it can be imagined with what fury these unhappy wretches are cut in
pieces.

In one of the courtyards which divide the king's palace there were
drawn up four thousand warriors, one of the contingents of the royal
army--and not the least courageous one. If it is doubtful if there
are any Amazons an the river of that name, there is no doubt of there
being Amazons at Dahomey. Some have a blue shirt with a blue or red
scarf, with white-and-blue striped trousers and a white cap; others,
the elephant-huntresses, have a heavy carbine, a short-bladed dagger,
and two antelope horns fixed to their heads by a band of iron. The
artillery-women have a blue-and-red tunic, and, as weapons,
blunderbusses and old cast cannons; and another brigade, consisting
of vestal virgins, pure as Diana, have blue tunics and white
trousers. If we add to these Amazons, five or six thousand men in
cotton drawers and shirts, with a knotted tuft to increase their
stature, we shall have passed in review the Dahomian army.

Abomey on this day was deserted. The soveriegn, the royal family, the
masculine and feminine army, and the population had all gone out of
the capital to a vast plain a few miles away surrounded by
magnificent forests.

On this plain the recognition of the new king was to take place. Here
it was that thousands of prisoners taken during recent razzias were
to be immolated in his honor.

It was about two o'clock when the "Albatross" arrived over the plain
and began to descend among the clouds which still hid her from the
Dahomians.