He afterwards showed me about forty tobes of the most costly embroidery in gold and silver, on a ground of silk velvet of various colours. I was also shown a piece of patch-work, which I believe I have previously alluded to, which the King boasted was composed of remnants or specimens of cloth from every country of the civilized world, as well as every country in Africa. This piece of patch-work, I was informed, measures one thousand yards in length, and eight yards in breadth. I was next desired to take a drawing of the King’s throne or chair of state. This is a very handsome and ingenious piece of carving, from one solid piece of wood. It has three seats, one elevated about two feet above the other, the first and second forming steps to the highest; on the highest the King never sits except on state occasions. Three skulls form a foot-stool to the first seat being those of three kings killed in battle. [Illustration] CHAPTER XII. Conversation with the King of Dahomey continued--Visit Coomassie, another Palace of the King--Great Number of Human Skulls--Skulls of Kings taken in Battle--Death-drums--Peculiarity of Skulls--Craniums of the Fellattahs--Skulls of Rival Kings--Criminal Case heard by the King, and his Award--Death of my Servant Maurice--Regret of the King--Christian Burial of my Servant--The King’s Kindness to me--My increasing Illness and Depression of Spirits--Method of Procuring Food in the Bush by the Dahoman Soldiers--My Alarm at the Dangerous State of my Wound--Make Preparations to amputate my Limb--My Recovery--My last Conversation with the King--The King’s Presents to the Queen of England--Present from him to her Majesty of a Native Girl--Escorted out of Abomey, and Departure for Whydah--Absurd Custom--Canamina--Ahgrimah--My Pigeons from the Kong Mountains--Non-Arrival of some of my Carriers--Punishment awarded them for their Roguery on their Arrival. August 26th.--The King again sent for me to visit him at the palace. He met me in his usual familiar manner, with a hearty shake of the hand, and a familiar slap on my back with his open hand. A table had been already spread with the necessary viands. He proposed the Queen of England’s health; after which he wished me to proceed to a large palace, about a mile distant, called Coomassie, (after the capital of Ashantee), there to take the plan and dimensions of a number of different sized war tents. These displayed ingenuity and taste, superior to many European nations. The King ordered a number similar to them to be made in England, and sent to him as soon as possible. This palace was built and named about the time when the present King threw off his allegiance to the kingdom of Ashantee, the King of which formerly boasted that he could hold Dahomey in vassalage.