The Custom of the Country allows Polygamy to an excessive degree; it being usual for a great Man to have some hundreds of Wives and Concubines, and meaner Men in proportion; whereby the Land was become so stock’d with People, that the whole Country appeared full of Towns and Villages: And being a very rich Soil, and well cultivated by the Inhabitants, it looked like an intire Garden. Trade having likewise flourished for a long time, had greatly enriched the People; which, with the Fertility of their Country, had unhappily made them so proud, effeminate, and luxurious, that tho’ they could have brought at least one hundred thousand Men into the Field, yet so great were their Fears, that they were driven out of their principal City, by two hundred of their Enemies; and at last lost their whole Country, to a Nation they formerly had contemned. And tho’ this may appear to the Reader very incredible, yet it will sufficiently be illustrated by the following Account. [Sidenote: Account of the King of _Whidaw_.] The King of _Whidaw_ came to the Crown when about fourteen Years old, so that the Government was for many Years in the hands of the great Men of the Country; who liked it so well, that tho’ he was past thirty Years of Age when this Calamity happened, yet they had to this time sought all ways to keep him from a Knowledge of governing. This suited indeed with his Temper, for he was indolent and lascivious, having in his Court several thousands of Women, by whom he was served in all capacities; for no Men-servants were allowed to be there. Being thus soften’d by his Pleasures, he grew intirely negligent of his Affairs, which at last produced such a Weakness in the Government, that it ended in its Ruin. For the great Men played the petty Tyrants, often falling out, and pursuing their particular Interests, without regarding the Good of their King or Country. By this means the common People were divided, and such Parties arose among them, as, added to their Fears, rendered them a Prey to their Neighbours; so that tho’ they were able to have repelled any Force which could have been brought against them by the neighbouring Countries, they rather chose to abandon the Land, than join heartily against the common Enemy; who brought at this time on them such a terrible Desolation by the Sword, Fire and Famine, as hardly ever befel any Country. [Sidenote: The King of _Dahomè_’s Invasion.]