HUMAN SACRIFICES IN DAHOMEY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 99, 20 January 1908, Page 8

HUMAN SACRIFICES IN DAHOMEY.

~ STORY OF A CHRISTIAN MISSION, v FATHER' O'SULLIVAN INTERVIEWED:' Seen by a representative of The Dominion; Father O'Sullivan, who lectured in. tho Coneort Hall' on Monday,- gave"' t-hcr following interesting account'of the human .sacrifices'at Dahomey and their abolition through' the agencies of .his missionaries, > \ •' 'Coming, ; as I'-do,' from the Dark. 'Continent;' and representing a great .work of humanity,..which is in progress,in Jts.darkest recesses, you will naturally expcct that my African experiences should bo- teeming ovor with sonsational news—cannibalism; human sacrifices, idol worship,'lions; tigers, etc..' Undoubtedly the . field of labonr of our missionaries in West Africa, include Dahomoy, once the most notorious centre of thosb hideous barbarities, infested,- as it was, .with the most forocious 'of Africa's human .beasts of prey.. - Although- my'-, own -personal ' experiences!' have been confined to the Nile .Valley, yet, through constant intercourse with , my confreres: of the'/Dahomoy Mission,-1 , have long since -become familiar with the inhumanities -which' have only ceased to be the national customs of the country, through the offorts ai)d agencies of our missionaries. The abolition of-those barbarous. usagC3 ; has cost our society very dearly .indeed.' It .will riot be news to , your readers to,, learn that tho climate of tho Guinea CoastH-and,. inpartir cular, that of~Dabomey—is the :most, deadly climato on earth to the white man. . ' The Whita Man's Crave. "The region of West Africa, over which that climate hangs like, a funeral-pall j has been deservedly <, named the 'white man's grave,' Tho havoc which it has, worked- in the ranks, of our. missionaries for- tho past 48 years.would alone suffice to -.establish its perfect, right to that sinister title! In that .internal .'the fevers of the Guinea-Coast haije sent to' their early, graves. upwards, of. 400 mombers / of .the. African, Mission 'iSooiety, after'an' average- mission life' of about throe years.-. Tho first name on that roll of honour is .that . of, the founder of-tho Order, the late Right Rev:-Bishop of, Bresillac, who died at Freetown, Sierra Leorio; in Juno, 1859, only six weeks'after his. arrivar.thero. The results obtained; have, to a certain extent, compensated for tho-i'eaVful cost of iifo' ana suffering at which they, ; havc * been so .dearly purchased. Fifty, years ago/'there was-'not to bo found in' those regions of West Africa; which ijoW constitute-our mission -field, .-a single vestigo of Catholic Christianity.. Those, regions .bear tho woU-knbwn" names of Da-' homey, Ashantee,' the Gold; Coast, tho ivory Coast, and the basin of the Niger Itiver. The, estimated population' at the time of tho arrival 'there of our first missionaries was forty millions—all Pagans or' Moslems; A Comparison. ''Tho progress'which-.has actually been made will perhaps be best gauged by • comparing -tbe' Ijahompy of fifty years ago with tho :Dahomoy of to-day. /Fifty; years . ago, and for more than a century before, the name; of Dahomey was known., all the-civilised world over- as-,-a namo at which to shudder, dt appeared, ontho map of-Africa under the dignified name of ; the Kingdom/of :I)'abomujriBut ill, reality] it was a' bugb ''savage:organisation of. brigandage; ;• murder,''and, "despotism oxtpnding over, an area half, the . sizo. . of Europe. Tho. immolation of. thousands of men and women annually in sacrifice to. idols; cruelty and • inhumanity. in all- their mo?t .fiondish forms; slavery -and degradation : of the worst and; lowest,, typo;fetish -.worship of tlio most grotesque-and revolting kinds: tho fiercest hostility to tho White man and to his civilisation; with 20,000,000.0f negroes .tho dupes,.-instriiments,; .or. yictims -of- those mbiistrosities—these. were the mean features of Dahomoy civilisation fifty yoars apo. • Two of our. earliest missionaries l.nidocf. at - its principal.port, Whydah, in April, 1861. : .Tho ono, of those pioneers'of civilisation; Fathor Boi'ghero; has already passed : into tho. history .of Wost Africa. A week previously their steamer, the Amazon,, had touchcd at Freetown, Sierra .lieono, Whero. tho missionaries,' who then, numbered j three, landed; and reverently visitod ; fivo N graves by. the seashore.' Tliooo' graves/contained/the remains of. tho founder of thoir socioty, Bishop' de Bresillac, and of his four companions. Tho intrepid missionary-bishop had landed Here in the month of May, 1559, and. within six weeks from tho | date of his landing the entire band of five had fallen victims to tho climate of the 'white man's grave.' Hero, also, one of the missionaries of Father Borghero's baiid died shortly after his visit to the cemetery;--and his death added a sixth grave to thoso of his confreres already buried there. From Whydah, Fathor Borghoro sent the customary presents to the'. King of Dahomey, and awaited his dark majesty's permission to prococd further into the kingdom. . Three Thousand Human Victims. "The late King Gheyo had died-in 1858; Three thousand human: victims' had been sacrificed on his tomb at This was-only ono. of the national usages which periodically transformed the. streets of the capital of Dahomoy into shambles reeking with human blood. Tho execution of' tho victim was sometimes accompanied with the most fiendish cruelty and torture. The doomed wretch was frequently buried alivo, I or cut in pieces, or burned to .death by . a slow lire,' or enclosed in a basket with. t : ho head protruding, aiid thus suspended' froni tho branch of a tree, whero he slowly died of hunger,.or was devoured alivo by. tho vultures. This was the holl on-earth in the very midst/of which the Society of.African Missions proposed to plant tlio Cross' of Christ. As I have said, the representative of that Society, Father Borghero, of Whydah, awaited tho permission ' of ■ the King. At that timo,, tnis''nogi'o city contained a European fort, long sir.co abandoned, ono of tho remnants of tho Portuguese dominion of tho West Coast of Africa. To' this -fort was attached a church, also constructed by tho Portuguese. ' , , A Mission Houso. v " Having received tho necessary • permission, Father Borghero and his companion trans!ornibd tho- fort - into, a mission house, and cominonced their spiritual ministrations in .tlio'-long disused church. ; Whydah' ,was then a town .'of 35,000 inhabitants, situated i oil an island in the lagoon, about three miles inland from the seashore. While tho slave | trade across tho Atlantic still flourished, this , population centre furnished every vear to tho slavo markets of Brazil and tlio Antilles Islands from 18,000 to 20,000 negroos. Tho King of Dahomey took' seven months to notify his acccptance of tho presents offered by Father Borghero, and to express his acknowledgment. . The 'Royal' mossage' was accompanied with an invitation to tho missionaries to visit tho capital, Agboincy; The fathers accepted the invitation, and, after a journey of six days, reached Agbomev onNovember 28, 1861. • • A Strange Spectacle. " On that dato tho chief theatre of human sscrifico in Dahomoy witnessed a spectacle passing strange in the eyes of fetish priesthood, and of. fetish worshippers accustomed to scones of blood and suffering. A Catholic procession mado its solemn entry into tho city, and traversed the principal streets on its way to the palace of tho King. /.At'its head was a young negro neopbvte, ringing a small church belf as ho advanced. Behind him came two negro Christians garbed in red cassocks aud' white albs, ono bearing an ex-quisitely-wrought ivory statue of Our Blessed Lady. I'athcr Borghero followed attirbd in copo and stole, and accompanied by two ncolytr.s nogro Christians—in black soutanes and. whito surplices. By order of tho King, all tho idols along the route had been cither removed or covered. This was ono of tho conditions 011 which tho Royal invitation had been accepted. Tho Pagan monarch, in consenting to this condition, said: ' I know that liod is greater than ull theso idols; it is, therefore, fitting that tlicv should bo mado to disappear bofor'o Him and His Envoy.' When the procession reached tho palace, tho King received tho riicssage of tho Gospel with the most unusual manifestations of honour and jov. The scene of wild, welcome was extraordinary beyond description. Artillory and musketry thundered and rolled; thousands of negroes in undress uniform danced and sang and shouied. All the bands which the city possessed piafetl, On hearing

Hio swelling chorus of -favoyrablp-.setitimcnts: from thousands ; of., ahd apfriendlv natives, the missionary, con-, ceived high hopes, of tha-. regifiieration of Unhompy.. . Y'v, -!.v< " A Tremendous Obstacle. ' "Two..mouths , later he - had- come into closer contact with Agbomcv Kntl its- people,alid . ho saw that one- tremendous stood,m tho -way .of tho blossiligs of civilisation -which l;e. hg[iod to introduce." Thqro ,wiis v : no ..'possibility''of ostablish'ing.'jii -centre of 'Christian civilisation; into -that' ajiominablo dapital until some European Powor had suppressed the despotic: tyranny of the' King with- all, its horrible' appanage of''wholesale murder and pagan in human blopd )V and .' all the denioralisiiig; :wfiiqli ! followed ili, : their ti-ainV : -ut' v w^ the . camions , rif General Ir'DSdSsy > 30''; year's;' afterwards; to open pf 'regenoration; whict the, zealous missionaries ambitioned.,. Among the 'Hideous instances of ,'ferobious Fnther. -Borgr hero witnessed'during 'hislstay jri':the'''capital' was the '.king"'s.' bodyguard, composed-"of -. several thousands of female'warriors of gigantic size, trairfpd from, 1 their! : ; childhb6d : Vtb,' the ijiost. fearless deeds,'»hardiHocid, : and "'alicla--' clous, bravery. '' ■ ' Amazons of Dahomeyi , " The origiu'of this regiiiieint of 'the .'. ; Ama r ' zons of .of' itß kind in '.the; world;goes'/ back to* the,. ! year. 1728. .Thanks to- tho'.'efforts -of' the : niis'sioiiaries of tJie AfricanVMission Society, Hhb' King of Dahomey ahd have : disappeared \ from ;. 1 Agbomey..; His Majesty was, until a, prisoner: of France in ' the:' Island, of ' 'Martinique.:.- Tho Aniazons-and the .humitn.' sacrificc'sj; with; all their horrible appanage of huhiaii'mißery.and (legradatiou, ihaye been seen fori the; last time! in Dahomey.' In the : capital whiclir,was once: a = shambles- reeking .witlv thp '■blood of; niur.men:' anil' woir.en, in Uliat cipital?;of: •14 .of'^the' .•principal' centresr of. populatiqn'ij Catholic ' missions, : ; churchcs;;': v.conveaits,schools, and dispensaries fpr tlje. sick pbpr, are' ; flow disseminating thc' blessiijss of .roligioii arid (.'ivilisatipti' throughout, the length andr brcadth '-of.'|)abomcj;.'. constitute'. .with -s|2v priests, ■ and, about an equal ■ number.-pfrSistcrs'. aii'd'.brfithers. • ' ■; YA-Siv. .'K . '.Vv Christian Heroes. ' ' ; Tlip last, item ofus - from,, this .distant' par.fi";of ,vtHe !iyorld',.his been the'appointnient^'of,'-a",successor.to|.the latc.'Bishop,- the the latest. but not tne Ja^t,nani6 : to be added to the' long list' of' Christian heroes who havb'. given their -liyes 'to carry, tho. blessings of -religion into the hearts and .homes., of the.i pagan -negroes. of. the, Guinea-.. Coast. . Bis-. I hop Dartois was consecrated in: 1901, andl| 'died -..in thei fourth-year of:-his -episcopate. Another: member ' .of' the- African Mission Sticiety, Right Rov. M., Albert,-was also consecrated , the samp-year Bishop of tho Gold Coast- ; He ,died in the. second year, of his-episcopate -18 months: after his consecration. . The shortness ■of their career, on tho Guinea Coast. is ! quite in. keeping with .tho fealrful,'mortality missionaries in this most unhealthy part-. of tho world for 49-.years. ■■'.'Wfi 'hope: soon, to . bo enabled to forni a;'riecrrd:'priesthood, 'aiii. thus-obviate the. necessity of sending-so many European I priests :tp,cert)iirt death:^,r.\^.;j; ; _ <: