Part 19 (2/2)
Lieutenant Clapperton rejoined Major Denham at Kouka, whence they set out, and crossed the desert in the latter part of 1824. They reached Tripoli in January 1825, and soon after embarked for Leghorn, but being detained by contrary winds and quarantine regulations, did not reach London until the following June.
CHAPTER XXV.
Having now completed our preparatory a.n.a.lysis of the princ.i.p.al travels for the exploration of the interior of Africa, we proceed to enter upon those in which Richard Lander was remotely or closely connected, as the coadjutor or the princ.i.p.al, and to whose perseverance and undaunted courage, we are indebted for some of the most important information respecting the interior of Africa, particularly in the solution of the great geographical problem of the termination of the Niger. At the time when Lander was ransomed by Captain Laing, of the Maria of London, belonging to Messrs. Forster and Smith, the papers, which he had with him respecting the travels which he had performed, as the servant of Captain Clapperton, who had been promoted on his return from his first expedition, were not very voluminous. In our personal intercourse with him, however, he unreservedly dictated to us many interesting particulars respecting his travels, whilst in the service of Captain Clapperton, which are not to be found in his published narrative, and particularly of the occurrences which took place at Whidah, in the kingdom of Dahomey, on their pa.s.sage through that territory, in fulfilment of the object of their mission to sultan Bello of Sockatoo.
Although the second expedition of Clapperton is ostensibly published under his name, yet it is generally known, that but for the information given by Lander on his return, after the death of Captain Clapperton, very little would have transpired relative to any discoveries which had been made, or towards an elucidation of those geographical and statistical objects, for which the expedition was undertaken. We are therefore more disposed to award the merit where it is most particularly due, for although in accordance with the received notion, that whatever was accomplished in the second expedition, is to be attributed to Clapperton, yet, from our private resources, we are enabled not only to supply many deficiencies in the published accounts of Clapperton's second expedition, gathered from the oral communication of Lander himself, but also to give a description of many interesting scenes, which throw a distinct light upon the character of the natives, their progress towards civilisation, and the extent of their commercial relations.
It may be remembered that when Clapperton took his leave of the sultan at Sockatoo, he delivered into his hands a letter for the king of England, in consequence of several conversations that had pa.s.sed between him and Clapperton, touching the establishment of some commercial relations between England and the central kingdoms of Africa. In that letter the sultan proposed three things:--the establishment of a friendly intercourse between the two nations by means of a consul, who was to reside at the _seaport_ of Raka; the delivery of certain presents described, at the port of Fundah, supposed to be somewhere near Whidah, and the prohibition of the exportation of slaves, by any of the Houssa merchants, to Atagher, Dahomy, or Ashantee.
No doubt whatever rested on the mind of Lander, that Clapperton was in some respects made the dupe of the pride, pomposity, and deception of the African sultan. It may be remembered that the sultan offered him land on the sea coast, on which to form a settlement, when it was subsequently discovered, that he was not in possession of an inch of territory within several hundred miles of the sea; the _seaport_ of Raka was nearly similar to Sancho Panza's Island Barrataria, it was not to be found in any existing map, and it will be seen in the sequel, that the people resident on the sea coast knew as little of sultan Bello of Sockatoo, as he knew of them, although, according to his own report, the greater part of the sea coast belonged to him.
On the arrival of Clapperton in England, Lord Bathurst, then secretary of state for the colonies, conceived the proposals contained in the sultan's letter, to afford a fair opportunity for endeavouring to carry into effect objects of such considerable importance, and Clapperton immediately volunteered his services for the occasion. He had arranged with sultan Bello, that his messengers should about a certain time be at Whidah, to conduct the presents and the bearers to Sockatoo. Clapperton was allowed to take with him on this novel and hazardous enterprise two a.s.sociates, one of whom was Captain Pearce of the navy, an excellent draughtsman, and the other Dr. Morrison, a surgeon in the navy, well versed in various branches of natural history; and at his particular request, a fellow countryman of the name of d.i.c.kson, who had served as a surgeon in the West Indies, was added to the list; Richard Lander accompanying Captain Clapperton in the capacity of a servant.
The travellers embarked on board his majesty's s.h.i.+p Brazen, on the 25th August 1825, and arrived off Whidah on the 26th of the following November. Mr. d.i.c.kson landed at Whidah, for reasons which do not appear in the narrative of Clapperton's expedition, but which have been fully stated to us by Lander, to whom we are indebted for the information which we now lay before our readers of the kingdom of Dahomy, its natives, customs, natural productions, and commercial advantages.
Mr. d.i.c.kson, accompanied with a Portuguese of the name of De Sousa, proceeded from Whidah to Dahomy, where the latter had resided for some time. Here he was well received, and sent forward with a suitable escort to a place called Shar, seventeen days' journey from Dahomy, where he also arrived in safety, and thence proceeded with another escort towards Youri, but has not since been heard of.
It was in consequence of the inquiries that were set on foot relative to Mr. d.i.c.kson, that Lander obtained the following highly interesting information relative to a part of Africa, which was at one time, the emporium of the slave trade on the sea-coast, but the interior of which was but very little known.
Whidah was once an independent kingdom, but in the year 1727 was conquered by Guadja Trudo, the king of Dahomy. Grigwee, the present capital, lies a few miles up from the sea coast, and may contain about twenty thousand inhabitants. Dahomy, including the subjugated districts, extends at least a hundred and fifty miles into the interior, the princ.i.p.al town of which is Abomey, lying in about 3 east longitude.
Dahomy produces in perfection all the immense variety of fine fruits found within the torrid zone, and amongst others one of a most singular quality. It is not unlike a ripe coffee berry, and does not at first appear to have a superior degree of sweetness, but it leaves in the mouth so much of that impression, that a gla.s.s of vinegar tastes like sweet wine, and the sourest lemon like a sweet orange; sugar is quite an unnecessary article in tea or coffee; in fact, the most nauseous drug seems sweet to whomever chews this fruit, and its effect is not worn away until after several meals. It is generally called the miraculous berry, and whoever eats of it in the morning, must be content at least for that day to forego the flavour of every kind of food, whether animal or vegetable, for all will be alike saccharine to the palate, and the most ridiculous effect is often produced by playing tricks upon those, who are not aware of its peculiar property. Lander himself was one of the dupes, and he relates, that the first time he partook of one of these berries, he thought himself under the influence of witchcraft--the fowl of which he partook at dinner seemed to him as if it had been soaked in a solution of sugar--the lime juice appeared to him as if it were mixed with some saccharine matter--his biscuit tasted like a bun--and although he was convinced that he had not put any sugar into his grog, it seemed to him as if it had been sweetened by the first maker of punch in his native country.
The beasts of prey are numerous and dangerous, and often commit great havoc amongst the sheep, and other live stock, notwithstanding every precaution to put them in a place of security at night. The tigers and leopards are not contented with what they actually carry off, but they leave nothing alive which comes within the reach of their talons. During the residence of Lander in the country, a good mode of astonis.h.i.+ng a tiger was practised with success. A loaded musket was firmly fixed in a horizontal position, about the height of his head, to a couple of stakes driven into the ground, and the piece being c.o.c.ked, a string from the trigger, first leading a little towards the b.u.t.t, and then turning through a small ring forwards, was attached to a shoulder of mutton, stuck on the muzzle of the musket, the act of dragging off which, drew the trigger, and the piece loaded with two b.a.l.l.s, discharged itself into the plunderer's mouth, killing him on the spot.
Elephants are common in Dahomy, but are not tamed and used by the natives, as in India, for the purposes of war or burthen, being merely taken for the sake of their ivory and their flesh, which is, on particular occasions, eaten.
An animal of the hyena tribe, called by the natives tweetwee, is likewise extremely troublesome; herds of these join together, and sc.r.a.pe up the earth of newly-made graves, in order to get at the bodies, which are not buried here in coffins. These resurrection men, as Lander termed them, make, during the night, a most dismal howling, and often change their note to one very much resembling the shriek of a woman in some situation of danger or distress.
Snakes of the boa species are here found of a most enormous size, many being from thirty to thirty-six feet in length, and of proportional girth. They attack alike wild and domestic beasts, and often human kind. They kill their prey by encircling it in their folds, and squeezing it to death, and afterwards swallow it entire; this they are enabled to do by a faculty of very extraordinary expansion in their muscles, without at the same time impairing the muscular action or power. The bulk of the animals which these serpents are capable of gorging would stagger belief, were the fact not so fully attested as to place it beyond doubt. The state of torpor in which they are sometimes found in the woods, after a _stuffing_ meal of this kind, affords the negroes an opportunity of killing them. Lander informed us, that there is not in nature a more appalling sight than one of these monsters in full motion. It has a chilling and overpowering effect on the human frame, and it seems to inspire with the same horror every other animal, even the strongest and most ferocious; for all are equally certain of becoming victims, should the snake once fasten itself upon them.
The religion of this country is paganism. 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 endeavouring to injure them.
In Whidah, for some unaccountable reason, they wors.h.i.+p their divinity under the form of a particular species of snake called daboa, which is not sufficiently large to be terrible to man, and is otherwise tameable and inoffensive. These daboas arc 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 attend to pay their adoration, and where those also who are sick or lame apply for a.s.sistance.
The tiger is also an object of religious regard in Dahomy Proper; but they deem it the safest mode of wors.h.i.+p to perform their acts of devotion to his skin only after death, which is stuffed for that purpose.
The people of Whidah occasionally imagine themselves inspired by the divinity, or, as they term it, are seized by the fetish; and in such cases, it becomes necessary, from the frantic manner in which they run about, to secure and place them under the charge of the fetisheers, or priests, until this fit of inspiration be over, and they become themselves again.
The political management of Whidah is entrusted to a viceroy, who is called the Yavougah, or captain of the white men. This officer, at the time of Lander's visit to the country, was a man of majestic stature, and possessed an uncommon share of dignity, mingled with complacency of manner. His dress was generally a large hat, somewhat resembling that of a Spanish grandee, tastefully decorated, and a piece of damask silk, usually red, thrown over one shoulder, like a Scotch plaid, with a pair of drawers; but his arms and legs were bare, except the bracelets of silver, which encircled the arm above the elbow, with manillas of the same sort, and rows of coral round the wrist.
When he had any message to deliver from the king, or other public affairs to transact with the Europeans, it was done with much ceremony and state; his guards, musicians, and umbrella-bearers, and a numerous retinue, always attending him. The most polished courtier of Europe could not have deported himself more gracefully on public occasions than this man, or have carried on a conference with greater ease and affability. He was master, besides his own, of the English, French, and Portuguese languages, having resided from his birth chiefly in the vicinity of the European forts, and in his younger days had been much connected with them, officially as a linguist.
Although, therefore, he understood perfectly what was said to him by the Europeans, who accompanied Lander, yet it was etiquette for the viceroy to be spoken to through an interpreter, and it was often amusing to see the bungling efforts of the latter in the performance of a task, which the yavougah himself so much better understood, and which he good humouredly, and in an under tone, a.s.sisted him to complete. After the business of ceremony was finished, he laid aside all formality, and conversed in a familiar manner upon general subjects, the whole party joining convivially in a collation, or repast, which was always served up on such occasions.
The government of Dahomy is, in the fullest sense of the word, despotism. It is a monarchy the most unlimited and uncontrolled on the face of the earth, there being no law but the king's will, who may chop off as many heads as he pleases, when he is ”i' the vein,”
and dispose of his subjects' property as he thinks fit, without being accountable to any human tribunal for his conduct. He has from three to four thousand wives, a proportion of whom, trained to arms, under female officers, const.i.tute his body-guards. As may naturally be supposed, but a few of these wives engage his particular attention.
The successor to the throne is not announced during the king's lifetime; but the moment his decease is known, the proclamation is made with all possible despatch by the proper officers; for all is murder, anarchy, and confusion in the palace until it takes place; the wives of the late king not only breaking the furniture and ornaments, but killing each other, in order to have the honour of attending their husband to the grave.
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