time in bawling out his
strong names, (their term for titles of honour,) and sing songs in
his praise. These scenes are likewise enlivened by a number of people
engaged in a savage dance round the scaffolds; should the foot of one
of these performers slip, it is considered an ill omen; the
unfortunate figurante is taken out of the ring, and his head
instantly struck off, whilst the dance continues without
interruption, as if nothing unusual had occurred.

The people thus sacrificed are generally prisoners of war, whom the
king often puts aside for this purpose, several months previously to
the celebration of his horrid festival; should there be any lack of
these, the number is made up from the most convenient of his own
subjects. The number of these victims sometimes amount to several
hundred, but about seventy are the average number.

Their bodies are either thrown out into the fields, to be devoured by
vultures and wild beasts, or hung by the heels in a mutilated state
upon the surrounding trees, a practice exceedingly offensive in so
hot a climate. The heads are piled up in a heap for the time, and
afterwards disposed of in decorating the walls of the royal
_simbonies,_ or palaces, some of which are two miles in
circumference, and often require a renewal and repair of these
ornaments.

An anecdote is related of king Adahoouza, who, on a successful attack
upon Badagry, having a great number of victims to sacrifice, ordered
their heads to be applied to the above purpose. The person to whom
the management of this business was committed, having neglected to
make a proper calculation of his materials, had proceeded too far
with his work, when he found that there would not be a sufficient
number of skulls to adorn the whole palace; he therefore requested
permission to begin the work, as the lawyers would say, _de novo,_ in
order that he might, by placing them farther apart, complete the
design in a regular manner; but the king would by no means give his
consent to this proposal, observing that he would soon find a
sufficient number of Badagry heads to render the plan perfectly
uniform, and learning that a hundred and twenty seven were required
to complete this extraordinary embellishment, he ordered that number
of captives to be brought forth and slaughtered in cold blood.

On visiting the bed-chamber of Bossa Ahadee, the passage leading to
it was found to be paved with human skulls. They were those of his
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