He added, that when we should have obtained possession of Whydah, we should have power to use our own discretion respecting the Slave-Trade; and that, as Whydah was the principal residence of the greatest slave-dealers on this part of the coast, we could with much more propriety exert our authority to prevent slave traffic than he himself, particularly as he was under great obligations to a certain large slave-merchant in that settlement. He said, moreover, that he had always entertained a hope that some day or other the English would again establish themselves in Whydah, in consequence of which he had always kept a temporary governor in the English fort since our abandonment of the place. He declared that he would build us a new fort, either on the old site, or on any other spot, upon our own plan, and at his own expense. He had, he said, refused possession of Whydah to the Prince de Joinville, stating his determination to treat with none but the Queen of England, who was the greatest of all white sovereigns; that he had for a length of time been endeavouring to establish, as far as he was able, a code of laws similar to those of England; for he considered them to be more just in most cases than the old Dahoman laws, which he confessed to be very absurd. But, though he thought so, still as many of the old, absurd customs, which still existed, were of a comparatively harmless nature, he had hitherto permitted them to remain, as he considered it dangerous amongst a people so long accustomed to these usages to revolutionize the whole at once; but he approved of commencing with the most unreasonable and injurious, and gradually progressing, as in fact he had done. He also assured me that the good effects of his new laws were manifest even in the Mahee country, for within the last two years several petty kingdoms in that and the Annagoo country had voluntarily been ceded to his government. He dictated to me a letter to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in which he formally ceded Whydah to the English Government. After this letter was concluded, he requested me to read it over, lest any mistake should have occurred; and when he found it satisfactory, he held the upper end of the pen while I signed his name. We then drank to the health of her Britannic Majesty, during which a constant fire of musketry was kept up. I next proposed the King of Dahomey’s health, which was followed by his drinking my own health. He then ordered an immense quantity of variegated umbrellas, or rather canopies, to be brought out for my inspection, and requested me to make a memorandum of several of their patterns, desiring me to order a number of them to be sent from England.