THE DEFEAT OF THE KING OF DAHOMEY.

Otago Witness, Issue 663, 12 August 1864, Page 20

THE DEFEAT OF THE KING OF DAHOMEY.

A passenger, by the Athenian; gives the following account of this event : — Yoa recollect, no doubt, that the King dwelt very stoutly on the necessity of the expedition at the time when Commodore Wilmot paid his last memorable visit to Aboraey ; and that no arguments of the gallant Commodore could dissuage the Royal savage from his determination to pour forth the vials of his wrath on Abbeokuta. It would appear that on Monday, the 15th of March, the Dahoraian army, with the King at its head, encamped at; Owiwi, which is about twelve miles from Abbeokuta. Btfore six o'clock on Tuesday morning the frequent reports of a gun fired at Aro, one of the five gates of Abbeokuta, gave warning to the Egbas that the Dahomians were in sight. The Abashorun had made every preparation for the defence of the town. " Abashorun" signifies the principal chief, and as this word is curious in composition, I may as well explain that, its literal meaning is " A King of Heaven opening out everything." The enemy approached boldly enough. He had three brass field six-pounder pieces, bearing the inscription upon the breech of " Mexico, 1815." He advanced in a column of 3,000 strong till within fifty yards of the wall of Abbeokuta, then suddenly displayed his flags, extended his lines, and marched rapidly towards the wall. The Egbas immediately opened a tremendous fire on the serried lines, and arrested them at once. In the advancing column were Amazons, who fought bravely and desperately. Many of these furies climbed the wall, which is more than fifteen feet high; but, as soon as they had reached the top, the Egbas dragged them over and slew them. One Amazon, who had one of her hands cut off in her efforts to clamber over the wall, discharged her musket with the other hand and Bhot an Egba. She received a severe biow from a sabre, and fell backwards into the trench. The Dahomians were utterly

defeated. In fact, they have never met with such a signal defeat — not even in, % 1851. They lost upwards of 1000 in killed ; / and the number of prisoners is said to exceed 2000. The whole strength of the King is stated to have been 10,000 men and women. The Dahomians fled in two divisions. In front of the division which took first te flight was the doughty King himself. The Egbas pursued both divisions and slaughtered the fugitives without mercy and without a pause. Seeing the discomfiture ot the King, the inhabitants of the neighboring crooms turned out and joined heartily in the general massacre. Out. of his three fieldpieces, the King had the misfortune to leave two in the good keeping of the Egbas. 1 may now, perhaps, be allowed to tell you that the wall of Abbeokuta is fifteen miles in circumference, and that the population is scarcely less than 200,000 souls. Abbeokuta means " understone." The name was given to the place partly in reference to some twenty hills of primitive formation upon which it is built, and partly in memory of a huge porphyritic rock called " Olumo" standing in the heart of the town, where bands of robbers used of yore to conceal themselves. In 1825 "Oluma" or "the hiding-place" was deserted by the robbers, and it became in that year the refuge of a few poor wretches who had stolen thither from the clutches of the slave hunters. From such a forlorn knot of wanderers it is that the present large native city of Abbeokuta hag sprung. Other wanderers arrivedjn terror from all quarters of the country to seek and to find an asylum there. They settled upon the hills in small but separate townships. Each township had its own laws ; each its own chief, judge, waT-captain, and council-house; and each fondly assumed the name of the village whence its people had been originally driven. The hills mark the site of the townships. The townships still exist in complete distinctness from one another, but neither natural nor artificial boundary seems to separate them, and the entire community is surrounded by the common wall to which I have already- alluded.

A Bab River Steamer.— The Wallaby, b.s., left Glasgow on the 17th December, but was compelled through stress of weather to put into Lanilash, where she remained until 23th January. The following day she had to take shelter in Belfast Loch, through heavy gales, and, after three days' attempt, she finally left on the 4th. February. She bad very light winds to the Equator, which was crossed on the 21st March* and Bhe put into Simon's Bay on the 26th May for provisions. Sailel agaiu on the Ist June; ran her easting down in lat. 43deg., and s%hted King's Island on the 16th instant. On the 17th, encountered a violent gale from S., with a terrific sea, and tacked to westward in company with the French ship Rubena, from Bordeaux to New Caledonia, ninety-seven dajs out. The Wallaby is a small screw steamer, built by Messrs Inglis, of Glasgow, in^ a very superior manner, aud constructed specially for bar harbors, drawing only four feet of water ; and as a sea boat, has proved herself all that could be wished.— S, M. Herald, 25th July.

Burning o? thk Graham's Town in Table Bat. —On Thursday morning the baique Graham's Town arrived in Table Bay, and reported that on the 19th instant it waa discovered that her cargo, wool loaded in Algoa Bay, had become ignited by spontaneous combustion. When this unpleasant truth was discovered, the vessel was three hundred miles off. but the captain endeavored to restrain the fire by closing every aperture through which air could enter, and shaped his course for this port. During the seven days which elapsed, tlje heat of the decks was so great as to b i almost unbearable, but every nerve was strained in ordet to reach Table Bay. On arriving here she was hoarded by the port authorities, and arrangements were at once made to do what waspo s sible, under the circumstances, to save a3 much of the property as could be got out. A whole fleet of cargo and passenger boats was soon alongside, into which some of the personal effects of the captain and crew were placed, together with tha ship's papers A municipal fire-engine was taken alongside, for the purpose of playing dowa into the hold, but no sooner were the hatches removed than & dense Volume of smoke issued forth, which prevented anything being done to suppress the burning. The vessel then slipped her cable and made for the beach near the Military Hospital, where she grounded. Att B mplß were then made to bora holes in her sides, but, with a falling tide, -not much good could be effected in this direction. Yesterday morning, with the exception of a portion of her bows, the vessel was burnt dowa to the water line. She was then afloat, and several shots were fired into the hull, with the object ot sinking her or breaking her up. The Graham's Town wa* a new vessel, under the command of Ciiptain Wale. She belonged to Messrs Henry Ellis and Sons, of London, and waa bound to that port with a cargo of wool valued at Lls,doo.— Cape Argus, May 28.

A strong north-east gale was experienced at Auckland last week. It iias accompauied with, continuous ram, and caused more or leas damage to the vessels iyvnpr on the eastern side of the wharf. The Southern Cross reports:— The steamer Susanna Cuthbert, which waa alongside, taking in commissariat stores, hauled off into the stream at about 7 p.m. The wind at that time was very high, and as the vessel was light; and a strong ebb tide was running, it was found difficult to eteer her, and she ran foul of two vessels lying in the stream, carrying away the jibbootu by the cap of the brig Venus, and the flying jibboom of the barque Hurburg. The Susannah Cathbert has also sustained some serious damage, having carried away her funnel, main and mizen rigging, and mizen Btay, and smashed in her quarter. A boat belonging to her waa also sunk.