Adahoonzou II Quotes
You have seen me kill many men at the customs; and you have often observed delinquents at Grigwhee, and others of my provinces tied, and sent up to me. I kill them, but do I ever insist on being paid for them? Some heads I order to be placed at my door, others to be strewed about the market place, that the people may stumble upon them, when they little expect such a sight. This gives a grandeur to my customs, far beyond the display of fine things which I buy; this makes my enemies fear me, and gives me such a name in the Bush. Besides, if I neglect this indispensable duty, would my ancestors suffer me to live?
The “customs” were ceremonies where criminals were executed along with enemy raiders who were captured.
Adahoonzou II, Late 18th Century, King of Dahomey, Speech to English Emissaries, Quoted in Richard Burton, Mission To Gelele, Published in America as: “Remarkable Speech of Adahoonzou, King of Dahomey, an Interior Nation of Africa, on Hearing What Was Passing in England Respecting the Slave Trade,” The New York Weekly Magazine, Number 2, 1792
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
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