OF

SELICO.

An African Tale, from the French of Florian. IF we could suppose, as the Persians do, that this universe is subject to two principles, of which the one does the small portion of good that we see in it, and the other all the evil with which it abounds, we should be tempted to believe that it is in Africa especially that the malignant principle exercises his power. No other land produces so many poisons, ferocious beasts, and venomous reptiles. The little that we know of the histories of Morocco, of Ardra, of the Jaggas, and the other people of the coast, as far as Caffraria, must bear a very strong likeness to the history of the lions, panthers, and serpents, which are worthy of sharing such a burning country with the cannibals who send to market the flesh of their prisoners.* Amidst these dis

Read the voyages of Phillips, Smith, Bosman, Barbot, and Snelgrave, and the letter of the factor Lambe, who was a long while a prisoner of the king of Dahomey. It is particularly from the two last that I have painted, without the slightest exaggeration, the manners and customs of the negroes of Whidah.

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gusting horrors, amidst these sanguinary monsters, some of whom sell their children, while others eat their captives we sometimes find instances of natural justice, of true virtue, of fortitude under suffering, and of a generous contempt of death. These examples, rare as they are, suffice to interest us in these degraded beings, and to remind us that they are men. So in a barren desert, two or three green plants, which the comforted traveller now and then discovers, seem to assure him that he is still in the world.

In the kingdom of Whidah, situated on the coast of Guinea, beyond Cape Three Points, not far from the town of Sabi, its capital, lived, in 1727, a poor widow, – named Darina. She was the mother of three sons, whom she brought up with that tenderness which, happily, is common in nature, though rare in this country, where children are looked upon as objects of commerce, and sold, to be slaves, by their unnatural parents. The eldest of her sons was named Guberi, the second Teloua, and the youngest, Selico. AlÍ three were good and feeling; they adored their worthy mother, who, being now old and infirm, was maintained entirely by their exertions. The sole riches of this family were a hut, in which they lived together, and a little field adjoining, the maize yielded by which formed a part of their food. Every morning, each in his turn, one of the brothers went to hunt, while another laboured in the field, and the third staid at home with their mother. In the evening they met together again: the hunter brought partridges, paroquets, or a piece of a honeycomb; the husbandman returned with yams; and he who had remained at home had taken care to prepare the meal for the whole family. All the four supped together, each of them coutending for the pleasure of waiting upon his mother. They afterwards received her blessing, and then laid themselves down, side by side, on their straw bed, resigning themselves to slumber till the dawn of the next day.

Selico, the youngest of the brothers, frequently went to the town, to carry the first fruits of the harvest, the offering of this poor family, to the principal deity of the country. This deity, as every one knows, is a large

serpent, of the kind called fetiches, which are not ve nomous, and never do any harm, but on the contrary, devour the venomous serpents; and are so reverenced in Whidah, that it would be reckoned a horrible crime to kill a single one of them. In consequence of this, these sacred serpents have multiplied past all number. In the towns and villages, in the interior of the houses, and indeed at every step these deities are to be met with, who come familiarly to eat at the tables of their adorers, stretch themselves on their hearths, and deposit their young in their beds; and this favour is considered as one of the most lucky of all omens.

Of all the negroes of Whidah, Selico was the blackest, the finest formed, and the most amiable. In the temple of the great serpent he had seen the young Berissa, the daughter of the high priest, who, in stature, beauty, and grace, far excelled all her companions. Selico loved her with an ardent affection, and Selico was beloved. Every Wednesday, which is the day devoted to rest and religion by the negroes, the young lover went to the temple, spent the day with his dear Berissa, and talked to her of his mother, his love, and the happiness which they should enjoy when they were united in marriage bands. Berissa did not conceal from him that she longed for the arrival of that sweet moment; and the aged Farulho, her father, who approved of their mutual passion, promised, while he clasped them to his bosom, that their tenderness should soon be crowned by their union.

At length the period arrived which was so anxiously desired; the day was fixed for their nuptials; the mother of Selico, and his two brothers, had already prepared the cabin for the new-married couple, when the famous Truto-Audati, king of Dahomey, whose rapid conquests made him famous even in Europe, invaded the kingdom of Ardra, exterminated its inhabitants, and, advancing at the head of a formidable army, continued his course till he reached the great river which separated him from the king of Whidah. The latter, a weak cowardly prince, governed by his wives and his ministers, did not think of sending even a single body of troops to oppose the forces of the conqueror. He believed that the deities of the country would be able

to defend the entrance of it; and, in this persuasion, he dispatched to the bank of the river all the fetiche serpents which he could collect together. The Dahoman, surprised and piqued at having nothing but reptiles to fight against, plunged into the stream with his soldiers, and reached the opposite bank; and the deities, from whom miracles had been expected, were very soon cut in pieces, roasted upon hot coals, and devoured by the victors. The king of Whidah, having no longer any hopes of being able to resist, abandoned his capital, and concealed himself in a neighbouring island. The warriors of Audati spread themselves over his states, with fire and sword in their hands, burnt the harvests, the towns, and the villages, and pitilessly massacred every thing which they found alive.*

Terror had dispersed the few inhabitants who had escaped from the carnage. The three brothers, on the approach of the victors, had taken their mother on their shoulders, and sought for refuge in the woods. While Darina was in the least danger Selico would not leave her; but he no sooner saw her in safety, than, trembling for his dear Berissa, be hurried to Sabi, tó learn her fate, and to save or perish with her. Sabi had just fallen into the power of the invaders: the streets were running with blood; the houses were pillaged and destroyed; the palace of the king and the temple of the serpent were nothing but a heap of smoking ruins, covered with scattered carcases; from which, according to their custom, the barbarians had cut off the heads. The unfortunate Selico, in despair, wishing for death, and facing it a thousand times among the soldiery, intoxicated with brandy and blood, examined these frightful ruins, in search of Berissa and Farulho, calling them with cries of grief, and not being able to recognise their bodies among so many mutilated trunks.

After having devoted five days to this terrible search, Selico had no longer any doubt that Berissa and her father had fallen victims to the ferocious Dahomans; and he, therefore, resolved to return to his mother.

This conquest by Truro-Audati, the Gengis Khan of Africa, took place in the mouth of March, 1727.

He found her in the wood, where he had left her with his brothers. The gloomy sadness of Selico, his manner, his wild looks, terrified the mournful family. Darina wept for his misfortune; she tried all means of consolation; to which, however, he seemed to be insensible; he refused to touch food, and seemed determined to allow himself to perish of hunger. Guberi and Teloua did not endeavour to divert him from his purpose by reasoning, or by caresses; but they showed him their aged mother, who had neither home nor bread, who had no longer any thing but her children; and they asked him, if, at the sight of this, he did not feel courage enough to live.

Selico promised to endure life; Selico strove to think of nothing but participating with his two brothers in the tender attentions which they paid to their mother. They plunged deeper into the woods, at a greater distance from Sabi, built a hut in a retired valley, and tried to supply by hunting the place of the maize and the pulse, which it was now impossible to procure.

Deprived of their bows and arrows, and of all the necessary implements, which they had not had time to carry away with them, they soon experienced the severest misery that want could inflict. Fruits were scarce in these forests, and the prodigious number of monkeys robbed the brothers of this scanty resource. The ground produced only grass. They had no instrument to till it, no grain to sow it. The rainy season came on, and they began to feel acutely the horrors of famine. The poor mother, stretched suffering on a bed of dry leaves, did not complain; but she was dying. Her sons, worn out with hunger, could no longer tra verse the woods, which were inundated in all parts. They set snares for the little birds that approached their hut, and when they caught one, which seldom happened, since they had not even a bait, they carried it to their mother, and endeavoured to force a smile while they gave it to her; and the mother would not eat it, because she could not share it with her children. Three months passed away without any change in their horrible situation. Compelled at length to come to some resolution, the three brothers had a consultation unknown to Darina. Guberi was the first to pro