] who presided over the day of
discovery. In the early half of the present century the King of Apollonia
ruled the coast from the Assini to the Ancobra Rivers; the English built a
fort by permission at his head-quarters, and carried on a large trade in
gold-dust. Meredith (1800) tells us that, when his Majesty deceased, some
twenty men were sacrificed on every Saturday till the 'great customs' took
place six months afterwards. The underlying idea was, doubtless, that of
Dahome: the potentate must not go, like a 'small boy,' alone and
unattended to the shadowy realm. The 'African Cruiser' [Footnote: _Journal
of an African Cruiser_, by an officer of the U.S. navy. Edited by
Nathaniel Hawthorn. Aberdeen: Clark and Son, 1848.] speaks of the royal
palace being sumptuously furnished in European style; of gold cups,
pitchers, and plates, and of vast treasures in bullion. When the King died
sixty victims were slain and buried with their liege lord; besides a
knife, plate, and cup; swords, guns, cloths, and goods of various kinds.
The corpse, smeared with oil and powdered _cap-a-pie_ with gold-dust,
looked like a statue of the noble ore.
As the _Senegal_ advanced under easy steam, we had no rolling off this
roller-coast, and we greatly and regretfully enjoyed the glorious Harmatan
weather, so soon about to cease.
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