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
more distinguished adversaries, captured at different times, and
placed in that situation that he might nightly enjoy the savage
gratification of trampling on the heads of his enemies. The top of
the little wall, which surrounded this detached apartment, was
adorned likewise with their jaw-bones. In some more civilized minds
there is an instinctive dread on viewing the remains of a human
being; but it cannot be laid to the charge of these savages, that the
fear of ghosts and hobgoblins forms any part of their character.
The immolation of victims is, however, not confined to this
particular period; for at any time, should it be necessary to send an
account to his forefathers of any remarkable event, the king
despatches a courier to the shades, by delivering his message to
whomsoever may happen to be near him, and then ordering his head to
be chopped off immediately; and it has not unfrequently happened,
that as something new has occurred to the king's mind, another
messenger, as Mr. Canning very justly observed of the postscript of a
letter, has instantly followed on the same errand, perhaps in itself
of the most trivial kind.
