plaiting it in two or three places, in
order to hang a large piece of coral on to it; but the women\'s hair is very artificially
turned up into large and small plaits, and divided on the crown of the head, like an
mverted cock\'s comb, by which means the small plaits are evenly arranged. Some

1 Albinos seem to be specially selected for sacrifice. Hutchinson (Impressions, Lond. 1858,
pp. 98 amp; 103) says that they were sacrificed to the surf juju, to bring European ships to Brass and
Duketown, and Cole (Life in the Niger, Lond. 1862, p. 13) says an albino is killed at any peace
ceremony at Abo. quot; The Jekris used also to make Malaku. The chiefs in their War Canoes went
down to the mouth of the river and there threw into the water an albino boy and girl. In later
times a goat took the place of a human being but the custom was kept up every year.quot; (C. Punch).

Of the Ijos, Burton says : quot; Those were a wild looking race, black, muscular, scantily clad, and
with little lumps of wool protruding from their heads, sometimes like ragged balls of worsted, some-
times like bear\'s ears and thrum mops, sometimes like a saintly glory. They are lineal and worthy
descendants of the robbers or pirates of Usa. ... The skin is mostly black ; some, however, are
tair and reddish, a thing everywhere to be observed among Nigerian tribes. Though the aspect of
the men is savage and staring, the women are not unfrequently pleasing, the eyes especially being
large and well formed, clear as onyxes, and fringed with long upcurling lashes which this tribe does
not remove quot; (pp. 138 and 147).

divide their hair into twenty plaits and curls, according as it happens to be either
thick or thin. Some oil it with the oil which they roast out of the kernels of oil-nuts,
by which means it loses its black colour, and in process of time turns to a sort of
green or yellow, that they are very fond of; notwithstanding which, in my opinion,
it looks hideous;quot; thus somewhat endorsing D. R\'s illustrations. The courtier who
interviewed Fawckner had his head shaved all over, with the exception of a circular
spot on the crown from which a small tuft was still permitted to grow.quot; (p. 82).
Landolphe found quot; the women are all very coquettish ; they take six months to do
their hair, and the coiffure lasts three years. The number of beads and corals woven
into their hair is infinite.quot; (IL, p. 52).

At Gwato, speaking of the women, Burton remarks : quot; their head dresses rather
tend to enhance their ugliness. The great novelty is in the habit of shaving a
hand\'s-breadth from the forehead to the crown, leaving bear\'s ears on the sides of the
cranium, or wool collected in straggling and irregular lumps. A better style ,is to

tie the hair, which often will reach the shoulders in a knot à la Diane, with beads,
gold ornaments, and bits of coral interwoven ; it would be tasteful but for the
venerable-looking shaven scalp above. Some have false elf locks streaming down
their faces, others, artificial tresses extending to the mid-leg, ribbon shaped, and so
greasy that they appear to be leather; both these coiffures belong to the Fetish
women, or béguines [devotees]. A few wear fiat pieces of hair along the sides of the
head : they look like black cakes, with excess of oil or fat, and I cannot imagine how

they are ever undone; it beats plica palonica\'quot;^ (p. 280). Later on he describes the
head dress of a chiefs wife at Gwato thus : quot;Her hair a Httle shaved off the pole, was
collected behind into a huntress\'s knot, which was divided into four large bunches,
with three smaller along each side of the head from the occiput to the temples.
These knots were defined by beads of brass and coral, and a long metal scalp-
scratcher, like the bodkin of a Trasteverina, bisected the black hair.quot; (p. 418). The
shaven heads of the women evidently distressed Burton, for he says; quot;The peculi-

arity of the shaven head gradually wore off: it seemed at last like a large forehead
leading to the jetty black hair, which was collected into one or more bunches.quot; (p. 410)®
The individuality of the Bini in hair dressing was also conspicuous in their
clothing. D. R. says : quot; They have many strange varieties of clothes, of which not

® At Warri, according to Dapper, quot; They may wear their hair short or long as they like it.quot; quot;The
Ijos\' style of hair dressing is very wild. Some wear thrum-mops, others long and crooked horns
of matted, plaited hair, others, knobs of wool irregularly disposed over the surface,quot; {Burton, p, 147).

one is similar to another, but all are made of cotton, over which they ordinarily wear
a Holland cloth {leinwat].quot; Dapper\'s account runs as follows: quot;Their dress is
nearly the same as that of Ardez, for they wear, that is to say the richer people do,
two, some even four garments, the one shorter than the other, the one over the other,
worked with the needle so that the under garment is visible through the upper one.
;As to the poor people, they only wear a single piece of cloth over their naked body.
The women wear on the lower portion of their bodies, a blue skirt reaching to the
ankles, and some wear small pieces of cloth across their breasts, while they wear
copper bangles round their arms.quot;

According to Nyendael, quot; The dress of the negroes here is neat, ornamental and
much more magnificent than that of the negroes of the Gold Coast. The rich

amongst them wear, first, a white calico, or cotton cloth, about one yard long, and
half as broad, which serves them as drawers ; over that, they wear a finer white cotton
dress, that is commonly about sixteen or twenty yards long, which they wind very
neatly round the middle, casting over it a scarf of about a yard long, and two spans
broad, the end of which is adorned with fringe or lace, which is somewhat like that
of the female negroes on the Gold Coast. The upper part of their body is generally
naked. These are their clothes in which they appear abroad, but at home they wear
only a coarse paan (loincloth)\'^ instead of drawers, covered with a large coloured grass
woven cloth, which they wear like,a cloak. The meaner sort go dressed similarly,
but the stuff they wear is much coarser; and whether fine or coarse every one is
governed by his circumstances. The wives of the great lords wear calico paans
woven in this country, which are very fine, and very beautifully checked with various
colours. These paans or cloths are not very long, and are tucked in at the side like

those which are worn at Fida [Wydah] but with this difference, that while the Fidase
[Wydah] paan is open in front, this, on the contrary, is open behind, or on one side,
and closed in front. The upper part of their body is covered with a beautiful cloth,
about a yard long, instead of a veil, like that which the women wear on the Gold
Coast. The poorer women and men differ in dress from the rich only in the quality of

their garments.quot; Of the dress of the women, Burton says : quot;In all cases the bosom
was bare. The dress was 3. pagne or loincloth.quot; (p. 410).

A court official is thus described by Fawckner (p. 82) : quot; He was curiously
habited, wearing a sort of short petticoat from the waist down to the knees, composed
of a cloth very much valued by them, resembling our white bunting. This encircled
his loins, and set off like an ancient dame\'s hooped petticoat; the upper part of the
body was naked, as well as the legs and feet; his neck was ornamented with strings of
red coral. In his hand he held a fan made of leather, to keep off the flies, and protect
him from the rays of the sun. His head was quite as unprotected, being shaved all

over, with the exception of a circular spot on the crown, from which a tuft was still
permitted to grow. Such was the personage who brought the king\'s service.quot;

While on the road to Benin, Burton noticed the people began to wear the
quot; Beluko, or regular Highland kilt of broad-cloth, serge, or native material. The poor
have no other garment; those aspiring to swelldom twist around it all manner of
cloths, from fine muslin to thick calico, and produce a prodigious domework. In
Benin, the perfect figure of man is light built and nude to the waist, whilst all below -
the skirts fills out with more amplitude than crinoline ; it is exactly the shape of a
handbellquot; (p. 283).\'

There are some curious statements about the requirements of royal permission
before the people are allowed to wear clothing. Thus D. R. tells us : quot; Maidens and
boys all go perfectly nude^ until they marry or are otherwise disposed of, or that the
king grants them license to put on some ornament or dress ; then they become very
cheerful and rejoice very much at the friendship and benevolence of the king which
he has shown and proved to them ; they then ornament and bedeck their bodies to
the utmost, paint and daub themselves with white earth or colour, and hold a great
festival ; they sit in their houses in great splendour and magnificence, and many
people then come to them and congratulate them as if they were a bride.quot; So too,
according to Dapper, quot; No man is allowed to Avear any dress at all at court before
he has been clothed by the king ; nor let his hair grow before this has been done.
There are men at the King\'s court, twenty and twenty-four years old, who, with-
out any semblance of shame go about naked, only wearing a chain of corals or jasper
round their necks. But when the King gives them clothes, he usually presents them
at the same time with a wife, thus making them from boys to men. After this time
they always wear clothes and let their hair grow without being obliged to shave it off
with a knife any more. Likewise, the women are not allowed to wear clothes, unless
they have been provided with them by their husbands. So you can see there, women
of twenty and twenty-five years going along the streets perfectly nude without show-
ing any shame. But when the man wishes to clothe her he has a house built for her,
and cohabits with her, as with the other wives.quot; Nyendael echoes this : quot;Almost all the
children go naked ; the boys till they are ten or twelve years old, and the girls till
they arrive at puberty ; till then they wear nothing but some strings of corals twisted
about their middles, which is not sufficient for purposes of decency.quot;

We have seen above Dapper\'s reference to copper bangles worn by women
round their arms. Nyendael also refers to them : quot; The women wear necklaces of
coral very nicely arranged, their arms are covered with bright copper or iron rings as
are also the legs of some of them, and their fingers are as thickly crowded with
copper rings as they can possibly wear them.quot; Speaking likewise of the
women, Burton records: quot; The favourite ornaments were some threescore iron rings,
some of them wires, others of heavier make round their left wrist ; on the right was
a twist of brass, or a broad arabesque Benin bracelet; whilst under the knee a garter

^ According to Dapper, at Warri the native\'s dress is like that of Benin, quot; but they also wear some
fine cotton or silk clothes (which those of Benin are not allowed to do) as large as small sheets,
fastening them above the navel, with a cunning knot under the arms.quot;

2 In Mr. C, Punch\'s time, parents used voluntarily to give their boys to the king. They then
went naked, but had a brass anklet to show they were king\'s property. They were not at once taken
to the king\'s quarters.

of small Indian cowries set off the leg.quot; (p. 410). At Gwato he refers to shark\'s,teeth
as a chief\'s wife\'s ornament, (p. 419).\'

The use of coral, or what passed for such, and beads seems to have been extremely-
popular in the Benin country. Adams (p. 111) found quot; coral a very favourite ornament
in the royal seraglio.quot; The War Captain\'s wives in Beauvais\' time had coral worked into

meshes of hair (p. 147). He also mentions fiadors of one, two, and three row coral
necklaces distinguishing their rank, and the War Captain wearing a three row neck-

1 Of the Ijos, Burton says : quot; The dress of the men is the usual loin-cloth ; their wives add to it
an upper veil, which is thrown loosely round the shoulders. The favourite ornament in this part of
the world is coral; not in beads, but in long pieces like bits of \' churchwarden\' stem [long clay pipe
stems] . A string of these articles is a regal present. The darker the colour and the larger the piece,
the better, and a good bunch will fetch a puncheon or two of palm oil. Other ornaments are big
pewter bracelets, or brass after the Benin fashion, huge rings of rudely cut ivory round the wrist and
ankles, wire collars, and thin ropes of braided seed-bead, especially blue, various large porcelain
beads, small linked brass chains round the ankles, and strings of Indian cowries. Children\'s legs are
girt with small brass bells, probably for fetish reasons.quot; (p, 147). Later on, (p. 157) he complains of
quot;their barbarous hankering after the cast off finery of Europe.quot;

lace. The \' big men \' seen at a court function by Burton had each quot; his anklets and
collar of coral, a very quaint decoration, composed of pieces of about one inch long,
and so tightly strung that it forms a stiff circle about a foot in diameter.quot; This
method of wearing the coral is shown on the large bronze heads and plaques. Fawckner
makes frequent references to the coral ornaments. At Mongwe, where he was ship-
wrecked, he tells us, quot; the chief\'s head was covered with coral beads, thickly strung on
his black curly wool ; his neck, ankles, and wrists were also encircled with a profusion
of strings of coral. Some of the natives who had come with him, had a single string
round their necksquot; (p. 5)., At Gwato {ibid p. 71) quot;the chiefs wore coral round the
neck, arms, and wrists, but none on the head as we first noticed at Yarcella.quot;
Landolphe says of the king, quot; his neck, arms and ankles were surrounded by
a quantity of large strings of coral. On this occasion he wore a net shirt of which
each knot was furnished with a coral bead ; it weighed more than twenty pounds, for
the king made me test itquot; (IL 59). Besides the necklace which the king wears on
state occasions, he also wears a belt of coral (Fawckner.) Burton speaks of the
coral bracelets which quot; adornedquot; the King\'s wrists. Every heir to the throne in his
father\'s life time had to make for him a coral hat and vest, and Adubowa showed
Mr. Punch the ones he had made for Adola. Mr. Punch does not think that any of the
articles enumerated above by Fawckner, Landolphe, etc., were coral : a chain of
European coral was worn round the neck, but the official rings of beads on wire worn
by king\'s boys, etc., were of the Benin agate.

During one of Landolphe\'s visits to Benin, he gave the War Captain a string
of coral worth 300 francs {£ï\'2), and some French officers gave the king a big string
worth 1800 francs {£^2) (II., pp. 42, 93). The wearing of coral was a royal
privilege, which the king conferred on his subjects.\' Where the office of the
holder was not hereditary, as for instance, with the fiadors, the bunches of coral had
to be returned to the king on the holder\'s decease (Landolphe II., p. 53). According
to Bold, coral beads quot; are the intrinsic treasures of the rich, being held in the highest
estimation, and from their rarity, are only in the hands of a few chiefs, whose avidity
for them is immeasurable ; the species admired are the pipe beads of various dimen-
sions, and are valued at ten large jars of oil an ounce, of the smaller sort, and so on
in proportion for the larger sized.quot; Mr. Punch informs me that quot; as a matter of fact,
the King of Benin had few, if any, of the large coral beads such as Nana, Doré,
Dudu, and the Jekri chiefs obtained from the merchants in Benin River. His coral
was insignificant pipe coral, and was only striking when made up into vests and hats.
The Binis valued more the agate beads, and especially the dull kind. A necklet of
this dull agate was a king\'s gift, and no one could wear such a necklet, unless it were
given him by the king. It was death, in fact, to wear it otherwise. The shiny
chrystalline agate, with white quartz veins, anyone could use. Such coral as the Binis
had was obtained through Jekri traders, either from the Benin River or Lagos. The
Binis said it was dug up at the \' back of Benin,\' but everything, in the days I am
speaking of, 14-15 years ago, which was at all mysterious came from the back of Benin.quot;

Nyendael describes the coral beads as made of quot; pale red coctile earth or stone
and very well glazed,quot; and says they are very like quot; speckled red marble.quot; While no
doubt the material of which the so-called coral beads are made varies, all the beads
which have come into my hands are either red coral or agate beads, the former
having the characteristic structure and composition of coral, while the latter show the

concentric zones of chalcedony, some red and some white. Vast numbers of artificial
beads go to the African market, but the above specimens are all natural. At the
famous agate works at Oberstein in Rhenish Bavaria, large numbers of trivial orna-
mental articles are specially made for the African trade. In Burton\'s time the red
coral was brought from the Mediterranean.^

So far, that is about all we can gather of personal ornaments from the travellers.
As regards the ornaments which have come into my hands, I here reprint the following
remarks which I published in the Bulletin of the Philadelphia Museum:

The chief feature of the personal ornaments is their variety, yet the specimens
illustrated are by no means specially chosen, but are only such as have come under my
immediate notice. Another feature is the play upon the patterns; thus in Fig. 15, we have
the same pattern as in No. 17, but adapted in a different way, and at the same time
reduced so that we get quite a different bracelet. Similarly with the bracelets in Figs.
16 and 18 ; here the large loop which forms almost one-third of Fig. 16, is reduced,
multiplied and set on vertically, instead of horizontally, with the result that quite a
different ornament is produced. Spirals, as a basis for design, are not uncommon ;
in Fig. 19 we have a spiral or coil in its simplest form ; in Fig. 20 we have a double
coil which itself is formed of an alternate spiral of copper and brass ; in Fig. 21 the
twist of the angular spiral is quite a novelty, while in Fig 22 the spirals are
set on the ring at intervals. Some of the bracelets are furnished with studs set with
agate or coral, which appears to be fixed in position by some sort of mastic or gum ;
Fig. 24 is very similar to Fig. 23, but has barrel-like enlargements between the
studs ; the body of Fig. 25 differs from those of Figs 23 and 24 in being flat inside
and out, and in being wider, while the other two have the body flat inside and convex
outside ; in Fig. 26, which appears to consist of two parallel rings soldered together,
the place of the stud is taken by four heads surrounded by beads, and four guilloche
patterns (very faint) placed alternately. Fig. 27 represents plaited work, a very
common form of ornamentation in Benin and West Africa generally. The hoop
represented in Fig. 28 may not be a bracelet at all, but may form part of a chain, as
there is in this collection another ring of the same pattern, but oval in shape ; the
ornamentation, a sort of debased fish scale, is the same on both sides.

The snake heads in Fig. 20 may not be anything beyond a desire to finish
the ends artistically ; but in Figs. 29 and 30, two of the symbols of the natives\'
belief form the motif of the design, in the former as the double catfish, in the

^At Warri quot; the actual crown of the sovereign is a sort of large cap in the shape of a cone three
feet high, covered with coral beads and with a couple of birds\' heads on top quot; (King). quot; Some of the
Jekri chiefs display a very fair show of wealth, which usually takes the form of silks, coral, gold and
silver ornaments, all specially ordered for them by the white traders. I have seen Nana (late chief
of Brohoemi) with seven or eight hundred pounds worth of coral on him quot; (Gallwey, p. 127). Lander
writing at Bussa says, quot; The demand for coral has been very great in every town of consequence
which we have visited. All ranks of people appear passionately fond of wearing it, and it is
preferred to every other ornament whatever quot; (II. p. 4). It was also worn by the king\'s women in
Dahomey (Norris, p, 112). King Obi of Ibo on the Lower Niger wore quot; On his neck three strings
of pipe coral, as large as a man\'s small finger ; two of which were short, and close to the neck, while

the third extended to the navel......each of his ankles was ornamented with eight strings of coral,

a dull old brass button closing each string, and two leopard\'s teeth attached to the strings of coral on
each foot quot; (Crowther, Lond. 1842, p, 283),

F\'l^. 27.—In the late Miss M. H. Kingsley\'s
Collection, now in Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford,

latter as catfish (usually snakes) issuing from the nostrils of a human face. This
bracelet (Fig. 30) is of copper, and overlaid (excepting the two faces and catfishes)
with a brass plate about one millimeter thick, and is massive and rough ; the catfishes
are fixed on by means of holes drilled in the nostrils and into the sides of the fore-^
head. Extremely curious is the bracelet Fig. 31, apparently made of short pieces of
copper tubing soldered into the form of a chain and furnished with slits ; as the
bracelet passed through the conflagration which destroyed the city it is not now
possible to ascertain what had been inserted into these receptacles. A very curious
finger ring is illustrated in Fig. 32. It is inset with agate along the central horizontal
position and with carved coral along the crosspieces ; the upright cylindrical pieces, like

the pin Fig. 34, are hollow at the top for the reception of some inset, and originally
it may have been glass, as in the top of pin Fig. 33. Dr. Forbes (Bulletin of
Liverpool Museum, I, 50) in describing the spots of a bronze leopard, says they are
filled in with a yellow, porcellaneous glass or enamel, appHed in a fused condition,
but I venture to differ from my friend, the Doctor, as to me the inserted matter looks
more like dry putty. However the question cannot be settled until a chemical or
physical examination is made. The pin (Fig 35) is inset with coral. What the
porpoise-like article shown in Fig. 36 is meant to be is not clear ; it may be a pen-
dant to wear suspended from the neck and perhaps was intended for a whistle.

A few gold-plated ornaments have been found in Benin, but, so far as I am
aware, only two gold ornaments ; this is strange, for surely plating is a more difficult
process than casting or working ; it is very certain the plating has been done
elsewhere. Fig. 37 does not call for special remark beyond referring to the neatly-
finished points. In Fig. 38 is represented a pendant, perhaps of fetish value ; the
lizards are concave underneath, as shown by the section ; the hawk\'s bell is attached
to the lizards by means of a curious ring, shaped out of a thin piece of metal and rolled
up into the shape of a tube, the ring being closed by the insertion of one end into the
other. Figs. 39 and 40 appear to be pendants. The gold ornaments brought home

by Dr. Allman were a quot; bracelet formed by a double-headed snake grasping between
its jaws a decapitated human head, and a snake about nine inches long.quot; In Mr. C.
Punch\'s time, gold was simply not appreciated, or only counted as brass; king or
nobles, in making a selection, would voluntarily prefer a silver to a gold ornament.

While the workmanship of the articles illustrated is, generally speaking, good,
it is not, as a rule, equal to that of the large Bini metal work; this is no doubt due
to the greater difficulty presented by the smaller surfaces on which the artisans have
had to work.

We now come to a curious class of objects—namely, the long armlets and leglets
which are so fashionable in West Africa. They are made of carved ivory (Figs. 41,
42) of brass (Figs. 43, 44, and 45), and of copper with some of the masks in brass
(Fig. 44). It is said these articles are put on when the individual is quite young and
not taken off until death, if then; in the event of removal, the foot or hand
has frequently to be chopped off first. The ivory bracelets are old and much
worn down, that illustrated in Fig. 41 especially so. In Fig. 42 a European
is probably intended to be shown; the three heads shown alternately with the
tortoises in Fig. 41 are also meant to be those of Europeans, but, looked at from the

left side, they look like bullock heads, the side hair developing into horns. Fig. 43
IS an elegantly finished production and a good example of Bini art, and is provided
with loops for the hawk bells, which turn up everywhere in unexpected places
throughout Bini metal work. The bracelet (Fig. 42) is interesting as exhibiting a
conventionalized leopard\'s face on the top as well as a European\'s face at the bottom,
likewise developing into a form of ornament. In bracelet (Fig. 46) some of the disks
are blank,^ evidently awaiting the enchaser\'s tool; it also shows a hawk bell in situ.
The fertility in design is in all these forms manifest indeed, it is a feature in the art
of the Benin natives which any of our jewellers might do well to copy,

Fig. 45.—Brass, roughly cast. 90 mm. diam.;
mm. high; 2 mm. thick. In the late Miss
M. H. Kingsley\'s Collection, now in Pitt
Rivers Museum, Oxford.

Fig, 46.—Unfinished Brass. The three discs
evidently waiting for the enchaser. 89 mm. diam.;
136 mm. high ; i mm. thick. In the late Miss
M. H. Kingsley\'s Collection, now in Pitt
Rivers Museum, Oxford.

_ According to D. R., quot;They also cut their body from the armpits to about the
groin, or in the middle, with three large cuts on both sides, each cut being one finger
broad, and consider this a great virtue conducive to their salvation.quot; These marks
are made when the children are quite young, for as Nyendael tells us quot;they make
small incisions all over the bodies of the infants, in a sort of regular manner express-
ing some figures thereby; but the females are more adorned with these ornaments
than the males, and each at pleasure of their parents. You may easily guess that
this mangling of the bodies of these tender creatures must be very painful; but since
It is the fashion here, and is thought very ornamental, it is practiced by everybody.quot;

Of this process, Mr. C. Punch tells me quot;it was simply brutal. All girls had to
undergo it. The child was laid down and held by the mother, and the expert pro-
ceeded to scrape the skin at the places required, with a sharp glass, very lightly, as
one erases a blot of ink on a book. I was not told that anything was rubbed
in to raise the skin, as the Jekris did, but the child\'s sufferings were acute.quot;
Burton in comparing the Ijos with the Bini, remarks: quot;The Ijos are nearly all Iree-
4nen, and therefore they greatly resemble one another. The tribe-mark in both sexes
is a line extending from the scalp down the forehead to the tip of the nose, made with
a razor or a sharp knife, and blackened with charcoal or gunpowder. It is opened
and reopened till a long, thin frenum, or bridle as it were, draws up the skin at the
bridge of the nose, and gives a peculiar expression to the countenance. The people of
Benin have a similar mark, but it is not raised, and it often ceases at the eyebrows.
Men and women have on each cheek three, short, parallel cuts, sometimes straight,
sometimes crescent-shaped. Another favourite decoration are three broad stripes of
scar, like the effects of burning, down the front of the body from the chest to the
lower stomach. Lastly, the skin is adorned with \'beauty berries,\' buttons of raised
flesh that much resemble exanthemata.quot; (pp. 146 amp; 7). Of the Bini women he says. . .
quot; The general mark was a tattoo of three parallel cuts about half an inch long, and
placed close together upon both cheeks about half way between the eye and the
corner of the mouth. Some added to these \'beauty-spots\' on the middle of the fore-
head, vertical lines of similar marks above the eyebrows, and three stripes, or rather
broad shallow scars, from above the breast to the stomach.quot; (pp. 410-11). At Gwato
quot; The tattoo is a broad line of scars extending down the breast and stomach.quot; (ibid, p.

The marks of the cicatrisation are clearly shown on nearly all the faces
in bronze or wood, made by the Bini.

Figs. 47 and 48.—Front and back view of lafrass showing tribal marks on forehead; pupils
of eyes are iron inset; height 7iin. (19 cm.) Bankfield Museum, Halifax.

1 At Warri, in Dapper\'s time, quot;All natives, men and women, are marked with three cuts each
cut a dimn [less than an inch] wide, one on the forehead, above the nose, and one on each side of the
eyes on the temples.quot;

No ceremony at birth—Feast to scare away evil spirits—Circumcision of both sexes—Destruction of
twins—Twins a good omen—Mother and twins destroyed at Arebo—Specified cases—Destruc-
tion introduced at Gwato (36)—Children exposed in pots—Twins welcome amongst Fantis—
Destruction of twins at Bonny, Onitsha, Cross River, Abo and elsewhere—Marriage—Polygamy
of the king and noblemen (37)—Inheritance of a father\'s wives—Eunuchs—White men\'s difficulties
—Widows\' position—Girls married at twelve years—Distribution of women by the king—Forced
courtesans—Freedom on giving birth to a son—Great and little courtesans—Continence until
child walks—Method of marriage—Bridegroom demands girl in marriage (38)—Handsome presents
given—Feasting—Marriage before arrival at puberty—Jealousy of native men—Men kept from
women\'s apartments—quot;Women offered to Europeans—Greater freedom of poor men\'s wives—
Wives retire on arrival of visitor—Punishment for adultery (39)—Husband claims paramour\'s
effects—Women driven from home—^Women with powerful relations pardoned—Death
penalty inflicted in case of governor\'s wives—Ordeal for adultery—Punishment for rape—
Periodical sickness—Number of king\'s wives (40)—Eunuchs—Fathers dispose of female children
only—Gifts of wives—Royal prerogative—Effect of \' pardon\' wine—Obscene talk—Fruitful
women honoured.

According to Landolphe there was no sort of ceremony at birth (IL, p. 50).
According to Nyendael, quot; When the child is seven days old, the parents make a
small feast, imagining that the infant is past its greatest danger ; and in order to
prevent the evil spirits from doing it any mischief they strew all the ways with
dressed victuals to appease them. Eight or fourteen days, or sometimes longer, after
the birth of their children, both males and females are circumcised ; the former are
thereby bereft of their prepuce and the latter of a small portion of their clitoris. If
they are asked who first taught them circumcision, and to believe women to be
periodically unclean, they reply, that they do not themselves know, but that these
customs are traditionally handed to them by their ancestors. And this is the common
answer of all the blacks.quot; D.R. also states that girls as well as boys are circumcised.

quot; No twins are ever found in the country, but as may be supposed, they are born
as well as elsewhere, for it is suspected that either of them is every time choked by
the midwife, the giving birth to twins being considered as a great dishonour, in the
country, for they firmly believe that one man cannot be the father of two children at
the same time quot; (Dapper).

This is a very different state of affairs from that related by Nyendael : quot; If a
woman bear two children at a birth, it is believed to be a good omen, and the king is
immediately informed thereof, and he causes public joy to be expressed with all sorts
of music. The father imagining it too heavy a task for the woman to suckle both
the children, searches out a wetnurse whose child is dead ; whom he persuades by
the power of money or good words to nurse one of his children. In all parts of the
Benin territories, twin-births are esteemed good omens, except at Arebo, where they
are of the contrary opinion, and treat the twin-bearing woman very barbarously ; for
they actually kill both mother and infants, and sacrifice them to a certain devil.

which they fondly imagine harbours in a wood near the village. But if the man
happens to be more than ordinarily tender, he generally buys off his wife, by sacrific-
ing a female slave in her place ; but the children are without possibility of redemption
obliged to be made the satisfactory offerings which this savage law requires. In the
year 1699, a merchant\'s wife commonly called ellaroe or mof, lay-in of two children,
and her husband redeemed her with a slave, but sacrificed his children. After which
I had frequent opportunities of seeing and talking with the disconsolate mother, who
never could see an infant without a very melancholy reflection on the fate of her own,
which always extorted briny tears from her. The following year the like event
happened to a priest\'s wife. She was delivered of two children, which, with a slave,
instead of his wife, he was obliged to kill and sacrifice with his own hands, by reason
of his sacerdotal function ; and exactly one year after, as though it had been a
punishment inflicted from heaven, the same woman was the second time delivered of
two children, but how the priest managed himself on this occasion, I have not been
informed, but am apt to think that this poor woman was forced to atone for her
fertility by death. These dismal events have in process of time made such
impressions on the men that, when the time of their wives\' delivery approaches, they
send them to another country ; which makes me believe that for the future they will
correct these inhumanities.quot;

About 120 years later Lieut. King tells of quot;the barbarous custom of exposing
twins which formerly existed at Arebo, lat. 5°58\', long. 5°io\', has now introduced itself
at Gatto ; the children are placed in an earthen pot face upwards and allowed to
perish on the top of a hillquot; (p. 313).»

,, At Ondo which borders on Benin teritory the twins were exposed under pots
in the Oro fetish groves. The mothers from superstitious motives are as anxious to
carry out the rites as the priests. We have much trouble in suppressing this evil
custom quot; (C. Punch).

1 quot; Attah is the Fantee name for twin, and all twins born in Fantee, bear that name, the mothers
of whom are held in much estimation for being thus prolific. In Bonny the reverse takes place,
for there the mothers of twins are compared to goats, and they, as well as their offspring, are not
unfrequently destroyedquot; (Adams, p. 37}. At Bonny in Crow\'s time mother and twins were put to
death (p. 238). A former resident of Onitsha on the Lower Niger, informs me quot; Twins are objected
to and both are killed in the Ibo country. The killing is brought about by placing the children in a
large earthen pot which is then carried into a part of the bush which is tabued and called tonton.
The children are soon killed by the ants and other fiesh devouring insects. Passing Europeans
hearing the wailing of the children have carried them off, but in most cases the exposure had already
been too much and they succumbed. A child so rescued and surviving would, if a girl, experience
difficulty in getting married for fear she have twins. Bishop Hill in traversing a piece of bush which
the natives had made over to him for missionary purposes, found a tonton with over 200 pots
which had contained babies. The natives would not assist to clear the spot.quot; Bennett (Niger
Notes iii., p. 67) hearing of a child being left exposed to die, went in the evening by the light of the
half moon to find it; he writes : quot;At first we thought the baby was dead as we heard no sound, but,
after groping in the dark and touching it with my hand, it cried, so we knew it was alive. We broke
the pot by which it was covered.quot; The description of the method of destruction is unfortunately
not clear, for if the pot covered the child how could it be touched with the hand before uncovering ?
In the Brass district the younger twin is killed and the woman counted unclean. Miss Kingsley gives
a graphic and painful account of a case of twins with which Miss Slesser at Okijou had once to do
(Travels, pp. 473-6), for had not Miss Slessor interfered, the mother would have been an outcast, and
the children both killed. Allen and Thomson mefition the destruction of twins and the disgrace of
the mother at Abo, on the Niger (Narr. Niger River, Lond., 1848, I, pp. 243-4). Schön (p. 49) also
mentions the destruction of twins at Ibo.

We are told by D.R. that quot; the King has many wives,quot; and that when twice a
year he makes a progress through the city quot; He is accompanied by all his wives,
which may be above six hundred in number, who, however, are not all his wedded
wives but his concubines. It is the custom of the country that a man should have
many wives, for the noblemen have often some eighty or ninety or even more,\'
and there is no man so poor but that he has ten or twelve wives at the least, from
which one may conclude that in this place one finds more women than bachelors and
men.quot; From Dapper we learn, quot; The King has a great number of wives, actually
more than a thousand ; for at his father Kambadge\'s death, he inherited all his
father\'s maiden wives ; for his concubines are not allowed to marry again, being shut
up in a convent, and guarded by the eunuchs ; if one of these women came to forget
herself, she would be immediately killed with her paramour. Every man marries as
many wives as he likes and is able to feed, besides keeping a great number of concu-
bines. They are exceedingly uxorious, but a white man or a Christian can hardly
get a public woman there in the country for fear of punishment, as such a thing is
prohibited under a penalty of death. The woman, who has had a son by her
deceased husband becomes servant to her son, and is not given in marriage to
another man but must serve him as a slave, not being allowed to marry a man with-
out her son\'s leave. If it happens that a man wishes to marry such a widow, he \'
asks her son for her hand, promising him another young girl in her stead for him to ^
marry, which young girl must remain his slave as long as he likes. The son is not
allowed to do away with the woman or the old mother, should he wish to do so, with-
out the King\'s leave. A daughterJs not given in marriage by the father there till
she is twelve or fourteen years old, after which time the father has no more to do
with her. All the women who have lived with their husbands are allotted to the
King after their husbands\' or owners\' death ; but of the other women, some go to the
son, and some are accepted as wives by others. It also happens sometimes that
the King does not give these women in marriage again, but makes courtesans of
them, and they have to offer a yearly tribute of a certain number of cowries. Having
no fear of the rule of a husband they choose as many suitors as they like, and without
any restraint give way to their passions, although they sometimes do the same when
married. These courtesans, when giving birth to a son in unmarried state, are freed
of the tribute by the fact, but if it is a daughter, then the King gives her (the
daughter) in marriage to some one. There are also great courtesans to whom the
inferior ones have to give account every year, just as the great ones have to do this
to the great Fiadores or State-councillors, who only show their income to the King.^
A man keeps away from his wife when she has risen from child-bed, until the
child is a year or a year and a half old, and can walk, but she knows how to make up
for it in the meantime ; if the husband happens to perceive it, he makes a complaint
of it to the Fiadores.quot;

Mr. C. Punch tells me that quot;in Benin city pubhc women were not common, a state
of affairs very different to what existed in the surrounding countries. In Benin no
woman would ever dare to offer herself, nor would she cohabit with a European
without the king\'s license. The legitimate daughters of a king did not marry anyone
but bestowed their favours as they pleased.quot;

y 1 A man\'s wealth is estimated by the number of his wives (Landolphe II, p. 58).

^ At Dahomy there were public women who paid a heavy tax, brewed beer and raised poultry,
(Norris, p. 99). In towns like Benin and Abomey where the kings claimed all the women such an
institution would be unavoidable.

From Nyendael we learn, quot;The men here marry as many women as their
circumstances will allow them to keep ; they have scarce any, or at most very few
marriage-ceremonies amongst their poor or rich, except only that the rich treat the
bride\'s friends more splendidly than the poor do. Their marriages are commonly
made in the following manner. If a man like a maiden he mentions his wish to one
of the most considerable amongst his relations, who repairs to her house and asks her
of her relations, Avho, if she be not before promised, seldom deny his request. The
consent then of the relations or parents being obtained the match goes on, and the
bridegroom covers his future bride with a rich suit of clothes, necklaces and bracelets,
and after having handsomely treated the relations on both sides, the wedding is ended
without any further ceremony. The acknowledgment mentioned is not made at the
house of the bridegroom, or indeed any other ; but the victuals and drink are dressed
and prepared, and everyone has his portion sent home.quot; Similarly Landolphe tells
us quot; there is no marriage ceremony. A young man desirous of getting married
demands the girl from her parents, who rarely refuse ; he gives them one or several
pieces of cloth and takes his wife home. If she be too young and show no sign of
puberty, the husband confides her to the supervision of the women, who notify him
when the marriage should be consummated, which is at the age of eleven or twelve
years quot; (II, p. 50).

quot; The negroes are very jealous of their wives with their own countrymen, but
not in the least with respect to us ; for they are very little concerned at our conversing
with their wives, whether we chaff, sit, or lie by them, provided we keep within the
bounds of modesty ; nay, they have entertained so good an opinion of us, that when we
visit them, if their affairs call them away, they not only leave us alone with them, but
recommend us to their wives for diversion whilst they are outquot; (Nyendael). Elsewhere,
the same traveller observes, quot;the women behave themselves very obligingly to all ; but
more especially the Europeans, except the Portuguese, whom they do not like very well,^
but our nation is very much in their favour. But no male negro is allowed to come
near the women\'s apartment, which is a custom very strictly observed by them.quot;
Burton (p. 155) found the people of Warri and Benin quot; touchy about and jealous of
their wives even with foreigners, and amongst themselves fighting always follows a
suspicion of dishonour. On the other hand they are no less free with the other
members of the family, sisters and daughters, and they appear to take offence if these
ornaments of the house are not duly admired.quot; They were freely offered to Burton\'s
party but declined.

quot; All the difference between the wives of the great and those of the meaner sort,quot;
says Nyendael, quot; is that the latter go everywhere where their work obHges them, but the
former are almost always shut up very closely, to obviate all occasions for transgression.
If a man be in his own house, accompanied by some of his wives, and receives a visit
from any of his acquaintance, the wives immediately retire to another part of the
house, that they may not be seen ; but if the visitors are Europeans, they continue
with their husbands, being requested to do so by the latter, whom they use all their
arts to please, because their happiness depends on them, for the men are here
absolute masters of their wives.quot;

1 That the European nationalities do not love one another is also shown by some of the carvings,
where they are depicted fighting against each other. When the French were repulsed from
Anamabu by the English in 1749, they said the natives would have preferred the French (Labarthe
p. 68). Landolphe not obtaining a concession he wanted, puts his non-success down to previous
treatment meted out to the Bini by the Dutch (II, p. 95).

quot; Adultery is here punished in three several ways: First, amongst the com-
monality in the following manner. If any man is suspicious of the levity of any
one of his wives, he tries all possible means to surprise her in the fact, without
which evidence he cannot punish her; but if he succeed in his endeavours he is
thereby lawfully entitled to all the effects of her paramour, whether consisting in
slaves, cowries (their money), elephants\' tusks, or any other mercantile commodity; all
which he may immediately seize, make full use of, occupy and enjoy as his own. The
offending wife is very soundly cudgelled and driven out of his house to seek her
fortune; but no person being very fond of marrying her after this, she retires to
another place, where she passes for a widow by w^ay of obtaining another husband;
or else strives to gain a livelihood by a trade not very difficult, for her at least, to
learn. Thus far extends the poor man\'s satisfaction. The rich revenge themselves
much in the same way; but the woman\'s relations, to avoid the scandal which might
thereby accrue to their family, reconcile the offended husband with a round sum of
money, and thereby prevail upon him to take her into favour again, which he
generally does. The woman then passes for as virtuous as before, and takes her
turn with the other wives. The Governors punish aduhery more severely; for if
they surprise any man with one of their wives, they kill both the wife and paramour on
the very spot Avhere the crime is committed, and throw their dead bodies into the
dunghill to be exposed as a prey to wild beasts. These severe punishments amongst
all ranks of people deter men from meddling with other people\'s wives so much, that
adultery is very seldom committed here quot; (Nyendael). Landolphe states that quot; a woman
accused of adultery is brought before the judges, who make her kneel down in a
public locality, Avhere two chalk circles are drawn in which she places her big toes.
Two full pots in front of her contain what is known as good and bad fetish; if on
being ordered to acknowledge her crime she pleads guilty, she is given the bad fetish
to drink and is poisoned. If she pleads not guilty her tongue is rubbed with a herb,
the juice of which makes it swell suddenly and protrude out of her mouth. A cock\'s
feather is then passed through it. If the accused persists in denying the charges and
there are not sufficient witnesses to convict her, the feather is withdrawn from the
tongue, which is rubbed over with some fresh herb of which the sudden effect is to
reduce it painlessly to its natural state. The woman then drinks the good fetish and
goes her way quot; (II, pp. 65-66). This looks much hke a case of ordeal which has not
been properly understood by Landolphe\'s editor.

quot; The man who commits a rape is at once considered married to the girl; if the
assault has been committed at night the two are proclaimed as married as soon as
daylight appears—they are united by this simple formality. If the girl be too young
to bear child the man is fined, as his action is considered criminalquot; (Landolphe II, p. 50).
quot; Sick women are not permitted so much as to enter their husband\'s houses, or to touch
anything, either to dress the food or clean the house, or indeed to enter on any other
account; nor are they permitted so much as to look into, much less enter any
houses, but during this period are obliged to reside in a separate house\'; though as
soon as that is over and they have washed themselves, they are restored to their
former state quot; (Nyendael). quot; It is also criminal to cohabit during a wife\'s periodical
sickness, or when the woman is enceinte, or with milk. In the first case the woman
retires to some distance where special houses are provided for her, and does not
return until after purification by bathing, and the man who has cohabited in such
case is likewise bound to purify himself to avoid penaltyquot; (Landolphe, II, p. 50).

* This is also the case with the Jekries (Granville and Roth, Jour. Anth. Inst, xxviii., p. no).

In Lieut. King\'s time the King of Benin was quot; said to possess 4000 wives, but
he gives some away to those who have done him some service.quot; This number is a
big increase on D.R.\'s 600 wives, Dapper\'s 1000, and Landolphe\'s 3000 (I, p, 335). The
latter says every wife is waited on by three negresses, while a Captain of Eunuchs
looks after them ; their houses are in a row like factories. quot; On one occasion when
the wives were told to dance the king cried for joy, while quot; the severe looks of the
eunuchs contrasted strangely with the emotion of the sovereignquot; {ihid). Burton
mentions that quot; a eunuch of the palace called upon us. He was a littie beardless old
man, clad in a tremendous petticoat; and he assumed considerable dignityspeaking
of the head Fiador as of a very common person. The abominable institution
is rare in Africa, and when found is borrowed from Asia. At Benin the habit of
secluding the king\'s women has probably introduced these guardians of the harem quot;
(Burton p. 412).\'

quot;When a male infant is born it is presented to the king, as properly and of right
belonging to him, and hence all the males of the land are called the king\'s slaves; but
the females belong to the father, and hve at home as long as he likes, till they are of
age, after which he marries them when and to whom he pleases quot; (Nyendael).

quot; People in high positions like the \' big men,\' the fiadors and the passadors receive
as gifts girls ranging from four to eight years of age. These children remain in
special apartments under the supervision of the old women. The monarch sends his
girls to the \' big men,\' the latter send theirs to the fiadors, who treat the passadors in
the same way. As soon as the girls arrive at a marriageable age they are dressed in the
finest raiment and presented to their husbandsquot; (Landolphe, II, pp. 50-52). quot;At Benin
there is a law that only the King must supply matrimony. He generally provides the
stranger with one of his daughters, whom he reckons by \' tallies,\' and he charges a
right royal price quot; (Burton, p. 409). This statement bears out those of the earlier
writers. When Gallwey states quot; A man may take unto himself as many wives as he
likes quot; (p. 129) he probably means that there was no limit to the number of wives a
man might have, but subject to the King\'s approval.^

quot; The negroes are very libidinous, which they ascribe to their \' pardon \'-wine, and
good eating, which invigorates nature : they are indeed much in the right as to the
latter, but I never could observe any such virtue in the former. They are not
obscene in a broad way in their talk, but anyone who can turn a deft expression in
the matter is considered a wit. That the population increases is not very hard to
beheve, since the women are not barren, and the men are vigorous ; the latter have
the advantage of a choice out of their great number of wives, of whom for their
encouragement, the fruitful woman is highly valued, whilst the barren woman is
despisedquot; (Nyendael).

1 Hugh Crow (Memoirs, Lond., 1830, p. 249) mentions that at a Grand Juju to which a Bonny
man had appealed against King Pepple the judges were eunuchs.

At Warri in Dapper\'s time, quot; Everybody may take as many wives here as he likes or can take,
and sometimes the King distributes some widows.quot; quot; The King of Warri.-althougli not so rich in
lands as the King of Benin, is not the less so in wives, having also 4000. Some of these women
reside in the centre of the building, the others in the town ; as at Benin they form a portion of the
royal treasury which the King disposes of to his faithful subjectsquot; (Lieut, King). The King of
Dahomey gives wives to the people ; parents have no sort of property in their children in Dahoman
territories ; they belong entirely to the King (Norris, p. 88).

Slaves sacrificed to serve master in next world—Festivities—Exhumation of corpses—Women\'s
funerals—A female chief\'s human sacrifices—Preparation of body when death occurs at
a distance—Shaving a sign of mourning (42)—Fiadors buried in sitting posture—Tomb turned
into altar—Carved elephant tusks—Wooden rams\' and bullocks\' heads—Libation orifices-
Coral necklace returned to king—Body of well-to-do man carried round village—Poor man\'s
body thrown away—Vultures—Stranger\'s body thrown into forest—Corpses tied up in mats (43)
King\'s burial in hole in ground—Desire of wives and slaves to be immolated alive—Stone
rolled over tomb—Slow death of the victims—Fire lit on tomb—Festivities—Numerous murders-
Vultures—Articles placed in tomb—Similar account given by Landolphe—Kings\' and victims\'
bodies exhumed—Sacrifices to ensure king having servants in next world—A king\'s tomb-
Carved pilasters (44)—Ivory snake.

The dead were disposed of by means of burial unless when sacrificed. quot; They
bury their dead with all their clothes on, and kill a certain number of slaves as a
sacrifice, especially for persons of rank, in order that the latter may have their
services in the other world, and spend seven days with dancing and playing with
drums and other toys on the grave. They sometimes exhume the corpses, so that
they may honour them with a fresh sacrifice of men and animals, bewailing them as
before, with great lamentations. When a woman has died, her friends come and
take away pots, pans, boxes and cupboards, and then go about in the streets with all
the things on their heads, with sound of drums and other instruments, singing in
honour of the deceased. If it is a woman of rank, a certain number of slaves is also
killed near the grave, and put beside the corpse. It happened once that a woman,
w^hen in extremis, ordered the slaughter of seventy-eight slaves on her grave after her
death ; and finally, in order to make the number even, she ordered one more boy and
one more girl to be added to the sacrifice. No person of rank or wealth dies
there unaccompanied by bloodshedquot; (Dapper).\' Nyendael tells us quot; When
any person dies, the corpse is washed and cleansed, and if a native of Benin
happens to die at a very distant place,^ the body is thoroughly dried over a

^ In Dahomey the slaughter of wives on the death of a king was very great; the wretched women
were put into the tomb living, with broken legs, and cautioned to treat their lord well (Labarthe
P- 125)- Of Bonny burial, Adams writes (p. 139), quot;Human sacrifices are common. Where a chief dies,
many of his wives are destroyed and interred with him.quot; quot;The Ejomen [Jos, Ijos] being all free,
their funerals are long, mainly limited, in fact, by the wealth of the departed. The wake consists of
drmking rum, drumming, dancing, and playing—in the sense of Sardanapalus the son of Anacyndar-
axis his inscription-for seven nights and three days ; after that it is kept up every third or fourth
day until the month expires. Six guns are fired at dawn and sunset; also at mid-day, if the
obsequies be those of a very great man. There are, however, no human sacrifices cr customs,
properly so called, in this tribe ; these barbarities are unknown except on occasions of settling
important palavers quot; (Burton, p. 157).

2 Lander mentions the case of deceased Badagry chiefs whose bodies were all brought to Benin.
See Chap. I., p. 13.

gentle fire and put into a coffin, the planks of which are closely joined with glue [sic],
and brought at the first opportunity to the city for burial. But sometimes a
convenient conveyance does not offer itself for several years ; wherefore the corpse
is thus kept above ground for a long time, as I have seen several in my time at Arebo.
The nearest relations, wives and slaves, go into mourning for the dead person, some
shave their hair, others their beards, or half their heads, amp;c. The public mourning
commonly lasts fourteen days. Their lamentations and cries are accommodated to
the tunes of several musical instruments, although with long intermediate stops,
during which they drink plentifully. And when the funeral is over, each person
retires to his own house, and the nearest relations, who continue in mourning, bewail
the dead in this manner for several months.quot;

According to Landolphe, quot;at the death of a great man, of a fiador or a passador,
he is buried in the apartment he preferred most when living. Before lowering the
corpse into its tomb it is placed on a wicker bier raised about three feet from the
ground. A fire is lighted underneath which melts the fat and dries the body. It is
then carried into a sort of alcove in a sitting posture. It is then built round with
clay in the shape of an altar three feet high. On the top are placed beautiful
elephant tusks each weighing forty to fifty pounds, well carved with images of lizards
and snakes. These tusks are set on crudely carved wooden heads of rams or
bullocks. I saw at least twenty tusks on one of these tombs. The chamber where
the deceased lies is only entered once and that is on the anniversary of his death.
All his friends and relations are present. At the foot of the tomb a small hole is
made about 6 inches square and 18 inches deep, into which libations of palm wine
and brandy are poured ; the kola fruit or cachew is also thrown in, after which an
infinite number of oranms are said, which I never thoroughly understood (II., p. 53).quot;
quot; The bunches of coral belonging to the dead are returned to the king, as his ofiice not
being hereditary, his children are not patented until they are twenty years of age and
have done something useful for the state; besides which, the favour must be
asked for by a majority of the inhabitants of the canton of the father. The body of a
well-to-do man is carried on a litter and is covered with a white cloth. Wallers
follow the corpse, which is carried round the village and then buried. As to the poor
man his body is almost thrown away. Sometimes it is thrown outside the village
into the ditches, where a multitude of vultures devour it. These birds, as big as
turkeys, pace the streets and it is forbidden to kill them because they hurt no one
and destroy lizards and other reptiles {ihid I., p. 54). Of these vultures we are told by
D.R.: quot; Especially do they fear the birds, and have a great abhorrence for them, and
no man dares do them any harm in any way, for there are men purposely appointed
to give them food, which they carry in a stately manner and with great reverence,
which food when so carried no man may see but those appointed to do it, and every
man makes way and then runs off when he sees these men come to bring the birds food,
and they have a special place so that the birds may always come there for their
food or nourishment.quot;^

A stranger who dies without being identified is deprived of burial and his body
is thrown into the forest (Beauvais, p. 144).

1 Speaking generally of the coast, Adams writing in 1823, P- 186, says : quot; The birds of prey are
eagles and vultures ; the latter are the scavengers of tropical countries and are so fearless of man,
in consequence of the protection they receive from him for their useful qualities, that in some of
the African towns they will scarcely move out of the path where he is walking.quot;

quot;The approach to Benin,quot; writes Mr. C. Punch, quot;was by an avenue, and in this
were many corpses tied up in a mat. Sometimes we were told they were the corpses
of those, who, accused of witchcraft had died while undergoing the ordeal of
saucewood. Others told us that-the bodies of the poor and those without relations
to make the funeral services, were so thrown out in the bush.\' We were also
informed that at the big ceremonies all the victims were beheaded and that only the
headless trunks Avere thrown into the iyoquot;

quot;When a King dies,quot; according to Dapper, quot;a large hole is dug out in his
palace, wide at the bottom and narrow at the top, and so deep that the diggers are
even drowned in the water. . Into this hole the king\'s corpse is thrown, when all the
king\'s favourites and servants appear, offering to accompany him in order to serve
him in the next life, and although none but those who have been most beloved by him
during his life can obtain this favour, there is much quarrelling over the question.
After those that are granted the favour have climbed down into the hole where the
king\'s corpse is lying, a large stone is rolled up to the opening of the hole to cover it,
while the people stand around it night and day. The next day some people are sent out
to open the hole by taking away the stone, then they ask those that are in the hole
Avhat they are doing, and whether anybody has gone to serve the king. To which
there is no answer but \' No!\' On the third day the same question is again asked, and
then sometimes the answer is given that such or such a one has first undertaken the
journey, and such or such a one in the second place, which first one is praised and
deemed happy by all of them. At last, after four or five days, all these people are
dead. When there is no one left to give an answer this is reported to the new,
presumptive king, who at once orders a large fire to be lit on the top of the hole, on
which a great quantity of meat is roasted for distribution among the community;
this is to inaugurate his reign. After the hole has been filled up, great numbers of
people are cut down,^ and the heads of the corpses covered with pieces of cloth, that
nobody is allowed to lift; only certain birds, of which there are two sorts, one called
Goore SiuA the othex A kalles, Adseiowch. them. There are some who say that only
headless or beheaded people are thrown into the hole. A great part of the late king\'s
attire, furniture and hoesjes or cowries, is placed near the corpse,quot;

Landolphe\'s account is as follows: quot;When the King of Benin dies a hole is
dug in one of the large courts of the palace, about four feet square, thirty deep and
very broad at the bottom. The monarch\'s body is lowered into it together with his
ministers—the latter alive. The opening is closed by a large wooden lid, victuals are
brought to it every day, and the question asked, \' Is the king dead ? \' The
unfortunate ones reply \' He is very ill.\' The bringing of food and the asking of
questions is continued until silence certifies that there are no more living. During
the first days the capital is in iTiourning. Men masked and disguised in a fantastic
way armed with a damas [? Damascus blade] throng the streets and steal the heads
of those whom they meet, collecting the blood in copper dishes to pour on to the
tomb of the king. A little later on, the bodies of the king and his ministers are
withdrawn from the hole, and those of the victims are handed over to their relations,
who feel much honoured by the fact that the king\'s servants should have accompanied

1nbsp;quot; One of the most keenly felt of Yoruba curses is \' Okttbeo—May you die off or be buried in the
bush \' i.e., \' May you be so poor or insignificant that when you die no one will bury you.\' quot; C,P.

2nbsp;There is a temporary anarchy and tumult at Dahomey, -Wydah, amp;c,, when a king dies and
before his successor is announced and takes possession of the throne (Norris, p. 129).

him into the next world. They are buried at the bottom of their compounds. The
king himself is buried in a spacious court under a vast portico supported by twelve
large pillars each formed from a single tree trunk. These badly carved pilastres
represent great men in their ceremonial dress when attending the king\'s council.
On examining one of these tombs I noticed many elephants\' tusks seven feet long
and brilliantly white, but it hurt me much to see them covered with human blood. On
the roof there is a snake thirty feet long and six feet in circumference made by
artistically mortising these tusks into one another.\'^ Its mouth Avas open and its
tongue consisted of a blade of copper. It seemed to be coming from the top and to
be gliding the length of the roof in order to get into the tomb. The above details
were given me by the fiadors as well as by many inhabitants, for no king died while
I was in the countryquot; (I., pp. 55-56).^

Regarding the men who go about masked and disguised they remind Mr. C.
Punch of the Okerison, Avho, during 14 days in November went about with short bars
killing anyone they met.

1nbsp;This appears to be the only reference to an animal built up of ivory. The snake seen by the
Punitive Expedition was of copper. At Windsor Castle there are, I believe, two Benin leopards
built of ivory.

2nbsp;quot; When King Orishima of Brass was buried, a hole was dug as big as a room, about 8 feet wide
by 14 feet long by 12 feet deep; at one end was placed a table on which were boiled beef, ship\'s
biscuit, tiimbo (palm wine), glasses, amp;c., and this was boarded round. The body of the king was kept in
a small house close to his house, where any passer-by could see the body lying in state, until it became
quite objectionable to them, when it was carried round the town in a wicker frame on men\'s shoulders
and finally put into the grave or chamber. When the hole was sealed by laying logs across the top
and then earth or clay over that, a small hole was left for tumbo or gin to be poured in at the yearly
\' father making.\' Shortly after the death of a chief, king, or well-to-do man, his people fire off cannon
at intervals during the day and night, sometimes for several weeks after the body has been consigned to
its last resting place. The amount of gunpowder burnt on these occasions is regulated by the riches
of the defunct and the liberality of his successor. Free men and the chiefs and petty chiefs are
buried with the same formahties as the king. But the scale on which these formalities are carried
out is gradually diminished according to the wealth of the party to be buried. The body is buried in
the dwelling house of the late chief.quot; For this note I am indebted to Count de Cardi. If I
remember right, Hutchinson mentions the case of a king\'s burial at Calabar when the women had
their legs broken before putting in the tomb, and that for a time the ground, which covered them,
heaved with their struggles,

Courtesy to strangers — Pride— Honesty—Drink—Immorality — Courtesy—Dignity — Vanity—
Superstition—Good treatment engenders reciprocal treatment {46)—Adherence to ancient
customs—Mutual civility—Fear of government—Pretence of being poor—Charity—Laziness—
Feigned civility—Liberality to Europeans—Thievish and superstitious—Good heartedness and
hospitality—Poisoning and robbing—Burton\'s bad opinion (47)—Cannibalism, no record of—
Roupell\'s officials deny its existence—Idle Chiefs—Want of care for the poor.

D.R. found the quot; people very straightforward and doing no wrong to one an-
other, nor do they cheat one another,quot; and he adds elsewhere quot; the people are very
reverential and respect strangers very much, for when any stranger meets or
passes them on the path, they make w^ay for him and step aside, and no one of them
is so bold as to go by or overtake him, unless they be expressly bidden so to do, or the
stranger prays them to go on, nay, they dare not do so, how^ever much they have to
carry or however heavily laden they may be, for if they did they would be punished for
it. Neither are they wanting in pride or ambition and they desire always to be praised
by their own people.quot; Dapper gives them practically the same character : quot; The
inhabitants are all decent people, surpassing all the other negroes of the Coast in
everything, living peacefully together under good laws and justice, and shoAV great
respect to the Dutch and other foreigners visiting their Coast for commerce, and also
to each other. They are not much given to stealing, nor are they drunkards, but
they are very libidinous.quot;\' The last named characteristic is borne by them to the
present day in spite of severe punishments and restrictions. quot; The Jekris complained
that it was the common habit of Bini men to send their wives to the water side
(riverside) markets with intent to decoy the Jekri traders into liasions, so that pains
and penalties might be bestowed on them. In my time the Binis seemed to be
courteous and hospitable to strangers. The chiefs were dignified and reserved in
manner, and even when angry did not as a rule indulge in loud tones or violent
gestures. They were very curious when we first visited them. They cam_e in a
continual stream from morning till midnight in order to see the Avhite man. All
ranks and classes came into the room in which we sat, saluted us gravely, sat down
and stared, and then saluting us again got up and left. They did not beg for small
presents as most natives do, and if given any trifles expressed their thanks. The lead-
ing traits of their character were undoubtedly vanity and superstition, and it
would be difficult to say which prevailedquot; (C. Punch). Nyendael goes into
more detail and explains the cause of the people\'s general civility. quot; The
inhabitants of Great Benin are generally good-natured, and very civil, from
whom. it is easy to obtain Avhatever we desire by soft means. If we make
them liberal presents, they will endeavour to recompense us doubly; and if
we want anything, and ask it of them, they very seldom deny us, though

1 At Warri, Dapper records that the quot; Natives are cleverer in many things than those of Benin.quot;

they may want it for themselves. But they are so far in the right, to expect
that their courtesy should be repaid with civility, and not with arrogance or rudeness;
for to think of forcing anything from them is to dispute with the moon. They are
very prompt in business, and will not suffer any of their ancient customs to be
abolished ; in which, if we comply with them, they are very easy to deal with, and
will not be wanting in anything on their part requisite to a good understanding. \' The
natives here seem very civil to each other, and omit no opportunity of offering their
mutual services ; but this is bare compliment, for they will not trust one another, but
are jealously prudent, and very reserved, especially in the management of their trade,
which they despatch with the utmost secrecy, out of fear of being represented as
great traders to their governors, who, upon such a discovery, would certainly accuse
them of some crime or other, in order to possess themselves, though never so un-
justly, of the effects of these rich merchants. And here, as well as everywhere else,
it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog with ; wherefore those who are out of power,
and have no share in the government, always pretend to be poorer than they really
are, in order to escape the rapacious hands of their superiors.quot; Mr. C. Punch found
similar conditions prevailing during his visits : quot; The lower classes were also lazy,
and produced little beyond their actual needs and to supply the demands
of their overlords. The extortion of the chiefs prevented any progress ; no
man dared accumulate wealth, own exceptional comforts or make any display
of unusual riches.quot; To return to Nyendael: quot;This obliges them all to a
cunning sort of reciprocal civility, in order to avoid accusers ; and their professions
are very rarely sincere, but only feigned. The king, the great lords and every
governor, who is but indifferently rich, support several poor people at their place of
residence out of charity, employing those who are fit for any work, in order to help
them to a maintenance ; and the rest they keep \' for God\'s sake,\' and to obtain this
character of being charitable ; so that there are no beggars. And this necessary care
succeeds so well, that we do not see many remarkably poor amongst them. They
are very liberal in all exchange of presents of all sorts of goods, and they give the
Europeans large quantities of refreshing provisions, and more than they really want;
nay, some in this particular give beyond their ability, only in order to acquire a good
reputation amongst strangers.quot;

Landolphe found the negroes very reserved, and says quot; they would rather have
their tongues cut out than divulge anything which might have been deliberated upon
in their assemblyquot; (IL, p. 65).

BeauA^ais found the Bini quot;very thievish and very superstitious.quot; He says the
quot; native has no scruple during the night to attempt to recover an article which he has
sold in the day timequot; (p. 142), and continues, quot; The Bini is at bottom good hearted
and hospitable, but he is also greedy and vindicative. He dares not, on account of
his religion [sjc] strike a white man, but he does not hesitate to poison\' him in order
to rob him, or for the sake of vengeance quot; (p. 143).

1 As we have seen above, Dapper states the people of Warri do not poison each other so readily
as in Benin. At Warri when a tiger was killed, Landolphe remarks : quot; The negroes believe that the
tiger\'s liver is a poison as subtle as violent, and the chiefs of villages take every precaution to prevent
its being used. They collect all the men, of whom eight are elected by a majority of votes, and who
take an oath not to touch the liver. The tiger is cut open, his heart and liver are placed in an
earthenw are jar, and a heap of stones are piled round it. The eight men get a canoe and take the
jar, which they throw into the middle of the river. On their return they take a fresh oath that they
have not touched anything which was inside the jar quot; (L, p. 165). At Abo the gall of the drummer
fish is said to be a deadly poison (Cole, Life in the Niger, Lond., 1862, p. 186).

Nyendael mentions special precautions being taken to secure the king against
poisoning. Arrows were poisoned according to D.R.

In Burton\'s time the character for honesty had deteriorated still more, for we
are told by him: quot;I determined the Beninese to be, with the sole exception of the
Mpongwe or Gaboons, the most pilfering race that I had visited on this west coast
of Africaquot; (p. 417). quot; Trade was nearly all carried on by women and they were
most dishonest. The lower classes were not such arrant thieves as the Jekri and
Ijos, but probably that was because the European was more an object of awe to
them than to the former. European goods and chattels were under the king\'s pro-
tection, and unless by his orders would not be stolen to any great extent, all the
same, I remember once when in Ojomo\'s house that his household made free with
many trifles belonging to me quot; (C. Punch).

Beauvais says that the old chroniclers spoke of the natives of Warri and Benin
as cannibals (Flore p. xi.), but I am quite unable to trace any such statement.
Indeed, Roupell\'s officials say, quot; We have never heard of our fathers eating human
flesh.quot; It may be accepted as a fact that cannibalism was not a Bini failing.\'

The occupation of the people is cursorily referred to by Nyendael : quot; There are
several very rich men who live here and attend continually at court, not troubling
themselves with either trade, or agriculture, or anything else, but leaving all their
affairs to their wives and slaves.quot; The employment quot; of the ordinary citizens is to
loiter about whole days, till they hear of any ships being come into the river, upon
which they go thither to trade with what goods they have in store. . . The handi-
crafts\' men keep to their work without troubling themselves with the court or trade.
Others employ themselves in agriculture, or some such thing, in order to get their
living quot; {ibid).

In Mr. Punch\'s time the character of the people, in the above respect, appears to
have been the same as in Nyendael\'s time : quot; The chiefs lived in Benin, seldom visit-
ing the villages which belonged to them. They were lazy and lived on the work of
their slaves and retainers.

quot; While professing, and to some extent paying, great deference to age, absolute
neglect could be shown to anyone old and without friends. I remember an old
woman coming to Gwato without friends or means of subsistence. We found her
lying in the village dying of simple starvation. Neither the Ahuraku nor any of the
people would do anything for her, and when arrangements were made to give her
some food and quarters, the women of the town, going daily for water, would not as
much as fill a pot for her. For this reason both the Benin and Jekri people were
anxious for large families, so that if poor they might have someone to support them
in old age quot; (C. Punch).

^ In the Esmeraldo there are, however, frequent references to the Jos [Ijos, Ejaus, Jörnen] as
eaters of men, and Gallwey (p. 137) writes that quot;even now, 1892, they do not object to a tender
morsel of human flesh when the opportunity offers.quot; The spirit of the Ijos broke out very strongly
among the neighbouring people of Brass a few years ago ; included in the mob of cannibals was a
young chief who had just returned from being educated at a missionary college in England
(Boisragon, p. 31). In Crow\'s time, at Bonny, a Kiva chief who had been taken prisoner was
eaten (p. 84.)

Dapper\'s version—\' Cult to the devil \'—No need to worship a benevolent spirit—Orisa—Fetishes-
Devil charmers—Predictions—Nyendael\'s version—Gods and devils—Images—Anything extra-
ordinary is a god—Their knowledge of God—Impossible to make image of god—No organised
priesthood (50)—Worship the devil to ward off evil—The same image a god or devil-—
Ghostly warnings—Offerings essential—quot; The custom of our forefathers quot;—Variety of offerings-
Flesh of offerings eaten (51)—Explanation given to Landolphe and Beauvais—Feast days (52)—
Annual non-human sacrifices—Sabbath every fifth day—Animals slaughtered and flesh eaten
by poor—Future life in the sea—The shadow bears witness in the next world -Sacrifices
made to the sea (53)—Alagwe the juju canoe spoiler—The discovery of salt—The Luba juju—
His prediction of arrival of ships—Not allowed to enter Great Benin—Fetizeros esteemed—
Ahuraku priests—The \' Parson \' (54)—Foundation of Gwato—The Malaku cult—Wood devil
spreads plague if offended (55)—His rule violated by Europeans—Native explanation—Annual
expulsion of evil spirits—The Egugus—The drivers\' curious dress—They maltreat all they meet—
Their acrobatic performances—Idol or Fetish huts (57)—Description of one—Antics of the wor-
shippers—Fetish huts in forest used for human sacrifices—Disguise of officials—No women
allowed to enter these huts—Burton\'s descriptions of altars—Shango, god of thunder—Heteroge-
neous collection of fetish articles (59)—Interior of the altars—Curious contents—Altar at Gwato—
Dwarfed figures—Variety of fetish objects—Vows—Libations—The Kola nut—Choppingjuju (61)
Chalk a prophylactic (62)—Juju signs—King of Benin fetish—The king a high priest and a god—He
required neither food nor sleep—King could turn into bird, amp;c.—King ruled by fetish priests—
Human sacrifices (63)—Protest by Portuguese missionaries—Moffat and Smith\'s description—A
Golgotha—Vultures—Pit for sacrificed bodies—Burton\'s account—Skulls lying about like
pebbles—A field\'of death—Turkey buzzards (64)—Victims on roads to city—Crucifixion—Sacrifice
on arrival of white man—Victim made drunk—Voice of Oro—His victim—Slaves only—King\'s
piety (65)—Sacrifices to his father—Oro—The Okerison—Barracoons—Catching victims—
Gallwey\'s account—Path strewn with the dead—A rule of terror—Crucifixion—Dr. Roth\'s
description (66)—Sacrificial trees—Ground strewn with human bones—Skewered mouths-
No strict method of immolation (68)—Still living victims in pits—Curious wounds—How
caused—Captives noosed—Captives stapled on to logs—Animals sacrificed—Commander
Bacon\'s record (69)—Woman horribly mutilated—Goat sacrificed to prevent advance of
white men—Curious reason for sparing a captive—Dr. Allman\'s account—Sacrificial trees-
Horrible sights—176 victims—Brutal mutilations—Seventeen pits to hold the victims—Seven
rescued from the pits—Originally no women sacrificed (70)—Roupell\'s officials explain the sacri-
fices—Bad people or slaves sacrificed—Sacrifices to the king\'s dead father—Method of immola-
tion—The Bead sacrifice (7i)~The victim receives a message to take to Bead Juju—Curious
prophecy—Sacrifice to Rain God—Woman victim—Sacrifice to the Sun—Sacrifice to God of
Health, Ogiwo—Man and woman sacrificed—Message sent to Ogiwo—Dead people go to
Ogiwo—White men go to another country (72)—Criminal freemen ordered to commit suicide—Any
excuse for a human sacrifice—Ivories and cast woik sprinkled with blood—Ground in one com-
pound caked with blood—Main object of sacrifice to send prayers to avert evil—The making of one\'s
father—King\'s semi-annual parades {74)—Dapper refers to one annual parade—Tame leopards—
Dwarfs—Human sacrifices—Their return to life—Royal show of wealth—Nyendael\'s description
of the Bead or Coral Feast (76)—Legroing and Balon\'s description—Laughter of King at the
sacrifices—Beauvais\' explanation—Coral a royal gift—Yam Feast—More human sacrifices-
Trick played on the people (77)—New yams not eaten until after feast—Special fortnightly fetes—
Details of a, human sacrifice—Bad music—Lascivious dancing—Blood sprinkled on tomb—

Landolphe\'s attempt to stop a sacrifice (79)—Beauvais\' detailed descriptions—Music—Proces-
sions—Fine dresses—A dancing minister—Monotonous chant—The victims—Second chant-
Victims touched—Third chant—Immolation (82)—Fourth chant—Fanaticism of the women-
Animals sacrificed—Women\'s offerings—Mr. C. Punch\'s arrival after sacrifices done {83)—
Curious ceremony—A voluntary human sacrifice (84)—His privileges—Woman accused of
witchcraft—Torture—Millepede fetish—Water fetish—Jekri water spirit (85).

quot; As to their rehgion,quot; says Dapper, quot; it consists of a cult to the devil, to whom
they sacrifice men and cattle; for, although they know full well that there is a God
who has created heaven and earth, and still rules, they think it of no use to adore
him, as he is not bad, but good; so they try rather to satisfy the devil with sacrifices,
because he always treats them badly.\'^ They call God Orisa,^ and the white one
(den witte Owiorisa) i.e., God\'s child. They have their Fetishes or idols, made of wood
or green herbs,\' which they worship and consult; everyone has also his Fetizero or
devil-charmer, who asks the devil to speak with him; the devil then answers by

Figs. 51 amp; 52.—Bronze Plaques in British Museum. The turned up
fish legs of the central individual in fig. 51, and the fish from the belt of
the individual in fig. 52, would seem to indicate fetish, and hence these
individuals are probably intended to represent a king of Benin. The sup-
port given to the arms of the fish-legged man in fig. 31 show that he
was at least certainly a big chief.

means of Fetizi, and predicts what will happen to them in war or on other occasions,
by a sound that is supposed to come from a pot with three holes.quot; Nyendael\'s ver-
sion is: quot; They profess to worship both gods and devils in human and brutal images,
some of which are elephants\' tusks, claws, dead men\'s heads, and skeletons, etc. Also

^ It was apparently in Dapper\'s time, as it is now, the fashion to speak of a non-Christian
religion as that of the devil. The native explanation of why the devil is worshipped is, of course,
the outcome of European teaching; before the advent of the latter, such an explanation would prob-
ably never have occurred to a Bini.

they take everything which seems extraordinary in nature for a god, and make offer-
ings to it; and everyone is his own priest, in order to worship his gods in what
manner pleases him best.\' It is really the more to be lamented that the negroes
idolise such worthless nothings, as several amongst them have no very unjust idea
of the deity; for they ascribe to God the attributes of omni-presence, omniscience,
and invisibility; besides which, they believe that he governs all things by his

Fig- 53-—Bronze plaque of a fetish king and
his attendants ; the king\'s legs ending in the form of
the conventionalised catfish. Height i5jin. (39cm.)
In the possession of Mr. R. K. Granville. What the
meaning of the fish legs, or, as\'they are sometimes
represented, snake legs, is not known, but they can
be compared with those of the mystic Abraxos
(Fig- 54)-

providence. By reason of God being invisible, they say it would be absurd to make
any corporeal representations of him; for it is impossible to make any image of what
we never saw. They have therefore such multitudes of images of their idol-gods,
which they take to be deities subordinate to the supreme God, without considering

1 quot;I never could find any traces of an organised Juju priesthood in Benin, although there are
natives who attach themselves to certain fetishes. In Yoruba, on the other hand, the Ifa priests are a
distinct initiated body, but they pursue commonplace vocations as well. Whatever sacrificial killing
was considered necessary, was performed by the king\'s officers. The saucewood, as I have shown
in the case of an ordeal, was sent down by the king\'s boys (the Ukoba), and generally speaking, the
priestly offices, like that of the executioner, seemed to be performed by men appointed from the
king\'s staff. Again, certain nobles had certain rites and duties to carry out. The chiefs of the towns
would perform some of the rites, and the heads of families others, and then Some people inherited
the right to perform some fetishes and business. Nor do I think that even the Oro brotherhood has
any parallel to our ideas of a priesthood,quot; (C. Punch),

what sort of trifles they are, believing there are mediators betwixt God and men,
which they take to be their idols. They know enough of the devil to call all that is
evil by that name, and believe themselves obliged to worship and serve him, to
prevent his doing them a mischief. The devil is not represented by any particular
image, or distinguished from their idols otherwise than in their intention only ; for to
the very same image, they at one time make offerings to God, and at another to the
devil ; so that one image serves them in the two capacities of God and devil. They
talk very much concerning the apparition of the ghosts of their deceased ancestors or
relations ; which yet happens only to them in their sleep, when they come and warn
them to make this or that offering ; which, as soon as the day approaches, they
immediately do. If they are unable, they will, rather than fail in this duty, borrow
of others ; for they imagine that the neglect thereof would draw on them some heavy
affliction. If any person in raillery tells them they are only idle imaginations and

dreams, they will agree with them, but add, \' it is a custom of our forefathers which
we are obliged to follow.\' No other answer is to be obtained from them. Their
daily offerings are not of great value, consisting only of a few boiled yams, mixed
with oil, which they lay before the images of their gods. Sometimes they offer a
cock, but then the idol only gets the blood, because they like the flesh very well
themselves.quot; With regard to the above distinction between one powerful good spirit
and a multitude of evil spirits, Landolphe\'s and Beauvais\' statements are not uninter-
esting. According to the former their explanation for not adoring God was
somewhat as follows. They say quot; Our sovereign is really great; we see him seldom
and hardly ever speak to him. If it happens that we are brought into his presence,
we prostrate ourselves without daring to look at him, being obliged even to cover up
our mouths with one hand. God is infinitely greater and also infinitely good, as he
never does us any harm ; there is, therefore, no need to worship him and besides, he
thinks much less about us than does our king. But the same does not hold good
with the devil, for as he is wicked, causes us as much evil as he can, and as all
troubles come from him, we pray to him and worship him, and we give him victuals
to appease him quot; (II., pp. 70, 71). While according to Beauvais: quot; The native believes
in two beings ; one a good one to whom he never prays because he has nothing but
good to expect from him, and one an evildoer whom he invokes so as to avoid the
evil which he may do him. The native cuts off his fellow creatures and sprmkles his
fetishes with their blood in the hope of inducing his divinity to treat him well (p. 142).quot;

quot; They keep many feast days, celebrating them with dancing, jumping, playing,
and the butchering of cattle and men, to the honour of their idols or Fetizi, and also
with eating and drinking and merrymakingquot; (Dapper).

quot;The great men make annual sacrifices, which are performed in great state, and
prove very expensive; not only because of their killing multitudes of cows, sheep,
and all sorts of cattle, but because, besides that, they give a solemn [s^c] feast, making
their friends very merry for several days successively and besides making them
presents quot; (Nyendael). The same traveller says: quot;Their sabbath happens every fifth\'
day, which is very solemnly observed by the great, with the slaughter of cows, sheep
and goats, whilst the commonalty kill dogs, cats, and chickens, or whatever their

money will reach. And of whatever is killed, large portions are distributed^ to the
necessitous, in order to enable them, as every person is obliged, to celebrate this
festivalquot; {ibid). Nyendael also records that quot;the seat of bliss or torment, in the future
life, they imagine to be the sea. They call the shadow of a man passador or conductor,
who they believe shall testify whether a person has lived well or badly; if well, he
is raised to great dignity, but if badly, he is to perish of hunger and poverty; so that
they send the happy and the damned to the same place.quot; This belief in a future
state in the sea has doubtless arisen since the advent of Europeans, for as we shall

1nbsp;quot; The fifth day was kept a Sunday and no work was done on the farms on that day, but oddly
enough the fetish did not prevent other work being carried out. When a man built a new house he
asked his friends and neighbours to help him; he did not. pay them but provided a feast and
drummers. The Sunday was often chosen quot;—C.P.

see later on dead people, not sacrificed, went-to the God of Health (p. 72). However
this may be, according to Dapper, quot;They also offer great yearly sacrifices to the sea,
to dispose it favourably towards them, and their most solemn oaths are those made
upon the sea and upon their king,quot; though what they sacrificed, Dapper does not say,
but Adams tells us in his time they were human sacrifices.

Roupell\'s officials relate that quot;when Osogboa was king, there was a juju named
Alagwe that troubled the country. Then the king called his men and took war
against that juju and he drove him and all his people from the village down to the
waterside, and when he came to the waterside, Alagwe, the juju jumped in and he
has never come back, so there he still is, and he it is who can sometimes spoil canoes.
When the king had taken the people, he put his hand to the ground and found it
was sweet like salt by tasting it, then he cried out\' What is this that Juju has.\' So he
and his boys began to dig and take it away to Aso. Before this, we had no salt, so
now see how strong and plenty we are.\'

Such troublesome spirits seem not to have been uncommon, for Dapper relates
that quot;in the village of Lubo, situated in the front of the river of Arbon or Benin,
lives a certain great Fetizero or devil charmer, the chief of the village, from whom
the village has got its name, wdiile all his ancestors have cultivated the same arts;
for they could, as the natives said, conjure the sea in several manners, make the
waters stir, and know beforehand the coming of some ships from foreign countries;
m reward for which the King of Benin gave them the whole village with all the
people and the slaves; so he still possesses this village of Lubo by inheritance,
showing strange tricks, and always behaving like one possessed; therefore nobody
dares shake hands with him. The Benin ambassadors w^hen coming there are afraid
of him, and he himself is not allowed to go to Great Benin or its environs, by virtue
of a certain law, adopted a very long time ago by the Benin kings, who nevertheless
hold many of those Fetizeros in great esteem and honour.quot; This Lubo is probably
Ologbo, and if so confirms Mr. Punch\'s remarks that the Europeans came
first to Ologbo and not to Gwato (Egatun). quot; There would probably be a tradition
of an Ahuraku priest at one of the waterside villages on the Ologbo creek. There
was an Ahuraku priest at Igoro, a small town on the road between Gwatun and
Benin, and there was another in Benin city. Neither the Ahuraku at Gwato nor the
one at Igoro might set foot on the road to Benin beyond the bounds of his town.
I was told that the Ahuraku at Igoro if very angry about anything would say \' Well,
I will go to Benin then,\' and make a great show of starting. Whereupon his friends
and family restrained him. But the news, that he had come out of his town as far
as the bounds and had only been restrained by his family, would be carried to Benin
and perhaps the king would send to ask what had so vexed his soul as to make him
contemplate such a desparate deed. The same would hold good with the Ahuraku
at Gwato, but the position of the one in Benin itself I never understoodquot; (C. Punch).

quot; Gwatun was the head centre of the cult of Malaku, the spirit of big water, i.e.,
the sea, big rivers, not creeks. Hence it is easy to understand why it should he
the town set aside for the entrance to Benin of the white man who came on the big
water.^ I used to be told in a vague way the tale of the foundation of Guatun. A son
of a king named Caladesan was its founder. Either his mother was false, or else he
was accused of attempting one of his father\'s Avives. Anyhow, he fled from Benin,

1 This would probably be some Jekri village where the salt bush is; there is no salt bush in the
Ado country. See Trade.

and after much wandering and some magic with a palm-tree and a turtle, took up
his home at Guatun, where the turtle is sacred to this day, as it is also at Ilaro, to
the west of Lagos Colony, and in many other places. Caladesan\'s town throve, and
he defeated an army sent by the King of Benin. His independent sovereignty was
allowed, but he was never to return to Benin. At Igora, the chief called Ahuraku,
was also indépendant. The king\'s boys (Ukoba) were not supposed to enter into
either of these towns to make trouble. In Cheetham\'s time, the Ahuraku, who
was known as \' Parson,\' was a strong man and insisted on his rights and the
Ukoba were quiet. But the Ahuraku I knew was a feeble creature, and the king\'s

boys did as they pleased till I arrived. I am afraid the Ukoba did not like me much,
especially two named Aguramasse and Agbe.

quot; The story of the origin of Guatun was also connected with Asije or Esige, the
king specially connected with the Europeans, as well as with the founding of the iron
and brass industries in Benin. There was a compound dedicated to him in Benin, in
which was a deep well of pure water and a very old breech loading gun. He arrived
at Guatun and went from there to Benin to \' Chop King.\' He did not go by the

straight road, but round through a place called Uruegi. There are many villages on
the road, each of which seemed to have some old legend. I remember a tree bent
across the path which was an object of veneration. Asije is said to have hung his
bag containing his treasures, including the implements for iron working, on the tree,
and the weight bent the tree down. When Asije passed on, the tree remained bent.
Asije seems to have left a reputation for benevolence and gentleness quite foreign to
the Benm type. There was a big flood over all Benin in his day, and he was said
to have driven back the Malaku to Guatun and forbidden him again to invade the
land. He fixed iron pins in the ground on the bluff at Guatun, beyond which
the Malaku must not encroach. The pins were pointed out to me there when I went
up first. Malaku was an impersonation of Orishi, and probably of late origin and
peculiar to the Bini, as it is not known among the Egbas and Awyaws of the interior quot;
(C. Punch). When Dapper speaks of the Bini making sacrifices to the sea he was
evidently alluding to the Malaku cult. The juju Alagwe was probably no other
than Malaku.

Nyendael, in speaking of the destruction of twins refers to a certain wood (in
which the devil is supposed to lurk) quot; which is by them esteemed so sacred that they
never permit a foreign negro or any of his wives to enter it.\' If any person accident-
ally happen on a path which leads to this wood, he is obliged to go on to the end of
It, and must not return until he has been to the end ; and they are firmly persuaded
that if this law be violated, or that of offering the children twins and mother, or at
least a female slave m her place, the land will be attacked by some severe plague.
Notwithstanding all which, I have frequently gone a-shooting in this wood ; and to
ridicule their credulity, designedly turned before I had gone half-way to the end of
the path ; by which means I not a little staggered the faith of some, who saw that
my boldness was not attended with any evil consequences. But the roguish priests
were immediately ready to hand with an exception, which was, that 1, being a white
man, their god, or rather devil, did not trouble his bead about me, but if a negro
should presume to do so, the danger would soon appear.quot;

The annual driving out of evil spirits, a ceremony found also more to the east as
described by Hutchinson in Calabar, is thus related by Fawckner : quot; I witnessed a
strange ceremony peculiar to these people, called the time of the grand devils. Eight
men were dressed in a most curious manner, having a dress made of bamboo about
their bodies, and a cap on the head, of various colours and ornamented with red
feathers taken from the parrot\'s tail ; round the legs were twisted strings of shells,
which made a clattering noise as they walked, and the face and hands of each indi-
vidual were covered with a net. These strange beings go about the town by day and
by_ night for the term of one month, uttering the most discordant and frightful
noises ; no one durst venture out at night for fear of being killed or seriously mal-
treated by these fellows, who are then especially engaged in driving the evil spirits
from the town. They go round to all the chiefs\' houses, and in addition to the noise
they make, perform some extraordinary feats in tumbling and gymnastics, for which
they receive a few cowries.quot; (p. 102).

quot; These people were egtigus, the same as in Yoruba. They had roughly carved
headpieces representing animals, and the rest of the head, body, hands and legs were
covered in a loose fitting garment. In old days if in dancing one of the egu^^us

Fig, 61.—Brass Club (Length 552 mm.) From one of the pits there was taken amongst others, a
native carrier, a Kru boy, who had been captured at the massacre of Vice-Consul Phillips\' party.
When Dr. F. N. Roth, examined him, he found three peculiarly shaped holes in the boy\'s head—
one through each cheek, and one deep into the back of the head. The wounds appeared to
have been made by a thin, blunt instrument, somewhat like an engineer\'s chisel, but never
having seen an instrument which would exactly fit such mutilations, the surgeon was much
piuzzled as to what could have been this murderous weapon. The boy could offer no explana-
tion, except that he and many others had been killed (,!! so that the British should not
enter the city—that he had been hit with a piece of iron, and then thrown for dead into the pit,
where he had been five days. He was more or less silly on account of his sufferings, and hence
no further explanation could be got from him (See Fig. 66). Shortly afterwards, in examining one
of the altars in the king\'s compound, a British officer found the peculiar instrument here depicted,
thickly encriisted with blood, and on showing it to my brother, he considered that this must have
been the club with which this lad had been struck ; it showed signs of very great wear. It was
stated that the two cup-like arrangements were to collect the victim\'s blood to sprinkle over the
bronze heads, carved tusks, etc. Figs. 62, 63 and 64, are details of Fig. 61.

Fig. 65.—Bronze Horn of quite recent manufacture. Compare this with the sacrificial club described
by Mr. Punch (p. 74). Length 14^ in. ^.37 cm.) British Museum.

showed the bare skin of his hands, feet, body or face he was killed. They were
after a fashion ventriloquists.

quot;In November, which was the time of the feast of new yams, and also the
okerison time, for fourteen days no man walked on the road going to Gwato. He might
walk to Gwato from Benin, but he must not walk the other way. If he walk to-
wards Benin he would meet with an old man walking towards Gwato with a bag
over his shoulder. If he saluted the old man he received a polite reply, but, after
passing, if he turned, he would see no one on the road, and then he would know he
was doomed, and would in fact sicken and die within a few hours. I was assured by
many natives that this was a fact which they well knew from personal experience of
friends lost. Along the roads are many little fetish altars, and passers by deposit
offerings of food, cowries, palm oil, fowl feathers, and above all egg-shaped objects
made of white substance, probably kaolin of pipe clay. Once a year all the forest
altars are swept and garnished. The old man with the bag is supposed to be a
spirit sent by Malaku, who collects in his bag all the offerings on the Gwato road,
and on arrival at Gwato disappears with his bag into the big water.quot; (C. Punch).

quot; Their false gods, or the trash which represents them, are spread all over their
houses, and no place is free from them; besides which, there are several small huts
erected without the house, which are likewise filled with them, and whither they
sometimes go to sacrifice quot; (Nyendael). An idol house, or fetish hut, as such are now
called, is described by Fawckner, the building being of the usual habitation type.
He says : quot; The walls of this building are of clay and are covered in with rafters,
across which branches of bamboo are laid and tied down. There are no windows,
but an aperture in the middle of the roof serves to let in the light, under which stands
a cistern or tank, which conveys the rain away through holes into the ground.
Round it is a walk about 3 feet wide, where the people dance to the sound of their
drums ; and he who can make the most grotesque figure and play the most laughable
pranks, is held in highest esteem by the spectators. In the centre is a bench formed
of brown clay, which, by frequent rubbing with a piece of cocoanut shell and wet
cloths, has received a polish, and when dry looks like marble. Here is placed the
fetish ; there is a young tree beside it stripped of all its foliage, and at the foot an
earthen pot containing skeletons of animals, crooked sticks, and such unseemly
trifles, which the people ignorantly and superstitiously venerate and worship quot; (p. 32).

According to Landolphe quot;there are no temples at Owhere such as exist in Benin.
These buildings are erected in the forests and are extremely clean inside and outside.
Round about for a long distance are laid the mats on which the executioners march
in their processions. When sacrificing, for it is human beings they slay, these men
appear disguised in a single piece of native grey cloth, which covers them from the
ground to two or three feet above their head, in the form of a sugar loaf, and they
also take care to rub their feet with chalk so that they may not be recognised. Two
pieces of glass set in holes enable them to see. Women never enter these temples quot;
(II., p. 70). \'

Burton describes a fetish altar in Benin as follows : quot; There is not a single room
in the house, even the courts and lowest offices, in which altars and implements of

^ quot;These dresses are common all over the country. The dress is in reality a long bag, much
longer than the person wearing it, so that by pulling it about and refolding it while being worn, it
has rather a weird appearance. The spare portion with the open end is folded and held in the hands
inside the other parts; the sugar-loaf over the head is made by simply holding up a hand.quot; C.P.

worship do not appear. The rehgion I at once recognised to be the intricate and
mysterious mythology of Yoruba.It has, however, some modifications; for

Fig 68,—Plaque of a chief or
noble holding the Ebere (figs, 69
and 70) in his right hand. British
Museum.

instance, Shango, the god of thunder and lightning, is, like Shiva in olden India, here
worshipped. The domestic altar is rigged up in various ways, too various in fact for

This system can hardly be entered upon here; it would require a larger Lempriere [1765-1824,
author of Bibliotheca Classica]. The reader will find a fair sketch of it in the Rev. Mr. Bowen\'s
Central Africa,quot; F.B,

short description. Some are external, provided with all the heterogeneous mixture of
fetish idols ; waterpots, pipkins of spirits, cowries, chalk-sticks,\' ivories, some elabor-
ately and beautifully carved as the Chinese, men\'s heads coarsely imitated in wood
and metal, cocoa-nuts, and huge red clay pipes of Benin make, with stems six feet
long. Internally, these sacella are usually alcoves, not intended for man\'s use. Their
contents are similar to the former, but more elaborate ; there are wooden birds, life-
sized, but curiously and wonderfully made, with tails probably intended to resemble
elephant tusks, and large black sticks surmounted by a carved hand and out-pointing
index ; whilst a little below, a wooden clapper converts the open-worked hollow into
a rude and noiseless bell.quot; (pp. 278-9). Some sixty years later the members of the
Punitive Expedition found the altars covered with similar offertories.

From Gwato, Burton gives a description of a different sort of altar in a fetish hut
attached to his host\'s habitation. quot; Once a fine building, the roof is now fallen in.
Its most remarkable feature is a high altar, conspicuous for the statues of the reign-
ing king and queen. His majesty of Benin is a peculiar figure, somewhat like
Ganesa, all head, bust and paunch ; his legs are doubled up as if he were a
Tecumseh, and his arms are supported \' country fash,\' by two similar figures
intended, as in the Laocoon, for boys. His consort is in like position ; she and her
handmaidens have immense bosoms, if volume be beauty. The other objects are
plates of thin iron perforated, and shaped like a large fish-sheer, with a shank and a
terminating ring—mysterious article, used for making play at festivals. Besides
these were many walking canes, wooden pots like old leather jacks [waxed leather
pitchers], but adorned with metal, pipes apparently copied from the chibouque, three
weather-worn ivories, sundry bells, square and round, wooden and metal, and similar
ojfrandes. There were newly made gifts, white chalk and freshly gathered kola
nuts quot; (p. 281). We shall not be far wrong in saying that Burton has here described
the altar of the Malaku House illustrated in Fig. 83.

In D.R.\'s time they had quot; also a special sort of fruit which tastes like the garlic,
its colour is purple red, but otherwise of the same shape as found on the Gold Coast.
When they make a vow and wish to take an oath, they condemn themselves not to
eat a garlic which falls or breaks into so many pieces, also many undertake not to eat
it at all, each one according as he has a mind.quot; This is no doubt intended to
refer to the kola nut.

Similarly to other West Africans, the Bini quot; when drinking, always pour a few
drops upon the ground, muttering the while \' Mobia, Malaku, Mobia—I beg, O
Malaku—Fetish—guardian of lands and waters—I beg of thee to defend me against
all eyil, to defeat and destroy all my foes.\' This said, a broken bittock of kola
{Sterculia acuminata) is thrown upon the ground, and is watered with a few drops of
palm wine quot; (Burton p. 281).^ quot; Mobia is however Jekri for \' I beg you.\' Some of
the drink was carefully poured on the great toe. That on the ground was to the
the shades of ones ancestors, and that on the toe or head to ones own good luck or
destiny. In Benin the entertainer used to make a long prayer involving all kinds of
good fortune, and the guest replied by snapping the first and second fingers of the

1 Burton probably means kaolin, as chalk is not found anywhere near Benin, but could of
course have been imported by the trader.

^ quot; This purely self-defensive rite, common throughout Western Africa, is often confounded with
offerings of wine and food made to the ghosts of fathers—Pitri, the Hindus call them. The latter,
however, are always placed in the bush.quot;—F.B.

Eberes. quot; These articles were
nearly always thought by Europeans
to be a kind of cutlass. They were
not weapons, but simply ornaments
held in the hand, and turned about
during the ceremonial dances. I had
one made in silver plate for the king,
by Mappin and Webb, from an old
one lent me as patternquot; (C. Punch).
Fig. 69 is regularly perforated, but in
fig. 70 the holes are placed at irregular
intervals and are not so distinctly
visible. The blade of fig. 69 appears
to be iron, nickel plated and it is
furnished with an iron ring 12 in, ;
(30J c.m.) diameter; the blade in fig.
70 is brass. The length of the blade
fig. 691331 inches (79 c.m.), the length
of the instrument fig. 69 is 36 inches
(91 c.m.) and that of fig. 70, 38J in. :
(97J c.m.) In Warri it was stated
that these instruments were used
by the women at certain dances.
Dr. F. N, Roth, who was present at
the taking of Chief Nana\'s town in
1894, tells me a large quantity of these
articles were then found ; they were
mostly silver plated and bore the
name of a well known Birmingham
silver plating firm.

right hand on the palm of the left, saying repeatedly, isse—amen. (?) quot; C. Punch.
quot; This nut is also used for taking the oath of friendship, \' chopping juju \' as it
is now called. There are many ways of doing it, but it mainly consists in
eating portions of the same fruit or vegetable, and repeating a declaration
that he, the native, would speak \' true mouth\' with the white man, be white
man\'s brother, and always be honest with him, amp;c. This particular ceremony
was performed wath a kola nut placed on a brass tray with water poured on it, the

Figs. 70a amp; 71,—Brass Figure. Front and side view of a Benin ofhcial holding an
Ebere in the right hand and club as shown in fig. 61 in his left hand. Height
595 mm. Field Columbia Museum, Chicago.

native then touched himself with the water and nut and ate part of it, the other part
being eaten by the white man quot; (Bacon, p. 100).

Evil spirits are all kept off by bedaubing oneself with chalk, as Burton records
(p. 282). quot; Sawaye the \' father-boy,\'brought, besides slave boys, a little daughter
and two wives ; these ladies began by decorating their foreheads and bosoms with

chalk, picked from the roadside fetish-house, and made into a paste with water in the
palm. It IS a prophylactic against the works of the enemy, and I observed that they
renewed :t during the return march.quot; For the same end, as seen by Burton quot; almost
every turn of he road showed some sign, a suspended calico cloth, a pot of water, or
a heap of chalk sticks placed under what the Scotch call a \' fause-house,\' or what the
birf trap quot;gt; \'\'\'\' quot;quot; ^reakwind, i.e., a pent roof, looking like the falling flap of a large

The King of Benin is fetiche, and the principal object of adoration in his
dominions. He occupies a higher post here than the Pope does in Catholic Europe •
for he IS not only God\'s viceregent upon earth, but a god himself, whose subjects
both obey and adore him as such, although I believe their adoration to arise rather
from fear than love ; as cases of heresy, if proved, are followed by prompt decapita-
tion. Adams who writes (p. 112) as above adds that the king\'s deluded subjects
beheved the king required neither food nor sleep^ (p. 113). In connection with this
belief we may quote from Beauvais (p. 143): quot;The king is looked upon by his
subjects as a demigod, who can live without food or drink, subject to death but
destined to reappear on earth at the end of a definite period.quot; Referring to the
above statement of Adams, Burton says quot; The Obba (king) of Benm is fetish, and
he object of adoration to his subjects ; hence his power. European writers assert
that he occupies here a higher post than the Roman Pontiff in Catholic Europe and
IS considered not only as the vicegerent of deity, but as a deity himself, claim^g the
obedience and adoration of his subjects. This is partly true, but they forget that the
personal character of the deity in question mainly decides his position as a man quot; In
any case the people believed in the supernaturalness of the king, though not in his
divmity, m our acceptance of the term, and this is well examphfiedby the fact that no
native either of Benin or neighbouring districts believed the king could be captured
by the British for they said he would turn into a bird and fly away (Granville and
Roth. The Jekries, Jour. Anthrop. Inst., xxviii., p. 3.)\' Gallwey\'s statement sums
up the situation best when he says, quot; Benin city is a very powerful theocracy of fetish
priests. The king is all powerful though he would appear to be somewhat in the
hands of his big men and very much tied down by fetish customs.quot; This position
came out very clearly at the king\'s trial.

1 On the way to Warri, Burton remarks (p. 146). After ten minutes pulling we struck inland

I do not know how far such or similar transformations may be held as a belief by the Bini but
lerSt^r quot;Tr\'V^ the following note given me by a forLr resident of Onitsha \' not uni:!
^rn hems 1nbsp;^^^^^ -^^ain people can at will

this, an incident which occurred while I was at Onitsha, comes to my mind. One of the officers of

to shoot a buffalo. That same night an old lady in the town who had long been ill, died She had

the beast, the person lies in an unconscious state. On this occasion the old lady had been uncon

coSensaZn \'nbsp;\' considerable sum to the relations of the aforesaid old lady a^

The first mention of human sacrifices appears to be by D.R., followed by Merolla
da Sorrento (Churchill II., p. 676), who describing what took place in or about the
year 1682, when quot; Father Francis da Romano, Superior in the neighbouring Kingdom
of Ouerri [Warri], and Father Filip da Figuar endeavoured to disturb a certain
abominable sacrifice accustomed to be performed every year to the devil, for the
benefit, as they [the Bini] alleged, of their dead ancestors. This sacrifice consisted
of above 300 men, but at present there were only five to die, yet those all of the better
sort. These missioners, under the conduct of a certain negro friend, came to the
third inclosure, capable of holding many hundreds of people. Here perceiving a
great multitude gathered together, dancing and singing to divers instruments of their
music, they clapped themselves down in a private place, the better to observe what
they were going to do. This place happened to be that where they kept the knives
designed to perform so inhuman an action. Not being able to conceal themselves
long, they were quickly discovered by these wicked wretches, who coming towards
them, leaping with great indignation, they soon drove the poor fathers out of the
place they had so taken possession of.quot; These men on being brought before the
king reproached him with his evildoings, but in the end narrowly escaped with
their lives.\'

D.R. and Dapper speak of human sacrifices, but Nyendael refers to sacrifices
only. We have seen that Dapper refers to sacrifices to the sea. Capt. John Adams
writing previous to 1823 says : quot; Human sacrifices are not so frequent here as in
some parts of Africa ; yet besides those immolated on the death of great men, three
or four are annually sacrificed at the mouth of the river, as votive offerings to the sea,
to direct vessels to bend their course to this horrid cHmate.\' quot;

When Moffat and Smith visited the city in 1840, we are told that « At an open
space near the market place, they were shocked by the sight of what may be termed
a Golgotha, a place where human skulls were heaped up and bleaching in the sun.
Still more were they disgusted by seeing in the outskirts of the town, not far from
the king\'s place of residence, the bodies of men who had been but recently beheaded,
with turkey buzzards feeding on them, and on the roof of a hut close by, two corpses
m a sitting posture. The stench from an open pit near this revolting spot was
almost insufferable, proceeding, as they believed, from human bodies in a state of
putrefaction quot; (p. 191).®

About twenty years later, these horrors were fully confirmed by Burton. One
day he writes, quot; As we advanced, the avenue shrank to a narrow lane, and in its deep
shade we saw green and mildewed skulls lying about like pebbles. We thence
emerged upon a broad open space, which we afterwards called the Field of Death.
It was, mdeed, a Golgotha, an Aceldama. Amongst the foul turkey buzzards

1nbsp;According to Burton amongst the Ijos the custom is, quot; on occasions of ending war, to bury the
victims up to the neck in earth, and after Canidian fashion, to let them starve when the modicum of
food and water placed within reach is exhaustedquot; (p. 150).

2nbsp;Norris in Dahomey relates that quot; at the guard\'s house to the king\'s house at Abomey human
skulls were fixed on stakes on the roofs ; on each side of the ■ door there was a pile of fifty human
skulls, and on a stage opposite the door there were about two dozen human heads (p. 93); more
freshly cut-off human heads were to be seen on the way through the courts to the king (p. 94) ;
there was a terrible stench arising from the decomposing bodies of 32 horses and 36 men destroyed
at a festival ; (p. 100) gibbets with murdered men hanging by their ankles, birds of prey tearing
out their entrails (p. loi), a man tied neck and heels and thrown down from a stage (p 126) were
also seen.quot;

basking in the sun, and the cattle grazing upon the growth of a soil watered with
blood, many a ghastly white object met the sight, loathsome remains of neglected
humanity, the victims of customs and similar solemnities. Our first idea was that
we were led into the city by this road that an impression might be produced upon us.
Afterwards, it became apparent that all the highways conducting to the palace are
similarly furnishedquot; (pp. 287-8), and on another occasion he writes, quot; In the herbage,
on the right of the path appeared the figure of a man bare to the waist, with arms
extended, and wrists fastened to a framework of peeled sticks planted behind him.
For a moment we thought the wretch might be alive, but a few steps convinced us of
our mistake. He had been crucified after the African fashion, seated on a rough
wooden stool, with a white calico cloth veiling the lower limbs, and between the
ankles was an uncouth image of yellow clay. A rope of \'tie-tie,\' fast bound round

the neck to a stake behind, had been the immediate cause of death; the features still
expressed strangulation, and the deed had been so recent that though the flies were
there, the turkey buzzards had not yet found the eyes. The blackness of the skin
and the general appearance proved that the sufferer was a slave. No emotion what-
ever, except holding the nose, was shown by the crowds of men and women that
passed by, nor was there any sign of astonishment when I returned to sketch the
horrid scene. Afterthoughts convinced the party that the poor wretch had been
sacrificed on hearing of the white man\'s arrival at Gwato. It is some comfort to
think that the murder was committed with as much humanity as possible ; a slave
bound for the other world is always plied with a bottle of rum before the fatal cord is
made fast quot; (p. 287).\' Later he says, quot; We were several times startled by the \' Voice
of Oro\' buzzing about the town, and in the morning it became manifest that the
\' spirit\' had been perambulating the place to some purpose quot; (p. 409). Then he visits

The descriptions of human sacrifices given by Landolphe and Beauvais do not leave the im-
pression that the victims were intoxicated before being killed.

quot; Close to the king\'s palace, the spot where another death had taken place ; we
walked there and found a corpse lying stark naked upon its back. A few people
were standing by looking with the utmost insouciance at a horrid spectacle. The
miserable\'s legs had been broken at mid-shin with awful A-iolence, a deep gash was
under the ramus of the left jaw, and m the hot clear morning air, the features had
already become swollen and shapeless. This was a gratuitous barbarity. The
African, less cruel because less intelligent than the European, the Asiatic and the
American, rarely sacrifices men without stupifying them with drink or drugs. Oro,
however, had manifestly slaughtered the poor devil in cold blood. Like the other
sacrifice, this was a slave with a black skin and negro features, as great a contrast
to the upper orders as the wretched peasant of Western Ireland to the English
patrician. The freemen are careful not to expose themselves ; moreover, the king
would not put them to death, except for some flagrant violation of the law quot; (p. 410).
On another occasion, quot; Sawaye kicked up a something which suspiciously resembled
a man\'s eye. A deep splotch of blood a little further on explained matters. And
more victims were hourly expected. The voice of Oro was explained to us as an
effect of the king\'s piety ; during the customs or mourning for his father he forbade,
under pain of death, anyone to leave the house after eight p.m.quot; (ibid, p. 411).

Of the Oro, Mr. C. Punch writes me : quot;I should imagine the Binis would have
the Oro fetish, and at Eguatun many times they had a fetish when any woman
caught outside was killed. I never, however, heard the Oro sound, i.e., the noise
made in Yorubaland by twisting round a thin tongue of wood attached to a whip lash
and handle, i.e., the Bull Roarer. The Oro men used to have a peculiar song instead.
I he fetish ceremonies were of daily occurrence, and night after night I have heard
the drums beating, the king\'s long ivory horns blowing, and I knew some devilment
was going on close at hand. But it was not always Oro that was heard, for there
was the great ceremony of Okerison, when night prowling and murder were rampant.
This was held in November. It lasted fourteen days. I beheve there were 14 men
called Okerison. They were armed with short iron bars and at night perambulated
the place, and if they could, killed anyone they met. Sometimes the attacked party
was the stronger and killed the Okerison. When the Okerison had killed fourteen
men and proved his deeds to the king\'s satisfaction, he was given a title and an
official position among the nobles. I was told the Okerison were members of the
royal family, and this road was open to them to obtain official position. The different
titles entailed the obligation to perform certain duties and rites in the court and
country. The Ojomo was commander in chief, but I fancy the Olubusheri was the
head fighting-man.quot;

The capturing of victims by night casts a lurid light on the terror which must
have continuously hovered over the heads of the Bini, for at one time even their king
took part in these massacres at night. Beauvais, while stating that the king quot; only
shows himself twice a year in pubhc outside his palace,quot; adds : quot; This does not
prevent him from frequently roaming the streets at night; but if by chance he meet
with any blacks they turn back or prostrate themselves, turning away their heads ; the
least infraction or the least look would be punished at once with death quot; (p. 143).

quot; There was a certain place in Benin which they wished me see, but I refused ;
it was where the prospective victims were kept in stock. Criminals, prisoners from
other tribes, and more especialfy those accused of malignant witchcraft, were sent to
Benin and kept in this place, which from its description seemed like a barracoon

where slaves were kept. In this were kept the victims to be used as required for
sacrifices quot; (C. Punch). quot; If, on the day of sacrifice, there are not enough criminals in
prison or in irons, the king sends out some of his servants to catch in the streets any-
body that is going about without a light, and to take him to prison. If the captive
happens to be poor, he is immediately taken to prison without chance of reprieve and
has only to expect a speedy death; but a rich one may buy himself free by paying a
fine. Even a slave to the greatest fiadors is not excepted from this treatment, but
his master is allowed to exchange him for another. In the same manner any
Fetiziero who wants to sacrifice someone to the devil, gets possession of a man by
order of the king, and may do with him what he likes quot; (Dapper).

Of the Golgotha, Gallwey remarks: quot; Just before reaching the city we had to pass
through rather an unpleasant half-mile of fairly open country. We presumed it was
the place where all criminals\' bodies were deposited. The path was strewn on both
sides with dead bodies in every stage of decomposition; skulls grinned at you from
every direction—a gruesome experience in its way. Human sacrifices are of frequent
occurrence, and the rule is one of terror. The usual form of sacrifice is crucifixion.
We saw several crucified victims during our stay in Benin city, on the plain outside
the king\'s residence.quot;

Mr. C. Punch had to make a closer acquaintance with one of these bone reposit-
ories than was pleasant : quot; Outside the compounds running through the city, was a
broad common, or avenue. When I was there this was littered with bones and skulls,
as I well remember, on the occasion when I went with Consul Annesley. We did not
like our treatment, and to show we were annoyed refused to enter a house. We put
our beds down in this open compound and made a camp. We had to remove bones
and skulls for the purpose. When we first arrived at Guato we found on the side of
the path the remains of a man, tied up between trees and disembowelled. Excepting
the isolated cases of victims tied up in trees near the king\'s house, which it was im-
possible to ignore, I absolutely refused to be a witness to any executions, and so I
can only speak by hearsay. It was expressly stipulated by me, with the king, that
no sacrifices or anything contrary to humanity should take place at Guatun, which
was to be kept for the Europeans. The Kmg kept strictly to his promise while I was
there, though shortly after I left two boys were sent to Guatun, and after being tied
up between trees beside the path, were cut open and left exposed. In Benin itself
the usual ceremonies went on, but I was told with fewer victims than in Adola\'s time.
The King himself told me he was sick of it all, but that he could not discontinue
the customs of his ancestors. Two trees near the king\'s house, growing close
together, were used for sacrifices, either for rain or fine weather, and whenever I
visited Benin this post was always occupied. Sticks were fastened crosswise to
make a ladder. I am told the victim (which might be male or female) never resisted
or objected, mounted the ladder himself, and was then spatchcocked out, tied by his
wrists and legs. Sometimes the victim was left to die from hunger and exposure,
and at others a piece of stick was tied uprightly behind his back, a piece of \' tie-tie\'
put round the throat, and he was killed by garotting, the body remaining exposed.quot;

But the full extent of the horrors entailed by the human sacrifices was probably
never fully understood until the Punitive Expedition entered the city. Dr. Felix Norman
Roth in his letters home speaks of what he saw in the following words. quot; At each
corner of the city wall were two big sacrificial trees. In front of them,
stakes had been driven into the ground and by means of cross-pieces a framework
had been made ; on this framework in front of one tree were two bodies, and on the

other framework in front of the other tree there was one body. At the foot of these
trees the whole ground was strewn with human bones, and decomposing human
bodies with heads cut off.\' A little back from the trees, the bush was filled with dead

human bodies in all stages of decomposition, mostly decapitated and blown
out by the sun; the mouths were skewered.® Past the king\'s compound,

1 quot; Three of the bodies looljed like those of white men, but as they had been there some time and
the heads cut off and removed, it was impossible to decide whether they were European or negro ;
■we judged them to be bodies of white men by an examination of their hands and feet, but not being
certain, we resolved not to mention the matter further then quot;—F.N.R.

^ In Ashanti, until quite recently, a man to be captured was practically skewered first so that he
could not utter the password, when captured, and so claim the king\'s clemency.

up the main road a horrible sight met my gaze, for strewn about an acre of
ground with little grass growing, were several hundred skulls and newly dead bodies;
the owners of the latter had all been sacrificed, as the bodies were all tied Avith their

hands behind them, and also to
stakes driven into the ground; the
victims seemed for the greater part
to have been tied doAvn on their
backs, but some on their bellies,
and some spread-eagled ; there
appeared to have been no rule as
to hoAV the killing Avas to be done.
In some of the pits could be plainly
seen a lót of dead bodies, and
the stench AA-as overpoAvering. On
the first afternoon of our arrival,
Ave heard faint noises coming from
one of these pits, and on send-
ing down a party to ascertain
whether any living victims Avere
there, two boys in a very emaciated
condition were brought up. One
(Fig. 66) had three curious holes in
his head caused byasacrificial club,
and the other had had his neck
beaten almost to a pulp by the
Avooden rattles found on the altars
of the juju houses. Both these
lads recovered and stated they had
belonged as carriers to Phillips\'
ill-fated expedition; they also stated
that all the Avhite men belonging
to that expedition Avere killed on
the road. Other captives Avere
released from other pits. One
captive Avho had been saved by
our arrival had belonged to a
gang of nine from Accra, cons-
tituted of Kruboys, Jekris, Sobos
and Lagos men, who had been sent
up to collect rubber. These men
must have been Avatched by the
Bini, for they had revolvers, but
one night Avhen asleep they Avere
pounced upon by the Bini and
taken prisoners. They had been
in Benin about tAvo months, and
were only alloAved to sleep while
standing, being tied to posts in the
huts by means of a rope round their necks, so that if they tried to lie doAvn they

Wooden head covered with thin brass as
shown on the altar in fig. 73 in Benin Citj\',
Similar objects were to be seen on the altar in
the house of the Ewagwe. Mr. C, Punch
thinks the feather, of brass covered wood,
had a religious meaning. quot; The Ahurakus
wore them so, using the red feathers from a
parrot\'s tail, I also saw a priest in the Ikale
country dressed with just such a feather of large
size. I fancy he belonged to the Benin fetish,
as he spoke of it. Ikale is in Lagos territory
but the people are distinctly of Bini or Sobo
extraction,quot;

would hang themselves. Other captives were found fixed to big logs with staples
driven in over their wrists, but an examination of their wrists proved they had not
been there long; in some cases, it took us over an hour to cut the staple out of the
hard wood; it also took some four men to lift one of the logs, and as only two men
were attached to each log, there was not much chance of the poor fellows running
away. Other captives had heavy chains on wrists and ankles. Besides human beings,
animals had also been sacrificed. In one compound I saw a dog, some fowls and
other birds hanging by the legs ; one fowl was still fluttering round the neck of a
more than life-sized human figure; the latter was roughly carved of wood, and seated
on pedestals with arms folded it reminded me of ancient Egyptian monuments.quot;

Commander Bacon tells us that on the advance of the Punitive Expedition
quot; laid on the grass where two paths met, was a young woman horribly mutilated, a
rough Avooden gag tied in her mouth was clenched tightly by her teeth, which with
the expression of her face told of the agony of her murder. At her feet lay a goat
with its knees broken. I asked the guide what it meant, and he said it was to prevent
white man coming further.\' A few yards further brought us to another; this time a
man, with his arms tied behind him, lying on his face in the path, but for some reason
not decapitated, which as a rule is the second form of sacrifice.quot; (p. 80.) When in
the city, Bacon refers to one of the Jekri carriers of Phillips\' expedition, who quot; was
led out for sacrifice, only the boss juju man said his head was a bad shape, and
would bring bad luck to the city, so he got off.quot; (p. 98.)

quot;To convey,quot; says Dr. Allman in quot;The Lancet,quot; of 3rd July, 1897, quot;some idea
of the number of crucifixions and sacrifices witnessed in this \'City of Blood\' it will
be necessary to enter into a few gruesome details. Placing the principal entrance to
the king\'s compounds, stood a large sacrificial tree on which two bodies were crucified,
and scattered in all directions around its base, lay numbers of decapitated and dis-
embowelled sacrifices, in various stages of decomposition, amongst which were the
decapitated remains of three Europeans, who had evidently been gagged and their
hands bound behind their back before execution. A few hundred yards to the south
of the main entrance, already alluded to, stood another sacrificial tree, on which was
crucified the body of a woman, and at its base three other eviscerated bodies, also
women, were found. Continuing my way to the south I came upon the large plain
leading to the Gwato path, and there witnessed one of the most horrible sights that
it is possible for the human mind to conceive, i.e. one hundred and seventy six newly
decapitated and mutilated human sacrifices strewn about in all directions, besides
countless numbers of skeletons—truly, a most gruesome sight, and one not to be
easily forgotten. I will not describe any more of these horrible details; suffice it to
say that sacrifices were found in nearly every portion of the city, some of the bodies
being most brutally and cruelly mutilated. Before closing this tale of blood I may, how-
ever, give a brief sketch of the huge pits, seventeen in number, found principally in the
vicinity of the regal palace. These pits were of enormous dimensions—12 feet in
diameter and 40 feet deep. Seven of these contained human sacrifices, from fifteen
to twenty in each pit; out of these \'foulsome pits\' the stench emitted being intoler-
able, we rescued with great difficulty seven unfortunate captives, who for several
days afterwards could hardly realise Avhat had happened; two of them were carriers
on Mr. Phillips\' ill-fated expedition.quot;

1 A fetish snake was placed in the paths by the Whydahs on one occasion to prevent the Daho-
mans attacking them. (Norris, p. 6g.)

In the above accounts we find that men or women have been indiscriminately
sacrificed, yet Beauvais writing of the Yam and Coral Feasts (p. 144) says : quot; On
both occasions they sacrifice man and male animals only ; they never sacrifice
women or female animals, either on account of their usefulness or so as not to
interrupt procreation.quot;

In the interesting account of Bini customs collected by Captain Roupell from
some of the native officials, we get the first clear account of the various sacrifices and
what evils they were intended to avert. They say quot; The first King of Benin, Eweka,
we are told, made human sacrifices, and taught his son to do so too—that is why we

have always made sacrifices—but now the white man has come, he must look out for
the country. The people who were kept for sacrifice were bad men or men with bad
sickness—they were all slaves ; if a man had a slave who killed man or did very bad,
he could give him to Overami who put him in jail, and when a man was needed to be
sacrificed for the good of the town, they could take him. The ordinary yearly sacri-
fices were :

quot; I. The anniversary of Adolo\'s death. Adolo was Overami\'s father.
For this, the great sacrifice of the year, twelve men were taken, twelve cows, twelve
goats, twelve sheep, and twelve fowls. The offerings were brought into the big com-

pound and put in line in front of and facing the altar ; then Overami dressed in very
fine clothes came in and calling Adolo his father loudly by name, said hke this. \' Oh,
Adolo, our father, look after all Ado [Great Benin], don\'t let any sickness come to us,
look after me and my people, our slaves, cows, goats, and fowls, and everything in
the farms.\' Then the men who were in front were led to the well at the back of the
compound with gags tied in their mouths, and held each by four strong men ; the
executioners cut off their heads, which, with the bodies, were thrown into the pit.
The animals were killed near the altar, and the blood from them was sprinkled on
the big ivories and brass work. The beef was then distributed among the people.
These twelve men were bad men who had been collected during the year—it was just
after this that Mr. Phillips and his men wanted to come—the king did not want it
\\i.e., the Expedition which would prevent human sacrifice], as white man fashion and
black man fashion are different.quot;

quot; 2. The Bead [Coral] Sacrifice. Once a year at the end of the rainy season,
all the king\'s beads were brought out by the boys in whose care they were kept.
The beads were put in a heap, and a slave was brought in and made to kneel down ;
then the king with a spear \' chock,\' i.e., cut or struck his head so that the blood ran
over the beads ; then the \' boy\' in whose care these beads were, put his hands on
them, and Overami addressing the beads said : \' Oh, beads, when I put you on give
me wisdom and don\'t let any juju or bad thing come near me.\' Then the slave was
told : \' So you shall tell the bead juju when you see him.\' The slave was then led
out and beheaded, the head being brought in again, the beads and the men touched
it, and it was finally left at the foot of the big Oroco tree in the first compound.\'
Thompson Ibodudu the white black man was killed last year for bead sacrifice.
When we were going to kill him he prophesied that if we killed him, the white man
would come and spoil Ado, so now everyone says \' See what Ibodudu said has indeed
come to pass.\'

quot; 3. The sacrifice to the Rain God. If there is too much rain, then all the
people would come from farm and beg Overami to make juju, and sacrifice to stop
the rain. Accordingly a woman was taken,^ a prayer made over her, and a message
saluting the rain god put in her mouth, then she was clubbed to death and put up in
the execution tree so that the rain might see.quot;

quot; 4. The sacrifice to the Sun. In the same way if there is too much Sun so
that there is a danger of the crops spoiling, Overami can make sacrifice to the Sun
God.

quot; 5. The sacrifice to the God of Health. When the doctor had declared a man
had died owing to Ogiwo, if they think an epidemic imminent, they can tell Overami
that Ogiwo vex ; and then he can take a man and a woman, all the town can fire

2nbsp;In Adams\' time at Lagos, young women brought up for the purpose were impaled, one annu-
ally, to propitiate the favour of the rain goddess (p. 97). A European resident at Onitsha once
nearly got into trouble over rain-making. He tells me : quot;I can remember once soon after my arrival
at Onitsha getting into trouble through what I meant to be a perfectly innocent enquiry It had the
appearance of rain, and meeting an African on the road, I asked him if it was likely to rain. My
friend became greatly excited at this question. \' Am I God\' he said, \' to make it rain or stop rain-
ing ?\' I was somewhat astonished at the outburst, and hastened to assure him, as well as my very
limited knowledge of his language would allow, that I meant no offence by the question. It seems
however, that he thought I was endeavouring to pick a quarrel with him. There are men in these
parts who go by the name of \' rain-makers,\' and who profess to have the power to make it rain or
stop raining when they like. This n!.an thought I had taken him for a \' rain-maker,\' quot;

guns and beat drums, the man and the woman are brought out, and the head jujuman
can make this prayer. \' Oh, Ogiwo, you are a A\'ery big man, don\'t let any sickness
come for Ado, make all farm good and every woman born man son.\' Then to the
slaves he would say, \' So you shall tell Ogiwo, salute him proper, salute him proper.\'
They were then clubbed to death, and hauled up and tied in the sacrifice trees.quot;

quot; When a man dies he goes to god there Ogiwo, and all spirits live, but god puts
white man in another country.quot;

To this list of occasions when it was customary to shed human blood, which
omits all mention of the Yam feast, we may add the general one of common danger
when an enemy was at the city\'s gates. In fact, any excuse could be made for sacri-
fice, as was the case when Landolphe once visited the city, for the king had an
unlimited power, being fetish, and his great chiefs, who were at the bottom of the
massacre of Phillips party, evidently had no one to check their deeds.

Neither Dapper nor the officials say that the blood of the human victims was
sprinkled on the ivories and metal work on the altars, but Landolphe noticed it (I., p. 55),
and Dr. Allman, who was with the Punitive Expedition, informs me he found blood
and human entrails on the altars, and my brother, likewise medical officer to the
Expedition, tells me the same. The native ofiicials, no doubt, have some diffidence in
giving the whole truth on this matter. Captain Roupell tells me that in the com-

pound where the altar to the King\'s father stood, the ground near the well was, for
many yards from the altar, caked hard and green in colour with the blood of human
victims sacrificed there.

The officials do not refer to the annual parade of their King, but of course their
notes do not profess to mention all the festivals. From their descriptions, however,
it is to be seen that the main object of the festivals was the sending of prayers, by
means of the special messengers, for the welfare of the community, to the spirits of
the departed, or to other spirits, such as the spirits of the beads, the Rain-God, the
Sun-God, the God Ogiwo, thus explaining a cult of world-wide prevalence.

The quot;Making of one\'s fatherquot; is thus referred to by Dapper. quot;They also
keep, by order of the King, several feast-days in remembrance of the deceased kings,
on which occasions they make horrible sacrifices of men and animals, amounting to
four or five hundred a year ; but they never slaughter more than twenty-three men
a day.\' These are mostly criminals who deserve death, and who have been kept

1 The King of Dahomey at his customs, i.e., quot; making his father,quot; sacrificed men, women, horses,
cattle, goats, fowl, etc., cut off their heads, and threw them into a pit, to go and serve, as he said,
his father in the next world. Brandy, maize, kerchiefs, silks and all sorts of victuals and stuffs were
also thrown in. On the death of his father he immolated 800 to 900 people quot; (Norris II., p. 30).

imprisoned during the festivals. Mr. C. Punch describes from hearsay the annual
ceremony of quot;making his fatherquot; by the king : quot; On the day of the ceremony, the open
space, which I have already spoken of, was packed with people from the country.
The victims were ranged in rows, sitting down opposite the gate of the compound.
On this day, the king came out and was seen by the people. He was dressed in cloths
of gold and silver tissue, and coral head dress. He addressed the victims in a kind
voice, telling them he was sending them with a message to his father. They were
to salute his father, and tell him that his son was not ready to join him yet, but he
sent them, the victims, to be with his father and salute him.

quot; Most of the victims, I was told, said \'yes they were ready to go,\' and would do
the king\'s command. Here and there, one or two would rise, tor they were unbound,
and approach the king, and beg him to let them off. Some he would excuse. Then
the massacre began. The Okerison went round with an instrument like a metal tube
with a heavy spike working in it, with a knob of metal at the end. The victim
remained sitting, and the Okerison placed the tube on his head and then struck the
heavy knob and spike so as to penetrate the skull. I was told only the first few were so
despatched, and afterwards assistant executioners cut off heads with cutlasses, the
victim being stretched out by ropes to his head and feet. The remains were after-
wards gathered up and thrown into the hole in the compound.quot;

In the same way as the human sacrifices were originally only part of the religious
observances of the Bini, so too were the periodical parades of the king and his court,
the yam feast, and other festivals. According to D. R., the king quot; twice a year\' makes
a circuit of the town ; that is, he goes out of his court to view here and there, and
visits the town. He then shows all his power, wealth, and all merry making things
and amusements he can think of, and can bring forth. He is accompanied by all his
wives, which may be above six hundred in number, who are, however, not all his
wedded wives, but his concubines.quot;

By Dapper we are told, quot; The king shews himself only once a year to his people,
going out of his court on horseback, beautifully attired with all sorts of royal orna-
ments, and accompanied by three or four hundred noblemen on horseback and on
foot, and a great number of musicians before and behind him, playing merry tunes
on all sorts of musical instruments, as it is shown in the preceding picture of Benin
city. Then he does not ride far from the court, but soon returns thither after a
little tour. Then the king causes some tame leopards that he keeps for his pleasure
to be led about in chains ; he also shows many dwarfs and deaf people, whom he likes
to keep at his court. At this festival, ten, twelve, or thirteen slaves or even more,
are killed by strangling or beheading, in the king\'s honour, for they believe that these
slaves, after having been dead some time, go to another country and return to life
again to a better condition, everyone getting his slaves again.quot; Evidently, however,
there were two royal processions in the year, for Dapper continues quot; There is also a
day on which the king makes a great show of all his riches, consisting of jasper,
beadwork, and other things at the court, for everybody to see them, giving away
many slaves, women, and other things to those who deserve it. Then he also grants
many appointments to the government of towns and villages.quot;

Dapper thus makes the bead or coral festival a distinct one from the
annual parade of the king, but Nyendael makes one festival of the two. He

1 When Gallwey visited the city, he was informed (p. 129) quot; the king only goes among his people
once a year, the occasion being one of general rejoicing and feasting.quot;

Fig, 79,—Globular Vessel of Buff Pottery, Height,
gj in. (24 cm,) British Museum,

Fig, 80.—Fragments of a Pot of coarse red pottery.
Height 12 in. (30^ cm,) British Museum,
As regards these pots (Figs 79 and 80) Mr, C. Punch saw
the Ahuraku quot;making his headquot; one year. Part of the rite was
in the form of a feast, and portions of this feast were sent round
the town to various people in earthen pots, and some of the pots
used were laid upon the altars.

says, quot; The coral feast happened when I was at this great prince\'s court\'; which,
though it affords nothing very extraordinary, I will yet describe to you because it is
the only day in the year when the king appears in public. He came most magnifi-
cently dressed to the second plain, where, under a very fine canopy a seat was placed
for him ; and there also his wives, and a great number of his officers of the first
rank, all in their richest dresses, ranged themselves around him, and soon after
began a procession, after which the king also removed from his throne in order to
sacrifice to the gods in the open air and thereby begin the feast ; which action is
accompanied with the universal loud acclamations of his people. After passing
about a quarter of an hour in this manner, he returned to, and again sat down in his
place, where he stayed two hours, in order to give the remainder of the people time
to perform their devotions ; which done he returned home. The remainder of the
day was spent in splendid treating and feasting, and the king caused all sorts of
provisions and \' pardon-wine\' to be distributed in common to all, and all the great
followed his example ; so that on that day nothing is seen throughout the whole city
but all possible marks of rejoicing.quot;

Legroing and Balon thus describe a coral feast: quot;About 3 p.m., 14th May, 1787,
the king preceded by people carrying all his coral, and accompanied by his grandees,
approached a mausoleum in one of his courts. He was simply dressed in white, and
was followed by doleful music. He stood on the lowest step of the tomb and every-
one stood upright in two parallel lines, the first places being reserved for us. Then
an unfortunate man with a gag in his mouth was brought in and made to kneel down,
whereupon one of the grandees, armed with a club, dealt him a blow on the head,
and as the blood flowed out, the negroes called fiadors hastened up with the bunches
of coral, which is the royal ornament, to make them touch the bleeding head. A
bullock and a sheep were also sacrificed, and the tomb sprinkled with the blood.
During this ceremony the king laughed boisterously, signing to us to see Avhat was
going on.quot; (p. 177.) Beauvais speaks of human and animal sacrifices as essential
for the coral festival, the main object of which is to immerse the coral of the king, of
his wives, and of the fiadors, in the blood of the victim, in order to induce the coral
fetish never to let them want this precious commodity, (p. 144.)

Nyendael remarks; quot;I was not able to discover the nature and object of this
coral feast, because the negroes would not give me any account or explanation of it:
their only answer to that question whenever I put it being, \'we don\'t know anything
about it.\' quot; Coral was highly esteemed and was a royal gift. Details of this will
be found in the chapters relating to Government and Trade.

There was also the feast of quot; Making one\'s Head,quot; perhaps not a very important
one, or only important to certain individuals. quot;The Ahuraku, at Eguatun \'made his
head\' once a year. To say \' my head is good\' does not mean I am clever, but that
\'my destiny is good.\' For instance, I have often been told since that \'my head was
good to have come out of Benin safely.\' Every year the Ahuraku \'made his head\'
so as to have good luck for the coming year. When the king \' made his head\' there
would probably be human sacrifices.quot; (C. Punch.)

An important feast, not mentioned by Roupell\'s officials but nevertheless
probably included by them in the sacrifices to the Rain God and Sun God, was that
known a? the Yam Feast. Of this Beauvais says : quot; Although the yam feast is not

Elsewhere he says Benin in his time was only a large village, hence one would surmise there
could be no great prince\'s court.

held without human sacrifices, they are not its chief object. The yam is for the Bini
what wheat is to Europeans, and in order to get the natives to attend to its culture
and get them out of their natural lethargy, a sort of trick is played every year. After
the natives have been immolated, an earthenware pot containing some soil and a yam
from the last season are brought before the king. The prince in full view of his
subjects places the root in the pot and covers it with the soil. The songs and dances
then proceed. While the people are giving themselves up to their pleasures, the
fiadors who enjoy the intimacy of the king, substitute a similar pot in which there is

Fig, 8i,—Bronze Rattle? Something similar is made in
Yoruba for calling Shango, the lightning god; small stones
are put inside and it is rattled.

a well developed yam, and the people, who firmly believe in this rapid growth
admire it much. The bigger the growth the more plentiful will the season be, and
they manifest their satisfaction accordinglyquot; (p. 144). Landolphe only refers to it as
follows : quot; Yams are harvested only once a year, at the end of June or in the early
days of July. When the harvest is nearly ready, the King of Benin declares several
fast days throughout the Kingdom, and prohibits his subjects from eating new yams
until he has received his first twentieth. A festival is then proclaimed called the

Yam Feast, which lasts four days,
in which dancing and farcical merry-
making take place, and forms one
of the four chief annual feasts quot; (L,
p. 56). quot; The feast of new yams
was moveable at the king\'s discre-
tion between about Nov. loth to
the end of the year. The whole of
the town was crowded with people
to see the plays and there was a
regular orgie. It was during this
time that Phillips decided to go up,
and it would be a bad time to go. No one could eat new yams till the king had
made the ceremoniesquot; (C. Punch).\'

quot; Special fetes have no fixed dates, and there are some which depend upon the
wishes and means of individuals. The king generally celebrates twice a month,
during which an indefinite number of slaves and animals succumb quot; (Beauvais, p. 145).
One such, which Landolphe says was got up in his honour, he thus describes : quot;In
an immense court I saw at least 2000 negroes of both sexes and all ages ; in their
midst were twelve enormous drums, seven feet long, made of hollow bambu covered
with goat skin at one end, which gave forth a rumbling noise under the strokes of
drum-sticks. These lugubrious sounds were joined to those of a dozen blacks, some
of whom blew like madmen into elephant tusks which were perforated at intervals
like our church serpents, whilst others did not succeed much better with cowherds\'

1 The celebration of the Yam festival appears to be widespread, from Dahomey to Calabar, but
is differently carried out in the various localities (Allen amp; Thomson, London, Narr. II., p. 398).

horns. The result was an awful discord which one must have heard to appreciate.
During this concert, the king was seated in a tent [sic] surrounded by the big men and a
multitude of courtezans, such as are met with in manyparts of the world.quot; Much lasciv-
ious dancing was going on, and the king asking him what he thought of it all, he replied
without lying that he had never seen anything .like it. quot; While the musicians

increased their din a black was brought in gagged, with a fine white cloth round his
loins, and stopped about a hundred paces from the king, and in the meanwhile the
music got worse. Two masked men covered with a dress which touched the ground,
that looked to be seven feet high approached the king to receive his instructions,
and at the end of a few minutes they took their places at the side of the victim. One of
them had aheavy club, perforated at the top, where was to be seen a small carved figure
representing the devil, which when shaken made a noise like that of a bell. He tells the
victim that Lolocou i.e. the devil, is about to take him. The other man who is equally
armed, places himself behind the unfortunate men, to whom the first executioner

has presented the demon\'s fetish to kiss—that is the death signal. Struck on the
head in front and behind, the victim totters but is caught by the executioners, who
lay him on the ground, leaning his head over a large copper basin, when it is cut off
by a single stroke of the damas [sic], and the flowing blood is sprinkled on the
tombs of the kings.quot; (I., pp., 114-118.) It is fair to mention that Landolphe tried

to induce his servant to get the king to stop this murder, but the man replied that if
he made such an attempt, his own head might be made to drop. (I., p. 117.) About this
time Beauvais writes: quot;In 1787 I was an eye-witness at the yam festival, and at two
special ones. One of the latter was celebrated by the king. Fifteen men, fifteen
bullocks, fifteen rams and fifteen cocks were sacrificed. At the festival celebrated
by the war-captain Jabou [Ojomo] who is one of the king\'s four ministers, three men, one
bull, one bullock, one ram and three cocks were killed. With the exception of the number
of victims, and of less gorgeous arrangements, the ceremony was the same as carried
out for the king. It was as follows : quot; Several hours before the ceremony the
minister and his suite came to the king\'s compound ; the suite consisted of several

musicians, some whistling in a sort of extended cornet, others in flutes faulty and dis-
cordant, while some drummed on copper cauldrons; then came the fiadors of one,
two, and three coral necklaces, who immediately preceded the minister. Behind him
were a dozen of his wives who, I was told, were the most favoured ones for the time
being. He was richly dressed according to the custom of the country, and held in
his hand a large oval cutlass, perforated like one of our cullenders, and finished off at
the end of the handle by a large fixed ring; he wore several pieces of cloth of various
values, placed one above the other round his loins, as low as his knees ; the rest of
his body was nude excepting his three row coral necklace (a tvois hfamhes) and several
others of agate, and of glass trinkets. Several feathers of the white heron (Afdea alba,
Linn.) mixed with the tail feathers of the veuve (Emberiza vidua. Linn.) decorated his
head. The women, dressed like him, were so weighted with necklaces that their chests
were almost entirely covered. Their hair, artistically arranged, and divided by
meshes into which were worked pieces of coral, was formed into an indefinite number
of small circles which contrasted coquettishly with the black colour of their skin and
hair, the little short hairs in front being singed either by the sun\'s rays or by means
of a hot iron, as I was told. The war captain remained with the king about 75
minutes, when he returned as he came, with his suite, but he had hardly gone half-
way when all of a sudden he began to imitate the movements of a drunken man
ready to fall down, rolling from side to side towards the people, who fled precipitately.
He repeated this three times, and each time he threw his cutlass in the air and
caught it smartly by the handle. Arrived at his door, but before his third inspiration,
the minister signed me to follow him, but I dare not speak to him. I was introduced
into a hall, where I remained more than half an hour with the fiador who had charge
of me, and of a ram whose approaching fate I was far from guessing. At the end of
this time I saw all the minister\'s wives arrive, about 400 in number; they seemed
fairly pretty and well made; their colour varied from a deep black to a tint incHning
to yellow, from which I concluded they came from various countries. It is hardly
necessary to say that they looked at] me with as much interest as I looked at them,
(pp. 147-8.) I was then conducted to the locality where the ceremonies are held. It
is a large place about 26 to 33 metres (80-100 feet) long, and about two-thirds as
large. One end was covered by a roof, under which there is an altar differing little
from ours; it was ornamented on both sides by two large elephant tusks, on which
I noticed rudely carved figures, which appeared to me to have no other object
than to satisfy the fancy of the workman. The minister\'s wives were placed on
steps on each side of the altar; at their feet, to the right, the minister was seated in
a wooden armchair; he placed me with my conductor opposite to him. In front
were the fiadors, seated on benches, the animals to be killed were placed on the left
at the opposite side, and the end opposite the altar was full of people. Up to then I
had seen no signs of human victims. At a sign from the War Captain, the ceremony
began by a plaintive and monotonous chant by the people, who accompanied it by
rubbing their hands, or rather beating them together. The first chant being finished,
my attention was called to a noise at the other end. And what did I see ? The
remembrance of a similar scene, which I now saw for a second time, restrains my
pen and still causes me to shudder. There were three negroes, almost entirely nude,
with a single piece of white cloth round their loins, their hands tied behind their
backs, and in their mouths a bone [gag] of what sort of an animal I do not know,
fastened at its ends by two pieces of string fastened behind the head. A tall negro,
with a sword by his side, and a piece of red cloth round his loins, made them kneel

down. All the blacks assured me they were not criminals. But, if so, why tie their
hands behmd them and why gag them ? The arrival of these unfortunates was the
signal for the commencement of the second chant, which was as unpleasant and

as inharmonious as the first. When this ceased, three fiadors came up to receive
from the War Captain a stick each, of a sort of hollow reed {roseau crettx). They
dipped them three times in the hole containing the offerings made in the centre\'\'of the
ground in front of the altar, and then, retiring to the victims, struck them lightly

each three times on the forehead. The victims appeared cahn and not afraid of the
fate which awaited them. I noticed also, in confirmation of the fact above mentioned,
that they all possessed visible defects which would have caused their rejection by the
slave traders. The people now monotoned the third chant, which lasted longer than
the other two, until after the execution. The executioner, who is not a priest, but a
man devoted to this function and to the cutting off of criminals\' heads, advanced to the
middle of the place, and after receiving the approbation of the minister retired to the
victims, whose heads he cut off after having thrown them on to the ground on their
belhes. Each head was presented to the people and the bodies carried and drawn

Fig. 86.—Bronze head. This is
probably one of a series like those
shown in Figs. 84 and 85, for carrying
tusks. In Bacon\'s book there is an
illustration of an altar with a series of
seven heads very similar to this one,
each carrying a tusk (pp. 87 amp; 89).
There is also in the British Museum a
copy of a sketch by Capt. Egerton of a
series of bronze heads carrying tusks.
There were, however, some altars on
which the carved tusks simply stood
against the wall and were not supported
by heads (F. N. Roth), Lieut. King
mentions tusks placed in rows curiously
carved, the points turned towards the
wall, but says nothing about heads.
Legroing and Balon saw the mausoleum
of the father of the War Captain, and
says of it: quot; The chief decorations con-
sisted in eight carved wooden heads
[figures = faces] which supported eight
elephant tusks, one of which was eight
feet longquot; (Labarthe p. 175). To go
still further back we have Nyendael
speaking of tusks placed on men\'s heads
cast in copper, and others placed on
ivory pedestals.

on to the roads outside the town, where it was not long before they were devoured in
the day-time by the vultures, which are not allowed to be killed, or at night by wild
animals which abound in this country (p. 149). The women, who unttl then had
remamed purely passive spectators, took part in the fourth chant, which was more
lively and animated than the preceding ones. They joined their voices to those of
the men, of whom the most excited were drunk, quite as much by fanaticism as by
bourdon wine or brandy, and who held each other tightly under the arms, beating
time with their feet on the still reeking place where this abominable outrage had
been committed. This cereniony completed, the animals were sacrificed by almost
identical methods ; but their flesh was distributed to the people after reservm^r what
was necessary for the consumption of the minister. Finally, the festival was
completed by the offerings which poor women presented;\' they came one after

The less fortunate who have no spare slaves sacrifice animals according to their means The
poorest are allowed to join in the sacrifice of the king and the richer ones, and offer up coconuts and
p 146 r ^^nbsp;extracted from a sort of palm or brandy.quot; (Beauvais

another to the foot of the altar, knelt down, and after several short prayers uttered
m a low voice, they threw into the receptacle for offerings, pieces of coconut, yams,
bananas and other fruit, which they watered with palm wine, bourdon wine and
brandy.quot; (pp. 145-150.)

Apart of a fetish ceremony witnessed by Mr. C. Punch is thus described by
hull : quot; The people were ranged up leaving an open avenue up to the altar under the
penthouse at the other end of the avenue, two of the king\'s boys held up a long bar of
tmiber. I was taken up to the right-hand side to where the X is marked (Fig. 87),
and found myself next to Ewagwe, whom I knew^

quot; The nobles were all wearing their coral necklaces such as one notes on the
bronze heads, so these were not confined to the king. Probably there would be rules
as to the number of strings of beads. They were not made of European coral, but
of the country agate beads. The nobles were bare to the waist, save for a few
strings of coral beads of no large size. Below the waist they wore very full petti-
coats ; they were stuffed out by under-petticoats of stiff coarse baize of European
make, but the top kilt was the country grass cloth, spotted all over with blood
splashed on like holy water, I cannot say if human or otherwise. Sacrifices had
been going on, but I cannot say if of animals or human beings. There were pools of
either blood or water all over the compound, but I can vouch for the liberal supply
of blood on the garments of the nobles. No man was allowed to wear clothes of silk
except the king ; it was safer to keep to the native grass cloths. Each noble had a

weird head-dress, and held an in his hand which he kept twisting round. At
ast the king and his wives came out and sat down. Tomtoms and horns made
music, and dancing began. One or two of the nobles would step out and come up to
the bar.^^ Sometimes the bar would be dropped and they advanced netirer to the
ing. ihe dancing was simply posturing, twisting the ebere, and sometimes pointing
It to the ground in the king\'s direction. At others it was passed to the left hand, the
nght fist being held up towards the king in salutation, the fingers being opened and
sliirt several times. At times the king would tread a dignified measure for the true
delight of his people, and I think for the special admiration of the white-faced
t^^\'^n ■ d-dquot;^^^quot;quot;^ ^^nbsp;afterwards if I admired his dancing, which I

Fawckner quot; saw a man who had given himself as a sacrifice to the fetish.
A procession was formed, in all the splendour pecuhar to those occasions, and
the man was conducted amid a vast concourse of people to the river. Here
according to the usual custom, they affix weights to the devotee\'s body, make him
drunk, and sink him in the tide. As some sort of compensation, however, to the poor
fellow, he was allowed for some time previous to his being offered up, the privilege
of going into the market whenever he felt inclined, and helping himself to whatever
he fancied. I often saw him enter the market, but directly the women espied him
coming, they invariably caught up their baskets and ran away quot; (p. 103).

Mr. Punch knew a woman at Guato accused of being a malignant witch. quot; I knew
she was in trouble about the matter, but nothing seemed to be done to her. One after-
noon I heard business proceeding in the malaku house, and Brazilli, the interpreter,
told me that the king had sent word she was to be tried by various ordeals again, but
not by the saucewood. I went out to enquire into the matter, and found the woman and
king\'s boys coming out of the malaku house. She looked rather dazed but said nothing;
two of the Guatun men were carrying very old delapidated mats with a weird col-
lection of fetishes, bits of wood gnarled and knotted into queer shapes, fowl feathers,
old bones, and other rubbish of the sort. The Ahuraku said they were doing some
business but did not say what it was. Brazilli told me he was sure they were going
to kill the woman, as she had asked him for some rum to drink. I stopped the
Ahuraku in the woman\'s presence and asked what it was all about, and if any
harm were intended to the woman. He replied quite naturally, \' Oh no, the king had
sent to say that she was a bad woman and must be sent away from Guatun, and that
they were sending her to Iguahami.\' The woman said nothing, in fact she seemed
to smile, and as it was well known that I could and would protect anyone appealing
to me, I thought it was as he said. Presently two of the Guatun men came carrying
mats and bottles of rum, much as they usually did when going on a journey. They
Avent into the bush, and the Avoman went off freely and unconcernedly Avith them.
Later on Brazilli came in and told me that they had killed her ; they took her to the
waterside and then gave her rum to drink, after Avhich she drank as much Avater
from the stream as she could, and lay down in it, the boys holding her doAvn. Hoav-
ever she did not die quickly enough so they knocked her over the head Avith a club.
I Avas told that those to be killed had rum given them if they Avished it, but often
refused it.

quot; On another occasion I heard most fearful screams from the Ahuraku\'s house.
A Avoman Avas accused of being a Avitch and denied it. They wished to make her
confess, or at any rate prove her innocence by endurance of torture. She Avas sat
down near a big log and her hand placed on it, an iron staple Avas then put over
the wrist and driven into the wood. With ordinary prisoners, the staple would be
driven in only far enough to hold them, but in cases of torture it was driven in till
the torture was, of course, fiendish. The only way of getting the unfortunate
woman out was by splitting the log, which, of course, Avas very soon done.

quot; A curious superstition Avas that the millepede Avas too unclean for any man to
touch. No one Avould by choice touch such an insect, but it Avas a strict laAV that
when a. millepede entered the king\'s quarters, it must be remoA^ed alive on a stick.
If anyone forget himself and took the millipede in his hand or touched it, that person
Avas killed.quot;

Difference made between poor and powerful—Suicide to order—Nobles arraigned before their
peers—Native police—Judgement compound—Lex talionis—Punishment for divulging state
secrets (86)—Punishment for theft from strangers—Method of execution—Theft—Robberj\'
against officials—Murder—Punishment for murder without bloodshed—Other crimes—Five
ordeals: l^iercing the tongue—Piercing clod of earth (87)—Spurting juice into eyes—Stroking
tongue with hot copper—Long juju—Disposal of fines—Fire ordeal—Another form of ordeal
by piercing the tongue (88)—Saucewood ordeal—Honesty of the ordeal—Fawckner\'s fate hangs
on the throw of cowries—Landolphe\'s fetish discovers a thief.

In a superstitious community like that of Benin punishment is naturally apt to be
administered very capriciously, with one law for the poor and another for the rich and
powerful; we have seen that while a captive poor man has no chance of being saved,
the rich man can find a substitute, and we have seen that those who are rich and not
powerful are obliged to hide the fact of their being rich. Nevertheless Roupell\'s
officials tell us quot; If any freeman or chief did very bad, king could send for him
and tell him to go home and kill himself, then palaver settle, or if he would not,
then king could send men and cut his head off at night.quot;

D. R. says of the Bini that they will not take quot; the least thing from a stranger,
for that is punished very severely by capital punishment, for they very quickly
punish and with his life, and kill him who in the least lays hold of a stranger; and
they have a special method of execution, for first of all they bind the offender\'s arms
behind his back, then they bhndfold his eyes, one of the judges then comes and lifts
up his arms above him so that his head hangs down almost to the ground, which the
jailer or executioner then catches hold of and cuts off with an axe; the body is then
quartered and cast to the birds to devour, which they abhor and fear very much.quot;

According to Landolphe, quot; a member of the nobility accused of any offence or
crime is arraigned before the Council of Big Men who convict him on the spot, by
plurality of votes, either to pay a fine or to death, if the latter to have his head cut
off. The council is always called together by the sounding of a tabor beaten in all
the streets of the town or village which was the scene of the offence or crime. There
is no body of armed men to arrest all sorts of criminals, the natives themselves
helping one another in this respectquot; (II., 62). Landolphe however appears to forget
that he has already spoken of a native police. He continues, quot; The people are judged
in any inhabited district. In the centre of a large place there is a vast building open
on all sides, in which the old men assemble who are in charge of this important work.
Everybody is at liberty to enter and the most profound silence [sic] reigns. The
accused has the right to choose someone to defend him, and the accuser makes his
own cnarge, but if he does not bring sufhcient proof he undergoes the punishment
which would have been meted out to the accused. The fine imposed is paid forth-
with, bemg always less than the fortune of the condemned, but in the case of the

death penahy the lex talionis is strictly carried out, nor are the sons of the king
exempt quot; \' (II., p. 63).

Landolphe once saw a young man, convicted of divulging state secrets, fastened
to the top of one of the high trees planted in the centre of the town, and exposed
alive to the vultures, who tore out his eyes and destroyed other portions of his body,
But neither he nor Beauvais was able to saA-e the man, the negroes simply
laughing at their efforts (II., p. 65). This seems to be the first record of crucifixion,
and if correct shows that crucifixion had not always a sacrifical character.

quot;The crimes here committed,quot; says Nyendael, quot;are punished in the following
manner. Theft does not occur here very often, for the negroes here are not so
thievish as at other places ; however, when it happens, and the thief is caught, he
is obliged to make restitution of the stolen goods, and besides, punished by a fine ;
but if he be poor, after restoring the stolen goods if he can, he is very well beaten
instead of being fined. But if the robbery be committed against any official, it is
punished with the death penalty. However, as I have already said, this crime so
seldom occurs that examples are rarely heard of. If theft is seldom heard of here,
of murder one hears still less. Whoever kills a man is punished with death ; but if the
murderer happens to be the king\'s son, or some other influential person, he is banished
to the utmost borders of the king\'s territories, to which he is conducted under a
strong guard ; but as none of these banished persons are ever seen again, nor does
any one ever hear of them again, the negroes take it for granted that their guard
conducts them to the Elysian fields. If any person with his fist, or otherwise,
unfortunately kills another, and the dead person did not bleed, and his death does
not seem to have been due to violence, the slayer may purchase his life, by first
respectably burying the dead creditably at his own cost, and afterwards producing a
slave to suffer in his stead. This slave, doomed to an expiatory sacrifice, he is
obliged to touch on his knees with his forehead as he is killed; after which he is
obliged to pay a handsome sum to the great lords, and this performed, he obtains his
freedom; and with this the friends of the deceased are obliged to rest satisfied. I
have already informed you of the punishment for adultery.^ W^hatever other crimes
are committed, they are atonable with money, and the fine is proportionate to the
offence. He who has no money must satisfy the fine by corporal punishment; so
that where eff\'ects are deficient, the body must make good the fine. In case of
accusations which are not clearly proved, the accused is obliged to clear himself
by ordeal, which is practised in five several ways, four of which are performed in the
case of slight offences and civil causes, and the fifth in the case of very great and
important causes, such as high treason, designs on the life of the king, and other bad
crimes. This last ordeal is only allowed to be gone through by important persons,
and then only too by the king\'s order.

quot; The first sort of ordeal is managed in the following manner: The accused is
taken to the priest, who greases a cock\'s feather, and therewith pierces the tongue of
the accused; if tlie feather passes easily through, it is a sign the man is innocent,
and the wound made by the quill will soon close and heal up without any pain. But
on the other hand, if he be guilty, the quill remains sticking in his tongue, and he is
accordingly pronounced guilty.^

1 At Warri a king\'s son halving accidentally killed a man by a blow in the chest with a gaff, he
was in turn accused, condemned and killed by a blow in the chest with a club. Landolphe.

s quot; Ordeal by fowl feather was practiced both in Benin and among the Jekries in our time, being
only used for settlement of civil cases and where men were accused ot adultery.quot; C.P.

Oblong clod of earth, into which he sticks seven or nine cock\'s quills, which the
suspected person is obliged to draw out successively; if they come out easily it is a

quot;The third proof is made by spurting a certain juice of green herbs into the

eyes of the accused person ; which, if it happen to do him no hurt, he is thought

innocent; but if his eyes become thereby red and inflamed, he is obliged to pay the
nne laid on him.nbsp;^

quot; For the fourth ordeal, the priest takes a red-hot copper arm-ring and strokes
tne prisoner three times over the tongue with it, and from his being hurt or not hurt
thereby, they judge whether he be guilty or innocent.

quot; I have seen all these four ordeals; but all the accused were declared guiltv
and not without reason; for it would be strange indeed if red-hot copper did noi
burn the tongue. The fifth and last ordeal, which is not gone through once in twenty
years, 1 never saw, and consequently have it only on hearsay

clear hmself by ordeal, the kmg\'s leave being first asked and obtained, the accused

ashore without harm every innocent person plunged therein, though never so unskilled

bes being thrown in, ruffles up and continues as turbulent as a whirb
pool, till the accused has sunk out of sight to the bottom ; when, as though perfectlv
satisfied. It returns to its former tranquility.\'nbsp;pertectly

mmred by the theft or any other crime, is satisfied out of it ; then the gofe nor has

for the king, whose ear it never reaches, he has no part thereof. If the three lords

Tone T^l\'t funderstand what they ought to have
done. Those to whom these orders are sent, though they very well know that the

-habitants are convened around this fire, and the master of eac\'h family trrtlnded

by his household, all of whom place their hands on his back, at once proceeds to take
the shell out of the burning pot. If he manages to get it out without burning his
fingers, he is at once declared innocent ; but, on the contrary, if he fail, he and all
his family are immediately pronounced guilty, and each individual member is obliged
to go through the ordeal. Whoever in attempting to take out the shell, therefore,
burns his fingers is immediately declared to be the thief, and punished accordingly.
Another mode, equally singular, is occasionally resorted to. The persons suspected
are made to kneel down on the ground, and each one puts out his tongue. The
fetish man immediately covers it with a certain mixture, and places over the surface
a small leaf. He then takes a feather, and endeavours to push the quill part through
the tongue; if he succeed, and can draw the whole of the feather clean through, the party
operated upon is at once declared innocent; but should he fail in the first attempt to
push the feather through, the poor creature at once suffers the extreme penalty of
the law. This is a shocking and most revolting spectacle for an Englishman to
witness, which I never could look on without feelings of horror and disgust;
although the natives assured me it was not much pain, and the wound soon healed.
They put great faith in this last mentioned trial, and often cause the thief to walk
about the town as an example whilst the wound is unhealed quot; (pp. 103-5).

quot; At Guatun (Gwato) once there was a trial by \' saucewood,\' quot; writes Mr. Punch.
quot; Three Jekri people accused of witchcraft came to Guatun to prove their innocence.
They came of their own free will, and sent presents to the king asking him to send
his messengers with the \' saucewood.\' A day was appointed sometime ahead and the
accused remained in their canoes, on good terms with the Guatun people, and appar-
ently light-hearted and free from anxiety. I thought the matter was a breach of the
king\'s promise to me that no horrors should take place in Guatun, and remonstrated.
He said he was sorry, but the people came of their own free will, and Guatun was
one of the places on the riverside devoted to the practice, so that he could not refuse.
I said in that case I should leave the place until it was over, and did so. Other
Europeans stayed in the village and saw the whole ordeal. There were two women
and one man. They made ceremonies, and for a day before the trial touched no
palm oil, which is a daily article of food, as the poison was said to be more fatal if

quot; On the morning, the king\'s messengers arrived with the saucewood, or bark of
Erythrophlmmi guineense. The Guatun people formed a passage, at one end of
which were the king\'s messengers, and at the other end the accused kneeling, and
each holding in his or her hand an egg. The bark was beaten in a mortar with
water till it formed a paste, and was then made into three egg-shaped balls. The
chief messenger then told the accused they were to swallow the ball, and if innocent
it would be returned and they would be safe, if guilty they would die. The ball was
then put into the empty hand and conveyed to the mouth. One woman seemed un-
able to swallow hers, and the people helped her by pulling her back hair. As soon
as the poison was swallowed, they were allowed to use any means to produce vomit-
ing, drinking mud and water. The fowl\'s egg in the other hand was repeatedly
passed up the stomach to the throat. It was supposed to exercise an influence on
the poison and bring it out. The accused vomited, and the messengers examined
the vomit, declaring at once if the evil thing had come out. The man was unhurt,
one woman threw up her arms and shrieked almost at once, and died instantly. The
other woman vomited, but the evil thing did not come up, and the messengers said
she was guilty and she would die, which she did in the evening, rolling over into a

^^^ bodies were thrown out into the bush, and
were said to be very long in decaying.\'

wn the poison. Of course some people say it was arranged beforehand if the dose
was to be_ fatal, but my opinion is that as a rule the results would be left to the effect
OI the poison on different constitutions.quot;

On their way to Benin, the fate of Fawckner and his friends depended on the fall of
tne dice, or pitch and toss. quot;The fetish man produced some cowries, or negroes\'
weth as they are sometimes called, a small shell imported from the East Indies.

he fiat side is white, and convex red. These shells were to decide our fate in the
ollowing manner: They were to be thrown up into the air by this man, and on the
turn of them our lives dependedquot; (p. 50).

^neit, tiis ^ [Landolphe\'s] fetish would burn his [the culprit\'s] beard. His fetish

me match to ignite and singe the man\'s beard. All the negroes fell frightened at his

eet, promising to replace the coral and to thieve no further if only his fetish would
spare them (IL, p. 68).

sufficieS ifbeatefuD withnbsp;tree, the latter not being too virulent. A quantity

that time a qu^rofThl fibrTlndnbsp;1 fT^f ^^^er standing half-an-hour ; at thLnd o^f

but upon the s ren^th of th . ^^«\'^demned ; guilt thus depends not upon the brains of a jury,

remarked that Lnbsp;^quot;^elhgent agent, which searches out and finds man\'s mortal sin. It is

vomited, the priest admïiistts™^^^^^^^ where poor men die; moreover that when a man has

pp. 156-159).\'\'\'\'^\'\'quot;\'nbsp;\'^^^\'^ribes eight forms of ordeal (Impressions, Lond., 1858,

As I go to press, Mr. C. Punch sends me the following note (fig.
River Water Spirit:

quot; All the part of Benin River in above sketch was haunted by a water spirit
in the shape of a huge alligator, with a light in his head. The light would be
seen at night by people in canoes and moored in the river, and offerings would
thereupon be put into the water for the spirit lest it should come and break the canoe.quot;
This spirit is, therefore, that of Alagwe as recorded above by Roupell (p. 53), which
destroys canoes, or it is another form of the same spirit.

Dapper\'s account-King\'s unlimited authority-Three high functionaries-Field Marshall (Captain
TJquot;\'quot;\'nbsp;villages-Corruption-Nyendael\'s account (92)-King\'s

audience with the king-Nommal authority of the king-The Members of the Luncil (93)-

caus all his subjects slaves, however great nobles they may be. No children are acknow-
ledged as his slaves till they are shewn to the king by their father or their mother ■
tne king then orders them to be marked with a proper incision, then the children become
slaves to the king like all the others; for all his people, high and low, are bound to
acknowledge themselves to be slaves to the king. There are among others three highest
state counsellors in Great Benin appointed by the king for the government of the
country. These are called by the Portuguese Fiadors. They are the highest
personages m the country next to the king, for above them there is nobody but
the field marshall, who is nearest to the king, and the king\'s mother. They ie in
c^ummand of a quarter of the town, and draw great profits from this ; their official
titles are Ongogtce, Ossade, and Arr^bo.^ So too, every town or village is governed by
a certmn number of chiefs or nobles, called Fiadors, who settle all questions otheV
than those relating to corporal punishment, fining the accused according to the

Where the higher court is settled and sits every day. But the judges are often bribed

UsudV-Arribol\'sHlfih^\'\'\'\'\'^ Ewagwe; Ossade is obviously Ushadde or Uchudi, sometimes called
, ^iiiDo IS Still the same as in my time.quot; C.P.

^ y towns to Benin for Europeans, Gwato (Egutan, Guatun, Gotton, amp;c.) being the other.

Nyendael\'s account differs somewhat from the above. He says: quot; I have
often observed here three states, besides the king, who governs absolutely, his will
being a law and bridle to his subjects, which none of them dare oppose. Next to
him, the first and highest state is composed of three persons, called here Great Lords,
or Big Men, who are always near the king\'s person; and any person that wants to
apply to his majesty, is obliged to address himself first to them, and they undertake
to acquaint him with the request and return his answer. But they are sure to inform
him only of what pleases themselves, and consequently in the king\'s name they act
as they think fit; so that in reality the whole government depends solely on them ;
which may the more easily happen, because, except a few, no persons are admitted
into the king\'s presence, much less allowed to speak to him.\' The second state or
rank is composed of those who are here called Are de Roe, or street-kings;^ some
of whom preside over the commonalty, and others over the slaves ; some over
military affairs, others over the affairs relating to cattle and the fruits of the
earth, etc. And indeed, there is a particular supervision for everything that can
be thought of. Out of the number of these Are de Roes are chosen the viceroys
and governors of the countries which are subject to the king. These are all under
the command of, and responsible to, the three great men on all occasions.quot; Else-
where he observes; quot;The government of this country is principally vested in the
king and the three above-mentioned great lords; the first is nominal governor, and
the last are really so. Each province has its particular governor, all of whom depend
on the three great sources, [i.e. lords,] without whose consent they dare not act.quot;

From both of the above accounts it is clear that as knowledge of what was going
on was kept from the king, there must have been chiefs who acted independently of
their sovereign. That the chiefs did not at times so much as attempt to carry out the
king\'s wishes came out very clearly at the king\'s trial, where it was proved that some
of the chiefs acted directly contrary to his wishes. Lieut. King seems to have
understood quot; that the meanest subject who has a complaint to make has the right
to address the king personally,quot; but he must have been misinformed, as the obstacles
placed in the way of seeing the king was one of the special features of Benin. quot;The
king himself did not like it, because by this means the nobles learnt beforehand all
that was being said to the king. Especially did these nobles keep a zealous Avatch
on the presents sent him. He appointed one of his boys to receive any messenger
and conduct him into his presence at once, but the nobles managed nearly always
to get hold of the messenger and detain him. It was the same with a European—-
he had so many nobles to see that he was exhausted with delays before he could
get to the king, who complained that \' his eye was not allowed to catch ground.\'
Nevertheless, he was by no means a nonentity. The king could and did do as he
pleased, subject to the drawback that he could not leave his quarters, and consequently
his orders were not carried out.quot; (C. Punch). But even so far back as in
Landolphe\'s time a case occurred tending to show that the power of the king was

1nbsp;Landolphe mentions casually that the Europeans who brought any complaint before the
king were afraid of their heads (II., p. 93).

2nbsp;quot; Street kings. This reminds me much of the lyalode in Yoruda towns, commonly called
head market women, but, perhaps, more correctly translated by the words \' Mother of Streets.\'
(Ode = outside of a house or town).quot; C.P.

limited.\' In the year 1786 the French were anxious -to have a fort built at Gwato,
but the reply of the king was to the effect that he must consult his Council about it.
This is in fact the first mention of the Benin Council. Landolphe writes: quot; The
council consisted of sixty \' big men,\' who wore round the neck, on the wrists and on
the ankles their double strings of coral (II., p. 95). Four fiadors conducted us to the
council chamber, which was at least sixty feet long, and at the other end we saw the
king in ah arm-chair raised three steps up. He was dressed in a very fine white
pagne; two negroes, about twenty years of age, and quite naked, stood at his side,
carrying a damas in the right hand, point upwards. Sixty old men about
seventy years of age, known as the \' big men,\' dressed in superb pagnes
surrounded their master. Every one of them wore on his neck, ankles and wrists
two rows of very large coral, which is the distinctive mark of the highest office of
the state. The fiadors and passadors are only allowed to wear a single row on any
part of their body, or rather a necklace, and they must besides have the king\'s
authority to do so, as the dignity is not hereditary.^ The above number of old men
is divided into three sections; twenty of them have charge of the receipts and
expenses, and are called the council of the finance minister; twenty others make up
the council of the minister for war, and occupy themselves with all that concerns
peace and war; and the last twenty have the control of tradequot; (I., p. 113). The
functions of these councillors appear to be analogous to those of the street-lords, above
described by Nyendael.

Landolphe gives a different version from those of Dapper and Nyendael of the duties
of the state functionaries. He says there are three classes^ of nobihty in Benin. quot; These
classes consist of the big men, the fiadors, and the third class, the passadors, of which
at Owhere there are none. The big men may not leave the capital, and the fiadors
the kingdom, under pain of death. The passadors never leave the kingdom except
with special instructions ; they carry the messages which the king sends anywhere ;
they promulgate the bye-laws and regulations of the police [sjc] ; they carry royal
messages to foreign nations and receive the ambassadors who come to Benin ; they
proclaim the declarations of war and treaties of peacequot; (II., p. 61). On the other
hand, Beauvais, the contemporary of Landolphe, says there are four degrees of
nobility, called fiadors, decorated with a coral necklace of one or more branches
[strings] (p. 144), but he gives no particulars of their respective functions.

1nbsp;In this respect the king was probably much in the same position of puppet as has been found
to be the case elsewhere in West Africa. For instance, a former resident in Gnitsha writes me :
quot; The King of Onitsha is a nonenity in so far as power is concerned, as the chiefs are the real rulers.
There are three grades of chiefs, with many chiefs in each grade, who all help in the government.
Chieftainship is not hereditary in any way; anyone who can afford the cost can become a chief,
taking one step at a time. Each grade is gained by purchase; a large feast is held by the chiefs,
and a sum of money, or perhaps more correctly speaking the goods in kind, being the novices or
stagers payment, is divided amongst the company. There appears to be no indication of secret
societyship about the grades. The Government occupies itself with trials, war palavers, land
palavers, etc.quot; In 1889, Sir Claude Macdonald found that the Onitsha King was only in name a
ruler, that several of his subordinate chiefs were not on speaking terms with him, and that his
smallest actions were dependent on the will of his people.quot; (Mockler-Ferryman, p. 24).

3nbsp;At Warri there were only two classes of nobility. quot; The fiadors of Owhere when authorised
to do so by the king, have the right to cross the limits of the empire [siV] ; they also fulfil the same
functions as the passadors of Benin quot; (Landolphe II., p. 61).

From Mr. C. Punch I have received the following notes on the individuals who
helped to misgovern the country :

Besides the governors who were put over the white man\'s trade there were the
king\'s boys, Ukoba. These were probably the fighting class of the Dutch chronicler.
They were unclothed save for a brass anklet and a necklace of agate, until such time
as the king gave them a wife and allowed them to wear a cloth. Though called
boys, many were men over forty. They terrorised the country. Some were confined

to the king\'s compounds in Benin itself. Others
were allowed to go about the country on so-called
king\'s messages. They arrived at a village, and
called the head man or men and said \' Eguatuwo,\'
which meant the \'king sends you his compli-
ments,\' but it was a form which was a terror to the
villagers. Anyone known to be well-to-do was
called, and reminded of some trouble which had
arisen in the past between some of his forbears, and
PVMnbsp;ti^Mnbsp;P^s\'Iecessors. He was told that

would consent to go back to Benin and intercede.
Another favourite way of extorting money was for
a king\'s boy to take a sickly goat or sheep to
a village, and tell the head man that the king
asked him kindly to take care of the goat. If the
head man did so the animal probably died, and then
of course its death was an excellent \' palaver\' to hold
over that village in perpetiio. The Ukoba were
also the king\'s executioners. If it was decided to get rid of a person in Benin, he
was asked to attend the king\'s reception, and when the man attended, the king picked
a quarrel with him and left the place with an angry word, whereupon the Ukoba fell
on the victim and slaughtered him before he left the place. As a rule, people so
summoned ran away to the bush villages, and got one of the Benin nobles to inter-
cede tor them.

quot;The population of Benin town consisted mostly of nobles of whom there were
herds.\' They were known by their titles, not by their names.

quot;The Ollubusheri was very high in rank. I did not see the holder of the office,
and was told at the time that he was a boy and had not assumed his title ; but I was
misinformed, as later events proved there was an Ollubusheri. He Avas chief of the
fighting men—what the Dutch and French spoke of as the War Captain.

quot; The Ojomo came next to the king, and was perhaps, in a sense equal, for he was
in one sense an independent king, and lived at his own town. He was allowed to carry
an umbrella. On one occasion I left the town in a rage, and it was Ojomo who ran
after me and begged me to go. back, lest there should be a regular massacre among
the obstructive party. He put up his umbrella to show what a very big man he
was, but I noticed he put it down again before we got near the king\'s compounds.

quot; There were many others, though I cannot remember all of them, but the following
were some of the titles : Obaradesagmo, of the royal line ; Obamoe, Aboynagbo
Obaseke—in fact most of the titles began with Oba-—King.

quot; The Okerison was the official who killed the human beings at the big cere-
monies, and the Okerison imala, i.e., he who kills the animals. Orukatu, was the
king\'s brother, and an elder one at that by a few hours. As to the Arribo and the
Ewagwe, in old days they were stationed at Guatun to carry the news when a
European arrived. Ewagwe was premier, but on one occasion the Arribo by a trick
outran the Ewagwe, and had the privilege given him of always being the one to
receive a European stranger, and naturally expected to get first feathersquot; (C. Punch).

Nyendael relates that on one day in the year the king makes a parade through the
city, when quot;he grants many appointments to the government of towns and villages.quot;
He relates that the honourable posts were given to the officials on the recommendation
of the three great lords; and the king as quot; a sign of this honour presents each of them with
a string of coral, that being equivalent to the arms of an order of knighthood. This
string they are obliged to wear about their necks, Avithout ever daring to put it off on
any account whatever; for if they are so unhappy as to lose it, or carelessly suffer it
to be stolen, they are ipso facto irretrievably condemned to die. For the confirmation
of Avhich, I can give you two instances, to one of Avhich I was witness, viz : a negro
who through inadvertency had suffered this chain to be stolen from him, and was
executed without delay; as was also the other negro who acknowledged himself
guilty of the said theft, besides three more Avho were privy to it, and did not inform
about it. Thus five men were put to death for a chain of coral, that was intrinsically
not worth twopence. The second instance happened about the year 1700, and was
somewhat more extraordinary. At that time there lay near me, off the village of
Boededoe, two Portuguese ships or barques, one of which departed before us ; but the
other was obhged to stay a month or two after me, in order to collect her debts;
which coming in very slowly the captain resolved to cause a fiador, who was his
greatest debtor, to be arrested in his ship ; but when this was attempted,, the debtor
resisted and endeavoured to escape ; but during the scuffle with the sailors, the pilot
caught hold of his chain of coral, broke it in pieces, and threw it overboard, which so
dispirited the fiador, that he let go his hold, and surrendered himself immediately.
But some time after, finding the pilot asleep, and having gotten a blunderbuss, he
shot him through the head, and thus obliged him to exchange his natural for a more
lasting sleep; with this the negro was not yet satisfied, but afterwards wounded the dead
body in several places, and then threw away his knife, adding that he had now taken
his revenge, and that it was perfectly indifferent to him what they did with him.
\' For,\' continues he, \' when my coral was thrown overboard, I was a dead man, and at
present I am in the same condition.\' The Portuguese did not venture to punish him,
but delivered him to the governor of the place, who dispatched him to the king, and
the barque departing, his majesty committed him to close prison in order to punish
him very severely in the presence of the next Portuguese who should come thither.
This very year I saw the negro, and just upon my departure, two Portugues ships
came with orders to demand justice for their murdered pilot. How they succeeded
I cannot say, because I left that place immediately after ; but that it cost the negro
his life is undeniable. The king keeps these corals in his own possession; and the
counterfeiting, or possessing them without his grant is punished with death, Besides
the fiadors, under the same rank are also reckoned the mefcadors or merchants;
fulladors or intercessors ; the veilles or elders ; all of them are distinguished by the
above mentioned mark of honour, viz : the wearing of coral.quot;

According to Lieut. King, quot; A coral necklace is the distinctive mark of royalty
and nobility, and Avhen the king confers a patent of nobility on anyone, he puts the

necklace on him with his own hands,quot; On one occasion Fawckner noticed a
messenger approaching him and quot;performing the most extraordinary gesticulations.
At first I thought him mad, for he danced and capered through the street, followed
by a great many persons who seemed to partake in the same feeling of joy or mad-
ness. He exhibited first one leg and then the other alternately, extended his hands,
and then pointed to a string of coral which encircled his ankles and wrists. \' The fact
was, the king had made a \' gentleman\' of him, having bestowed an honour similar to
our knighthood, and placed the insignia of his order, the coral, round his legs and
arms. He was anxious that everybody should see it, and displayed all the vanity
and pride of a child when he is first breeched quot; (p. 89). Truly coral played an im-
portant part at the Court of Benin, and we cannot wonder that in time it got a juju
of its own.

quot;The king has a very good income, for his territories
are very large and full of governors, and each one knows
how many bags of boesjes [cowries], the money of
this country, he must raise annually for the king, which
amount to a vast sum, which it is impossible for me to
estimate. Others, of a lower rank than the former, instead
- ,nbsp;of money, deliver to the king cattle, sheep, fowls, yams

keeping ; so that he is not put to one farthing expense on
that account, and consequently he lays up his whole
pecuniary revenue untouched. Duties or tolls on imported
and exported wares are not paid here; but everyone pays
a certain sum annually to the governor of the place where
he lives, for the liberty of trading ; he sends part of it to
the king, hence the king can estimate what he has to
expect annually without much variationquot; (Nyendael).
From the same authority we learn that fines exacted as
punishment never reach the king.

Gallwey also tells us, quot; When an elephant is killed, the king claims one tusk,
the other going to the hunter ; but the king has the option of buying it if he wishes
to (p. 128).

The taxes levied on European merchants mentioned by Nyendael (see Trade), and
the gifts of captains of vessels and other visitors as mentioned by Adams, would help
to swell the king\'s revenues.\'

quot; The quickness with which news was conveyed to the king was startling. The
natives of course said it was his magic, but I fancy they must have had some system
of stages of runners who passed on news which it was thought likely would interest
the king. Although difficult of access to those seeking audience on their own
account, anyone at all who had news went direct to the king and asked leave to
tell him. If pleased the king would reward him, but he also risked incurring
punishment, even death, if the king did not think his news worth having. In
this way every inducement was given to get news to Benin. I thought it was
done to establish the king\'s reputation for omniscience.quot; (C. Punch).

The King of Onitsha hves by the fees obtained in adjudicating upon disputes, also upon the
yam offerings made to him once a year, and the offerings of fishes made him at various times. On
certain days he has the power of seizing goods on certain roads from passers-by.

Husband claims all—On death of husband king claims all—Eldest son made heir—Disposal of
the wives—Slaves presented to king and lords as heriots—Allowance to younger brother and
mother—Some wives taken, others set to work—Some become courtezans—If no issue in-
heritance goes to brothers—Failing all heirs the king inherits—Inheritance of the crown (98)—
Choice of crown-prince kept secret—Curious method of proclaiming crown-prince—Destinction
of kmg\'s brother—Landolphe\'s version of election of crown-prince (99)—Eldest son rarely chosen
—Elected prince visits king once a year—Not allowed to stay in the city—Lieut. King states
eldest son always chosen (100)—Choice hidden from him—Roupell\'s officials confirm Lieut.
King—Son trained up as king, but not allowed to remain in city—How Jambra came to the
throne—How Overami the last king came to the throne—Curious that eldest son chosen as
king (loi)—The king\'s understudy—Sacrifices—The pits (102)—A new compound for the dead
king.

^ quot;As to inheritances, they follow this rule. The husband takes all the property
which his wife has left, for himself, without leaving to the children anything but
what their mother has given them during her hfetime. While the wife, on the
contrary, when her husband dies, is not allowed to touch anything of his goods ; all
these, as well as slaves and other possessions, go over into the king\'s hands. And,
if there are sons, the king often makes the eldest heir of all his father\'s slaves and
goods, also sometimes of virgin wives, the others being given in marriage to other
men quot; (Dapper).

Nyendael tells us the same, with a little more detail, thus: quot; The right of
inheritance devolves in the following manner. When any person of condition dies,
the eldest son is sole heir, but is obliged to present a slave by way of heriot to the ■
king, and another to the three great lords, with a petition that he may succeed to his
father in the same position, which the king accordingly grants, and he is declared the
lawful heir of all his father has left. He bestows no more on his younger brothers
than what out of his quot;bounty he pleases; but if his mother be alive, he allows her a
creditable maintenance proportionate to her condition, and allows her besides to keep
whatever she has gotten from his father. His father\'s other widows, especially those
who have not had any children, the son takes home if he likes them, and uses as his
own ; but those whom he does not like, he also takes them home with their children
and sets them to work, in order to support them the more creditably; but entertains
no matrimonial connection with theiu. With his connivance they are allowed to
earn a little money so as honourably to keep themselves. Of this last sort, there
are as great numbers of accommodating women as in other countries. If the deceased
leaves no children, the brother inherits his effects, and in case of absence of such
heir, the next of kin inherits. But if no lawful heir can be found, the king inherits.quot;\'

1 If Dapper and Nyendael are correct, there was an absolute break in the customs of inheritance
from any of the Yoruba tribes among whom inheritance is as follows:—Property is of three kinds
(i) the dwelling house, (2) the farm land, (3) personal property such as money (cowries) goods and

The inheritance to the crown evidently followed similar lines. Dapper says :
quot; The crown is inherited by the sons, and if there are no sons, by the brothers.
When the king is in extremis and leaves sons, as is usually the case, on account
of the many wives, he orders one of his noblemen, called Onegwa, to be sent for, to
whom he divulges the name of the heir to the crown ; this nobleman not being
allowed to reveal it to anyone else, till the king has been dead for a considerable
space of time.® But immediately after the king\'s death, this nobleman assumes the
superintendence of the king\'s possessions, and the deceased king\'s children then
come and kneel down before him and salute him; although nobody knows as yet
who will inherit the crown. Everybody then offers this Onegwa many goods and
valuables, in order to compete for the royal dignity ; although the Onegwa is not
allowed to tell anybody the secret. Then, when the proper time has arrived, he
orders the Owe-Asserry or Seasayre, being the field-marshall,\' the nearest to the
king, to be called. He, on arrival, asks the Onegwa what he has to say, whereupon
the Onegwa tells him who has been appointed successor to the crown by the deceased
king. Then the Owe-Asserry or Seasayre asks four or iive times, whether the late
king has ordained it so, which the Onegwa acknowledges by saying \'yes.\' There-
upon the Seasayre goes home without saying a word. When this is done, the
Onegwa orders the son appointed successor by his father to be called again, and
then tells him to go to the Seasayre immediately, and offer him many goods, that
he may quickly appoint the new king, whereupon the future king is ordered to go
home. After five or six days the Seasayre betakes himself to the court again, and
then calls the nobleman or Onegwa, whom he questions again, whether the kin»quot; has
said so. If he then answers this question with \'yes,\' twice and three times, then the
appointed heir to the crow^n is called, and ordered to kneel down, while the supreme
power over the kingdom is explicitly conferred upon him ; whereupon, he thanks
them, then gets up, is dressed in the royal attire, and sits down again. Then all
the vassals, from the Seasayre down to the lowest in rank, come to kneel down
before the king and salute him. As soon as this solemnity is ended the king has to
go to another village, called Osebu, to keep his court there, as his time for reigning
in Benin has not yet come, when there is some sacrifice of men, or cattle, or horses,
or cows, or anything else to the devil, in the honour of his deceased father; then he
is smeared with the blood of the slaughtered cattle. When now the above-mentioned
Seasayre thinks it fit time, and the king has been sufficiently taught the lessons of
his forefathers, he is called by the said Seasayre to Benin, where he lives henceforth
and keeps his court, rufing at will. The king, when in power, at once tries to do
away with his brothers, in order to govern the more securely by not having com-

slaves, The dwelling house is family property and cannot be alienated, and all members of the
family and their descendants have the right of entry and the use of the family house. Farm land
is divided among the children, the eldest taking the largest share, and in the event of the other
members being young the eldest holds their share in trust working it for them. Personal property
descends not to the children but to brothers or sisters, and brothers and sisters by the same mother
inherit before those by the same father. Brother or sister so inheriting would have to provide for
children if the latter were unable to provide for themselves, and would owe the children a share quot;
C.P.

In Dahomey the prime minister and his next in rank decide which of the king\'s sons is to
succeed, generally the first born after the king\'s succession is chosen.

3 Captain of War. quot; This is the same as the modern title Yaceri, whom I often heard called
Sasen.quot; C.P.

petitors for tfie crown ; or he usually lets them live no longer than twenty or
twenty-five years, for fear of plots with the friends of some killed or banished
fiadors or state counsellors, as happened a few years ago, when the now ruling
king had his brother strangled by ordering his people to hold a cloth over his mouth
and nose, because he had tried to poison the king during his illness, with the assistance
of some noblemen. He then, in the presence of them all, called all his brother\'s
partisans, and told them he would order them to be killed, and then immediately
proceeded to do so; they were all beheaded. Some say that the king compels his
brothers to hang themselves, as nobody is allowed to touch royal blood with the
intention to kill, but orders them to be buried with great honour and pomp.quot;

Landolphe gives a different account of the election of a king. quot; As the monarch
of the two empires, i.e., Benin and Warri, advances in years, he is obliged to cause
one of his children to be nominated sovereign at his death, as without this formality
the crown might fall by election to someone not a member of his family.\' He calls
together all the big men, fiadors and passadors of the kingdom, who on a certain day
of the month [joiir de lune], have to assemble in one of the courts of the palace
capable of holding 6000 men, and from which, on that day, the women are excluded.
The king calls in his male children not less than twenty years old, and presenting
them says : \' Here are my sons, choose from amongst them that one who is best
qualified for the throne, so that after my death you may find in him the security for
peace and the virtues of a good father, as well as the courage of a warrior when it is
necessary to fight.\' The choice rarely falls on the eldest son. Whoever is recog-
nised as the heir to the throne takes at once the title of king of a province. The
assembly rises, salutes him and addresses him through a chief, and he is led to his
father who dubs him a knight. Then he goes to his province, which he may only
leave once a year on the day of his election, in order to pay homage to the author of
his being. I was once present at the arrival of the young king under the above cir-
cumstances. His name was Chiffau ; he was good looking, five feet two inches high.
He was escorted by about a thousand to twelve hundred men armed with assegais,
and thirty young men, some in white cloths and others in red cloths, marched in
front of him, dancing and beating time with tambourines. Having entered the court
where the remains of his ancestors reposed, the king, his father, advanced towards
him. The king\'s loins were covered with some magnificent cloths, and his neck,
arms and ankles, were covered by a quantity of large strings of coral. On this
occasion he wore a net shirt, of which each knot was furnished with a coral bead ; it
weighed more than twenty pounds, for the king made me test it. Having sat him-
self at the foot of the tomb of the late monarch, where we could see at least sixty
elephant tusks, he called his son, kissed him, and both shed tears on each other
before the assembly, which seemed to partake of their emotion. At the end of this
ceremony the young king returned to his province accompanied by his armed suite.
Being astonished that he did not go into the palace, I asked the reason why of the
fiador Oyfou, one of the first confidants of the old king, who said : \' The big men
never allow a king\'s son, heir to the throne, to speak to his father, for fear lest the
latter might suggest feelings of hatred or vengeance against his own enemies, or that
the son might be advised to change our customs, which we endeavour to keep free
from all innovation since the origin of the dynastyquot; (H., pp. 58-60).

1 Elsewhere Landolphe states that at Warri quot; the eldest son of the sister of the king succeeds on
the death of the king, if the king has no children.quot; (II., p. 6).

On the other hand, we are told by Lieut. King that quot; The eldest son of the King
of Benin is looked upon as the heir to the throne. From his infancy he is sent to a
town some distance off, in order to be initiated into the art of governing, and into the
mysteries of religion by experienced old men, without the secret of his high birth
being made known to him, which he does not learn until he is called to sovereign
power by the death of his father, or until he has arrived at an age when he is no
longer in need of instruction.quot; The account given by Roupell\'s officials confirms
Lieut. King\'s statement, viz. : quot; The eldest son always succeeded to the throne.
When the heir was born a big play was held, then the king Came out and showed
his son to all men, then he was trained up to be king. The eldest son was never
allowed inside the city till his father\'s death ; he resided at Shelu, but sometimes he
could come and pay his father a visit.quot;

The manner in which Jambra came to the throne is recorded by . Burton as
follows : quot; Jambra is the second son of Oddi, or -Odalla, the king of Benin in
Belzoni\'s time, who was described by Messrs. Moffat amp;-Smith as a robust old man,
who affected much dignity, and would not allow them to approach near his person.
His elder brother is Bawaku, whose birth not having been reported in due time by
his mother, the cadet became, according to the law of the land, the senior,\' When
quot; the old king died there was of course a fight. The chiefs and ministers preferred the
milder and more easily managed man. Jambra therefore changed his name to
Atolo. seized his father\'s property, and became Obba. Bawaku, whose temper is
despotic, resisted for a time, but was presently expelled the country. He then fled
towards the Niger and settled at Isan, a city said to be seven days\' march from
Benin and three from Igarra. Since 1854 the,brothers have been constantly at war.
Many of the Benin people, it is said, are now flying to the Pretender, who, if the
ministers did not fear for their heads, would soon make himself Obbaquot; (pp. 413-15).

account of the coming to the throne of Overami, given me by Mr. C. Punch : quot; Two
of the wives of Adola were enceinte at the same time, and were given in charge of
nobles to be kept in villages till the children were born, and the nobles had to make
all speed to inform the king on the child being born. Orukotu was born first but his
guardian was slow in notifying the fact. Odobowa [the lately deposed king] was
born later, but his guardian announced him first to King Adola, who recognised him
as his heir. This was Benin law. I was told in Benin that a similar instance led to
the foundation of Warri. The younger was first declared king. The elder when he
grew up, though the brothers were friends, saw that they could not live in the same
place, so emigrated to Warri, and established another kingdom.^

quot; Orukotu tried to oust Adubowa and had a large following on Adola\'s death, but
Adubowa was proclaimed king and proceeded to perform the rites. Orukotu\'s party
made head ; I was told the Ojomo, the Ewagwe and Obaradesagmo were mixed
up with it.

quot; The Ukoba, the chief eunuch who had charge of the king\'s wives, headed by
Aguramasi and Agbe, king\'s boys, stood by Adubowa, and he finally became king

1nbsp;quot; In England, an annuity office prefers considering the date of christening to the date of birth,
in Africa the age dates from the day when the king acknowledges the child. Both are equally
absurd R.B. In France also the date of christening was formerly the date to record.

2nbsp;The Warri branch was not tributary. It is curious that though the Jekri chiefs were un-
doubtedly of Benin origin, and of the royal line, the Jekri people are evidently more Yoruba
than Benin.

and took the royal title of Uvorami Nabashi. The Ojomo and the Ewagwe were
objects of suspicion even when I was there, and it is certain that the king was
especially anxious for European support and countenance, as he knew w-ell the large
party there was against him. Orukotu would have been killed but that the king\'s
mother begged him off. I was in Benin River when King Adola died, and
awful stories reached me of the massacres going on in Benin to celebrate his decease,
but it appeared later from accounts in Benin, that these massacres were not all
sacrifices to celebrate the king\'s death, but that in the suppression of the open
attempt made in favour of Orukotu, great numbers were killed.quot;

Nyendael does not appear to say anything of regal inheritance, mentioning only
that the eldest sons of the chiefs inherited. This would, however, show that the
inheritance by the eldest son was a custom of the country. The War Captain\'s post
was inherited by his son (Fawckner p. 8i), but nothing is said about his being the
eldest. This was the case with Ojomo. He showed Mr. Punch his eldest son,
Ocome, saying he was to succeed him. Dapper and Landolphe give a contrary view.
It is usually the custom that a chief or \' big man \' will choose his own heir from
among his sons, of whom he may have a great number. This son will be chosen for
his business capacity ; it is therefore the more remarkable that in Benin the eldest
son is said always to succeed to his father\'s throne.\' Mr. Punch suggests that the
title of a noble descended by right to the eldest son, subject to the king\'s approval,
and it was in the king\'s gift. The law of inheritance in property must have been
largely influenced by the fact that the king claimed every man and woman, even his
own children, to be his slaves, consequently no one owned any property. The fact
that the crown descended to the eldest son may have influenced local ideas, but
primogeniture is not the basis of inheritance in West Africa.

Mr. C. Punch gives me the following particulars of the ceremonies connected
with the inheritance of the crown: quot;On a king\'s death the event was kept concealed
by the immediate retainers. There was an understudy to the royal person, but I
cannot remember the name which was given to the office. During the king\'s life the
understudy was a privileged person and enjoyed royal privileges and honour. On the
king\'s death the understudy carried on the duties of king until the people in
authority were ready to proclaim the new king. The old king\'s death was then
announced and the understudy disappeared. I fancy I was introduced to Adubowa\'s
understudy, but cannot remember very clearly.

quot; On the proclamation of the king\'s death the new king began to do ceremonies,
which were long and extended for over a year. He was only king elect until every
rite was fulfilled. On completion of every rite he ascended a step towards the king\'s
throne, and on full completion he sat on the throne; \' chopped King \' was the pigeon-
English expression. . At each rite there were human sacrifices. I was told that 200
men, 200 women and 200 various animals were sacrificed, but I cannot say that it
was so. The new king constructed a large compound in memory of his father with a
sacrifical altar at one end, and in one corner a pit, called \' iyo,\' into which the bodies
of the victims were thrown.

quot; On the occasion of my first visit, Adubowa had almost completed the compound in
memory of iVdola, and in fact the big, carved doors of iroko wood (Chlorophora excelsa)

1 At Onitsha, the kingship is rjot hereditary from father to son, but the-inheritor must be of the
royal family, and is chosen by the chiefs of the town; he may be an uncle, brother nephew son
amp;c., amp;c.nbsp;•nbsp;. .

were covered with Müntz metal, which I obtained for the king. The pit was empty and
only just finished. It was about 60 feet deep, and the ladders used in digging it
Avere still close to it. There was a story that these pits were dug until a stratum of
hgnite or some pitchy substance was reached, and this was the sign that they were deep
enough. The diggers then swarmed up the ladders, but the last man was left down
alive to begin the sacrifice. Looking down the hole we saw no body at the bottom,
but then we could not really see the bottom.

quot;I do not think that the completion of the compound was part of the rites done
by the king in attaining his throne. It was more than a year after Adola\'s death and
Adubowa was full king, yet the compound was not finished. Whether this was so or
not, it was obligatory on the king to \'make his father,\' and again there were
sacrifices, and e\\\'ery year afterwards; a king would also make sacrifices in the
compounds of other dead kings. I should say the actual number of victims has been
exaggerated. Probably a large number were sacrificed at the coronation, and at the
completion of the compound, and perhaps two or three at the annual service.quot;

All slaves strangers—Male slaves not sold—Slaves exported from Benin are not Binis—Subjects
sold—People treated as slaves—An honour to be called a king\'s slave—Slave villages—State
of slavery before export slave trade—Physically deformed slaves or bad slaves immolated as
occasion offered—English slave trade at Benin stopped through bad climate (104)—Work of
women slaves—The unhappy lot of a slave^Value of a slave—Slaves rise to power—Sobo and
Jekri slaves—Piece of tusk for a slave (105).

Nyendael has it that in Benin all male slaves are foreigners, quot; for the natives
cannot be sold for slaves, but are all free, and alone bear the name of the king\'s
slaves. Nor is it allowed to export any male slaves that are sold in this country, for
they must stay there; but females may be dealt with at every one\'s pleasure.quot; Accord-
ing to Landolphe (I., p. 101) all the slaves who are trafficked in Benin and Warri come
from outside these territories. Lieut. I^ing found that quot; the king can sell his subjects
when convicted of crime, or when they have incurred his displeasure.quot; The royal
right of abuse seems to have survived to the last days, for Gallwey (p. 129) mentions
that quot; the Benin people are free, but are treated as slaves by the king, the title of
king\'s slave being considered an honour.quot; We have seen above that\'for different
reasons the king claimed male children, widows and slaves belonging to deceased
subjects; he could hardly get much more, so that the mass of the people were
practically slaves to the king, and those who were not to the Idng were so to their
chiefs.

While travelling many miles in the interior, Lieut. King found settlements
{villes coloniales) belonging to a single individual, and inhabitedquot; by slaves, the pro-
prietor residing in Warri or some other maritime or commercial town. This confirms
Dapper\'s statement that the king gave whole villages, with the people and slaves, to
some successful jujumen. In Calabar and its neighbourhood, the local kings had
their slave villages, the inhabitants of which brought their produce to the town for
sale, or disposed of it otherwise, according to arrangement with the owner, but whether
this system of slave villages was the same as that which existed in Calabar remains
yet to be shown. Here, as elsewhere, the peculiar position of the king, in whom was
centralised all power and ownership, may have modified slave proprietorship in the
Benin country.

quot;Before the slave trade commenced, the king and the rich immolated many
slaves and all prisoners of war, but since they have found a profitable output for
these in exchange for European goods, they now only sacrifice the maimed, the
deformed, and those with whom they can do nothing quot; (Beauvais, p. 145).

The same traveller remarks at one of the human sacrifices at which he was
present, that the slaves immolated all had some visible defects which would have

caused their rejection by the slave traders (p. 149). This is confirmed by Roupell\'s
officials, who say that all the slaves sacrificed were bad men or bad with sickness.
The export slave trade grew to enormous extent, and its decay, at Benin in particular,
is ascribed to the Enghsh by Adams (p. 116), but chiefly to the extreme unhealthi-
ness of the climate.\' It must not however be supposed that the export slave trade
mitigated the status of those left behind, for when there were not enough slaves to
be sacrificed, as we have seen above, anyone who could be caught was sacrificed.
Slaves were sacrificed to expiate the misdemeanours of the master. (Nyendael).

As for the women, Nyendael found them in Benin quot; as much slaves as in any
place in this kingdom. They are obhged to keep the daily markets, look after their
housekeeping and children, as well as their kitchens, and till the ground. In short,
they have so much employment, that they ought not to sit still; notwithstanding
which, they dispatch it all very briskly, and with a great deal of pleasure.quot;

The lot of the slaves was not a happy one. Burton evidently mixes up the
Jekri canoe slaves, whose lot is a hard one, with the agricultural slave, who had not a
very bad time of it, when he writes in his forcible and exaggerated way (p. 141): quot; they
must work under the lash from four p.m. to three a.m.., upon four ounces of boiled
yam or plantain. Two such meals will probably be allowed them while pulling one
hundred miles. They are mere anatomies, they will rifle the pails which the ship\'s
pigs refuse, and, remember, this is in times of plenty. More than half-starved, they
are always the first to make a disturbance when their miserable pittance is curtailed.quot;
A master would probably be hard on a slave boy, although unkindness to children
is most unusual in a West African. And at Gwato, he says, (p. 412) quot;as
usual, the adults kept all for themselves. The small boy Rapidy, a slave
to Sawaye, who had attached himself to us, was hardly allowed a morsel,
his master snatching it from, his hands until we taught him better manners.
These little wretches can never, however, be rewarded ; whatever of dress or diet is
given to them will at once be appropriated by the proprietor, or he failing, by anyone
senior and stronger.quot; Gallwey, however, does not seem to think the lot of the slave
such a bad one. He says: quot;Among the Jekries, domestic slavery is in existence,
most of the slaves being bought from the neighbouring Sobo tribe. The value of a

slavery as it exists in the Jekri country has many points in its favour. There is
really very little difference between the lot of a good slave and a freeman, except
that the former works while the latter does not. They are housed and fed by their

1 The climate was apparently as bad 350 years ago as it is now: for Welch tells us, in his first
voyage, out of 140 men he lost 40. At Gwato, Landolphe saw on one occasion the French, English,
Dutch and Portuguese vessels lose three-fourths of their crews in six weeks. (L, p. 307).

masters, and are given positions of trust, and in many cases they rise to be masters
themselves, as in the case of the late King Ja-Ja of Opobo, who was originally a

slave.......The Sobos do not keep slaves, but are bought as such by the Benin and

quot; Gallwey must have been misinformed about the price of a Sobo slave, for the
price of a slave from the Sobos was a span (see Fig. ggj cut off the large end of a
large tusk of an elpehant, and the piece so cut was the common ivory bracelet affected
by the Sobos quot; (C. Punch).

Fig, iooa,—Bronze Statuette of mounted horseman. In the
possession of Mr. James Pinnock, Liverpool.

Courtiers coming to Court—Side seats—Supported by retinue—Music (io8)—Work of king\'s slaves
—Royal gifts of food—Abject position of Court visitors (109)—One king speaks Portuguese-
Dapper\'s authority never at Court—Nyendael\'s interview with the king—No direct speech
with the king (110)—Behaviour of slaves carrying presents for king—Precaution to secure king
against poisoning—Landolphe\'s interview (111)—King\'s retinue—Interpreter falls on his belly
and holds hand before his mouth—Description of the king—Beauvais on humiliating
attitude of those who seek audience with the king (112)—Lieut. King\'s interview—Prostration
of the king\'s subjects—Adams\' interview (113)—The king short of tobacco—Dress of king and
courtiers—Fawckner\'s interview (115)—Moffat and Smith\'s interview—Remarks on the slave
trade—Burton\'s interview (116)—King\'s retinue quot;big men quot;—Description of the king—Etiquette
difficulties—Belzoni\'s books (118)—Gallwey\'s interview—Curious survival of the old etiquette
^iig)__The Queen-Mother—Mr. Punch\'s interviews—Fanning the chiefs (125)—Ceremonial
washing of feet,

After speaking of the king\'s dwelling, D.R. continues: quot;The king has also
many courtiers who, when they come to court, all ride upon horses, and sit upon
horses as women and girls do with us, and they have one on each side a man running,
on whom they lean,\' and according to the greatness of their estate, so do they have

Fig, ioi. Plaque representing
a nobleman, gentleman or chief
riding and supported by two atten-
dants; a boy leading the horse.
British Museum.

many men following. Some of these carry great shields or umbrellas wherewith they
keep their squire or nobleman from the sun (fig. 102). The latter walk nearest to him

1 At a Malay reception at Kuching, Borneo, the Rani of Sarawak and Miss North were thus con-
ducted by their elbows (Marianne North, Recollections, Lend., 1892, I., p. 241).

excepting those on whom the rider leans, who are closest, the rest come after him,
playing some on drums, others blowing horns and whistles, some have a hollow iron
whereon they strike (Fig. io8). The horse, also, is led by a man, and so the squire rides
playing to court. Those who are very great and important lords have another kind of
music when they ride to court; for their men have special instruments like the game
bags with which men in our country go to fish market; this net is filled with various

things, and when they strike upon it with their hands it rattles just as if a heap of
walnuts were inside and were struck with the hands (Fig. 103). A very grand nobleman
has many of these instruments, and his servants run after him making a great rattling
as he rides to court.quot; Later on D.R. repeats himself somewhat when he says : quot; The
noblemen go with great reverence and respect to court, and are accompanied by
many negroes or common moors, one with a drum, another with another instrument
on which they play. When they go on horseback they place a little wooden stool on
the horse, and on its neck they hang a bell, which rings when the horse goes; there
must always be two negroes walking one on either side, on whom the nobleman leans,
and these negroes and moors attend at the noblemen\'s doors every morning and stay
there till they come out for them to lean on them.quot; Of the king himself, we are told,
quot; he owns many men and women, that is slaves, and one often sees the women slaves
carrying water, yams and palm oil, which they say is for the king\'s wives. One also
sees many men slaves carrying water, yams and palm oil, which they say is for the
king, and many are seen carrying grass, which is for the horses, and all that which is
mentioned is carried on their heads. The king occasionally sends out presents of
foods, as a special honour from his court, which are carried in grand order through
the streets, for the carriers all march in single file, and by their side there are always

some persons who carry white wands, so that the people should make way for the
carriers, for every man must give way and step aside however stately or eminent a
squire or noble he may be.quot;

Apart from the bare references to royal interviews, Windam is the first
European to give us any account of a visit to the king. He says: quot;When his
noblemen are in his presence, they never look him in the face, but sit cowering, as
we upon our knees, so they upon their buttocks with their elbows upon
their knees, and their hands before their faces, not looking up until the king
command them. And when they are coming toward the king, as far as they doe see
him, they do shew such reverence, sitting on the ground with their faces covered as
before. Likewise when they depart from him, they turn not their backs toward him,
but goe creeping backward with like reverence. And now to speak somewhat of the

communication that was between the king and our men, you shall first understand
that he himselfe could speake the Portugall tongue, which he had learned of a child.
Therefore after he had commanded our men to stand up, and demanded of them the
cause of their coming into that country, they answered by Pinteado that they were
merchants, etc., etc.quot; Dapper, although he goes very fully into other details, does
not say anything about the court, which he would probably have done had his
authority mentioned it, and it may possibly be due to this circumstance that Bosman
ridicules Dapper. The next account is from Nyendael\'s pen: quot;In the first apart-
ment, at the entrance of the plain, is the king\'s audience-chamber, where, in presence
of his three great lords, I saw and spoke with him. He was sitting on an ivory
couch, under a canopy of Indian silk. He was a person of an affable mien, about
forty years old. I stood, according to custom, about thirty paces distant from him ;
but desired, in order to observe him the better, that I might approach nearer to him;
which, though unusual, he smihngly granted; and after he had beckoned me, I

advanced to within eight or ten paces of him. There was no person in the hall
besides the three mentioned great lords, the king, and a negro with a drawn sword in
his hand, who looked as fierce as a cabin boy. Whatever any person would say to
the king, must be first told to these three, who then repeat it to him and bring his
answer; going thus to and from him without any persons being able to determine
whether they faithfully report the messages on either side. On the king\'s left hand,
against a fine tapestry, 1 saw seven white scowered elephants\' teeth on pedestals of

ivory, which is the manner that almost all the king\'s gods are placed within his
house. I presented the king with a silk night-gown, with which, as I was afterwards
told, he was highly pleased; but whilst I was with him, I saw no signs of his satis-
faction, because it was brought to him covered, and he did not see what it was till
after my departure ; for everything brought to the king is in like manner covered
with mats; and before and behind these presents several negroes march, provided
with white staves. All those who happen to meet them in this posture, immediately
make haste out of the way, otherwise, they would be very well beaten. This
precaution is taken to prevent all opportunity of poisoning the king\'s goods, or
killing him.quot; This was in 1702. quot; It w^as the rule to cover up the presents for the
king, as he objected to the nobles knowing if he received anything. The white
staves of Nyendael are the peeled wand already mentioned quot; (C. Punch).

After a long interval, we get some fresh information about court receptions from
Landolphe, whose first interview with the then King of Benin in 1789, took place at
11 p.m. He was accompanied by an interpreter called Cupid, and introduced by two
passadors and escorted by twenty-four blacks armed with assegais and carrying each
a lamp with four wicks. They quot; passed through many spacious courts, in one of
which were the tombs of the Kings of Benin, but which I was not allowed to
examine. Leaving this I was introduced into a large apartment where an armchair
had been placed for me, and I was left alone with the passadors. I had to wait nearly
half-an-hour for the monarch. He came accompanied by two blacks quite naked,
about twenty years old, and armed with a damas [? the Ada or cutlass]. They ordered
the passadors to retire. The king, who was wrapped in rich white Indian mushns,
told Cupid to tell me to approach, and also told him to interpret properly all I had to

Figs. 108 amp; 109.—Small brass objects from Ashanti,
so-called quot;gold weights,quot; probably itinerant story-
tellers\' aids to memory or story emblems. Fig. 109
represents a double bell form, and fig. no a man strik-
ing the object. Compare this with Fig, 120. In the
possession of Capt, C. H. Armitage, D.S.O.

say. Cupid therefore threw himself flat on his belly at the feet of his master
[i.e., the king], raising his head a little to look at him, and placing his hand hori-
zontally a little above his mouth just as though he feared his breath might reach the
royal face.quot; Having explained the object of Landolphe\'s visit, viz., to estabHsh a
factory, and making a reference to the English, of whom the king is reported to have
said they were wicked people, and giving the king his gifts, the king said he must
refer the question to his council. On seeing some of his presents, the king said quot; the
whites are gods for cleverness and work.quot; Landolphe thus describes the king : quot; He
had a beautiful frank face, and although about sixty-six years of age, there was not a
furrow to be seen on it. He was about five foot five inches high, straight and
dignified. His eyes were bright and he spoke vigorously ; his hair, which was grow-
ing grey, was worn Grecian fashion. He wore round his waist fine beautifully white
stulTs down to his knees, put on in a very elegant manner. He wore no shirt. In
fact, his dress was the usual one for men and women on the West Coastquot; (I., pp.
103-109). From Beauvais we get the following about the king : quot; Every individual
considers himself an absolute slave of the king. The Binis and even the blacks of

the neighbouring populations, speak to him only in the most humiliating attitude,
that is, on their knees, their eyes fixed on the ground, and their hand covering the

mouth for fear lest their breath might reach him. Europeans, however, like other
native princes are allowed to speak to him standing, but must do so through an inter-
preter, who has to demean himself as just mentioned.quot;

Lieut. King\'s account of a visit to the king runs : quot; When the king entered the
audience hall, he was dressed m cloth according to the custom of the country, and

wore a big round liat festooned with gold ; one of his arms was extended horizontally,
bemg supported by one of his high state officials ; the nail of one of his fingers on
each hand was immensely long, in order to show that his high position placed him
above the necessity of working. He gave his hand to Lieut. King and motioned him
to a seat. From time to time he sat on the royal stool. All his subjects prostrate
themselves before the king, touching the ground with the forehead.quot;

Adams on his arrival at Gwato, found that it was the practice quot; for masters of
vessels to pay the king a visit soon after their arrival, and such a ceremony is seldom
allowed to be dispensed with, as on these occasions the black monarch receives a
handsome present, consisting of a piece of silk damask, a few yards of scarlet cloth.

and some strings of coralquot; (p. iii). He therefore went to Benin, and thus describes
his interview ; quot; The day following my arrival, I had the honour of an interview with
him ; he received me with much politeness, particularly after the fine flashy piece of
red silk damask, which I had brought with me as a present for him, had been un-
folded. The conversation was carried on with the aid of the king\'s trader, who
resides at Gatto, and who had accompanied me from thence to act as my linguist.
Trade was the principal, indeed the only subject discussed ; for King Bowarre,
although he is both a god and a king, trades, nevertheless, in slaves and ivory. The
Benm people, like those of Ardrah and Lagos, are great consumers of Brazil tobacco,
not any vessels loaded with which had for some time arrived from the Brazils. This
was a subject of much conversation, and of deep regret on the part of the king. The

Figs. 115 amp; 116. Wooden Kola Nut Box mounted in thin repoussé brass. Height 8in. {zo\'scm.), Diam, i4jin. (36-8cm.\')
British Museum. Foods, etc., were also carried in these boxes as described by Dapper. (See p. 108),

audience lasted about one hour ; he then presented me with two or three country
cloths, and a small piece of ivory, when I made my bow and took my leave of him.
The king and his principal courtiers are ostentatious in their dress, wearing damask,
taffity, and cuttanee, after the country fashion. Coral is a very favourite ornament
in the royal seraglio, which is always well filled ; and the women, like those of the
Heebo [Ibo] nation, wear a profusion of beads, if they can by any means obtain
them.quot;

The next record is that of Captain Fawckner, not many years later. His account
is very nearly as meagre as that of the two Englishmen who preceded him. quot; On
entering the apartment I perceived his majesty ; a fine, stout, handsome man, with
something of kingly dignity about him. He was clothed in a long robe, and wore a
large hat ornamented with gold lace. Several chiefs, in full dress, surrounded him,
besides a body guard on either side, with drawn swords. On my approaching him,
he held out his arm, which three young princes stepped forward and supported.quot;

Then follows the short account of Moffat and Smith, in 1838. quot;It was with
considerable difficulty, and not till after the expiration of four days—during which
they were often asked, \' What are you come for ?\', and when they answered, \' For
trade,\' \' What goods and presents then do you bring ?\' was immediately added—that
they obtained an interview with the king. Before being admitted to his presence,
they were obhged to comply with the custom of washing their hands and feet, and
partaking of a [Kola] nut, which here, as in other parts of this quarter of Africa, is always
presented to strangers. The king, who is a robust old man, affected much dignity,
and would not allow them to approach near his person. His demands for permission
to open trade at Gatto were at first extremely unreasonable, but he at last agreed to
moderate terms, and desired to see both of the gentlemen again before their departure
from the city. It was necessary to spend a whole day in going the round among
the Phoedoes; and, this having been done, Mr. Moffat, Mr. Smith having been taken
ill, again waited on the king, to take leave previous to their departure for Gatto.
The king put several questions to him about the slave trade, and asked when the

king of England was going to settle \'that palaver,\' i.e. to allow slave-trading; and
when told that \' that palaver\' would never be settled, he burst into a rage, and said
the king of England was a bad man to steal vessels on the sea, alluding to the
capture of slavers, and that he would send a letter to him on the subject, as one of
his people could write English.quot; (Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc., xi., 1841, pp. 191-2).

Fig. 118. Bronze ornamental
Ada probably carried in proces-
sion in front of a chief, British
Museum,

Burton\'s account is as follows: quot; At the end of a long half-hour, a door to the
right at the top of the room opened, and in crowded some thirty fellows of stalwart
proportions and huge forms, entirely exposed. It was a truly savage sight and novel,
unknown to any of the courts of Yoruba. These men are called the king\'s cutlass
boys, and they wear no dress until their master deigns to \' dash \' [present] them a

cloth. Every male infant in the kingdom is still presented to the king, and belongs
to him of right; hence, all the youths in the land are called the king\'s boys or slaves.
The naked mob took its place on the right hand of the throne, crowding into the
corner, and the man nearest the royal seat carried upright in both hands a huge
handless falchion of native make, fashioned like an exaggeration of the old Turkish
scimitar. The rest were wholly unarmed, nor did we see a single weapon either in
the court or in the city. The cutlass boys were followed by half a dozen \' homo-

grans,\' whose numbers gradually
increased to ten. They ranged
themselves in line along the raised
step, perpendicular to the left of
the throne. All were old men
with senile figures, offensively thin
or hideously pot-bellied. They
were naked to the waist, and wore
immense white muslin or taffetas
peshwaz, or petticoats, extending
to the swell of the leg, and puffed
out to a balloon shape by kilts
acting crinohne. Each had his
anklets and collar of coral, a very
quaint decoration, composed of
pieces about one inch long, and so
tightly strung that it forms a stiff
circle about a foot in diameter.
Lastly came the king, supported by
two men, who led him to the
wooden bench upon which a mat
had been placed, disposed his loin-
cloth, and held both his arms.
Jambra, whose regal name is
Atolo, and whose title is Obba,
quot;nbsp;quot; \' \'nbsp;King, is a stout young man,

aspect is uncommonly intelligent,
and the expression of his counten-
ance is mild and good-humoured.
During this and the subsequent
audience, he smiled graciouly
upon his visitors, and our impression was that he is the best looking negro we had
ever seen. His dress was highly becoming—coral bracelets adorned his wrists, and
his pagne, which, loosely gathered round the waist, covered his naked feet, was a red
silk with broad stripes of yellow. We stood up and unhatted, whilst a messenger
bade us go forward and \' make service.\' The consul objected to walking through the
muddy and watery impluviim, and after some time obtained a partial clearing (the
vulgar, which was excluded during Dr. Henry\'s audience, was now permitted to
remain) of the step running along the left side of the room. As we approached the
place where the naked cutlass boys crowded, there were some murmurs, signs to

stand back, and even to kneel. The officers passed on to the step in front of the
throne. Again voices were heard. The consul, however, placed himself in front of
his majesty, and after a low bow, introduced the commander and his other com-
panions. The king acknowledged the compliment with a nod and a smile. The
attendants proceeded to spread a mat on the step below and to the right of the
throne ; the consul, however, objected to sit with patent leather boots in the dirty
piscina, and the visitors were allowed to return to their original bench, which was
now wet with the profuse leakings of the roof. Then the palaver commenced. It
was carried on by two interpreters, Sawaye of Gwato, and Ogonna, of Benin ;
George, the old \' parson\'s \' son, remaining by our side. The two former, when they
addressed the king, knelt—not prostrated themselves—upon
the step below the throne. The latter, as a kind of cousin,
sat at squat. Each message began with \' king he send you
service,\' a formula duly returned. The state of Liverpool—

that is to say, England—was first inquired into and answered.
The consul then complained of his treatment on the previous
day. Of this the king palpably knew nothing, and the
interpreters, as usual, slurred it over. Then came a lengthy
enquiry on the part of the Obba, why white men did not
trade to Gwato and Benin, and a request that the \' Governor
would direct them to do so.\' That personage replied that if his
majesty would send down messengers, and establish a firm rule,
European traders would not be slow to appear. Lastly, as the hour was waxing
late, the consul stated that if Belzoni\'s papers could be recovered it would give great
pleasure to the \' king,\' his sovereign ; adding that he would return a bale of cloth,
value twenty pounds, for the trouble. The Obba kindly promised to send a
messenger round with orders for the \' books \' to be given up. Then followed the
usual difficulty of an African court dismissal.quot;

In later days when visited by Gallwey, there was still considerable etiquette at
court: quot; In each of the compounds are a number of king\'s stewards, a brass anklet,
and sometimes not even that being the sum total of their wardrobe. Very few of

these functionaries have access to the king\'s presence, the penalty for passing beyond
their ovi^n particular compound being death. The king keeps up a good deal of state,
only a chosen few being permitted to speak to him direct. He is a very busy person-
age, attending to all state matters himself.quot; (p. 130).

After reading the above descriptions, Mr. Punch, who visited Benin several
times, writes me pointing out that apparently there was little or no change in
the ceremonies as recorded in the past, when compared with the ceremonies he himself
took part in. quot; It is not as if Europeans had constantly frequented Benin. There
are lapses of generations between the recorded visits, yet at the end of so many
centuries the courtiers seemed to know all the details which were en regie when a
European arrived. Practically, Nyendael\'s reception was the same as my own. It
is remarkable that the traditions which regulate the ceremonies should have been
handed down so carefully.quot;

As at many African courts, the Queen Mother is a woman of importance. Thus
Dapper says : quot; The king\'s mother is held in great esteem and has a splendid court,
at a little distance outside the town, beautifully and magnificently built, where she
resides with many women and daughters. She is consulted in all state affairs ; but by
dint of a special law the king and his mother are not allowed to see each other, as
long as they live.quot; Lieut. King quot;was introduced to the Queen Mother, who resides
in a walled town which belonged to her, situated about three or four miles from Benin.
After having passed through two courts, he was conducted into an apartment where
all sorts of refreshments were offered him. The queen entered soon afterwards, her
right arm supported horizontally by one of her suite. She was dressed in European
silks and laden with coral ornaments, and wore a big festooned hat, like that of her
son. Through her interpreter, she addressed several questions to Lieut. King, such
as \' How do you do ?\' \' What condition is your boat ? \' \' How did you cross the
dangerous bar ?\' quot; Mr. Cyril Punch informs me that in his time the king\'s mother
was called quot; lyoba; she lived at a suburb called Iselu, about two miles north of
Benin. She did everything the king did. From the day that he fulfilled the last
rite which made him king, she never saw his face, but lived in her own quarter and
practically had her own court.quot;

quot; I remember,quot; remarks Mr. Punch, quot; one rather impressive scene when poor
Powis (afterwards killed in the massacre) and myself first went to Benin. It was after
the first public reception in one of the compounds, when we were taken in the even-
ing to the king\'s hall and kept waiting there for an endless time (fig. 123). The hall was
large, about 6oft. by 40ft., with the usual cistern in the middle ; we entered by door
No. 3 and sat at a place marked D—people passing through all the time. As night
fell the lamp C was lighted, and threw a ghastly light on a skull on the altar. Nobles
kept coming in and took up their position on the right of the hall at A, many bring-
ing with them the swing lamps already described (fig. 126) ; people also thronged in
behind us at D. At length the king came in through the door from his private
quarters. He was really elegantly dressed in flowing robes of gold and silver tissue,
his arms being upheld by two of his own \' boys,\' not by nobles. Manjr of his un-
clothed attendants thronged in behind him, and took up a position on the left side of
the hall at B. Conversation between the king and ourselves was kept up by means
of interpreters, who walked up and down the length of the hall with every question
and answer. At the finish the king wished to see us closer, and so we were led up to
where the fetish marks were on the floor at the king\'s end. Before leaving we

created great astonishment and amusement by insisting on shaking hands with the
king in European fashion.quot;

Fig. 123. Sketch Plan by Mr. C.
Punch to illustrate a scene he
■witnessed at the Benin Court.
A. Position taken up by nobles.
B Position of king\'s attendants.
C Large Lamp (see fig. 124).
D Position of Messrs. Powis amp; Punch
F Juju altar painted white with a
a sort of clay; on it was a
human skull.
G Position of the king,

Fig. 124. Small Standard Lamp
consisting of a flat brass dish on an
iron stick put into the ground as
mentioned in description of Plan
(fig. 123, C.) In the bason was a
spoon like instrument as shown in
fig. 121, for trimming and feeding
the wick ; it was sometimes hung on
the iron hooks of the iron upright.
From a sketch by Mr, C. Punch.

quot; On another occasion, when I went to Benin and circumstances made it imper-
ative that I should see the king the same night, I was taken by Aguramassi to the
court where all the bronzes were kept. After waiting some time, the blast of

Figs, 128 amp; 129. These plaques although flat remind Mr. C. Punch of the old brass bowl in which at Gwato,

approaching horns was heard and Aguramassi opened the door a little bit, and as a
great favour told me to admire the king. His majesty was approaching with
followers from one side while Ewagwe and his followers approached from the other
side. Both were dressed up in weird costumes and stepped out to meet each other,
performing a very solemn sort-of dance, after which Ewagwe retired, and the king
entered the compound to talk with me. He had been doing some \' business \' as the
interpreter expressed it, and in so far as I could make out, Benin spent its nights and
most of its days in doing these \' businesses,\' whatever they were.

quot; I spoke above of the astonishment Powis and I created by shaking hands with
the king. Of course ordinary people grovelled in front of his majesty, but after the
first address by the nobles, the usual method was to strike the right hand, clenched,
on the palm of the left hand, open, and then extend the clenched hand towards the
king or chief, saying \' adow.\' quot;

quot; It was always \' quite the thing \' for an African potentate to have at least two
slaves fanning him. The usual shape of Bini fans was as shewn in Fig. 104, but
sometimes they were shovel-shaped, and on occasion they may have been larger.
They were made of cowhide (green) with the hair on, and bright coloured pieces of
flannel or Haussa leather were sewn on to make the pattern. No Ukoba, starting
out to make himself a nuisance to some village, would feel quite dressed without one
of these fans—in fact, except the anklet and necklet, the fan was all he took in the
way of clothes quot; (C. Punch).

On entering the country or the town, there was the curious custom which com-
pelled a stranger to have his feet washed. Before entering the city, Legroing and
Balon had to visit the captain of war, and have their feet washed. (Landolphe, L,
p. 332). Similarly, Mr. C. Punch writes me:.. quot;On landing at Guaton, we were
received on the top of the bluff by the Ahuraku and his suite, and a great point was
made of our having our feet washed by them at a place sacred to the memory of
Assigie, or Asije, the king of long-ago, first connected with Europeans. A very
ancient brass bowl was produced for the purpose. This appeared to me to have been
a bit of old Portuguese repoussé work, and was always left lying about in this place
devoted to Assigie pending the arrival of some European.quot; It will be remembered that
all the members of Philhps\' party had their feet washed at Gwato.

Rapiers—Analagous weapons—Shields—Javelins, spears, assagais—Bows and poisoned arrows-
Good marksmen—An archer opposes the Punitive Expedition—Cannons—Muskets—Method of
holding guns—The army—2,000 to 100,000 men (126)—Field Marshal (Captain of War)—Army
uniform—Discipline—Booty—Decay in Nyendael\'s time (:i27)—Cowardice—Mules preferred to
horses—Fate of unsuccessful commander—Power of War Captain (128)—His retinue—Fawckner\'s
interview—War Captain a youth of 16—Burton\'s interview—War Captain drunk (130)—Descrip\'^
tion of the War Captain—Bad behaviour.

The weapons in use by the Bini are frequently indicated on the carved ivory
work and on the metal castinp, bui in the following pages are collected the notes on
these articles as given by various travellers. We are told by D.R. that quot; they have
a sort of weapon or rapier which is rather broad, and which hangs from their necks
on a leather belt reaching till below their shoulders.quot; Dapper does not mention this
class of weapon, but Nyendael speaks of cutlasses or hangers, and small poniards.
Fawckner says he saw quot;some swords of their own manufacture, which were very
well turned out of hand quot; (p. 82). D.R. speaks of the use of shields, but of these
Nyendael remarks they are so quot; light, and made of small bambus, that they cannot
ward off anything that strikes with any force ; so that they are rather ornamental,
than really serviceable for defence.quot; Javelins are mentioned by D.R. ; spears and
assagais by Dapper, and assagais by Nyendael, but none of these writers explain the
differences in these weapons. Dapper tells us they used quot;bows and poisoned
arrows, which the fetizeros or demon-charmers prepare very carefully. After a
battle, or at the end of the war, the remaining arrows are brought to the king\'s
arsenal and put into special rooms ; then so many new arrows as are wanted for a
future war are immediately made and poisoned by the fetizeros or demon-charmers.quot;
Nyendael also has it that the arrows were poisoned. This was done with
Stfophanthus samentosus, Sir. Pveusii and sp. not classified, all used with various \'
kinds of nastiness added quot; (C. Punch.) quot; The boys are very early initiated into
the arts of war and the use of arms ; they use the bow and arrow with surprising
dexterity, and seldom fail hitting their mark even at a great distance quot; (Fawckner,
p. 65). Bacon when describing the work of the Punitive Expedition says bows
and arrows were seen, but never was an arrow fired. The arrows found were
poisoned, but the nature of the poison is unknown (p. 57). Dr. F. N. Roth, how-
ever, mentions an old man using bow and arrows. Fawckner observed two or three
pieces of cannon, of British and Portuguese manufacture ; but they were not
mounted (p. 81), and quot;was credibly informed that they could make muskets, with
the exception of the lock, in great perfection.quot; He says they were celebrated in
the use of the gun, which they hold in a peculiar manner. quot; For fear of accident they
never bring the piece to the shoulder, but place the left hand against the end of the

stock, thus supporting it by the hands only. On one occasion I was a witness to the
superiority of this plan over the ordinary method. A man discharged his piece, and
it burst and shivered the barrel in pieces, whilst he did not sustain the slightest
mjury ; had he fired as we are accustomed to do, his arm would have been shattered
and his life endangered quot; (FWckner, pp. 65-66).

like, and must conclude that the soldiery was not without martial qualities. D.R.
tells us that quot; the king has many soldiers which are subject to him, and they have a
colonel [sic] over them like a captain. The captain has some of his own soldiers
under him, and always goes in the middle of them, and they run round about him
singing and leaping, making much noise and sport. Such captains are very proud of
their office and bear themselves in a very stately manner, and go very magnificently

through the streets.quot; So too from Dapper we learn that quot; the King of Benin wages
great wars against the neighbouring kings, i.e., beyond Benin to the east and north,
and conquers many of their towns and villages, getting plenty of booty consisting of
jasper and other things. He can call out twenty thousand well armed men in a day,
and if needs be, eighty or a hundred thousand, on account of which fact he is much
dreaded by all the surrounding peoples. His army is commanded by a field marshal
(Owe-Asserry, in their language) who has supreme power, and is entitled to do any-
thing like the king himself. The nobles when about to start for v/ar, dress them.-
selves in scarlet cloth bought from the Dutch, in order to outshine the others. Some
wear collars made of elephant teeth with leopard teeth between, and high red
Turkish caps, lined or bordered with leopard or civet-skins, from which a long horse
tail hangs down by way of ornament. Common soldiers keep the upper part of their
bodies naked, but from the hips downwards they wear a garment as fine as silk. In
fighting they keep good disciphne and order ; for nobody is allowed to yield a step

although he sees death near. Nobody gets any of the booty but the field marshal,
called by them Owe-Asserry or Seasaire, unless he take something secretly and
stealthily ; nevertheless everybody thanks the king for the honour of being esteemed
worthy to march up and wage war for him.quot;

_ ^ Matters were, however, very different at the time when Nyendael paid his
visits ; he reports, quot; I cannot say much for their wars ; for notwithstanding that they
are continually fallen on by the pirates or robbers, and their neighbours not subject
to the Kmg of Benin, they yet are ignorant of the art of war ; for being by necessity
drawn into the field, their conduct is so very confused, that they themselves are
ashamed of it. They have no ofiicers or commanders and each man takes his own
course, without regarding his neighbour. They are so very cowardly that nothino-
but the utmost necessity will oblige them to fight; and even then they had much
rather suffer the greatest losses than defend themselves. When their flight is pre-

vented they return upon the enemy, but with so little courage and conduct, that they
soon fling down their arms, and either run away, or surrender themselves.quot;
iNyendael, is however, very pessimistic. British experience of the native is, how-
ever,_ qmte the contrary, in spite of the fact that they were badly armed when
hghtmg against the Punitive Expedition, no one can say that in warfare the Bini
were cowardly in any way.

In Landolphe\'s time the King of Benin was still considered a considerable
power ^ quot; He can raise 100,000 men in twenty-four hours. Although he has horses
m his kingdom, mules only are used in warfare, because they are as indefatigable as
easily nourished. The horsemen are armed with lances and pistols. As soon as the
council has decided on war, the king transmits his orders direct to the captain-general
and If the commander does not know how to succeed, his head is cut off in expiation
of his misfortune or mabilityquot; (II., p. 62). Beauvais-says that not only cL the

king put 100,000 men in the field, but he can impress as many of his subjects as he
likes, or as circumstances may require (p. 143).

The captain of war was also a power in the land. A hall of the war captain\'s
compound is described as quot; elegantly encrusted with cowriesquot;; in another hall quot;forty
feet long were several badly executed statues which were the representations of his
ancestors, who had exercised the same functions as he did.quot; (Landolphe, I., pp. 98,99).

When Landolphe and his party arrived at the war captain\'s compound, quot; two
large brass basins, nine feet \\sic] in circumference, were brought in full of water in
which slaves washed our feet, declaring that without this ceremony we could not see
the captain general.quot; They were told that the war captain, named Jabou [Ojoma]
was the richest in the country, that his power equalled that of the king, that he
possessed more than ten thousand slaves, which he never sold, and that going to war
he always had fifty to sixty thousand men under him. [ibid, L, pp. 98, 100, loi).

Fawckner (p. 81) speaks of the w^ar captain thus: quot;We arrived at the house
belonging to the captain of war, in the suburbs, and had an interview with him. On
being ushered into his presence I was surprised to see a youth of about 16, seated on
a stool in a large hall, and surrounded by a number of venerable chiefs, most of
them four times his age. I afterwards found that his father, who held the situation,
had recently been sent to conduct the war in the interior, and had fallen in battle ;
the office therefore devolved on the son, who is next in rank to the king. As soon
as I entered, he approached me, and as a token of friendship presented some gooras
[Kola nuts] in a long wooden box, beautifully carved and ornamented. I was then
conducted to a smaller and more private appartment, where he ordered a glass
of rum to be brought.quot;

Burton\'s account goes more into details : quot; The abode of the Captain of War
lies on the outskirts of the city, north-west by west of the palace, and a little off
the high road of ingress. It is in the Ijebu quarter, or \' beach,\' as the people here
say. The house had the usual clay walls ribbed like corrugated iron, and was a
complete Castle Rackrent in appearance. We passed through an external and very

shabby atrium into the reception-room, and were seated upon a mat spread in the
deep alcove, which in Yoruba always occupies the head of the apartments. On our

He was standing in the upper alcove with two attendants gingerly -PP-J^-g ^^
coral and iron braceletted arms, which hung down loose and away from his sides.
?h general effect of his attitude upon a new comer was that of a fasting ^^^^^
caugft in the act of falling; in this case it was exaggerated by the
maudlin look of the warrior, who was at least \' half seas over.nbsp;.

Captain of War, supported by his two arm-bearers, followed us and took his seat by
our s^e We now remarked\'his dress and figure. His forehead was adorned wi h
Tbroad stripe of chalk from the hair to the nose-tip, and upon this was drawn a thm
ii^Tofnbsp;blood from a goat freshly sacrificed ; ^nbsp;/i^^^f ^^^

alon- the bl toe of his right foot. He had evidently just been blooded as stag-
Wers say His poll Is shaven, whereas those around him wore their wool
Lmbel u^ards anS a little off the brow, not unlike the erected crest of a cockatoo.
Sf back\'hair was allowed to grow, and fastened at the place where women -ually
wear a comb, with leopards\' claws and birds\' quills of small size, ^is ^
clean-shaven except under the chin, where there grew a few dwarf curls, like capers
fi farl, which Lre soft and smooth, rejoiced m long lines of coral and polished
koLrings ; and his dress was a large petticoat-like cloth, the head bust and fee
being e?ti;ely nude. His figure was that of a tall, well-proportioned man perhap
thirty-two years old, of olivine colour ; his features were sub-negro, and he had the
fin^ong-kshed eye general in this part of Africa. After the Captain sat down the
Iremomrbegan He keeps up an abundance of state, all knelt who approached
Sm andquot; ade low .o.g^.s when addressed by him. A small rough stick in his left

hand wasquot; peatedly struck upon the ground, whilst he marshalled his dependan s

expelled intruders. When Sawaye, who acted interpreter had been seated close
to our Lt upon a kind of settee with lock and padlock, a plate, of kola nuts and
squares of cLa-nut was brought to the consul, who, according to custom pe 1 d
oL of the former with his nails, and splitting it into four pieces\' handed a bit to
all present. This rite is equivalent to eating bread and salt m Arabia^ A squa e
of Lcoa-nut was then placed in each man\'s hand and wenbsp;f f/ ^^^

a glass of tombo, or palm-wine : it was too tart for our taste, and indeed, no-
where in Benin did we find it equal to that of Gwato. Whilst this was going
I, the Captain of War kept \'givmg service,\' which we punctually -know^
and, after often repeating \' Oyibo,\' white man,^ in his jollity he pulled the con uls
beid, a compliment which was at once returned in kind. There was a general look
Sout him which told of liquor far stronger than \' Pardon wine.\' _ To show his
geography, he inquired about the war at Liverpool; to provenbsp;^^^^^^^^^^

L coLul what trade he came to make, a question of which the \' King Mouf
speedily and roughly disposed; and he informed us that he had washed our feet, a
hin that he wanted\' us to wash his throat. ... The Captam of War was waxing
rude He seized a chain and seals which one of the gentlemen had imprudently
exposed, and seemed inclined to break it. This Uttle freak nearly led to a scene.

Mr\'c PuncVtlus me that Nyendael, Landolphe, Fawckner and Burton, all
describe exactly Ojomo\'s house-which was afterwards destroyed_ by the British
The Ojomo in Mr. Punch\'s time did not drink, was a consumptive, and a most

1 •lt; The kola nut usually divides into four cloves ; sometimes it is found with five or six ; these,

- The language of Benin is said to be intelligible at Abeokuta and the Egbas generally . it must,
then, belong to the Aku or Yoruba family quot;—R.B.

Early exports—Pepper sought by Portuguese-Tusks—Falling off of trade—Palm oil—Cloths-
Cowrie money—D,R\'s. local markets—Goods for sale-Market women (i32)-Dapper\'s local
markets—Market restrictions—Settlement of market disputes—Dutch purchases (133)—Dutch im-
ports—Landolphe\'s markets—Fawckner\'s markets (134)—Burton\'s poor opinion of the markets-
Punch\'s markets—Restrictions on Europeans—Prohibition of women (135)—Arrival of a ship-
Canoes \' lifted\' under penalty of king\'s displeasure—Native houses taken for goods—Settling
prices—Trading done by wives and slaves (136)-Fish trade—Mercantile civility—Entry dues
hardly worth mentioning—Interpretors—Ceremonial bargaining—Heavy entry dues—List of
prices fixed (137)—Prices of slaves and of ivory—Traders decline to pay heavy entry dues—
Bold\'slistof prices (i38)-The credit system (139)—Honesty of the merchants—The standard
of exchange—Pagne v. Pawn—Cowries as currency (140). Industry—People not industrious-
Cloth and mat making (141)—Looms—Value of Benin cloth—Tapestry made by king\'s \'boys\'—
Sizes of the cloths made—Dyeing—Tradition of the discovery of salt (142)—Methods of salt
getting—Soap (143)—Coloured woods—Gold mines. Farming—Slave work—The /g\'amp;a—The
Peppers. FisHiNG-Bini did not fish (144)—Fishing rights—Stupifying the fish—Fishing by
line and in pools. Hunting—Elephant hunting—Poisoned arrows—Poor results—A great
hunter—His ability—Poaching not sport—Night shooting—Drives—Hunting dogs—Hunters
a privileged class (145)—Apprentices—How not to get lost—Charms,

GENERAL TRADE
In the chapter deahng with the history of the discovery of Benin, we have
seen that pepper was one of the chief commodities sought for by the Portuguese.
Windam reports obtaining 30 to 40 kintals of pepper at i cwt. per kintal, and he
relates that quot;in case their merchandises would not extend to the value of so much
pepper, the king promised to credit them to their next returne.quot; Bird and Welsh
got 94\'bags and 28 elephants\' tusks, but they had to wait for the pepper, \'\'it not
being ready, as in that king\'s reign no Christians had been to Benin.quot; Evidently
trade between the Europeans and Bini had fallen off. Welsh relates that the
commodities he quot; brought home were pepper and elephants\' teeth, oyle of palme,
cloth made of cotton wool very curiously woven, and cloth made of the barke of
jnbsp;palme trees. Their money is pretie white shels, for golde and silver we saw none

tnbsp;They have good store of sope, and it smelleth like beaten violets. Also many pretie

fine mats that they make, and spoones of elephants\' teeth very curiously wrought
with divers portions of foules and beasts made upon them.quot;

We have however to go to the good old Dutch chronicler D. R. to get an idea
of the trade as it was three hundred years ago. He says : quot; They also have special
places where they hold various markets, for at one place they hold their great market
day which they call Dia de Ferro, and at another place they hold their little market,
called Ferro ; to these places they bring all sorts of things to sell, such as live dogs, of
which they eat many, roasted monkies, catfish (meerkatse), rats, parrots, fowls, yams,
manigette pepper in pods or ears, dried lizards, palm oil, large beans, as well as

various sorts of fruits, vegetables, and animals fit for food. Much firewood and
woodwork, such as dishes and drinking cups and other sorts are also brought to
market for sale. Also much thread spun from cotton, of which they make their
clothes, similar to those made on the Gold Coast, but lighter and finer, but to
describe all would take too long. They also bring a great quantity of ironwork to
sell there, such as implements for fishing, ploughing\' and otherwise preparing
the land. Similarly many weapons, such as javelins and others suitable for war and
strife. These markets and traffickings are held and arranged in a very orderly
manner, and everyone who comes to market with his wares or merchandise knows
where to go and settle down with them, i.e., at wliich place it is customary for an
article to be sold. Women^ are much employed as sellers, and even sent in mobs to
the Gold Coast, as we have already mentioned.quot;

Figs. 142, 143 amp; 144.—Native hoe from a sketch by Mr, C, Punch. The blade is wrought
and tempered by the village blacksmith. For the handle a small forked branch is obtained ;
one arm of the fork is left long and the other is cut short ; a hole is burned into the long
arm, and the point of the blade inserted in such a way that the flat back of the blade
rests against the short arm as shown in fig, 143. The hoe when in use being always more
or less drawn towards the user, the arrangement of the short arm keeps the blade in position.

From Dapper we learn that quot; Every three or four days there is also a market
held at the village of Gotton, where the people from Great Benin, Arbon, and other
places in the neighbourhood, come to market, where not only the above mentioned
stuffs but also all sorts of food are offered for sale. Not everybody is allowed to
bargain with the Dutch there, but only certain people whom the king hcenses, and
these buy the European goods from us and other white people in Arbon, and go and
sell them again at Gotton. The inhabitants of the town of Benin trade among each
other with their stuffs, made in the village or town of Koffe, situated at a day\'s
journey from Great Benin ; but no white men are allowed to go there. On the way
between Gotton and the town of Benin, there are many large squares, supporting

1nbsp;Of course D,R. uses the word to plough in its probable earlier sense of to thrust, and therefore
he is speaking of a hoe and not of a plough,

2nbsp;quot; They were mostly the Ugwini women, but all were equally dishonest, and apt to lure the Jekri
men into trouble, so that their husbands or the Ukoba could have an excuse for swooping down and
making what they called war quot; (C,P.)

busy markets on fixed days, where a great number of people from all the adjacent
places assemble to trade with each other. All differences and quarrels occurring
during the bargaining are brought before the nobles and settled ; for the judges of
those places have hardly any authority, and the nobles represent the king as long as
they are there.quot;

quot; The goods, which are bought by the Dutch and other nations on the Benin
river, in exchange for our [European] native products, are cotton stuffs as in Rio
Lagos, near Kuramo, jasper, slaves, but only women, for men are not allowed to be
exported ; leopard skins, some pepper and akori, which is a sort of blue coral,
obtained from the bottom of the water by diving ; for it grows like other coral, in the
form of trees on stony ground under water. The Dutch export these akories (which
the natives of the place make into coral beads) to the Gold Coast in order to sell
them to the blacks, as the women wear them as an ornament in their hair quot; (Dapper).
The Dutch imports were :—
Gold and silver cloth,
Red cloth,

Yellow copper bangles, each weighing five ounces and a half [old Dutch weight].
Lavender and violet-coloured camlet {quispel-grein.y
Coarse kersey [woollen stuffs],
Fine beads [? coral],

Harlem stuffs with large flowers [patterns] and stiffened.
Red glass ear-pendants.
Iron bars,

Boesjes, i.e.. East Indian scallop-shells or cowries, used by the natives instead,
of money.\'\'

quot; The large pieces of stuff, especially the striped ones, we sell again on the Gold
Coast, where they are in demand ; but the entirely blue ones are mostly in demand
on the Gabun and Angola.quot;

After a long interval we get a glimpse of marketing when European goods had
already a considerable sale. Thus Landolphe mentions (II., 49) : quot; Every day a
market is held on a square a fourth of a league broad and nearly as long. It opens
from II a.m. to 12 noon in order to allow time for people to arrive. All sorts of eat-
ables are brought from the neighbourhood, European goods such as muslins

2nbsp;The Dutch word used by Dapper is paste. Ogilby translates this quot; confection of oranges and
lemons and other green fruits.quot; These beads have always been a feature of Benin trade in which
they are known as quot; seed beads quot; or chalk beads, They are quite small, and threaded and sold
in packets costing about 2/- each.

Indiennes, Bretagne, English and Portuguese cloths, Cholet and silk kerchiefs, hats,
knives, amp;c., as well as a large number of utensils made of iron and copper by the Bini.quot;

Fawckner appears to speak of one market only, quot; which is a very large one, and
the resort of natives in all parts of the country. At first sight it presented a busy
and animated appearance ; the ground on which it is held is a large plain, covered
with temporary streets, each compartment formed by upright poles, and roofed with
large mats. Underneath these sheds are exposed the different articles of merchan-
dise, viz :—salt, black soap, yams, plantains, pins for the hair, of very rough
manufacture, and various other articlesquot; (p. 83).

Burton\'s party visited quot; the market in the Igosi quarter, with which we were
disappointed ; it was little larger than the small gathering under a tree in front of the
palace. The people talk of one very large bazaar in the Akalwa quarter, distant

about two hours\' march; probably the de-
pressed state of the capital would prevent
its maintaining such establishments as the
chief cities of Yoruba can shew. There
was nothing peculiar in the scene—a knot
of men and women sitting and standing in
the hot sun, bargaining and chaffering over
the common country produce, beans and
maize, kokos and plantains, fried fish fry\'
and shrimps, salt, red pepper, and similar
comestibles. Cowries, the country currency,
lay in every basket. Of these small places
there are as many at Benin as at Abeokuta.quot;

Lieut. King simply mentions quot; There are
markets where all the produce of the country
is exposed for sale.quot;

quot;There were two places at which big
markets have been held from time imme-
morial, both situated to the S. and S.E. of
Benin City. There were probably others
on the other side of Benin City, while Gwato and other water-side places had small
market days. Benin City had small market days, but these were not central. The
two big markets were Igoro and Uruegi (see fig. 146). They were large clearings
in the forest with only small villages adjacent. Here every five days the women
congregated from all sides and did their exchanges, going from these to attend the
smaller markets at the water-side places.quot; (C. Punch).

So much for what we may call the home markets. quot; As regards the commerce
of the foreigners with the natives,quot; says Dapper, quot; that is carried on up the Benin
river, near the village Gotton, where the Dutch go up in light boats and yachts, but
not without the king\'s order. The king chooses some fiadors or state councillors,
who alone are allowed to meet the Europeans, whom they call white men. For those
who are ordered to serve in the time of war are absolutely forbidden to have inter-
course quot;with the white people, nay, they may not even enter their sheds, and still less

1 quot; Dried fish of all sizes was a regular article of trade between the Jekri and Bini.
and salt were considered by the Jekri to be the most profitable goods to trade in quot; (C.P.)

buy European articles from them; but are bound to buy those articles at the highest
prices from the above fiadors and merchants. On the other hand, no merchant or
fiador is allowed to undertake anything connected with warfare, as everybody has to
follow his own particular calling. Nor is any woman allowed to enter a shed of the
Europeans, for such would be considered as something shameful.\' When a ship with
her cargo calls on this coast, a passador is sent to notify the king. The latter then
sends two or three fiadors, accompanied by twenty or thirty vailyes, i.e., merchants,

in order to negotiate with the
white men, who at once travel
quickly by land from Benin to
Gotton, providing themselves
with as many canoes and padd-
lers as they want, which are
taken away everywhere, al-
though the owners themselves
may want them. Whenever
these owners object to this they
are referred to the king, and
asked whether they are not
slaves to the king, and whether
all their goods do not belong to
the king, and they are ordered
to be quiet under threat of being
sent to the king\'s court. When
all have arrived at Gotton or
wherever else they have to be,
they choose the best houses and
dwellings, and place all their
merchandise in them, without
asking the owners\' leave. Some-
times if one house is not roomy
enough for them, they make the
owner build another house near
it, and use that also as their
own, so that the owner often
has no room for himself. The
owner is likewise obliged to cook
for them the first day without
getting paid for it. When
these fiadors come to the
sheds for the first time, they are in court dress, with jasper round their necks, and,
kneeling down, they present the salutations from their king, and his mother and the
greatest fiadors, in whose name they bring some eatables as a present, and pay
many comphments, asking about the state of the visitors\' country, and their wars
against their enemies, and so on ; after which they have drinks all round, and they
leave without any reference to trade. The next day they come back, with the request

1 He relates that at Warri, quot; women as well as men came without any fear of anybody to our sheds
in order to trade there.quot;

to view the new merchandise, which is then shown to them. The goods they have
purchased on the previous visit retain their previously fixed prices; but for new
goods new prices and tariffs are arranged, with which they are sometimes occupied
whole months, bartering for as much as they can. As soon as the market prices
have been agreed upon the trading proceeds.\'quot; On this Mr. Punch remarks : quot; To
go to Benin was a serious undertaking, and to be sent there was tantamount to a
death sentence. All this description of Dapper although of so long ago is excellent.quot;

As we have seen elsewhere, according to Nyendael, the rich men leave their
affairs to their wives and slaves, quot; who go to all the circumjacent villages to trade in
all sorts of merchandizes, or otherwise serve for daily wages, and are oblipd to
bring the greatest part of their gain in trade or hire to their masters,quot; while the
ordinary citizens when they hear of any ships arriving in the river, go to trade, quot; and
if no ships come, they send their slaves to Rios Lagos, or other places, to buy fish,
of which they make a very profitable trade further inland.quot; He tells us too that quot; the
Europeans are here extraordinarily civilly treated ; for the customs which we are
obliged to pay for every ship to the king, the great lords, the governors of the place
where we trade, the mercadors and fiadors, or whatever persons else who have any demand
upon us, do not amount to above six pounds sterling ; for which we become entirely
free to trade.quot; Nyendael also states : quot; On our arrival here we are obliged to pay
some sort of customs to these brokers and the governors, which are so inconsider-
able, that they are hardly worth mentioning.^ . . . The persons who treat with us on
their behalf are such as are thereto appointed by the governors, and are called by the
above mentioned names of mercadors and fiadors, and these are the only merchants
with whom we deal. This custom has arisen from the fact that these factors can
speak a miserable sort of Portuguese, which qualifies them to talk with us. This is
their only virtue, without which they would be looked upon as the very scum of their
countrymen, and not thought worthy a name amongst them.quot;

Landolphe thus describes the custom of fixing prices for the markets. quot;The
day after my arrival at Gwato, two passadors arrived from Benin in order to instruct
me that I must declare all the goods I had on board, and to inform me that in two
days\' time forty fiadors would come from the city as overseers to value every article;
that the price being once established I would not be allowed to increase it, and that
such settlement would serve as the basis for meeting the rights of entry, according
to custom which existed in favour of the king and the big men of his kingdom. The
rights are as follows: a three-masted ship pays 15,000 francs, a two-masted vessel
is freed by payment of two-thirds of this sum, and a single-masted ship pays much

1nbsp;Regarding Warri, quot;the Dutch come to trade into the Forkado river, importing the same goods
as they do to Benin, in\'order to exchange them for slaves, for here the best and strongest slaves are
to be got to the number four hundred or more every year, and jasper and akori (beads), but these
last-mentioned articles only in small quantities. The natives are very careful with these articles,
barely willing to sell them except above their value. These blacks are not good-natured and calm
traders • they will barter days and months in order to buy the goods at a low price. Then they
keep the price at that level, in which circumstance they are pretty much like the Benin people.quot;
(Dapper).

2nbsp;Our Dutch friend of old seems to have found the fiadors, amp;c., rather useful people and easily
satisfied. I soon found in trading that I was dealing with a regular spider\'s web of old customs, and
with ways which were no doubt useful in their time, but which in 1889 were an unmitigated
nuisance. The king himself was not extortionate nor unreasonable, but the governors must have
entirely fallen from grace since the time of my Dutch predecessorquot; (C.P.)

less. The following is . the tariff for a three-masted vessel, with the rank of the
people who receive it, in pagnes—money worth two francs {monnaie de deux francs) :

The war captain general
Twenty \' big men\', each
Forty fiadors, each
Six saladors [interpreters], each
Forty carcadors [sort of porter], each 10
Three Gwato fiadors, eachnbsp;20

quot;The forty fiadors having arrived, they came to my office and said to me \'You
must give us each a glass of brandy and a pipe and hrasse [fathom] of tobacco.
While we smoke you shall place into three very large copper basons all the merchati-
dise you have brought in La Negresse [the ship]. We will fix the prices which shall
be credited you in trading for blacks [slaves]. We also caution you that you are not
allowed to increase any prices fixed by the assembly under pain of having your trade
stopped.\' I had, of course, the same rights as to the prices for slaves which I was
establishing. After I had exposed my goods piece by piece in the basons, they took a

12 pagnes.
12

7 quot;
4 »
6 „
6 „
6 „
6 „
10 ,,
20
10

7 quot;
4 »

7nbsp;»

4
I

5nbsp;quot;

I „
I

8nbsp;„
8 „

Cholet kerchief which was valued at
Then i piece Nîmes silk kerchiefs ...
piece chintz indienne, 7 ells

Bretagne cloth, 5 ells
Rouen cotton, 6 ells
Surat fine muslin (bafetas), 5 ells
Cholet dress cloth, 6 ells
Nîmes silk-satin, half silk, half thread, 6 ells
Indian chintz (Perse des Indes), 5 ells
role of Brazil smoking tobacco

slate (whetstone)
I common hat, edged with red wool
I barrel of brandy, 20 pints
I hquor case with 12 flagons of ij pints each
I bar of iron, 7 feet long, 3 inches wide ...
I necklace of coral, 40 francs per lb.

1 Elsewhere Landolphe mentions that the quot;natives do not like clasp knives; they all carry their
knives at their sides in leather sheaths, which they make themselves.quot; (L, p. 124),

When they had finished their valuations they fired off several guns m order to
inform me that trade was now open to me. Then a slave man and a woman were
brought in. The fiadors fixed the price of the man, who was well made and without
dXcts, at 120 pagnes, and the woman at 100 pagnes. But I objected to hese

Taluations, and aft^r long discussions it was agreed I should pay 100 pagnes for a

fine man, and 90 pagnes for a fine women. I purchased the first two individuals at
fhese pri;es, which were converted into an assortment of various goods, according to
he vacations which I have just mentioned. Trade went ahead : fifteen to eighteen
men [slaves] passed daily on board, so that in three months time I had completed my
Trgo which constituted of four hundred and ten blacks of both sexes, and sixty
thoLknd pounds of ivory of various lengths and thicknesses. I paid for the ivory
ten sous (five pence) a pound when the tusks weighed less than twenty pounds but
fifteen or twenty sous (seven pence half-penny to ten pence) when they exceeded this

quot; In later times the king would tell the European traders what was expected of

them, and begin with a long list of what was to be given to the various officials but

conditions were altered and the traders declined to pay the high price demanded for

Lieut. Bold, and is as follows. quot; The measures principally i^n use are the oil jars

which are of two sorts, the largest containing about four gallons, and the smallest

not auite three ; for powder a small half-pint mug, and for salt a mess kid, or crew,
made to contain five pounds. There is a difference to be observed in the payment
for the oil to the king, who has one and a half pawn for the large jars, and one
pawn for the smallest, whilst the people only receive one for the former, and two
pawns for three of the latter.

quot; The large jars contain about 281bs. of oil, and the small ones 20. On entering
the river, vessels are boarded by the two governors of Bobee and New Town, with
whom you send up a deputy to treat with the King ot Warree, accompanied with the
following comey or custom, which he must receive previous to opening trade. Thirty
pieces of the most common cloth, six guns, one barrel of powder, a small cask of
rum, and a few other small articles. The same form is necessary for the Kmg of
Benin, if you wish to purchase ivory, which is the principal produce of his dominions,
and may be had in great abundance, at the rate of three pounds for two pawns, or at
most one pawn per pound, for which they take in exchange a quantity ^ of salt with
other articles. The governors above mentioned ought much to be mistrusted and
guarded against; at the same time, as representatives of the king, who never comes
to the river, they must be humoured and encouraged, for their power is very great
and almost uncontrolled quot; (The Merchants\' and Mariners\' African Guide, London,

Credit was evidently allowed from the first intercourse with Europeans.
Windam mentions that the king offered him credit, and Dapper informs us quot; The
Portuguese formerly always sold to them on credit, but the Dutch have never liked
to do so. In the beginning, this did not suit the natives, but now it has been made
customary, so the natives bring their slaves as they come to fetch the merchandise.quot;
However, this may be, Nyendael complains very much of the long credit which had
to be given. He says : quot; The worst of all is, that the native traders are very tedious
in dealing. Many times they have a stock of elephants\' tusks by them, for which we
have generally to wait eight or ten days before we can agree upon a price with them;
but this is managed with so many ceremonious civilities, that it is impossible to be
angry with them. Another inconvenience, which really deserves complaint is, that
on our arrival here, we are obliged to trust them with goods to make paans or clothes
of ; for the payment of which we frequently stay so long, that, on account of the
advance of the season, the consumption of our provisions, and the sickness or
mortality of our men, we are obliged to depart without our money ; but on the other
hand, the next time we come hither, we are sure to be honestly paid the whole.quot;
The credit system is spoken of by Roupell\'s officials and is still in vogue.

Perhaps the best testimony to the trading instinct of the African native is his
adoption of a standard of value for exchange purposes, and by which, as we have
seen above, all trade was regulated. In Benin this standard was the pawn. The
origin or meaning of the word is doubtful. Burton thought that it probably was a
quot; corruption of the old French pagne, a loincloth,quot; but Nyendael mentions the word
panen or clothes, and that was before the advent of the French. Landolphe speaks
of pagnes, and the French dictionaries I have consulted explain it as the name of an
Indian loincloth. Capt. Hugh Crow describes it, using the word paan, on one
occasion as a sash which serves for a waistcloth, and on another occasion as a mantle
(Memoirs, London, 1830, pp. 192 and 275). Although a standard, the purchasing
price of the pawn evidently and naturally varied. Landolphe put it at two francs
(one shilling and eightpence), at a bar in Bonny, or two shillings and sixpence, while
Burton gives the following tariff, which is, however, not clear.

1250 „ = I cloth, i.e.,
18000 „ = I bag.
In 1840, the pawn was worth from 2/- to 3/-. On this Mr. Punch remarks:
quot; Pagnes v. Pawns : I think there is some confusion here. Pagne which is prob-

ably from the Portuguese pano became later pangs, which is the name of the red and
blue country cloth mixed with silk, imitations of which were introduced from Man-
chester but were not equal to the native made article. Pawn I should perhaps trace
to palma, the palm of the hand. It was the name for a hand of tobacco = 5 heads ;
pawns=i2 heads of tobacco=i pang of cloth.quot;

Frequent references have been made to the use of cowries as a medium of exchange.
As Welsh has it, quot; Their m.oney is pretie white shels, for golde and silver we saw
none.quot; Dapper likewise mentioned them, and Lieut. Bold says: quot; The small
East-India shell, or cowry, constitutes the currency of the country.quot; In Adams\'
time the cowrie shells were quot;brought to Europe from the Maldive Islands, in the
East Indies, and are always in great demand at Wydah, Ardrah and Lagos, at which
places they are not only the medium of exchange, but from whence they are also sent
to Dahomey, Hio [? Eyo], Housa, Jaboo, and into the very heart of North Africa,
where it is known they are the circulating currency.quot;\' From a further remark he
makes it would appear that in his time there was no demand for them in Bonny,
Calabar, Camerons, or the Congo. He says they sell in England from ^quot;40 to ^80
per ton. This was about eighty years ago. (pp. 263-4).nbsp;C- Punch informs me

that in his time Messrs. Stuart amp; Douglas used to bring them in shiploads from the
Malabar Coast and East Africa to Benin river and Lagos.® Cowries were, however,
not used merely as a currency, but found a place in adorning the mud walls of the
houses, and were made up into a variety of objects.

The records of any real industry beyond weaving and mat making are meagre,
and if we had not proofs in the wood and ivory carvings and in the bronze castings,
we should have a poor opinion of the people in so far as their success in the arts and
crafts are concerned. Nyendael states that of the people very few are quot; laborious or
industrious, unless it be those who are wretchedly poor; the others laying the whole
burthen of their work on their wives and slaves, whether it be tilling the ground,
spinning of cotton, weaving of cloths, or any other handicraft; whilst they, if they
have but the least stock, apply themselves to merchanting alone.quot; According to this
traveller, \'\' There are very few manual arts practised or understood here besides weaving.
The chief workmen here are either smiths, carpenters, or leather dressers; but all
their workmanship is so very crude that a boy who has been one month learning in
Europe would outdo them.quot; On the other hand, the records contain numerous
references to the cloths and mats made by the Bini. Welsh relates, quot; they have a
great store of cotton growing,quot; and speaks of the quot; pretie fine mats that they make.quot;
Indeed the mat making and cloth weaving industries were by no means small. D. R.
talks of quot;also much thread spun from cotton, of which they make their clothes
similar to those on the Gold Coast, but lighter and finer.quot; Dapper tells us, quot; cotton

1 In a note in quot;Nature quot; on the discovery of African money cowrie [Cyprisa moneta) in the barrow
caves of Pomerania. it is stated some 27 were found quot; in an earthen vase mixed with earth and sand,
each one being notched so as to permit its being arranged with others upon a string. Wagner is of
opinion that these shells must have been brought by the Phoenicians for the purpose of bartering
with the people for amber. A closely allied species, C. pantherina, was found in graves in Swabia,
which could not in any way be associated with Phoenicians. Jeitteles also mentions the occurrence
among certain prehistoric objects found near Olmutz, of a coral from the Indian Ocean found very
rarely in the Mediterranean.quot;

^ quot; The Jekri word for Cowrie is Ogo; the Yoruba word Owo, which also means our word money;
an engineer friend from Brazil tells me the negroes used to say Owo kosi, which is Yoruba for \' There
is no money \' quot; (C.P.)

grows everywhere in great abundance, and very well. The natives make cloth out of it.quot;
Similar evidence is given by Nyendael: quot; That a large quantity of cotton bushes
must grow here you may reasonably conjecture when I tell you that not only all the
inhabitants are clothed with it, but-they annually export thousands of woven clothes
to other places.quot; According to Landolphe : quot; Few houses are to be seen without a
cotton spinning machine, or a frame for making admirable cotton or straw rugs (mats).
This loom, similar to that of our weavers, is however perpendicular instead of being
horizontal like the latter.quot; (If., p. 49). Lieut. King mentions mats and woollen [sic]
stuffs made in the country spread over the bench, round the wall, and on the ground,
during his interview with the king.

Fawckner (p. 36) at Yarcella, on his way to Benin, speaks of quot;a large hall hung
with the most superb cloths of the country, like tapestry.quot; He also says, quot;the
women appear to be very clever at weaving by hand mats of a fibrous wood.quot; From
Moffatt and Smith we gather that cotton is indigenous in Benin, and is spun there and
woven into cloth by women.

Burton mentions (p. 409) that quot; they make their own cottons, and are independent
of Manchester.quot; Elsewhere (p. 415) he refers to quot;large Benin pipes, and fine cotton
work, open and decorated with red worsted—a work confined to the ladies of the
palace.quot;

That the Benin cloth must have had considerable value we may conclude from a
remark of Captain Crow, who, as a bribe, was once offered by King Pepple of Bonny
a quot; beautiful Benin cloth,quot; after Crow had refused to accept a tusk weighing over one
hundred pounds (p. 97). Labarthe, while speaking of the Wydah cloths, mentions
parenthetically that those of Benin are more beautiful (p. 159). What specially
beautiful cloths are referred to by Crow and Labarthe it is not now possible to
ascertain, but possibly they may refer to the needlework tapestry about which Mr. C.
Punch writes me that quot;they were in pieces perhaps six feet long or more, with hfe
sized figures worked with a needle on the open work cotton material. They were
made by the king\'s \'boys.\' quot;

quot; The above-mentioned pieces of cloth, called by the natives mouponoqua^ and by
the Europeans Benin-cloth, are of cotton, blue throughout, or alternate white and blue,
made of four strips sewn together lengthwise, two ells and a half, and two ells and
three-quarters long, with a complete breadth of two ells.^ There are also small pieces
of cloth, being in size about one-third of a large one, and called by them ambasis.
All these pieces of cloth are either made there or elsewhere and brought there for
sale.quot; (Dapper). Landolphe received some quot; beautifully native-made cotton mats
and pagnes, made of very fine grasses. The work of the mats surprised me
considerably, quite as much by the beautiful colours as by the regularity of the weft.
They were of three sizes, each a third of an ell wide and eight feet long. The
nankeen coloured grass mats, almost equaUing silk in fineness, consisted of four
strips, each a third of an ell broad and eight or nine feet long quot; (I., p. 121). On
another occasion he says, quot; their pagnes have a breadth of an dl and a third,quot; so that
if the travellers are correct in their measurements the cloths must have been made
of various sizes. As to the dyeing, quot; the inhabitants are very well skilled in making
several sorts of dyes, as green, blue, black, red and yellow. The blue they prepare
from indigo, which grows here abundantly; but the remaining colours are extracted

1nbsp;\'■ The word Oupon (cloth) is in use by the Bini at the present day quot; (C. P.)

from certain trees by friction and decoction.quot; (Nyendael). According to Beauvais
(Flore 11., p. 44) it is probably quot;with the colouring matter of the Indigofera ende-
caphylla that the natives dye their cotton,quot; and Landolphe adds, quot;they are fast-dyed
in various colours, abundantly produced in the country.quot; (II., p. 49). Mr. Punch,
however, tells me the quot;Benin indigo dye is from the same plant as that in the Lagos
country, which is not Indigofera sp. but Lonchocarpus sericeus. Several trees are burnt
to get a salt for fixing the country dyes, in Lagos especially were used Arere, an un-
named species of Sterculia, Akika {Spondias lutea). Mangrove and others, especially
several species of Albizzia. For their mats the quot;natives of Warri and Benin make
use of the Hypoelytrum neniorum, as they do of various galingales {Cypenis), to manu-
facture thread. Their mode of doing this is very simple; they twist the fibres by
rolling them on their knees several times until the fibres remain twisted without
untwisting themselves.quot; Beauvais (Flore II., p. 13).

According to Roupell\'s officials. King Osogboa is credited with discovering salt
in the Jekri country. The salt is much prized, and for cooking yams is preferred to

European salt. It is obtained by burning the
young branches of the salt bush which grows near
salt water, the rain washes the ashes, which are
collected and washed again. The country famous
for this salt bush is what was formerly owned by
chief Nana of Brohoemi; there is considerable com-
petition among the Benin river chiefs for this land,
as its possession means a valuable monopoly.
Fawckner on his way from the coast to Benin (p. 23)
did not see the process of making salt, quot; but remarked
a quantity of baskets formed from the rind of the
bamboo, which were suspended over earthen vessels
or calabashes. They contained sand and dirty
water, which filtered through into the calabash
below. I concluded from this that they were not
able to get pure salt water, as the water near the\'
S\'hore, in consequence of the constant surf, becomes
very foul and muddy.quot; Salt making or obtaining
is, however, a fairly common industry. Adams,
who ^ays salt is a medium of exchange (p. 116),
mentions the industry (p. 118), but the exact
locality he describes is not clear, perhaps it
would appear to be in the Ijo country. quot; On the west head of the river,
as well as on the opposite shore a number of huts have been erected, where
salt is made from sea water. At full tide, the sea approaches very near
to these huts, at which time the natives fill the vessels, composed chiefly of
earthenware of native manufacture, with salt water; and evaporate it by the fire.
Some of the salt made in this way is very good, but a large portion of it is a bad
colour, and sandy./ At Warri, he tells us slaves are sold for large brass pans
called neptunes, and quot; these neptunes are used, during the dry season, by the Creek
and surrounding country people, for the purpose of evaporating sea-water to obtain
its salt, which is here the medium of exchange, and a great trade is carried on in this
article with the interior country quot; (p. 122). Burton, on the Tebbu river, met with a
settlement where the principal industry seemed to be quot; the collecting of salt from

mangrove ashes, strained, boiled in iron cauldrons, and stored in large baskets of
bamboo splints. Before use, it is evaporated in earthen pots till crystals develop
themselves. The taste is offensively bitter, like bad gunpowder ; still the people put
up with itquot; (p. 274). The following is Mr. C. Punch\'s account of salt making.
quot; The salt was made from the salt bush {Avicennia sp.) It is often taken for man-
grove. When the mangrove is cut down, the avicennia grows, but the Jekri,
especially Nana\'s people, used to plant out sets. It is called white mangrove in
■ Brazil, but it is no mangrove {Rhizophora sp.). The avicennia bushes are cut in the
dry season, December and January, ashes collected, and put in the large wicker cone-
shaped baskets described, and water allowed to filter through. The water with the salt
in solution is then boiled in earthen pots, and the salt precipitated forms blocks shaped
like the earthen pots. These are broken up and filled into the long thin baskets,
made from the split leaves of the Pandanus or screw pine. These long baskets are,
or were, the salt measure for trade in Benin, and I met them again last year as far
north as the Idanre mountains in the Lagos Colony.quot;

So far back as Welch\'s time soap was in use : quot; They have a good store of sope
and it smelleth like beaten violets.quot; So too Nyendael: quot; The negroes here make
soap, which is better than that all over Guinea ; and as this washes very well, the
negroes clothes are very clean. You know it is made upon the Gold Coast with
,palm oil, banana leaves, and the ashes of a sort of wood. The manner of making it
here differs very little.quot;

Amongst exports, Landolphe (I., pp. 51, loi) speaks of red, blue, violet and
yellow woods, copal and palm oil, besides, of course, slaves, ivory and cotton cloths
or mats {tapis). Of the coloured woods he adds, quot; I have spoken of red, blue, violet
and yellow woods ; but when they are cut they are all white, like ordinary timber; it is
only when placed in water that their brilliant and fast colours are to be seen.quot; (II., p. 71).

Landolphe reported the existence of gold mines in Benin, but states, quot; no one is
allowed to touch them under pain of death, for fear lest Europeans should in their
avarice bring fire and sword as they did into Peru.quot; (II., p. 71).

quot; The cultivation of the farms was of the usual \' go as you please\' style preva-
lent in West Africa. The slaves found their own food, and had certain days in the
week as their own time to work at their own farms. There is a recognised task for
slave work, viz.: 200 yam heaps of 3 feet by 3 feet to be weeded in a day, and the
word igha ( = 200) is fast becoming a land measure, just as our measure called furlong
originated in a day\'s work of ploughing.quot; (C. Punch).

The frequent references to pepper call for some comment, D.R. calls it manigette
pepper, the common negro name being alligator pepper, but it is a spice not a pepper
and is related to the Cardamums. There are three genera of Scitamineae very
similar in appearance, whose fruits are used by the natives. The Amomum paradisici
is the pepper or spice of the old chroniclers, and one species is sucked by the natives
for the sake of the sweet tasting mucilage surrounding the seed. The commonly
distributed. fructicosum, often said to be the original pepper of the Portuguese,
is introduced.

Fawckner mentions (p. 49) quot; Wicker fish pots fastened to the bank of the river
for catching prawns or shrimps. At high tide the water overflowed them, and thus

the fish became taken, which, after being smoked were sent to Benin market.quot;
According to Burton, quot; the mouth of every httle creek shews a weir or a crate. In
the months of August and September, when the rains are heaviest, old wives may
be seen fishing with bamboo baskets. The fry is sun-dried or smoked, packed in
panniers, and sent up the country to fetch a profit of 200 per centquot; (p. 144). See
pp. 134 and 136, supra.

Fishing was not practiced by the Bini. It was against their fetish to go on big
water, and the fishing was left to the Ijos and Jekries. In the Egba country fishing
grounds are owned; reaches of the Ogun are family property, following the usual
customs of inheritance, but although, as far as I could learn, they could not be sold;
they could be and often were pawned. The proprietary rights only covered the
annual big fishing, when the piece of water was rounded up with bamboo nets and
the fish were stupified by means of a certain fruit, and all the family lent a hand and
shared in the take. Fishing by line was open to all, and pools in the forest left
from high water were also common to allquot; (C. Punch).

quot; The elephant hunters were a special class and were higiily esteemed. Elephants
were shot with poisoned darts fired from the ordinary quot; Long Dane quot; gun. The poison
was carried in long-necked gourds, and the darts were kept in the poison until the
moment of firing. The poison was made from seeds of Strophanthus mixed with
other things. It was not immediately fatal, though a mere scratch was sufficient to
kill eventually. The wounded animal was tracked for two or three days till it fell.
The tooth which first touched ground was king\'s property, the other belonged to the
hunter, but the king could buy it at his own price. The elephants were in herds,
which visited different parts of the country at intervals. While I was at Guatun
a herd came into the neighbouring forest, but there had been none in that part for
more than three years; news of their arrival was carried to the king, and he sent two
hunters to Guatun to hunt. They remained for about ten days at Guatun, being
feasted, and also performing many ceremonies. Eventually one small elephant was
killed in the forest about five miles from Gwato ; the tusks were taken to Benin and
the meat was consumed in Gwato for some time after. The herd then moved on and
the hunters went away. Last year I met an old hunter named Gangan on the
Ofosho river not far from Benin. I spent some time in the forest with him and had
long talks with him. He claimed to have been at one time a hunter of elephants for
the King of Benin and to have killed with his Long Dane 200 elephants. He was
certainly very expert at his work. He said it was quite impossible for him to be
really lost in the forest, and that he could easily go four or five days in the forest
without taking any food. He could live on certain of the fruits and roots, and showed
me some of the fruits which he said would support life. We were making our way
through the forest and he suddenly stopped short and said Guinea fowl were close.
He dived off into the forest, and almost immediately I heard his gun and he returned
with a Guinea fowl. Then he showed me a plant with red berries, some of which,
fallen on the ground, showed him that Guinea fowl had been interrupted feeding
After this he went off by himself and I heard him calling the birds. They answered
and he finally bagged another. In the same way the hunters have a call for the
deer, though I believe they are not properly deer. As a rule the hunters
trust more to poaching than to fair sport. They clear a space in a part where

they see the animals\' tracks and spread the fruits of the raphia palm and other
fruits liked by the animals. Then they construct a place for themselves to sit
overlooking the spot. They erect a small scaffold on a tree, something like a
saddle-tree, and sit astride on moonlit nights waiting for the game. From their
seats they can see and shoot in either direction, and simply poach the beasts as
they feed. The Jekri and Sobos arrange big drives. They select a spot where a
river forms a loop and throw a line of beaters across the neck, and then beat down
to the river while other sportsmen in canoes wait for the beasts. They have very
good hunting dogs, which, however, do not retrieve. The Egbas in the open country
organise big drives with beaters and dogs. The hunters are a privileged class, and
the Yorubas have a saying that the towns and farms belong to the chiefs but the
forest belongs to the hunters. They are a distinct professional class, and are used
by the chiefs as soldiers and police. A boy is apprenticed to a hunter and learns the
business. The hunter teaches him woodcraft, how to find his way about, etc. The
hunters have also rites and fetishes, which are supposed to make them invisible to
the animals and also to preserve them from being lost. In making their way through
the forest they cut small twigs as they pass, bending the half-cut twig in certain ways
to denote directions, so that they know if they are traversing the same ground.
The guns, as one may suppose, are covered with charms. A hunter will never,
if he can help it, sell the head and lights and heart. They use them for fetish
purposes connected with their professionquot; (C. Punch).

Variety of fruits—Milbio—Potatoes and Yams—Beans—Rice—Fertile Soil—Maize or Guinea
Corn—Meats and fish of rich and poor--Salt fish—Cray fish—liola nut—Fu fu—
Monkey\'s flesh—Horses, poultry, dogs, donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle eaten—
Small breed of horses—Why horses do not thrive—Palm Wine—Vino de Palm and Vino
de Bordon—Milbio Beer—Accidents in obtaining the palm wine—Water from Oboba
creek.

quot; They have many excellent fruits,quot; says D.R., quot;upon which they live well,
such as yams, batatas, bananas, pomegranates, lemons, amp;c.quot; Dapper too found
quot; here nearly all sorts of fruit, also oranges and lemons, especially on the road
between Gotton and the town of Benin. They grow in this country a kind of
pepper, called by the Dutch Benin pepper, but there is no great abundance of it. It
grows just like the East Indian pepper, but its grain is smaller.quot; This pepper, as
we have seen, is, however, not the same as the East Indian variety, but a Carda-
mum. According to Nyendael, quot; The fruits of the earth are corn, or great milbio;
for they have none of the small sort. The large milbio is here cheap, but they do
not esteem it ; consequently little is sown, which nevertheless yields an enormous
quantity of grain, and grows very luxuriantly. Potatoes [? sweet potatoes] are
scarce, but there is great abundance of yams which forms their main diet. They eat
them instead of bread with all sorts of food, so that they are very careful that this
fruit be planted and gathered in its proper season. There are two sorts of beans,
both of which are very like horse-beans. They are of a hot disagreeable taste, and
are unwholesome. I never saw any rice here, nor do I believe any grows in Benin,
although the swampy land near the river seems very suitable for its growth. The
arboriferous fruits of Benin are of two sorts of coco-nuts, cormantyn-apples,
paquovens, bananas, wild figs, and some others, which are pecuhar to this part
of the country, and have nothing extraordinary about them. The soil at some
distance from the river, is extraordinarily fertile; and whatever is planted or sown
there grows very well and yields a rich crop. But close by the river the land is not
good, for although what is sown comes up, yet the close proximity of the moisture
from the river kills it.quot;

quot; There is a question as to whether Nyendael, speaking of great milbio, refers to
Indian corn (maize) or millet (Guinea corn). The cultivation of these two is local,
but broadly speaking, maize is grown on cleared forest land while millet thrives best
in open country. Benin is at present mostly forest, but owing to the slow decay of
the city the surrounding country may now be covered with forest while formerly it
was more open.quot; (C. Punch.)

quot; Generally speaking, the natives, if possessed of any riches, eat and drink very
well; that is to say, of the best. The common diet of the rich is beef, mutton, or

chicken, with yams, which take the place of bread; these they boil and beat very
fine in order to make cakes of them. They frequently treat one another, and distri-
bute a portion of their over-abundance to the needy quot; (Nyendael). The meaner people,
whose bread is also yams, bananas, and beans, eat fish {ibid).

Dapper, while referring to crocodiles, hippopotami, and electrical fish, presumably
in Benin River,\' remarks that there are also many edible and palatable fish, but
Nyendael says the upper part of the river quot;is not well stocked with fish; all
that they eat here coming from a place called Boca de la Mare, or the mouth of the
sea, where they are dried and smoked; but most of it, not being salted, tastes nasty
and stinks abominably.quot; He also tells us that the meaner sort of people content
quot; themselves with smoked or dried fish, which, if salted, is very like what we in
Europe call raf or reeked quot; [? smoked]. quot; At Gwato there are excellent crayfish quot;
(C. Punch).

quot; Apart from its ceremonial use, Sterculia aaminata—kola, nut, is eaten by the
blacks in order to make taste as nice whatever is eaten or drunk after eating of the
nut, the effects of which are quickly dissipated; bad water especially tastes sweet
after partaking of kola nut quot; Beauvais {Flore).

Fawckner (p. 36) on one occasion speaks of a quot; quantity of bowls, containing
\' fu-fu,\' a sort of dumphng, made of pounded yams. This \' fu-fu\' they eat with a
rich soup made from the fore legs of monkeys, and occasionally with fish. It is
esteemed by them a dainty dish; but being so highly seasoned with their strong
pepper, few Europeans can touch it.quot; He also tells us a quantity of monkeys\' flesh
attracted his quot; attention, from the paws and nails which were exposed ; and dogs,
goats, and sheep were here in abundance.quot; (p. 84). Elsewhere (p. 34) he speaks of
boiled fowls and yams served in a wash-hand bason, when shells were used for
spoons. Dapper speaks quot;of horses, poultry, donkeys, goats, sheep having no wool
but hair on their bodies, standing on long legs, and affording good meat.quot; quot; The
land about the town of Benin is fertile, although but little of it is cultivated. Sheep,
goats, pigs, poultry, and yams are plentiful and cheap. There is here also a breed of
small cattle.quot; (Adams). And the Punitive Expedition found plenty of quot;an excellent
class of beast, black and white, smaller than our English cattle, but compact, with
deep set short horns, which was excellent meat.quot; (Bacon, p. 97).

D.R. tells us quot; Their horses are, however, very small, and not much larger than
our calves at home, which is the reason that our horses are so much honoured and
esteemed.quot; Fawckner perceived near the market quot;Three fine horses grazing, and,
it being rather an unusual sight, I enquired to whom they belonged ; I was answered
that they were the king\'s ; but they had not been ridden for some time, and the
natives were now afraid to mount them quot; (p. 86). Burton, however, did not see a
single horse ; all were absent at the wars. They are described as a good but

1 quot;At Warri the land is very barren and devoid of grass, but affords much fruit, cocoanuts, bitter
and sweet oranges, year after year, besides other trees and vegetables. There is also pepper as in
Benin, but in small quantities because it is not much cultivated. Bananas are largely grown, and
the natives also plant mandihoka (manioc) of which they make Farinha (meal) to make their bread
with. On account of the poor pasture lands there are no beasts of burden such as horses or cows ;
but on the other hand much poultry of a big sort, which the natives roast very well, basting it with
its own fat mixed with the yolk of an egg. Fish can be got in relative abundance, sometimes also
sea-cows, which have a good flavour quot; (Dapper).

small breed, about fourteen hands high, something between the pony of Lagos and
the large war charger of Yoruba (p. 411). quot; As a matter of fact natives would not
keep horses in Benin, as it is in the forest belt where the poisonous afon tree (an
artocarp) is plentiful. Only Europeans or natives under European influence would
try to keep horses in such a district. Perhaps long ago Benin was not in the forestquot;
(C. Punch).

quot; The palm wine is indeed very delicious and good to drink. There are two
sorts of sour palm wine, namely. Vino de Palm and Vino de Bordon. The former
they drink in the morning and say it is then good for one\'s health, the latter, how-
ever, they drink in the evening, as they consider it better for health to drink it at
night than in the morningquot; (D.R.) According to Nyendael the people
quot; drink water, and pardon-wine, which is none of the best. The richer sort drink
water, and brandy when they can get it.quot; He also says quot;They sometimes employ
the Ardra women to brew beer with the milbio ; but it proves disagreeable and hot.quot;
Fawckner on his way to Benin, speaking of a palm says, quot; If this tree be tapped at
the head, and a jar applied, it yields the bamboo wine ; a very pleasing drink similar
to our English ginger beer (p. 24), and later, quot; bamboo wine was brought to refresh
and cheer us. It is by no means an unpleasant beverage, and produces intoxication
like other wines if taken to excess. It ferments quickly but will not keep longer
than twelve hours, the Portuguese often employ it as a yeast in making their bread quot;
(p. 29). The bambu wine is obtained from the Raphia vinifera, about which Beauvais tells
us quot; a gridelin coloured hquid is extracted called Bourdon wine, not so soft as that
from ordinary palm wine but more vinous and containing more spirit; easier to get,
as accidents occur from breaking the girdle ropes used in climbing the wine palm.
A strong spirit is made from the fruit, gathered every month of the year, by ferment-
ing the kernels ; this spirit is more coloured, more tasty, and keeps longer quot; {Flore d\'O.
etdeB.). Burton considered the Benin palm wine too tart, and not equal to that of Gwato.

Landolphe found that quot; to get good clear water one must fetch it from a little
river, a quarter of a league distant from the city; the negroes only drink bad water,
which they scoop out of pits quot; (I., p. 333). The Punitive Expedition found the same
difficulty in having to fetch water from this creek.

Fig, 150 —Group of natives on road to Benin, From a photo-
graph taken by Mr, C. Punch, Feb, 1891,

Native remedies—Want of respect for native doctors—Palma christi—Priest versus native doctor
—A noted doctor—Salve for wounds—Varied but unknown pharmacopia.

quot;The negroes of tfiis country,quot; says Nyendael, quot;do not seem so much afraid of
death as in other countries ; they are not uneasy at the naming of it, and ascribe the
length or brevity of life to their gods. Notwithstanding which, they are very zealous
in the use of those means which are thought proper for the prolongation of life; for
if they fall sick, the first refuge is the priest, who here, as well as on the Gold Coast,
acts the doctor. He first administers green herbs, which proving ineffective, he has
recourse to sacrilices. If the patient recover, the priest is held in high esteem, but
if not, he is dismissed, and another, from whom better success is expected, is called
in. If these sacerdotal doctors happen to cure the patient, they are very much
reverenced ; but the sick person is no sooner perfectly recovered, than they are
discharged without any respect. So that if the priests here have no other means of,
subsistance, they are generally poor, because each particular person offers his own
sacrifices, and performs the service of his idols, without giving them any manner of
trouble.quot;

Landolphe tells us that on one occasion one of the blacks cured some others
of dropsy by giving them to drink three seeds of Palma christi reduced to powder and
infused in a glass of cold water for twenty-four hours and strained. The swelling
subsided at the end of the sixth or seventh day by a violent purging. (II., p. 66).

Roupell\'s officials distinguish between priest and medical man thus : quot; Jujuman
and doctor are different; for instance, if a man is sick from juju, i.e. bewitched, and
he consults a jujuman, if he is indeed sick of a juju, the jujuman can know and can
cure him, but if not he recommends him to consult the doctor. But a doctor is
higher in the social scale than a jujuman. There is no head man of doctors; each
practices independently, but there is a noted man in the village of Bohimi, near Ora,
in Itchan part—he was frequently consulted by Overami as to what should be done
to avert sickness.quot;

, Beauvais mentions {Flore d\'O. et de B.) that the braised leaves of the StriicUum
africamim is put on to wounds, but is not very efficacious.

Mr. Punch is of opinion that the Bini possess a varied pharmacopia both for
poisons and remedies, but unfortunately we know nothing about them.

Music—Drums—Tusk horns—Awful discords—Music of Noblemen\'s retinues—Game bag music
—Calabash noises—Harp—Dancing—Monotonous chants. Games—Warri or Mancala—
Children\'s games,

quot; Their musical instruments chiefly consist in large and small drums, not very
different from those of the Gold Coast. They are shaped like them, covered with
leather or skins, and beaten in the same manner as they are.quot; D.R. speaks of
drums on several occasions. Beauvais at a feast mentions some musicians who
quot; drummed on copper cauldrons quot; ; while Landolphe at a Court function says there
were quot; twelve enormous drums, seven feet long, made of hollow bambu covered with
goat skin at one end, which gave forth a rumbling noise under the strokes of small
drum sticks. These lugubrious sounds were joined to those of a dozen blacks, some
of whom blew like madmen into elephant tusks, which were perforated at intervals
like our church serpents, whilst others did not succeed much better with cowherd
horns. The result was an awful discord which one must have heard to appreciate.quot;
(I., p. 114). Beauvais also speaks of a suite quot;of several musicians, some whistling
in a sort of extended cornet, others in flutes faulty and discordant.quot; According to
D.R., in going to court, the noblemen\'s retinues were quot; blowing horns and whistles,
some have a hollow iron whereon they strike,quot; and again, quot; their men have special
instruments like the game bags with which men in our country go to fish market;
this net is filled with various things, and when they strike upon it with their hands,
it rattles just as if a heap of walnuts were inside and were struck with the hands.quot;
(fig. 103). Nyendael refers to a sort of quot; iron bells on which they play; also calabashes
hung round with cowries, which serve them instead of castagnets; all which together
afford a very disagreeable and jarring sound. Besides these, they have also an
instrument, which must needs be called a harp ; it is strung with six or seven
extended reeds, upon which they play and sing so well, and dance to such good time,
that it is very pleasant to see it. These are indeed the best dancers I ever saw
amongst the negroes. The natives of Axim, in their annual feast, when they drive
out the devil, have much the same sort of a dance, though neither so fine, nor nearly
so diverting as this.quot; (Nyendael).

Adams seems to have been specially honoured. He says : quot; There are in Benin
a number of itinerant dancing-women, who were sent to amuse me, and whose per-
formance before the house constantly attracted a crowd of persons of both sexes,
who conducted themselves with great decorum during the exhibition. The ladies
danced in the fandango style, perhaps not quite so modestly as our fashionable belles,
although more in character, by holding in their hands excellent substitutes for cas-
tanets, with which they kept time admirably. These consisted of small hollow
gourds, over which are spread nets, having small pease strung on the sides of the
meshes. Holes at the top receive the fore-fingers of their right hands, with which
19

the gourds were shaken, and occasionally struck against the palms of their left
hands, beating responses to the tunes sung by the dancers.quot; (p. 115). At a human
sacrifice Beauvais heard quot; a plaintive and monotonous chant by the people, who
accompanied by rubbing their hands, or rather beating them together.quot;

The natives quot; are not at all addicted to plays. There are no other games than
those played with beans, and those only for diversion and pastime, but never for
money.quot; (Nyendael). He evidently refers to the well-known game called Warri in
Yoruba, which, as it has been well described, need not be further referred to here.

(See Stewart Culin, Mancala, the National Game of Africa, Rep. U. S. Nat.
Mus. for 1894, PP- 595-607). quot;The children played a game with the flat
seeds of a species of phaseohis not far related from Physostyma venenosa. The ground
was marked out into compartments, and the beans, thrown with force in a certain
way, lodged in the compartment driving out the opponent\'s beansquot; (C. Punch).

Flo. 155.—Bronze plaque repre-
senting a crocodile\'s head. Height
18J x in. (47 x 19 cm.) Bank-
field Museum, Halifax.

D.R.\'s description—Long streets—Dismantled houses—The broad street identified (158)—High bul-
warks—Ditch—Gates—Houses in good order—Arrangement of houses—Daylight comes in
at roof—Walls—King\'s compound—Windam\'s description (i5o)—Roof of thin boards—Palm
leaf roof—Dapper\'s description (160)—The town wall—The morass—City gates—King\'s com-
pound—Magnificent buildings—Cast copper decorations—Roof of palm leaves—Straight
and broad streets—Houses—Smooth walls—Comparison between D.R\'s. and Dapper\'s des-
criptions—Nyendael\'s account (162)—Half in ruins—No stone buildings—Description of the king\'s
court—Gallery of wooden pillars—Gateway covered with a turret—Copper snake—Second
gallery in ruins—Carved human figures—Tusks on human copper heads—Audience chamber
—Tusks on ivory pedestals—Turrets—Barbot\'s account (163)—Legroing\'s account—Shingle roofs
—Landolphe\'s account—The ditch—Thorny hedge—Sandy walk—Thatching—Ingenious
roof work—Adams\' account (164)—Irregularly built—Women\'s apartments—Lieut. King\'s account
—Depopulation by civil war—Streets, houses, roofs—Divan round inner walls—Mats—
King\'s palace—Tusks—Pyramid and copper serpent (165)—Designs on ceiling beams—Fawckner\'s
account—Polished walls—Halls—Open roofs—Water drainage (166)—Beds—Fires in rainy
season—Doors—King\'s palace of wood—Tower or steeple—Burton\'s account (167)—Gwato
houses—Resembling brickwork—Roofing—Human skull—Mezzo-relievo figures—Roman archi-
tecture—Curious courts—Water drainage (168)—Chief\'s house—Bird images—King\'s court (169)
—15,000 inhabitants—Gateway—Sacrificial tree and victims—Brass lamp—Carved ivories—
Clean roads—Foul pits—Ruins—Fetish house—Victims\' v^eW—Telamones—Throne settle—
Dr. Henry\'s account—Gallwey\'s visit (171)—Uncanny alcoves—Impression of a hand—Thatched
roofs—Number of ruins—King\'s quarters—Carved tusks—Punitive Expedition report—The
approach—King\'s and juju compounds—Altars—Bronze heads and tusks—Smell of human
blood—Sacrifices—Fetish offerings—Palaver house (172)—Bronze snake—Carved beams—
Embossed brass—King\'s house—Crucifixion trees—Water path—Decomposing bodies—Bacon\'s
description{i73)—Straggling town—Ochudi\'s compound—Sacrificial places—Altar—Tusks—Gal-
vanised iron roof—Bronze serpent—Stamped brass (174)—King\'s house—Looking glass—Burial
places of nobles—Watering place—Crucifixion tree (175)—Burial place of the people—City not
without beauty—Blacksmiths\' shops—Roth\'s description (175)—High wall—Brass sheeting—Pits
—Brass heads and tusks—Altar objects—Blood and smell—Palaver house and snake—
Müntz metal sheets (176)—Bronze pillars—King\'s chests (177) -The king\'s house—Doors and ivory
catch—Roofing—Bench or bank along wall—Closets and kitchens—Framework of roof (178)—
Various views (180)—Comparison with Ese Ado—How clay is worked (181)—Comparison with Old
Calabar—Limits of Yoruba architecture (182)—No connection with western Sudan—Origin of
the open courts—Gold Coast buildings (184)—Punch\'s detailed description of a house (187)—
General arrangement—Drains, how made—Alcoves and store rooms—Locks (iSg)—Towers—•
Pyramids or turrets originally over door-ways. The Ditch—Its excavation ascribed to
Oguola—Other ditches.

For the earhest description of the buildings of the city we must go to D.R., who
says: quot;At first the town seems very large; when one enters it one comes at once
into a great broad street, which appears to be seven or eight times broader than the
Warme Street in Amsterdam ; this extends straight out, and when one has walked a
quarter of an hour along it he still does not see the end of the street, but he sees a

big tall tree as far from him as the eyes can reach, and some Netherlanders say that
the street stretches still so much further, that if one had been as far as that tree he
would still see no end to the street; but he could perceive that the houses thereabouts
are much smaller than those first seen, and that the further one goes one notices
houses that were dismantled and falling down, so that it was thought the end of the
street was thereabouts and did not stretch much further. That tree was not seen
until one had walked about a quarter of a mile along the street, and from that point
to the tree was a good half mile, so that it may be considered that that street is a
mile\' long, without counting what belonged to the suburbs. [Mr. C. Punch identifies
the broad street of D.R. with the broad open space in front of the king\'s compounds;
it seems to have divided the city into two parts].

quot;At the gate at which one enters there is a very high bulwark, very thick and
strongly made, with a very deep broad ditch, but it was dry and full of high trees.
This ditch extends a good way, but we do not know whether it extended round the town
or not. That gate is a well made gate, made of /Wood to be shut according to their
methods, and watch is always kept there. Outside this gate there is a large suburb.
When one is in the big street above mentioned, one sees a great many lanes and
streets on both sides, which also extend far and straight, but one cannot see to the
end of them on account of their great extent.

quot; The houses in this town stand in good order, one close to the other, hke houses in
Holland. Houses in which well-to-do people \\yofnehme Leute] such as gentlemen \\_edel
Leute] dwell, have two or three steps to go up, and in front have an ante-court where
one may sit dry, which court or gallery is cleaned every morning by their slaves, and
straw mats spread for sitting on. Their rooms or apartments within [the court] are
four square \\wie ein Matter], having a roof all round, which, however, does not join in
the middle, but is left open so that the rain, wind and daylight can enter. In these
houses they lie and eat, but they have special little houses for cooking, as well as
other huts and rooms. The common houses are not built like this, for they have only
one straight wall, in the middle of which there is a wooden door. They do not know
how to make windows, but such air and daylight as they have comes in at the roof.
The houses are, however, all alike red, and were surrounded [? strack] by walls,
which they make of the earth they dig up, and which is greasy and sticky and mostly
red; this earth they water and work it up much as we do mortar at home, dab it wet

on top, one piece on another, and let it dry. They make the walls about two feet
thick, so that these are not easily upset, for it sometimes happens that a heavy rain
comes which washes down the walls and gives them much to do.

quot; The king\'s court\' is very large, having many large square places within, sur-
rounded by galleries and courts wherein watch is always kept. This court is so large

that the end is not to be seen, and when one thinks one has come to the end, one sees
through a gateway other places or courts, and one sees many stables.quot;

Accompanying this account is an illustration (fig. 159) of the city, about which
the editor is very careful to say that it has been drawn, not from sight, but from a

1 When he speaks of the king\'s court he means the whole quarter of compounds dedicated to
the dead kings.

description,\' yet while it is drawn according to the Dutch notions of the day, and is
only from a description, it gives one a fair idea of the open courts of which the city
consisted, and which were the city\'s architectural characteristics.

Windam simply tells us the King of Benin quot; sate in a great high hall long and
wide, the wals made of earth without windows, the roof of thin boards, open in
sundry places, like unto loners to let in the aire quot; (Hakluyt ii., 2nd pt., p. 12). This
reference to \' thin boards \' is not clear. Mr. C. Punch hazards the comparison with
the methods of the Ijos quot;who have a way of pining out the leaflets of the palms
quite flat, so that the whole frond seen from underneath and dimly, would look to be
a plain rectangular surface like a board. The thatch used in Benin was always the
pressed leaves of the Raphia vinifera. It does not grow quite near the city and was
carried thither. The leaves of a scitamineous plant were also used, but I have not
been able to identify it.quot;

quot; The town, comprising the queen\'s court, is about five or six miles in circum-
ference, or leaving the court outside, three miles inside its gates. It is protected at
one side by a wall ten feet high, made of double stockades of big trees, tied to each
other by cross-beams fastened cross-wise, and stuffed up with red clay, solidly put
together. This wall only surrounds the town on one side, there being on the other,
where there is no wall, a morass and close underwood, which affords no little pro-
tection and strength to the town. The town possesses several gates, eight or nine
feet in height and five in width, with doors made of a whole piece of wood, hanging
or turning on a peg, like the peasant\'s fences here in this country [Holland]. The
king\'s court is square, and stands at the right hand side when entering the town by
the gate of Gotton [Gwato], and is certainly as large as the town of Harlem, and
entirely surrounded by a special wall, like that which encircles the town. It is
divided into many magnificent palaces, houses, and apartments of the courtiers, and
comprises beautiful and long square galleries, about as large as the Exchange at
Amsterdam, but one larger than another, resting on wooden pillars, from top to
bottom covered with cast copper, on which are engraved the pictures of their war
exploits and battles, and are kept very clean. Most palaces and the houses of the
king are covered with palm leaves instead of square pieces of wood [? shingles], and
every roof is decorated with a small turret ending in a point, on which birds are
standing, birds cast in copper with outspread wings, cleverly made after living models.

quot; The town has thirty very straight and broad streets, every one of them about
one hundred and twenty feet wide, or as wide as the Heeren or Keizersgracht [canals]
at Amsterdam, from one row of the houses to the other, from which branch out many
side streets, also broad, though less so than the main streets.

quot; The houses are built alongside the streets in good order, the one close to the
other, as here in the country, adorned with gables and steps, and roofs made of palm
or banana leaves, or leaves from other trees ; they are not higher than a stadie, but
usually broad with long galleries inside, especially so in the case of the houses
of the nobility, and divided into many rooms which are separated by walls made of
red clay, very well erected, and they can make and keep them as shiney and smooth
by washing and rubbing as any wall in Holland can be made with chalk, and they

1 After plate XX, and before plate XXI. there is an editorial note on top of the page, which runs:

quot; Folgen noch etliche Figuren welche nicht in den Hollandischen gemacht, sondern aus der
und hie zii Ende gesetzt sindt.quot;

are like mirrors.\' The upper storeys are made of the same sort of clay. Moreover,
every house is provided with a well for the supply of fresh water : in short, the houses
are built there more neatly than anywhere in that country.quot;\'

Like D.R., Dapper gives an illustration of the city (fig. i6o), but from the
outside, with a procession of the king, which might have been designed from the

1nbsp;- The chief of Gwatto\'s house was very much superior, the walls, which were very thick,
being polished till they were nearly as smooth and shiny as glass.quot; (Boisragon, p. 8i). quot; For givmg
a polish to the clay walls in Yorubaland, the leaves of the Moringa pUrygosperinia are mashed up and
rubbed over the clay. Nana\'s father, Aluma, had a clay house in Brohemi, the walls of which were
better polished than any in Benin. They were like marble.quot; (Cyril Punch)

2nbsp;Of Warri, Dapper writes ; quot; About twenty-seven miles up the river there is a town or borough,

description of D.R. In his own description, however, he mentions the posts covered
with carved copper, palm thatch, not shingles, shiney and smooth walls, particulars
which do not appear in D.R., but which we now know to be correct. His description
and drawing of the wall and the eagle-topped turrets, however, does not tally with
other travellers, excepting Barbot, although he would be correct if the use of the
word bulwark for the wall, as given by Purchase, is rightly translated. His wording
about the houses reads very much like that of D.R.

The next description has been given us by Nyendael : quot; The village of Benin,
for it at present scarcely deserves the name of a city, is the residence of the great
King of Benin, whence the whole land and river also borrows its name. It is situate
about ten miles inland from the village of Agatton [Gwatto]. The neighbouring
country is flat, as is the village itself, which is at least four miles long. The streets
are very long and broad, and markets are continually kept in them. Formerly the
buildings in this village were very thick and close together, and in a manner it was
over-populated, which is yet visible from the ruins of half remaining houses ; but at
present the houses stand, like poor men\'s corn, widely apart from each other. The
houses are large and handsome, with clay walls ; for there is not a stone in the whole
country as big as a man\'s fist; they are covered at the top with reed, straw or leaves.
The architecture is passable, considered in comparison with negro buildings, and is
very like the architecture of Axim. The long and wide streets, as I have mentioned
above, are kept very neat by the women ; for here, as well as in Holland, every
woman cleans her own doorstep.

quot; The king\'s court, which forms a principal part of the city, must not be forgot-
ten. It is on a very great plain, near which are no houses, but apart from its wide
extent it is nothing out of the common. The first place we come into is a very long
gallery, if it must have that name, which is sustained by fifty-eight strong planks
about twelve foot high, instead of pillars ; these are neither sawn nor planed, but
only hacked out. As soon as we are past this gallery we come to the mud or earthen
wall, which has three gates, at each corner one and another in the middle, the last of
which is adorned at the top with a wooden turret like a chimney, about sixty or
seventy feet high. At the top of all is fixed a large copper snake whose head hangs
downwards. This serpent is very well cast or carved, and is the finest I have seen
in Benin. Entering one of these gates, we come into a plain about a quarter of a
mile, almost square, and enclosed by a low wall. Being come to the end of this
plain, we meet with such another gallery as the first, except that it has neither wall
nor turret. Some time since this gallery was half thrown down by a thunderstorm,
since which it has not been rebuilt. This gallery has a gate at each end ; and pass-
ing through one of them a third gallery offers itself to view, differing from, the former
only in that the planks upon which it rests are human figures ; but so wretchedly
carved that it is hardly possible to distinguish whether they are most like men or
beasts: notwithstanding which my guides were able to distinguish them into merchants,
soldiers, wild beast hunters, etc. Behind a white carpet we are also shewn eleven
men\'s heads cast in copper, by much as good an artist as the former carver ; and
upon every one of these is an elephant\'s tooth, these being some of the king\'s gods.^

Ouwerre, where the king keeps his court. It is about half-a-mile in circumference, on the land side
all surrounded by wood. There are beautiful buildings, especially the houses of the nobles, covered
with palm leaves, like the Benin ones, and made of gray earth, which in Benin is red. The king\'s
court or palace is built in the same manner as at Benin, but on a much smaller scale.quot;

3 Adams thus describes the audience chamber of Chief Cootry at Lagos, which town was

Going through a gate of this gallery, we enter another great plain, and a fourth
gallery beyond, which is the king\'s dwelling-house. Here is another snake as upon
the first wall. In the first apartment, at the entrance of this plain, is the king\'s
audience chamber. ... On the king\'s left hand, against a fine tapestry, I saw seven
white scowered elephants\' teeth on pedestals of ivory, which is the manner that almost
all the king\'s gods are placed within his house.quot; Nyandael mentions turrets in the
same way as Dapper does, but in his case there is a large serpent on them, one of
which has come down to our time, while on Dapper\'s turrets there were birds with
outspread wings.

Barbot\'s accounts run thus: quot;The city is enclosed on one side by a double
ridge of trunks of trees about ten foot high, set close together in the ground for a
fence or palisade to it, the trunks fastened to one another by long pieces of timber
athwart, and the interval between the two ridges or rows of trunks filled up with
red clammy earth ; which at a distance looks like a good thick wall very even and
smooth. . . . The tops (of houses) are thatched with straw or palm tree leaves.quot;

quot; Every building or house has also a small turret of a pyramidal form,
on some of which is fixed a cast bird of copper with stretched out wings;
which is also a pretty sort of work for blacks, and induces me to think they have
tolerable good workmen, that are somewhat skilled in casting brass or copper.quot; As
regards the wall, the turrets and birds with stretched out wings, Barbot\'s wording
reads as though he had Dapper\'s illustration before him.

Legroing tells us : quot; The city of Benin is situated in a plain surrounded by deep
ditches. Vestiges of an old earthen wall are to be seen ; the wall could hardly have
been built of any other material as we did not see a single stone in the whole journey
up. The houses for the most part are covered with lataniev leaves, and those of
the king with large shingles. In front of the king\'s houses there were two thick
clumps of high trees, and these appeared to us to be the only trees planted by the
hand of man (Labarthe, p. 175).quot; From Landolphe we learn that a quot; ditch more than
20 feet wide and as deep surrounds the town, and the soil taken out is made on the
city side into a talus, on which a thorny hedge has been planted so thick, that not
even an animal can get through. The height of this talus deprives one of a view of
the houses at a distance, and one does not see them until entering the town, the gates
of which are very far apartquot; (IL, 48). quot; The streets are very broad ; in the middle
there is turf on which the kids and sheep feed ; about thirty feet from the houses
there is a level road, covered with sand for the inhabitants to walk on quot; {ihid, II., 50).
He also mentions several spacious courts surrounded by earthen walls about sixteen
feet high. Along the inside of the walls there ran a gallery fifteen feet wide, thatched
with natanier. The thatching is done by overlapping the leaves which not
being pulled apart, fall one on top of another to a thickness of eighteen inches.
This roof is supported by large pieces of timber cut into the shape of pillars. They
are set up about eighteen feet apart, and carry stout horizontal planks on which

formerly subject to Benin (pp. 102 and 103): quot;The entrance leading to the audience chamber
presented a very curious spectacle. It was an oblong room of considerable length, having an
opening along the centre of the roof to admit light and air. At one extremity there was arranged
the king\'s fetiche, which consisted of three elephants\' teeth placed in a reclining posture against
the wall, with the convex part outwards, and sprinkled with blood. On interrogating Occondo,
the king\'s favourite and linguist, respecting the elephants\' teeth and why they were Cootry\'s
fetiche, his answer was that the elephant, being more sagacious and stronger than any other
animal, he represented best (metaphorically, of course) Cootry\'s power over his subjects.quot;

abut the sloping joists which carry the roof, which was an ingenious piece of work
{ihid, I., 111-112). Of the apartments of the king\'s wives he says the walls are twenty
feet high and five feet thick, solidly built of earth {ihid, L, 335).

Adams found the city quot;built very irregularly, the houses being placed without
any regard to order, and detatched ; consequently occupying a large space of ground.quot;
(p. III). Of the king\'s women\'s habitation he says, quot; This building is some distance
from the king\'s residence, and has the form of a quadrangle with a large open area in

In both these illustrations the roofs are portrayed as though they were made of shingles.
Legroing expressly states that the king\'s house was roofed with large shingles. So as the copy-
ing of things European was a weakness of most of the kings it is not unlikely that the king in
Legroing\'s time had copied a European roof. Mr. Punch tells me he never saw a shingled roof
in the City.

the centre ; the doors and windows of the various apartments which compose the
sides opening into it. The external walls are comparatively high, and have but one
opening.quot; (p. 126),

According to Lieut. King, quot; Benin is situated in a plain at the foot of an amphi-
theatre formed by hills which extend to the east, west, and north. The walls having
been to a large extent destroyed and the city having been formerly depopulated by a
civil war, the circumference of the inhabited area does not now exceed two or three
miles. The streets are broad and straight; the houses regularly built, but separated
one from another by a narrow space, are constructed of mud and occupy the four
sides of a square court; the roofs are covered with palm leaves. The houses of
distinguished personages are very pretty and elegant; the inner walls are covered
with mats, and round the court (pourtour de la salle) there is a divan raised about

1 Landolphe speaks indifferently of latanier and natanier. I think he must mean Latania
Lodigesii (Mart.), a palm, not a reed as he calls it. Beauvais in his Flore says the leaves of the Raphia
vinifera are used for thatching.

eighteen inches above the level of the ground. Mats and woollen [sic] stuffs of home
make are spread on the divan and ground.

quot;The walls of the palace are well preserved, In one of the facades at which
Lieut. King entered there were three doors, of which the chief was in the middle-; on
each side were rows of ei ght or ten elephant tusks curiously carved, the points turned
towards the wall. During the last insurrection the king was killed and a large
portion of the palace was burnt down, but enough remains to bear witness to its
former splendour. Down the centre of the facade rises a pyramid about thirty to
forty feet high, on the top of which there was fixed a copper serpent whose head
reached to the ground and whose body was as thick as that of a man. The
inhabitants of Benin have no idea of the lapse of time, but say that this serpent
has been there for several centuries. Two apartments which Lieut. King saw, and of
which one was the audience chamber of the king, had been spared by the fire; the

Fig. 163.—Street in Benin City. The walls in the background are covered with
palm leaf thatch; this shows more distinctly in the photograph than in the print. From
a photograph taken by Dr. Allman, Feb., 1897.

ceilings were flat and the beams which crossed them were covered with various
designs.quot; It will be observed that King speaks of a pyramid, and in so far his des-
cription of these buildings agrees with that of Dapper, who, however, called them
turrets.\'

From Fawckner\'s description it is clear the characteristics of the city buildings
were also those of the country in general. Of Yarcella, between Moongye, on the
coast, and Gwato, he says : quot; Their houses are all built together forming an oblong
square, at the head of which stands the fetish hut.quot; At Gwato he finds quot; The waUs
of the buildings are of clay and are covered in with rafters, across which branches of
bamboo^ are laid and tied down. There are no windows, but an aperture in the

1nbsp;He describes Warri as containing quot;about three thousand inhabitants, yet has no walls; the
streets are wide and straight and the houses resemble those of Benin, The king\'s residence is more
than haif-a-mile in circumference and is surrounded by a wall on three sides, while the facade opens
into a large square. At one corner of the building there is a pyramid about thirty feet high.quot;

2nbsp;The word bambu is commonly wrongly used when the midrib of the Raphia vinifera is meant.
The bambu is common enough in Yoruba land, but does not appear to be indigenous in the Benin
country.

middle of the roof serves to let in the light, under which stands a cistern or tank,
which conveys the rain away through holes into the ground. Round it is a walk

about three feet wide, where the people dance.....In the centre is a bench formed

of brown clay which by frequent rubbing with a piece of coconut\' shell and wet
cloths has received a polish, and when dry looks like marble. Here is placed the
fetish (pp. 32 and 33). The huts are rather larger than those we had previously
seen, being about ten or twelve feet high on the inside, and some of the halls about
forty feet long and twenty broad. They are for the most part built of clay and
surrounded by walls of the same material. The roof is covered with branches of
the bamboo tree; in the centre is a hole which serves the purposes of window and
chimney. Through this hole the rain also falls and is received into a large square

tank immediately underneath, and conveyed away underground by channels from
one room to another.quot; (p. 71). And again, quot; Their beds, which consist of mats, with
a covering of coarse cotton cloth, are placed on the ground in a recess in the wall,
which often serves also as a depository for their fetish. During the rainy season
they sit around a small fire kindled on the floor, without anything to enclose it, and
the smoke escapes through the aperture in the roof, where generally may be seen
suspended their war drum, together with earthen vessels and various articles of fetish.
The doors are hung much in the same manner as a ship\'s rudder, the hinge being
formed of wood resembling a spigot and fosset.quot; (p. 72).

Of Benin he tells us the quot;houses are decidedly superior to those at Gatto,
being larger, but for the most part built on the same principle. The palace of the

1 quot; Fawckner is in error here ; the empty shell of the large land snail (and not a coconut shell}
is always used for polishing the clay walls.quot; C.P.

king is a large building of wood, not unlike one of our British shot manufactories,
having a tower or steeple at one end ; the rest of the building consists only of one
story; the whole is surrounded by mud walls, which extend some miles. Near it are
several fetish places, the depository of the usual absurd objects of worship—skulls,
skeletons, and large ivory teeth. Many unfortunate slaves are also sacrificed at
different seasons in front of these temples.quot; (p. 83).

At the time of Fawckner\'s visit there was thus one tower or steeple [turret,
pyramid] left. \' He states it was built of wood, while his predecessors do not mention
the material of its composition.

The Surgeons Moffatt and Smith do not appear to have published any descrip-
tion of the city when they visited it. The next traveller that came upon the scene
was Captain Richard Burton. He firstly describes the houses of Gwato thus :
quot; Once a place of considerable importance and studded with factories and business
houses, Gwato now contains from twenty to thirty habitations, mostly ruinous, but
sometimes showing traces of former splendour. Streets are, of course, unknown, the
tenements are either built in clumps or separated by tracts of bush. The best build
ings have walls of deep red clay ribbed horizontally so as to resemble brickwork, and
a little smearing makes them look neat and new ; the common sort are merely of
courses successively dried, as universal in Yoruba. .A.11 are capped with tall pent-
houses of matting with a steep slope to throw off the heavy rams, and, as tornados
are violent, the timber-work of the interior is uncommonly strong and massive.
The outside gate of the \' parson\'s \'\' house is decorated with a human skull, trans-
fixed with an iron, and a monkey\'s head side by side, on an earthen bench at the
doorway. The walls are adorned with figures of clay in mezzo-relievo, daubed black,
yellow, and red, and representing giant warriors, with uplifted battle-axes. There is
a curious likeness between these efforts of infant art and the Nineveh bulls, which
is probably a coincidence. But the following peculiarity can hardly be attributed to
accident. It is impossible not to think that Yoruba in ancient times derived its archi-
tecture through the Romans, whose conquests in Northern Africa were as extensive
as in the North of Europe. We find in every house a perfect Tuscan atrium, with
the cavasdium^ or gangway running round the rectangular impluvium, the tank or
piscina, which catches the rain and drippings falling through the compluvium or
central opening in the roof. Sometimes the atrium is a tetrastyle in which pillars at
the four corners of the impluvium support the girders or main beams of the roof.
As at Abeokuta, the latter is thickly thatched and falls in at a steep angle.

quot; I can understand the use of the atrium in beautiful Italy, where it tempers the
warm rays of the sun by cool shade and softens the summer glare into mellow light.
But in these lands of violent rains, fierce tornados, harmattans and smoke, it is
impossible to understand the feelings and motives of the builders, unless, indeed,
they derived the idea of their hypaithral apartments from the ancient conquerors of
Morocco and the Atlas.

quot;The larger houses have many of these curious courts, of which the third
usually leads to that which serves as a reception room. On the outside there are
raised earth benches for those who would enjoy the air. The rooms are dark and
windowless, all of them have at least one alcove, and similar seats are disposed round

1nbsp;The Ahuraku, i.e. the Malaku priest and chief of Gwato was known by this name.

2nbsp;quot; I am not ignorant that the meaning of this word is still under dispute; it is used above to
denote the area between the tank and the walls of the room,quot; R.B.

the impluvium. The latter has always a hole in one of the corners, through which
the superabundant humidity passes off. In the centre is some fetish, either a cone of
clay, one foot high, with a central aperture set with cowries, or a pot of water half
buried in the groundquot; (p. 278). Then continuing, he describes a chief\'s house in
Benin as follows : quot; The house, however, was by no means in first rate order. It
was the usual Yoruba abode, a large walled compound, with a single great gate, and
the interior was a labvrinth of alleys, passages, courts, apartments, hypaethral offices,

and windowless store-closets, the latter always leading out of the sitting-room. The
atrium prepared for us had been freshly smeared. Like all others it had its house-
hold gods, three rude wooden images of turkeys\' with drooping wings, disposed in

triangle, supported by two short truncheons, and placed in a black and white striped
niche in the northern wall, with a raised step below it. I can say little in its favour
as regards comfort. There were three doors, which rendered it a meeting-place of
moving multitudes, till we barricaded two of them. There was no look-out except
through those entrances, at brick walls two feet distant—uncommonly dull on a fine
day ! And when it rained, the cold torrents pouring through the compluvium made
it feel damper and look drearier still (p. 288).

quot; The king\'s court, or quarter, is called Obwe ; it is a large village, or rather
town, separated from the neighbouring settlements by streets broader than Parisian
squares, and appropriated to the royal family, great men, courtiers, and slaves. This
part of the city is supposed to contain not less than fifteen thousand souls. It is in a
most ruinous condition. . . . The outermost gateway of the palace was guarded
by a fetish altar on the left hand, and in front stood a suspicious clump of trees,
which at once suggested to me an Oro grove.\' Having passed through the tumble-
down gateway, we saw before us a spacious square, surrounded by broken brick-
work and adorned with noble trees. On one of these, which had apparently been
lightning blasted, flights of turkey buzzards drew our attention to the form of a fine
young woman, seated, and lashed hand and foot to a scaffolding of rough branches,
which raised her ten or twelve yards from the ground. The birds had been busy
with her eyes, part of the bosom had been eaten away, and the skin was beginning to
whiten—a ghastly sight. In the centre of the precincts was a brass neptune, planted
upon a tall pole ; it was intended as the reflector of a palm oil lamp, a trick which
the natives probably learned from the Portuguese.^ At the further end of the palace-yard
was a large shed, containing the usual number of fine large carved ivories, planted
leaning against the wall (p. 407). Resuming our walk, we passed through the town
in a northern direction. Like Abeokuta, it is divided by tracts of bush and wide
avenues into a number of distinct settlements, each bearing its own name. The
quarters have regular streets and lanes, and in many places the ground before the
walls was carefully swept and cleaned. When a road passed between two houses,
both householders were bound to keep it in order. Unhappily, the king had not
ordered his subjects to fill up the foul pits from which building clay is taken : these
still remain the founts of fever and dysentery. The immense number of ruins were
referred by our guides, George and Sawaye, to the absence of 10,000 soldiers at a
war which has lasted since 1854 (P- 4^°)- We passed by sundry waterholes and
yards with tumble-down walls and great gaps, that rendered gates unnecessary. One
of the courts contained a grand fetish-house, with a number of ivories showing very
curious and interesting work. At the bottom of the enceinte and facing the sacellum
was a little grass-grown rise, the margin of a wide and deep well into which the
custom\'s victims are thrown. The people called this the old king\'s fetish court, and
it is kept in order by the piety of his son. The next square was subtended by a huge
shed, open in front, and supported by eight Telamones—rude figures of war men, one
of them falling from under its load. From the court of the Telamones a small
wooden door opened upon a lane, and across this was an atrium of peculiarly ruinous
appearance. Thence we entered an adjoining room. ... At the lower atrium there
was a rude earthen bench facing a similar one at the upper end, upon which was a

1quot; For Oro himself, the Oro grove and the horrid purposes to which it is put, I must refer the
reader to any work on the mythology of Yoruba quot; R.B. See chapter on Fetish.

small wooden settle serving for a throne. Dr. Henry set out at 7 a.m. to go the
rounds of the homograns,\' which took him three mortal hours, wandering through
the great extent of the royal village.quot; He describes the houses of the chiefs as far

superior to the palace, quot; the atrium large, spacious, freshly glazed, and perfectly clean,
the altars inlaid with cowries and porcelain platters, and filled with carved wood and
ivories, and fine mats spread out in the alcovesquot; (p. 416).

Captain Burton was the first to make the comparison between the style of build-
ing adopted in Benin, and that of the domestic architecture of the Romans. To this
comparison I will return later. He notices no turrets nor large snakes.

Captain Gallwey visited the city in 1892. He was lodged in two houses which
quot; were built of red clay, having a high wall all round forming a sort of court-yard.
There were two fair rooms, and many uncanny alcoves ; skulls, human and other-
wise, hung around promiscuously. The walls were adorned with the impressions of
a very large hand in lime and blood. The roof was a thatched one, full of creeping
things.quot; Of the city he writes that it is quot;a straggling collection of houses, built in
clusters here and there, in little or no order. The number of ruins testify to the fact
that it was once very much larger ; but in our wanderings through the place we saw
nothing that suggested \' prodigious long and broad streets.\' The only market-place
we saw was on the plain outside the king\'s residence. . . . The principal part of the
city is the king\'s residence\'. This consists of a number of compounds, each sur-
rounded by a high mud wall. In each compound is a fetish shrine composed of
numbers of elephants\' tusks, some very beautifully carved, together with a collection
of native brass work, the whole freely besprinkled with blood. After passing through
several of these compounds you come to the king\'s houses, built of red clay, and with
nothing particular to recommend themquot; (p. 130).

Five years after his visit occurred, in January, 1897, the terrible massacre of
Phillips\' party, which was quickly followed by the Punitive Expedition. The official
account of the city (Foreign Office Report) is as follows : quot; Approaching from Ologbo
the bush party suddenly debouches into a broad avenue running at right angles to it.
This avenue runs through the centre of the town and ends on the west side in the
Gwato road. It forms a main division of the town, on the southern side the king\'s
and chiefs\' compounds, and to the northward those of the lesser chiefs and people.

quot; The houses are built of red mud and thatched with palm leaves, the only iron
roofs being those of the palaver house and a portion of the king\'s house.

quot; The king\'s compound consists of the king\'s house, palaver house, ju-ju houses
and compounds, and living houses for the king\'s people, also old ruined houses,
probably the burial places of former notable people. The front of the compound was
protected by a mud wall about twenty feet high, with a sloping roof to the front.
On entering the compound the first places met are two large ju-ju compounds. These
are level-clearings covered Avith grass, capable of holding several thousand people,
and at the south ends, under pent-house coverings, are the altars. The altars are
raised mud platforms about three feet high, running more or less the whole breadth
of the compound, and in the centre are unique bronze heads, each head supporting a
carved ivory tusk. On the altars also were rudely-carved maces for kilhng the
victims—whose blood was subsequently smeared over the altar and allowed to run
down the steps in front. . In the main ju-ju compound the smell of human blood was
indescribably sickening, the whole grass portion of the compound reeking with it.
In the corners of some of these compounds were pits for the reception of the bodies
of the victims. Five large ju-ju compounds were close together in the king\'s com-
pound. The immense number of lives sacrificed in them is appalling to think of.

quot; In addition to these large public ju-ju places, every house appeared to have its
ju-ju room, and many a sacrifical altar on which annual sacrifices were found. In
these ju-ju rooms rubbish of all sorts was collected as offerings; carved sticks, rough
plaster figures, and cowries being the most frequent.

quot; Behind the ju-ju places was the palaver house, and side by side with it the
king\'s house. The palaver house was a large building, about 100 feet long and 50 or
60 broad, with a raised pohshed wood seat running round the four walls under a
pent-house galvanized iron roof, the centre of the yard being open to the air. Run-

ning down the roof on the south side was a huge bronze snake with a large head, and
in the centre of the court a bronze crocodile\'s head. The supporting beams for the
roof were carved with a sennit pattern and covered with thin brass. The doors also
were covered with embossed brass. The colour of the brass and its bright surface
indicated that it had undergone some form of ormolu preparation.

quot; The king\'s house was similar to the palaver house, but with rooms leading off
it, and the beams over the king\'s seat or bed place had square patches of looking-
glass let into them for decoration.nbsp;^

quot; The avenue in front of the king\'s compound opened out into a large cleared
open space, and at the edges of this were the two crucifixion trees. The one to the
westward was a fair-sized cotton tree, with its top and branches lopped off, and a
sloping stage built about half-way up, for the victims to rest on.

quot; The second crucifixion tree was more to the westward, and was arranged for
single crucifixions only. Opposite the king\'s compound a broad avenue ran, flanked
with bush and occasional houses, for about three-quarters of a mile, when it suddenly
contracted to a narrow gully, the bottom of which was barely broad enough to take
the sole of a boot. This was the water path. This gully continued for about three-
quarters of a mile, the sides being nearly perpendicular, and between 15 and 30 feet
high. After that it broadened out, and the last quarter of a mile or so was a good
road through the bush. The Ikpoba creek, which supplies the town with water, is
only two or three yards wide, with a strong stream and full of snags, but just at the
watering place it spreads out into a broad shallow popl, some 20 yards broad.

quot;Passing the king\'s compound, and going to the westward, a large tract of
common land is met. This was simply strewn with bodies in every stage of
decomposition, skulls, and bones. Where the Gwato road starts was a large
compound belonging to Ojumo, a big chief. At the opposite end of the town
was Ochudi\'s compound. Several old cannon were found and destroyed, the most
modern dating from the early part of the century.quot;

Commander Bacon tells us ; quot; Benin is an irregular straggling town, formed by
groups of houses separated from each other by patches of bush. It is, perhaps, a
mile-and-a-half long from east to west, and a mile from north to south. Entering
from the direction of Ologbo through a grass avenue flanked with bush, a few houses
are seen on the left; these run well back into the bush, and form quite a large village
of themselves ; they belonged to a general called Ochudi, and the village was known
as Ochudi\'s compound. Houses then struggled on, on the left side, till high red-clay
walls are encountered, with a galvanized iron roof sloping outwards form the northern
wall. This is the main entrance to the king\'s compound. In this compound or
village are the ju-ju compounds, palava house, king\'s house, and many houses for
the king\'s immediate followers and the ju-ju priests. It was in these ju-ju compounds
that the main sacrifices were carried out. To describe one of these ju-ju places will
be to describe all of them, as they only differed in position and size. These spaces
were about a hundred and fifty yards long, and about sixty broad, surrounded by a
high wall, and covered with a short brown grass. At one end was a long shed run-
ning the whole breadth of the enclosure and under this was the altar. The altar was
made by three steps running the whole length under the shelter of the shed; slightly
raised for some distance in the centre, on which raised portion were handsomely-

centre of several of these ju-ju places was an iron erection like a huge candelabra
with sharp hooks..... In most of the ju-ju compounds was a well for the recep-
tion of the bodies..... Behind these three main ju-ju compounds, lay the palava

house and the king\'s house, side by side. The former a large oblong building, with a
roof running over the side and end walls, leaving the centre open. The roof was of
galvanised iron, and down the south portion of it ran a hugh bronze serpent with a
most forbidding looking head. Red mud seats ran round the walls, for the use of

the chiefs taking part in the palava. The doors were covered with stamped brass, as
were also portions of the woodwork of the roof.

quot; The king\'s house was almost identical, but smaller, and had rooms leading off
it. The arch-way over the king\'s sleeping-place was decorated roughly with stamped

brass and squares of looking-glass. The remainder of the compound consisted of
store room, medicine house, and houses for the king\'s followers, as well as some other
ju-ju compounds. After which it straggled away into ruined and uninhabited houses,
used probably as burial-places for the men of note. Leaving the compound and
facing north there was immediately in front a clear space, forming so to speak, the

delta of the road leading to the water at Ikpoba. On the right was a crucifixion
tree. A huge piece of land ran away to the left, which seems to have been the
common burial-place of the town, that is, if merely laying down a dead body, or at
the most wrapping it in a piece of matting, can be called burial. . . . And yet the
town was not without its beauty of a sort. Plenty of trees and green all round, the
houses built in no set fashion, but each compound surrounded by its own bushes and
shady avenues. It seemed a place suggestive of peace and plenty ; let us now hope
it may one day become so. There is not much more in Benin to describe, Ojumo\'s
compound at the extreme west end was merely a small village, placed just where the
Gwato road led into the main avenue. It was a queer remnant of the old military
days of Benin, having the two great generals Ojumo and Ochudi, each guarding one
end of the town where the main roads from Gwato, Ologbo, and Sapoba led in ; and
grazing all about the place were bullocks and goats.

quot; Beyond one blacksmith\'s shop\' there was little sign of any native industry or
evidence of much trade with the interior, in fact, it is known that the king was ruin-
ing the country by placing a juju on nearly every article of merchandisequot; (pp. 86,
88, 90, 94, 96, 97).

The last description that has come into my hands is that of my brother, Dr.
F. N. Roth, late Medical Officer at Warri, and advance Surgeon to the main column
of the Punitive Expedition. He says :—

quot; Starting with the king\'s compound and houses and going up the main road on
the right, there is an immense wall 20 feet high and 3 or 4 feet at the base, and
perhaps 2 feet wide at the top. At the back of this there is a big compound or open
space, and it is entered through a doorway, the big door of which is lined with sheets
of brass with stamped figures of men and leopards\' heads. The big wall must be
about 100 yards long, perhaps more.

quot;Passing through the central door we come to the compound; in it there is a
bilt;^ tree and at its foot there is a deep pit. These pits are found in all the compounds
and some of them are more than forty feet deep. The original object of digging the
pits is said to be the obtaining of the clay of which the walls are built. On the other
side of the compound facing the big wall is another wall partly roofed in, and along
this is a row of brass heads, and on the top of every head is a long, heavy, weather-
worn finely carved ivory tusk ; near them and against the wall were the wooden rattles
with which, as we were told, captives were killed by being struck on the neck ; be-
tween the brass heads were brass castings of men on horseback, in armour, in chain
mail, etc., and many other articles which have since become familiar to us. All the
articles were thickly encrusted with blood, and a fearful smell pervaded the place.
These compounds repeat themselves ad lib. and so do the pits, ju-ju figures, blood,
and stench.

quot; Through this compound to the right is the king\'s palaver or meeting house,
where the king used to sit to meet strangers, etc. The first thing which strikes one
here is the metal roof on which, just facing you, is an immense brass snake crawling
down with its big head close to the gutter of the roof. There is a sloping roof of

1 Dr. F. N. Roth tells me Commander Bacon is in error here, and that instead of the one black-
smith\'s shop, there was in the city a whole street of blacksmiths\' shops. These shops had the
appearance of cattle pens, and unless anyone looked closely into them and saw the remains of the
work and the tools, he would think they were intended for mistals.

Müntz metaP all round this compound, leaving the centre of the compound open to
the air and skies. This place is fairly lofty, and all the rafters are of wood carved
with rough figures; some of the rafters have been covered with brass sheeting on

which figures have been punched. The roof is supported by over a hundred pillars
made of bronze sheets rivetted together, giving a very good effect. Round the sides,

This palaver house was being finished during Mr. Cyril Punch\'s last visit in 1901, when the
king informed him that he had obtained rough carpenters from the Jekri chiefs for making a big
house ; he said he was using a lot of iron sheets and Müntz metal, which Mr, Puncb had previously
obtained for him.

hundreds of people can find accommodation. It is entered through a big doorway,
the door of which is covered with brass-work, fitted with an ivory catch attached to
an ordinary native chain. Here were found the king\'s boxes, huge chests, practically
dug-outs, with compartments made by leaving partitions as the hollowing process
proceeded.

quot; Close to the palaver house on the right is the king\'s house. At the entry there
is a huge wooden door made of horizontal slabs with two pieces of wood diagonally
fixed on one side to hold them together; on the fiat side it is covered with sheets of
thin brass ornamented by means of a punch or blunt chisel, with a sort of guilloche
pattern ; it has the usual ivory catch. The house (or compound) is about sixty by
twenty-five feet, and like the palaver house, it is furnished with a pent-roof all round.
The roof is of galvanised iron and is supported by heavy rafters, etc., much resem-
bling the oak roofings of old houses in England. The rafters are carved, but most

Figs. 170 and 171.—Sketch of section of wall and of the roof timbering in a compound of the
king\'s house, Benin, by Dr. F. N. Roth.

of them are covered with the figured brass sheetings which are so characteristic of
the king\'s buildings, and are kept polished. The soil is banked up all round the
walls to the height of about eighteen inches, and wide enough for people to he down
on all along. This embankment gives the centre of the house the look of a hollow,
after the manner of the old Roman villas, and, of course, open to the skies. Round
the walls are doorways leading to dark cupboards, or to queer dark passages which
lead to kitchens, at least I judge so, because we saw little fires had been built m
recesses in the walls. Such houses are very cool during the day but rather warm at
nic^ht. The walls appear to be of sun-dried clay mixed with sand ; they are generally
fluted horizontally on both sides, but on the inner side the surface is very much
smoothed and occasionally polished.quot;\'

1 Landolphe, at Gwato, says the houses built of clay were polished inside with much art (L, 330)

Dr. Felix N. Roth has also given me sketches (figs. 170 and 171) of the method of
building the walls and roof as they appeared to him when he slept in the king\'s com-
pound on the first night of the arrival of the Punitive Expeditions. A represents the
upright post or style; B the tie or binding beam; C the king post; D and E rafters
(in same parts D had the position of D^ when there would be no king post nor ridge).
The style post A was about 8 feet high, the divan F running round the inside
of the wall was about 3 feet wide and perhaps as high. He adds that while the
Expedition was engaged in pulling down many of the walls for purposes of defence,
he did not notice that any sticks or timber had been used to strengthen the walls, the
only timber in the construction being that required for door-ways, windows and roofs.
In some cases the clay appeared to have been simply lumped together to make_the

walls, but in others quot; I noticed that when the natives built the walls they made them
in layers about two feet high, as shown in sketch. Each layer seemed to have been
dried first before the next was built on to it. The big compound walls were all
thicker at the base than at the top, but I did not notice this to be the case with
regard to the ordinary walls of the huts, although the walls of the king\'s compound
being very high were likewise thicker at the base. All the walls were thatched to
withstand washing away by the rains.quot;

In the Supplement to the Illustrated London News for March 27th, 1897, there is
a quot; View of Benin quot; [City] (fig. 172) from one of the sacrificial trees, by Mr. Seppings

Wright, to which are added the words quot; The city consists of a number of huge
compounds of oblong shape, surrounded by walls made of red mud.quot;

A view of the city (fig. 173) quot;from a sketch by an English Officer,quot; appeared in
Globus (Vol. Ixxii., 1897, p, 310) ; at first sight it appears to be almost identical with
that given by Mr. Wright. Both these illustrations have, however, the same
obvious errors, viz., the tops of the walls are not covered with thatch and the out-

lines of the streets are too straight. The illustration on p. 165 (fig. 163) from a
photograph taken by Dr. Allman, Chief Medical Officer, Niger Coast Protectorate,
shows how the walls are, if not actually thatched, at least covered with grass or
leaves to prevent damage by rain. Were the walls to be left without this capping
they would soon be washed away. As regards the straightness of the streets it is
one of the characteristics of a negro builder or joiner that he cannot make a strai-^ht

line, and Europeans find it a most difficult matter to get him to make one even
tolerably straight. Othervi\'ise I am informed the two illustrations give fairly
accurate views of the city. The httle windowless store-closets which, according to
Burton, always lead out of the sitting room, do not however, appear to do so in the
in the above illustrations, nor have we in any case any indication of the
grooving to resemble brickwork. For comparison with the above illustrations I give
one of a view (fig. 174) of the little town of Ese Ado in Yoruba land, (the Binis are
closely allied to Yorubas) taken from a rock at a height of about 300 feet, by the
Rev. J. T. F. Halligey, who has kindly placed it at my disposal. As to the manner
in which walls are built in the Yoruba country he tells me : quot; The only method I
have noticed in building walls is for the builders to take large lumps of clay, about as
large as a human head, and with as much force as possible fling the lump on the wall.
As he goes round the wall a course is formed, not very regular as you may suppose,
but still the courses are very plainly seen. Before the clay has fully hardened the
two sides of the rising wall are pared with a cutlass. Sometimes the inside is also
plastered over, in which case the wall courses are then covered.quot;\'

The general style of the architecture of the habitations so far described, is met
with as already indicated almost throughout Yoruba, and in slightly modified form
right across the country as far as the Kameruns. Thus writing as far back as 1848,
W. F. Daniell (Jour. Ethnol. Soc., 1848, I., pp. 219, 290), after calling atten-
tion to the inferior workmanship of the houses of the natives of the middle and upper
classes of Old Calabar, says :—

quot; The peculiar novelty of these tenements, is the different courtyards, or open
compartments, in which all are more or less sub-divided, the whole of which if thrown
open would occupy no small space of ground. Evidence of laborious and not
unskilful attempts to bestow an air of comfort are perceptible on all sides, and more
than ordinary attention appears to have been paid to their constant purification and
cleanliness. These courts are usually of a quadrangular form, the first or external
one having a small doorway or porch for the purpose of ingress or egress. Some are
fitted up with a series of petty chambers close to the walls, in which the inferior
household slaves five, and others have a matted roof projecting a few feet from the
wall surrounding the area, which forms, if I may use the expression, a kind of
sheltered corridor. In the centre of these courts the ground is excavated to about a
foot in depth, corresponding to the eaves of the roof; the remaining space being
elevated in the same proportion by a hardened composition of sand and clay, much
employed by most of the natives of Western Africa. Adjoining these clayey
partitions, and almost encompassing the square, the cement work [«c] is further
elevated to the height of two feet, and dyed on the top a deep jet black. On
important occasions it is covered with mats and grass cloths. The inner surface of
the walls is adorned with curious and elaborate arabesque designs, in which red,
yellow, black, and white pigments are blended with all the artistic skill of native
professors. In the middle portion of the excavated area of the inner square, there
is frequently planted a small tree, which bears a beautiful purple campanulate flower.
At its root is always embedded a skull, near which are small bowls with other Egbo
symbols. This human memento is occasionally to be found at the entrance of the
interior chambers of the courtyards.quot;

1 This method of flinging lumps of clay is that adopted in the fire-clay works of Halifax and
elsewhere, when heavy articles such as mangers are being made.

The northern Hmits of the Yoruba style of architecture may probably be taken
where that of the conical huts commences ; thus at the extreme end of the Niger
Coast Protectorate that hmit would be between lats. 8° and 9° on the westward
trend of the Cross River, where Captain Beecroft\'s party were surprised to see
conical huts (Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc., XIV., 1844, p. 275). On the east we have this
style of architecture in the nearer back country of the Kameruns, as shown by
Captain Hutter (fig. 175). On the Niger the limit would be at Adda Mugu, con-
siderably north of Abo, where as Allen and Thompson found in 1841, quot;the huts
were, for the first time, of the peculiar form which prevails in the interior, namely,
circular, with high, conical thatched roofs. All below this town are square or
oblong.quot; (Narrative of Expedition, 2 vols. London, 1848, I., 274). To the west
the northern limit is apparently in one locality at Egbe, in the Yagbe district, N.E.
of Aiede, as can be gathered from Capt. D. J. May\'s journal of his travels in Yoruba
and Nupe countries in 1858.\' (Jour. Roy. Geogr. Soc. XXX., i860). At Ilesha
(N.E. of Ibaden and Abbeokuta) he says : quot; The Chief\'s house is imposing in height
and size, regularly built, and really looks like a palace in Africa. After half an
hour\'s waiting in an outer courtyard, surrounded by a numerous and anxious crowd,
I was ushered farther into its recesses into a spacious square, with a piazza round it.quot;
(pp. 217-8). At Aiedi (still N.E.) quot;The Chief was seated under a piazza on one
side of a spacious square ... I was desired to seat myself under the piazza opposite
him, and our conversation was then conducted by a party of three or four running

between us.quot; (p. 224). Egbe (in
Yagbe district, N.E. of Aiede)
consists of two distinct parts, ap-
proaching the style of the towns
on the Kwora in rudeness and
closeness of construction, and
general foulness, and showed a
curious amalgamation of the round
built houses of that locality with
the square characteristic of the
interior; and as a farther symptom
of approach to the river I observed
armlets of plates of ivory super-
seding the solid ones quot; (p. 225).^

There is consequently a limit to
this form of building to the north
and east. In the north-west (West-
ern Sudan) there is quite a differ-
ent style of architecture. Take

1nbsp;The Dahomey King\'s compounds at Calinma, south of Abomey, were very much Hke the
Benin compounds, but curiously enough, at Abomey the king\'s bedchamber was a circular detached
room with a conical roof (see Norris pp. vii-viii).

2nbsp;Naturally on frontier towns the architecture would be mixed, for instance R. A. Freeman
writes of Bontuku :— \' It was very curious to observe how each of the builders adhered to his
national type of dwelling—reproducing in miniature the houses that were to be found in his native
town or village. Thus the Fantis raised little oblong huts with high pitched roofs and gable ends ;
the Houssas, little beehive-shaped dwellings with a small hole for a door way, while others built
circular huts of a conical form with high pointed roofs.quot; (Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman,
London, 1892, p. 345).

Series of illustrations of buildings in the Sudan, to show the wide difference in the architecture of the Sudan and that of the Bini or the true
negroes.

for instance the walls of Segou, or of the Mosque at Timbuctu (figs. 176 and 177).
No buildings could be more unlike. The Western Sudan buildings have more
batter and the finish is vertical, as shown by the flat pillars or pinnacled buttresses,
which as in our Gothic may have been introduced because the building material is in
itself not sufficiently cohesive, or to strengthen the walls where windows are
introduced. Captain Binger (Du Niger au Golfe de Guinée, Paris, 1892) shows
these butresses to be widespread by the numerous illustrations he gives (figs. 178 and
179), but they are quite unknown in Benin. On the other hand, there is a superficial
resemblance between Captain Binger\'s view of Kong (I., 295) and Dr. Dapper\'s
view of Benin, due no doubt to the pyramid-like towers common to both towns in
the illustrations. The suggestion that the Benin habitations have architecturally a
Roman origin seems precluded by the fact that they are cut off to the north by the
Haussa conical type, although of course the Haussa might have not been originally
where they now are, so that an outler of Roman civilisation might have stretched right
down to Benin. But these hypotheses are too remote for us to base any serious
conclusions on them.

Fig 180. Sketch plan of the king\'s
compound by Mr. E. P. S. Roupell.
A Altar.
B Big door.

This sketch is typical. There were
about thirteen such compounds each sacred
to a defunct king, and the whole space so
occupied formed the king\'s quarters.

Messrs. Reed and Dalton (Antiquities p. 8) after dismissing the notion of a
Roman origin for the open court, think it quot;is more natural to suppose that it arose
from the need of ventilating and lighting windowless rooms, or from the practice of run-
ning a verandah round a small courtyard, into which the doors of inner apartments opened.
I am more inclined to think it arose from a modification of what is now well-known as the
Gold Coast house, described as follows by Geo. Macdonald: quot; Many huts require no door,
the fourth side of the house being entirely open to the winds of heaven. When this
is the case the habitation consists very often of three or four distinct huts enclosing
a compound with their open sides turned towards the centre, the whole being en-
closed with a pallisade of bamboo with a door or gate at one angle. In the centre of
this compound the cooking is done, etc., etc.quot; (The Gold Coast, London, 1898, p. 81).
A development of such a compound by means of a fourth house and the drainage of
the centre brings us to the Benin habitations. That such buildings are likewise
common to the Gold Coast is shown in the illustrations kindly placed at my disposal
by Mr. Graham Nicholas.

But the chief point of interest is not so much the outward appearance as the
arrangement of the inhabited building inside the four large walls, and here we leave

the negro methods and strangely enough, enter upon foreign ground. In spite of the
outward resemblance the enclosures, for instance at Ese Ado, are simply oblong
structures with a covered lean-to all round, like the ordinary Benin compounds, but
in so far as the internal arrangements, that is to say the actual dwelling-houses, are

Fig. 181.—Plan of an ordinary well-to-do negro\'s house, at Labadie, Gold Coast, typical
of the country, made from the actual dwelling by Mr, Graham Nicholas, late Public Works
Department, Gold Coast. Note quot;The outlines have been drawn straight, but it must be
remembered practically all the lines are crooked, as no untrained negro is able to make a
straight line.quot; G.N.

concerned, the Benin arrangements are not met wdth in Yorubaland excepting in the
town of Onde, which is close to Benin. It is therefore most probable that we have
to look for a Portuguese origin of what first struck Burton as being Roman.

Figs, 182. 183, 184.—Sections and elevation of the dwelling at Labadie, by Mr. Graham Nicholas,

Of these internal arrangements Mr. Punch writes me: quot; There was usually an
entrance court giving on to the street by a big door. There were two recesses as in
the drawing. In one were ranged the lares and penates, and the father of the household
celebrated yearly rites in memory of his father. Through the other, recess, by a
door, entrance was gained to the first patio or reception room. The thatch sloped
down to the centre and drained into the cistern, exactly as one sees in the houses of
Pompeii. The drains were made very ingeniously. While the house was being
made, a gutter was dug from the central water tank, through the floor and under the
wall of the house. Stems of pawpaws [Cavica papaya) were cut and laid in the drains
and then earth was stamped, filhng up the gutter to the level of the floor. In a few
days, the pawpaw stems, being very succulent, shrunk in drying and were easily
drawn out, leaving a good drain pipe.

Fig. 185, Sketch plan of a typical
Benin house by Mr. C. Punch,
A Cooking places.
B Store rooms.

C Pluviarium in private quarters.
C Pluviarium in Reception Court.
D Porch.
E Juju altar.
F Entrance court.

quot; The first room was the largest and seemed to be public property for all the
world and his wife. Slaves and the lower members of the family lived in it, and
strangers camped there, prisoners were chained to the floor, and in Ewagwe\'s house
there was a ju-ju altar, and I was much struck by his having a tame parrot on a
tree in the bath, tank, or whatever one calls it. Two kinds of trees were grown in
these places : Newbotildia Icevis, the akoko, common as a boundary mark in Yoruba,
sacred to the iron god, Ogun ; one also frequently met with Evythvina umhrosa, with
its panibles of crimson blossom, sacred in Yorubaland to the hunters\' fetish.

quot; In the second room the family lived, though the women had a house of
their own built on a similar plan, but enclosed in the same compound. The divisions
between the rooms were wide, and contained in their width either stoves or sleeping
alcoves, exactly recalling again the cubicles in a Pompeian house. The store-
rooms and alcoves were ceiled with rafters, and over the rafters split bamboos, and
then clay forming almost fireproof closets.

quot; The stores were locked with native locks, the principle of which was a bolt
working through staples. The key was a piece of iron with a piece bent at right
angles. The keyhole was at different lengths above the bolt, so that only the key of
a right length would reach the bolt. Practically I do not think the locks were much

protection. The alcoves used for sleeping contained all kinds of weird jujus, and the
ceiling and jujus were painted black with a kind of pitch got from the ground, prob-
ably the same as mentioned in the digging of the pits in the king\'s compound.

Figs. 186 and 187.—Ivory carvings said to be door bolts from the king\'s compound,
in City. The bolt (fig. 186) is 12 in. (30-5 cm.) long, the bolt (fig, 187) gf in. (24\'8 cm.) long.

quot; The master of the house often had a third room where he could be quite quiet
and private. At the end was an open court with cooking stoves, amp;c., and often a

small garden in which tobacco was grown for home use. The doors were hung as
in the sketch, the socket at the bottom being either the bottom of a glass bottle or else
a split coconut shell. They were made of rough hewed slabs nailed with iron spikes. A
cord of tie tie {Calamus Barter) ran through a staple and supported a block of wood,
the weight of which kept the door closed.quot;

Coming to the question of the towers, turrets or pyramids, Mr. C. Punch writes
me: quot;There was at one of the compounds when I was there, the remainsof a two-
storied gateway which might look hke a tower. The towers might possibly be a piece

Speaking of this, the high pitched gables
are a feature on the Alaffin\'s house at
Awyaw, and also in Ife, the sacred city
of the Yorubas. I think they are called
Kolbe, and are made by simply raising the
ridge post at one end to form a very high
gable, in memory of a defunct king. They
are not really impressive, but might be
taken for towers by a strong imagination,
or these structures may have had their
origin in the roofs of the entrance gates. The entrances to the compounds and the
gates from one compound to another were in my time always unroofed square
chambers higher than the rest of the walls. It might therefore be that in former
times these chambers were roofed, and, if so, the roofs might have had a pyramid
form and appeared as turrets, the royal emblem the bird being placed on top.

The big ditch mentioned by D.R. is thus spoken of by Roupell officials : quot; The
big ditch was dug by Oguola. He and his people came from God. When God had

born them, Oguola called his boys and saw they were very plenty, and he had no
work for them to do. Then he told them to dig the ditch round the town. He did
not dig it for war, but so that men might see it when he was dead, and say : see the
ditch Oguola dug—we do not know why it is stronger and deeper on the northern
side of the town, so he dug it and so it is.quot; The wall and ditch are not mentioned in
the Portuguese chronicles in so far as I can ascertain, but of Gwato Pereira (Esmir-
aldo, p. 72) says it has quot; no walls but a deep fosse all roundquot; ; as Gwato, the trading
port of Benin, was entrenched, it is not likely that the larger city would be in an un-
defended state and hence the officials implied statement, that the walls and ditch
were built before the advent of Europeans, is no doubt correct. Landolphe, as we
have seen, says it was 20 feet deep.

quot; This ditch,quot; Mr. Roupell tells me, quot; is much deeper on the northern side than
on the southern side. This one would account for by the fact that if any attack was
threatened, it would come from the side of the Kukurukus—the northern neighbours.
Judging from the size of the immense trees growing inside it, it must be very old. It
is particularly steep and deep in the rear of the king\'s compound. Travelling in a
northerly direction from Benin towards the Ekiti country, several more smaller
ditches are passed, cut at right angles to the road ; these may in former times have
surrounded towns and villages.

quot;So too,quot; says Dr. F. N. Roth, quot;on the Ologbo road to Benin the Punitive
Expedition came across a deep trench about three miles from the king\'s compound.
It was so very evenly made that several of us thought we had reached the old ditch
round Benin city. It is approximatively of the section shown (fig. 192). At another
place about twelve miles from the king\'s compound, some members of the

expedition marched for several miles in a ditch of similar formation to the above.quot;

quot; There vi^as also a big ditch
crossing the road between Benin
and Ugwini, about seven miles
from the city. It was said to have
been made by a Benin king to
ward off the attacks of the Ugwini
people, who at one time were
powerful, but who in these latter
days were of no importance, and
who were absolutely oppressed and tyrannised over by the Ukoba quot; (C. Punch).

Huge carved tusks—Two grades of carving—Carving tools (196)—Carved ivory staff—Sphyrelaton
work—Ivory masks (199)—Embryo scroll work—Leopard mask—Ivory statuettes—Carved ivory
box (201)—Ivory armlets—Ivory sistra (205)—Coco nut decoration—Pressure drum—Carved
wood work (209)—Horseman—Casket—Looking glass—Absence of floral ornamentation—
Zoological forms—Progress or degradation—Foreign elements—Characteristics of Bini carv-
ing (213)—Primitive designs—Belongs to age of realistic representation

As the art of carving in ivory and wood had attained a fairly high stage of progress
in Benin, it will not be out of place to devote a few pages especially to it. Ainong
the large variety of curiously carved objects discovered in Benin not the least curious
are the huge carved tusks, of which large numbers were brought home when the
/Punitive Expedition had done its work. Reference to these tusks has been made in
Chapter VI., on Fetish and Kindred Ceremonies. Most of the tusks found in situ
were covered with a thick coating of congealed human and animal blood ; other tusks
were found buried, some of them in a very decayed condition. The tusks vary in
length up to 5 feet and over, and are in themselves magnificent specimens of ivory,
speaking eloquently of the pacific life elephants must have led in former times to
have enabled them to live long enough to produce such splendid ivory.The orna-
mentation to which the large tusks have been subjected, while preserving their form,
is of two grades: the one severely plain and the other extremely decorative in its
effect. The former consists of a series of three to five incised bands of plait pattern,
a design very common in West Africa, placed at intervals (fig. 194), the bands
diminishing in width as they approach the tip of the tusk. The embellishment is
consequently plain but elegant, and does not call for further remark. The other
grade (fig. 195) consists in covering the whole tusk with a succession of boldly-carved,

2nbsp;quot; There are few places in Western Africa, from Sierre Leone to the Cape of Good Hope, but
where this article, obtained from the elephant and seamorse or sea-cow, is to be purchased, although
more abundantly in some places than others. At the different towns on the windward coast a small
quantity only is to be procured. The country extending from Cape Palmas to Cape Three Points
trades in this article to a considerable amount, and from the latter place to Accra the trade in it is
very limited. From Accra to Bonny the trade in it is again extensive, particularly at Popo and
Benin. Cameroons is celebrated for its ivory, which is of a very superior quahty, being less porous
and more free from flaws than that which is obtained at the former place. A very considerable
quantity is procured on the coast of Angola, particularly at Ambrize, Loango, and Majumba.quot;
Capt. John Adams, Cape Palmas to the River Congo, London, 1823.

Bird brought home twenty-eight tusks on his first expedition. Landolphe on one occasion
in 1789 sent home 20,000 pounds of ivory (p. loi), and remarks on another occasion that the king
had over 3,000 tusks piled up in one of his courts, of which Landolphe obtained one weighing fifty
pounds.

grotesque figures—human, animal, and symbolic—giving the tusks a rich, embroidered-
like look, the thick ends being finished off with a suitable diamond-pattern belt (fig.
ig6), and the tip finished with equally appropriate carvings in the shape of a mascle-
studded foolscap (fig. 197), or a capsule supported by elongated cowries (figs. ig8 and
igg). The background appears to be cut out to a uniform depth, and in spite of the
multiplicity of figures there is neither overcrowding nor overloading. The motif, if
such it can be called, of the ornamentation would appear to be partly emblematic of
the Bini\'s belief, and partly representative of the court ceremonial. The chief groups
of figures, which repeat themselves with variations, and are placed one above another
along the convex surface of the tusk, may be said to be a mythical hybrid, a central
figure with lower limbs developing into cat-fish or snakes (fig. 199), or a chief sup-
ported by two courtiers (fig. 200), groups which are widely diffused throughout the
carvings and castings. These principal figures are surrounded over the whole surface
by other figures representing functionaries (figs. 201, 202, 203, 204), while the spaces
between are filled in by animal forms, which are more or less of a fetish or symbolic

nature, or by heads, rosettes (figs. 205, 206, 207, 208), etc. The whole arrangement
is carefully carried out, notwithstanding the crudeness and ruggedness of the carving,
and although it can hardly be called a design, where there is such a want of cohesion
in its components, the general effect is exceedingly good, and the effect is certainly
heightened by the above-mentioned belt tastefully set at the bottom, which gives a
decided finish to the whole work.

As to the methods followed in the carving we have no records, but Mr. C.
Punch, who saw some tusks half completed, says no tracing or drawing was applied
first; the carver, who was a court official, a Ukoba, made his design as he went on,
using no model; and the only implements he saw used were jack knives and ham-
mers.

The carved ivory staff (figs. 209 to 211) appears to be a piece of symbolic
sculpture probably used as a sceptre, a class of insignia very common in Benin. The
execution of the detail is rough—more rugged perhaps than the carved tusks ; never-
theless there is considerable originality in the design, and it is especially remarkable
as showing perhaps an early stage of the application of hammered metal work to
carved work. The central figure represents an elephant supporting an inverted cone,
which is furnished with a cup-like excavation at the top, a couple of iron staples,
which may have served as the hinge of a lid, being driven through the lip of the cup.

The elephant is flanked on both sides by a free device, consisting of a convention-
alised cat-fish grasped by a hand, of which the forearm terminates in a snake\'s head
holding a smaller cat-fish in its jaws. The elephant\'s pedestal, carved front and back
(the bird on the back (fig. 212) bearing considerable likeness to the well-known birds\'
beak ornament on Norman doorways), rests on the staff proper, which consists of a
large snake\'s body, of which the head holds another cat-fish. The ornamentation of this
large snake is formed by coiling round it the body of a slimmer snake, whose one
head holds a hand on the front of the pedestal, whilst its other head, instead of a
tail, points downward in the direction of the larger snake\'s head. The check pattern
interstices on the cup and on the elephant\'s body are filled in with what appear to be
exhausted percussion caps rammed tight into position. The forearms, above referred
to, flanking the elephant, as well as the stalT proper, are twined round with a thin
strip of iron ; the design on the front of the pedestal appears at one time to have
been inset with strips of iron in a similarly crude fashion; in fact, so crudely has
this been done that these additions can hardly have beautified the carving to the
smallest extent. This iron is not fitted on by rivets or pins, but by means of its ends
being rammed tight into small holes, drilled specially somewhat deeper than the
background of the carvings to receive them. The only true example of sphyrelaton
is shown round the neck (fig. 209) of the large snake, where we find a thin brass
plate hammered out into scroll pattern ; the portion of the ivory immediately under-
neath the brass is left quite plain. When new, this brass necklace must have
enriched the effect of the carving in no small degree.

The two ivory masks (figs. 213 and 214) show elaborate care in the chiselling, and
are noteworthy as examples of human European heads breaking into embryo scroll work.
This is seen in the tiara, formed of alternate catfishes and human heads round the
one face, and of human heads only round the second face. Animals such as
catfishes, snakes, etc., are continually met with as decorative adjuncts, apparently
quite apart from their fetish or symbolic value, but it is rare to meet with human
heads tending to evolve into scroll work, and their appearance here may point to
development after the advent of the Portuguese. The pupils of the eyes of the
masks are let in with metal, and the foreheads are disfigured by the two coarse
grooves once occupied by strips of metal; it has been suggested that the latter
insertions are tatu marks, but such cannot be the case as similar insets are met with
in widely different objects, as for instance, metal caskets and boxes. The beards of
the masks have at some period been adorned with strips of metal similar to those on
the ivory staff. The arrangement of the hair over the forehead is. curious ; it may
be intended to represent a mail cap, or it may be meant to show curly hair, pressed
like honeycomb or basalt into hexagons.

The leopards mask (fig. 215) in carved ivory is considerably conventionalised.
It is, unfortunately, much worn, but it bears evidence of excellent workmanship in
the clean way in which the teeth are depicted. The leopard\'s spots appear to have
been indicated by inserting, into holes drilled right through, copper or iron rivets
similar to those used for splicing leather belting ; one such rivet is still in situ.

The armless ivory statuette (fig. 216) is characteristically Bini, and appears to be
of considerable age judging by the perished state of the ivory. The loin cloth is
ornamented with what look to be masks, and as some of the bronze horsemen from
Benin have their jackets similarly decorated, we may conclude that one function of
the numerous ivory and brass masks of human, leopard, or crocodile representation

was to serve either as an adornment or fetish on native clothing. It should be
mentioned that all the masks in ivory or brass are furnished with lugs or rings for
attachment. A comparison of the features of the face of this statuette with those of

the neighbouring Sobo wooden fetish (fig. 217) shows striking differences in type and
execution, and thereby offers a field for speculation as to the causes of these differ-
ences. One of the causes is not far to seek. Until the destruction of Benin the
Sobos were subject to the city, and their country was a happy hunting-ground for
the capture of slaves for human sacrifices, of which we have heard so much, and thus

instead of spreading tlie partially developed art culture of which she was mistress,
Benin used her power to destroy that little which her neighbours once possessed ;
hence the crude figures of the fetish illustrated. These ivory statuettes were not un-
common, see (fig. 218 and 219).

The carving on the ivory box lid (fig. 220) differs from that on the other objects
in its possession of a historical motif, represented by two Europeans faUing foul of
each other; proving that Europeans were occasionally wanting in the virtue of unani-
mity, the absence of which is generally considered a characteristic of the negro, and

Fig, 223.—Ivory bracelet cut more in the
nature of incised work than carved work, in
two cylinders. Height 5jin, (i4-gcm.) British
Museum.

moreover, accounting to some extent for the loss of prestige and ultimate withdrawal
of both Portuguese and Dutch from Benin city. The figures are bold and lifehke,
even the unamiable expression on the faces of the combatants is portrayed in a vivid
manner.

In fig. 221 which appears to depict only one carved ivory armlet, we have really
two armlets, one being carved inside the other, out of the same piece of ivory, with
only the space of a knife-blade\'s thickness between them. When moved, the two
armlets rattle against each other. The ornamentation consists of four figures of a
king or chief, belonging to the outer armlet, and four sets of two hands (upper and
lower) placed between the human figures belonging to the inner armlet. The whole
shows rather fertility on the part of the artist in planning a difficult piece, and con-
summate skill in its elaboration than any beauty in design ; it is, nevertheless, a
piece of work, which, for the ingenuity displayed in its production, cannot fail to be
admired. Figs. 222 and 223 represent similar pieces of work.

The gem of all the carved ivory work is to be seen in the highly ornate fragment
(figs. 224 and 225) on an article which had originally the shape of a brass sistrum, con-
sisting of two bell forms, a larger and a smaller, grafted on to one handle. Its
delicate treatment differs considerably from the rugged workmanship of the staff
above described, but it errs in over-elaboration, and the plait-pattern background,
although in low rehef, is still too pronounced not to detract from the boldness of the
three figures. There are, however, good points, such as the blending of the two bell
forms into their common handle, the happy tapering of the ornamentation into the
Norman bird\'s beak, the increasing size of the side cusps as they rise to correspond
to the enlarged opening of the bell form, the truthfulness to nature in an essential
like the bust of the negro, all of which betoken a fair amount of artistic feeling. The
craftsman, who probably designed as he proceeded, must have revelled in the careful
execution of the smallest details. A similar article is illustrated in figs. 226 and 227.

Coconuts were another material on which the Bini displayed their ingenuity. On
one coconut there are four principal figures of which we give illustrations, viz., a
horseman (fig. 229), a drummer (fig. 230), an official (fig. 231) and an oil presser (fig.
232). The horseman has a curious scarf across his shoulder and breast, but he is not
enveloped in the usual leopard-skin jacket in which the mounted Bini figures are
made to appear ; his visible foot rests in a mediaeval stirrup, and the horse\'s head
is twisted round in a curious way to face the beholder. The drummer, with a sort
of cap of hberty on his head and with a beaming smile on his face, has a Yoruba
pressure drum (fig. 233) under his arm, and is holding the native curved drumstick
(fig- 234) in his right hand. This drum has a body shaped like an hour-glass, (fig. 235)
with skin drawn over both ends, held more or less taut by green hide thongs (fig.
236). When the drummer presses these thongs under his arm to their extreme
limit the skin is tightened, so that when struck its pitch is raised about two
octaves. The bottom of the coconut (fig. 237) where the feet of the figures
meet, is finished off by the representation of a snake; we have the artist\'s
truthfulness to nature in the spur-heeled feet of the figures—spur-heeledness being a
characteristic of the Bini and some other West African natives. The top of the
stopper is carved into the-form of a human face, and is attached to the nut by a well-
worn chain of European manufacture. The interest in this carving lies in its
demonstration of the adaptability of the native to perform creditably on a material
very different from ivory. Fair ingenuity is displayed in the manner in which the
figures are grouped on a confined surface without overcrowding ; in fact, the feature

of the work is the careful distribution and general freedom of treatment. The details
of the carving are throughout in low relief, remarkably clean and neat, and of a
uniform depth, a characteristic which is also found in the carving of the tusks above
described. The same carefulness in execution is shewn by the carving of the coco-
nuts illustrated in figs. 238, 239, 240 and 241.

A very large amount of carved wood-work was lost in the conflagration at Benin,
and that which has come under our notice cannot be said to rank very high. The
execution of the horseman (fig. 242) is crude to a degree, and reminds one very much of
the illustrations m Lander\'s journal of fetishes met with at Kiama (north-west of
Rabba and south-west of Boussa). The casket (fig. 243) is a not uncommon general
form which varies much in detail ; the pedestal represents cowries ; the ears are
covered with embossed brass work, and there are strips of brass of scroll pattern
(fig. 244) running down the bullock\'s face and round his nose, fastened on by small
brass staples. In the looking-glass door-frame (fig. 245) one might almost imagine
there was some humorous idea lurking in the figures of the three women and girls
but although the natives are laughter-loving, we have no evidence of their putting
this characteristic of theirs into material shape. The figure at the end of the line of
six females appears to be that of a guard similar to the one shown at the spigot end
facing the reader; so that one is inchned to think that the doorway barred the
entrance to the women\'s apartments. The object of the sliding panel may have been
to preserve the glass. There are three diff-erent plait patterns, one similar to a
Hittite pattern round the frame, and altogether it is a good piece of carved wood work.\'

^ With the exception of one possible foliage pattern which repeats itself with
variations, and the representation of the palm and its supposed offshoot the rosette,
appeanng on the metal-work dealt with in the next chapter, there is a total absence
of any attempt to delineate the flora of the country, hence the development towards
conventionalism can only be looked for in the representation of zoological forms. In
these there appears to be some progress or degradation, according as to whether the
result IS distortion in a measure due to incapacity on the part of the workman to
draw or carve that which he has set himself to do, as, for instance, in the leopards at
the foot of the fetish (fig. 199), or whether the result is modification of a set purpose
as m the case of the tiaras of the masks (fig. 213 and 214), which have been executed
by competent hands. The representations of the double cat-fish (fig. 208) belong
partly to the first series for they are badly carved, and partly to the second, because
the way m which the head and tail are juxtaposed show dehberate intention ; the
snakes and cat-fish, when they appear as recurved human legs (fig. 199), forming the
only piece of fancy we have observed, are undoubtedly symbolic and hence deliberate,
but belong to neither category.

We must, however, remember that there are considerable foreign elements in
Bmi decorative art which will account for many contradictions. Part of these
elements consist of European forms which the native mind, so prone to copy, has
not failed to hand down to us, and part, if not the actual foundation of the art, has

1 quot; There were many looking-glasses in wood frames, but most of these were destroyed on the
second day of occupation when the conflagration occurred. Where the glass was not square i e
irregular or round, etc., the frames had been made to suit the shape of the glass. On one such
frame there were carved hatless and bootless natives without mustachios, leading prisoners with
chains round their necks; the prisoners were clothed with boots, beefeaters\' hats and bold recurvins
mustachiosquot; (F. N. R),nbsp;®

Pressure Drum (fig. 233), Drumstick (fig. 234), and Body (fig. 235) (reduced). In
the possession of the Rev. J. T. F. Halhgey.

Figs. 238, 239, and 240—Carved coco-nut shell bearing carvings having reference to some court ceremony, specially
carved for Mr. C. Punch. In the possession of Mrs. Tudor.

been introduced from other portions of Africa. Speaking generally, the art may be
said to be characterised by boldness, freedom, clearness in execution, originality, due
perhaps as much to a grotesque mixture of subjects as to the method in which they
are handled, variety, a want of fantasy, and, excepting a few special cases, by primitive
designs. It has not by a long way reached the stage attained for instance in New

Guinea,\' for it limits itself to the delineation of isolated portions of religious or court
ceremonial, historical events, and individtial peculiarities of human, animal, or artifi-
cial form, and hence it belongs to that early period so aptly described by Henry
Balfour as quot; the age of reahstic representation.

1nbsp;The Decorative Art of British New Guinea, by Prof. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S., Dublin, 4to, 1894.

2nbsp;The Evolution of Decorative Art. London, Svo, 1S93, p. 7.

Fig 246.—Curious ivory group, representing a big chief
supported by lesser chiefs. Height 4^% (lo\'^ cm.) Liver-
pool Museum.

Fig. 249.—Ivory armlet obtained from Lokoja at the confluence of Benue and
Niger rivers, but judging by the arms emerging from the nostrils, of Benin make.
British Museum, Diam. 5iin. (13 cm.)

Fig. 253.—Bronze head of a young
woman. The finest piece of cast bronze
art obtained from Benin Height 15I in.
(40 cm.) British Museum.

Metal castings an unknown Bini art—Earlier references—How the ai tides were found—Extra-
ordinary variety—Bronze staff head (219}—A common motif—Conversion of the catfish—The
rosette—Delineation of Europeans\' limbs (220)—Representation of leopards\' spots (221)—A bold
piece of work—The sistrum—Flat bell forms—Female figures uncommon—D.R.\'s rattle—Crotals
—Method of casting crotals—An elegant piece of work—Brass casket (223)—A different style
of work (225)—Bronze vase—A spirited piece of work—Bronze jEgis or Mask (225)—Accident to
mould—Conversion of elephant\'s trunk—Method of producing the metal work (226)—Cifeperdue
process—Dr, Allman\'s find—C. Punch\'s views—Statement by Roupell\'s officials (229)—Local
legend as to introduction of the art—Clever artificers raised to nobility—Suggested
Portuguese origin (232)—Diminutive heads in backgrounds—Desire for increased artistic effect
—First Portuguese figures on plaques (233)—The art of bronze casting possibly not indigenous—
Style thoroughly African.

The taking of Benin city opened up to us tfie knowledge of the existence of a
hitherto unknown African craft, the productions of which will hold their own among
some of the best specimens of antiquity or modern times. Truly enough, in the
earlier accounts of Benin the bronze castings are mentioned, and as late as 1892,
Capt. Gallwey (Geogr. Jour., I., p. 130) speaks of them as brass ware of very clever
workmanship; while Lander, when at Jenna, about forty miles north of Badagry,
to the west of Benin, describes a curious brass instrument which, with our present
knowledge, we may ascribe to Benin art: quot;North of Alorie quot; [florin], he says, quot;on
one of the musical instruments were represented the busts of two men, with a tortoise
in the act of eating out of the mouth of one of them. The tortoise had a cock by its
side, and two dogs standing as guardians of the whole. These figures were all
ingeniously carved in solid brass .... hundreds of little brass bells were suspended
round their edges for ornament rather than for use, for being without clappers they
could produce no sound.quot; (Jour., Lond., 1832, I., p. loi). Nevertheless, neither
traveller, ethnologist, nor archaeologist dreamt of the stores, rich in quantity and
quality, as well as in variety, which have been brought to light.

The finding of the articles is thus described to me by my brother. Dr. Felix N.
Roth, late District Medical Officer at Warri and Advance Surgeon to the main
column of the Punitive Expedition:—quot; Every house had its alcove, of various dimen-
sions, and with or without steps leading up into it; on the top or only step was found
a variety of clay figures of men, women and children—like the natives—and
whitewashed, with strings of cowrie shells, twisted cotton, etc., hanging round their
necks. A large part of the loot was found embedded in the walls, and occasionally
in so testing the walls the soldiery put their hands into human corpses built up in

Portions of this chapter appeared in The Reliquary, July, 1898, and The Halifax Naturalist,
June, 1898.

them; some of the clay benches round the compounds also contained decaying human
bodies. In front of the entrance to all the houses there were conical-shaped earthen
mounds, which on being broken up were found to contain a few shells and beads.
Some of the altars were also said to contain human bones. On one large plaque I
noticed three European figures riding on donkeys (? small horses) and being pulled off
by the natives; some of the apparent Europeans were lying about and had deep gashse

in their bodies. In a group of bronze figures I saw dressed Europeans slaughtering
natives, the latter being bound, with their hands clasped as in prayer and kneeling ;
heads of other natives were depicted lying about on the ground. In one compound
by themselves I saw several good castings of bronze cocks (fig. 254), the feathers
having apparently been afterwards chased to show the marks. There were also some
very large heads (fig. 85), so heavy that one man could hardly lift them ; there were
also large copper snake heads, with open mouth, showing teeth well executed, equally
heavy. While I was still in the city two soUd cast brass figures were brought m.
They represented dwarfs typical of cretinism (fig. 255); they were without hats, and

simply clothed in drapery from shoulders to below the knees ; their weight was pro-
bably about 60 to 70 lbs. each. A curious brass jug (fig. 256), now in the British
Museum, in form somewhat like the early English jug lately recovered trom
Ashantee, but with three protruding flat feet, I obtained out of the wall at the back
of the king\'s compound.quot;

It will not be out of place here to discuss the points of a few of the best specimens
of the bronze and brass castings which I have been privileged to examine.

In fig. 257 we have the representation of the head of a staff, or wand of office,
of which various specimens now exist in European collections. The motif may be

briefly said to be a leopard supporting a
column on its back, a not uncommon motif
in the art world, as, for instance, the lions
and other animals supporting columns in
Moorish and in Assyrian architecture; it
is also not uncommon in the Yoruba country,
where a drum on top of a column is oc-
casionally supported by the back of an animal.
The uppermost portion of this staff head
consists of a band of engraved basket-work
pattern, with grained open ground. This
is followed by a band of fish-scale pattern,
ornamented at the lower corners of con-
tact by punched indents. On this band
there are an upper and lower series of orna-
ment in rehef. The upper series consists
of four faces: that on the front being probably of a negro, with the tribal
marks on the forehead, and that on the back being of a European, both faces being
in full and boldly and clearly executed, while the two faces on either side are of
Europeans, flat, poorly executed, and in profile with the mouth curiously twisted
into full face The lower series consists of a central European full face (below the
ne^ro face), flanked by two conventionalised mud or cat-fishes, whilst at the back we
have a rosette. It is an interesting study to trace in Bini art work the evolution of
the mud or cat-fish (evidently a representation of a spirit of considerable importance
from the two distinct early conventionalised forms to the almost vanished animal
represented by its whiskers alone in the later stages of ornamentation. In reply to
mv enquiry as to the probable species indicated by these representations. Dr. Gunther
writes me that the fishes are too much artistically distorted to allow of identification
but they give him the impression as if quot; the artist had in his mind the appearance of
Polybotevus UcUr, a common tropical African fish.quot; The rosette also plays an import-
ant part as a decoration, of an almost high art function in this and other bronzes from
Benin. We do not find it in rows or in borders, as architectural patera,, so frequently
to be seen in Egyptian or Assyrian sculpture, but dotted here and there as the fancy
of the artist inclines, mostly at the two or four corners of the plaques (hg. 4). it has
been suggested that this rosette is a representation of a palm, and there seems some
probability for the suggestion, for the ribs are all more or less feathered to look
palm leaves. But in some examples the rosette appears to be intended to resemble
a flower, and agrees herein with the Egyptian rosette (which we are told has a daisy
for its prototype), thus possibly but hardly betraying an exotic origin.

The European figures on either side of the leopard, in their flatness and general
crudeness are quite out of keeping with the rest of the work, and they contrast un-
favourably with the bold life-like attitude of the animal. One is almost inclined to
think that the same artist could not have modelled both the leopard and the two

distorted human figures. It is a character of nearly all the later human figures from
Benin that the heads are out of proportion large to the size of the body, while the
great length of the body is out of proportion to the size of the legs. The Bini almost
invariably give their fellow Africans sturdy lower limbs, while they do not do so

invariably to Europeans (figs, i amp; 4). The latter, of a certain type, are made to
stand on well-planted feet; while such Europeans as are in any way about to use
their guns have the legs bent and puny. The idea is, I think, taken from observing
Europeans lightly bending their knees when awaiting attack in a posture of defence,
or from observing European sportsmen much in the same attitude when about to
raise their arms to fire. In the United Service Museum there is an excellent bronze

statuette (fig. 5) from Benin showing a Portuguese
soldier with his legs in such a position.

In depicting the leopard the artist has indicated
its spots by means of a series of indents punched
in a circle; but on other examples of leopards from
Benin (fig. 258) the spots are indicated by flat rings
in relief.^ Strangely enough, flat rings in relief
are used by other Bini artists to represent the
natives\' woolly hair ! (fig. 259).

One cannot help admiring the boldness with
which this leopard has been modelled, or the firm-
ness with which his claws grasp the ground ; while
the vigorous way in which the tail is made to sup-
port the back of the column should be remarked.
Equally admirable are the suitable proportions into
which the bands of ornament are divided. The
uppermost band is kept well subdued, so that the
faces of the next band are brought more promin-
ently into relief ; while the fish-scale pattern of
the ground-work, on to which the faces have been
grafted, affords scope for the artist to extend his
design while still keeping the enchasing well
suppressed.

The next illustrations (figs. 260 amp; 261) represent
two views of what we may venture to call a sistrum.
It consists of what appears to be two brass bell
bodies, a larger and a smaller, welded together at
the tapering ends. African flat bell forms are
well known, and frequently they are seen welded
together as they are in the case illustrated (figs. log,
no amp; 262) ; the Bini sacrificial axe (fig. 61) offers
a further example, and so do the sistra in carved
ivory. On the face of the larger bell is represented
the now well known group of a king or chief with
a sort of Persian head-dress, with a harpoon-like
projection, perhaps a degenerated fleiir de lys,
at the top. He is supported on both sides by similarly dressed individuals. Some-
what above the level of his head the chief is flanked by two tablets, each upheld by a
hand emerging from the background ; such tablets are very common on the carved

^ In the figure of Ptah-Seker-Ausar the body is ornamented by circles formed of dots, and the
sarong by fish scale pattern very similar to that above described on the staff head (Walter Budge,
The Mummy, London, 1894, p, 216).

tusks, but where they appear in bronze ware, they are upheld by a female figure,
which is somewhat uncommon among the numerous figures represented in Bini art.
All these figures are in relief. The background is enchased with an elegant foliated
design, somewhat Bornean in character. The back of the bell has a similar relief,
excepting that the supporters are kneeling and turned towards the chief, while the
chief\'s legs are transformed into upturned semi-circles capped with the cat-fish head,
the whole resting on a horse\'s full face. The ground work has the same^ foliated
tracery as on the front. Below, in low relief, are two European profiles facing each

other and holding a ring between them. The smaller bell is faced with a negro in
high relief, shaking the rattle mentioned by D. R. (fig. 103). This man is dressed
in one of the many costumes found on the Bini wall plaques already referred to ;
level with his shoulders on either side, in low relief, are what are probably meant, I
believe, to be crocodiles\' faces, while his legs are flanked by crude faces in low relief
similar to those in fig. 257. The ground is filled in by the same enchased design as
on the larger bell. At the two edges of this bell are a series of small crotals. These
crotals are perfectly plain and hollow, and contain one or two small, more or less
globular, pieces of brass or copper, about 4 or 5 mm. in diameter. When the instra-
ment is shaken these produce a faint rattling, not a tinkling noise. In the collection
in the British Museum, plaque No. 171 shows a man in high relief with such a
sistrum in his hand. In the sistrum illustrated, the crotals have all been cast smooth,

but I have seen similar crotals, or hawk\'s bells, from other parts of the Niger Delta,
where they have been made of spiral wire, and others again where they have been
made apparently of rings of increasing size soldered together (see note fig. 126). In
two places on the larger bell where the casting of the crotals\' has failed, or where the
crotals may have been broken off, other crotals have been let in afterwards as substi-
tutes (but not as in some cases where extra ornamentation such as eyes, cat-fish, etc.,
have been made separately, then fixed on to the mould and caught up by the molten
metal, and thereby giving at first sight the impression that the casting has all been
made in one operation in one piece). Taken as a whole this sistrum is an elegant
piece of workmanship. The thoroughness of the details of execution is worthy of a

Japanese, even the inaccessible
and almost hidden portion of the
smaller bell being enchased with a
pattern (angular guilloche).

In fig. 263 we have represented
a curious casket, brought home
by Dr. F. N. Roth, and found
suspended from a wall in a house
in Benin. In design it is bold
and artistic; the high relief of
the bizarre face and the zig-zag
conventionalized serpents and tad-
poles being well thrown up by
the enchasing of the ground-work.
The proportions are all good, and
this is especially the case with the
enchasing of the inclined sides. If
the actual workmanship be some-
what crude, that is to say, if the
relief portions are roughly cast and
not finished off, and the enchased
work irregular, on the other hand
the great variety of the objects
exhibited without any overcrowd-
ing, the general grouping, the toned background, the real beauty of the major
portion of the design, show that the artist was a man of considerable taste, not only
judged as a negro, but as a man of culture. In fact but for the bizarre ornament-
ations in high relief, i.e., the human face, snakes, etc., the whole design is so
harmonious that it might be European, ancient Assyrian, or perhaps Phoenician in
origin, for its design has much in common with the designs on brass plates or cups
which have come down to us from those people. The heads in high relief on the
inclined sides appear to be those of bullocks, pigs, and of some strange unknown
animal. The top and bottom edges as well as the peripheries of the openings are
ornamented with a double plait in low relief ; below this decoration on the opening
of the lower half of the casket, there is a series of eight small staples, from which
probably a kind of small common hawk\'s bell was once suspended. The design on

1 Crotals, or hawk\'s bells, form quite a feature of Bini art, and appear in the most unlooked for
articles, either cast or suspended loose by links.

the inside of the lid is not so well enchased, perhaps on account of the difficulty of
using the tool—nevertheless, it is pretty. A stout brass chain is attached to the
casket by strong staples. The uses of the casket are not known.

In the three articles above described we have very good examples of some of the
higher class metal workmanship as found in Benin. They are also representative, in
so far as regards the execution, of the very homogeneous nature of the art metal

work of that city. We will now deal with two bronze, or brass, castings, equally
well executed, the examination of the workmanship of which, apart from any
question of gradation of skill, tends, I think, to show that either there was a period
when the workmanship and design underwent considerable modification, or that a
different class of artist may have been introduced.

In fig. 267 we have a bronze vase whose ornamentation consists of four mask-
like faces in high relief, two plain and two ribbed, set alternately ; above each of the

ribbed masks there is a conventionahsed decorated elephant\'s head without any trunk ;
above the plain masks there is a flat spiral on which rests an ornamental triangle on
its apex. Between the heads are placed bands of very plain guilloche, each band
consisting of alternate three or four rows each ; above and below, concentric circles of
imitation (? coral) bead-work, all in low relief, help to fill up the ground. The whole
arrangement forms a combination of decidedly artistic effect. There is no enchasing
or punching of any sort, nor is there much ornamentation, but that ornamentation is
designed in such a spirited manner as to produce a result which can hardly be sur-
passed by Europeans at the present day.

The cegis (fig. 268) is of cast bronze, and consists of an almost semi-circular
panel, surrounded by an imitation basket work border, all the designs being in high
relief. There appears, however, to have been some accident to the mould, for the

parts of this border do not meet and cross in the manner
evidently intended they should do. On the outer edge
of the border are eyelets from which (judging by
other articles from the Niger Delta) little hawk\'s bells
were at one time suspended. In the centre of the panel
is a mask in several respects similar to one on the vase.
An upward curling snake issues from each nostril, form-
ing a design probably of considerable symbolic meaning,
for we find it very common ; where the head of the
right hand snake should be, the casting has evidently
failed, for there is a hole right through the panel. Above
the mask are two almost circular holes, each bordered by
the body of a snake with a head at bot\'i ends ; these two
holes give the impression of having been made to look
through, so that the whole œgis may in itself have been
worn as a mask. Above these eye holes is a bullock\'s
head; behind and partly above this bullock\'s head is a
broad loop running parallel with the plane of the œgis, by
which it may be suspended. On either side of this head
are elephants\' heads with trappings falling over the fore-
head ; the upper ends of the tusks appear to be bound
round with cords ; the trunks turn outwards, and their car-
tilaginous rings are brought prominently into relief, while
their tips are roughly made into fingers holding a net
rattle, similar to the one described above. This human ending to the trunk is of very
common recurrence in Bini objects, and is mostly met with in a very degenerate
form on the carved ivory tusks, where the hand at the end of such trunks is made to
hold a feather, panel, or other object ; in the course of the trunk\'s degeneration into
an arm by itself, the tusks cross and join, and with the ears help to form an orna-
mentation, which looks hke an epaulette (fig. 269). At the bottom of the panel in
thé middle there is a small grotesque looking object, which may be meant for a frog.
I have met with this object both well and indifferently executed on other forms from
Benin. Below the central mask are two cat-fish, with their tails curving to right and
left towards the trunks, which in the smoothness of body, in shape of tail and head
whiskers, differ very materially from the cat-fish, whether conventionalised or not,
as depicted in fig. 270,
28

It is very clear that the style of the art of the vase and (sgis differs materially
from that of the staffquot; and sistrum. There is no enchasing or tooling whatever; there
is not even an engraved quarterfoil, a design almost universal on the plaques, and so
clearly shown on the illustration of the morion (fig. 271).

It may now be asked how were these articles produced, and whence did the
people learn the art ? They were made by the cire perdue process (Fortnum, Bronzes,
p. 19), that is to say on a core of hardened sand is moulded a wax model, which is
then carefully coated with clay ; the wax is melted out, and the molten metal is made
to take its place ; when cooled and the clay removed the rough casting is the result.
This is then generally finished by tooling, punching, etc. The articles are not always

cast in one piece, and wherever possible skill is shown in order to save metal or to
ensure lightness, by making protuberances concave at the back. In the staff head
described\\bove, the hard sandy core can still be scraped out, so that we have here a
decided proof as to the process employed. The ancient Etruscans and Greeks made
their castings solid, without any sand core, while the Bini were evidently adepts in
the superior method practiced by the ancient Egyptians. (Perrot and Chipiez,
History of Art in Anc. Egypt, London, 1883, 11., 202).

According to Dr. Allman quot;The manufacture of bronzes was evidently carried on
under the direct supervision of the kings, as the smelting pots and the clay and bees-
wax for moulding, etc., were all arranged in a compound adjacent to the palace.
Several moulds in various stages of completion were found here ; those ready for
casting represented when broken the following appearance. A mould of special clay

formed tfie base, over this a lillt;eness of what was required was beautifully modelled
in beeswax, and outside this a covering of \' potters clay,\' the whole being wrapped in
ordinary mud of mortar. I can only conjecture the final process to complete the
operation, i.e., the mould, after being sufficiently sun-dried, is transferred to the

smelting pot and completely submerged in the molten metal, which takes the place
of the wax, and the object is accomplished.quot; On the other hand, Mr. Punch does
quot; not think the bronze castings were done under the direct supervision of the king, as
the latter\'s personal staff consisted of his bodyguard, his executioners, his handy-
craftsmen, but did not include bronze workers for the bronze castings which were

done elsewhere. I do not think any of the large castings were done in our days but
am not certain. They claim that they were still made, and I saw some fairly large
quadrangular bells with the medaUions and fine fish-scale pattern which were fresh
However, all the heads that I saw were of old make, I saw none with marks of fresh
firing quot; Roupell\'s officials did not include a bronze worker, but they gave him the
following account of the origin of the process : quot; When the white men came in the
time when Esige was king, a man named Ahammangiwa came with them ; he made
brass work and plaques for the king ; he stayed a very long time, he had many wives

but no children ; the king gave him plenty of boys to teach; we can make brasswork
now but not as he made it, because he and all his boys are dead. Before King Esip
died he sent one man named Inoyen to the white man\'s country with some white
men ; he stayed long, and when he returned he brought back with him that plain
stool and a message of salutation from the king of the white men. When Erisoyne
was king he had one made like it so that men might see it and say, \' Look, Erisoyne

made this.\' When Osogboa was king, he sent messengers to the King of Igbon Ibo,
(? a country near the Niger), but the people of Igbon were bad and killed the
messengers, then Osogboa vex, and he sent war against Igbon and caught the king
and plenty of his people. When they brought them Osogboa called Ahammangiwa
and his boys, and asked them if they could put them in brass; they said \'we can try,\'
so they did and those are they—then the king nailed them on the wall of his house.
The other plaques are pictures of white men, friends of the kings and Ahammangiwa,
but who they are or their names we do not know. The remaining plaques we do not
know who they are. The white men\'s house is near Obayagbon\'s, it is where the

first king put them—it has always been kept up ever since—it has fallen in now since
the war. Ahammangiwa was a white man. In the time of Esemede, Overami\'s, the
late king\'s grandfather, white men named\' Ayniaju, the man without eyebrows, and
another named Gappy Dor, used to live and trade at Gwatto. Chief Eseri was alive
then. Cappy Dor was a big stout man.quot;

Landolphe (II., p. 49) when speaking of the iron and copper used to decorate
the interior of the houses, says that all artisans who distinguish themselves in their
craft receive a patent of nobility.

Fio. 269,—Degenerate
Elephant\'s Head and
Trunk, carved on Eleph-
ant\'s Tusk.

Fio. 271.—Bronze Morion, showing foils (three to
six leaved) Diam. 266 mm., Height 213 mm. Formerly in the
possession of the late Miss M. H. Kingsley, now in the Pitt
Rivers Museum, Oxford.

As there is probably hardly a traveller from Africa who has not recorded the
art of iron smelting among the Negro or Bantu tribes, we may accept it as a fact
that the art of smelting iron is a very old one in Africa. Bowditch {Mission to
Ashanti, pp. 311-312) describes a method of gold casting on the Volta river, where a
wood core was in use instead of a sand one. Quite lately Robinson {Hausaland,
p. 118) states that at Kano, quot; there are also on sale swords, spears, and many other
articles made of native wrought iron. The article desired is first formed in wax,
and from this a clay mould is made into which the molten iron can be poured.quot;
There is here, however, some complementary information wanting, for what is the
object of going to the trouble of modelling and moulding if the article is to be

beaten (wrought) afterwards ? Between the crude castings of the average native
African and the fine results before us there is a vast difference, and hence the
common expression of opinion that the art as we see it to have existed in Benin was
an imported one, an opinion apparently confirmed by the numerous Portuguese or
other European figures now discovered in Benin. On the other hand, we are still
quite in the dark as to any existence of such high-class art in the Iberian Peninsula
at the end of the fifteenth century ; and we know there was not much of this art in
the rest of Europe.

In the splendid series of plaques from Benin in the British Museum we find many
plaques with diminutive Portuguese heads or figures in low relief in the back-ground

(fig. 2). We may take it, I think, for granted that these additions in low relief are,
like the rosettes (fig. 4) above referred to, after-thoughts put on to meet the desire for
increased artistic effect; that they are, in fact, put there for decorative purposes in

the course of the development of the art.
Hence, as the additions are always Portu-
guese heads (or figures), and not Bini
heads (or figures), we may, I venture
to think, conclude that some of the plaques of
native subjects without these additions were
made before those of Portuguese subjects ; in
other words, that the art was there before
the Portuguese arrived in the country, and
was just emerging from that of realistic repre-
sentations and begining to indicate some
attempt in the direction of decoration.

We have in the bronze plaque, fig. i, an
illustration of a European, with a matchlock, in
the costume of the middle of the sixteenth
century, and Messrs. Read and Dalton very
justly call attention to this, on account of the correct delineation of the dress of
the period. It is therefore the middle of the sixteenth century that we can fix
upon as the earliest date at which it was probable the Bini people had commenced
to make plaques with European figures, but not the date at which they commenced
to make any plaques at all. Benin was discovered by Sequeira, about 1472. By
the middle of the sixteeth century [i.e., 1550) we have an almost perfectly accurate
figure of a European, presumably made by a native. It is not conceivable that an
introduced art could have developed at so rapid a rate that within seventy years
(probably less, for the art would not have been introduced the first day) such a high
pitch of excellence could have been attained by the natives ? As an alternative,
I can only repeat, as above suggested, that the art existed in Benin prior to the ad-
vent of the Portuguese, but that, as was the case with many other things with which
the Portuguese came in contact, these remarkable explorers left their mark strongly
impressed on this art work, and thus it may be that the natives began that series of
borrowed forms which is so puzzling to us. But in an attempt to ascertain the origin
of the Benin bronze art, we cannot pass over unnoticed the facts that several of their
institutions show indications of exotic origin, and that the ornamentation is full of
foreign forms. We find the law of inheritance different from\'that of the peoples of the
surrounding country, probably as a result of the gross superstition which centred
everything in the fetishism of the king. We find vestiges of the old Catholic
ritual in more than one instance. We find that the internal division of the buildings
are exotic arrangements. We find designs in wood-carving (fig. 245) which were
common forms among the Hittites, and we have bronze and brass castings which
bear undoubted traces of the influence of Europe of the middle ages. One of
the patterns of a ring (fig. 22) is Graeco-Roman, another (fig. 21) we meet with
in Tunis, a third (fig. 27) is like Saxon work, and on one of the bells (fig. 78) we find
a double-spiral ornamentation of the old Swiss lake dwellers. The manilla (fig. 147)
is almost Celtic in shape; the squeezed-up lizard (fig. 113) might be Scandinavian. The
mixture of the designs in fact almost equals that of the population of ancient Babylonia.

One department of Bini art was of a high order and certainly a long way in
advance of anything their neighbours could produce. On the other hand their
pottery was exceptionally crude, and their superstitions were of the lowest, although
Lt pnmitive type, and quite on a level with those of Dahomey. Why there should
be tLse contrasts in an obscure corner of Africa it is difficult to exp^m; and we may
well ask what could have made their bronze castmgs unique for there is absolutely
nothing like them m any other part of the world. With the advent of the Portuguese
their quasi-civilization appears to have received a considerable ™petus then as
European trade decayed, the people gradually fell back; with the Dutch advent
there was probably a second revival, only to collapse agam as before. The Europeans
did not lov^e one another, as we read m the records, and in the carved work of the
natives Whether they did or not, or whether the country was poor or rich, the Europeans
did not stay long at a time. This may have been due to the unhealthiness of the
climate; but the probabilities are that the country never was good for traders, for had
there been reasonable expectations of making money, Europeans would have perse-
vered in spite of chmate and native opposition. But it was not Europeans only
who paid fitful visits. Capt. Landolphe records the arrival m Benm while he
was there, in 1786, of an embassy from the interior of Africa the members of
which stated they at home founded cannons, and made all sorts of small arms. He
thought they might possibly be Moors expelled from Spain, and although he talks
of them as negroes, he adds quot;their hair was not frizzled hke that of the people
inhabiting the West Coast of Africa.quot; (H., pp. 86-8). While we have of course no
direct clue as to who these people were, they may have been merchants from the
Haussa States, and this visit tends to confirm the opinion that in former days Benin
was a state of considerable commercial importance. The trade relations of the
Sonray empire, (which according to Barth,\' dates from a.d. 300) through the city
of Tademaket Mwhich had traded with Egypt), were great, and direct commerce
might have been established by such people as are mentioned by Landolphe,
with the Mediterranean across the desert. Commerce and the intercourse
it breeds is no doubt responsible for the large variety of forms m the art
of the Bini but it is hardly sufficient to account for the exceptional bronze
plaques. It seems as though the only conclusion we can arrive at is that we
have in them a form of real native art. This opinion is strengthened by the
fact that we can trace to some extent in them progress and decadence;
and in the general carving and ornamentations we can see very clearly the
process of the evolution of new forms out of the primitive realistic representation.
At the present day, the method of casting the bronze and brass is m use by the
Haussas, and possibly might not be indigenous, but the style is distinctly African,
with numerous inroads of that of other peoples, and especially is such the case after
the advent of the Portuguese.

Her Maiesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India m
compliance with the request of the King of Benin, hereby undertakes to extend to
him, and to the territory under his authority and jurisdiction, her gracious favour

The King of Benin agrees and promises to refrain from entering into any
correspondence. Agreement, or Treaty with any foreign nation or Power, except with
the knowledge and sanction of Her Britannic Majesty\'s Government.

It is agreed that full and exclusive jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over British
subjects and their property in the territory of Benin, is reserved to Her Britannic
Majesty, to be exercised by such consular or other officers as Her Majesty shall

The same jurisdiction is likewise reserved to Her Majesty m the said territory
of Benin over foreign subjects enjoying British protection, who shall be deemed to
be included in the expression quot; British subject quot; throughout this Ireaty.

All disputes between the King of Benin and other Kings and Chiefs, or between
him and British or foreign traders, or between the aforesaid King and neighbouring
tribes which cannot be settled amicably between the two parties, shall_ be submitted
to thé British consular or other officers appointed by Her Britanmc Majesty to
exercise jurisdiction in the Benin territories for arbitration and decision, or for

The King of Benin hereby engages to assist the British consular or other
officers in the execution of such duties as may be assigned to them; and, further to
act upon their advice in matters relating to the admmistration of justice, the
development of the resources of the country, the interest of commerce or m any
other matter in relation to peace, order, and good government, and the general
Droerress of civilization.

The subjects and citizens of all countries may freely carry on trade in every
part of the territories of the King, party hereto, and may have houses and factories
therein.

All ministers of the Christian religion shall be permitted to reside and exercise
their calling within the territories of the aforesaid King, who hereby guarantees to
them full protection.

All forms of religious worship and religious ordinances may be exercised within
the territories of the aforesaid King, and no hindrance shall be offered thereto.

If any vessels should be wrecked within the Benin territories, the King will give
them all the assistance in his power, will secure them from plunder, and also recover
and deliver to the owners or agents all the property which can be saved.

If there are no such owners or agents on the spot, then the said property shall
be delivered to the British consular or other officer.

The King further engages to do all in his power to protect the persons and
property of the officers, crew, and others on board such wrecked vessel.

All claims for salvage dues in such cases shall, if disputed, be referred to the
British consular or other officer for arbitration and decision.

This Treaty shall come into operation, so far as may be practicable, from the
date of its signature.

H. L. Gallwey, Deputy Commissioner and Vice-
Consul, Benin District, Oil Rivers Protectorate.

I hereby certify that I have interpreted the full purport of this Treaty to the
King, and that he clearly understands the nature of the contents and the meaning
thereof.

Colonel Bruce Hamilton, Major Landon, Captains Carter, Ringer, and
Searle, and Gregory, of H.M.S. \' Theseus,\' myself, with 260 Protectorate troops
one Maxim, two seven-pounders, and carriers, arrived at Ceri from the first landing-
place, Warregi, at 4 p.m. on February 6th, 1897. We are up here before the naval
men, in order to cut a path for them and clear ground for their camp, and look after
its sanitary arrangements. As soon as we arrived we encamped in the native village;
pickets were out for the night, and just at the present moment the officer is
going his rounds, the bugle having sounded the last post. It is a strange life, black
troops lying about all over the place, laughing and gibbering like a lot of monkeys.
A dull, cloudy night, and plenty of mosquitoes to keep us all awake, gives a man
time to think what the future will bring, when once we have started into the Benin
Country.

Ceri, February 7th.—I slept last night on the ground in a native hut, it being
too late to rig up a bed or couch. This morning I looked after the sanitary arrange-

ments of the camp for the naval column—that means we have to make everything
comfortable for the naval brigade, which is expected on the loth or nth of February.
We are called the advance guard, and have plenty of work. We cut roads, build
trenches, get up stores from Warrige ; in fact, we have to do all the nursing, as it
were, so that the naval men may not be exposed in the severe climate, and may have
as little as possible to do. Searle and Carter are looking after the troops to-day,
Landon and Ringer are busy with the carriers, arranging stores, and Gregory, of
H.M.S. \' Theseus,\' is taking positions.

Ceri, February 8th.—We are still at this place, getting things—houses, etc.—
ready for the naval column. We did a lot of work to-day. I found a spring, and
have dammed it up, so that a large number of men can draw water from it. To-night
Major Gallwey, our Consul, and Executive Commander Bacon, have got a canoe
and boys, and are reconnoitring up the Ologbo creek, to find out if there is any
branch connecting with Benin City. We think there must be a branch, as we can-
not understand how else the Benin City people can obtain their drinking water. It
is rather a risky undertaking for the two men, but they are both cautious, and will,
no doubt, bring back a lot of useful information. They cannot go during the day,
as when we tried a little while back, one of our officers was fired upon. In so far as
I can find out we shall cut a road from Ceri to a position opposite Ologbo Town,
which is a few miles distant from here. We shall then shell Ologbo itself, land some
black troops, and build a suspension bridge, which has been prepared by the naval
men. The span is about 70 or 80 yards ; we are not sure of the length, but shall
know in a day or two. We shall then most probably form a big base there, land the
naval brigade and stores, etc., and make a start to cut the bush path which leads to
Benin. The following is to be the order of procedure :—Captain Turner, of the
Protectorate, will scout with about 60 Bonny men, the same who did the scouting
for the Ashanti Expedition in 1873. These men will work through the bush to find
out where the natives may be lurking; they will be supported by our black troops,
but how many I do not know. Then come the bush cutters and more black troops,
with two doctors, one being myself. We shall do this till we get close to Benin, when
a naval column will come up and help to take the city. This is to take place within
seven or eight days. There may be a little fighting, but such care will be taken that
I think few men will be killed. Ubini is the native name for Benin City. So far. all
the white men are fit; I trust few will go down with fever.

Ceri, February 9th.—It is really quite a sight to see the black troops quartered
in this native town of Ceri ; there are 250 of them. One is tumbling over them all
day, or rather all night, as during the day they are hard at work in the camp which
we are making for the white troops here. The officers\' mess is also quite a sight; we
are thirteen, all told. Searle, who is working like a nigger all day building huts in
the camp, is also looking after all the provisions for the mess, and I am mess presi-
dent, looking after the food, of course, and bossing the black boys and cook, and
seeing that the water is boiled before distribution. I seem to be busy all day, and
when night comes I feel that very little has been done. Last night we sounded the
assembly, so as to get the men to their posts, just as if we were having a night
attack from the natives. The men turned out well ; they were all dressed and in
their accoutrements and at their posts in about two and a half minutes, which is con-
sidered very good. After inspecting them, to see that they had come to their proper
places, we dismissed them to their quarters. The gunners under Searle were
prepared for action in the short space of two and a quarter minutes, all fully
equipped. It seems strange to sit under a thatched roof on four posts, and eat one\'s
food quot;in the open, and then after dinner to clear away and write letters. As I sit here
at the present moment a big ant walks calmly over my paper, or some other insect
drops from the roof down my neck ; as of course we all wear shirts unbuttoned at the
neck, we give the insects, etc., every chance. Then, again, the chattering of the
native troops is rather astonishing, one would think we were really amongst a lot of
women ; unfortunately we are not, God bless them all the same. Many amongst us

will wish for their tender care to nurse us as we go down with the fever, or by the
enemy\'s shot.

Ceri, February loth.—I have had a talk with Locke and Boisragon. It seems to
me some of the members of the Mission might have been saved, but the order not to
carry arms prevented them making any effectual resistance. Yet there must have been
some sort oftreachery, as the King of Benin, to a certain extent, was willing they should
come up and see him. Besides, the Bini did not attack them at once, as they wished to
find out if the expedition were armed or not, and also have time to make an ambuscade.
All the white men who were massacred behaved well. Dr. Elliott again and again
rushed in among the natives, who were several deep, and who were armed with long
flint-locks, and although he was fired at, he struck right and left at them with only a
stick. Poor Maling, too, did his best, and like Crawford, while dying, told the others
to run for their lives and leave him. A pity such fine men should fall in such a treacher-
ous manner. quot;Little Chumpyquot; has a seven-year-old nigger servant, who has been
taught, whenever he brings a drink to anybody, to say the following :—quot; God bless the
Queen, and I hope you will knock hell out of the King of Benin.quot; He says this while
saluting, with a most serious face. The Admiral Sir Harry Rawson and Staff, with
our Consul-General, came up to-day to look about the place ; it was astonishing how
he managed to walk the distance from Warriga to Ceri, it was so very hot. He will
be carried back, and quite right, too, as he is rather a heavy man. Captain Egerton,
who is at the head of the staff, decided, in ■ consultation with the others, to build a
bridge across the Ologbo creek, about half a mile higher up the creek than this
village of Ceri. It will be a swinging one, made of steel wires, and attached at either
end to trees on each side of the creek, which we find is about 120 feet across, some-
thing like the old chain pier at Brighton, the footpath being swung in the same
manner. The gear for the same will be brought down the river to-night, and to-
morrow the engineers start work in earnest. While this is going on a party of black
troops, over one hundred strong, with a seven-pounder and a Maxim, will reconnoitre
inland for about a thousand yards. We shall have scouts in advance, and I am to
accompany them as medical officer; I hope the natives will not spot any of us. We
know of, and also notice, natives in hiding opposite Ceri. We are also to be sup-
ported by an armed launch and surf boats full of men well armed with Maxims and
rifles. I heard to-day we are most probably to make a start for Benin on the nth,
but I think it must be later. Before I proceed I must mention that a column called
the Sapoba Column is to go to Sapoba, and is to consist of men from H.M.S.\'s
Phcehe, Alecto, and Wigeon. Another column, the Gwatto, is to consist of men from
H.M.S.\'s Philomel, Barossa, and perhaps Magpie. This last column is to destroy
all the Bini towns on the eastern bank of the Gwatto creek as far as Ikuro.
Both columns are to be assisted by canoes, and are to patrol the river with
their boats, and prevent fugitives from passing. Seven more men joined our
mess to-night at a moment\'s notice. Their chairs were ammunition boxes—one dish,
the piece-de-resistance, was a washing basin containing an Irish hash. Being short of
knives and forks, one man was obliged to have a mouthful, and then pass the table
cutlery to the next man.

Ceri, February nth.—The boat scouting party, which started this morning, con-
sisting of a hundred men under Colonel Hamilton, went up the river about a mile and
a half, and landed on the other side, where a few huts were seen. From there a short
trip was made into the bush, but the ground being very swampy, it was obliged to
return after traversing only a few hundred yards. Another party, under Searle, with
the same number of men, a Maxim and seven-pounders, acted as reserve on this side
of the river. It is now found to be impossible to throw a bridge over the creek, and
to-morrow a party is to make a start from Ologbo towards Benin. All the Protector-
ate troops, under Erskine and Turner, will cross the Ologbo creek. The scouts to
proceed first, to see that we are not ambuscaded. Colonel Hamilton will be in com-
mand, and I am to go as medical officer. We have been busy all day preparing loads
for the carriers. I am in charge of the mess and the mess gear, and, as the fellows

are a hungry lot, it can be easily imagined what a work I shall have to do to feed
them. Up till now they have been very good, and have hardly grumbled or sworn
at me at all. Captain Boisragon is invalided, and leaves for home at once ; we do
not think he is fit for active service, as he is still suffering from a shock due to his
very severe experiences during that awful massacre of a month ago. The weather
is very hot and very dry for this country ; it has not rained since we arrived here a
month ago. I have asked Consul-General Moor, in case I am knocked over, to sell
all my effects ; we expect some heavy bush fighting to-morrow. A marine from
H.M.S. Theseus died yesterday from heat apoplexy, but this is nothing, as many
more will go down similarly. At present the men are in splendid condition. I have
just heard that there has been a brush with the natives at Gwatto, four blue-jackets
and an ofamp;cer wounded. I am too busy to write more news, but I hope to do so to-
morrow. We had a little surprise to night, as some shots were fired into camp, and
the fellows got startled.

Ologbo, February 12th.—We started from Ceri yesterday, at about six p.m., in
the launch Primrose and in surf boats, with 250 black troops, two Maxims, one
seven-pounder, and half a company of blue-jackets, with one Maxim and a rocket
tube. As I got my orders about half an hour before we started, I was unprepared.
Luckily, I always have my waterbottle filled at night, but I had no rations. As I
passed the admiral\'s quarters I noticed a nice block of naval chocolate lying neatly in
some paper outside his door. I stole that chocolate. W^e went up the Ologbo creek
for about three miles, until we reached Ologbo. We shelled the village, and cleared
it of the natives. As. the launch and surf boats grounded we jumped into the water,
which reached to our waists, at once placed our Maxims and guns in position, firing
so as to clear the bush where the natives might be hiding. We rushed on some
hundred yards, again put our guns in position, and, in conjunction with volley firing,
again cleared the bush. We expect the second division to come up to our support in
about two hours\' time, as we sent the launch and surf boats back to fetch them.
While holding the place the natives crept up to us several times, howling at the top
of their voices, and firing into us. They attacked us first in the front, and then on
each flank. Luckily we kept them at bay with volley firing and our Maxims, and
only Captain Koe, of the N.C.P. Force, was severely wounded in the wrist. But
luckily several other officers and men were hit by spent bullets only. After that we
had drinks, and enjoyed the Admiral\'s chocolate. Soon afterwards more men came
up, and we took our troops into the bush and cleared the natives out as well as
possible. This path to Benin City is only two or three feet broad, allowing some-
times two men to walk abreast, but as a rule the men are obliged to walk in single
file. The natives showed some cuteness, for on one side of the road they had cut a
track for some hundreds of yards, so as to be able to fire on us as we went up.
Luckily for ourselves, we found this ambuscade at once, thanks to our scouts, and
troops were sent up it. We went straight on for about three-quarters of a mile, with
Maxims working in front and on the flanks; at the same time volley firing was kept
up by the troops, so as to clear the bush on each side of us. We arrived at a small
village, which we cleared with Maxims and rockets, and then rushed it, the natives
clearing out right and left. We then put out pickets all round the place, and under
their cover troops and carriers cut down the bush, so as to clear the place and allow
us to see in case we were attacked by the natives. We camped here for the night,
putting out double sentries everywhere. We shall remain here till we get up our
supplies, consisting of ammunition, rations for officers and men, and particularly
water, which has always to be boiled. The usual routine of bush fighting is to use
the Maxims in the front, and to keep up volley firing on the flanks by the troops.
The men then rush ahead and again clear the bush, and so on. This first division is
under Colonel Hamilton, a most charming man, very quiet, and \'\'all there,quot; very
energetic and cool, too; the climate does not seem to affect him much, although it
has been very hot and very damp. The bush looks lovely ; there are any amount of
big trees about the place, and the green is of a rich colour, but it seems quite a mis-

take that there should be such a lot of hostile blacks about these quiet places. The
village is, as usual, very straggling; still it gives us good shelter at night. We have
been lucky so far ; there has been no rain, and we all hope there will not be any
before we get to Benin City. At Ologbo, Captain Campbell, of H.M.S. Theseus,
in charge of second division, is making a camp, arranging everything, getting our
supplies over from Ceri, boihng the drinking water, building a hospital, and making
sanitary arrangements and all ready that may be necessary for a good camp.

February 13th.—We had rather a busy and exciting day yesterday. About sixty
black scouts, under Turner of our force and Erskine of the Navy, came up to-day to
scout in advance of us to find out the movements of the natives. The Admiral had
been rather seedy after his walk in the sun from Warriga to Ceri; he got overheated;
but he told me he was better yesterday, and I think he will be all right to-day. Our
bridge could not be made, as we should have to walk three miles through the swamp
opposite Ologbo. I had a chat with Moor, our Consul-General; he told me the
following: On February loth Gwatto was attacked and occupied by naval men ; one
officer and two men of H.M.S. Widgeon severely wounded, one officer and one
man of H.M.S. Philomel shghtly wounded. On February nth Sapoba and
roads at back were occupied by naval men. Whilst stockading camp there Pritchard
and one man of H.M.S. Alecto were killed. So our column so far has fared the
best; but it won\'t last long, and we shall have to fight our way up to Benin City.
Some more men have gone down with sunstroke, but I have not seen or heard
of any cases of malarial fever yet. Smallpox has broken out among some of the
Sierra Leone carriers ; but it is of a mild sort of form, and somehow it has never
been known to have been communicated by the blacks to the white men. We make
another start late to-day or to-morrow; we have seen no natives since yesterday, but
some have crept up and fired into us. We believe they are concentrating their forces
at the next village, or somewhere on the road to Benin City, for their final stand. Of
course they may ambuscade themselves and try to stop us, but we shall succeed in the
long run, however many men we may lose. We are now in the Bini Country, and
the houses in the villages are thatched in a different way from the other villages we
have passed so far. They are covered with leaves only, tied up in bunches, and not
with big palm leaves. Then again, the walls are made with split wood, and not of
mud, as in the other places. We shall have great difficulty in getting water up
here, and it is uncomfortable to be without it. We are dirty and dust-begrimed ;
unshaven, and sticky ; our clothes are wet, and at night all the horrid animals of the
bush crawl over us and sting us.

Cross-Road Camp, February 15th.—We left the Ologbo Camp yesterday morn-
ing at 6 a.m., but a little before 3 a.m. we had a night alarm, the natives came round
part of the camp, beat the tom-toms for our edification, and kept us awake and on
the alert, ready for our start. Allman, the principal medical officer, and myself, of
the N.C. Protectorate, dressed and got pottering round, getting our carriers in order,
and collecting stretchers and hammocks for the wounded. Well, we started at day-
break, Colonel Hamilton in command, with 260 black troops, one rocket tube, two
Maxims, one navy Maxim, two seven-pounders, a company of marines, and forty
scouts. We proceeded up the Benin road for about three miles, when the natives,
who were in ambush, fired upon us again and again. We cleared them out with
Maxims and volley firing several times, but they again came on and fired into us.
We again cleared them out of the bush with the Maxims and forced them to retire,
and after our column had done another mile or so, we formed camp for the night.
Our firing was pretty hot, the ratthng of the Maxims and rifles, the shouting of the
officers, the howling of the enemy, and the excitement amongst our own carriers
are beyond me to describe. The excitement in the dense bush, the smoke, the
working of the seven-pounders, and the whizzing past of our rockets put the fear
of God both into ourselves and the natives. I picked up one man shot through
the thigh, and another through the lungs. Luckily no white men were wounded;
we all got off scot-free. We marched in single file, the scouts in front, followed

by a half company of black troops under white officers, then followed a Maxim,
with one in reserve; myself, with stretcher party, were close behind them. We
seem to be doing all the fighting up at this end of the column. I cannot tell the
order of the middle and rear part of the column, which is nearly three miles long,
being much too busy at my end. We had now cleared the natives out of their camp,
and the troops, in conjunction with my stretcher party, started to build a hospital.
This consists of four upright posts, fixed into the ground, and lashed together at the
top with cross-pieces, all tightly fixed together by a native creeper called quot;tie-tie.quot;
The roof consists of the hammocks laid on the cross-pieces. Being at the head of
the column, where all the fighting takes place, most of the wounded come under my
hands first. Every time a man is wounded the whole column stops, the path being
so narrow we can only march in single file. It is impossible for me to do much for
the wounded. If a man is bleeding badly I simply put on a tourniquet or dressing,
and leave him on the side path, to be picked up by Allman and his stretcher party,
who are at the rear of the column. By the time I have built my hospital Allman
comes up with the wounded and the field cases, and we at once start to do our best for
them. Everybody has comphmented us on our arrangements, and the quick way we
erect our hospitals. We make the poor wounded chaps as comfortable as possible,
and despatch them at once to our base at Ologbo. We sent a batch down to-day at
3 p.m. I must mention that our black troops with the scouts in front and a few
Maxims do all the fighting. I am the medical officer with them in the thick of
everything. My black boy Charles carries my bag, which contains a few bandages
and tourniquets, and I have also with me four hammocks and four stretchers. In
fact, I am the first aid to the wounded. Allman follows up with a field case and
another stretcher party. We extracted the bullet from the wounded man\'s thigh,
but could do nothing for the man who was shot in the lungs. These black men heal
wonderfully well, and take everything as a matter of course. At about 3 p.m. part
of the column started to burn a village, but after nearly losing ourselves in the bush
and struggling through the same for seven miles, we were obliged to return before
dark, accomplishing nothing. Our camp is a great clearing made by the natives;
the trees are nearly 120 feet high, with much foliage at the top, the sun hardly being
able to penetrate down to us, which is lucky, as the place is thus kept cool.

Obarate, February i6th.—We have to-day had a real hvely and hot day, fighting
our way through the bush. We left the camp at the Cross Roads at 11-15 a.m., as
the first division entered it. After advancing for about two hours at the rate of one
mile an hour, the enemy commenced firing at us along the whole line, which was in
sinc^le file, and nearly a mile long. At two places the natives broke into us, but we
soon cleared them off. At the head of the column, where I was, the firing was very
heavy. Luckily no white man was hit, but I do not know what may happen later
on as we get nearer to Benin, where we are certain to meet with much greater
opposition. One black soldier was shot in the head and killed, one native scout was
shot ri^^ht through the neck below the jaw, and one little carrier was shot in the
cheek.\'\' These men were dressed and brought along with us, and ultimately sent
back with an escort to the base. But I am digressing ; time after time the natives
came on us, but our Maxims and volley firing cleared the bush, and we advanced
steadily till we came to a clearing. It was a native camp, which the natives had just
left, and part of the advance guard, going on, occupied the village of Obarate. It
was soon taken, hardly any firing being necessary, as the natives had cleared out, and
the rest of the advance guard coming on, we encamped there for the night. We
were all very tired and slept well, although we first cut down the bush, and put
sentries all round the placed The natives have never been known to attack at
night • this holds good all the world over, still we always take precautions. We have
been short of water, and are sending some hundreds of carriers out to get some, and
if it comes back in time we shall proceed to take the next village on the road to Benm.
We can only get about two quarts of water daily per white man, so there is no wash-
ing to be done, and we keep away from each other as far as possible, and as we have

no change of clothes, or very httle, and as the weather is very hot, one can imagine
the beautiful state we are in. From the last camp to this village is only about four
miles, but fighting and stoppages kept us on the road from 11-15 a.m. to nearly 4 p.m.
The village w^e are in is rather pretty. There is an avenue of cocoanut palms about
40 feet apart, the road running between them ; outside this again are the native huts,
extending two and three deep, the avenue being about a third of a mile long. We
have had no orders about starting yet. One of the officers went away with some
troops to look for wafer, and just now we hear firing, so I suppose the natives have
been coming on again. I shall be glad when I am well out of this. We all think it
is a settled affair that we shall get medals and clasps. I had to stop just novi^ at
about I p.m., as the natives kept crawling up and potting at us, Colonel Hamilton
ordering us to get under cover ; I take advantage of it and write a few more notes.
We have been busy all day ; the Admiral and Consul are coming up from the Cross-
Road Camp. I hear we are to start to-morrow, the 17th, with the advance column,
part of the first division, and some of the staff, so it will be a long one, extending
over several miles, the men being in single file. The intention is to do the next seven
miles to Benin as quickly as possible in two days, but it is hard to say whether we
shall succeed, as we do not know the position of Benin City, and all the information
we can get is from a dumb man and from a slave boy, who has only been there once.
I think we are in a fairly safe condition now. We have just heard that a number of
dead natives were found near Ologbo, who were shot down by our volley firing and
Maxims, when we landed there for the first time some days ago. This morning I
was sent out with a hundred men and officers and two stretchers with the scouts to
reconnoitre about a mile off. We got to a clearing and rested. Suddenly the natives
started potting at us. We returned the fire, but one of our scouts was shot through
the head and killed ten yards from the path. The Admiral is not in very good health.
In chatting with him he informed me he was all right bodily, but that he could not
sleep at night, as he had so much on his mind with respect to the expedition. Moor
looks very quot;fit, perhaps a bit anxious, but otherwise very cheery, and always chafang
me. O\'Farrell went down with fever as soon as he arrived at Ologbo, so he was
sent back to the base. I am up with the advance column and at its head, continually
under fire, so shall not be astonished if I come back with a bullet or two inside me.
Considering the bush we have to get through, we have been very lucky so far. We
have lost no white men yet, as they did on the Sapoba and Gwatto routes. But
there the naval men had no black troops with them, and rather exposed themselves
to the native fire. We know this sort of work, and are much more careful. Up till
now we have only lost two and about four wounded, and one white officer wounded
in the wrist. This is considered good ; in fact, it is not one per cent. We get no
water for washing, and hardly any to drink ; what an awful-Iooking lot we shall look
in a day or two ! I hear when we take Benin City the N.C.P. forces will hold the
place, while the naval men will at once return to their ships, and if they get home at
once will divide all the honours with the few^ Special Service officers who have been
sent out here to help us, whilst we, poor devils, will be out here for another twelve
months and get no kudos when we get home, although we are doing, and will be
doing, all the heavy work ! But such is hfe ! I must hurry up as it is getting dark
now. No news or despatches will be sent off till we take Benin City. We are com-
pletely cut off from our base for the next two or three days, as the case may be. The
Cross-Road Camp has been well fortified, and should we be badly attacked, that
place will be our only hope. It is wonderful how thirsty all the men are here.
There has been no rain ; marching in the sun is dry work, and all the native wells
we have passed are empty.

Awako Village, February 17th.—We left Obarat6 this morning with the Admiral
and staff and Consul-General. Colonel Hamilton led the advance. Our scouts and
black troops, under EngHsh officers belonging to the N.C.P. Force, with a Maxim or
two, cleared the bush with volley firing at the head of the column, as usual. Admiral
Rawson, Moor, and staff are in the middle of the column, which is about three miles

long The carriers, who number about a thousand, carrying principally water,
ammunition and food, are well sprinkled with marines and bluejackets. 1 he column
consists roughly of 250 N.C.P. troops, 120 marines, 100 bluejackets, 30 scouts, 5
Maxims, 2 seven-pounders, 2 rocket-tubes, and about 6 medical men with stretchers,
hammocks, and field cases. I was, as usual, at the head of the column, and continu-
ously under fire. We left at 6-15 a.m. At 7 p.m. we came in contact with the
enemy, a running fight being kept up till 10 a.m., when Agage village was taken.
We had dislodged the enemy from two of their camps en route. We rested here one
and a half hours, and made another start at 11-30 a.m. Again a runrimg fight was
kept up, on and off, till 3 p.m., the Maxims and volley firing clearing the bush, when
we reached the village of Awako, which the enemy had deserted shortly before our
arrival. En route we dislodged the natives from their camp, which they had formed
near the road. It is hard to imagine what our nerves are like after firing away and
being fired at for so many hours on a blazing hot day, and in dense bush, where the
path is only broad enough for the men to walk in single file, and so dense that one
cannot see more than a few yards on each side of one\'s self, and where we never get
a glimpse of those who are potting at us. Anyhow we are all getting accustomed to
it and hope not to get potted, as we are so close to the city. We have cleared the
bush around Awako, our usual routine, and camp here to-night. One man was shot
to-day and while making our camp to-night another was shot m the stomach and
one in the face, but not seriously. We reckon we are about six miles from Benin
City and ought to take it to-morrow. The mind of the native is very obtuse so far
as distances are concerned, and that is the distance we are told it to be, but, of
course, it may be farther away than we expect.

Benin City, February 19th.—We are now settled down in the above place. It
is a misnomer to call it a city; it is a charnel-house. All about the houses and
streets are dead natives, some crucified and sacrificed on trees, others on stage
erections, some on the ground, some in pits, and amongst the latter we found severa.
half-dead ones. I suppose there is not another place on the face of the globe so near
civiHsation where such butcheries are carried on with impunity. But to continue my
narrative from the time I left offquot;. On February the i8th we left Awako, with the
whole force, our black troops leading. We marched from 6 a.m. to i p.m. without
stopping, being fired on continually in the dense bush, which we returned with volleys
from rifles and Maxims. At i p.m. we came to a clearing in the path, and about a
mile ahead was the city. We put some rockets and seven-pounder shells into the
place, and then started offquot; again. Again and again we were fired into, and then
suddenly diverged from the dense bush into the main thoroughfare leading into
Benin, which is about 60 yards broad here. The firing was very hot. Then the enemy
collected on the opposite side of the road in the bush and trees, and kept up a hot
fire killing and wounding a lot of our men. They had made a sort of embankment
which owing to the dense bush, could not be seen; they fired over this and then
dropped down, so that until some of our troops passed this place and the natives
were afraid of being cut off, they peppered us fearfully. I was m the mj^ddle of it,
and feeling most uncomfortable, dressing the men\'s wounds, and stopping their bleed-
ing to the best of my abihty. I did not like it at all, as I then noticed, by the pmg of
the bullets, that the natives must be using repeating rifles, the firmg being so heavy
and quickly delivered. I have never seen anything like it before the grass was m
patches only about two feet high, and I was obliged to craw with my bkck boy
Charles from one wounded to another. Luckily the very severely wounded had been
carried under cover by their comrades, and although I found several shghtly wounded,
with a little persuasion I managed to get them to crawl under cover by themselves,
mv stretcher party having disappeared, with the hammocks and stretchers, as soon
as the firing commenced. Poor Captain Byrne and his company of 60 men were
the ones that suffered most, the former being severely wounded m the spine, and
sixteen of the latter killed and wounded. There was no naval doctor with these
men and as I was just in front, and seeing how they got bowled over, I was obliged

to fall back and do my best for them. Ultimately I got under cover myself. While
attending to the wounded I was informed that several more were lying out m
the road, and as nobody volunteered to bring them in, I told my black boy Charles
to do so. I could not go myself, as I was too busy tying up wounds, so Charles
went out and brought in a wounded carrier. Shortly afterwards he again went
out, followed by Lieutenant Beamish, and brought in a wounded marine. It
was lucky neither of them was hit, as the natives tried to pot them from the
ambush. All of us agreed that Charles behaved splendidly; he was very cool,
and did not seem to mind the bullets at all, although they were hitting the
ground and throwing up the sand around him. While_ under cover I noticed
three of the men in a dying condition ; others were shrieking, cursing, and damn-
ing the natives. One man implored me to let him have his revolver back, that
he might shoot himself, the agony he suffered being so great. As I was leaning over
him, trying to relieve his pain, unseen by me he pulled my loaded revolver out of its
case, but I was just in time to knock it out of his hand. Afterwards he tried to get
hold of a marine\'s rifle. The poor chap must have been suffering agonies, while all
around him the wounded and dying were shrieking for water, blaspheming the
natives, and crying for help ; others, again, were helping one another, tying up their
wounds, and trying to staunch the bleeding. It was a curious sight to see the un-
wounded, with their arms round the necks of the wounded, talking to them m tender,
womanish words. Every now and again I could hear one man saying to another
softly^quot; All right, don\'t give way, I\'ll look after you—I won\'t let the natives get at
you—I\'ll kill and revenge those brutes,quot; etc., etc. All these expressions, intermingled
with oaths, but in a nice way, trying to soothe the wounded. I wish I could express
here what I saw the men must have felt for one another. The whole thing was most
heartiending. In the meantime the main column had rushed up the big thorough-
fare, but what happened I cannot tell you, as I stayed behind with the wounded.
Shortly afterwards the rear of the main column came up to us, and the poor, wounded
men felt somehow safe again. By this time the head of the column had rushed the
king\'s compound. After dispersing the natives with Maxims and volley firing, Benin
City was ours. When the expedition started the authorities had only a slight idea of
the position of Benin City. The fetish, too, being very strong in the Bini country, it
was impossible for us to get any guides, and we had to rely for the path which led to
Benin on two human beings—one being a dumb man and the other a small^ slave
boy, as already mentioned. Between these two there was generally a discussion as
to which was the direct and shortest road to the city. We always took our chance,
and rehed mostly on the man, and luckily hit off the right road the whole way.

As we neared Benin City we passed several human sacrifices, live women-slaves
gagged and pegged on their backs to the ground, the abdominal wall being cut m the
form of a cross, and the uninjured gut hanging out. These poor women were
allowed to die like this in the sun. Men-slaves, with their hands tied at the back,
and feet lashed together, also gagged, were lying about. As our white troops passed
these horrors one can well imagine the effect on them—many were roused to fury,
and many of the younger ones felt sick and ill at ease. As we neared the city, sacri-
ficed human beings were lying in the path and bush—even in the king\'s compound
the sight and stench of them was awful. Dead and mutilated bodies seemed to be
everywhere—by God ! may I never see such sights again ! Just before we came
upon these horrors an old man appeared from behind a big tree which had fallen
across the bush path we were following. He was using bow and arrows, and
believed (as we were told afterwards) that he was invulnerable. He was, however,
shot. In the king\'s compound, on a raised platform or altar, running the whole
breadth of each, beautiful idols were found. All of them were caked over with
human blood, and by giving them a shght tap, crusts of blood would, as it were, fly
off. Lying about were big bronze heads, dozens in a row, with holes at the top,_ in
which immense carved ivory tusks were fixed. One can form no idea of the im-
pression it made on us. The whole place reeked of blood. Fresh blood was dripping

off the figures and altars (months afterwards, when we broke up ^bese long altars,
we found that they contained human bones). Most of the men -- ^
hut these awful sights rather shattered their nerves. We sent a despatch with ten
men ?o ourcimp ft the Cross Roads ; whether it will reach or not we do not know
for we are cut off from everywhere at present. W e are 300 white men and w^U pul
through somehow, you bet. We put out strong sentries, and fP^he night amongst
his filth in the open. I must mention that both black troops (who led all the way,
fy th by)nbsp;behaved splendidly. All of you at home can be

nroudof them. Fancy the state of our nerves, for eight hours walking -through
d^nse bush, where one^cannot see more than ten feet away what is happening on the
Ss, and\'to be potted at again and again by hidden natives and to -en h^t and
fall close to one. Of course our great enemy was the want of water and this was a
great trTal to the men, in the hot Ind blazing sun. This morning ^ajf our column
^ith 300 carriers, scouted about for water, which we rather expected to find hree
miles off Luckily we found it. There are many bullocks and goats about the
place, so for the next few days we shall have plenty of rations. It fnbsp;poss bl

while getting our water, we may be attacked, as th^ P^th^^^^tlHi afS^^^ I
enters a verv narrow gorge. But, being well armed, I think we shall be ail right i
mus not forget to mention that when leaving Awako yesterday morning the na ives
Tacked the^rear part of our column, the casualties being (for the eight hours t U we
took the city) four white men killed one bemg Surgeon

white men wounded. Captain Byrne bemg one of them, three ^-C-P^b ack rnen and
three carriers killed, one court messenger and one S^^de wounded This was rathe^
a heavy loss for such a small force. We have been getting thenbsp;ship-shape

to-day, February 19th, and trying our best to make it defensible. We ^re also co
lecting food and water, and sending down an escort to the Cross-Road Camp t^ a
we mav reauire. I hope our men will get through. We are all right for_ ammuni
quot;oranV:rh;idthepVe,ifwegeteLugh water, till the .^fX^^^^
up. A party have gone out this afternoon to find and see the king ^ Place , thej
wLt down the main thoroughfare, and have just returned

strewn with dead, crucified and beheaded bodies in all states of decomposirioii most
of them blown out to double their size by the strong rays of the s™quot; J^J^/
(a big chief), near here, was burnt, the natives only firing a few shots atnbsp;ire

u-ju house^vere also destroyed. We buried our dead to-day Captain Byrne ^s
better but there seems very little hope for him. Three hundred _ yards past the
kS\'s\'compound the broad Joad which\'passes through Benin City - -vered with
bodies skulls bones, etc., most of the bodies being headless. The king s house is

ete , wmE the roof is formed of sheets of muntz metal, and the rafters to support the

February 2oth.-In front of the king\'s compound is an immense wal tuUy
twenty feet high, two to four feet thick, formed of sun-dried red clay. This wal
must L a few hundred yards long, and at each end are two bignbsp;^

mately to be dried up by the sun and eaten by the carrion birds, tm the bones get
disarticulated and fall to the ground. There were two bodies /he first tree
and one on the other. At the base of them the .whole ground was strewn
with human bones and decomposing bodies, with their head. off. Jhree looked
like white men, but it was impossible for me to decide, as gt;.hey had been there
for some time; the flesh was off their hands and feet, and the heads had been cut off
and removed. The bush, too, was filled with dead bodies, the hands bemg tied to

Se aXl^so as to keep \'them in a sitting posture. It ^ fXTttetld tquot;
these headless bodies sitting about, the smell b^ing awful. All ^ng the road too
more decapitated bodies were found, blown out by the of the sun the sigit w^
sickening. To-day was occupied in blowing down these ju-ju trees. Passing through

the centre door of the big wall we came upon a large tree; at its foot was a deep pit,
which we noticed contained dead bodies. The natives, after sacrificing their victims,
threw their bodies down there. On the first afternoon of our arrival our black troops
heard faint cries coming from some of these pits, and letting themselves down came
upon some live captives lying amongst the dead ones, in a very emaciated condition.
They had been down there many days without food and water, intermingled with
dead and rotting bodies. Some of these poor fellows had been carriers with Philhps\'
party, in the ill-fated expedition some weeks before. I found from them that all the
white men in that expedition had been killed on the Gwatto road, and none had
been brought into Benin City to be sacrificed, as the British public were once led to
believe. One of the saddest sights, as we entered the big palaver house, was to
notice the effects of the massacred white men. Amongst them we noticed Phillip\'s
helmet in its case, a doctor\'s bag complete (which belonged to poor Elliot)while,
scattered here and there, were their clothes, hats, boots, cameras, and other things so
useful to men on the march. Of course we found no arms or ammunition, the
natives having most probably used them against us.

February 21st.—A great disaster took place to-day, which really will prove a
blessing. About 3 p.m. a good breeze sprang up, and while this was blowing, two
carriers carelessly set fire to a hut. Unfortunately the wind was blowing towards
the part of the town where we were quartered, and although the fire was about a
mile away, Allman and myself advised everybody to remove their effects from the
native huts, but, not thinking the fire serious, the officers only removed the ammuni-
tion to a safe place. The wind blew stronger, and the fire increased frightfully, the
flames passing from house to house, and even setting fight to the trees. As soon as
we noticed it, we removed our medical stores ; the men tried to move their stores,
but were too late, and most of them had everything burnt. Even the things which
had been placed in the middle of the big compounds caught fire, the heat being y^ery
great. In less than an hour the conflagration had burnt itself out, and the whole
place was strewn with ashes. The next day we found what a blessing had come to
us, for fire, smoke, and charcoal seemed to have removed all the smell, and the city
became sweet and pure again.

February 22nd.—At 8 a.m. the Admiral and staff left Benin City, with all their
troops and wounded. They go down to Ologbo in easy stages, so as to give the
latter every chance. Our black troops and officers lined the road through which the
Admiral passed, and gave him three hearty cheers as he left with his men. To-
morrow the N.C.P. forces start their heavy work again. The king has to be
followed and caught, the country opened, and the natives so influenced as to gam
their submission. I cannot help closing this article without a word of praise for my
black Accra boy, Charles Nartey. He is about eighteen years old. Throughout the
expedition he behaved splendidly under fire. Although he was simply my own boy,
Consul-General Sir Ralph Moor ordered me to put his name down for a medal and
clasp, for behaving so well, and bringing in two wounded men under a heavy fire.

It will be remembered that when the Punitive Expedition against the King of
Benin, for the massacre of PhilHps\' party, took the city on the 17th of February,
1807, all the inhabitants with their king and ju-ju men fled into the bush. A portion
of the houses surrounding the king\'s compound was blown up and destroyed, to
enable the invaders to defend their positions should the Bini return to the fight,

while two days afterwards, there occurred the great conflagration which destroyed
the citv Parties were sent out in search of the king, but the unknown coun ry, and
the impenetrable character of the bush, enabled him to elude^ his pursuers, although
the latter frequently got on his track, and had sharp skirmishes with his boys
The following account of the trial and deposition of the kmg, when he finally decided
to give himself up, is taken verbatim from letters written home at the time by my
brother, then in the service of the Niger Coast Protectorate.

On the sth August, 1897, having become sick of his unaccustomed roaming
bush hfe. King Overami came into Benin city with a large followmg, amounting to
about 700 or 800 people, all unarmed, headed by messengers with a white iiag m
front He was supported in the usual way by chosen men holding him up by each
arm. Some twenty of his wives, who accompanied him, were of a very ditterent
class from those seen previously. They had fine figures, mth their hair worn in the
European chignon style of some years ago, really wonderfully done in stuffed rows of
hair, t^he head not being shaved on top like that of the lower classes, and they wore
coral necklaces and ornaments and hairpins galore. About ten chiefs came with
him, inc ludine; Aro a big chief, arriving by the Sapoba road, not by the water road
as was expected. For obvious reasons, all the white men kept out of sight on his
arrival. He was preceded by a native band using a sort of reed instrument, and
took up his abode at the house of Chief Abeseke [Obaseke], a member of the new
Native Council estabhshed by the Resident. The king\'s party had a great quot; pow-
powquot; that night, and kept it up very late. The next day, on the 6th, the king rested
after his fatigue, and on the 7th, at 11 a.m., he came down to the Palaver Court)
House\' with about 400 of his own quot;boysquot; (men), all of whom were stark naked, as
was their custom in the presence of the king. He was also accompanied by about
twenty chiefs, including Tosheri, the big war chief, besides Eschudi [Ushude], Aro
and Ojumo [Ojomo]. The acting Resident (Captain E. P S. Roupell) was seated
at a table at the mouth of a small tent; with him were Captain C H. P Carter
(Royal Scotch), commanding the troops at Benin city ; Lieut. Gabbett ^oyal Welsh
Fusihers), and Dr. Howe. The king, who is a stout but fine man of considerable
intelligence, about forty years of age, was in a very nervous state. _ 1 he escort of the
Resident comprised only eight Houssas, as it was considered advisable not to brmg
more, for fear of frightening the king and his party. The remainder of the Houssa
troops were, therefore, kept under arms inside the stockade,_ ready in case of
emergency to turn out at a moment\'s notice. The king was simply covered with
masses of strings of coral, interspersed with larger pieces, supposed to be worth
many pounds. His head dress, which was in the shape of a Leghorn straw hat, was
composed wholly of coral of excellent quahty, meshed closely together, and must
have weighed very heavily on his head, for it was constantly being temporarily
removed by an attendant. His wrists up to his elbows were closely covered with
coral bangles, so were his ankles. He only wore the usual white doth of achiet,
and underneath, a pair of embroidered and brocaded trousers ; he had nothmg in the
way of a coat, but his breast was completely hidden from view by the coral beads
encircling his neck. There was a crowd of some 900 to 1000 people standing round
when thi Resident called upon Overami, the king, to make his submission, ihe
kincr was visibly agitated, and after much consultation with the chiefs the chief Aro
asked that the king might do so in private, as he did not like to abase hinaself before
such a crowd. This request was naturally refused by the Resident, and then, sup-

1 The term palaver, derived from the Spanish palabra, talk, has a very extensive meaning It
signifies dispute, controversy, argument, reasonings. War palaver, trade palaver are used m
Snce to these affairs. God palaver is applied to the missionary teaching; and sweet mouf
[mouth] palaver is analogous in its meaning to the term \'blarney\' with us. (Hutchinson.

quot; Of the chiefs mentioned in this trial the following were nob es; Oj^o,, Yaceri, Ollubusheri,
Obaseki, Obadesagbo, Obanyagmo, Obahawaia, Ushudi, Idohun, Obamoi, Oba.iuhomua, Aro, Aribo.
and Ewagwe.quot; C. P.

ported by two chiefs who assisted him, the liing made obeisance three times m the
usual manner, rubbing his forehead on the ground three times. After this, the other

ten chiefs, who had not previously made obeis-
ance, performed the same homage. The Resident
then explained to the king the present political
position of the Benin country, and informed him
that he was deposed. That closed the palaver,
the king retiring with his body-guard of 400 stal-
wart men to Abeseke\'s house. Except to get the
submission of the king and chiefs, nothing else
could be done then, the Resident awaiting the
return of the Consul-General, who was expected
to arrive at Benin city in from two to three weeks\'
time, when the big palaver would take place, and
when the king and certain chiefs supposed to be
guilty would be put on trial for the massacre
of Phillips\' party. Since the war, the king, it
was said, had not sacrificed a single human being.

The big palaver or trial for the massacre of
the white men began in the Consular Court
House, Benin city, on Wednesday, ist Septem-
ber, 1897, at 4 p.m. The court house was guarded inside and outside by the Haussa
soldiers ; a large crowd of natives came down with the king, but was not allowed
to come within 50 or 60 yards of the court. There were present Sir R. D. R.
Moor, K.C.M.G., Commissioner and Consul-General; Captain E. P. S. Roupell,
Acting Political Resident; Captain C. H. P. Carter, Officer Commanding Troops
Benin City ; King Overami, nine members of the newly established Native Council,
and some 60 Chiefs of Benin City.

There were no advocates on either side, and every witness was cautioned to
speak the truth. The Consul-General opened the proceedings by stating that the
palaver was not about the late fighting, because it was quite right that the natives
should fight for their country, but that it was about the massacre of the unarmed
white men of Philhps\' peaceful expedition. The palaver would be managed native
fashion, that is, according to native custom and law, and not according to white
man\'s law. The first thing to settle was to find out who instigated the massacre,

The three witnesses on behalf of the British were Igbedio, \'a boy (i.e.,
dependant) of the chief Obahawaie, Agamoye, a boy of the chief Obassieki, and
Wobari, another boy of Obahawaie. They all acknowledged that they knew before-
hand that all the white men were unarmed, and that they with many others were
sent by the chiefs to kill the white men, Jekries, and Kru boys ; which they did, and cut
off the white men\'s heads and sent them to Egoru. One member of the ill-fated
expedition who was not killed outright, was taken to Benin and thence to Egoru,
where the boys of the chief Ochudi killed him. Before the massacre a chief named
Idahie passed them, with the white man\'s stick,\' on his way to the king. They
averred that the chiefs present at the massacre, viz., Ologbosheri [OllubusheriJ,
Obahawaie, Obaiuwana [Obaynagmo], Usu, Ugiagbe [Ujiagbe], and Obadesagbo
[Obaradesagmo] were those by whose instruction the white men were killed.
Obahawaie was said to have been seen cutting off a white man\'s head, but of
the others only their boys were seen doing this. On the strength of this evidence,

1 This is the stick mentioned by Boisragon as having been borrowed from him by Phillips in
order that the messenger might have a token of the peaceful disposition of the Expedition to show
the king It has always been the custom to send a stick as a proof that the messenger is bona fide.
Nana Dudu, Ocorowala, Chinomi, Dore and all the Jekri chiefs have been in the habit of having
costly sticks with embossed silver heads presented to them, and these were the sticks sent with the
messengers.

told the conrt that for the last six years, smce Nanas town
Benin expected white men wonld

man Smf from the Jekries he could take him to the kmg and brmg him back He
said he had protested against the war, but being a small boy he was to a to s
r^outh%eing overruled by Ologbosheri and Obadesagbo, and that Ojuma had
bppn sent to fight. He was not sent by the kmg.

. Th. big play -as the cen=mo„y of celebrating Ms tatter\'s dealt, and .hi, was reason .he
king give .i mmps when he requested Phillips no. lo approach.

Ohebo to look at the things that the white men brought. They had neither guns nor
swords Tte only cutlassis that the carriers had were tied up and put m the launch;
iTade Ohebo look at them so that he could tell the chiefs what they wanted when he
ca^e to Ben^ city. It was evening, so the white men slept at Gwato and in the morn-
LTthey started fo^r Benin City. I undertook to lead them, so I was in front of them
tL wSe men slept at EgbiJii, Herbert Clarke\' having requestecl him to go ahead
to make preparations for tTiem. He said he found the boys on the -ad waitmg to
fight the white men, and on seeing this went in search of Ologbosheri, to whom he
S on his knees, imploring him not to kill the white men but whi e he was do ng
tht the massacre took place. One white man ran to him for protection, and he left
hi n to findXbVrtnbsp;who was still living, but he, could not find the latter, and

«rh s return was told Ochudi\'s boys had killed the other white man ^^
Usu of lying about this white man. He mentioned the anger _ and fear of the king
wLn told of the massacre, and accused the following chiefs of implication in it Usu
Obahawie, Ologbosheri, Obaiuwana, Obadesagbo; he saw present boys of all the

Idiaie\'s evidence wis to the effect that he was sent by the white man who gave
him a message with a stick to hand to the king. On meeting the ^h^s Ologbo^
Obadesagdo, Osague, Obahawaie, and Obaiuwana on the road, he told them that the
white men were com ng, but unarmed. Usu, whom he also met, told hmi he had a
messare from the kingrio tell the people not to kill the white men. He handed Ae
Sick to the king with the message that the white men were not coming with war
So tL kLg sfnt me back to tell the people not to kill the white men. When I
reached Ojumo\'s I met some Kru-boys and heard that the white men had been
killed. E^ry tune that the white men sent us with sticks the sticks were always
left in the hLise where the white men used to stay, called Owiabu ; so I left the

quot;^\'\'X\'re^fchiSTo told the court that the Jekries sent word to Benin that the
white men were coming with war, at which news the king wasnbsp;^cerned as

since the time of his grandfather, no white man had made war agamst Benin
neiSe the king nor Ojumo wished to fight. There was some doubt as to the white
man sending sometime beforehand saying he was coming. He was of opinion the
people did the massacre to bring trouble on the kmg. , , , , , ^ ^ . • ^ .
^ King Overami\'s statement was largely to msist that he had always been a friend
to the white man, exchanging presents with him, allowing him to visit Benin, and
that his orders were that the white men were not to be killed.

The prisoners were allowed to cross-examine, but the evidence of the three chief
witnesses was not upset in any material point. The court adjourned un il September
Trd, when the Consul-General, having asked the chiefs what was the law in case o
fdll ng, and being told by chief Alea \' the native law is that if a chief kills a chief a chief
musquot; be killed,\' fummed up by saying that seven white chiefs having been killed, seven
native chiefs must be killed; but as the king and others had for some years been
under the impression that the white man was commg with war, there was a natural
doubt in their minds, when Phillips\' party came, as to whether meant war as
to defend their country was a proper thing, he would give the king and chiefs
the benefit of the doubt; but as regards the chiefs who were present at the massacre
after learning that the white man was not bringing war, there co^d be no doubt n
their case and the court found that Obamwana, Olgobosheri, Obadesagbo, Usu,
ObahaS, and Ugiagbe were all guilty of the murder of fillip\' party on he
Gwato road on the 4th January, 1897. Of these, Obaiuwana had already committed
suicide, Obadesagbo had died of fear of punishment and Ugiagbe being a boy, was
passed over. There remained then Ologbosheri still at large, who, m his absence
was condemned to be shot; and Usu and Obahawaie who were condemned o be
shot the next morning. Two chiefs being about to pay the penalty of their crimes,

1 A half caste about 25 years of age ; educated in England ; Government interpreter.

the massaere. Jhe Co„^,.Ge,gt;„al added ^\'^enbsp;^^^nbsp;„„ his ?art, as

chiefs, with their wives and «f ^^nts on a tour for a yea^^^^^^ sonbsp;^^nbsp;^^^^^^

Ojumo stated that the kmg was m ^^ f s compounbsp;^ ^ ^^^^^
mile away. Captain Roupell and ^ few men of the force ^ ^^^ g^^

previous to his attempted escape I\'ce then hroff rä in exchangee for his hbSty to

his own quot;boys.quot; On September 15th the king was brought safely down to Gwato
by Capts. Carter and Henniker, and placed on the Protectorate yacht at anchorage
below Gilli-Gilli. Capt. Carter was left in charge of him. The kmg was agitated and
violent when awakened at 4 a.m., but was put in a hammock and strapped m ; he
commenced to holloa, and consequently had to be gagged so as to get him out ot the
city before day-light without any row, which was effectually done. With this excep-
tion which was a necessity, the king was treated throughout with every courtesy.
The party consisted of sixty men protected by a Maxim so as to be able to overcome
any opposition which might possibly attempt a rescue, though this was improbable
His majesty took everything he saw on the yacht very philosophically, although
he had, like his predecessors, not been outside the city walls since he was
made king and was only accustomed to leave his compound once or twice in a year
to shew himself to his subjects. The only things or beings he craved for were his
two wives, who followed him with the Consul-General\'s party and joined him a lew

The difhculty the British experienced in dealing with the kmg was due to the
fact that he was himself a big ju-ju, in which the natives had unbounded confidence.
They believed he would never be captured, and that if the British did succeed in
arriving at the city, he would turn into a bird or some animal and so escape. Nor
was he considered bloodthirsty by his subjects. The whole system of massacres was
part and parcel of their daily life, to which they were thoroughly accustomed, and it
they blamed anyone it was the fetish priests, not their king. Besides, it was mostly
the slaves who were sacrificed. It was, therefore, judged probable that a rescue
might be attempted, which would only lead to further bloodshed and prevent the pacifi-
cation of the country, already too long delayed by the kmg\'s six months\' sojourn in
the bush. The removal of the king was also desirable, to show the people the
uselessness of their resistance to the white man\'s power,

After considerable bush-fighting Ologbosheri was captured on the 27th May,
1897- he was brought to trial before a full court and condemned to death on the
27th \'lune for being the chief instigator of the murder of the members of Phillips
expedition. He was hanged on the 28th June, 1897. His trial confirmed the verdict
of the court which sat on the king, namely that Ologbosheri, and not Overami, was
the prime instigator of the massacre.

When on the return of the members of the Punitive Expedition it became
known that fine specimens of bronze castings and ivory and wood carvings had
been found in the old city of Great Benin, Mr. Charles H. Read, the Keeper of
Antiquities at the British Museum, with characteristic energy at once endeavoured
to secure for the national collection good representative specimens of these bronzes,
and he succeeded in gathering together the finest collection of plaques that is to
be found in any Museum. But owing to the want of proper pecuniary support, he
was not able to obtain possession of any of the more expensive, and m many cases
equally interesting, articles. Not only was the national institution thus deprived of
its lawful acquisitions, but at the same time another government department sold for
a few hundred pounds a large number of castings which had cost thousands to
obtain, as well as much blood of our fellow countrymen. Hence it is that fo many Bmi
articles are not represented at all at Bloomsbury. Had it not been for the well-known
interest which the late General Pit-Rivers took in such subjects, a still larger portion

the r Government; and when the Government can no longer supply the f^nds I am
told the SuSr, on application being made to him, will put his hand in his pocket
\'and whennbsp;\'source\'s closed the wealthy German quot;--^ants are n^

fn vain For such gifts they will receive their Sovereign s approbation. Similarly,
n nTw York Chicago and Philadelphia, when a museum is m want of funds, an
LpplTis m^^ merchants, a\'nd m a few hours the necessary money

thorouTknowledge of the native races subject to them-and this is the knowledge
tSrantlm^^^^nbsp;give them-for such knowledge can teach what methods of

lovernment^^^^^^nbsp;fo^ms of taxation are most suited to the particular tribes, or to

the sta^ of civiS^ation in which we find them. In connection with this, there can
be no cbubt thit with adequate knowledge much spilled bloodshed could have been
saved in the past, both on our frontiers and m our colomes.nbsp;^ • ...

ScLtificallv the loss is great from whatever point we look at it and it is not
1 T v!! thinbsp;that our successors will condemn us for neglecting

Of the historical value of the study of native races, there should at the present
day be no question. This study has not only assisted classical students in the elucid-
ation of many doubtful points in the history of the Greeks and Romans, but it is of
extreme importance in explaining to us so much that would be otherwise obscure in
the study of the growth of our national institutions.

At the British Association meeting held at Ipswich in 1895, Professor Haddon
m deploring the inattention paid to the study of native races in England, pointed out
that if an Englishman wished to learn anything about the coloured peoples under
British sway without actually visiting them, he had to go to Berlin to do so.\' To put
this statement in a different form, it means that we have to pay other countries for
information which we ought to have within our own doors, for it means that we must
sperid money to go abroad to get the knowledge, and it also means that we must buy
foreign books when we ourselves should be the suppliers to foreigners. By a knowledge
of native races we get to learn what they want, and by a method of systematic publica-
tion of information about the natives, valuable assistance could be rendered to our
traders, very much in the same way as we are served by Consular Reports from
foreign countries. A short time ago Lord Salisbury, at the suggestion of the
Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum, agreed that it was advisable to collect
anthropological information for arrangement and diffusion by an Ethnological Bureau,
but was unable to make arrangements to carry out such a scheme, because
there were no political leaders who cared to give him the necessary support.
A very distinguished African traveller and administrator, in fact, probably
our most successful African administrator of the day, is inclined rather to blame
the public, than public men, for this apathy, saying the leaders would make a
move if the public demanded it. But the leaders are there to lead, not to be led.
Where indeed would Germany be now if she had waited for public opinion to raise
the question ? It was her able, far-seeing leaders in times gone by who made
her present prominent position for her. And who are the Governors of our Colonies
who have been most successful in dealing with the native races under their charge ?
They are men like Sir Wm. McGregor and the Rajahs Sir James and Charles Brooke,
in Sarawak. In New Guinea, Sir Wm. McGregor encouraged his officials to study
the natives, with the result that they became interested in those they were put over
to govern and governed them wisely. Sir Wilham is now repeating his New Guinea
success m Lagos. Of one of Sarawak\'s governors. Dr. Chas. Hose and his youthful
aide-de-camp, it was pithily said, at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
that he and a boy governed a district over 10,000 square miles in extent—and he
could do so simply because he had studied his subjects and required no physical force
to aid him to keep order. This is a very different policy from that adopted by a
Governor of one of our older West African colonies, who refused a medical officer,
an official of the colony, permission to study the natives.

It has been of late the fashion to decry the older universities, but strangely enough
as regards this study, they are the only seats of learning in England where the student
can obtain the knowledge he is in search of.^ At Cambridge, Professor Haddon
has set to work to remedy the state of things he deplored when at Ipswich, and
with contagious enthusiasm has gathered round himself a band of energetic young

1nbsp;The Germans took possession of the Samoa Group, some four years or so ago, and have already
m the press an excellent Gazetteer, which gives a most useful account of the native population. We
have now been m possession of the Fiji Group for about forty years, and are still asking ■ Where is
our Gazetteer of the Fijis ?

2nbsp;We have at the present moment the curious spectacle of the University of Birmingham, which
advertises itself m the pages of Nature as the quot; up-to-date quot; University, thinking it has covered the
whole field of the study of native races, when it arranges for a simple course of Physical Anthro-
pology, and leaves out of all consideration the other equally important branches of the study such as
the Social and Religious Institutions, the Technology, and Linguistics of Native Races, and
their Ethnography and Archaeology. No university of the British Empire has the right to call
Itself quot;up-to-date,quot; which ignores the study of the hundreds of millions of coloured people under
our sway.

men who are a credit to the country. At Oxford we have the priceless museum
presented to the University by the late General Pitt-Rivers, at the solicitation of his
friend. Professor Tylor, and presided over by Mr. H. Balfour. What is the use of
these institutions if their teaching is ignored ?

I cannot help thinking that if some of the above facts had been known to,
or appreciated by the gentlemen who disposed of the Bini antique _ works of art,
they would have adopted proper means for keeping the articles in this country, and
so saved us an ultimate loss which far exceeds in value the few hundred pounds
made by the sale.

Until recently very little attention has been given to defining native custom as
regards property in land. The older travellers in West Africa were inclined to apply
European methods of thought to African conditions, and they considered that
occupiers of land were owners of land in the same sense that we hold land in
England. The African demurred to having a foreign system imposed on him, and
enquiry showed that the subject was complicated and would require serious study.
In all our West African colonies we began to make enquiry of the natives as to
what their real views on the subject might be. The law officers and others in the
various colonies have examined witnesses and made reports, and though doubtless
there is still room for much study, the native ideas of land tenure are now fairly
well understood. Sir William MacGregor in Lagos has thoroughly gone into the
matter, and has caused the officials under him to make enquiry among the natives
and send in reports. Aided by his great experience of native races, he will be able to
sift and apprize the evidence obtained through these different sources and his own
observation, and we may look to him for a definite exposition of what is the real
state of the case. As it is, there seems to be a great similarity in the views ex-
pressed by natives all over Africa, and the central idea seems to be that \' individual
ownership of land,\' in our sense, is contrary to native custom. Dependant on this,
it is further laid down that land cannot be sold. There can be no dispute that these
two main ideas are almost universally expressed by natives who are willing to give
an opinion. They represent in fact \'the spirit of the times\' in Africa on this
subject.

Nevertheless, some doubt must still linger in a careful enquirer\'s mind as to
whether the native really has possessed a system of land tenure handed down from
his ancestors, or whether the better educated part of the race has not constructed a
theory of custom, in order to meet the danger of European invasion with its resultant
alienation of native land. Personally, having been in West Africa for twenty
years, I seem to recall a time when any such generalisation as that individual
ownership is contrary to native ideas would not have been understood. The theory
appears to me, at all events as far as Lagos is concerned, probably to have originated
about fifteen years ago. In course of inquiries made among the Egbas, I have met
instances of natives who declare that land was owned individually, and that sales did
sometimes take place, and it is universally allowed that the pawning both of here-
ditary farmlands and fishing grounds was a common practice. One of the ablest
and most educated of the Lagos natives, in relating the ancient history or tradition
of the race, has stated that Oranyan, the founder of the ancient Owyau, willed his

property as follows : to the king of Benin was left his money, to the king of Ketu
his crowns, while the land, as such, was to descend to the kings of Ife and Awyaw.
The Ife branch willingly accepted the land for its share, as it was obvious that land
would be necessary to the others, who would be forced to pay for it out of their
property in other ways. It is a proverb known to all Yorubas, that the Oni of Ife
owns the land.

In the face of the above ideas and traditions, going back to the earliest days of
the race, one cannot but have some doubts as to the accuracy of a positive assertion,
however commonly repeated, that individual ownership of land is contrary to African
custom. I have met a native, and a very intelligent one too, who gave me to
understand that the theory, at any rate in its very positive form, originated in
the advice given by Governor Glover to the natives not to sell their lands to
Europeans, and he informed me messages were sent all over the country laying down
the doctrine as at present current. While thus expressing a certain amount of
doubt as to the existence of any clearly defined custom of great antiquity, I am free
to confess that there is at present a very intelligible and commonly received expression
of racial customs on the subject, and I describe below what enquiry has led me to
believe the native customs to be.

It is to my mind by no means certain that the natives will always continue to
hold the same views on land tenure. With the advance of agriculture one cannot
but hope a more personal feeling of ownership of, and interest in farms will arise.
Virgin forest is becoming scarce ; used-up land, or temporarily exhausted land, is very
common ; and unless there is a feeling of absolute ownership one cannot look for any
keen attempt to improve the lands as farmed, at any rate in the present state of
development of African society. I believe the fear of Europeans buying the land
away from its native holders is not well founded, and one cannot but feel that a time
may easily come, when inability to sell or purchase land amongst the natives them-
selves will be an absolute hindrance to progress.

Having expressed these doubts I proceed to state what seem to be the present ideas
as to land tenure and inheritance. I regret that while in Benin I paid no attention
to the subject. It may well be that the centralisation of all proprietorship in the
king there may have altered the usual customs in West Africa. Undoubtedly the king
claimed every man to be his slave. The nobles had villages and farms, but I should
not like to say that their adherents, who lived in the villages and cultivated the farms,
were in effect their slaves. I do not remember any slaves at all in Gwatto. Among
the Yorubas the following is, I believe, an accurate account of land tenure.

Firstly the tribes were nomadic, or at any rate the present population came from
the north. There are no traces of any race anterior to the Yorubas. Take the
Egbas as an example, the land was parted among the families, or sub-tribes. The
uncultivated land was common property of the tribe, the hunters of each tribe knew
the approximate boundaries of the land of the tribe, and kept the hunting for
members of the tribe. Land was cleared by individuals for farming, and if the
individual was a member of the tribe he asked no one\'s permission before clearing
and taking possession of forest land. Suppose an individual so cleared a farm in the
middle of the forest, he became owner of the farmland cleared, but could not sell it.
If he vacated it, it would revert to forest, but he would still have a right of reoccupy-
ing. The farmland so cleared would descend to his family.

(a) The dwelhng house was family property for always, could not be sold, and any
descendant, at any time, had the right to return and shelter in it. In the Jebu country
cases would come before the native authorities in which a debtor would plead im-
pecuniosity and would be still living comfortably in the family house. He could not
be turned out, nor could any sort of charge be made on the house to pay his debts.

The Awujale would sometimes place crossed peeled wands (cf. Benin) in the door-
way, and prevent all entrance to the house till the family paid the debts, but I always
felt that this was a latter day expedient, and contrary to the feeling of the country.

(b) Farmland was a family inheritance. It could not be sold, nor could it
be taken away for debt, though a man in debt could pawn his land, or rather he
could pawn the use of it. For the crimes of witchcraft or treasoiiable correspon-
dence with the country\'s enemy, a man could be outlawed, and then his land would be
forfeited, or perhaps to put it more correctly, he might be driven out from his land
and his membership of the tribe. When farms were pawned for debt, two states of
affairs were recognised. A man could pawn the use of his farm and reserve to him-
self the right to collect palm nuts and kolas, and the occupant could not cut down or
injure the palm or kola trees. The farm could also be pawned with the palm or kola
trees on it. Nothing in the shape of foreclosure was recognised. The farm would be
redeemable at any time by the original debtor, or by any member of his family. If
one son out of several found the means of redeeming a pawned farm he would
obtain possession, but the other members of the family could at any time make offer
of their share of the redemption money and claim a share of the land. A man
during his lifetime could make a present of part of his farms to a friend, but accord-
ing to native statement in no case could this amount to a sale. I have some doubts
as to whether or no the natives have really thought out this question of the giving
of land. It is done and the donee continues in possession, but I am inclined to think
it would depend to some extent on his personal character and status, as to whether
his title would continue valid as against children of the donor.

Daughters as well as sons inherited farm land. If a person own many farms they
would be divided among his children. The eldest son would take the biggest. Prob-
ably the children would be in effective occupation of certain farms during the parents\'
lifetime. Young children and daughters unable to farm, the land, would not take
possession of their portions. The elder brother would possess in trust for them.

A daughter married to a man of another tribe would inherit, and if the husband
took up his abode with the tribe, he would continue in occupation of his wife\'s land,
provided there were no children. In event of children they would inherit the mother\'s
land, but they also would have to reside and be members of the tribe.

If an Ibadan man married an Egba woman, the children would be Egbas, if they
continued to live in Egba land, and they w^ould inherit their mother\'s property in land.
If, however, the father took them to live in Ibadan land, they would not own the
mother\'s land unless they decided to return to Egba country.

Virgin forest is common to the tribe, at least so one is told, but in Jebu, along
the banks of the Oshun, one hears a different story. Here there is, or was, a consid-
erable quantity of mahogany. The forest in fact, was found to have a commercial
value. So one finds powerful chiefs, like Kuku, claiming ownership over forest tracts,
and further, obtaining by means of what are practically deeds of sale, though often
for very small consideration received, the ownership of pieces of forest hkely to
contain mahogany trees.

The custom of inheritance of slaves is not known to me sufficiently to speak of.
Whether they are family property, as land, or treated as personality, I am not prepared
to say. Personality, i.e., goods, money, cowries, etc., does not go to the children but
to the brother, or if none, to the sister of deceased. Brothers and sisters by the same
mother only, are nearer akin than brothers and sisters by the same father. In the event
of there being no landed property, the brother or sister inheriting would have to give
a certain portion to the children, and in all cases would have to provide for them_ and
act as guardian. The division of property would be made by family council assisted

On taking possession of land, whether by inheritance, gift, or by pawn, no
ceremonies are gone through in the Egba country.

Boundaries of farms are marked by heaps of earth in which are planted any of
the following trees: Perigun {Dracana sp.), Akoko {Newhouldia lavis), Akika
{Spondias lutea), Lubuteji {Curcas purgans), and several others. Kola trees {Sterculia
acuminata) growing in the forest often mark the sites of old farms, and form a proof

In the conquest of one tribe by another, property and persons taken durmg actual
fighting become the spoil of the victors.

Submission once made, the conquered tribe becomes subject, but individuals are
not enslaved, nor are farm lands or other property confiscated by the victors.

In treating the question of land tenure I would deprecate any _ very positive
generalisation, or acceptance of any cut-and-dried theories. The natives should be
made to feel that they will not be ousted by Europeans from the enjoyment and
development of their land, and then the absolute terms of land tenure may be left to
settle themselves by the law of expediency and justice.

Accuser punished if his case not proven, 85
Access to king difficult, 92
Adams, Capt. John, 3
Ado, first name of Benin, g

Adolo, King Overami\'s father, 70 ; wives of, 100
Adubowa succeeds to throne and takes name

Agate ornaments, 26, 27 ; see coral
Agbe, King\'s boy, 64, 100
Aguramasi, King\'s boy, 64, 100, 123
Ahammangiwa makes first castings, 230
Ahuraku priest, limited to his town, 53 ; \' Parson,\'
54 ; feathers, 68 ; makes his head, 75, 76, 116 ;
the Malaku priest, 167
Aiaccio (Corsica) Father Angelo Maria d\', 13
Akori or blue coral. 133
Alagwe, juju, 53, 55 ; water spirt, 90
Albinos, 19
Albizzia sp., 142

shaped, 218; fetish cone, 168
Ambassadors sent to Portugal, 5
Amommn paradisii, 4, 143
Animals sacrificed, 52, 69, 71, 72, 76, 79, 98
Annesley, Vice-Consul, 3

55 ; parades of King, 74, 95
Appearance of the people, 16
Appointments when made, 95
Arbon, or Argon, 11

Are de Roe (street king\'s), 92
Armlets, 31; ivory, 205
Army, 126, 127
Arribo, 91, 95
Arrows, 125, x

Art, foreign forms in, 209; two styles observ-
able in castings, 224
Artocarp sp., 149
Arthus, I

Asije (Esige) King, arrival of whitemen 7;
compound dedicated to, 54; stories of, 55,
229

Assegais, 125
Atolo, see Jambra
Atrium, 129, 167, 169
Authority of King, 91, 92
Aveiro, Joham Affonso de, 4
Avicennia sp., 143
Axe, 134

sent to Benin, 13
Bambu wine, 149
Baphia nitida, 134
Batalha-Reis, i
Barbot, Jean, 2
Barros, Joao de, i

flees, 100
Beads, artificial, 27 ; see Coral
Beans, 131, 147; used in games, 155
Beauty of the town, 175
Beauvais, Palisot de, 3
Beds, 166

Benin, discovery of, 4; not a rich country, 5;
size of, 5 ; first name of, Ado, 9; list of kings,
6 ; average reign of kings, 7 ; kings descended
from the Oni of Ife, 13; description of
country, 11 ; extent of the kingdom, 12, 13
Benson, 2
Bey, 3

92, 93, no; dress of, 117;
Big water, offerings swept into, 57
Bird John and W., 2

Bird, King of Benin could turn into a, 62
Birds, copper, 160, 161, 163, 168 ; see turkeys
Birthright lost; Bawaku and Orukutu, 100
Blair, Vice-Consul, 3.
Bleasby, 3

Blomert (Bloemart, Blommart), Samuel, 2
Blood, human, collected in dishes, 43 ; sprinkled

Brothers of king killed, 99
Bry, de, i
Bull roarer, 65
Bulwark wall, 162, 163
Burial, 41-44 ; ground 175
Burton, Sir Richard, 3
quot; Business,quot; 123
Calabashes, 153

Carving, on rafters, 176, 177; on ivory, 193;
how done, 196 ; on coco nuts, 205 ; woodwork,
209
Casket, 223
Castagnets, 153

Castings, hidden in the walls, 217; how pro-
duced, 226 ; not produced under supervision
of the king, 228 ; origin of, 229
Catfish (meerkatse) to eat, 131 ; carved, 196 ;

evolution of, 219 ; in castings, 225
Cattle, 148 ; bullocks, 175
Cauldrons, copper, as drums, 80
Cavcedium, 167
Ceiling, 187

Chalcedony beads, 27; see Coral
Chalk, sticks, 59 ; a prophylactic 62
Chants, monotonous, 154
Character, 45

Charms, to make hunter invisible, 145
Cheetham, Samuel, 3
Chests, wooden dugouts, 177
Chiefs, extortions by, 46; laziness of, 47
Childbirth, 35

Children, wear no clothing, 24; the king\'s
property, 91; inherit from mother, 97 ; un-
kindness to, unusual, 104
Chiffau, heir elect, 99
Chlorophora excelsa, loi
Christianity, vestiges of, 14

Cistern, see Iniphivium
Civil War, 14, 164
Clarke, Hugh Crawford, 3
Clay, pipes, 59 ; figures, 64, 217
Climate, unhealthiness of, 104
Cloth, of gold and silver tissue, 74; curiously
woven, 131, 140; great value of, 141; meas-
urements, 141
Clothing, 21; people only clothed by permission

of the king, 24 ; buried with king, 43
Cocks, bronze, 218
Coconut carving, 205
Coffins, 42

184; conical altars, 218
Confidence of the Bini in their king, xviii
Conversion of natives, 6, 14
Cookhouse (kitchens), 158, 177
Coral (Agate, Chalcidony, Jasper), beads return-
able to king, 26, 42 ; wearing coral a royal
privilege, 25, 26; authority to wear not
hereditary, 93 ; loss a cause for execution, 95 ;
sacrifice, 71; festival, 74, 76; immersed in
human blood, 76 ; delight of native on receipt
of, 96; beads, 19; apron, 22 ; value of, 26;
blue, 133; cap, 20, 27; head dress, 74 ; hair
dressing, 80; shirt, 99; for king, 113; on
king\'s dress, xiii, xvii; king\'s stolen, xvii;
neck bands, 26; necklaces, 80, 83, 94, 95, 99,
117; worn by king\'s wives, 115; ornaments,
use of wide spread in Africa, 27
Cornet, 80, 153
Corpse kept above ground, 42
Cottonwool, 131; spun, 132; indigenous, 141
Council of Big Men, 85, 93
Courses, wall, 172
Courtesans, 37, 97
Courtesy, 45
Courtiers, 107

Court, Historian, 4; dress, 23; duties, 65 ;
Higher of Justice, 91; Queen mother\'s, 119;
Queen\'s, 160; King\'s, 160, 162, 169
Courts, open, 158, 160, 164
Cowardice of Bini alleged, 127
Cowries, 6; value of, 9 ; as dice, 8g; king\'s
income 96; let into walls, 128,170 ; as money,
133, 134; introduction and value of, 140 ; in
clay cone altar, 168
Coxon,3

Credit, system of, 139
Criminal affairs, 91
Crotals, 222, 223
Crow, Capt. Hugh, 13
Crown, inheritance of, 98

109; accounts confirmed by C. Punch, 136
Dancing, lascivious, 78; fetish 83; 77, i53 ;
place, 166

51 ; Lolocou, 78
Dignified manner of chiefs, 18, 45
Disembowelling victims, 66, 69
Disguised men, 55. 57. 78, see masked men
Dishonesty of market women, 47
Distribution, of sacrificed animals, 52 ; of food,

Dress, 83 ; of big men, 117 ; of king, xiii, xvn
Drink given to victims before slaughter, 64
Dropsy, 151

Drums, 77, 153; pressure, 205; copper caul-
drons as, 80
Drunkards, 45
Dudu, chief, 4, 26
Dunne, Sam, 2
Dwarfs, 74; bronze, 218, 219
Dyeing, 141
Earthen pots, 70, 75
Ebanus sericens, 134
Egugus, drive out spirits, 55
Elephant hunter, 144

human sacrifices, 70
Excuse, any for a sacrifice, 72
Execution, instruments, 56, 68, 74, 78 ; method

Export of slaves stops human sacrifices, 103
Extortion by chiefs, 46 ; and by Ukoba, 94
Eye juice ordeal, 87
Fans, 107, 108, 123
Farquhar, 3

Fawckner, Capt. Jas., 3
Feather and clod ordeal, 87
Feathers, of priests, 67, 68 ; in chief\'s hair, 80
Feast, days, 52 ; of new yams, 57, 72, 76
Features of Bini refined. 18
Feet washing ceremony, 115, 123, 128
Females never (!) sacrificed, 70 ; children
belong to father, 40 ; figures m castings,
222, 232, 233
Fertility of the people, 40

Fiadors, 91, 93 ; for trading, 134, 135
Fights for succession to the throne, 100
Figuar, Filip da, 2
Finance minister, 93

Firenze (Florence) Father Bonaventura da, 15
Fire, ordeal, 87; sitting round, 166; destroy
the City, 12

71, 72 ; attention called by a rattle, 72
Gold, ornaments, 31 ; mines, why not worked,

Gwato (Gato, Guatun, Egatun, Gotton, Ugato)
first description of, 5; not place of first
arrival of Europeans, 53 ; foundation of, 53 ;
spirit of, 57
Hagen, Dr. Carl, 4

Horns, 153 ; made of elephant tusks, 77
Horses, 148 ; how ridden, 107, 108
Houses, 158; general arrangements, 168 ; inter-
nal arrangements, 184, 187 ; Haussa, 184 ; on
Gold Coast, 186
Hot copper ordeal, 87

Human corpse, 65 ; devoured by turkey
buzzard, 63 ; decomposed, 173 ; buried in
walls, 217
Human eye on pathway, 65
Human sacrifices, 15, 49, 52. 57. 68. 167, 1Ö9,
x. ; frequency of, 66; of Albinos, 19; 400-500
a year, 72 ; first mention of, 63 ; to the sea,
63 ; introduced by King Eureka, 70 ; bad
people only sacrificed, 70, 71 ; attempt to
prevent, 63, 79, 86 ; prevented by C. Punch,
66 : on king\'s inheritance, 98 ; on king\'s
accession, loi ; on completion of compound,
102 ; lessened by export of slaves, 103
Human skulls lyiug about like pebbles, 63
Humiliation before king, 109, iii, 112, 113, 123
Humour not expressed in art, 209
Hunters\' privileges, 145 ; fetish tree, 187
Hypoelytrum nemorum, 142
Hyperperexta, 3
Ibodudu\'s prophesy, 71
Idol, real, 78

Ife the Oni of, 6 ; Bini send to Ife for a king, 7
Ijos (Jos, Ejaus, Jomen), 6, 25
Imphivhtm, 117, 167, 168

Inheritance, 97 ; of crown, 98 ; in Yoruba, xxi
Invisible, hunters have charms to make, 145
Iron pins to mark flood level, 55
Iron, roof, 171, 172, 173; smelting, 232
Ivory, built up into figures, 44; catch 177;
bolts, 188; trade in 193; staff, 196; masks,
199; statuettes, 199; sistrum, 205; armlets,
205

house, 171 ; place, 172, 173
Katunga, King of, related to King of Benin, 13
King, Lieut, John, 3

Kings of Benin, list of 6; average reign of, 7 ;
is fetish, 62 ; does not require food nor sleep,
62 ; could turn into a bird, 62 ; serves out
saucewood, 88; reverence for, 109; prowls
about at night, 65 ; only can confer right to
be clothed, 24; authority, 91, 92 ; everybody
his property, loi ; can sell his subjects, 103;
wives, 74; wives\' coral, 115; women slaves,
108; claims male children, 40, 117; orders
chief to kill himself, 85 ; cutlass held before
him, 116, 117; claims first tusk, 144 ; income
96; finger nail, 113; coral, 113; court, 139.
160, 162; compound, 169, 171; stools, 112,
113\'; boys (Ukoba), 9 ; their nakedness, iii,
117, 118, 123; access to difficult, 92; his
understudy, loi; interviews with, 109 et seg ;
his presents covered up, 110; burial, 43;
brothers killed at accession, 99; human
sacrifices at accession, loi; speaks Portu-
guese, 109

King Overami sick of sacrifices and promise
regarding, 66; ruins country, 175; makes
submission, xiii; attempts escape, xvii ; his
capture and exile, xviii
Knowledge kept from the king, 92
Kissing, 99 ; the fetish, 79
Kola nuts, 59, 148, presented, 114, 128, 130
Labarthe, P., 3
Lambert, Nicholas, 2
Lamps, 120, 121 ; candelabra, 173
Landers, The, references to Benin, 13
Landolphe, Capt. J. F., 2
Landolphia rubber plants, 3

Lubo (Ologbo). village of, 11 ; spirit of, 53
Luschan, Prof, von, 4
McNaught, Dr., 3
Maize, 147

Making one\'s fatherquot; (yearly sacrifice to the
father), 70, 72 74
Making one\'s head (Luck), 76
Malaku, making, 19 ; spirit of the big water.
53 ; causes flood, 55 ; impersonation of
Orisha, 55 ; appears as an old man, 37;
house altar, 59, 78
Male children are king\'s property, 40, 117
Manillas, 5, 6, 142
Marees, Pieter de, i

women, 145
Marriage conferred by the king, 24, 37
Masked men, 43, 44. 78 I see also Disguised Men
Massacre, Philips\', 3, 4 ; vestiges of, xii.
Massacres on king\'s succession, 99, loi
Master, wood and ivory carver, 4
Mat making, 140, 141, 142
Measurements of cloths, 141 ; of land, 143
Mercadors, 95, 136

Lander, 217
Mezzo relievo work, 167
Milbio (millet), 147
Millipede, superstition about, 84
Miller Bros., 3

Monkey, roast, 131; flesh, 148 ; head, 167
Moor, Consul-General, Sir Ralph, K C.M.G.,3,4
Moors arrive at Benin, 234
Moringa pterygosperinia, 161
Mouths of victims skewered, 67
Mud altar ; see cones
Müntz metal, 102 ; roof, 176
Murder, rampant, 65 ; punishment for, 86
Music, 153
Muskets, 125
Mythical people, 12

Nana, chief of Brohoemi, 26, 27, 142, 161
Nakedness at court, 24 ; see also Ukoba
Neglect of old age, 47
Neptune of Wars, 169
Newbotildia lavis, 187, xxiv.
New Guinea, comparison of art with, 213
Newton, John, 2
News, quick conveyance of, 96
Night prowling of the king, 63 ; victims

C. Punch\'s, iiq
Oath of friendship, 61
Oba (obba), King, 94
Obadesogbo, death of, xvi.
Obahawie taken prisoner, xv., shot xvi,
Obaiuwana commits suicide, xv.
Obamoe, 94
Obaradesagmo, 94, 100
Obaseke, 94

Oberstein agate works, 27
Occupation of the people, 47
Ochudi\'s compound, 173, 175
Ochterton, 3
Odobowa ; see Adubowa
Ogilby, 2

Ojoma (Ojomo, Ojumo), 18, 65, 100, loi, 130;
human sacrifice, 79 ; compound of, 173,
175 ; an independent king, 94
Okerison, sacrifices, 57 ; festival, 65 ; execution-
ers, 74, 95
Old age, neglect of, 47
Old-man-with-bag spirit (Malaku), 57
Ologbo creek, where Europeans first arrived,
12, 53

Origin, of Bini architecture, 184 ; of castings, 233
Orisa (Orishi) god, 49, 55
Ornaments, personal, 24-34

birthright, 100, loi
Osebu, king\'s son\'s court, 98
Osogboa, drives out Alagwe juju, 53 ; orders

plaques to be made, 230
Ossade (Uchudi), 91
Owe Asserry : see War Captain
Paan (Pagnes, Panen), 23, 137, 138, 139
Palaver, xiii.
Palma Christi, 151

160, 165
Paniciim horizontale, i5
Parades, annual of kings\', 74, 95
Pardon wine, 40, 76, 130, 149
Parrots, to eat, 131 ; tame, 187

quot; Parson quot; Ahuraku, 54 ; son, 118
Passador, 52, 93, in, 135
Paterae, architectural, 219

Pawns; see Paan
Pereira, Duarte Pecheco, i
Periodical sickness, 39
Pepper, 4, 5, 131, 143, 147
Pharmacopia, 151
Phillips, Vice-Consul, 3, 4
Phosphor matches, fetish, 8g
Physique, 17, i. ; strength, 19
Physostoma venenosa, 155
Pigs, 148

(plaques), 160, 162, 176
Pima, Ruy de, i
Pinteado, Francisco, i, 2
Pipes, 141
Piries, Durate, 6
Piscina, 118, 167

Pitch, or pitchy substance, 102, 188
Pits, 63 ; full of dead bodies, 68 ; captives res-
cued from, 68, 69 ; seventeen, 69, 102 ; foul,
169; victims thrown in, 169; for victims,
171, 175, 188, xii.
Pht-Rivers, Gen., F.R.S., 4, xviii.
Plaques, 218; introduced by Osogboa, 230; in

British Museum, 232
Plates (.platters), inlaid in walls, 67, 170
Pluviarium, 187

poverty of, 151
Primogeniture not an African institution, loi
Prisoners, how secured, 68 ; chained to floor, 187
Privileges of hunters, 145
Processions ; see parades
Prophecy of Ibodudu, 71
Proverb, curious, 12
Prophylactics, 62

Punishment for loss of battle, 127
Punitive Expedition, The, 4
Purchase price of slave, 104, 105
Pyramids see Towers
Queen Mother, the, 119
Queen\'s court, 160
Quesné, J. S,, 2
Quick, R,, 4

Rawson, Commander Sir Harry, K,C.B., 4
Read, C. H., Keeper of Antiquities, Britisli

Museum, 4, xviii., xxi.
Realistic representations, 233, 234
Refined features of the Bini, 18
I^elief work, 167, 174
Reservedness, 46
Revenues of the king, 96
Rezende, Garcia De, i
Rich men despoiled, 46
Riding method, 107
Rhizophora sp., 143
Roads kept in order, 169 ; see Streets
Roman architecture, comparison with, 167, 171,

177, 184, 187
Romano, Francis da, 2
Roof of latanier (natanier) leaves, 163
Roofs, 160, Î63, 164, 166, 171, 172, 173, 176,

177 ; see Rafters
Rosettes on castings, 219, 233
Roupell, Capt., E.P.S., D.S.O., 4
Ruins, 162, 167, 169, 171
Sabbath, the, every fifth day, 52
Sacclla, 59 ; sacelhim, i6g
Sacrifices ; see Human Sacrifices
Sacrificial trees, 51, 52, 54, 64, 66, 69
St. Thomas, Isl., 2

Salt, discovery of, 53 ; discovered by Osogboa,
53, 142 ; how obtained, 142, 143 ; as a
medium of exchange, 142 ; for dyeing, 142
Salutations, 83, 123
Sandra, Jan, r
Saseri ; see War Captain
Saucewood ordeal, 88
Scaffold used in hunting, 145
Scitaminece, 143

Sea, future life in, 52 ; sacrifices to, 53, 63
Seasayre ; see War Captain
SeqUeira, I^uy de, 4
Sheep, 148

Shields, or fans, 107, 125, 127
Shingle roofs, 160, 163, 164
Ships arrival notified, 135, 136
Singing, 153
Sister\'s son succeeds, 99
Sistrum, ivory, 205 ; brass, 221
Size of City, 160

Slaves (captives), 5 ; immolated at burials, 41 ;
of king, 91 ; villages, 103 ; with physical
defects, 103 ; males only exported, 103 ;
trade, decay of, 104 ; unhappiness of, 104 ;
purchase price of, 104, 138 ; rise to prosper-
ity, 105 ; task work, 143
Smith and Moffat, 3
Smiths, 140 ; shops, 175

Sphyrelaton work, 199
Spinning machines, 141
Spirit of old man with bag, 57
Spirits annually driven out, 55
Spondeus lutea, 142
Spoons, shells used as, 148
Spurheeledness, 205
Stables, 159
Staff, carved, 196, 219
Star, Prof. Fred., 4
Starvation, a woman dying of, 47
State secrets divulged, 86
Statuettes, ivory, igg, 200
Steeples see Towers

68, 69 ; see Smell
Sterculia acuminata, 59, 142, 148 xxiv ; see Kola
Stools, King\'s, 112

i6g ; unknown, 167 ; not straight, 180
Strophanthus sp., 125, 144
Strucliium Africanmn, 151

Terrorism of king\'s boys, 94
Theft, thievishness, 45, 46, 47 ; theft, punish-
ment for, 86
Tiele, Mémoire Bibhographique, i
Title, why given, 65 ; entails duties at court,

Tobacco consumed, 113 ; grown, 189
Tombs, 13, 42, 44
Tongue and quill ordeal, 86, 88
Torture, 84

162, 163, 167, 189
Town, gates, 158, 160 ; wall, 160, 162, 175
Trade, 9 ; minister for, 93 ; liberty to, 96 ;

ceremonies, 135 ; rights, 136 ; relations, 234
Trees planted in compounds, 181, 1S7
Tribute payers, 13
Turkey buzzards, 169
Turkeys, images of, 168
Turtle, sacred, 54
Turrets see Towers
Twins, destruction of, 35, 55
Tusks, 44, 79, 131, 192-196 ; perforated for
horns, 77 ; on altars, 79, 80 ; on bronze
heads, 79 ; how supported, 82 ; on ivory
pedestals, no; on copper heads, 162; the
property of the king, 96 ; the first to fall
claimed by the king, 144 ; price of, 138, 139
Ubini, Eweke\'s slave, 8
Ukoba, king\'s boys, 54, 94, 100, 123, 191
Umbrella, carried by the Ojomo, 94
Understudy to the king, loi
Unhappiness of slaves, 104
Unkindness to children unusual, 104
Upper storeys of houses, 161
Usu taken prisoner, xv. ; shot, xvi.
Vailyes (Veilles), 95, 135
Variety of designs and ornamention, 233
Veilles ; see Vailyes
Ventriloquists, 57

Victim escapes owing to shape of head, 69 ;
kept in stock, 65 ; cruelty to, 65 ; how cap-
tured, 66; numbers of, 69; deserve death,
72 ; do not resist, 66 ; callous behaviour of,
74, 82, 84 ; gagged, mouths skewered, 67,
71, 76, 78, 80 ; physical defects of, 82, 103 ;
privileges, 84
Village legends, 55
Vindicativeness, 46
Vossius, Isaak, 2
Vultures devour the dead, 42
Wall, town, 160, 162, 175 ; of houses, 164 ;
building, 158 ; how built, 181 ; of clay, 162 ;
ribbed, 128, 167 ; fluted, 177; polished, 160,
161, 166, 177; courses, 172 ; with plates inlaid,
67, 170 ; with cowries, 128, 170 ; castings

and human bodies buried in, 217 ; washed
down by rain, 139
Wands (staves) peeled on altars, 70, 109, no
War, 126 ; minister, 93

War Captain (commander in chief), 65 ; Ollu-
busheri, 94; post inherited, loi ; drunk,
130; his house and ancestors, 128 ; his
power, 128

Warme St., Amsterdam, comparison with, 157
Warri (Owhere, Ouarre) and Benin one king-
dom, 7; description of, 12; how founded.
100

Washing feet, ceremony of, 115, 123, 128
Water, spirit, 53, 90; fetish to the Bini, 84;
ordeal, 87; provided for travellers, 11; where
obtained, 149; wells, 161, 173; path, 173
Weaving, 140
Welsh, Jas., 2

Witchcraft, prisoners, 65 ; woman accused of, 84
Wives, plurality of, 37 ; inheritance of, 37;

desire to be sacrificed at burial of husband, 43
Woman sacrificed to rain god, 71 ; mutilated,

69 ; killed for witchcraft, 84
Women not so good looking as the men, 16 :
the king\'s property, 24 ; do not cohabit with
Europeans, 37 ; set to ensnare the Jekri men,
45 ; dishonesty of, 47 ; may not enter fetish
huts, 57; offerings, 82 ; chant at sacrifice,
82; happiness of slave women, 104; excluded
from election of king, 99 ; traders, 132, 134 ;
not allowed to enter European traders\' sheds,
135 ; market tray, 145
Wood, fetish, 49 ; spirit, 55
Woods, coloured, exported, 143
Woodwork, carved, 209
Woollen stuffs, 141

Yoruba, curse, 43 ; architecture, limits of, 182
Zoological forms in carving, 209

	Illustrations.	Page
Fig. 176.	Timbuktu Mosque	. . 183
.. 177-	Town of Segou	..183
„ 178.	Bonduku Habitation	..183
179-	Salaga Mosque	. . 183
,, 180.	Sketch Plan of King\'s Compound ..	. . 184
, 181.	Plan of a Labadie Habitation	. . 185
,, 182-184	Sections and Elevations of Fig. 181	..186
„ 185.	Sketch Plan of typical Benin House	..187
,, 186, 187. Ivory Door Bolts	. . 188
,, 188.	Door in use . .	..189
„ 189.	Door Key and Bolt	. . 189
,, igi.	Jekri Village. .	190
,, 192.	Section of Ditch	..191
193-	Ruined Doorway	. . 191
.. 194-195-	Carved Tusks	192
,, 196-207.	Carvings on Tusks	194, 195
208.	Carved Double Cat-fish	196
,, 209-212.	Carved Ivory Staff	197
,, 213, 214.	Carved Ivory Masks	. . 198
,, 215,	Carved Ivory Leopard Mask	. . 198
,, 216.	Ivory Statuette	200
,, 217.	Sobo Wooden Fetish	200
,, 218.	Ivory Statuette	201
,, 219.	do. do.	201
,, 220.	Carved Ivory Box	202
,, 221-223.	Carved Ivory Amulets . . . . ;.	202, 203
., 224, 225. Carved Ivory Sistrum ..	204
,, 226-228.	do. do. do.	. . 206
,. 229-232,	Carved Coconut	208, 209
233-236,	Pressure Drum and details	210
.. 237.	Carved Coconut	210
,, 238-241.	do. do.	211, 212
,. 242.	Top of Staff ..	■■213
.. 243, 244.	Casket and Ornamentation	..213
.. 245.	Looking-Glass Door F\'rame	. . 214
,, 246.	Ivory Group . .	..214
.. 247.	Carving on Elephant Tusk	..215
,, 248.	Ivory Stopper	..215
,, 249-252,	Ivory Armlet. .	..215
253.	Bronze Head	216
254.	Bronze Cock..	..218
„ 255.	Bronze Figures of Dwarfs	219
,, 256	Brass Jug	220
257.	Staff Head ..	221
„ 258.	Bronze Leopard	222
, 259-	Bronze Head of Horseman	. . 223
,, 260, 261.	Brass Sistrum	224
,, 262.	Double Bell Form	225
„ 263.	Brass Casket..	226
,, 264-266.	Details of Fig. 263	227, 228
,, 267.	Bronze Vase . .	229
„ 268.	Bronze iEgis..	230
,, 269,	Degenerate Elephants Head and Trunk	..231
,, 270.	Plaque : Cat-fish	..231
,, 271.	Bronze Morion	..231
„ 272.	Bronze Group : Women..	..232
273.	do. : do. . .	• ■ 233
m 274.	Paying homage	xiv
.. 275.	Bronze Armlet (?)	xxiv



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