Dahomey and the Dahomans: Being the Journals of Two Missions to the King of Dahomey, and Residence at His Capital, in the Year 1849 and 1850

Frederick E. Forbes was a British naval officer who, in 1849-50, undertook two missions to the court of the King of Dahomey in an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to end involvement in the slave trade. Having captured six slave ships in the year preceding his first mission to Dahomey, Forbes was eager to visit this one country which had chosen to ignore the foreign requests to end the slave trade.

Dahomey was a warlike African kingdom that arose in the early 17th century in the present-day country of Benin. They began to dominate their neighbors through an army based on strict military discipline, which included both men and women. It persisted until 1894, when the last chief Behanzin was defeated by the French and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire.

This two-volume work reproduces Forbes' journal and his account of his conversations with King Gezo. It includes descriptions of the customs and culture of the country and appendices containing vocabularies of the Vahie and Dahoman languages

"The discovery of the Vahie language and vocabulary": vol. I, p. 195-218.

"Vocabulary of the Dahoman language": vol. I, p. 218-244

First edition. 2 vols in 1. 8vo. Original cloth, minor wear. xii, 244, v, 248pp.

Four hand-colored & 5 tinted lithographs, with 3 further woodcut plates.