I had just crossed the border with Togo where I visited the incredible fetish market of Lome and the witches, when I stopped in Grand Popo village in my way to Gauvin and the so called Venice of Benin.
As usual in Africa I observed the first rule to be welcome: I asked for Le Chef du village. He was an old man considered a Pope of the Animist religion. He even spoke German learnt when Benin, then called Dahomey, belonged to Germany.
I paid my respects wishing long life for his relatives and himself. He was so pleased to meet a foreigner that he organized for me a dance where a conical straw roof of a hut “danced” alone as if by magic. I noticed that the trick consisted in a diminutive pygmy that in a moment of noise of drums was slyly introduced into the conic roof through a false door. Being very tactful I said nothing and applauded with great enthusiasm like everybody else. After the dances I was invited to sleep in a hut. Next day I thanked Le Grand Popo and left to Gauvin.
