The Court of Dahomey.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6061, 7 May 1891, Page 2

The Court of Dahomey.

M, Db CoußviLtE, who paid a recent visit '■'- : i to the Court of the King of Dahomey, has . (cays a correspondent of /the New 3Tqrk ~ ; World) brought much interesting arifor-?-mation iti regard to the daily life of ihafc" monarch : — ' ' De Courville was escorted ■ into tho courtyard of the pajace, and there, ? he says, he met a sight the grotesqueriess of which will haunt him as long as he 7lives. On a chair, or throne, covered with ;1 ; lion's skin and shaded by an umbrella of : -^ gold and silver, sat Bedazin,. thej?fiair? / being on a platform raised about 2fb abpW the level of the yard. : On each side of the ! throne stood a powerful Amazon, earrying^ a short, heavy sword, with a bright, keetf ; edge. About the King\ were ranged a- i score or more of his ohieftaihs. On thb r - J opposite side of the yard was another plafr^f form, raised at least 3fb. Along thfe-'edgel;^ of this platform were imitations y pf lanip 1 shades or reflectors, as if someone had tried to devise "a theatrical stage as clbsfely/ : as possible under the circurastancdsV^On^ the stage twenty women w<ire leaping ah<i^j ;^; dancing the can-can. The women wer>7- v^ : handsome negresses, evidently from the royal harem. The King received De Oo\|r- • ■) ville as an old friend, and caused £ sto^l^ k .to be brought for him to sitdown^bni The> ; Frenchman had hardly .been seated when :> one of the dancers made a mis-step. The.. King was swift to notice it, -He* BkidCnothing, but with his right hand' made 'a ; = peculiar sign to the Amazona. The '^p guards strod« swiftly to the stageViS^p^i ing a young, /fine^doking woman froW?;-; among the dancers, they dragged her from :'•, the platform, and before she could ■utter tf;" shriek she was beheaded, the head rolling!/ almost to the feet of the King. ThW^w-' oing went, on just as i 7 iioth(ng, had : c'urred, the remaining dancers' hbjbSfiringrfr even to notice the fate of .thei^ ' com- ' ; ? panion. . Bedazin was educated in France, ./ and spent two weeks in Paris just before r ' :i his return to Dahomey, • While there Lh4* r -' visited almost nightly theiJardin Ma>ai^3 and when not there he.was ab the bpera^'-'- ;-?

A Melbourne paper says :— A:icentoiry ", ago thea coasts of Auafcrala9ift-\yere Jneyer § visited by merchant ships,, the .• solitary^;;/ barques that sailed these waters then be- - ing on voyages of discovery *%nt.;r ; jn\ striking contrast to this statemei^feti^ the.;,;. • fact that there is. at present ony^wig^y^i; from these colonies tp the IJ'ffi^^i[n|f?i;;.i dom, the Continent, and Ainer^4§^J ? sailing vessels, some of them veJ^JS)^^'; and all laden with the produce of Hßj|stf|^i lands. Still more striking is the factrj^fc^ fche Australasian trade employs ZSO. dofean's' . steamers, which are at present voyaging ' te or from Britain, the Continent rtfr*:: United States, India; China, and Japan. % I And yet wo chafe and fret because we' do f : " not progress fast enough. The world has never seen such a spectacle— one^hundifect years ago silent sens and lonely 'shores^today the pick of the mercantile navybf the world. plough these -waters and bitie^ fasfe vicing with those of the Old. World in magnitude and far aurpassing\i;h#se in .'- : situation and nmenitiei, stud the shor^a ;■ where but two lives away the nude savagV was the only architect and a sheet of bark, i some grass, and a few sticks his only :--^ building materials. .''■.'. . "

" Warrior ," who has been visiting Darling. hurst Gaol, near Sydney, reoalls a tragedy^ which In its day exoited intense interest". He aaya—" I am going to give. you; a treat, in store for very few visitors in Darlinghurafc r Gaol," remarked Mr Robson. "Now then ■ for the picture gallery." I stood amazed on : looking round me, for in this room hung ', some dozen pictures painted by the convict ' Bertrand, who has been in Her Majesty's -f f ".:■ custody for over 25 years. Two i Hfe-sizeSKK^ paintings, " The Cruoifixion of Onf Saviour " ?! and "The Lion's Bride," would bring ahani 3 - some sum if put up by auction.; «f The^r?" Partners in Guilt " is life-size. The two %W 'f. bers are beautifully portrayed. fart {"V in the aot.of dividing the spoil, and the pOßn*^ tonance of the Italian biigaud displays erbf* ''i'y.}*t i tion as his companion t with a : bushy beaicl - and one eye bandaged grasps the stolen artic'« - > "No place like Home, 1 ' "The: : Hdyinakerii t ";>. A abd " Wre?k of the-Dunbar," .are pertalolyi; v " works of art. Another splendid" "pieoe'^of'". : - J i,' s "v':: paintiug, whiob, I believe, wwars r taken t'froi^^^W - a small steel engravingi V'RetnrnfroiftHaWk^llS ing," deserves mention, Bertranajtwhplilj-.'i"^' 51 ;? 1 ;; nowin Maitland Gaol, occupied \lB moiftttii^-iSv pver this jpioture, : ;. . .",- , {syft&jg&^zS^.

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