Kennee-Voo; or, the Sacking of Allaroonah: an incident of the African Slave Trade

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KENNEE- TOO KENNEE-VOO; OB, THE SACKING OF ALLAROONAH: AN INCIDENT OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. BY THOMAS GREENHALGH, (AUTHOR OF "LANCASHIRE LIFE."] Afric is all tbe sun's, and as her eartb Her human clay is kindled ; full of power For good or evil, burning from its birth — s. ■= « s there grain, and flower, and fruit. Gush from the earth until the land runs o'er i But there, too. many a poison-tree has root. And midnight listens to the lion's roar; And os the soil i3, so the heart of man." Byho». LONDON : LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS HDCCCLVI. KENNEE-VOO.

Chapter I

" From Nile and Congo's undiscover'd springs, To the four seas which gird the unhappy land. Behold it ! left a prey to barbarous kings, The robber, or the trader's ruthless hand i Sinning and suffering, everywhere unblest, Behold her wretched sons, oppressing and opprest." SOUTHEY. To most persons tho name of Africa is associated with ideas of tyranny and barbarism only ; and presents to their minds scenes of desolation where death rules triumphant. They think of the thousands of warriors who in ancient times perished amid its arid deserts ; or of the tens of thousands who, lured on by a lust for gain, have found, instead ot the wealth they sought, a grave in its swamps, or have left their bones on its sun-scorched soil until their numbers have marked out a ghastly track by which the traveller guides his living ship across the oceans of sand.

Nor are r. KENNEE-VOO. individual sufferings forgotten : they shudder as they read of the privations endured by modern travellers, who, actuated by motives of philanthropy or personal ambition, have risked, and but too frequently lost, their lives in attempts to discover the geography, or lay open to the civilized world the vastcommercial resources of this mysterious quarter of the globe. And thus the whole of Africa within the tropics is to them only a vast charnel house ; an abhorrent and savage land, in which nature is either sterile to famine or bountiful to exuberance. This is a fearful picture ; and though too highly coloured is nevertheless, in some respects, a correct one. But our forefathers who lived in times of ignorance and superstition, seized with avidity the marvellous and ill-digested accounts of voyagers who knew, personally, nothing beyond the line of coast by which they had sailed ; and the style of writing thus originated continued to be received by the nations of Europe, and that too with little con tradiction, until at length men generally became prejudiced against any attempt to discover some reverse to the gloomy picture.

And the few who endeavoured to point out a path by wliich civilization and commerce might be introduced into Central Africa, EARLY IDEAS OF CENTRAL AFRICA. 7 were treated either as enthusiasts or as those who wished to expose their fellow men to certain death. Terror and ignorance combined succeeded, century after century, in withholding the lovely scenes that nature year by year retouched with her skillful hand, surrounding them with vague rumours, and veiling them in an obscurity that seemed all but impenetrable. The consequence was, that until within a very few years, comparatively speaking, 15° North latitude and about the same of South were marked on the map of Africa as "country unexplored." How vast a field for the display of individual enterprise lay here — but age succeeded age, and still it was presented all but untrodden to the adventurous spirits of every nation ; for few were found daring enough, even when stimulated by the hope of fame, to encounter such a multiplicity of dangers, and little was added to the general stock of knowledge by those who were so actuated.

It was reserved to our own age, and chiefly to the sons of Britain, to withdraw in some measure the veil. Hitherto the word "unexplored" had fallen on the ear with little more than its ordinary meaning : now however it possesses magical charms ; and in a short KENNEE-VOO. time a "terra incognita" will not exist on the surface of the globe. These African adventurers tell us that the supposed universal desolation contains, if not large tracts, at' least many isolated spots, which in their glowing descriptions bring before us scenes of sur passing loveliness — scenes that to the Muslim must realize much of the paradise his prophet has promised him. But there is one exception to all this : a blot that almost mars the whole — " The forms that walk erect," and lord it over bird and beast, are not " in native honour clad," nor "worthy seem" to pass their lives in so fair a portion of creation.

It is chiefly in the mountain range, known to Europeans as that of Kong, and which stretches its rocky barrier in a direct line from the river Gambia to Benin, that these lovely valleys are to be found ; and in one of which many of the incidents of the present narrative were enacted. Guinea, for a breadth of country varying from two to three hundred miles from the coast line, has a flat or only slightly undulating surface, and is covered either with swamp and forest or rich pasture. This tract of country is bounded on the north-east by the Kong mountains, in one of the deepest recesses of THE TOWN OF ALLAROONAH. 9 which, and near the point of junction of the kingdoms of Dahomy and Ashantee, stood the town of Alla roonah—signifying, in the native language, " the place of a courteous people."

It contained about eight thousand inhabitants, and covered a large extent of ground ; the distance from wall to wall being considerably more than a mile. The fortifications — if they were deserving of so scientific a name — were eight feet in height, and composed of earth, which having been smoothed on the surface and baked hard by the sun, presented to the eye of a native warrior an almost insurmountable obstacle. A dry ditch, three feet in depth, ran along the outside ; in this were planted spinal plants, such as the prickly pear, forming by the luxuriance of their growth a much better defence than wrater against the attacks of a half naked foe. There were four apertures in the wall; two as gateways, the others being caused by the bed of a stream that ran through the town dividing it into two unequal portions.

These breaks were defended on either hand by mounds of clay, built solid, and ascended on the town side by flights of steps, and were so constructed that thirty warriors could be concealed on their basined summits, KENNEE-VOO. and from thence cast their spears on the unwary assailants. At the gateways there was no extra fortification whatever; for upon the approach of an enemy they could be built up in a very short time, and made to resemble part of the wall. The gates themselves were merely wooden frames of very rude construction, upon which were fastened, by means of thongs of elephants' hide, sheets of copper that bore evident signs of having, at some remote period, buffeted the waves of the ocean beneath the white man's ships. The residence of the chief, or more properly the palace of the king — for the ancestors of Soo-Mah had long borne that title — stood in the centre of the town.

It consisted of a cluster of mud huts, thatched with palm leaves, and built in the form of a quadrangle the sides of which enclosed a large space of ground. From this square rose the trunk of a giant cotton tree ; and so immense was the spread of its leafy awning that the grateful shade could be enjoyed in any part of the court yard, and made the air cool even under the rays of a vertical sun. But what gave to the whole an appearance of beauty beyond that of many of the laboured works of more civilized nations, was FETISH ROCK. a number of graceful palms that shot up their tall light stems through the roofs of some of the huts. This description of the palace will answer for that of many of the other habitations. An open space, carpeted with fine grass, and more resembling a lawn than a public way, surrounded each group of huts, and ac counted for the town extending over so much ground.

The most striking feature about the place, and one that had a truly pleasing effect, was a huge rockN rising from the bed of the stream to an elevation that far exceeded the upward flight of an arrow, though shot by the strongest arm in Allaroonah; its majestic head towering a long way above the topmost boughs of the surrounding trees. Numerous crevices and small ledges intersected each other on its almost perpendicular sides, and from these there grew in great profusion, dwarf flowering shrubs, and para sitical plants that hung down their curling tendrils, hiding the rugged cliffs with a curtain of nature's love liest handiwork. On the summit was a large Fetish house, built of stone, and ornamented with rudely sculptured human figures, and protected from the sun's rays by a grove of palm trees ; it w-as the grand temple of the Allaroonah Fetish, and inha- KENNEE-VOO. bited by a certain number of priests who had attained to the highest mysteries of their superstitious faith.

The traditions respecting this curious rock were very numerous. One of these stories was wonderful, if true ; for though never put to the test, it received implicit belief from the credulous natives, and formed the boast of every Allaroonahan ; the substance of it was this : — The rock had at one period, a very remote one of course, been the only spot in the world favoured by the presence of the Fetish ; and though this presence was now diffused over the w-hole world, the rock was the centre from whence it diverged ; and this was proved by the quantities of white storks, the represen tatives of the deity of thenvalley, which built their nests on its sides. As a protection against evil Fetish, there had been imparted to it the property of becoming invisible to the eye of man or beast whenever the safety of its sacred inhabitants might be endangered.

And thus, should the town be at any time taken by an enemy, the people could flee to its sanctuary and. be perfectly secure. The valley, or mountain recess in w-hich the town stood, formed by far the fairest portion of the kingdom of Allaroonah. It lay from north to south, and was DESCRIPTION OF THE VALLEY. 13 about ten English miles in length, and somewhat of a wedge shape, having a basis of five to six miles, across wdiich was drawn a range of low round-topped hills clothed with rank grass and brushwood ; beyond these w-as a Champaigne country, barren and un pleasing in appearance, nature seeming to have withheld her best gifts from it, in order that she might bestow them with a lavish hand upon a spot more favoured ; for when the traveller had attained the crest of these hills a view broke on Iris vision, presenting a picture of majesty combined with sweet ness such as is seldom seen in any land, and least expected in Western Africa.

The eye of the fascinated beholder first fell upon the level gromid, a cultivated strip that ran up the centre of the valley, and through which meandered many an irrigating rill, whose precious fluid was raised from wells dug in the sandy bed of the wrater course. Bordering upon this garden, and sloping from it on either hand, with a gentle ascent to the more rugged ground beyond, was a belt of turf of the richest verdure, and studded with magnificent trees, either standing alone, at almost equal distances from each other, or collected in clumps as though man had been KENNEE-VOO. exerting his utmost skill to decorate the scene : but it was all the work of nature's hand. This park-like ground became more undulating as it receded from the river's bed; the gentle dowms swelling like the unbroken rollers that sweep the Southern Atlantic, until it almost reached the foot of the mountain chain, where it mingled with and became lost among huge detached blocks of granite that had fallen from the precipices which rose to a great height behind them.

As the valley contracted, the mountains increased in grandeur, and tow-ered up, pile upon pile, until their peaks seemed inaccessible to human feet. No outlet could be discerned leading northward to the regions beyond, the rocky barrier appearing to cut off all communication at that end. This, however, was not the case ; for, on closer inspection, a pass or gorge, a mere cleft caused by some convulsion of nature, opened a road tln-ough the mountains, but which, in the rainy season, was rendered impassable by the rushing through it of an impetuous torrent. Ravines, growing less deep as they attained the more lofty regions, diversified the otherwise sterile mountains with rich streaks of vegeta tion. The scant soil at the commencement of these hollow's afforded nourishment to stunted shrubs and MOUNTAIN SCENER1. 15 grasses only, but which in the lower parts were super seded by plants of a more vigorous growth, and they in turn gave place to giants of the vegetable wr orld, such as luxuriate in a tropical clime.

Noble forest trees and thickly entangled bushes here lent their shelter to large flocks of birds of the most dazzling plumage ; whilst in their darkest shade, the lion and sleek coated panther awaited in drowsy watchfulness the approach of night. For a great portion of the year, even long after the rains had ceased, the pleasing murmur of falling waters might be heard, leaping in cascades from rock to rock, their margins decked with a profusion of flowers that vied in splendour and variety of colours with the gay butterflies that filled the air with then countless myriads. Nor was this all — a banquet was ready spread, one of Nature's providing, consisting of tropical fruits which grew in perfection, and spon taneously, delighting the senses by their delicate per fume and delicious taste. It would seem as though the curse of man's first sin had not extended to this spot, but that all, unlike the common world without, was in its pristine loveliness and innocence.

The thought is pleasing, but deceptive : for, upon a more close examination, KENNEE-VOO. it will be found that these very woods are one vast lair for beasts of prey, each of w-hich is the savage and insatiable enemy of every creature weaker than itself : that from beneath a loose stone or fallen leaf may dart a reptile, whose dread bite would arrest the steps of the incautious passer by, and speedily terminate his earthly career ; wdiilst the cool of the evening fills the air with swarms of insects, minute chastisers of man and beast, or calls forth from their hiding places crawling things, loathsome to the eye and cold to the touch. And thus it is that our illusion is dispelled by reality, and our earthly Paradise so cruelly destroyed. The history of Allaroonah — like that of most other barbarous kingdoms, or half-civilized tribes, whose only annals are the traditions that have been handed down from father to son, or are contained in exaggerated records of a few leading events that may have become the theme of their rude minstrels — is involved in obscurity, and can only be traced, with anything like authenticity, through a few generations, after which all becomes lost in the confusion of the narrator's memory, or buried beneath a multitude of absurd fables.

The ancestors of Soo-Mah, the king of Allaroonah, had long held sway there as inde- THE KING OF ALLAROONAH. pendent sovereigns, and from the peculiar nature of their country, could defy the power of the small neighbouring states, and issuing at unawares from the valley, chastise their enemies without fear of retaliation. The pass that penetrated the northern mountains had, from time immemorial, poured an exhaustless stream of wr ealth into the royal treasure ; for a toll was imposed upon every traveller, and all merchandise passing through it paid a tax, varying in amount according to the cupidity or caprice of the monarch. Soo-Mah, like many of his royal predecessors, had sometimes broken faith with the merchants, extorting goods from them on various pretences ; but as this was the most direct, and probably the safest route for the commerce of the interior to reach the eastern part of the kingdom of Ashantee, it still continued to be much frequented.

The king's age was entirely apocryphal, and rested solely on the testimony of his older courtiers, who excelled even their more civilized brethren of Europe and Asia in the art of flattering princes. According to the statement of these parasites, their royal master had not yet seen fifty summers, and this he affected KENNEE-VOO. to believe ; but, judging from his countenance, he could not be less than sixty years of age. There was nothing in his personal appearance that gave dignity to his royal rank, being rather low in stature, and, perhaps, to an European eye, a little too corpulent. He possessed, in a marked degree, the peculiar features and short woolly hair that characterize the natives of that portion of Western Africa. Nor was it in person alone that he was a faithful representative of his race, for though affable to all, still there was a deep vein of cunning concealed beneath his courtesy ; and this he often made serviceable to attain his ends.

Covetous in the extreme, he could stoop to the meanest of actions to obtain a fine garment ; and would then subject himself to excessive fatigue, in order to display his ill-gotten splendour before his admiring subjects — his barbarian vanity overcoming his naturally lethargic disposition. Cruelty was not among the number of his sins, for Avhen he obtained the Stool of State, he immediately forbade the sacrificing of human beings to the Fetish. His household comprised a great number of persons, amongst whom were above a hundred female slaves ; the mother of the heir apparent being alone honoured with even the semblance of the privileges of a wife ; AGGRESSIVE POLICY OF DAHOMY. 19 for the sovereignty of Allaroonah descended from father to son, and not, as in many of the other African States, to the oldest brother of the late king, or, he failing, to the oldest nephew.

The head slave or wife w-as chosen either for high birth or great beauty, more commonly the former ; but should a considerable time elapse without her presenting her lord with a son she lost his favour, and another more fortunate supplanted her. The person second only to the Icing in import ance was the President from the Court of Dahomy, to which country Allaroonah had for two years paid tribute. This was not owing to Soo-Mah being more indolent, or less powerful than his ancestors, but because no such formidable neighbours as the Daho mans had ever risen to threaten them. For whilst the small kingdom of Allaroonah had remained the same for many generations, neither increasing nor diminishing its territory, that of Dahomy had raised itself, gradually at first, and afterwards by rapid strides, to hold the most absolute sway of any State in that part of Western Africa.

Nation after nation was absorbed by it : and should the inhabitants of these countries not succumb at the first summons, but KENNEE-VOO. attempt to defend their lives and liberty, they were overwhelmed by the superior numbers of the Da homans, and either extirpated or sold into slavery. Victory followed victory hi such quick succession that in the haughtiness of conquest even Ashantee itself had been threatened. The cruelties perpetrated by these warriors ren dered their name formidable throughout the whole of Guinea. The nobler beasts of prey wrere not so savage ; for these only kill in order to allay the pangs of hunger, and not as will a pack of wolves, who, after satiating their appetites on the defenceless sheep, slay hundreds more in mere ravenous sport ; for so did the Dahomans. Ferocious beyond any former example recorded in modern history, their empire was established in blood, and had to be maintained by the slaughter, annually, of thousands of innocent victims.

Power acquired by the sword must be maintained by its means ; and under a government solely military, wdiether in civilized Europe or bar barous Africa, a love of martial fame and warlike deeds obliterates every other affection ; and peaceful occupations are left in the hands of the lowest of the people. Man has tasted the blood of his fellow-man ; REVENUE DERIVED FROM SLAVES. and like a tiger that has so done will not be content with common food. Two-thirds of the public revenue of the now powerful empire of Dahomy are raised by the sale of slaves. These slaves are disposed of either to the white dealers or to African merchants who convey them across the desert to Egypt and the Barbary Coast. They are obtained in two ways— by annual hunts, and as tribute from conquered States — the former of these expedients being the most acceptable to the chiefs : for, whilst keeping up the warlike spirit of the people, it deters them from becoming attached to other pursuits ; and to aid this sort of feeling agriculture and commerce are discountenanced, or altogether prohibited.

Nor is this unnatural state of things confined to the men ; the love of war having imbued the opposite sex ; and thousands of Amazons ahvays accompany the king on his military expeditions — realizing in our own age the stories of the Ancients. The wealth of the Allaroonahans had long been known to their immediate neighbours, and the fame of it at length reached Abomey, the Dahoman capital, where this alone was sufficient to cause it to be " asked for" at one of the Customs. During; these festal c KENNEE-VOO. periods the ministers and officers in the army had the privilege of asking for war against any particular town or country. To this request the king might accede at any time during two years ; but if he allowed this period to elapse, and the army were unanimous on the subject, it could in the third year be claimed as a right, and was then beyond the power of the monarch's refusal.

It was on such an occasion, and in the usual manner, that one of the female warriors had asked for Allaroonah ; but as there were towns and villages numerous enough to supply several years slave hunts without going so far from Abomey, a messenger was secretly despatched by the king to treat with Soo-Mah. Upon the arrival at Allaroonah of the Dahoman ambassador, whose name was Nar-Chez, a council of all the chiefs and warriors had been called. After the long ceremonies of reception were concluded, Nar-Chez opened the palaver by saying that there was in Dahomy a lion which ere long would lack food; and therefore the warriors of that country had sent to ask the people of Allaroonah whether their jackals would hunt game for him among the mountains? For, if not, the lion, who had already TREATY BETWEEN DAHOMY AND ALLAROONAH. 23 licked his lips at the mention of then name, might come himself; and if so, who could escape?

The answer returned was, that though there was no game upon the mountains, the jackals were willing to descend into the plains, and there hunt along writh the lion. This w-as considered satisfactory ; and the amount of tribute being arranged, the ambassador returned to Abomey, and one of the khig's brothers, whose name was Hoo-Roon, was sent to reside at Allaroonah, and to have a voice in the councils of state. In this double capacity of minister and spy, he made himself fully acquainted with the military resources of the nation, and the wealth of the chiefs. His treachery, or as a statesman wrould term it finesse, was bound less, and his cupidity insatiable ; qualities that soon earned for him the hatred of all classes of Allaroo nahans, especially of the common people, who looked upon the treaty that Soo-Mah had made with their enemy as one unbecoming a free nation.

Chapter II

" Even in barbarism there is yet grandeur of feeling, and it even contains elements of poetry: memories few but forcible, and purposes accordant and interwoven with them." Ranke. It is a relief to the mind to turn from a picture in which perfidy and cruelty alone are pourtrayed, and where reason is made the consenting handmaid to vice, and contemplate, if only for a few moments, a more pleasing scene. The heir-apparent to the throne of Allaroonah was a youth of about eighteen summers, at the period when his father became tributary to the Dahoman monarch. But in a tropical climate a young man of that age is looked upon as a person of much more consequence than he of a corresponding one in the temperate zones. And more frequently than other wise the youthful African, especially if he be the son of a chief, or free man, may be said to have then fairly commenced life on his own account ; being not only established in a hut and possessing wives and slaves, the young hunter. but also allowed to rank as a Warrior — and in some respects this was the position then held by the young Allaroonahan.

From a mere child he had been trained in every art of war : the bow and spear were his playthings throughout boyhood ; and though as he advanced in years he became a proficient in the use of a more deadly weapon, the musket of the white men, he ever retained a partiality for the arms of his forefathers. Unlike most youths of his race, he was fond of every athletic sport: loving to ramble amongst the moun tains that overhung his native valley in quest of game, or scale the craggy rocks to carry off the eaglets from the eyry, or shoot by stealth the antelope as they browsed the luxuriant bushes. But Iris greatest delight was in that which combined danger with pleasure : such as following the footprints of a leopard. or tracking a lion to his lair. On expeditions like these he had seldom more than one or two attendants, for few had sufficient courage to follow where he led.

When, however, he returned, bearing the spoils he had strips from his noble prey, as he often did, with what raptures wras he greeted by old and young. And thus he imperceptibly and unconsciously stole KENNEE-VOO. away the hearts of his father's subjects ; not by honeyed words and specious promises, as did of old the best loved son of Israel's warlike king, but through deeds of heroism and daring, than which nothing is so captivating to the minds of a barbarous people. In figure he was tall and muscular, his countenance betokening a brave man, and so a generous, and gave promise that he would one day become a great warrior. His negro descent showed itself in his features, but in so slight a degree as to deprive them in a great measure of that peculiar expression so common among his fellow-countrymen.

His hair, though not soft, was sufficiently long to fall in curls below Iris cap of red cloth. But the most distinguishing feature about him was the colour of his eyes, which were of a pale but brilliant blue. This was an occurrence so rare that until the age of twelve he was known by no other name than that of Woo-hung, "the blue-eyed;" his exploits, however, as a hunter gained for him a more significant title. One evening when returning from a successful encounter with a king of the forest, he had thrown the skin over his shoulders, and the shaggy mane hanging down concealed his dress : as he passed on the people shouted " Kennee-Voo ! Kennee-Voo ! " kennee's boldness in THE COUNCIL. 27 meaning " the young lion" — a name he ever after retained. The hearts of many of his father's warriors beat quick with joy when they thought of the day then "young lion" would lead them on to war, and, they doubted not, to victory.

His voice w-as the only one heard in the council condemnatory of the treaty made with the king of Dahomy ; for though so young he displayed a sagacity and foresight that betokened the dawning of a noble mind. He had easily detected the crafty policy that lay concealed to others beneath the guise of friendship, and exposed the true purpose of their cruel foe ; nor did he hesitate to reproach, in no measured terms, the lethargy of the chiefs to w-hom a life of ease, howrever degrading, seemed preferable to the exertion required to maintain their freedom. This language, though bold, and perhaps imprudent, pleased many who were too timid to offer any opposition to the will of their sovereign, who possessed a power over life and death more absolute than the Russian Autocrat, and so might have prevented them from troubling him with unpleasant advice in future.

Such then, was Kennee, the pride and hope of Alla roonah. Would there had been many like him in KENNEE-VOO. Western Africa, for then the white man could not have enslaved the negro, and the accursed sin would have been avoided — a sin the stain of which no sophistry can remove from the page of history. But unfor tunately men such as he are few in number, and they more prone to use their superior talents to further the degradation rather than attempt the advancement of their fellow-countrymen. And this is rendered the easier by the great tractability, or, to speak more correctly, the extreme apathy of the mass of the people, amongst whom there does not appear to exist any feeling of the baseness of thenposition in the great family of man, and therefore no wish for change ; their utter want of self reliance, and an abhorrence of mental exertion have brought them by degrees into a state of slavery, even in their native country and to thenown chiefs.