ch is not sufficiently large to be terrible to man, and is
otherwise tamable and inoffensive. These _daboas_ are taken care of
in the most pious manner, and well fed on rats, mice, or birds in
their _fetish_ houses or temples, where the people assemble to pay
their adoration, and where those also who are sick or lame apply for
assistance."

GRANDY. "Their creed is an odd mixture. They believe in two beings,
equal in power; the one doing good, the other evil; and they pray to
the demon to allow them to remain unmolested by the magicians, who
are constantly endeavoring to injure them."

MR. STANLEY. "In Dahomey the tiger is an object of religious regard;
but the people wisely deem it the safest mode of worship to perform
their acts of devotion to his skin only, and it is stuffed for that
purpose. The government of this country is entirely despotic. The
sovereign may cut off as many heads as he likes, and dispose of his
subjects' property as he thinks fit, without being accountable to
any earthly tribunal. He has from three to four thousand wives, a
proportion of whom, trained to arms under female officers,
constitute his body-guard."

CHARLES. "What a royal regiment! all queens; why the sight of them
would strike terror into an English army. I should throw down my
weapons directly."

MR. STANLEY. "But their enemies are not so gallant, and hesitate not
to fight this female army, who very often gain the advantage by
being so well disciplined."

MR. BARRAUD. "In Dahomey, at a particular period of the year, a
grand annual festival is held; and, amidst feastings and rejoicings,
deeds are done from which the civilized mind recoils with horror.
Numbers of human victims are sacrificed in solemn form.

"They are generally prisoners of war set aside for the purpose; but
as seventy is the required number, should there not be so many
prisoners, the king makes it up from his own subjects. Their bodies
are thrown to wild beasts, while their heads are used to decorate
the walls of the royal palace! Still more barbarous is the notion of
enjoying the gratification of trampling on the heads of their
enemies; and, in order to do this, the King of Dahomey has the
passage leading to his bedchamber paved with the skulls of his
enemies!"

EMMA. "O cruel murderous people! Sail on, Charles, and leave them
far behind. Is not the next coast Ashantee?"

CHARLES. "Yes; Ashantee is at present the most powerful state in all
Western Africa,