Fetich-worship prevails

taking the form of serpent worship along the coast; a temple with over a hundred of these sacred snakes exists at Whydah. The king was the most absolute of despots. Wholesale murder was one of the chief features in religious and state ceremonies. The revenue formerly depended greatly upon the sale of slaves; but the vigilance of the cruisers employed to prevent the traffic ruined the trade. The late king of Dahomey was for years a_ State prisoner and died in Algiers, Dec., 1906.