THE FRENCH IN DAHOMEY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2032, 12 April 1890, Page 3

THE FRENCH IN DAHOMEY.

Definite news as to the object of the Drench expedition to West Africa is brought by the files received by the mail. The Paris correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, telegraphing on 6th Debruary, gives the following interesting sketch To day a small Drench expedition sets out from St. Louis, Senegal, bound for the neighboring kingdom of Dahomey. The force comprises about 300 Senegalese infantry, and is to accompany M. Bayol a high Drench official in these regions, who is being sent by the Governor of Senegal to treat with King Kondo about the Cotonou district, a territory belonging to Drance, but paying customs duties to the royal blackamore who rules over Dahomey. M. Bayol will proceed to Abomey, the chief city of the dusky potentate, and will offer the royal black brother, in the name of the Drench Govenment, a fixed annual sum for the transfer of the right to collect the customs tariff at Cotonou to the Governor of Senegal. M. Bayol has already had a remarkable interview on the same subject with King Glegle, progenitor of the present monarch, who passed away only a few months ago. The official, however, failed in his mission for various reasons! but chiefly, perhaps, because his escort was not numerous or imposing enough to impress Glegle with awe and respect for his white neighbors. M. Bayol and his followers were recieved coldly by Glegle, who had_ been previously ‘coached up ’ a little in modern history, and began to upbraid the Drench for having put a King and Queen to death during the great revolution. ‘ When Drance restores its kings,’ murmured the erudite monarch, ‘I shall be ready to treat, but not till then !’ And he forthwith caused M. Bayol and his escort to be arrested. The prisoners were not, however, subjected to illusage during their captivity. On the contrary, they were treated to many things which they would have freely foregone, but which were supposed to mark the monarchical esteem for the captives according to the manners and customs prevailing at the polished Court of Abomey. Two hundred persons, for instance, were one day decapitated in the presence of the Drench official and his suite. The king himself, in honor of M. Bayol’s enforced presence at the carnage, chopped off a dozen heads with his own royal hands and hatchet. ‘ Nothing,’ wrote M. Bayol, * will ever make my companions or myself forget this horrible and sickening spectacle. We were suffering from fever at the time, and the sight made us worse. Blood flowed everywhere about the human shambles, and the butchery was accompanied by the tinkling of barbarous music, to the sound of which a set of female slaves danced round the executioners.’ Shortly after this M. Bayol and companions were liberated from custody, and returned to the Drench settlements on the coast. When Glegle died, M. Bayol went to see his successor—Kondo—a charming personage, whp showed himself even less amenable to the blandishments of the Europeans. Kondo began talking about ‘ human meat,’ remarking that he preferred slaves raw and plain rather than boiled with vegetables or served up as ragouts. When pressed to the point by M. Bayol, he said that he would ask the Drench to clear out of Contonou altogether. Kondo, in the meantime, is quite capable of making raids on the french territory like his father, in order to find flesh for his horrible pots, or to annex slaves tor the purpose of selling them to the dealers. This, therefore, is the reason of the Drench expedition to Dahomey which sets out to-day. The Colonial Government disclaims energetically any intention of annexing territory, but simply sends the troops as a precaution, and in order to enable M, Bayol to be more successful than he had been hitherto with the King of Dahomey.” Whydah, which has now been occupied by the Drench, stands about two miles north of the sea, from which it is separated by a narrow lagoon, a swamp and a lofty sand bank, and extends two miles from south-east to north-west, and is about half a mile broad. The place generally has a ruinous appearance, everything showing] decay,; the slave trade, on which

its prosperity depended, being suppressed by the strict blockade ©f the seaboard. The population is estimated variously at from 12,000 to 25,000, the former probably being more nearly correct. ?''here are four forts, or rather factories, French, Brazilian, English, and Portuguese.