1865, from which it would appear that the final extinction was not until the triumph of Christianity.] [210] Compare the "Bhain-sasur" or _buffalo_-demon at Usayagiri, carrying a trident. _Vide_ "The Bhilsa Tope," Major Alex. Cunningham, 1854. [211] It is as well to note, however, that the Dahomans have recently altered their customs. The one Captain Burton witnessed (ii. 34) was a "mixed custom," and elsewhere allusion is made to "the new" ceremony. Without carrying rashness to the excess of disputing the interpretation of Dahoman words with Captain Burton, I may yet demur to accepting his explanation of the term "So-sin" (the "So-sin customs") _absolute et simpliciter_. He says (i. 315), "The Sogan ('So' = horse, 'gan' captain) opens the customs by taking all the chargers from their owners and by tying them up, whence the word _So-sin_. The animals must be redeemed in a few days with a bag of cowries."[212] This is certainly a very likely definition, and although secondary, is no doubt the explanation current among the present generation of Dahomans. All I shall venture to do is to supplement it. But may not the old and primitive idea still lurk in the name? At i. 242, I perceive Captain Burton says "so" and "sin" mean _water_,[213] and the compound word "amma-sin" means "medicine" = "leaf-water," and again at 244 the same word "Sin" is twice used to signify liquid. If so, in the very name of the feast we find the word _water_, which links it into connection with "the Mandan custom" and the festivals of ancient Greece. [212] Analogies may perhaps be discovered in the representations of the procession escorting a relic casket on the architraves of the western gate at Sanchi. (_Vide_ "The Bhilsa Tope," by Major Alex. Cunningham, p. 227.) "Street of a city on the left, houses on each side filled with spectators,... a few horsemen heading a procession, ... immediately outside the gate are four persons bearing either trophies or some peculiar instruments of office. Then follows a _led horse_, ... a soldier with a bell-shaped shield, two fifers, three _drummers_, and two men blowing _conches_. Next comes the king on an elephant, carrying the holy relic casket on his head and supporting it with his right hand. Then follows two peculiarly dressed men on horseback, perhaps prisoners. They wear a kind of cap (now only known in Barmawar, on the upper course of the Ravi) and boots or leggings. The procession is closed by two horsemen (one either the minister or a member of the royal family) and by an elephant with two riders."