THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 141, 3 October 1876, Page 3

THE KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY.

t Soat or ENotAin»'a Tsmimi) ' War.

Tint AMAJtWst. flie Kindorn of Dahomey is in some rejcts one of the moat coriotts and interliny of all the African principalities. Ie military strength is not to be eati,tett by deducting women and children ia the whole population. The Amazons diis corner of the world play a very iinrtunt part in its military alfairs and if fortunately we should be compelled to and fetch the powder and shot which j audacious potentate has pledged him[to provide for as, King Ce tele's oale regiments will form a very intertsti subject of stndy for the strongaded rtpresen tatives of the sex in Engid and elsewhere. The precise period on ladies Erat took to soldiering in homey appears to be involved tn some jeiirvty. The present monarch is the itix since the founding of the kingdom 16(55. It appears to have been Agajah, i fourth king, who raised from the men of hia palace the first female army itliich) we have any knowledge. Skertchsaya that in 1728 this monarch revolt a defeat at the hands of the Eyeos, j implacable enemies of hia race, and he laiiised an army of Amazons, and, by iii* assistance, completely turned the )ki» on his foes ; though, whether the lieu wuru atich vixens, or the gentlemen i gallant to offer serious resistance, does t appear. M'Rootrttcs eostvtttTeo- ijf war. Whether Agajah realty originated this cnliar service we cannot say; but the urifc of bringing it to its highest degree perfection undoubtedly belongs to I2ti, father of the monarch who now mis inclined to defy British power, irtion says that the Amazons k ' were a mrite army with Qerti, who often wfced that he had first organised it. It stid him high among surrounding kings il chiefs, wlio declared an altianee with :lt other, and a determination to make ilistaff of (Jean's head—a declaration uivalent to a etwt# The united ieftains so far succeeded as to gain a tided victory at Ado, a frontier town, iw'u an Amazon corps was defeated and i its o Ulcers and umbrella. Oeau svrore orrible rjvenge, and tailing on Oktadon utratageiu, slew alt the sick and aged, li miix -d rnd sold as slav s all the r«.<liiuler, some 20,000 picopt.o. In ISTt, wuvov, Oetfit received a blow frotn wivich novel? recovered. lie attacked Abeoto with 10,000 or t>,ooo troops, male il female, and was beaten back with a 3of .-lotne 1,200 of his best warriors. TUB PRfliHtOT KJ2TO OP PaltoMEY. Tliu King died in 18 8, and was atreetlml by tfelele, his son, wltw still mainilia the force which won for Ida fat er loli brilliant victories for many ytara. : Ilia hands, however, the t'oree has lost Mt of its p»wer and prestige. Soon lor his accession Qelete led an army to niokiita to avenge the d<. f» at of his liur. On this occasion, however, smallsbrok'i out. and he was compelled to jiru, Jv he made another attempt, il u -t* comparison between Cfera's and ilolu's attacks,"' says Barton, " gives the suture of Dahomtan decadence. In 18" 1 (King assaulted on both sides of the jun, and the distance between the two lilts of attack was at least a mile. . He iglit from morning tilt night, and was ivm back but one mile to Ado. He ight again at Ishagga, preventing fnrir purstrit r and lost a total of 1,200 diura. In 1S&I Gelele attacks only on 8 side of the river, and he takes to |ht ia two hours, after losing 150 men, il lie hardly kills one of the enemy." the end the JDahomians were utt rty itud, and the finest portion of the iiwunian army perished. For alt that i Royal braggart retrtrned to his capital triumph, bringing with htm a number slaves whom he had purchased for the pose of gracing his entry into the itnl.

w 'turn AXtAZOXtAS ARMY IS CBGfllJf. ilia number of the Amazons t» somu*t dubious. &anea» speaks of a review Abuine, to which 5f,600 of these female rrioca passed in procession bet'oru him. MftafUtoyy writing later, says their nam--1 may possibly be 4,000. "Th yare id«d into throe brigades,'* says tuts to traveller, " known as the King's upimy, the Kight and Left wings, Each these hm a peculiar head-dress, t>y ioli it may be known. The King's jade wear the hair shaved & la turban, I bound with narrow fillets, with aliior» of colored cloth sown on them. 0 Right wing have their heads shaven, "ing only a solitary tuft or two, while 1 Luft wear the hair <m natttei<tt«. lather these fair warriors have any 'ic« of regiment we are enable to aay. wine parts of the world there w»ct£d hivps be some heart-burning among |os who were divided into corps, one of 101 l was- permitted to wear its hair me \rdU?, while another was required to w » the head. Amazons, however, "to congests aro anp;>. sxl to be ifoly of the military <rd >r are f e.> » «h ive the trivialuij* op r o.ial fmi.eat. Cwitfcaiy is en joj el upom all 1 !V few who are found; tt-> be essential j ta happiness of the king, or are given Hirriage to> a few of the most deserving Ws. Whether Uelele keeps np the made of enlistment as hi» paternal we are rtnablo to> say. Gesttf *f-t» require every ouo of his subjects r* bad daughters above a certain age to Niit them at Court opon a certain day, f> llu personalty selected the most propiff of the ariatrocracy for Amazon luura—or othceresses, as some travellers far it—the girls of the lower orders W drafted into the rank and tile. T.ie N» of thea® female warriors appears to TOiewhat after the " Mary Walker " I _!f

i type, -with a few trifling modifications. | " They wear," savs Duncan, " a blue and | white striped cotton sor. out of stoat ; native manufacture without sleeves, leaving | freedom for the arms. The skirt or ttinic reaches as low as the kilt of the Highlanders. A pair of soft trousers ia no n I underneath, reaching two inches below the knee." ACTIVITY OP TB£ DAMSELS. | By way of illustrating the accomplishj ments of these active damsels. Lieut. Duncan may again be quoted. "I was conducted," he says, "to a space of broken ground, where fourteen days liad been occupied in erecting three immense prickly piles of green bush. These three clumps, or piles, of a sort of strong briar or thorn, armed with the most dangerous prickles, were placed in line, occupying about four hundred yards, leaving only a narrow passage between them sufficient I merely to distinguish each clnmp api pointed to each regiment. These piles were about seventy feet wide and eight j high. Upon examining them, 1 could not | persuade myself that any human being | without boots or si os wonld under any ■•circumstances a'tempt to pass over so j dangerous a collection of the most efficiently armed plants I had ever seen. Behind thesg piles alrtaly mentioned were large pens at the distance of 300 yards, fenced with piles seven fe .t high, ; thickly niatt'd together with strong reeds. Enclosed within were several hundred i staves belonging to the king." The Ama- : zona appear on the scene, halt with shouldered arms 200 yards from the prickly : fortress, ar.d then the word is given. "A rash was made toward the pile with a speed tayond conception, and in less than one mlnttte the whole body had passed over this immense pile, and had taken the supposed town." It places the gallantry of the traveller in a very favorable light to be able to, and that when the proud potentate asked whether he thought the same number of English women-could do the same, fie replied that thj ladies of England were not aoUlters, but that many of them had individually and voluntarily done things quite as great.—London (Hoht.