Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1885 — BURYING A CANNIBAL KING. [ARTICLE]

BURYING A CANNIBAL KING.

.Ifce BnM Baau Saoriflece of the Fetish Priests of the Gold Coast. A returned missionary from the Afri--1 geld coast tells some woeful stories tsf the cruelties of human sacrifice prac--1,-ticed by the fetish priests. The disposition of these people is so mild it is a mystery hew they can indulge in the practice of such cruelties, such as human eaorifices, for which they have be* come famous. The missionaries believe that but for the fetish priests,- who ar,e exceedingly shrewd and who have M strong: interest in perpetuating these bloody sacrifices, os their power is based on them, the country could be easily civilised. Under the reign of Gnezo, the late King of Dahomey, human sacrifices had becopie comparatively rare; but his successor, Grerv, a slave to the fetish priests, has revived them, and now they are practiced with greater cruelty than ever. The number of slaves who annually perish in this way is estimated at several hundreds. The King of Dahomey is, as is know, the most ferocious and powerful ruler in the wholeSegion. During ten mouths of the year he makes incursions into the neighboring territories, capturing a large number of slaves. In this work he is chiefly assisted by his two celebrated regiments of Amazons. The prisoners taken during these expeditions are divided into three classes. One class is sold to the slave merchants of the interior; another, chiefly woman, are fattened and sold to butcher, who, revolting as til© faot may be, even to relate, openly sell human flesh in their shops. The third class is reserved for the religious sacrifice. At the season of the “grand customs" victims are sacrificed in the fetish forest. On the ninth day after the installment of a new king, he and his suite proceeded by his fetish priests, moved in procession to the saored wood where the grave of the late king had been dug. The sacrifice began. Seven slaves were killed and their blood mixed with earth to form a kind of a plaster witli which the grave was lined. The heads of the seven victims, with food of all kinds, were deposited at the bottom. The body es the king was next lowered into the grave. Then were seen approaching nine of his women, drapped in their brightest colored garments and purposeljr intoxicated with “tafin,” or rum. Believing themselves to be the "objects of an ovation they cast smiles on every side as they passed through the throng. On reaching the edge of the open grave they were made to kneel, and before they had any suspicion were stunned by a blow on the head and flung, still alive, upon the body of their royal spouse. Earth was then thrown in to cover the living and dead. The sacrifices to the gods are marked by greater and more varied refinements of cruelty. The shrines resemble dog-houses—appropriate dwellings for their idols, which are hideouslooking monsters. These ceremonies begin with a dance. In front of the shrine a circle is formed by the leaders of the people sitting down, while the rude multitude remain standing. Holding a tnft of human hair in his hand, a priest dances in the center, the circle uttering savage cries, clapping their hand and playing wild instruments resembling Bells, tambovines and cymbals. During the night the fetish priests provide the gods with one or more victims. The most common form of sacrifice to Ognn, the god of war, is to behead the human offering .add nail the body upside down to a tree, the head plaeed about the feet. At another time a young tree is stripped of its branches, bent down by means of a rone, and so held by a kind of trigger. With the exception of the head the victim is inclosed in a wickerwork globe and suspended, head downward, or his head is inc%sed in the stumps of the leaves which form the crown of the palm tree. The priest loosens the rope, the tree springs back and the victim is left swinging in the air. Binds es prey soon dispose of the body.