But in our examination of African tribes we shall not confine ourselves to that class of people known as Negroes, but call attention to other tribes as well. And while, in this country, all persons with a visible admixture of Negro blood in them are considered Negroes, it is technically incorrect. For the real Negro was not the sole subject sold into slavery: very many of the noblest types of mankind in Africa have, through the uncertainties of war, found their way to the horrors of the middle passage, and finally to the rice and cotton fields of the Carolinas and Virginias. So, in speaking of the race in this country, in subsequent chapters, I shall refer to them as _colored people_ or _Negroes_. FOOTNOTES: [56] Earth and Man, pp. 300-302. [57] It is a remarkable fact, that the absence of salt in the food of the Eastern nations, especially the dark nations or races, has been very deleterious. An African child will eat salt by the handful, and, once tasting it, will cry for it. The ocean is the womb of nature; and the Creator has wisely designed salt as the savor of life, the preservative element in human food. [58] Physical History of Mankind, vol. ii. pp. 45, 46. CHAPTER IV. NEGRO KINGDOMS OF AFRICA. BENIN: ITS LOCATION.--ITS DISCOVERY BY THE PORTUGUESE.--INTRODUCTION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION.--THE KING AS A MISSIONARY,--HIS FIDELITY TO THE CHURCH PURCHASED BY WHITE WIFE.--DECLINE OF RELIGION.--INTRODUCTION OF SLAVERY.--SUPPRESSION OF THE TRADE BY THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT.--RESTORATION AND PEACE. DAHOMEY: ITS LOCATION.--ORIGIN OF THE KINGDOM.--MEANING OF THE NAME.--WAR.--CAPTURE OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNOR, AND HIS DEATH.--THE MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT.--WOMEN AS SOLDIERS.--WARS AND THEIR OBJECTS.--HUMAN SACRIFICE.--THE KING A DESPOT.--HIS POWERS.--HIS WIVES.--POLYGAMY.--KINGLY SUCCESSION.--CORONATION.--CIVIL AND CRIMINAL LAW.--REVENUE SYSTEM.--ITS FUTURE. YORUBA: ITS LOCATION.--SLAVERY AND ITS ABOLITION.--GROWTH OF THE PEOPLE OF ABEOKUTA.--MISSIONARIES AND TEACHERS FROM SIERRA LEONE.--PROSPERITY AND PEACE ATTEND THE PEOPLE.--CAPACITY OF THE PEOPLE FOR CIVILIZATION.--BISHOP CROWTHER.--HIS INFLUENCE. BENIN.