Henry Townsend and his wife. Dahomey Afterwards, Thomas Freeman was invited by the King of Dahomey, Gezo (also Ghezo) who ruled the kingdom from 1818 to 1858. The Dahomey were the archrivals and sworn enemy of the Yoruba of Abeokuta and the Badagry. The Dahomey had plans to attack the Yoruba. Freeman therefore viewed the invitation as a chance to mediate in the age-old impasse because he did not want the newly established mission station to be destroyed in a conflict. King Gezo did not commit to engaging in any future conflict. The chieftain was heavily involved in human sacrifice, an almost daily experience as well as slavery and the slave trade. Freeman wanted to put an end to these practices but was unsuccessful in convincing the ruler. On 1 January 1843, T. B. Freeman reached Ouidah (Whydah) on the coast of Dahomey, where he placed a preacher there. He lodged at the English fort. On 8 January 1843, he held a small service for his staff and followers inside the castle. Shortly after his arrival, Freeman had an amiable conversation with the infamous Brazilian slave trader, Don Antonio de Souza (died c. 1849), an ally of King Gezo. de Souza was on friendly terms with Freeman. He also paid a courtesy call on the viceroy at Wydah, Yevogah and expressed his wish to meet the Gezo. In March 1843, Freeman visited Gezo at Kana, 13 km (8 miles) from the Dahomeyan capital of Abomey (Abomi). There, he was astounded by the chieftain's autocracy, the prevalence of human sacrifice (beheading, preservation by salting and drying, hanging of the corpse upside down), the war fervor of the all-woman warrior regiment, the Amazons who belonged to the Dahomeyan kings. The Amazons accorded Freeman a nine-gun salute and a 21-gun salute for England's Queen Victoria. He described his mission activities at Badagry to Gezo. The king asked him if he could replicate this mission success at Ouidah. Among his other demands, Gezo desired to have an English Governor at the fortress based at Ouidah. Thomas Freeman went to Abomey and was shocked to discover a pile of human skulls at the palace that also had blood-stained walls. Upon receipt of the official invitation to start a mission house at Ouidah, Freeman departed Dahomey for Cape Coast. The king presented four Aku slave girls, together with another two boys and two girls, with the