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 worship 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 assistance.
The tiger is also an object of religious regard in Dahomy Proper; but
they deem it the safest mode of worship 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.
