ABOMEY  ,

capital of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, West Africa, now included in the French colony of the same name . It is 7o m . N. by rail of the seaport of Kotonu, and has a population of about 15,000 . Abomey is built on a rolling plain, 800 ft. above sea-level, terminating in short bluffs to the N.W., where it is bounded by a long depression . The town was surrounded by a mud wall, pierced by six gates, and was further protected by a ditch 5 ft. deep, filled with a dense growth of prickly acacia, the usual defence of West African strongholds . Within the walls, which had a circumference of six miles, were villages separated by fields, several royal palaces, a market-place and a large square containing the barracks . In November 1892, Bchanzin, the king of Dahomey, being defeated by the French, set fire to Abomey and fled northward . Under French administration the town has been rebuilt, placed (1905) in railway communication with the coast, and given an ample water supply by the sinking of artesian wells .