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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77375 ***
+                               * * * * *
+                                MISSION
+                                   TO
+                               ASHANTEE.
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+[Illustration: A Map _shewing the_ _DISCOVERIES & IMPROVEMENTS_ _in the_
+Geography _of_ WESTERN AFRICA _resulting from the_ _MISSION to ASHANTEE_
+_by_ _T. E. Bowdich_ _Conductor_ 1817
+
+_REPORTED COURSES_ of the NIGER to the NILE, GAMBAROO to CAUDEE,
+OOGOOAWAI to the CONGO.
+
+_London published as the Act directs by John Murray Albemarle Street
+4th. Jany. 1819._
+
+_J. Walker Sculpt._]
+
+
+                                MISSION
+                         FROM CAPE COAST CASTLE
+                                   TO
+                              =ASHANTEE,=
+                                 WITH A
+                  STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THAT KINGDOM,
+                                  AND
+                  GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF OTHER PARTS
+                                 OF THE
+                          INTERIOR OF AFRICA.
+
+                               * * * * *
+                       BY T. EDWARD BOWDICH, ESQ.
+                               CONDUCTOR.
+                               * * * * *
+
+“Quod si præ metu et formidine pedem referemus, ista omnia nobis adversa
+                             futura sunt.”
+
+                                LONDON:
+                               * * * * *
+                     JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
+                                 1819.
+
+
+              * * * * *
+  London: printed by W. Bulmer and Co.
+     Cleveland-Row, St. James’s.
+
+
+
+
+                             INTRODUCTION.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+A curiosity throughout Europe, proportionate to the ignorance of the
+Interior of Africa, exacts the publication of the proceedings and
+researches of every Exploratory Mission, from its Conductor, as a duty
+to the Public: “mandat fieri sibi talia.”
+
+The Public, in acknowledgment of the performance of the duty, reflecting
+that it constrains literary efforts which the Author otherwise might
+never have presumed to expose, should sympathise in his diffidence and
+anxiety, and receive and review them as a task imposed, and not as a
+spontaneous essay.
+
+If this indulgence is due even to gentlemen who have had the most
+enviable opportunities of qualifying themselves at the expense of a
+liberal Government, it is surely secure to one who never enjoyed those
+advantages; but, being suddenly called to the immediate conduct of a
+Mission, originated by a public Board of very contracted means, when
+estranged from all facilities, had no resource to aid his realization of
+the scientific desiderata, beyond the acquirements common to most
+private gentlemen.
+
+The vessel in which I am making my passage to England having been
+chartered to trade in the River Gaboon, which is immediately on the
+Line, I diverted a tedious delay of seven weeks in so unhealthy a
+situation, by visiting Naängo, a town about fifty miles from the mouth
+of the River, where I collected Geographical Accounts of the Interior,
+from several intelligent traders, and numerous slaves from different
+countries. I have added this compilation, (as it may borrow some
+interest from the adjacency of the Congo,) with a few notices of the
+customs and productions of this ruder part of Africa.
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                PART I.
+
+  CHAP. I.—The Objects and Departure of the Mission.               3
+
+  CHAP. II—The Route and Reception of the Mission.                14
+
+  CHAP. III.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Third            42
+  Dispatch to Cape Coast Castle.
+
+  CHAP. IV.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Signing of       101
+  the Preliminaries to a General Treaty.
+
+  CHAP. V.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Ratification      118
+  of a General Treaty.
+
+  CHAP. VI.—Proceedings and Incidents until the completion of    131
+  the Mission and its return to Cape Coast Castle.
+
+                               PART II.
+
+  CHAP. I.—Geography.                                            161
+
+  CHAP. II.—History.                                             228
+
+  CHAP. III.—Constitution and Laws.                              252
+
+  CHAP. IV.—Superstitions.                                       261
+
+  CHAP. V.—Customs.                                              274
+
+  CHAP. VI.—Architecture, Arts, and Manufactures.                304
+
+  CHAP. VII.—Climate, Population, Revenue, City, Market, &c.     315
+
+  CHAP. VIII.—Trade.                                             330
+
+  CHAP. IX.—Language.                                            344
+
+  CHAP. X.—Music.                                                361
+
+  CHAP. XI.—Materia Medica and Diseases.                         370
+
+  CHAP. XII.—Mr. Hutchison’s Diary.                              381
+
+  CHAP. XIII.—Sketch of Gaboon, and its Interior.                422
+
+  CHAP. XIV.—Suggestions for future Missions to the Interior     453
+  of Africa.
+
+                               APPENDIX.
+
+  NO. I.—Extract from Meredith’s Account of the Gold Coast.      463
+
+  NO. II.—Translations of an Arabic MS. Descriptive of Mr.       478
+  Park’s Death.
+
+  NO. III.—Arabic Routes.                                        482
+
+  NO. IV. Dr. Leach’s Notice of Reptiles, Insects, &c.           493
+
+  NO. V.—Thermometer Account.                                    497
+
+  NO. VI.—Vocabularies.                                          504
+
+
+
+
+                   DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
+
+
+         Map                                    _to front the Title._
+
+   1.    A Captain in his War-dress                   _to face p._ 32
+
+         Arabic Circular                                          128
+
+         Map from Dapper                                          211
+
+   2.    The first Day of the Yam Custom                          275
+
+   3.    The oldest House in Coomassie                            307
+
+   4.    Quarters of the Chief of the Embassy                   _ib._
+
+   5.    Odumata’s sleeping room                                  307
+
+   6.    Inner square of Apokoo’s house                         _ib._
+
+   7. }
+      }  Piazzas of the palace                                    308
+   8. }
+
+   9.    Part of Adoom Street                                   _ib._
+
+  10.    Exterior of the King’s bed room                        _ib._
+
+         Ichnographical Sketch of Coomassie                       323
+
+         Ashantee Music                                           365
+
+         Empoöngwa Music                                          449
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                                ERRATA.
+
+  Map.—Affix the name Leeasa to the river flowing from the Niger by
+  Boussa.
+
+  Page 9.—After Frederick James, Esq. add, Member of Council, and
+  Governor of Accra.
+
+  Page 72.—For dated, read _dictated_.
+
+
+
+
+                               GLOSSARY.
+
+
+  Croom. A town or village.
+
+  Caboceer. A chief or magistrate.
+
+  Pynin. An elder or counsellor.
+
+  Palaver. A dispute, debate, argument, or suit.
+
+  Book or Note. A certificate of a monthly pension of the African
+  Committee, paid in trade to the Fantee Kings and Chiefs in the
+  neighbourhood of the British settlements, in consideration of their
+  attachment, influence, and services; which Books or Notes were claimed
+  by the King of Ashantee, as his by right of conquest.
+
+  Stool. Throne, seat in council, inheritance.
+
+  Custom. A festival, carnival, public ceremony, funeral rite.
+
+  Panyar. To seize or kidnap.
+
+  A Benda. Two ounces four ackies, or £9. currency.
+
+  A Periguin. Two ounces eight ackies, or £10. currency.
+
+  An Ackie. Five shillings currency.
+
+  A Tokoo. Ten pence.
+
+  A Dash. A present.
+
+  Fetish. A charm, amulet, deity. Any supernatural power or influence.
+  Any thing sacred.
+
+
+
+
+                               * * * * *
+                          MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
+                                PART I.
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                          MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
+                               * * * * *
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+              _The Objects, and Departure of the Mission._
+
+
+Bosman and Barbot mention the Ashantees as first heard of by Europeans
+about the year 1700; the latter calls it Assiantee or Inta, and writes,
+that it is west of Mandingo, and joins Akim on the east; he asserts its
+pre-eminence in wealth and power. Issert, a physician in the Danish
+service, who meditated a visit to Ashantee, writes, “this mighty king
+has a piece of gold, as a charm, more than four men can carry; and
+innumerable slaves are constantly at work for him in the mountains, each
+of whom must collect or produce two ounces of gold per diem. The Akims
+formerly dug much gold, but they are now forbidden by the King of
+Ashantee, to whom they are tributary, as well as the Aquamboos,
+previously a very formidable nation.” Mr. Dalzel heard of the Ashantees
+at Dahomey, as very powerful, but imagined them, the Intas, and the
+Tapahs, to be one and the same nation. Mr. Lucas, when in Mesurata, was
+informed that Assentai was the capital of the powerful kingdom of
+Tonouwah. In Mr. Murray’s enlarged edition of Dr. Leyden’s discoveries
+in Africa, we find, “the northern border of Akim extends to Tonouwah,
+denominated also Inta, Assientè, or Assentai, from its capital city of
+that name, which stands about eighteen days journey from the Gold
+Coast.”
+
+In 1807 an Ashantee army reached the Coast for the first time. I would
+refer the reader to the extract in the Appendix, from Mr. Meredith’s
+account of the Gold Coast, as the particulars are introductory as well
+as interesting; and also serve to correct the misstatement in the work
+last quoted, that in 1808 the King of Ashantee destroyed the English
+fort of Annamaboe; originating, probably, from the storm of the Dutch
+fort at Cormantine, at that time.
+
+The Ashantees invaded Fantee again in 1811, and the third time in 1816.
+These invasions inflicted the greatest miseries on the Fantees. Few were
+slain in battle, for they rarely dared to encounter the invaders; but
+the butcheries in cold blood were incredible, and thousands were dragged
+into the interior to be sacrificed to the superstitions of the
+conquerors. Famines, unmitigated by labour, succeeded the wide waste of
+the Fantee territory, the wretched remnant of the population abandoning
+itself to despair; and the prolonged blockade of Cape Coast Castle in
+the last invasion, engendered so much distress and hazard, that the
+Government having averted imminent danger by advancing a large sum of
+gold on account of the Fantees, earnestly desired the Committee to
+authorise and enable them to venture an Embassy, to deprecate these
+repeated calamities, to conciliate so powerful a monarch, and to
+propitiate an extension of commerce. By the store ship which arrived in
+1817, the African Committee forwarded liberal and suitable presents, and
+associated scientific with the political objects of the Mission, in
+their instructions, which I submit in explanation.
+
+“In order to enable you to redeem the promise to the King of Ashantee
+(and as we are sanguine in our hopes of the good that may result from
+it), we send you sundry articles as presents for him, to which you may
+add such others from the public stores as you may deem desirable,
+provided they will not materially increase the expense. The Committee
+are extremely anxious (and in this respect the wishes of all classes of
+people in this country go with them) that no exertions should be spared
+to become better acquainted with the Interior of Africa; and we consider
+the existing state of things to be most favourable for undertaking an
+exploratory Mission into the dominions of the King of Ashantee. If,
+therefore, nothing shall have transpired in the interim of this dispatch
+being received by you, to make the measure objectionable, we wish you to
+obtain permission from the King to send an Embassy to his capital: if
+granted, you will select three Gentlemen (one of them from the medical
+department[1]) for that service; and let them be accompanied by a
+respectable escort, you giving them the fullest instructions for their
+government. In particular, it will be necessary for them to observe, and
+report upon, the nature of the country; its soil and products; the
+names, and distances, and the latitude and longitude of the principal
+places; and its most remarkable natural objects: the appearance,
+distinguishing characters, and manners of the natives; their religion,
+laws, customs, and forms of government, as far as they can be
+ascertained; and by whom each place is governed. When at Ashantee, they
+should endeavour to obtain the fullest information of the countries
+beyond, in each direction; particularly whether any high mountains,
+lakes, or large rivers are known; and the width, depth, course, and
+direction of the latter; and whether the water, as well of the lakes as
+the rivers, is salt or fresh: and how far, and under what circumstances,
+white men may travel with safety, especially in a northerly direction.
+They should collect the most accurate information possible of the
+extent, population, and resources of the Ashantee dominions, and should
+report fully their opinion of the inhabitants, and of the progress they
+may have made in the arts of civilized life. They should be directed
+also, to procure and bring away (with the consent of the chiefs) any
+specimens of vegetable and mineral productions they may be able: and to
+ascertain where and how the natives collect the gold, and the extent to
+which the trade in that article, and in ivory, might be carried on. It
+would, we conceive, be a most important advantage, if the King of
+Ashantee, and some of his chiefs, could be prevailed upon to send one or
+more of their children to the Cape, to be educated at the expense of the
+Committee (to be attended by their own servants, if required), under the
+guarantee of the Governor and Council for their personal safety, and
+that they should be sent back when required.
+
+“Another great object would be, to prevail upon the King to form, and
+keep open, a path not less than six feet wide, from his capital, as far
+as his territories extend towards Cape Coast, you engaging on the part
+of the Committee, to continue it from that point to Cape Coast, which we
+presume may be done at a very small expense, by means of monthly
+allowances to the chiefs of such villages as be in that line; upon
+condition that they shall not allow the path to be overgrown with
+underwood, or otherwise obstructed.
+
+“It may perhaps be found, that high mountains, or a large river, may be
+not many days journey beyond Ashantee; in which case, if the Gentlemen
+composing the Embassy feel themselves secure in the attempt, they may
+probably be disposed to proceed so far. In such event, we authorize you
+to pay their drafts for any moderate sums which they may find it
+necessary to expend, as well as for the general objects of the Mission.
+
+“Besides the escort of which we have spoken, we think it necessary, or
+at least extremely important, that the Embassy should be accompanied by
+natives of character and consequence, conversant with the Ashantee
+language, in whom you have perfect confidence, selected, one from each
+of the towns of Cape Coast, Accra, and Apollonia, to whom you may make
+reasonable allowances for their time and trouble.
+
+“We have said that you should obtain the permission of the King of
+Ashantee to send the Embassy: we have doubts of the expediency of
+requiring hostages; but, we presume you will concur with us in thinking,
+it will be necessary, before it leaves Cape Coast, that a man of
+consequence should be specially sent down by the King, to serve as a
+guide and protector; and who, on his journey to Cape Coast, may arrange
+with the messenger whom you may send to the King, respecting the places
+at which the Embassy may stop to refresh, and give directions to open
+the paths that may be overgrown.
+
+“The Gentlemen whom you may select, will of course be well advised by
+you not to interfere with any customs of the natives, however absurd; or
+in any way to give them offence. And they cannot too strongly impress
+upon the minds of the King and people of Ashantee, that the only objects
+his Britannic Majesty has in view, are, to extend the trade with that
+country; to prevent all interruption to their free communication with
+the waterside; and to instruct their children in reading, writing, &c.
+from which, as may be easily pointed out, the greatest advantages must
+arise to the Ashantees.
+
+“From what has been said, you, Gentlemen, will perceive, that in
+selecting the Embassy, it is important that one of the persons composing
+it should be able to determine the latitude and longitude of places, and
+that both shall be seasoned to the climate; of ability, physical and
+mental; of cool tempers, and moderate habits; and possessed of fortitude
+and perseverance; and that in the selection of their escort also, regard
+be had to the qualifications of the parties in those respects. Among
+them there should be a bricklayer, carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, and
+cooper, with proper tools; if these persons can be spared for the
+purpose. We wish also they should take with them a number of
+_certificates regarding Major Peddie_, and his companions, to be
+circulated as distinctly as possible in the Interior; for though the
+period may be past when they might have been useful to those travellers,
+it is yet possible that they may be of use in making generally known the
+object of Government in sending white men to explore that country.”
+
+The suggestion of hostages was wholly impracticable, for there was not
+even time for a communication with the King. A variety of circumstances
+conspired to urge the immediate dispatch of the Mission; our interests,
+to say the least, imperiously demanded its early interference; and had
+we waited for a formal permission from the King to relieve the
+difficulties of the enterprise, the rainy season would have been too far
+advanced, and the critical moment have escaped us. The Governor thought
+it more advisable to dispatch the Mission without an escort, and two
+native soldiers only were added to the bearers of the baggage. The
+perusal of the Governor’s instructions will be satisfactory to the
+reader:
+
+
+                                   _Cape Coast Castle, April 19th_, 1817
+
+    FREDERICK JAMES, ESQ. Member of Council, and Governor of Accra.
+
+   SIR,
+
+IN accepting your voluntary offer of conducting the Embassy to the King
+of Ashantee, I have every reason to believe, that from your long
+experience in this country, and your knowledge of the manners and habits
+of the natives, it will terminate in a manner highly creditable to
+yourself, and eventually prove of the greatest importance to the
+commercial interest of Great Britain, which is the more immediate object
+of the Mission; however, as many subjects of scientific research may be
+associated with it, they are particularly recommended to your attention.
+For this purpose Mr. Bowdich will accompany you; and I have no doubt he
+will be found perfectly qualified to make the necessary observations, in
+which you will afford him every facility and assistance. He is provided
+with instruments for determining the latitude and longitude of places.
+Mr. Hutchison, writer, and Mr. Tedlie, assistant surgeon, will also be
+attached to the expedition.
+
+The Ashantees, who are appointed your guides, have been selected by the
+Ashantee Captain who is now here. They will, I hope, aid and assist you
+in every thing that lays in their power.
+
+In addition to the Committee’s instructions, a copy of which you have
+herewith, you will attend to the following:
+
+On the subject of your journey, I have nothing to observe further, than,
+that I hope you will take every opportunity of travelling when there
+will be the least exposure to the sun, as the officers who accompany you
+have been but a short time in the country, and every precaution will be
+necessary for the preservation of their health.
+
+As soon as may be convenient after your arrival at the Ashantee capital,
+you will of course see the King, and deliver him the various presents in
+the name of the African Company, to be received by him as pledges of the
+harmony and friendship which is ever to subsist between them; and also
+of his good will towards the natives residing under the protection of
+their different forts. You will not fail to impress upon his mind, the
+great power, wealth, and consequence of the British nation, and how much
+it is the interest of himself and his subjects, to promote and
+perpetuate their present free intercourse with the water side. In the
+course of your interview many circumstances will doubtless occur, which
+will suggest various other matters proper to be mentioned to the King,
+all which I shall leave entirely to your own discretion.
+
+You will acquaint the King, that in order to secure a correct
+communication between him and myself, I request his permission to allow
+an officer to reside constantly at Commassey, who will defray all his
+own expenses, and for whom you will build a house without loss of time.
+A carpenter, bricklayer, and cooper are sent with you, and you will
+leave them with Mr. Hutchison, who will remain as Resident. On your
+departure you will give him full instructions in writing for his future
+government, a copy of which you will deliver me upon your return.
+
+You will keep an exact diary of every circumstance possessing the least
+interest, a copy of which you will transmit me by every opportunity.
+
+In the course of your stay in the Ashantee country, you will embrace
+every occasion of becoming acquainted with the politics of that nation,
+of ascertaining its extent and boundaries, the power of the King over
+the lives and property of his subjects, the probable force he could
+bring into the field, the number of his allies, the sources and amount
+of his revenues. Whether he is tributary to any other power, and what
+nations in his neighbourhood are tributary to him? The amount of
+tribute, and in what articles paid? The rule of succession to the
+throne? What are the punishments for crimes of all descriptions? Who are
+the persons of most consequence next to the King? The names of their
+offices, and the extent of their power: by whom, or how paid? What are
+the most prominent features in the character, manners, and habits of the
+people, &c. &c. &c.?
+
+Are any human sacrifices made? Upon what occasions, and to what extent?
+How are prisoners of war now disposed of?
+
+Of what nation are the Moors that frequent the Ashantee country, and for
+what purpose do they go there?
+
+Ascertain the current medium of exchange, whether gold, or cowries; also
+the usual prices at which the Ashantees sell the goods they purchase
+from the Europeans on the sea coast; and the extent of their commercial
+relations with the Interior.
+
+You will enquire whether any European travellers have ever been seen or
+heard of in any of the countries to the northward; and what became of
+them? Whether any thing be known of the river Niger, or Joliba, as it is
+called by the natives? This information you will probably obtain from
+the Moors.
+
+Ascertain the position of the Doncoe country, and the city of Kong; also
+the mountains of that name. Refer to Park’s Travels, and acquire as much
+information as possible of the regions lying between Ashantee and the
+last places he visited. In short, leave nothing undone that may add to
+our present imperfect geographical knowledge of the Interior.
+
+You will receive herewith copies of certificates relative to Major
+Pedde’s expedition, which you will distribute amongst any persons you
+find travelling into the Interior from Ashantee.
+
+It would be of the first importance to have a road cut directly down to
+Cape Coast; and this you will urge to the King in the strongest manner.
+Your observations will, of course, enable you to point out the proper
+directions.
+
+I inclose a sketch of a treaty, and it would be highly desirable if you
+could procure its ratification by the King. He might perhaps make some
+objection at first, but may be persuaded at length, by your address, and
+reasoning. If he wished any trifling alteration made, you might use your
+discretion in this respect.
+
+You will acquaint the King, it is my wish that in future he receive his
+company’s pay at this Castle, and not at Accra, as formerly. Should he
+say any thing of an increase to his present allowance, you may give him
+hopes that it will be granted to a reasonable extent, provided the
+objects of this Mission be fulfilled, and after twelve months experience
+shall have proved the sincerity of his friendship to the British
+Government, and to the natives resident under its protection at the
+various forts on the Coast.
+
+From the jealous disposition of the natives of Africa, it is highly
+probable, that in the prosecution of your enquiries, you will be subject
+to many unfavourable suspicions. These you will take all possible care
+to remove, by the most candid explanations on every point that may be
+required.
+
+You will particularly explain to the King, the ill treatment the people
+of Cape Coast have experienced from those of Elmina, which has added
+very much to the distresses they have for some time suffered from the
+extreme scarcity of provisions; and there is reason to believe, that
+this unjust persecution has been induced, from their presuming on their
+connection with the Ashantees. Being perfectly aware that it has been
+done without the concurrence of the King; I have no doubt but he will,
+by a proper representation of the affair from you, exert his influence,
+and prevent what is at present to be apprehended, and what the Elminas
+are endeavouring to provoke—a war between the two people.
+
+In all cases not provided for in these Instructions, you have of course
+a discretionary power, which I am convinced you will make use of with
+deliberation and prudence, and with becoming zeal for the service upon
+which you are employed.
+
+Wishing you a prosperous journey and a safe return,
+
+                              I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                        JOHN HOPE SMITH.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: We recommend his being well supplied with dressings, &c.
+for wounds, and bruises, so that he may be able to assist any natives
+whom he may meet with requiring his aid: services of this sort give
+Negroes an exalted idea of white men, and are always gratefully
+remembered.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+               _The Route, and Reception of the Mission._
+
+
+The Mission left Cape Coast Castle on the morning of the 22d of April,
+with the intention of quitting the water side at Moree, three miles and
+a half to the eastward; but on reaching it, we were told that the path
+thence to Payntree’s croom, always bad, was then impassable from the
+rains; and that we must proceed to Annamaboe before we struck into the
+bush for the Interior.
+
+The reluctance of the carriers, who had been pressed into the service by
+the authorities of the town, became thus early almost insuperable; the
+consideration of pay and subsistence, and the reflection, that the
+dearth inflicted by the invasions the Mission was to deprecate, allowed
+them but a bare existence at home, were entirely lost in their aversion
+to the undertaking, which was equally influenced by jealousy and
+indolence: eleven deserted the first day; and the slender authority of
+the King and caboceers of Annamaboe, delayed the procuring of others to
+replace them until the next evening. One party was then started,
+attended by a soldier and a messenger, as they persisted in laying down
+their loads, even in the town; and many of the Annamaboes who had been
+procured, after lifting their packages, which were of moderate weight,
+walked off again, with the most insolent indifference. The devices by
+which these people displayed their ill will were peculiarly their own,
+and none could be more ingeniously tormenting. At four o’clock on
+Thursday morning we started the remainder of the packages, and followed
+them at half past six. Proceeding about two miles in a N.N.W. direction,
+we descended a steep hill, a quarter of a mile in length, and entered a
+beautiful valley, profusely covered with pines, aloes, and lilies; and
+richly varied with palm, banana, plantain, and guava trees: the view was
+refreshed by gentle risings crowned with cotton trees of a stupendous
+size. I never saw soil so rich, or vegetation so luxuriant.
+
+The first croom we reached was Quama’s, about three miles and a half
+from Annamaboe; it presented but a few hovels; and we passed through
+three others, Simquoi, Taphoo, and Nasmam, just as wretched and
+insignificant, before we reached Booka, romantically situated amidst the
+luxuriant foliage of a high hill, terminating the valley. Abra is about
+three miles eastward of this croom: it has been entirely deserted since
+the last invasion, the Ashantee army under Appia Nanu having made it
+their head quarters. It formerly exceeded Annamaboe, but the little that
+now remains is in ruin, the inhabitants having retired to the small
+crooms of their caboceer, or Captain Quaggheree.
+
+Passing through Tachradi, which scarcely existed but in name, we
+ascended a gentle rising, with a small croom, called Acroofroom, on the
+left hand. The astonishment of its miserable inhabitants engaging our
+attention, the extensive area of the summit burst upon us with the more
+effect. It was environed by small groves; and clumps of cotton trees
+rose so happily in frequent spots, as to afford all the scenery of a
+romantic little park; the broken rays of the sun stealing through the
+small trees in the distance, to make the deep shade of the foreground
+more imposing. The path then became more hilly, and the landscape fuller
+of wood: our descents and risings frequently through long vistas, so
+richly gilded with the sun on the summits, that, impressed with the
+description of Issert, we naturally yielded to the expectation, in
+ascending each eminence, that it would afford us the delightful prospect
+of an open country; but we were disappointed, and passing through
+Dunnasee and Assoquah, both small crooms, the latter situated on a long
+level, about three miles and a half from Acroofroom, we shortly after
+arrived at Payntree’s.
+
+On the higher hills the soil was generally gravel, with large stones; on
+the lesser, white flint and whinstone abounded: the levels presented few
+stones, and the earth was black, strong, and rich, producing grass from
+four to ten feet high. The country was very thinly inhabited, and more
+sparingly cultivated, the cassada frequent, but producing little from
+the want of cultivation.
+
+I made Payntree’s croom barely fifteen miles from Annamaboe; judging
+from time, it was guessed to be eighteen or twenty; but the impediments
+which the path almost incessantly presented to a hammock, the
+inequalities of the ground, and many delays which insensibly consumed
+the time, conspired to make such a calculation of distance very
+fallacious. The plan I adopted throughout, though laborious, entitled me
+to more confidence; and the observations confirmed the pretension. Mr.
+Tedlie, who was always just ahead of myself, took the angles of the path
+by his compass, which I pencilled as he uttered them, with their several
+lengths, allowing four yards and a half for every six paces. It is
+allowed too by the natives to be an easy four hours walk. Several hours
+elapsed before all the carriers came up; most of those who had been
+started by us the preceding day, slept in the bush, and one more had
+deserted.
+
+The prevailing courses and their proportions were N.¼; N.bW.⅛; N.N.W.⅛;
+N.N.E.⅛; the rest of the distance being made up of small lengths, in
+every point of the compass, from S.W. to S.E.; the variation 17¾° W. The
+latitude of Payntree, by two altitudes of the sun, was 5° 20′ 30″ N.;
+the longitude, by the course and distance, as afterwards corrected, 1°
+47′ W.
+
+We received the compliments of Payntree and several caboceers, under a
+large tree, and were then conducted to a neat and comfortable dwelling,
+which had been prepared for us: a small square area afforded a shed for
+cooking in on one side, and a sleeping room in each of the others, open
+in front, but well thatched, and very clean: from this we passed to our
+sitting room, the floor of which was elevated about two feet from the
+ground.
+
+The croom was prettily situated on a level, encircled by very fine
+trees, and consisted of a very broad and well cleaned street of small
+huts, framed of bamboo, and neatly thatched. Just beyond the north end
+of the croom, there was a stream running to the N.N.E and more than a
+mile of marshy ground was distinguished by the deeper shade and
+luxuriance of the foliage. We observed a great number of small birds,
+which were even more beautiful from their delicate symmetry, than their
+brilliant plumage; they were generally green, with black wings, and
+their nests hanging from the trees.
+
+The Ashantee captain, who expected to continue there some months, on the
+king’s business, sent us a sheep, pleading the scarcity, and his being a
+stranger, as apologies for so small a present. Old Payntree was
+attentive and obliging; he dashed us some fowls, yams, and palm wine. We
+remained there the next day, to allow our people to procure four days
+subsistence, as they would not be able to meet with provision on the
+path during that period.
+
+I walked with Mr. Tedlie along a very neat path well fenced, and divided
+by _stiles_, to a corn plantation of at least twenty acres, and well
+cultivated. Payntree’s farm house was situated here, and afforded
+superior conveniences; a fowl house, a pigeon house, and a large granary
+raised on a strong stage. As we returned we paid him a visit, and were
+refreshed with some excellent palm wine: his dwelling was a square of
+four apartments, which were entered from an outer one, where a number of
+drums were kept; the angles were occupied by the slaves, and his own
+room, which had a small inner chamber, was decked with muskets,
+blunderbusses, cartouch belts fantastically ornamented, and various
+insignia. The order, cleanliness, and comfort, surprised us; the sun had
+just set, and a cheerful fire on a clean hearth supported the evening
+meal. The old man was seated in his state chair, diverting himself with
+his children and younger wives, the elder one was looking on from the
+opposite apartment with happy indifference; it was the first scene of
+domestic comfort I had witnessed among the natives. There was a small
+plantation or garden neatly fenced in, near the house, for the supply of
+the family.
+
+On Saturday the 26th we left Payntree’s croom, and proceeded through two
+romantic little valleys, with a few huts in each: the variety of trees
+increased with the number, and ornamented the hills with almost every
+tint and character of foliage: the path was frequently covered with
+water. Just before we reached Cottacoomacasa, a most beautiful landscape
+opened, the fore-ground darkly shaded with large cotton trees, and the
+distance composed of several picturesque little hills; their fanciful
+outlines, and the beautiful variety of fresh and sombre tint of the
+small groves which encircled them, forcibly reminded me of the
+celebrated ride by Grongar hill, from Carmarthen to Llandilo.
+
+Cottacoomacasa is about six miles and a quarter from Payntree’s croom,
+and consisted but of a few miserable huts and sheds, which scarcely
+afforded shelter, and were close and filthy. I took the angles of a
+cotton tree near us, and the height proved to be 139 feet; generally
+speaking, those we had passed were, to appearance, much higher. The
+bearers had all settled themselves here, and not contented with a long
+rest, refused for some time to proceed until the next day; several were
+intoxicated with the rum from some ankers they had designedly broken. We
+started again however about half past three, and almost immediately
+entered a large forest impervious to the sun; the risings were frequent
+but gentle; the path, crooked and overgrown, presented such constant
+obstacles to a hammock, that Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, were
+glad to dismount, and found it was much more comfortable as well as more
+expeditious to walk; the only inconvenience was the troops of large
+black ants, which were too thick to be avoided, and stung us sadly. We
+passed two little streams running E.N.E. About six miles from
+Cottacoomacasa we found all the baggage, the people making their fires,
+and settling themselves for the night; it was almost dark; Quamina, our
+Ashantee guide, had gone on without us, and Mr. James we knew must be
+far behind; we therefore determined to halt for the night, and our
+hammocks were slung to the trees. The distance marched this day was
+twelve miles. The longitude of Cottacoomacasa was one mile E. of that of
+Payntree by account, that of our resting place 1° 46′ 30″ W. and the
+lat. 5° 28′ N.
+
+The next morning we continued our march through the same dark solitude,
+and passing three small streams running E. we reached Mansue soon after
+ten o’clock. We had scarcely seated ourselves under a tattered shed,
+which could not defend us from the burning sun, when we were encircled
+by the cooking fires of the party, and nothing but violence could remove
+them to a proper distance.
+
+Mansue had been the great Fantee market for slaves from the Interior,
+and its former consequence was evident from the extent of its site, over
+which a few sheds only were now scattered.
+
+We proceeded again at one o’clock, and passing through a small river,
+Assooneara, running eastward, we came to a second, called Okee, running
+in the same direction to the Amissa, which falls into the sea between
+Annamaboe and Tantum. We passed five or six swamps, one nearly half a
+mile long; in these the soil was a dark clay, but otherwise gravelly. We
+halted in the woods at a spot where our guide Quamina was busied in
+cutting down the underwood to accommodate himself and his women; the
+bearers, resolute in their perverseness, had gone on with our provisions
+and clothes. The ground of our resting place was very damp, and swarmed
+with reptiles and insects; we had great difficulty in keeping up our
+fires, which we were the more anxious to do after a visit from a
+panther: an animal which, the natives say, resembles a small pig, and
+inhabits the trees, continued a shrill screeching through the night; and
+occasionally a wild hog bounced by, snorting through the forest, as if
+closely pursued. This day’s distance was eight miles, and the course
+N.¼N. b. E.⅙. Lat. and long. by account 5° 34′ N. and 1° 48′ W.
+Thermometer in shade 6 A.M. 74.
+
+We started the next morning at seven o’clock, and after three miles and
+a half crossed a small river called Gaia, and sometimes Aniabirrim, from
+a croom of that name being formerly in its neighbourhood; it was ten
+yards wide and two feet deep, and ran to the E. just across the path,
+but afterwards N.N.E. to the Amissa. Here Mr. Hutchison waited for Mr.
+James to come up, whilst Mr. Tedlie and myself walked on to overtake the
+people. The doom and iron-wood trees were frequent; the path was a
+labyrinth of the most capricious windings, the roots of the cotton trees
+obstructing it continually, and our progress was generally by stepping
+and jumping up and down, rather than walking; the stems or caudices of
+these trees projected from the trunks like flying buttresses, their
+height frequently 20 feet. Immense trunks of fallen trees presented
+constant barriers to our progress, and increased our fatigues from the
+labour of scaling them: we were also frequently obliged to wait the
+cutting away of the underwood before we could proceed, even on foot. The
+large trees were covered with parasites and convolvuli, and the climbing
+plants, like small cables, ascending the trunks to some height, abruptly
+shot downwards, crossed to the opposite trees, and threaded each other
+in such a perplexity of twists and turnings, that it soon became
+impossible to trace them in the general entanglement. We passed through
+two small streams running S. and several swamps, richly covered with
+palm trees. Parrots and crown birds were numerous. At the end of ten
+miles we came to a small river called Quatoa, four yards wide, also
+running eastward to the Amissa; and immediately after to a few sheds
+bearing the same name, where we found the last party of the bearers all
+lying down, and a soldier ineffectually endeavouring to rouse them: we
+started them with difficulty. A mile and a half thence we met with the
+Okee again, running over its rocky bed in a transparent stream, which
+reflected the richest foliage; its course S.W.½W., the breadth nine
+yards, and we stepped across it from rock to rock. We soon afterwards
+walked through the Antoonso, a smaller river running W.S.W., which
+probably crossed the path to the eastward in one of the small streams
+near Cottacoomacasa, as every report confirmed its also running to the
+Amissa; it was very near Fousou, where we had scarcely arrived, before
+the Fantees, such was their perverseness, insisted upon going on, the
+Cape Coast messengers either had no influence or would not exert it; we
+soon stopped them with the assistance of Quamina, our Ashantee guide,
+Mr. James not coming up until late in the evening. Fousou was formerly a
+large town, but had been destroyed by the Ashantee invasion of 1807; it
+presented but a few sheds, in one of which we observed the Ashantee
+traders to deposit yams and plantains to subsist them on their return;
+so severe was the scarcity in the Fantee country: we could purchase
+nothing, and were admitted to the best hovel with reluctance. This day’s
+distance was 14 miles. The courses N.½, N.N.W.¼, N.bW.⅛. The latitude of
+Fousou by observation, was 5° 43′ 20″ N. and the longitude by account 1°
+52′ W.
+
+The next morning, the 29th of April, we marched seven miles to
+Ancomassa, a name given to half a dozen sheds; the path was still of the
+same rugged nature, and the gloom unvaried. A strong fragrance was
+emitted from the decaying plants and trees of the mimosa kind, whilst
+others in the same incipient state of putrefaction were very offensive.
+We passed through two small rivers, Bettensin and Soubin, six yards
+wide, and shallow; they both ran eastward to the Owa, of which I could
+not learn more than that it emptied itself into the Boosempra.
+
+We proceeded at four o’clock, and had not gone two miles on our gloomy
+route before it became dark. The path was level, but very swampy, and
+generally covered with water. The fire-flies spangled the herbage in
+every direction, and from the strength of their light, alternately
+excited the apprehension of wild beasts, and the hope that we approached
+the resting place our guide, whom we never saw after starting, had told
+us of in the morning. The greatest fear of the people was of the spirits
+of the woods, (whom Mr. Park’s interpreter, Johnson, propitiated by a
+sacrifice between Jing and Gangaddi) and the discordant yells in which
+they rivalled each other to keep up their courage, mingled with the
+howls and screeches from the forest, imposed a degree of horror on this
+dismal scene, which associated it with the imaginations of Dante. Three
+or four times we suddenly emerged from the most awful gloom into
+extensive areas, on which the stars shed a brilliancy of light gradually
+softened into the deep shade which encompassed them; they were the sites
+of large and populous crooms destroyed in the Ashantee invasions. About
+nine o’clock we discovered a few miserable sheds, which the noise of the
+bearers, who had long arrived, convinced us to be Accomfodey. We had
+passed two small rivers, the Aprinisee and Annuia, both running to the
+Boosempra. This day’s distance was 11 miles, and the courses N.⅓,
+N.bW.⅕. The lat. and long. by account 5° 49′ N. and 1° 55′ W.
+Thermometer 11 a.m. 80.
+
+We marched early the next morning. The scenery of the forest, excepting
+on the banks of the small rivers, was very naked of foliage, and only
+presented a harsh and ragged confusion of stems and branches intricately
+blended. We passed a small river soon after leaving Accomfodey, bearing
+the same name and running eastward; and shortly after another, six yards
+wide and two feet deep (the Berrakoo), running N.E. to the Boosempra.
+The path was sometimes trackless, and appeared to have been little used
+since the invasion of 1807; several human skulls were scattered through
+this dark solitude, the relics of the butchery. We halted about two
+o’clock by Mr. James’s direction, and passed the night in the forest.
+This day’s distance was eight miles, the prevailing courses N.¼, N.bW.⅛,
+N.N.W.⅛, N.bE.⅛. The latitude and longitude by account 5° 53′ N. 1° 55′
+W. Thermometer 2 p.m. 88½, 7 p.m. 82½.
+
+The next morning we passed some sheds, on the sites of the crooms
+Dansamsou and Meakirring. At the end of five miles and a quarter, the
+herbage to the right disclosed the cheerful reflections of the sun from
+the water; and we descended through a small vista of the forest, to the
+banks of the Boosempra or Chamah river. Nothing could be more beautiful
+than its scenery: the bank on the south side was steep, and admitted but
+a narrow path; that on the north sloping; on which a small Fetish house,
+under the shade of a cachou tree, fixed the eye; whence it wandered over
+a rich variety of tint and foliage, in which light and shade were most
+happily blended: the small rocks stole through the herbage of the banks,
+and now and then ruffled the water: the doom trees towering in the
+shrubbery, waved to the most gentle air a rich foliage of dark green,
+mocking the finest touch of the pencil; the tamarind and smaller mimosas
+heightening its effect by their livelier tint, and the more piquant
+delicacy of their leaf: the cotton trees overtopped the whole,
+enwreathed in convolvuli, and several elegant little trees, unknown to
+me, rose in the background, intermixed with palms, and made the coup
+d’oeil enchanting. The bright rays of the sun were sobered by the rich
+reflections of the water; and there was a mild beauty in the landscape,
+uncongenial to barbarism, which imposed the expectation of elegance and
+refinement. I attempted a sketch, but it was far beyond my rude pencil;
+the expression of the scene could only have been traced in the profile
+of every tree; and it seemed to defy any touches, but those of a Claude
+or a Wilson, to depict the life of its beauty. I took two angles from a
+base on the south side, which gave the width of the river, forty three
+yards; the depth was 7 feet, and the course N.W.½W. with a very strong
+current. A small river called Nimeä, ran into it, close to our right as
+we landed: we crossed in the hollow trunk of a tree, thirty feet long,
+the ends plastered up with sticks and swish.
+
+Mansue was said to have been the last town of the Fantee territory; but
+we had no opportunity for comparison until we passed the river, the
+country thitherto presenting all the gloom of depopulation, and the
+forest fast recovering the sites of the large towns destroyed in the
+Ashantee invasions. The inhabitants of the few wretched hovels, remotely
+scattered, seemed as if they had fled to them as outcasts from society;
+they were lost even to curiosity, and manners were brutal and sullen.[2]
+We could purchase nothing for our subsistence.
+
+The scene brightened from our crossing the Boosempra; the path improved,
+and Prasoo, the first town, only three quarters of a mile from the
+river, presented a wide and clean street of tolerably regular houses;
+the inhabitants clean and cheerful, left their various occupations to
+gratify their curiosity, and saluted us in a friendly and respectful
+manner: indeed the Assins may be considered, collectively, a more
+mannerly and orderly people than the Ashantees. Kickiwherree, one mile
+and a half distant, was a larger town, not so regular, but presenting
+the same neat appearance, improved by the white-washing of many of the
+houses. We halted here under the ganian[3] tree, used, generally
+speaking, for recreation only, palavers being talked in the open fronts
+of the houses. We were conducted to a comfortable dwelling, affording us
+four very clean rooms, about 12 feet by 7, in which there were shelves
+containing many articles of superior domestic comfort; a curtain or
+skreen of bamboo let down in the open front, and the floors raised about
+a foot and half from the ground, were washed daily with an earth of the
+neighbourhood, which coloured them Etruscan red. The iron stone
+abounded. Kickiwherree was 7 miles from the previous resting place, and
+the prevailing courses N.¼ N.b.W.⅐. The latitude by observation was 5°
+56′ 40″ N; the longitude by account 1° 57′ W. Thermometer 8 a.m. 77; 1
+p.m. 91.
+
+My observations had not been so frequent as I wished; the nature of the
+country, and the season of the year were both very unfavourable to them.
+I worked the double altitudes, invariably by Dr. Pemberton’s rule in
+Keith’s trigonometry, which requires no assumed latitude, and is in all
+cases accurate.
+
+Mr. James having determined to rest the next day at Kickiwherree, we did
+not proceed until Saturday the 3rd of May. We passed through a small
+river close to the town, called the Ading, six yards wide and two feet
+deep; and soon after a second, the Animiasoo, nine yards wide, and three
+feet deep, both running to the Boosempra; close to the latter was a
+large croom of the same name, the seat of Cheboo’s government. Pagga and
+Atobiasee were also large crooms near each other, and within four miles
+of Kickiwherree. At Atobiasee was a small river called Prensa, five
+yards wide, and two feet deep, which ran E.S.E. to the Boosempra: two
+miles thence we came to Becquama, a very old croom, with a river nine
+yards wide, called Prapong, running E. by S. to the Boosempra; and at
+the end of nine miles we halted at Asharaman, a small croom on an
+eminence, where the Assins under Apootey and Cheboo, first engaged the
+Ashantees in 1807. There was a small plot of corn near this croom, the
+first we had seen since we left Payntree, though every croom was
+surrounded by a tract of cultivated land, or plantation of plantains.
+The path continued through forest. Distance 8 miles. Courses N.¼.
+Latitude by observation, 5° 59′ 20″. Longitude by course and distance 1°
+57′ 40″ W. Thermometer 6 a.m. 76, p.m. 89.
+
+The next day we passed through Ansa, a large croom, where Amoo had
+governed; north-west of which, at a little distance, was Aboiboo, the
+residence of his enemy Apootey. A small river near Ansa, called
+Parakoomee, eleven yards wide, and three feet deep, ran south to a
+larger, called Ofim or Foom, which rises six days northward of
+Coomassie, and falls into the Boosempra some miles westward of our
+crossing. The path was very swampy, and we did not reach Akrofroom until
+three o’clock: this was by far the largest croom we had seen. The heavy
+rains during the night floated us in our lodgings, and, as Quamina
+reported, rendered the path to Moisee impassable for the next day;
+consequently we did not proceed until Tuesday the 6th. Distance 12
+miles. Courses N.⅕, N.N.W.¼. Latitude by observation, 6° 5′ 40″. Long: C
+and D 2° 2′. W. The path still through forest, presented frequent
+acclivities, and the iron stone, and a soft grey rock abounded; the soil
+was sometimes gravelly, but generally of a red coloured clay used in the
+native pottery. We passed the Parakoomee again twice, and at the end of
+11 miles halted at Moisee,
+
+
+  “Cingebant silvæ; quem collibus undique curvis,”
+
+
+the last Assin town, at the foot of three high hills covered with wood,
+bearing W.N.W., N., and N.N.E.; the barriers of the Ashantee kingdom.
+Course N.⅕, N.W.b.N.⅐, N.b.E.⅛. Latitude by observation 6° 8′ 50″ N.
+Longitude C and D 2° 4′ 20″ W. The thermometer was broken on the 4th.
+
+We passed the northern boundary the next morning; the ascent was a mile
+and a half in length, and very rocky; a small river called the Bohmen
+ran S.W. to the Jim, which falls into the Ofim: the water of the Bohmen
+is said to instil eloquence, and numerous Ashantees repair annually to
+drink of it: it flowed in a very clear stream, over a bed of gravel, and
+was three feet deep, and eight yards broad. The expectation of an open
+country was again disappointed; I bore several eminent points, in the
+hope of being able to do so again at some distance, and of thus, with
+the intermediate course, checking the distance computed by paces; but
+the forest soon shut them out entirely. The first Ashantee croom was
+Quesha; and we soon after passed through Fohmannee, which had been a
+very considerable town. We stopped there awhile at the request of a
+venerable old man, who regaled us with some palm wine and fruit: his
+manners were very pleasing, and made it more painful to us to hear that
+his life was forfeited to some superstitious observances, and that he
+only waited the result of a petition to the king to commiserate his
+infirmities so far as to allow him to be executed at his own croom, and
+to be spared the fatigue of a journey to the capital: he conversed
+cheerfully with us, congratulated himself on seeing white men before he
+died, and spread his cloth over the log with an emotion of dignity
+rather than shame: his head arrived at Coomassie the day after we had.
+On ascending the hill, the soil became a dark brown clay, and very
+productive. We passed the first large plantation of corn we had seen
+since we left Payntree, and halted at Doompassee. Distance 6 miles.
+Courses N.⅓, N.N.W.⅕, N.W.⅙. Latitude by observation, 6° 11′ 30″.
+
+Doompassee had been a very large croom, but the caboceer having
+intrigued with one of Sai Cudjoe’s wives, who had permission to visit
+her family in this place, the greater part of it was destroyed in
+consequence, and the caboceer decapitated: the woman possessing
+irresistible art in practising upon the numerous admirers of her beauty,
+the king spared her life, and employed her thenceforth to inveigle those
+distant caboceers, whose lives or properties were desirable to him. It
+was the most industrious town on the path; cloths, beads, and pottery
+were manufacturing in all directions, and the blacksmiths’ forges were
+always at work. The intelligence of the beginning of the King’s fetish
+week, and Mr. James’s attack of fever, delayed us at Doompassee, and a
+messenger was dispatched in the interim to announce our approach. During
+our stay, I observed an eclipse of Jupiter’s first satellite, which gave
+the longitude 2° 6′ W.
+
+We did not leave Doompassee until the 14th of May; after two miles,
+passing a small stream running N.W. we ascended a high hill, on which a
+large croom, called Tiabosoo, was situated. I looked into a pit here six
+feet deep; the first stratum was vegetable mould, the second gravel, the
+third, a kind of potter’s clay, and the remaining of brittle stone of a
+reddish brown, resembling that they call cabouc in the East Indies. The
+next croom was Sanquanta, where the path took an easterly direction, and
+about seven miles from Doompassee we passed Datiasoo, where large
+quantities of pottery were manufacturing, exclusively: it was not more
+than a mile distant from Dadawasee, where we found a messenger from the
+king, expressing his regret that we had come up in the rainy season, as
+he had heard it was a very unhealthy one for white men, and appointing
+us to enter the capital on the Monday following; he sent us a present of
+a sheep, forty yams, and two ounces of gold for our table; he had also
+given six ackies to our messenger, who returned at the same time. The
+path had been cleared by the king’s order, the plantations became more
+frequent and extensive, and numerous paths branching off from that we
+travelled, shewed that the country was thickly inhabited, and the
+intercourse of the various parts direct and necessary for an interchange
+of manufacture and produce: the crooms hitherto had appeared insulated.
+The Acassey or blue dye plant grew profusely. Distance seven miles.
+Courses N.¼, N.bW.⅐, N.N.W.⅐, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude by observation 6° 16′
+20″ N. long: C and D 2° 7′ 30″ W.
+
+The next day, leaving Dadawasee, close to which was another large croom
+called Modjawee, we descended a very steep hill, and passed the Dankaran
+or Mankaran, a small river, in the rainy season eleven yards wide and
+four feet deep, running to the Birrim: not far from this river was
+Sahnfoo, and a short distance from that croom, a smaller river called
+Yansee, running N.N.W. We then passed through Korraman, near which was
+the small river Dansabow, running westward, and three other large
+crooms, Aquinasee (having a neatly fenced burial ground,) Amafou, and
+Agabimah; crossing another small river called Soubirree, near the
+latter, we reached Assiminia, distant eight miles from Dadawasee. The
+path was frequently eight feet wide, and kept as neatly as that of a
+garden in the environs of the crooms, which now disclosed themselves
+very prettily at some distance. Courses N.⅕, N.bE.⅙, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude
+by observation 6° 22′, longitude C and D 2° 7′ 50″ W.
+
+There was a violent tornado in the night, during almost the whole of
+which the rain continued in torrents, increasing the small streams near
+the town from ancle to three feet deep. Almost all the inhabitants were
+employed in weaving the staple manufacture of Assiminia, which was
+formerly of much greater extent. Mr. James rested here the whole of the
+next day, and on Saturday we proceeded through Boposoo (on a very high
+hill), Agemum, Yoko, and Abountum; near which we crossed the Biaqua,
+running west to the Jim, and about seven yards wide and two feet deep;
+between this and Sarrasou, where we halted, were two large crooms,
+Pootooaga and Fiasou.
+
+The path was continually well cleared: each croom presented one wide
+central street, with the ganian or cachou trees at the extremities. The
+soil ceased to be sandy, and became a reddish earth: we observed some
+quartz, but silex prevailed. Distance 11 miles. Courses N.¼, N.N.E.⅕.
+Lat. by observation, 6° 30′ 20″. Long. C. and D. 2° 6′ 30″.
+
+The river Dah runs close to Sarrasou, rising at Sekooree near Dwabin,
+and falling into the Ofim at Measee in the Warsaw path; it is generally
+about sixteen yards wide, and four feet deep. There was an ingenious
+fishing weir in this river; two rows of very strong wicker work were
+fixed across it, supported against the rapidity of the stream by large
+stakes, driven into the ground obliquely on each side of them, and
+connected above and below by the trunks of two large trees. The funnel-
+shaped baskets, thickly inserted at the bottom, were of split cane, and
+about twelve feet long. There are large plantations of corn around
+Sarrasou, which is a great nursery for pigs. We left it on Monday
+morning, the 19th, and passing through a small croom, Oyoko, stopped at
+another, Agogoo, about four miles distant, to dress ourselves in full
+uniform. The soil from Sarrasou was a rich black mould, and there were
+continued plantations of corn, yams, ground nuts, terraboys, and
+encruma: the yams and ground nuts were planted with much regularity in
+triangular beds, with small drains around each, and carefully cleared
+from weeds.
+
+Two miles from Agogoo, we crossed the marsh which insulates Coomassie;
+the breadth at that part forty yards, and the depth three feet. Being
+within a mile of the capital, our approach was announced to the king,
+who desired us by his messengers to rest at a little croom, called
+Patiasoo, until he had finished washing, when captains would be deputed
+to conduct us to his presence. Distance 6½ miles. Courses N.⅙, N.N.W.⅙.
+
+We entered Coomassie at two o’clock, passing under a fetish, or
+sacrifice of a dead sheep, wrapped up in red silk, and suspended between
+two lofty poles. Upwards of 5000 people, the greater part warriors, met
+us with awful bursts of martial music, discordant only in its mixture;
+for horns, drums, rattles, and gong-gongs were all exerted with a zeal
+bordering on phrenzy, to subdue us by the first impression. The smoke
+which encircled us from the incessant discharges of musquetry, confined
+our glimpses to the foreground; and we were halted whilst the captains
+performed their Pyrrhic dance, in the centre of a circle formed by their
+warriors; where a confusion of flags, English, Dutch, and Danish, were
+waved and flourished in all directions; the bearers plunging and
+springing from side to side, with a passion of enthusiasm only equalled
+by the captains, who followed them, discharging their shining
+blunderbusses so close, that the flags now and then were in a blaze; and
+emerging from the smoke with all the gesture and distortion of maniacs.
+Their followers kept up the firing around us in the rear. The dress of
+the captains (see drawing, No. I.) was a war cap, with gilded rams horns
+projecting in front, the sides extended beyond all proportion by immense
+plumes of eagles feathers, and fastened under the chin with bands of
+cowries. Their vest was of red cloth, covered with fetishes and
+saphies[4] in gold and silver; and embroidered cases of almost every
+colour, which flapped against their bodies as they moved, intermixed
+with small brass bells, the horns and tails of animals, shells, and
+knives; long leopards tails hung down their backs, over a small bow
+covered with fetishes. They wore loose cotton trowsers, with immense
+boots of a dull red leather, coming half way up the thigh, and fastened
+by small chains to their cartouch or waist belt; these were also
+ornamented with bells, horses tails, strings of amulets, and innumerable
+shreds of leather; a small quiver of poisoned arrows hung from their
+right wrist, and they held a long iron chain between their teeth, with a
+scrap of Moorish writing affixed to the end of it. A small spear was in
+their left hands, covered with red cloth and silk tassels; their black
+countenances heightened the effect of this attire, and completed a
+figure scarcely human.
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 1._
+
+CAPTAIN in his WAR DRESS.]
+
+This exhibition continued about half an hour, when we were allowed to
+proceed, encircled by the warriors, whose numbers, with the crowds of
+people, made our movement as gradual as if it had taken place in
+Cheapside; the several streets branching off to the right, presented
+long vistas crammed with people, and those on the left hand being on an
+acclivity, innumerable rows of heads rose one above another: the large
+open porches of the houses, like the fronts of stages in small theatres,
+were filled with the better sort of females and children, all impatient
+to behold white men for the first time; their exclamations were drowned
+in the firing and music, but their gestures were in character with the
+scene. When we reached the palace, about half a mile from the place
+where we entered, we were again halted, and an open file was made,
+through which the bearers were passed, to deposit the presents and
+baggage in the house assigned to us. Here we were gratified by observing
+several of the caboceers pass by with their trains, the novel splendour
+of which astonished us. The bands, principally composed of horns and
+flutes, trained to play in concert, seemed to soothe our hearing into
+its natural tone again by their wild melodies; whilst the immense
+umbrellas, made to sink and rise from the jerkings of the bearers, and
+the large fans waving around, refreshed us with small currents of air,
+under a burning sun, clouds of dust, and a density of atmosphere almost
+suffocating. We were then squeezed, at the same funeral pace, up a long
+street, to an open-fronted house, where we were desired by a royal
+messenger to wait a further invitation from the king. Here our attention
+was forced from the astonishment of the crowd to a most inhuman
+spectacle, which was paraded before us for some minutes; it was a man
+whom they were tormenting previous to sacrifice; his hands were pinioned
+behind him, a knife was passed through his cheeks, to which his lips
+were noosed like the figure of 8; one ear was cut off and carried before
+him, the other hung to his head by a small bit of skin; there were
+several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under each shoulder
+blade; he was led with a cord passed through his nose, by men disfigured
+with immense caps of shaggy black skins, and drums beat before him; the
+feeling this horrid barbarity excited must be imagined. We were soon
+released by permission to proceed to the king, and passed through a very
+broad street, about a quarter of a mile long, to the market place.
+
+Our observations en passant had taught us to conceive a spectacle far
+exceeding our original expectations; but they had not prepared us for
+the extent and display of the scene which here burst upon us: an area of
+nearly a mile in circumference was crowded with magnificence and
+novelty. The king, his tributaries, and captains, were resplendent in
+the distance, surrounded by attendants of every description, fronted by
+a mass of warriors which seemed to make our approach impervious. The sun
+was reflected, with a glare scarcely more supportable than the heat,
+from the massy gold ornaments, which glistened in every direction. More
+than a hundred bands burst at once on our arrival, with the peculiar
+airs of their several chiefs; the horns flourished their defiances, with
+the beating of innumerable drums and metal instruments, and then yielded
+for a while to the soft breathings of their long flutes, which were
+truly harmonious; and a pleasing instrument, like a bagpipe without the
+drone, was happily blended. At least a hundred large umbrellas, or
+canopies, which could shelter thirty persons, were sprung up and down by
+the bearers with brilliant effect, being made of scarlet, yellow, and
+the most shewy cloths and silks, and crowned on the top with crescents,
+pelicans, elephants, barrels, and arms and swords of gold; they were of
+various shapes, but mostly dome; and the valances (in some of which
+small looking glasses were inserted) fantastically scalloped and
+fringed; from the fronts of some, the proboscis and small teeth of
+elephants projected, and a few were roofed with leopard skins, and
+crowned with various animals naturally stuffed. The state hammocks, like
+long cradles, were raised in the rear, the poles on the heads of the
+bearers; the cushions and pillows were covered with crimson taffeta, and
+the richest cloths hung over the sides. Innumerable small umbrellas, of
+various coloured stripes, were crowded in the intervals, whilst several
+large trees heightened the glare, by contrasting the sober colouring of
+nature.
+
+
+  “Discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit.”
+
+
+The king’s messengers, with gold breast plates, made way for us, and we
+commenced our round, preceded by the canes and the English flag. We
+stopped to take the hand of every caboceer, which, as their houshold
+suites occupied several spaces in advance, delayed us long enough to
+distinguish some of the ornaments in the general blaze of splendour and
+ostentation.
+
+The caboceers, as did their superior captains and attendants, wore
+Ashantee cloths, of extravagant price from the costly foreign silks
+which had been unravelled to weave them in all the varieties of colour,
+as well as pattern; they were of an incredible size and weight, and
+thrown over the shoulder exactly like the Roman toga; a small silk
+fillet generally encircled their temples, and massy gold necklaces,
+intricately wrought; suspended Moorish charms, dearly purchased, and
+enclosed in small square cases of gold, silver, and curious embroidery.
+Some wore necklaces reaching to the navel entirely of aggry beads; a
+band of gold and beads encircled the knee, from which several strings of
+the same depended; small circles of gold like guineas, rings, and casts
+of animals, were strung round their ancles; their sandals were of green,
+red, and delicate white leather; manillas, and rude lumps of rock gold,
+hung from their left wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be
+supported on the head of one of their handsomest boys. Gold and silver
+pipes, and canes dazzled the eye in every direction. Wolves and rams
+heads as large as life, cast in gold, were suspended from their gold
+handled swords, which were held around them in great numbers; the blades
+were shaped like round bills, and rusted in blood; the sheaths were of
+leopard skin, or the shell of a fish like shagreen. The large drums
+supported on the head of one man, and beaten by two others, were braced
+around with the thigh bones of their enemies, and ornamented with their
+skulls. The kettle drums resting on the ground, were scraped with wet
+fingers, and covered with leopard skin. The wrists of the drummers were
+hung with bells and curiously shaped pieces of iron, which gingled
+loudly as they were beating. The smaller drums were suspended from the
+neck by scarves of red cloth; the horns (the teeth of young elephants)
+were ornamented at the mouth-piece with gold, and the jaw bones of human
+victims. The war caps of eagles feathers nodded in the rear, and large
+fans, of the wing feathers of the ostrich, played around the
+dignitaries; immediately behind their chairs (which were of a black
+wood, almost covered by inlays of ivory and gold embossment) stood their
+handsomest youths, with corslets of leopard’s skin covered with gold
+cockle shells, and stuck full of small knives, sheathed in gold and
+silver, and the handles of blue agate; cartouch boxes of elephant’s hide
+hung below, ornamented in the same manner; a large gold handled sword
+was fixed behind the left shoulder, and silk scarves and horses tails
+(generally white) streamed from the arms and waist cloth: their long
+Danish muskets had broad rims of gold at small distances, and the stocks
+were ornamented with shells. Finely grown girls stood behind the chairs
+of some, with silver basins. Their stools (of the most laborious carved
+work, and generally with two large bells attached to them) were
+conspicuously placed on the heads of favourites; and crowds of small
+boys were seated around, flourishing elephants tails curiously mounted.
+The warriors sat on the ground close to these, and so thickly as not to
+admit of our passing without treading on their feet, to which they were
+perfectly indifferent; their caps were of the skin of the pangolin and
+leopard, the tails hanging down behind; their cartouch belts (composed
+of small gourds which hold the charges, and covered with leopard or
+pig’s skin) were embossed with red shells, and small brass bells thickly
+hung to them; on their hips and shoulders was a cluster of knives; iron
+chains and collars dignified the most daring, who were prouder of them
+than of gold; their muskets had rests affixed of leopard’s skin, and the
+locks a covering of the same; the sides of their faces were curiously
+painted in long white streaks, and their arms also striped, having the
+appearance of armour.
+
+We were suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors, who afforded the first
+general diversity of dress; there were seventeen superiors, arrayed in
+large cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled embroidery,
+their shirts and trowsers were of silk, and a very large turban of white
+muslin was studded with a border of different coloured stones: their
+attendants wore red caps and turbans, and long white shirts, which hung
+over their trowsers; those of the inferiors were of dark blue cloth:
+they slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we passed, and with a
+most malignant scowl.
+
+The prolonged flourishes of the horns, a deafening tumult of drums, and
+the fuller concert of the intervals, announced that we were approaching
+the king: we were already passing the principal officers of his
+houshold; the chamberlain, the gold horn blower, the captain of the
+messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the market,
+the keeper of the royal burial ground, and the master of the bands, sat
+surrounded by a retinue and splendor which bespoke the dignity and
+importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small services
+covered with leopard’s skin held behind him, and a large quantity of
+massy silver plate was displayed before him, punch bowls, waiters,
+coffee pots, tankards, and a very large vessel with heavy handles and
+clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold incense; I observed
+a Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they seemed generally of that
+manufacture. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy
+gold hatchet on his breast; and the execution stool was held before him,
+clotted in blood, and partly covered with a cawl of fat. The king’s four
+linguists were encircled by a splendor inferior to none, and their
+peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in
+bundles like fasces. The keeper of the treasury, added to his own
+magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service; the blow pan,
+boxes, scales and weights, were of solid gold.
+
+A delay of some minutes whilst we severally approached to receive the
+king’s hand, afforded us a thorough view of him; his deportment first
+excited my attention; native dignity in princes we are pleased to call
+barbarous was a curious spectacle: his manners were majestic, yet
+courteous; and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a moment
+of the composure of the monarch; he appeared to be about thirty-eight
+years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent countenance;
+he wore a fillet of aggry beads round his temples, a necklace of gold
+cockspur shells strung by their largest ends, and over his right
+shoulder a red silk cord, suspending three saphies cased in gold; his
+bracelets were the richest mixtures of beads and gold, and his fingers
+covered with rings; his cloth was of a dark green silk; a pointed diadem
+was elegantly painted in white on his forehead; also a pattern
+resembling an epaulette on each shoulder, and an ornament like a full
+blown rose, one leaf rising above another until it covered his whole
+breast; his knee-bands were of aggry beads, and his ancle strings of
+gold ornaments of the most delicate workmanship, small drums, sankos,
+stools, swords, guns, and birds, clustered together; his sandals, of a
+soft white leather, were embossed across the instep band with small gold
+and silver cases of saphies; he was seated in a low chair, richly
+ornamented with gold; he wore a pair of gold castanets on his finger and
+thumb, which he clapped to enforce silence. The belts of the guards
+behind his chair, were cased in gold, and covered with small jaw bones
+of the same metal; the elephants tails, waving like a small cloud before
+him, were spangled with gold, and large plumes of feathers were
+flourished amid them. His eunuch presided over these attendants, wearing
+only one massy piece of gold about his neck: the royal stool, entirely
+cased in gold, was displayed under a splendid umbrella, with drums,
+sankos, horns, and various musical instruments, cased in gold, about the
+thickness of cartridge paper: large circles of gold hung by scarlet
+cloth from the swords of state, the sheaths as well as the handles of
+which were also cased; hatchets of the same were intermixed with them:
+the breasts of the Ocrahs, and various attendants, were adorned with
+large stars, stools, crescents, and gossamer wings of solid gold.
+
+We pursued our course through this blazing circle, which afforded to the
+last a variety exceeding description and memory; so many splendid
+novelties diverting the fatigue, heat, and pressure we were labouring
+under; we were almost exhausted, however, by the time we reached the
+end; when, instead of being conducted to our residence, we were desired
+to seat ourselves under a tree at some distance, to receive the
+compliments of the whole in our turn.
+
+The swell of their bands gradually strengthened on our ears, the peals
+of the warlike instruments bursting upon the short, but sweet responses
+of the flutes; the gaudy canopies seemed to dance in the distant view,
+and floated broadly as they were springing up and down in the
+foreground; flags and banners waved in the interval, and the chiefs were
+eminent in their crimson hammocks, amidst crowds of musquetry. They
+dismounted as they arrived within thirty yards of us; their principal
+captains preceded them with the gold handled swords, a body of soldiers
+followed with their arms reversed, then their bands and gold canes,
+pipes, and elephants tails. The chief, with a small body guard under his
+umbrella, was generally supported around the waist by the hands of his
+favourite slave, whilst captains holla’d, close in his ear, his warlike
+deeds and (strong) names, which were reiterated with the voices of
+Stentors by those before and behind; the larger party of warriors
+brought up the rear. Old captains of secondary rank were carried on the
+shoulders of a strong slave; but a more interesting sight was presented
+in the minors, or young caboceers, many not more than five or six years
+of age, who overweighed by ornaments, were carried in the same manner,
+(under their canopies), encircled by all the pomp and parade of their
+predecessors. Amongst others, the grandson of Cheboo was pointed out,
+whom the king had generously placed on the stool of his perfidious
+enemy. A band of Fetish men, or priests, wheeled round and round as they
+passed with surprising velocity. Manner was as various as ornament; some
+danced by with irresistible buffoonery, some with a gesture and carriage
+of defiance; one distinguished caboceer performed the war dance before
+us for some minutes, with a large spear, which grazed us at every bound
+he made; but the greater number passed us with order and dignity, some
+slipping one sandal, some both, some turning round after having taken
+each of us by the hand; the attendants of others knelt before them,
+throwing dust upon their heads; and the Moors, apparently, vouchsafed us
+a blessing. The king’s messengers who were posted near us, with their
+long hair hanging in twists like a thrum mop, used little ceremony in
+hurrying by this transient procession; yet it was nearly 8 o’clock
+before the king approached.
+
+It was a beautiful star light night, and the torches which preceded him
+displayed the splendor of his regalia with a chastened lustre, and made
+the human trophies of the soldiers more awfully imposing. The skulls of
+three Banda caboceers, who had been his most obstinate enemies, adorned
+the largest drum: the vessels in which the boys dipped their torches
+were of gold. He stopped to enquire our names a second time, and to wish
+us good night; his address was mild and deliberate: he was followed by
+his aunts, sisters, and others of his family, with rows of fine gold
+chains around their necks. Numerous chiefs succeeded; and it was long
+before we were at liberty to retire. We agreed in estimating the number
+of warriors at 30,000.
+
+We were conducted to a range of spacious, but ruinous buildings, which
+had belonged to the son of one of the former kings, and who had recently
+destroyed himself at a very advanced age, unable to endure the severity
+of disgrace: their forlorn and dreary aspect bespoke the fortune of
+their master, and they required much repair to defend us from the wind
+and rain, which frequently ushered in the nights.
+
+
+[Footnote 2: Every account I received afterwards, confirmed the boundary
+of the Fantee and Assin territories to be between Mansue and Fousou;
+also that Ancomassa, Accomfodey, Dansamsou, Meakirring, &c. &c. had all
+been large Assin crooms, destroyed with many others in their
+neighbourhood, in the Ashantee invasion of 1807.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This is the same tree as the banian or India fig.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Scraps of Moorish writing, as charms against evil.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+   _Proceedings and Incidents until the Third Dispatch to Cape Coast
+                                Castle._
+
+
+                                            _Coomassie, May 22nd_, 1817.
+
+            TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
+
+   GENTLEMEN,
+
+THE important objects of the Mission, and the safety and prosperity of
+the Settlements, have this day demanded our public dissent from our
+superior officer, Mr. James; to prove the act tutelary to these objects,
+can be our only justification.
+
+The Mission has engrossed our thoughts and exertions from the moment we
+were honoured by the appointments; we have felt that the credit of the
+Committee, the character of the service, and the good of our country
+were associated in the enterprise; and that we were personally
+responsible for these important objects, to the extent of our industry,
+fortitude, and ability. Our reflections naturally associated obstacles
+commensurate with the importance of the objects affected; and to
+overcome the former in a manner auspicious to the latter, we conceived
+to be the duty expected from us, as composing a Mission originated to
+remove a portion of the formidable barriers to the interior of Africa.
+We anticipated prejudice, intrigue, and difficulty, as inevitable; as
+obstacles to invigorate and not to sicken our exertions.
+
+At Dadasey, on Wednesday the 14th instant, we received a present from
+the King, of two ounces of gold, a sheep, and thirty yams, with a second
+appointment to enter his capital the succeeding Monday. When within a
+short distance, the messenger who announced us, returned, to desire us
+to wait at a croom until the King had washed. We were permitted to enter
+soon after two o’clock, and the King received us with the most
+encouraging courtesy, and the most flattering distinction. We paid our
+respects in turn, (passing along a surprising extent of line) to the
+principal caboceers, many of remote, and several of Moorish territories;
+and all of these encircled by retinues astonishing to us from their
+numbers, order, and decorations. We were then requested to remove to a
+distant tree to receive their salutes; which procession, though simply
+transient, continued until past eight o’clock. It was indescribably
+imposing from the variety, magnificence, and etiquette: its faint
+outline in Mr. Bowdich’s report, will impart our impression of the power
+and influence of the monarch we are sent to conciliate. The King as he
+passed, repeated his former condescensions.
+
+The next morning (Tuesday) the King sent to us to come and speak our
+palaver in the market place, that all the people might hear it: we found
+him encircled by the most splendid insignia, and surrounded by his
+caboceers: we were received graciously. Mr. James, through his linguist,
+declared to the King’s, (who are alone allowed to speak to him in
+public) that the objects of the Mission were friendship and commerce;
+impressed the consequence of our nation, and the good feelings of the
+Committee and Governor towards the King, as would be testified by our
+presents; he submitted the wish of a Residency, and of a direct path.
+The King enquired if we were to settle the Commenda palaver; the reply
+was, no! He rejoined, “that he wished the Governor of Cape Coast to
+settle all palavers for him with the people of the forts, and that he
+had thought we came to make all things right, and so to make friends
+with the Ashantees.” The King had previously observed, as literally
+rendered, that “the forts belonged to him,” meaning (as the context, and
+the whole of his sentiments and conduct have confirmed) nothing
+humiliating to our dignity and independence; but simply, that the
+advantages derived by the Fantee nations from the forts, should now be
+his. He desired the officer to be pointed out to him who was to be the
+Resident; and then enquired if that was all our palaver, he was told
+yes: he said he would give us his answer the next day.
+
+Soon after we returned to our house, the King’s linguist delivered this
+message. “The King knows very well the King of England has sent him
+presents; if you wish to be friends with him you must bring these
+presents to his own house, and shew them to him and his friends, and not
+give them before all the people.” This, in our judgment was a policy, to
+prevent any favourable bias of the body of caboceers and people
+anticipating the King’s and his councils satisfaction of our motives and
+professions.
+
+We attended: all the curiosity the packages excited could not incline
+the King to regard them, until he had desired distinctly to understand
+who had sent them, the King of England, or the Governor. He was told,
+the Company to whom the forts belonged under the King; the interpreter
+seemed to render it the King individually; it was more intelligible, and
+the agreeable impression it made was striking. The presents were
+displayed. Nothing could surpass the King’s surprise and pleasure, but
+his warm yet dignified avowal of his obligations. “Englishmen,” said he,
+admiring the workmanship of the different articles, “know how to do
+every thing proper,” turning to his favourites with a smile as
+auspicious to our interests, as mortal to the intrigues of our rival.
+Much of the glass was broken; Mr. James expressed his regret, and
+offered to procure more; the King replied, “the path we had come was bad
+and overgrown, that we had many people to look after;” and waved our
+excuses with superior courtesy. He desired the linguists to say, “this
+shewed him that the English were a great people, that they wished to be
+friends with him, to be as one with the Ashantees; that this made him
+much pleasure to see, (and to repeat again and again,) that he thanked
+the King of England, the Governor at Cape Coast, and the officers who
+brought the presents much, very much.” He made very liberal presents of
+liquor to our people, and delivered the distinct presents to his four
+principal caboceers in our sight.
+
+We learned from Quashie, the Accra linguist, the favourable reports he
+had collected through his intimacy with some of the principal men. All
+the caboceers, he said, had thought we had come for bad, to spy the
+country; the King thought so too a little, but much fetish was made, and
+all shewed that we meant well, and now the King thought so; the mulatto
+sent by General Daendels, directly after Mr. Hydecoper, and who arrived
+just before us, had sent to the King for a pass to go back, and the King
+told him, that he would give him this message, “that the King had
+thought to do good to the Dutch, but now he sees their white mens faces,
+he should do good to the English.” This mulatto man (who is not in the
+service, but a free man of Elmina town) visited us afterwards, and his
+complaints and sentiments confirmed these reports in our favour.
+
+On Wednesday morning the King’s sisters (one the caboceer of the largest
+Ashantee town near the frontier) paid us a visit of ceremony, and
+retired to receive our’s in return; their manners were courteous and
+dignified, and they were handed with a surprising politeness by the
+captains in attendance.
+
+Mr. James being indisposed, we went by invitation to see the chief
+captain’s horse, when the King sent to us to say, he was walking that
+way, and requested us to get our chairs and wait, that he might bid us
+good morning. Directly he saw us he ordered the procession to alter its
+course, and stopped to take us by the hand. The procession consisted of
+about 2000 men, and was marked by all the suit and parade of royalty.
+The caboceers that day in attendance appeared as warriors, being
+divested of the rich silks of the preceding day; the executioner, the
+master of the bands, and the cook, were in the train, with suits which
+shewed the importance of their offices; the latter was preceded by a
+massy service of plate. Mr. Bowdich’s report will be more particular.
+
+The king sent his messenger this morning to repeat, that he thanked the
+King of England and the Governor very much for yesterday.
+
+The King was much pleased when Quashie, the Accra linguist (who is our
+only intelligible medium,) attempted to describe the use of the sextant;
+consequently, when Mr. Bowdich saw the King’s chief captain this
+morning, he offered to shew it to the King, with the camera obscura and
+telescope; the captain said it would please the King, and reported, that
+the King was much pleased with us, that he liked to be friends with the
+English, that he wished to make pleasure with us, and would send for us
+by and by to do so. We have been particular in these lesser
+circumstances, as they are the evidence of the King’s good feelings, and
+of the fair prospect of the consummation of the Mission, superior to all
+the prejudice and intrigue opposed to it.
+
+We were sent for to the King’s house; he was only attended by his privy
+counsellors; he expressed much delight at the camera obscura and
+instruments. He said, “the Englishmen knew more than Dutchmen or
+Danes—that black men knew nothing.” He then ordered our people to be
+dismissed, said he would look at the telescope in a larger place, that
+now he wished to talk with us. He again acknowledged the gratification
+of Tuesday, and desired Mr. James to explain to him two notes which he
+produced, written by the Governor in Chief at the request of Amooney,
+King of Annamaboe, and Adokoo, Chief of the Braffoes, making over to
+Saï, King of Ashantee, four ackies per month of their company’s pay, as
+a pledge of their allegiance and the termination of hostilities. The
+impression seemed instantly to have rooted itself in the King’s mind,
+that this was the Governor’s individual act, or that he had instanced
+it; his countenance changed, his counsellors became enraged, they were
+all impatience, we all anxiety. “Tell the white men,” said the King,
+“what they did yesterday made me much pleasure; I was glad we were to be
+friends; but to day I see they come to put shame upon my face; this
+breaks my heart too much. The English know, with my own powder, with my
+own shot, I drove the Fantees under their forts, I spread my sword over
+them, they were all killed, and their books from the fort are mine. I
+can do as much for the English as the Fantees, they know this well, they
+know I have only to send a captain to get all the heads of the Fantees.
+These white men cheat me, they think to make ’Shantee fool; they pretend
+to make friends with me, and they join with the Fantees to cheat me, to
+put shame upon my face; this makes the blood come from my heart.” This
+was reported by his linguist with a passion of gesture and utterance
+scarcely inferior to the King’s; the irritation spread throughout the
+circle, and swelled even to uproar.
+
+Thus much was inevitable; it was one of our anticipated difficulties; it
+was not a defeat, but a check; and here originates our charge against
+Mr. James, whom we declare to have been deficient in presence of mind,
+and not to have exerted those assurances and arguments which, with a
+considerate zeal, might at least have tended to ameliorate the unjust
+impression of the King, if not to have eradicated it. Mr. James said,
+“the Governor of Cape Coast had done it, that he knew nothing about it,
+that he was sent only to make the compliments to the King, that if the
+King liked to send a messenger with him, _he was going back and would
+tell the Governor all that the King said_.” This was all that was
+advanced. Was this enough for such a Mission to effect? the King
+repeated, “that he had expected we had _come_ to settle all palavers,
+and to _stay_ and make friends with him; but we came to make a fool of
+him.” The King asked him to tell him how much had been paid on these
+notes since his demand—that he knew white men had large books which told
+this. Mr. James said he had seen, but he could not recollect. Nothing
+could exceed the King’s indignation. “White men,” he exclaimed, “know
+how many months pass, how many years they live, and they know this, but
+they wont tell me; could not the other white men tell me.” Mr. James
+said, “we never looked in the books.”
+
+We were not so indiscreet as to expect or wish Mr. James to commit
+himself by _promising the satisfaction_ of the King’s wishes; but
+dwelling on the expense and importance of the Mission, on the
+expectations it had excited, and feeling the reason of the King’s
+argument, that its object should be to settle all palavers if we wished
+to be good friends, we conceived we but anticipated the feeling of the
+Council and of the Committee, in our anxiety for Mr. James to offer to
+communicate with the Governor by letter, and to wait his reply, with a
+confidence that his good feeling towards the King, his instructions from
+England, and his own disposition, would lead him to do every thing that
+was right to please him.
+
+Mr. James’s embarrassment had not only hurried him to extricate himself
+as an individual at the expense of his own dignity and intellect, but,
+which was worse, he had thrown the whole onus of this invidious
+transaction on the shoulders of the Governor in chief, against whom the
+King’s prejudice would be fatal to all, and whose interest in his honour
+was most flattering to the King, most auspicious to us, and the hopes of
+the Mission; not only the future prosperity, but the present security of
+the Settlements hung upon this, and the dagger was at this moment
+suspended from a cobweb. Mr. Bowdich urged this in the ear of Mr. James,
+urged the danger of leaving the King thus provoked, the fatal sacrifice
+of every object of the Mission, the discredit of the service, the
+disgrace of ourselves; Mr. James replied, “he knew the Governor’s
+private sentiments best.” The Moors of authority seized the moment, and
+zealously fanned the flame which encircled us; for the King looking in
+vain for those testimonies of British feeling which presence of mind
+would have imposed, exclaimed, as he turned his ear from the Moors, “I
+know the English come to spy the country; they come to cheat me; they
+want war, they want war.” Mr. James said “No! we want trade.” The King
+impatiently continued, “They join the Fantees to put shame upon my face;
+I will send a captain to-morrow to take these books, and bring me the
+heads of all the Fantees under the forts; the white men know I can do
+this, I have only to speak to my captains. The Dutch Governor does not
+cheat me; he does not shame me before the Fantees; he sends me the whole
+4 oz. a month. The Danes do not shame me, and the English 4 ackies a
+month is nothing to me; I can send a captain for all; they wish war.” He
+drew his beard into his mouth, bit it, and rushing abruptly from his
+seat exclaimed, “Shantee foo! Shantee foo! ah! ah!” then shaking his
+finger at us with the most angry aspect, would have burst from us with
+the exclamation, “If a black man had brought me this message, I would
+have had his head cut off before me.” Mr. James was silent.
+
+Gentlemen! imagine this awful moment, think what a fatal wound menaced
+the British interests; the most memorable exertion of the Committee, the
+pledge to the Government of their energies, of the zeal and capabilities
+of their officers, this important and expensive Mission falling to the
+ground, the sacrifice to supineness; the Settlements endangered instead
+of benefited, ourselves disgraced as officers and men, our key to the
+Interior shivered in the lock, and the territories of a great and
+comparatively tractable prince shut against us for ever. Could we be
+expected to look with indifference on these sacrifices, to risk nothing
+to avert them; to be auxiliary to the triumph of the intrigues and
+duplicity of our rival, which you know to have been exerted even to our
+destruction? Not a moment was to be lost; Mr. Bowdich stood before the
+King, and begged to be heard; his attention was arrested, the clamours
+of the council gradually abated: there was no interpreter but the one
+Mr. James brought from his own fort, and no alternative but to charge
+him promptly in the Governor’s name, before reflection could associate
+the wishes of his master, to speak truly. Mr. Bowdich continued standing
+before the King, and declared, “that the Governor wished to gain his
+friendship more than he could think that we were sent, not only to
+compliment him, but to write what he had to say to the Governor, and to
+wait to tell his answer to the King, and to do all he ordered; to settle
+all palavers, and to make Ashantees and English as one before we went
+back. That the Governor of Accra was sick, and in pain, and naturally
+wished to go back soon, but that himself, and the other two officers
+would stay with the King, until they made him sure that the Governor was
+a good friend to him. That we would rather get anger, and lose every
+thing ourselves, than let the King think the Governor sent us to put
+shame on him; that we would trust our lives to the King, until we had
+received the Governor’s letter, to make him think so; and to tell us to
+do all that was right, to make the Ashantees and English as one; and
+this would shew the King we did not come to spy the country, but to do
+good.” Mr. Bowdich then assured Mr. James that no outrage on his dignity
+was meditated; that we should continue to treat him as our superior
+officer, but that we felt the present act imperative, as our duty to the
+Service and our Country.
+
+Conviction flashed across the countenance of the interpreter, and he
+must have done Mr. Bowdich’s speech justice, for the cheerful aspect of
+the morning was resumed in every countenance. The applause was general;
+the King (who had again seated himself) held out his hand to Mr.
+Bowdich, and said, “he spoke well; what he spoke was good; he liked his
+palaver much.” The King’s chief linguist came forward and repeated his
+commendations with the most profound bows; every look was favourable;
+every where there was a hand extended. The King then instructed his
+linguist to report to Mr. Bowdich, personally, his arguments respecting
+the books. “That he had subdued the Fantees at the expense of much
+powder and shot; and that, in consequence, all their notes were his:
+that he had only to send a Captain to bring all their heads, that he did
+not want to do no good, and keep the books; he would do more for the
+forts than the Fantees could; that the Dutch Governor did not cheat him,
+but gave the four oz. a month. That he wished to be friends with the
+English; but that the 4 ackies a month put shame upon his face.” To this
+Mr. Bowdich replied, that he could only say he knew the Governor would
+do what was right; that he could not say more until he heard from him;
+but that he would write every word the King said; and he was sure the
+King would see that the Governor would do what was right. We shook hands
+and retired.
+
+All the Fantees being detained by the King, Mr. Bowdich and Mr.
+Hutchison went in the evening to the chief captain to request a
+messenger from the King to Cape Coast; about two hours afterwards he
+reported the King’s reply almost literally as follows: “The King wishes
+you good night; this is his palaver and yours, you must not speak it to
+any one else, the white men come to cheat him. The King recollects the
+face of the white man who spoke to him to day, he likes him much, he
+wishes he would talk the palaver; the King likes the other white men who
+stood up with him very much; he thinks the Governor of Accra wishes to
+put all the wrong on the Governor at Cape Coast, and not to tell any
+thing. The King thinks that not right, and he sees you do not like that.
+You must not speak this palaver again; ’tis the King’s palaver, and
+yours; the King’s captain will speak right to the King what you say, and
+you shall have a messenger.”
+
+We again affirm positively, that Mr. James made no offer to communicate
+with the Governor, but spoke only of his return, which we know he was
+meditating at the expense of the treaty, and every object of the
+Mission.
+
+Referring to our detail previous to the serious business of to day, you
+will find every circumstance to have been encouraging, and in our
+opinion, auspicious to the consummation of the Mission. Yet at that
+moment, unclouded as it was, we know Mr. James, by his own confession,
+to have written to head quarters with a gloom which existed only in his
+own imagination; this letter did not go from the detention of the Fantee
+bearers. We believe firmly, that had there been no interference on our
+part at the critical moment, Mr. James would have returned forthwith to
+Cape Coast, without effecting one object of the Mission, and that the
+future good of the Settlements would not only have been sacrificed, but
+their present security endangered.[5]
+
+Mr. James may write that Mr. Bowdich rose with great warmth: this we
+deny, and affirm that he displayed no more than a temperate zeal,
+considerate in its declarations, and respectful even in its dissent from
+Mr. James. The attention of the King was arrested by the novelty of a
+white man addressing him in the oratorical manner of his own country,
+but it was not until the linguist had conveyed the arguments, that the
+King held out his hand and the applause was general. Mere observations
+whispered in the ear of the linguists had lost all effect, and would not
+have answered the crisis.
+
+Mr. James has talked, and perhaps written much of the King’s suspicion,
+but we must contend that much of this is misnamed, and is no more than
+that deliberate policy which is a pledge of the durability of the
+confidence it precedes. Certainly there has been suspicion, but not more
+than must have been expected, not more than was commensurate with the
+important novelty which challenged it. It has been confessed here, that
+our political rival has exerted all his address to vitiate our objects
+in the eyes of the King, to convince him our ostensible views were
+pretences; our real ones dangerous and unjust; that we sought
+sovereignty, not commerce. The Moorish chiefs and dignitaries by whom
+the King is surrounded, whose influence is powerful, not only from their
+rank but their repute, naturally urged these arguments against
+unbelievers and competitors in trade, and their extensive intercourse
+has unfortunately possessed them of facts to the point of our ambition.
+Let these considerations be weighed, let our account of the King’s
+general deportment be again referred to; let us impress, that he has
+never once adverted to our destruction of his troops before Annamaboe,
+or of the critical situation of the fort; that he has evinced a
+disposition to a sound understanding, by veiling every irritating
+retrospect, by acknowledging every conciliatory circumstance.
+
+We do not presume to enter our opinions into the important question of
+the King’s demand of the whole of these two notes; we have advanced
+nothing but our assurance that the Governor will do what is right, and
+we have pledged our lives to convince the King of this; the importance
+of the Mission would have claimed a more valuable pledge.
+
+Whilst we impress the surprising power and influence of the King, we
+must do him the justice to acknowledge the convincing manner in which he
+urged the injuries and forbearance which preceded the Fantee war; his
+willingness to do every thing for the forts, and the conduct of the
+Dutch Governor in giving him the whole of the four ounces, were
+impressively and ingeniously associated.
+
+To wear away suspicion, Mr. Bowdich has ceased his enquiries and
+observations for a time. The resources for intelligence of the Interior
+are infinite. Timbuctoo has been visited by most of the sojourners, and
+a mass of valuable information may be gathered with caution.[6] The
+eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites will be regularly observed by Mr.
+Bowdich, and the mean longitude reported; the want of a good watch
+imposes considerable trouble.
+
+We have reflected on what we have done, and if we are so unfortunate as
+to be visited by your and the Committee’s displeasure, we shall console
+ourselves in our reluctant change of pursuit, by the satisfaction of our
+own minds of the honourable zeal of our motives.
+
+We most respectfully solicit our recall, as we cannot implicate our
+character and our responsibility with Mr. James’s judgment and
+perseverance in prosecuting the Mission, of the consummation of which we
+cannot agree to despond. We could not reconcile ourselves to the
+sacrifice of one of its important objects to our personal apprehensions
+(supported as we are by authority and circumstances) whilst the
+recollection of the illustrious energies of an enterprising traveller,
+forlorn and destitute, appeals to our spirit, and impresses the
+expectations of our country. We are, &c.
+
+                                         (Signed)
+
+                                                      T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+                                                      W. HUTCHISON.
+
+                                                      HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                              _Coomassie, May 24_, 1817.
+
+            TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
+
+   GENTLEMEN,
+
+THE act our former letter has avowed, and we would presume (after the
+most deliberate reflection) to add justified, has made it our duty to
+communicate (independently of Mr. James) the circumstances of the
+interval we may await your pleasure.
+
+If this duty had not been imposed on us by the act in question, the
+imminent fatality engendered in the debate of to day, and quickened by
+the ardor of the captains, would have demanded from our private as well
+as our public feelings, the most energetic representations (as auxiliary
+to those of Mr. James,) in impressing the calamities and the sacrifices
+which menace the Settlements and the Mission, to secure your serious
+deliberation, as the only preventive we can look to with confidence.
+
+Yesterday we were conducted some way without the town to an assembly of
+the Moorish caboceers and dignitaries, who exert every device against
+us. A chapter was read from the Koran, and we were ordered to swear by
+that book that we had no rogues palaver, and that we had put no poison
+in the King’s liquor. We severally refused to swear on the Koran, but
+offered to do so on our own prayer books. The King’s linguist mediated,
+and asked us if we would only strike that book three times, and then
+declare as much, because the Moors said, that book would kill us if we
+lied. We did this, and were about two hours afterwards ordered to sit
+without our house and receive the following present from the King:
+
+One bullock, 2 pigs, 8 oz. of gold, for Mr. James.
+
+One sheep, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, for each of us.
+
+To each of the numerous Fantee messengers, 10 ackies of gold.
+
+To our cooks, a large assortment of pots and country vessels, 100 large
+billets of wood, 100 yams, 100 bunches of plantains, four of sugar cane,
+four (24 gallon) pots of palm oil, three jars of palm wine.
+
+To the soldiers, 10 ackies of gold.
+
+To the Accra linguist, 10 ackies of gold.
+
+On Saturday we were summoned to the King, and waited as usual a
+considerable time in one of the outer courts of the palace, which is an
+immense building of a variety of oblong courts and regular squares, the
+former with arcades along the one side, some of round arches
+symmetrically turned, having a skeleton of bamboo; the entablatures
+exuberantly adorned with bold fan and trellis work of Egyptian
+character. They have a suit of rooms over them, with small windows of
+wooden lattice, of intricate but regular carved work, and some have
+frames cased with thin gold. The squares have a large apartment on each
+side, open in front, with two supporting pillars, which break the view
+and give it all the appearance of the proscenium or front of the stage
+of the older Italian theatres. They are lofty and regular, and the
+cornices of a very bold cane work in alto relievo. A drop curtain of
+curiously plaited cane is suspended in front, and in each we observed
+chairs and stools embossed with gold, and beds of silk, with scattered
+regalia. The most ornamented part of the palace is the residence of the
+women. We have passed through it once; the fronts of the apartments were
+closed (except two open door ways) by pannels of curious open carving,
+conveying a striking resemblance at first sight to an early Gothic
+screen; one was entirely closed and had two curious doors of a low arch,
+and strengthened or battened with wood-work, carved in high relief and
+painted red. Doors chancing to open as we passed, surprised us with a
+glimpse of large apartments in corners we could not have thought of, the
+most secret appeared the most adorned. In our daily course through the
+palace there is always a delay of some minutes, before the door of each
+of the several distinct squares is unlocked; within the inmost square is
+the council chamber.
+
+To day, after the delay of nearly an hour (which seems an indispensible
+ceremony) in the outer court, (where different dignitaries were passing
+to and fro with their insignia and retinues,) we were conducted to a
+large yard, where the King, encircled by a varied profusion of insignia,
+even more sumptuous than that we had seen before, sat at the end of two
+long files of counsellors, caboceers, and captains; they were seated
+under their umbrellas, composed of scarlet and yellow cloth, silks,
+shawls, cottons, and every glaring variety, with carved and golden
+pelicans, panthers, baboons, barrels, crescents, &c. on the top; the
+shape generally a dome. Distinct and pompous retinues were placed
+around, with gold canes, spangled elephants tails to brush off the
+flies, gold headed swords, and embossed muskets, and many splendid
+novelties too numerous but for a particular report, which will not be
+neglected. Each had the dignitaries of his own province or establishment
+to his right and left; and it was truly “Concilium in Concilio.” When we
+recollected the insignificant, though neat appearance of the few
+Ashantee towns we had passed through on the southern frontier, and even
+the extent and superior character of the capital, this magnificence
+seemed the effect of enchantment.
+
+We have intruded this sketch to impress the power and resources of the
+monarch we are to conciliate, and to anticipate in some degree the delay
+of Mr. Bowdich’s report, the transcription of which must yield to the
+present momentous communication.
+
+The King having decided a cause then in course, by which one of his
+captains was condemned to death for cowardice, ordered the question of
+the Annamaboe and Braffoe notes to be resumed. The several Fantee
+messengers were heard, the King of Annamaboe’s, Amooney’s, and
+Payntree’s (the interior caboceer) having joined us in the path. They
+appeared all equivocation and embarrassment, as Quashie’s
+interpretations confirmed; they were incompetent to answer the King’s
+linguists, and unable to use the few uninterrupted intervals which were
+allowed them to any purpose: it seems they would not acknowledge what
+the full amount of these notes was. Mr. James was asked, he said “white
+men’s heads were not like black men’s, and he could not recollect; but
+he thought 4 oz. and 2 oz.” He did not offer to learn from the Governor.
+Several impassioned harangues were made by the King’s linguists and
+counsellors: the King said, “he had 4 oz. from Elmina, and 2 oz. from
+English Accra; was it not putting shame upon him to send him 4 ackies
+from Cape Coast?” The Cape Coast messenger (Quashie Tom had absented
+himself) spoke again with great trepidation; the King could not conceal
+his emotions; his counsellors became clamorous; in an instant there was
+a flourish of all the horns; all the captains rose and seized their gold
+headed swords from their attendants; the head general snatched Mr.
+Tedlie’s from his scabbard; numerous canopies crowded one upon the other
+in the background, as if some considerable personages had arrived; there
+was nothing but commotion, wrath, and impatience. The captains, old and
+young, rushed before the King, and exclaimed, as Quashie reported, (who
+seems to have been afraid to tell us all, and was restrained by Quamina)
+“King, this shames you too much; you must let us go to night and kill
+all the Fantees, and burn all the towns under the forts.” They then
+presented themselves successively with their bands of music and
+retinues, and bowing before the King, received his foot upon their
+heads; each then directed his sword to the King (who held up the two
+first fingers of his right hand) and swore by the King’s head, that they
+would go with the army that night, and bring him the books, and the
+heads of all the Fantees. Each captain made the oath impressive in his
+own peculiar manner; some seriously, some by ridicule, at our expense,
+and that of the Fantees, pointing at our heads and ears, and
+endeavouring to intimidate us by the most insolent action and gesture as
+they held out their swords. The old general (Apokoo) who swore the last,
+after he had done so in the most expressive manner, threw Mr. Tedlie’s
+sword to him, over the heads of the people with contemptuous defiance.
+The number was so great, that we thought this awful ceremony would never
+finish.
+
+The King left the council a short time. In the interval, Quamina Bwa
+(our guide) told Accra Quashie to beg Mr. James to speak to the King
+when he came back, and try and appease him. Mr. James did so, but
+without the zeal, presence of mind, or argument the crisis demanded; it
+was not adequate even to ameliorate the King’s impression of the
+Governor and the English; it was no more than he said at first. The King
+took not the least notice of it, but declared angrily, that “if he did
+not see white men’s faces he would cut off the heads of every Fantee
+messenger on the spot.” Some sheep and gold were then brought forward
+and presented to the Captains, and the King rose abruptly from his
+chair. In this anxious moment we reflected that the mulatto of General
+Daendels had a long audience of the King just before we were received;
+no resource was to be left untried, that was manly and appropriate. Mr.
+Bowdich stepped before the King, and declared through the linguist,
+“that he wished to speak what he knew would make the King think that the
+Governor would do him right, and was his good friend.” The King said he
+would hear him speak in the house; we retired amidst the insults and
+menaces of the assembly.
+
+About two hours after, we were summoned, and, as is the etiquette, kept
+some time in waiting; in this interval, Mr. James said that our
+situation being very critical, it was a pity any difference should be
+observed, and that he thought it much better to be reconciled. Mr.
+Bowdich replied, that he could not think it possible our sentiments to
+be delivered to the King could differ at such a moment; that if they did
+we should assimilate ours to his as much as possible; but feeling the
+necessity for the greatest energy, for every address and argument for
+the conviction of the King, we must, for the public good, continue our
+assumption of the privilege of strengthening his declarations by our own
+until our recall, that we should be tender of his dignity, but that it
+being a difference on a point of public duty, we could not compound it,
+but would take the consequences. We were received; the King’s aspect was
+stern; he prefaced that “he did not wish to make war with the English;
+but that the 4 ackies a month shamed him too much; that the captains
+said to him, King! they cheat you, they put shame on you; we will go to
+night and bring you the heads of all the Fantees; that he was forced to
+say to them, I beg your pardon, but as I see the white men’s faces, I
+beg you to stay till to-morrow, when they can write to the Governor, and
+they will tell me themselves what he says; then if he does not send me
+Amooney’s and the Braffoes books, you shall go and kill all; that he had
+been obliged afterwards to dash them sheep and gold to make them stay
+until the white men got the Governor’s letter.” Mr. James assured the
+King “that the King of England and the Governor wished to be friends
+with him, to do all that was right; and he thought in his own mind that
+the Governor would give up the books.” The King took no notice, and
+continued serious: the moment called for the most energetic appeal to
+his reason, for every imposing argument and circumstance. There was a
+long pause; Mr. Bowdich rose, and charged Mr. James’s linguist to
+interpret truly. We took the precaution of making notes of this speech,
+feeling we should be particular where we pledge our honour, and
+volunteer our affidavit; it was as follows.
+
+“We swore yesterday as the King wished, to day we wish to swear as we
+should before our own King.” The King held up the two first fingers of
+his right hand as he did to the captains. “We swear” (presenting our
+swords and kissing the hilt, as the most imposing form that occurred to
+us) “by our God, and by our King, and we know the Governor of Accra will
+do the same, that we mean no bad to the King, that the King of England
+and the Company ordered the Governor to send us to make the Ashantees
+and English as one, that we are sure the Governor will do the King
+right, and that when we write him all the King says, we will write also
+that we think the King’s palaver good. We were sent to make the English
+and Ashantees as one, because our’s is the greatest white, your’s the
+greatest black nation, and when two great nations are friends, it makes
+good. I came out in the ship that was sent to tell the Governor this,
+and when he heard it, he said it gave him very much pleasure. The King
+of England and the Company thought the Governor should send to the King,
+to send some of his great men to Cape Coast, that we might be safe; but
+the Governor said, no! there was no occasion, and wrote to the King and
+the Company that he could trust all his officers in Ashantee, because
+the King’s honour made them safe, so we came without sending, because we
+knew the King was our true friend.
+
+“The Governor wished always to do the King right, but the Fantees never
+would tell him what was right, so he wrote to the King of England to
+send him some presents, that he might send his own officers to the King,
+and hear properly from the King’s own mouth what was right, because the
+Fantees never would tell him what was true, or what the King said. When
+the Governor reads what we shall write him, then he will know the truth
+for the first time. We shall stay to make the Ashantees and English one,
+and we pledge our lives to the King, that we speak a proper palaver, and
+when we speak true before God and the King we cannot fear.”
+
+There were repeated and general applauses as each sentence was
+interpreted; the King smiled, and desired his linguist to say to Mr.
+Bowdich as Quashie interpreted, “The King likes you, you speak a proper
+good palaver, you speak like a man, the King wishes to be a friend to
+white men; he thinks white men next to God.” Here the King raised his
+hands to heaven, and then covering his face, Quashie continued to
+interpret. “The King thanks God and his own fetish, that they have sent
+him white men to talk proper like this to him, and when you three white
+men go back to Cape Coast, and the Governor has bad put into his head,
+and think you did wrong, then if you want any thing to eat, send a
+messenger to him and he will send you plenty, for the King thinks you do
+right to God and him, and to your King, and to the Governor, and that
+you will get much honour when you go back; so the King thanks you, and
+says you speak well.” The King then asked Mr. James if he would swear on
+his sword like us, as we said; Mr. James did so. The King made an
+observation which it seems we cannot convey to you in its full force, or
+nearer than, that he liked the three white men because they always stood
+up to speak, and pushed forward to get what they wanted. Many auxiliary
+observations were afterwards offered casually by each of us, to confirm
+his change of sentiment. The Fantee linguists attempted to intimidate
+the linguist Quashie of Accra, but ineffectually; this man is invaluable
+from his influence and intelligence, he is our only safe medium, and
+interprets to the King anxiously and impressively.
+
+The King appeared much pleased, and made us a long speech. “The King
+says the Fantees are all rogues, the Governor knows that very well; the
+King thinks they always put bad palaver in the Governor’s head, he
+always tells his captains so; he is sure you come to do him right. The
+King wishes all good for the English; he swears by God and by the
+fetish, that if the English could know how the Fantees serve him, and
+all the bad they do, they would say his palaver was good. The King
+speaks true.” He then gave us an outline of the Fantee war, which must
+have convinced even the most prejudiced, of his injuries and
+forbearance, and their injustice and cruelty.
+
+The King says, “if the English trust to him, he will take more care of
+the forts than the Fantees can, he will do them great good, he does not
+want to do nothing. He will send the English his trade; he will send
+them good gold like what he wears himself, (shewing his armlets,) not
+bad gold like he knows the Fantees make, his people don’t know how to do
+that, the Fantees do it in their own houses before they give it to white
+men. If at any time the English in the forts are in want of any thing to
+eat, and send to him, he will send them every thing. To morrow is
+Sunday, but the next day is Monday, then he will give you a proper
+messenger.”
+
+We cannot do justice to the King’s sentiments either in detail or in
+expression; they were incredibly liberal, and would have ennobled the
+most civilized monarch; they seemed to break the spell which has shut
+the Interior. He begged us to drink with him, and Mr. James agreed in
+the toast of “May the Ashantees and English always be one;” it pleased
+him, and he begged us to touch his glass with ours. He then turned
+suddenly to the Fantee messengers (who were trembling in the rear) and
+said, “you made me very angry with you, and I am very angry with you,
+but never mind, come and drink some of my liquor.”
+
+Our critical situation demands the delivery of our sentiments on the
+subject of these notes; we do so with diffidence and respect. The
+services of the Braffoes, who hold the one, are merely nominal, their
+enmity nugatory from their political situation; the issuing of a fresh
+note to Amooney will be but a small addition to the expenditure, and
+even the expense of renewing them both cannot be weighed with the
+prevention of another Fantee war, of the destruction of a whole people,
+and the ruin of our Settlements in their defence, with the defeat of the
+intrigue and devices of our rival, and the acquisition of the confidence
+of a powerful and liberal monarch, whose influence may perfect the views
+of the British Government on the Interior. We hail the circumstances as
+auspicious, even in the present serious moment.
+
+Mr. James confesses that he desponds of consummating the objects of the
+Mission; we do not; we would be responsible for all of them, but we
+diffidently await your decision. We must claim this momentary calm of
+the King to ourselves, because it only affords us the credit, or rather
+the justification of having done our duty, which we are resolute in
+repeating Mr. James has not. What has been said through Mr. Bowdich is
+here reported faithfully; we have not committed the Governor or
+ourselves.
+
+Gentlemen, our situation is critical; if your answer determines the King
+on war, we are his prisoners; if, as we cannot doubt, the valour of our
+countrymen again retards his progress by defences as memorable as that
+of Annamaboe, we may be the victims of an irritated soldiery, though we
+feel it would be with the reluctance of a generous prince, who is not
+independent, but, unfortunately, controlled by a military despotism,
+which deposed his brother and invested him.
+
+But, Gentlemen, if in your better knowledge and reflection, you cannot
+consistently with your honour and your trust, meet the King’s demand,
+the history of our country has fortified our minds with the illustrious
+example of a Vansittart, and his colleagues, who were situated as we
+are, when the dawn of British intercourse in India was scarcely more
+advanced than its dawn in Africa now; and their last request to their
+Council is our present conclusion to you—“Do not put our lives in
+competition with the honour and interests of our country.”
+
+                                            We are, &c. &c.
+
+                                           (Signed)   T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+                                                      W. HUTCHISON.
+
+                                                      HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+
+                                            _Coomassie, May 28th_, 1817.
+
+                      TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.
+
+   GENTLEMEN,
+
+ON Sunday the King visited us at our quarters, and expressed much
+gratification with the trifles we presented him individually, and our
+solicitude in explaining some plates of botanical and natural history,
+which he sends for frequently.
+
+On Monday we had a public audience before the Captains, (whose ill-will
+has been acknowledged,) when two messengers were ordered to accompany
+one of ours to Cape Coast, with the letters to the Governor, and were
+impressively sworn; they received their instructions in a speech from
+the linguist of nearly two hours; it seemed to be intended to conciliate
+the Captains at the same time.
+
+In the afternoon the King sent for us again, and said he wished to
+dictate a letter to the Governor. Mr. James wrote the sense of the
+King’s expressions, but was obliged to leave off from indisposition. The
+King would not trust it out of his hands. Yesterday evening it was
+concluded, when the King proposed to make his mark, and insisted on
+repeating it in the direction. We have taken the pains to preserve this
+curious letter verbatim, which from its length, and our constant
+interruption, we are compelled to reserve with many curious particulars
+for the General Report.
+
+We are anxiously waiting a summons to hand our dispatches to the
+messenger. Nine days are allowed for the journey to Cape Coast, and nine
+for the return. The whole time has been gradually extended, by intreaty
+of the Fantee messengers, from eighteen to thirty days.
+
+Mr. Hutchison is ill with a bilious attack, and several of the people
+with a fever and dysentery. The heat is very powerful here, but Mr.
+Bowdich and Mr. Tedlie continue in excellent health.
+
+We would recommend the sending up a common green silk umbrella, and a
+Company’s dirk, as presents to the King’s favourite nephew.
+
+Our confinement to the house is rather irksome; we are not allowed to
+walk in the town without Captains accompanying us.
+
+12 o’clock. The King sent to say Mr. Bowdich must come to the palace,
+and mount the chief captain’s horse, and shew him how Englishmen ride.
+Mr. Bowdich went, and by the King’s desire gallopped up and down the
+opposite hill. The King expressed great anxiety when the horse was made
+to play his tricks; and when Mr. Bowdich persevered, and made him gallop
+back and alighted, the King sent him word that “he rode like a proper
+man, that he stayed on the horse well, and made him do proper.”
+
+4 o’clock. The King sent for us at two, to make some additions to the
+letter, and to seal it in his presence. A long prayer was uttered by a
+Moor after the sealing of the letter, and we were called back to be
+again impressed with the example and justice of the Dutch as regards the
+books. Mr. Hutchison’s illness prevented his attendance to day. The
+messengers are to go to night.
+
+May 29th, 3 p.m. The messengers and the Fantee bearers, have been
+delayed in consequence of the death of a person of rank, and their
+assistance in the custom. I am now assured that they will leave
+Coomassie at 4 o’clock.
+
+In reply to the request we urged to Mr. James, that he would dismiss our
+hammock men, as they had been of so little service to us in coming up,
+and were a considerable expense; he impressed that it would be contrary
+to your instructions.
+
+Only one message from the King to day, and that a private one to Mr.
+Bowdich, with permission for him to ride: he went all round the town,
+which he considers to be about three miles in circumference: the King
+afterwards sent him word, that to-morrow he must ride on a cloth only,
+as he had heard the English did.
+
+                                        We are, &c. &c.
+
+                                               (Signed)   T. E. BOWDICH.
+
+                                                          H. TEDLIE.
+
+P.S. Mr. James had a severe relapse of fever last night, and was very
+ill this morning; at 10 o’clock a.m. he had the cold bath, and some
+febrifuge medicine. Mr. Hutchison is rather better, the soldiers also,
+but the hammock men continue much the same.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, to_ JOHN
+HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Settlements on
+the Gold Coast of Africa._
+
+THE King sends his compliments to the Governor, he thanks the King of
+England and him very much for the presents sent to him, he thinks them
+very handsome. The King’s sisters and all his friends have seen them,
+and think them very handsome, and thank him. The King thanks his God and
+his fetish that he made the Governor send the white men’s faces for him
+to see, like he does now; he likes the English very much, and the
+Governor all the same as his brother.
+
+The King of England has made war against all the other white people a
+long time, and killed all the people all about, and taken all the towns,
+French, Dutch, and Danish, all the towns, all about. The King of
+Ashantee has made war against all the people of the water side, and all
+the black men all about, and taken all their towns.
+
+When the King of England takes a French town, he says, “come, all this
+is mine, bring all your books, and give me all your pay,” and if they
+don’t do it, does the Governor think the King of England likes it?[7] So
+the King has beat the Fantees now two times, and taken all their towns,
+and they send and say to him, you are a great King, we want to serve
+you; but he says, Hah! you want to serve me, then bring all your books,
+what you get from the forts, and then they send him four ackies, this
+vexes him too much.
+
+The first time he made war against the Fantees, two great men in Assin
+quarrelled, so half the people came to Ashantee, half went to Fantee.
+The King said, what is the reason of this, so he sent his gold swords
+and canes to know why they did so, and the Fantees killed his messengers
+and took all their gold.[8] After they fought with the Elminas and
+Accras, the Fantees sent word to the King they would serve him; the King
+sent word to the Assins, if it is true that the Fantees want to serve
+me, let me hear; after that they sent to say yes! they tired of
+fighting, and wanted to serve him, he said, well, give me some gold,
+what you get from the books, and then you shall hear what palaver I have
+got in my head, and we can be friends; then he sent some messengers, and
+after they waited more than two years, the Fantees sent word back, no!
+we don’t want to serve the King, but only to make the path open and get
+good trade: this vexed the King too much.
+
+Then the Fantees sent to a strong man, Cudjoe Coomah, and said, “come,
+let us put our heads together against the King;” after that, when the
+King heard this, he sent one, not a great man, but his own slave, and
+said, well you will do, go kill all the people, all the Aquapims, and
+Akims, and all; and so he killed all, and after he killed all he came
+and told him.
+
+When he sent against Akim, the people in Akim sent word, that they told
+their head men not to vex the King, but they would not mind them, so he
+killed the head people, and the others begged his pardon.
+
+When the King went to fight with the Fantees they sent this saucy
+word—we will kill you and your people, and stand on you; then they did
+not kill one Ashantee captain, but the King killed all the Fantee
+captains and people. They do not stand on him.
+
+That time, after the King fought, all the Fantees sent word, well we
+will serve you, but you must not send more harm to hurt us, we don’t
+want to fight more, but to make good friends with you. Then the King
+said, what caboceer lives at Cape Coast and Annamaboe, what books they
+get from the forts, let them send all, and then we can be friends. And
+the King sent word too, if my messengers go to Cape Coast fort, and if
+they bring pots of gold, and casks of goods, then I can’t take that,
+_but I must have the books_.
+
+After that the King sent word to the Governor of Cape Coast and the
+Governor of Annamaboe, well! you know I have killed all the Fantees, and
+I must have Adocoo’s and Amooney’s books, and I can make friends with
+you, good brother and good heart; but now they send four ackies, that is
+what makes the King’s heart break out when he looks on the book and
+thinks of four ackies, and his captains swear that the Fantees are
+rogues and want to cheat him. When the white men see the Fantees do
+this, and the English officers bring him this four ackies, it makes him
+get up very angry, but he has no palaver with white men.
+
+All Fantee is his, all the black mans country is his; he hears that
+white men bring all the things that come here; he wonders they do not
+fight with the Fantees, for he knows they cheat them. Now he sees white
+men, and he thanks God and his fetish for it.
+
+When the English made Apollonia fort he fought with the Aowins, the
+masters of that country, and killed them; then he said to the caboceer,
+I have killed all your people, your book is mine; the caboceer said,
+true! so long as you take my town, the book belongs to you.
+
+He went to Dankara and fought, and killed the people, then he said; give
+me the book you get from Elmina, so they did, and now Elmina belongs to
+him.[9]
+
+The English fort at Accra gave a book to an Akim caboceer, called
+Aboigin Adjumawcon. The King killed him and took the book. The Dutch
+fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Curry Curry Apam. The Danish
+fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Arrawa Akim; the King killed
+all and took their books.
+
+This King, Saï, is young on the stool, but he keeps always in his head
+what old men say, for it is good, and his great men and linguists tell
+it him every morning. The King of England makes three great men, and
+sends one to Cape Coast, one to Annamaboe, and one to Accra; Cape Coast
+is the same as England. The King gets two ounces from Accra every moon,
+and the English wish to give him only four ackies for the big fort at
+Cape Coast, and the same for Annamboe; do white men think this proper?
+
+When the King killed the Dankara caboceer and got two ounces from
+Elmina, the Dutch Governor said, this is a proper King, we shall not
+play with him, and made the book four ounces. The King has killed all
+the people, and all the forts are his; he sent his captains to see white
+men, now he sees them, and thanks God and his fetish. If the path was
+good when the captains went, the King would have gone under the forts
+and seen all the white men. The Ashantees take good gold to Cape Coast,
+but the Fantees mix it; he sent some of his captains like slaves to see,
+and they saw it; ten handkerchiefs are cut to eight, water is put to
+rum, and charcoal to powder, even for the King; they cheat him, but he
+thinks the white men give all those things proper to the Fantees.
+
+The King knows the King of England is his good friend, for he has sent
+him handsome dashes; he knows his officers are his good friends, for
+they come to see him. The King wishes the Governor to send to Elmina to
+see what is paid him there, and to write the King of England how much,
+as the English say their nation passes the Dutch; he will see by the
+books given him by both forts. If the King of England does not like
+that, he may send him himself what he pleases, and then Saï can take it.
+
+He thanks the King and Governor for sending four white men to see him.
+The old King wished to see some of them, but the Fantees stop it. He is
+but a young man and sees them, and so again he thanks God and his
+fetish.
+
+Dictated in the presence of,
+
+    T. EDWARD BOWDICH,
+
+    WILLIAM HUTCHISON,
+
+    HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+May 30. Apokoo sent us a present of 30 ackies of gold and some fruits.
+
+June 1. The King sent to desire Mr. Tedlie to bring his instruments and
+medicines, and explain their uses to him; he was shrewdly inquisitive,
+and presented Mr. Tedlie with 6 ackies of gold in approbation of his
+intelligence.
+
+June 4. The King paid us a visit at our quarters, and expressed himself
+highly gratified with some botanical engravings: he said white men tried
+to know so much they would spoil their heads by and by. We were allowed
+to take a walk in the town to day, in charge of two captains. We had
+scarcely passed the palace when two men were decapitated for cowardice:
+three others had been executed during the night.
+
+June 5. Bakkee, to whom our house formerly belonged, had been sent the
+second in command of the army with which Appia Danqua invaded Fantee the
+second time, in pursuit of the Akim and Aquapim revolters. Wearied of
+the procrastination and labours of the campaign, he inconsiderately
+observed to a public messenger, that, as the King had declared when he
+invaded Fantee in person, that he would have the head of every Fantee
+caboceer, and yet returned with a part only; so he could not be expected
+to forego the enjoyment of the riches and luxuries of his home, until
+every revolter was killed. On his return to the capital without leave,
+he was charged with this, and not denying it, was stripped of all his
+property, and hung himself. Aboidwee our present house master was raised
+to Bakkee’s stool, or seat in council, to which 1700 retainers are
+attached.
+
+June 9. The King sent us two sheep and a large quantity of fruit; his
+nephew also sent us a sheep.
+
+June 11. We were invited to attend the King’s levee, on the Adaï custom,
+and were presented with a flask of rum and a fat sheep. This walk was a
+great relief, for the longest court in our quarters was not more than 14
+feet.
+
+June 12. The King sent us a large Hio sheep to look at; it measured 4½
+feet from the head to the insertion of the tail, which was two feet
+long, its height was three feet, and it was covered with coarse shaggy
+hair.
+
+June 13. The King sent for us late at night; he assured us he wished to
+think well of the English; and that if Cape Coast was not so far off, he
+should send messengers daily to wish the Governor good morning, but the
+Crambos (Moors) and his great men thought we came to do bad, and spy the
+country; so he sent for us when it was dark, that they might not know
+it. He had only two persons with him. Mr. James was too ill to attend.
+
+17. The King sent a present to our quarters of
+
+     2 ounces of gold to the officers.
+
+    20 ackies to our people.
+
+    10 ackies to our linguists.
+
+     1 hog, 1 sheep, and a profusion of plantains and oranges.
+
+This was his reproof of a disgraceful attempt to borrow money of him for
+our subsistence; of which Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, had
+publicly disclaimed our knowledge and sanction. Nothing could be more
+injurious to our dignity.
+
+18th. Mr. Tedlie having ventured to walk a few yards without the town,
+was arrested by a captain, with about 100 followers, who detained him in
+his house whilst a message was sent to the King, who desiring Mr. Tedlie
+to be brought before him, enquired if he had his small box (compass) in
+his pocket, and finding he had not, affected to reprove the captain
+severely, for supposing either of us could wish to run away, whilst the
+King was our friend. After this we seldom went out.
+
+21st. Bundahenna, one of the King’s uncles, begged him for permission to
+go and make custom for some relatives whom he had lost in the last
+Fantee war, as he feared their spirits were beginning to trouble him.
+The King subscribed four ounces of gold, two ankers of rum, one barrel
+of powder, and four human victims for sacrifice, towards this custom. We
+received a present of 11 ackies of gold from Quatchie Quofies household.
+
+26th. We received a present from a captain called Oöossa Cudjo, of 10
+ackies of gold, and another from Jessinting, of the same quantity, a
+sheep and some plantains.
+
+28th. The King sent us a large quantity of plantains and oranges.
+Apokoo, one of the four greatest men in the kingdom, hearing his
+mother’s sister was dead, killed a slave before his house, and proceeded
+to her croom to sacrifice many more, and celebrate her funeral custom;
+but, when he found, on opening her boxes, that the old woman from her
+dislike of him, had thrown almost all her rock gold into the river, and
+that he should only inherit a number of hungry slaves, he sacrificed but
+one more victim, and made but a very mean custom.
+
+29th. Attended the King’s levee, and were presented with a flask of rum,
+and a fat sheep. The King sent us word that he would be glad to let us
+walk out, but there were many bad people who would kill us if they
+could. We were gratified by an invitation to visit Odumata, one of the
+four aristocrats; he begged us to drink palm wine with him, and ordered
+a large jar of it to be sent to our servants. He told us he was the
+first captain who fought with the English at Annamaboe; and that if the
+books were not sent, he would be the first to do so again; he asked us
+if we would take him to England to see our King, and engage to bring him
+back again; for, having sold an immense number of captives as slaves, he
+expected some of them might recognise him, and call out to the King of
+England to stop him, because he had sent them out of their own country.
+
+July 2. A girl was beheaded for insolence to one of the King’s sons, and
+a man for transgressing the law by picking up gold which he had dropped
+in the public market place, where all that falls is allowed to
+accumulate until the soil is washed on state emergencies.
+
+3rd. This morning one of the King’s sons (about 10 years of age) shot
+himself: his funeral custom was celebrated in the afternoon, and a smart
+fire of musquetry was kept up until sun-set, amidst dancing, singing,
+and revelry; two men and one girl were sacrificed, and their trunks and
+heads were left in the market place till dark. The mother of this child,
+a favourite wife of the King’s, having added crime to a continued
+perversity of conduct, had been put to death; the boy was banished the
+King’s presence from that time. This morning he had stolen into the
+palace for the first time, and the King desiring him to be removed,
+observing that he had, doubtless, as bad a head towards him as his
+mother had shewn; he replied, that if he could not be allowed to come
+and look at his father, he had better die; half an hour afterwards he
+destroyed himself privately, by directing a blunderbuss into his mouth,
+and discharging it with his foot. The keeper of the royal cemetry was
+this day imprisoned. His wife was soon after charged by the council with
+making fetish to turn the King’s head; she replied that it meant no more
+than to make the King think better of her husband; but they insisted
+that she invoked the Fetish to make the King mad, and she was executed.
+
+5th. A loud shout from our people announced the return of the messengers
+from Cape Coast Castle, after an absence of thirty-eight days.
+
+
+[Footnote 5: “The government of the country is a military despotism, and
+I have this day received private information, that it is already
+settled, that if the refusal of the notes occasions a war, and any one
+is hurt or killed by the forts, our lives will be the forfeit.” Mr.
+James’s Dispatch.]
+
+[Footnote 6: “In the present suspicious state of the King’s mind
+respecting us, I fear it would be impolitic to make the enquiries you
+ordered in your instructions. I think it will be more prudent to leave
+them to time. Mr. H. if he remains, will be able, from time to time, to
+obtain such information as they can give, without creating that
+suspicion which would certainly arise from any questions put at the
+present moment. I have kept Mr. H’s hammock men, as it is yet uncertain
+whether he will remain.” Mr. James’s Dispatch.]
+
+[Footnote 7: This is an extraordinary impression, that all the towns in
+Europe are supported like those under the forts, holding notes from
+their governments for annual stipends.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Here the King’s linguist ceased, and by his desire
+requested us to repeat all the King had said, he was much pleased with
+our accuracy, and begged us to take some refreshment, (spirits and palm
+wine were introduced in silver bowls) fearing he had kept us too long
+without eating, and, would continue the letter to-morrow. He locked up
+what had been written, and heard it read again the next day, before his
+linguists continued.]
+
+[Footnote 9: The King always spoke of the acts of all his ancestors as
+his own.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+   _Proceedings and Incidents until the Third Dispatch to Cape Coast
+                                Castle._
+
+
+                                     _Cape Coast Castle, June 21_, 1817.
+
+   SIR,
+
+MR. JAMES being ordered to return here as soon as possible, will deliver
+you his instructions, and you will immediately on receipt of this
+letter, take upon yourself the management of the Mission. I have every
+reliance on your prudence and discretion, and still firmly hope that the
+termination of the Embassy will be attended with success, and that the
+sanguine expectations which we have entertained as to the result of it,
+will not be disappointed.
+
+The King has received a very erroneous impression of the affair of the
+Fantee notes, which I regret to hear was the cause of a serious
+disturbance: I am glad however to find that by your prompt mode of
+conduct, you were in some measure able to repress the unfavourable bias
+it seems to have occasioned, and I have no doubt that an explanation of
+the circumstance will effectually remove any remaining prejudice. This
+transaction was entirely between the Ashantee messengers and Fantees,
+negociated, and determined on by them at Abrah, and afterwards ratified
+here by their mutual consent. Hearing that messengers from the King were
+at Abrah, I invited them down, wishing through their medium to
+communicate with him concerning the conveyance of the presents I had
+received from the Committee. After some delay they arrived, and on their
+first interview made known their errand to the Fantees, and the manner
+it had been arranged, applying at the same time for two notes to be made
+out in favour of Zey, at four ackies each, which were to be deducted
+from the notes of Amooney and Aduecoe; not being perfectly satisfied
+from the representation of these people as to the justness of the claim,
+I delayed complying until it was stated to be a pledge of good faith and
+allegiance on the part of the Fantees, and a confirmation of the final
+adjustment of all differences between the two parties, and as such they
+were given them. The nature of the claim having been fully and
+satisfactorily explained, I have no hesitation in complying with the
+wishes of the King; and this I do the more readily, knowing that by the
+extension of his authority, good order and subjection will be better
+preserved.
+
+This will, I hope, evince to the King my friendly intention towards him;
+and you will impress upon his mind, that it is my earnest desire to
+cultivate his friendship, the establishment of which will be mutually
+beneficial; and in order that the union between us may be more closely
+cemented, I am particularly desirous that Mr. Hutchison be permitted to
+reside at Ashantee, which will be the means of preventing any
+interruption to the good understanding which, before you leave, will, I
+hope, be firmly settled.
+
+I have no objection to you returning by way of Warsaw, but your
+undertaking the journey on foot, I am apprehensive, you will find too
+fatiguing. The hammock-men are engaged for the trip, therefore the only
+additional expense will be their subsistence; I however leave it to you
+to dismiss them or not.
+
+The Accra linguist being so very useful, and the only man who will
+interpret faithfully, you will retain him until you return.
+
+I have sent you, by the King’s messenger, 40 oz. of gold to defray your
+expenses; should any loan have been granted by the King, you will of
+course repay him.
+
+I send you a piece of muslin and 10 danes for presents to the Moors,
+whose friendship it will be highly necessary to conciliate. I have also
+at your request, sent a dirk and umbrella, intended for the King’s chief
+captain and his favourite nephew.
+
+Quamina, the Ashantee captain at Abrah, has refused to allow any letters
+to pass that place which may be given in charge to Ashantee traders, on
+the plea that by so doing he would incur the displeasure of the King;
+who, he says, expects that especial messengers will be engaged here to
+proceed with all letters to the capital. Not long ago a trader who had
+received a letter, was detained by him at Abrah, and the letter
+returned. The expense of employing messengers here on every occasion
+would be material, which is quite unnecessary, as opportunities almost
+daily occur for forwarding letters by the different traders going from
+hence. I therefore hope your representation of this affair to the King,
+will induce him to countermand his orders to Quamina, if any such have
+been given him.
+
+                                           I am, Sir,
+
+                                      your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                        JOHN HOPE SMITH.
+
+_To Thomas Edward Bowdich, Esq._
+
+JOHN HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Forts and
+Settlements on the Gold Coast of Africa, to_ SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King
+of Ashantee._
+
+   SIR,
+
+I HAVE received your letter of the 26th ult. and am happy to find that
+you are sincerely desirous of cultivating the friendship of the British
+nation. Both inclination and duty urge me to reciprocate the sentiments
+expressed by you, and I shall be anxious at all times to promote the
+harmony and good understanding which, I hope, will now be established
+between us respectively, and which cannot fail to be mutually
+advantageous.
+
+I regret to find there has been so much trouble about the Fantee notes,
+and I am sorry you did not apply to me in the first instance, as the
+affair should have been settled immediately to your satisfaction; but I
+knew not of it, except from the Fantees having begged me to take four
+ackies per month from each note, which they said they had agreed for
+with your messengers at Abrah.
+
+I observe by the many instances quoted in your letter, that the notes of
+conquered countries have been transferred to your ancestors, therefore
+it shall be the same on the present occasion. Herewith I send you two
+notes, one for two oz. per month, formerly held by Amooney, also one
+from the caboceer at Abrah for two oz, the latter was only 12 ackies per
+month, and I have added 1 oz. 4 to it. These, and the notes you hold
+from Accra, will make your Company’s pay six oz. per month, which shall
+be regularly paid at the Castle.
+
+I hope my ready compliance with your wishes will convince you of the
+good will of the British nation, but I have every reason to believe that
+attempts have been made to prejudice you against it, however your own
+good understanding will readily suggest to you that the only motive is
+jealousy in trade.
+
+The conduct of the English you will always find very different; they
+enter into fair competition with the other European residents here, but
+they never, by clandestine means or false assertions, endeavour to
+injure their character with the natives of this country.
+
+I have learned with regret that the people of Elmina are using their
+influence to induce you to make a palaver with the Commendas. They are a
+mere handful of people, extremely poor and not worth your notice;
+besides they are under my protection, therefore I hope you will not
+think further of the affair, and I shall consider your compliance in
+this instance, as the greatest possible proof of the sincerity of your
+intentions towards the English.
+
+I wish you health and happiness, and I hope you will reign many years,
+enjoying the love of your subjects, and the respect of all the Europeans
+resident in this country.
+
+                                       I am, Sir,
+
+                                           your faithful friend,
+
+                                               (Signed)    J. H. SMITH.
+
+_Cape Coast Castle, 20th June_, 1817.
+
+P.S. The abolition of the slave trade was an act of the King and the
+Parliament in England, in which the government in this country had no
+concern.
+
+
+                                              _Coomassie, July 9_, 1817.
+
+        TO JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE messengers returned on Saturday the 5th instant.
+
+To be confirmed by your approbation, in the opinion that my zeal for the
+public good had not exceeded my duty, is a most flattering satisfaction.
+The appointment you have conferred on me, is an acknowledgment so far
+transcending my conduct, that it must stimulate every ability to exert
+itself for the success of the Mission, to justify such an honourable
+distinction.
+
+The box containing the letters was opened in the King’s presence, but
+being engaged in a custom on the death of a son, he deferred the reading
+of your letter, retaining it with the notes. His acknowledgments of your
+justice were associated with the declaration, that, although you had
+sent him the notes, still, if I could not fortify him with the prices of
+the various articles to be received in payment, you would have it in
+your power (though he did not suspect you) to reduce the intrinsic of
+the whole, to that of the moiety rejected. The proposition of the same
+prices as those attached to the Accra note, was annihilated by the
+argument, that Accra was a small fort, and not like Cape Coast or
+_Elmina_. So much stress was laid on the instance of the latter, that I
+felt called upon to declare, as the only striking conviction, that you
+did not wish, in the payment of these notes, to treat the King like a
+trader, and therefore would not allow the Elmina Governor to act more
+liberally in prices than yourself: the conviction was entire and
+instantaneous.
+
+The next audience did not take place until Monday, Mr. James being
+present. I did justice to the utmost of my ability to your impressive
+letter; the effect was honourable to you, and encouraging to myself; the
+King ordered me to take his hand, in his sensibility to the strong
+appeal of the several paragraphs, and again at the conclusion, as a
+pledge of his cordial satisfaction of the whole; his linguist followed
+his example, (as did the whole council) when he laid his fore-finger on
+his head and breast, as the invocation to Heaven for the vouchsafement
+of your several good wishes, as I concluded with them. I was reluctantly
+compelled to yield a minor object to a custom consecrated by their
+constitution. The laws of the three first Kings (who were brothers, and
+cotemporary leaders of the colony, whose conquests established the
+Empire) are sacred; and it was a law of Saï Cudjo, the younger brother,
+and the grandfather of the present King, which granted to particular
+captains the honourable patent of receiving the pay of small forts,
+distinctly, each being responsible for his separate duties to his
+settlement. If this law were not inviolable, the King pleads, that it
+would be an invidious act, and unjust to the merits of the Captain of
+English Accra, (Asquah Amanquah) to remove the payment of the Accra note
+to Cape Coast; but as the other appointments originate in him, he will
+respect your wish, by constituting one captain to receive both the Abra
+and Annamaboe notes at Cape Coast. He enquired if it was your wish that
+no Ashantee trader should go to Accra? I replied no! you were only
+desirous to induce as many as possible to come to Cape Coast.
+
+The Cape Coast linguists, and our guide, Quamina Bwa, confirmed your
+report of the conduct of Quamina Bootaqua, the captain now at Payntree,
+in the negociation of the notes; it excited the greatest surprise and
+indignation; his interception of letters was disclaimed, and will be
+done away with. I submitted to the King, on retiring, that in my next
+audience, I should be desirous of declaring the purport of the official
+instructions transferred to me (which had not been yet avowed) with
+other credentials, explanatory and impressive of the good wishes and
+intentions of the Government, the Committee, and yourself. I was
+favoured with my first separate audience at 8 o’clock this morning. I
+first impressed from the dispatches of the Committee, every motive and
+sentiment that was convicting or imposing; urging your waving the
+hostages and escort, as the demonstration of your confidence in the
+King’s honour and friendship; and insinuating that the establishment of
+a school at Cape Coast, was solely in anticipation of the King’s
+committing some of his children to your care for education, as the
+foundation of the pre-eminence of Europeans. I then passed to your
+instructions, rendering them in a manner as persuasive and auspicious as
+possible; associating in favour of the Residency, the commanding motive
+of facilitating political interests, with the imposing one of securing
+justice to the Ashantee traders. Lastly, I introduced the Treaty, as a
+pledge from the King to give force to your application to the Government
+at home, for the increase of his pay; for, as he continued to dwell on
+the grant of 4 ounces from Elmina, I availed myself of this liberty of
+my instructions, to divert the impression, and to propitiate his
+ratification of the Treaty. I considered the pretence of your being
+obliged to address the British Government on the subject, as
+preservative of the opportunity of judging of the sincerity of his
+professions, and of the duration of the union.
+
+I think I may pledge myself for three great pillars of our commercial
+intercourse, by the accomplishment of the Residency, the Education, and
+the Treaty.
+
+I reconcile myself to fresh difficulties by the reflection that they are
+inseparable from all great political views; and that without them, I
+should be deprived of the satisfaction of proving myself, in a small
+degree, worthy this confidence and distinction, by patience and
+perseverance. A letter accompanies this, written in the King’s presence,
+on the subject of the Commenda palaver, which wears so decided an
+aspect, that whilst I pledge all my energy and address, and look with
+hope to the aid of your suggestions, I must candidly confess, I do not
+think it can be compounded in any thing like a reasonable way. I
+appealed to the King’s magnanimity, and depicted the poverty of the
+Commendas, but every appeal and every argument was ineffectual; their
+aggravated offences admit of no amelioration of the King’s feelings. I
+depreciated the plea of General Daendels’ repeated messages, by
+submitting that they were addressed to the Town, and not to the Fort,
+and I succeeded in retiring him from the negociation, as an interference
+inconsistent with your dignity, and the present good understanding.
+
+I did not discourage the King’s great anxiety for clothes of the English
+costume, considering that his example would be more auspicious than any
+thing else, to the introduction of these manufactures. I have
+distributed the muslins, &c. as politically as possible, including with
+the Moors of repute, the aristocracy, or four captains controuling the
+King, his four linguists, his brother and successor, our housemaster,
+and some other captains of superior influence. I made a point of
+conciliating a Moor of influence, about to return through Sallagha or
+Sarem (the capital of the Inta country, and the grand emporium of the
+merchandize of the interior) to Houssa, feeling the policy of
+communicating every favourable impression to the neighbouring kingdoms.
+In my second interview I obtained permission from the King to dismiss
+the remaining Fantees. It was one of the first considerations, for the
+sake of our dignity, to avoid the humiliating circumstances and
+impressions, which have ensued from the want of foresight, and the
+consequent inability to meet the demands of our people. Their conduct
+since has been so mutinous and insulting, with the exception of six,
+that to preserve the impression of the firmness of an English officer, I
+secured one who encouraged the others, by persisting in some insulting
+indecencies, in contempt of my remonstrances, and ordered him to be
+punished.
+
+The others (with the above exception) having refused in a body,
+aggravating their disobedience with the grossest insolence, to go with a
+cane to Payntree, and bring the biscuit which had been deserted there; I
+have disclaimed them, and left them to act for themselves, only securing
+them the King’s permission to depart.
+
+I shall request the King to furnish me with his own people, on the
+conclusion of the business of the Embassy. Such an arrangement favours
+œconomy, and impresses the confidence I affect.
+
+The frequent presents had enabled me to present the Fantees with large
+supplies of plantains and hogs; and on paying them their arrears, which
+I did the same evening I received your gold, I gave them a bullock which
+fell to my share in a division with Mr. James.
+
+You will see by the balance of the annexed account, that (preserving our
+dignity) every expense should be avoided that can be; and I assure you,
+that in making the present arrangement for bearers for our baggage only,
+I do not disregard your solicitude for our health. I shall order one
+Cape Coast messenger to attend Mr. James, and also the bearers left
+behind, being sufficiently recovered.
+
+The statistical and scientific desiderata so impressively recommended to
+my attention, are daily realising beyond my expectations. Mr. Tedlie has
+had a severe attack of fever and dysentery, but is convalescent: Mr.
+Hutchison and myself are in perfect health.
+
+                                 I am, with respect, Sir,
+
+                                        Your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                          T. E. BOWDICH.
+
+SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, to_ JOHN
+HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Settlements on
+the Gold Coast of Africa._
+
+THE Commenda palaver now rests with you and the King of Ashantee only,
+the Dutch Governor has no more to do with it, so the King recals the
+captain sent to him, and sends a proper messenger to treat with you
+individually.
+
+The conduct and messages of the Commendas have been so irritating and
+insolent to the King, that nothing but believing you to be his good
+friend, could induce him to treat at all with them, or do any thing but
+kill them; but for your sake, he will settle the palaver, and you must
+help him properly.
+
+The King wants to begin the union without any palaver remaining, and as
+this Commenda palaver is the only one, it must be settled, and if you do
+this, he will take care the Elminas shall not do wrong to the Fantees,
+but he will help you in all your palavers.
+
+The Elminas are always sending him messages about the insulting conduct
+and expressions of the Commendas towards him, and this is very vexatious
+to him, so he wishes to put an end to it with your help.
+
+Adoo Bradie, his favorite nephew, the son of the former King Saï
+Quamina, is sent with a proper captain, Quantree, to help you settle the
+palaver.
+
+Two thousand ounces is the demand.
+
+The origin of the palaver is, that after the King returned from his own
+campaign against the Fantees, the Commendas went to the Elminas and
+said, “well, you help’d the King, and now he is gone back we will fight
+for it.”
+
+Again, when a war was about to take place between the Cape Coast people
+and the Elminas, the Commendas went to the latter and said, well, we
+will help you if you will give us plenty of powder to fight for you:
+they did so, and immediately the Commendas used it to seize 98 Elminas,
+and sold them as slaves—this the King thinks you will say is very bad.
+
+The Cape Coast people and the Fantees having joined against the Elminas,
+they sent to tell the King, stating, when he demanded the reason, that
+it was because they had not resisted him when he came down against the
+Fantees; adding, that the Commendas, who were their natural allies
+before, had now joined their enemies, and begging the King to revenge
+this act of perfidy. The King much angered, immediately sent a captain
+for the purpose of their destruction (Yaquokroko,) but the Dutch
+governor sent to him, and then sent to the King to beg him to stop,
+because the English and Dutch being one, it would put shame on his face.
+
+Col. Torrane by giving up Cheeboo, induced the King to consider the Cape
+Coast people as his friends, and they took fetish accordingly, but their
+joining the Fantees afterwards to fight against Elmina for assisting the
+King, has made him distrust them always since.
+
+He considers his favourite nephew as the adopted son of Col. Torrane, to
+whom he gave him, and the Colonel gave him English clothes, so he is all
+the same as a Cape Coast Boy.
+
+Col. Torrane being dead, he considers his nephew to stand in the same
+relation to you, and that he is therefore the proper messenger to send
+to you about this palaver.
+
+You must write in your great book, that the King is your good friend,
+that he likes you too much, that he thanks God very much, so that every
+future Governor may read that in the Cape Coast Books.
+
+                       The mark X of Saï Tootoo, King of Ashantee,
+
+                                                      Per T. E. BOWDICH.
+
+Present.
+
+   WM. HUTCHISON.
+
+   HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+_Coomassie, July 9th_, 1817.
+
+
+                                           _Coomassie, July 12th_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I AM just returned from reading your letter to the King, and extracts
+from that to myself, before the assembly of the captains: the effect was
+satisfactory; and Quamina Bootaqua is ordered up to answer for his
+conduct. The King enquired if the pay now due on the two notes would be
+liquidated on application; I replied, immediately; he is anxious for it,
+on account of the approaching yam custom.
+
+                                              I am, &c.
+
+                                           (Signed)   T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+I will not continue to copy the rude diary before submitted, it is only
+a register of dull or disgusting circumstances, illnesses, human
+sacrifices, and ceremonious visits. I would not anticipate the better
+arrangement of my reports, or break the thread of the correspondence on
+the political difficulties opposed to the Mission. I will abridge some
+passages of my diary, merely to give an idea of the nature of our
+conversations, and the biography of the leading men. Mr. Hutchison has
+sent me copious extracts from his diary, as Resident, his leisure and
+tranquillity having afforded him better opportunities of social
+intercourse and domestic observation, than I had, or could afford time
+to cultivate, without neglecting my reports. I shall adjoin these
+extracts, expecting they will contribute to the rational entertainment
+of the public, and to the credit of an active and intelligent officer.
+
+A captain called Asofoo, sent us a present of seven ackies of gold, and
+we also received twelve from Amanquateä, and three from our house
+master. On the 9th of July the King sent us ten ackies of gold, and
+repeated his satisfaction of the result of the late correspondence, and
+daily presents of meat and fruits from various quarters, evinced the
+better opinion of his chiefs.
+
+I paid my first private visit to Baba the chief Moor, and took some
+pens, paper, ink, and pencils with me as a present; the paper and
+pencils were much esteemed, but he preferred his reed and vegetable ink.
+He received me courteously, and was contemplating a curiously intricate
+figure like a horoscope; the ms. was filled with them; he laid his
+finger on it, and said, if you have any hard palaver, this can make me
+settle it for you when no other person can; or if you have any dear
+friend in England you wish to see, tell me the name, and this shall
+bring him to you. I thanked him, observing, that when Englishmen knew
+their palaver was right, they always left it to God, and that England
+was too good a place for me to wish any one I regarded to leave it. His
+disciples and pupils were writing on wooden boards, like those Mr. Park
+describes. When a charm was applied for, one of the oldest wrote the
+body of it, and gave it to Baba, who added a sort of cabalistical mark,
+and gave it a mysterious fold; the credulous native snatched it eagerly
+as it was held out to him, paid the gold, and hurried away to enclose it
+in the richest case he could afford. I had a long conversation with
+Baba, and he begged me to visit him frequently; he was much gratified
+with the specimens of African Arabic at the end of Mr. Jackson’s work,
+and read them fluently. I visited him the next day, when he sent hastily
+for a Moor, who he told me was very learned, and just come from
+Timbuctoo. This man expressing no surprise when he first saw me, Baba
+explained it, by telling me, spontaneously, that this Moor had seen
+three white men before, at Boussa. I eagerly enquired the particulars of
+the novelty, and they were again repeated to Baba, and were thus
+interpreted: “that some years ago, a vessel with masts, suddenly
+appeared on the Quolla or Niger near Boussa, with three white men, and
+some black. The natives encouraged by these strange men, took off
+provisions for sale, were well paid and received presents besides: it
+seems the vessel had anchored. The next day, perceiving the vessel going
+on, the natives hurried after her, (the Moor protested from their
+anxiety to save her from some sunken rocks, with which the Quolla
+abounds) but the white men mistaking, and thinking they pursued for a
+bad purpose, deterred them. The vessel soon after struck, the men jumped
+into the water and tried to swim, but could not, for the current, and
+were drowned. He thought some of their clothes were now at Wauwaw, but
+he did not believe there were any books or papers.” This spontaneous
+narrative, so artlessly told, made a powerful impression on my mind. I
+saw the man frequently afterwards, his manners were very mild, and he
+never asked me for the most trifling present. He drew me a chart before
+he went away, and I dispatched some certificates for Major Peddie by
+him, endorsed with Baba’s recommendations. I heard exactly the same
+thing afterwards from another Moor, but he had not been an eye witness.
+I begged Mr. Hutchison, when I left Coomassie, to note any other report
+on the subject of Mr. Park’s death, and he afterwards sent me the ms. a
+translation of which is in the appendix. I continued to call on Baba
+three or four times a week; these visits afforded much information, for
+at each I found strange Moors just arrived from different parts of the
+interior, sojourning with him. They always affected to deplore the
+ignorance of the Ashantees, and presumed it must be as irksome to me as
+to them. Baba telling one that I could speak different languages, he
+said that he would try me, and addressed me in several, all very uncouth
+to my ear, and their names even unintelligible, except one, which he
+called Hindee or Hindoo; neither had I heard of any of the great cities
+he enumerated, until at last he pronounced Room (Rome) and said, if I
+did not know that I was not a Christian. I never saw the Shereef Brahima
+(to whom I was introduced about this time by a Jennë Moor) at Baba’s,
+they did not appear to be on terms; I think the latter was envious of
+the greater learning and intelligence of the former, who had been to
+Mecca and Medina. One day I requested Baba to draw me a map of the
+world, he did so, encircling one large continent with a sea, bounded by
+a girdle of rocks. Old Odumata’s notion of geography was as strange; for
+he mentioned one day, that when on the coast above Apollonia, he had an
+idea of walking to England, for he was told he should reach Santonee
+(Portugal) in 30 days, and that after that, the path was very good. He
+greatly enjoyed our singeing the hair of a foppish attendant of his,
+with a burning glass; the man’s amazement was inconceivable, Mr.
+Hutchison was at some distance, and not suspected.
+
+We were now permitted to walk four or five miles beyond the city, and
+felt quite at home. We seldom went out in the morning, lest an occasion
+for an audience should occur. Apokoo and several other daily visitors
+diverted us with their anecdotes, and in the afternoon we made our round
+of calls. Apokoo was always facetious, and looked with much anxiety for
+our entry, as his greatest recreation; he was very desirous of learning
+tennis and sparring, and daily made some essays, so comical, that
+neither we nor his attendants could contain ourselves. Apokoo became
+very communicative of Ashantee politics, and asked innumerable questions
+about England; particularly, why the King of England did not send one of
+his own sons to the King of Ashantee, with the presents, and why so
+great a King sent such a small force to Africa. The Spanish campaign was
+gone through, again and again, and never tired him. He gave us an
+excellent dinner, as did Odumata repeatedly. Both were extravagantly
+enraptured with the miniature of an English female, and called all their
+wives to look at it.
+
+Having been advised by a note from the Governor, of the arrival of an
+Ashantee boy and girl at Cape Coast Castle, sent by the King without any
+explanation, I desired an audience on the subject, and forwarded the
+following letter, which also communicates the baseness of one of the
+King’s messengers, just returned from the Coast, and other inauspicious
+circumstances.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                            _Coomassie, 10th Aug._ 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE King has explained to me that he sent the boy and girl you mention
+to have arrived at Cape Coast, to become the property of the Committee
+or Government, conceiving it to be obligatory on him, in justification
+of his possession of the notes, to allow an Ashantee family to rear
+itself under the Governor’s protection, for the service of the
+Settlement, and as an acknowledgment of the duties he owes it. He begs
+me to observe that he put the same plates of gold around their necks
+which distinguish the royal attendants.
+
+I had reason to believe, from a coolness and some invidious comparisons
+on the part of the King, that the messenger lately arrived, Ocranameah,
+who was so particularly recommended to your favour, had been unjust in
+his report of the treatment he had experienced. I did not hesitate to
+avow my impression to the King, having solicited an audience for the
+purpose. The King confessed he had felt his private feelings hurt ever
+since the return of that messenger, having received his assurance, that
+you would scarcely admit him to your presence; that he received no
+present or compliment from you, and was wholly neglected during his stay
+at head quarters. I instantly pledged my honour to the King that
+Ocranameah (who was present) was guilty of falsehood and ingratitude,
+adding, that I was not prepared to confront him with the particulars of
+the presents he received from you and the officers; though I was
+positive, from private letters, as well as my own conviction, that you
+had not slighted the opportunity of evincing your private friendship for
+the King; and as I might possibly identify some trifle, I wished the
+King to allow a search to be made. On the messenger’s box being sent for
+and opened, two engravings appeared, to the surprise of the King, and
+which I recognised; but as the messenger still persists in _your_ entire
+neglect of him, and of his not having received any present or compliment
+worth mentioning, I must trouble you for the particulars of his
+treatment at Cape Coast Castle, for the entire conviction of the King.
+The King expressed his suspicion (founded on reports) that many
+Ashantees imposed on your generosity, by introducing themselves as
+attached to him in various capacities; and hoped that you would only
+listen in future to such as he recommended to your notice by letter,
+which his three messengers above had been; the second (Ocranameah) the
+more particularly, and that recollection had made him so sensible of the
+neglect. You will regret, with myself, that this inauspicious
+circumstance has been unavoidable.
+
+The recent intelligence respecting the Buntooko war, has imposed serious
+anxiety, in the place of the King’s former confidence. The revolt of
+that people, as may be expected in all revolts from arbitrary controul,
+has gradually induced the secessions of some other tributaries; and the
+King feels called upon by these unexpected difficulties, to conduct the
+war in person; not with his former expectation of witnessing their rapid
+subjugation, but from his present conviction of the necessity for every
+stimulus and energy. His precaution has dictated some popular acts,
+ameliorating the condition of the lower order of his subjects. The
+confidential ministers have been instructed to hint to me, that it would
+be indiscreet in the King to expose even his temporary reverses in an
+arduous war, by the residence of a British officer; and that he would
+most probably defer that part of the mutual wish, until the contest was
+terminated. I used the same medium to impress upon the King, that such a
+feeling towards the delegate of a friendly power was misplaced; that you
+had expedited his ex-parte views in the confidence of his consummation
+of the reciprocal objects of the Mission, without which (as they had
+been instituted for his benefit and aggrandisement) I could not think of
+returning; since a protraction would be construed into a slight of the
+friendly overtures of the British Government, which (from its dignity
+and pre-eminence in Europe) could not be vouchsafed whenever they might
+be solicited.
+
+I anxiously await your communications on the Commenda palaver, to
+further my exertions for the full accomplishment of the Mission. The
+King and his Council labour under so much anxiety and business at the
+present moment, that though we pay and receive visits of ceremony, it is
+almost impossible to effect an audience, but on the receipt of
+dispatches.
+
+                                               I am, &c. &c.
+
+                                                      T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+The most entertaining _delassement_ of our conversations with the
+chiefs, was, to introduce the liberty of English females; whom we
+represented, not only to possess the advantage of enjoying the sole
+affection of a husband, but the more enviable privilege of choosing that
+husband for herself. The effect was truly comic, the women sidled up to
+wipe the dust from our shoes with their cloths, and at the end of every
+sentence brushed off an insect, or picked a burr from our trowsers; the
+husbands suppressing their dislike in a laugh, would put their hands
+before our mouths, declaring they did not want to hear that palaver any
+more, abruptly change the subject to war, and order the women to the
+harem.
+
+One of the King’s linguists was a very old man, called Quancum; he spoke
+but seldom, yet the greatest deference was paid to his opinion; the King
+appeared to consult him more than any other. I was so much interested by
+this man’s deportment, that I enquired his history. He had been the
+linguist of two former Kings, who paid frequent, and large sums of gold,
+as damages for his intrigues; neither had age corrected his fault, until
+very lately, though the present King used the most friendly
+remonstrances; and urged, that from his paying large sums so frequently
+for him on this account, his subjects thought, that he countenanced the
+depravity. Quancum confessed to the King, that his ardour for women was
+perpetuated by the sensual devices of one of his wives. Soon afterwards,
+he was detected in an intrigue with the wife of a captain of great
+consequence, and the King refused to interfere. The captain declaring
+that the punishment of Quancum, and not gold, was his object, the King
+permitted him to be despoiled of all his property, even to his bed. The
+favourite wife was amongst the spoil, and the injured captain being much
+smitten with her, assured her of an indulgence and preference, even
+greater than that she had enjoyed with Quancum; she replied, she must
+always hate him, and intreated to be sold. After much importunity the
+captain agreed to do so, provided she would put him in possession of all
+the presents Quancum had lavished on her; she produced them,
+stipulating, that her son might retain a small sum of gold, which
+Quancum had lately presented to him; this was agreed to, and she was
+immediately sold to a distant caboceer; but her son followed her, and
+buying her with his little property, presented her again to his father.
+On this, the King gave Quancum a house, and some furniture, and takes
+care to continue small supplies of gold daily, adequate to his and this
+woman’s comfort; having exacted a solemn oath from him, that he would
+devote himself to this one wife, and never try to recover any of the
+others.
+
+Mr. Tedlie’s interesting interview with the King, when he desired his
+attendance to exhibit and explain his surgical instruments, and
+medicines, is best described in his own words.
+
+“The King sent for me this morning, saying he wished to see the
+medicines, books, and instruments. I went immediately, and explained
+through Quashie, the Accra linguist, the proper use and advantage of
+each instrument: he was very particular in his enquiries, and asked if I
+had performed the operations I described; I assured him that I had, and
+as a proof, exhibited a piece of bone that I had taken out of an Indian
+black man’s head in Ceylon, who had been wounded, and who lived. The
+King held up his hand as a mark of approbation, and all his attendants
+were astonished. I applied the instruments first on myself, then on the
+linguists, afterwards on the King’s two captains, and lastly on the
+King: nothing could exceed the King’s approbation. He then desired me to
+shew him the medicines; he enquired the virtues and doses of each, what
+time in the day they should be taken, and whether it was proper to eat
+or drink after taking them? I told him: he asked if I would sell them? I
+said no. I brought these medicines for the officers; I could not sell
+them, but I would give him as much as I could, keeping in view that some
+of the four officers might be sick; he said that I was right, but he
+could not help coveting the greater part of the medicines; he viewed
+them all over five or six times, and asked me to give him some of them.
+I did give him as much innocent medicine as I could with propriety
+afford; he thanked me “very much.” I then shewed him the botanical
+books; he was astonished, held up his hand and exclaimed hah! at every
+brilliant or high coloured plant which he saw. All his attendants were
+closely arranged around: the two captains laid hold of a volume each,
+and were admiring the flowers; when either of them ejaculated an
+admiration, the King would seize it, and ask me what that tree was?
+After I had told him the use of them, I said all these trees grow in
+England; and the reason the English write all these in a book is, that
+they may know which is a good tree, and which is bad. He expressed the
+greatest astonishment at the flax (linum), oak “that we build our ships
+with,” poppy “that makes a man sleep,” and the sensitive plant (mimosa),
+which he pointed out and described himself. During this time he
+whispered to one of his attendants, who went out, and returned in a
+short time with a bit of cloth containing 9 ackies of gold; the King
+presented it to me; I accepted it, and returned thanks. He then asked me
+if I would come and see him at any time he sent for me; I assured him I
+would do every thing to please him, consistent with my duty. He shook
+hands with me and went into his house. He returned in a short time,
+leading his sister by the hand, in a manner that would shame many beaux
+in Europe, saying, “this is the white doctor I told you of; go, and take
+his hand; you are sick, tell him your complaint, and he will do you
+good:” the lady complied with his request. He then said “give me that
+gold I gave you, the cloth is not clean; I want to put it in a clean
+cloth for you.” He then put it in a piece of rich silk, and after he
+returned the gold he said “I like you; I like all the English very much;
+they are a proper people, and I wish to drink health with you.” He
+retired to his own apartment, and returned with a flask of gin, and two
+servants with a silver vase and water and glasses; he helped himself and
+me, made a bow and said “Saï wishes you good health.” I returned the
+bow, saying, I wish good health to the King, and hope he never will
+require any of my medicine: when this was explained to him he held out
+his glass to me, we touched and drank. He then took my hand, saying, “If
+I send my sister to you will you talk with her?” I assured him I would
+talk with and advise all the King’s friends whenever he wished. After I
+gave all the medicine I could conveniently part with, he sent for a
+small Dutch liqueur case; he desired 10 or 12 of his attendants, and his
+eunuch, to keep in their heads what I said; and requested me to repeat
+again the use and dose of each medicine I gave him, with the proper time
+and method of using it. I did so. He placed his hand on his head saying
+“Saï recollects what the white doctor says;” then placing the medicines
+in the case himself said “that good for my head, that good for my belly,
+that good for my stomach,” &c. One of the King’s sisters sent a message
+that she wanted to come and see the white gentlemen; and shortly
+afterwards arrived with her stool and retinue, being head caboceer of a
+large town. After exchanging compliments, she complained that her left
+hand pained her very much. I examined it, but must confess I could not
+see any thing the matter with it; however I rubbed a little liniment on
+her hand, which seemed to gratify her; she asked if I would come and see
+her in the evening? I answered yes. Quamina, our Ashantee guide, came to
+conduct me: he said I must dress, put on my sword and hat, as this woman
+was a caboceer, and the King’s sister; he would carry my umbrella. When
+I arrived I found the princess lying on a mat in one of the inner
+apartments of the house she occupied; she ordered a stool for me; I
+rubbed some more liniment on her hand; she wished me to stop and drink
+palm wine; this I declined, alledging the English did not like palm wine
+in the evening, because it is sour.”
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+ _Proceedings and Incidents until the Signing of the Preliminaries to a
+                            General Treaty._
+
+
+[The Governor’s reply to my communication on the subject of the Commenda
+              palaver, reached me on the 27th of August.]
+
+                                   _Cape Coast Castle, August 11_, 1817.
+
+                          T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I ENTERTAINED a confident hope that no further mention would have been
+made by the King concerning the Commendas, after the receipt of my
+letter, and I am sorry that he should allow so insignificant a set of
+people to protract in the least the settlement of our union. As it is my
+particular wish to remove this impediment, I have used every endeavour
+to bring the affair to a conclusion, and trust the King will not suffer
+it to be invincible. The Commendas are also naturally anxious for its
+termination, but their poverty is so great, that they have it not in
+their power to comply with his demand. They have acknowledged their
+fealty to the King, and have agreed to pay the sum of 120 oz. of gold,
+of which, messengers are sent by his nephew to enquire whether he will
+accept. This, with the sum they have been unavoidably obliged to promise
+the principal persons deputed to negociate this business, will increase
+the sum to at least 150 oz. The many proofs the King has had of my
+friendly intentions towards him, and the consideration of the benefits
+that will accrue to him from his alliance with the English, will, I
+hope, induce him to concede to the terms offered by the Commendas. A
+refusal must be considered as an avowal of his determined resolution not
+to conciliate the affair, and as the indigent circumstances of these
+people, make it utterly impossible for them to pay a larger sum, you
+will, should he persist in exacting more, procure his permission to
+leave the country, and return with the other officers as soon as you
+can. To sacrifice the Mission, after the heavy expences which have been
+incurred, and when we are induced to believe that every other object is
+propitiated to our utmost expectations, should be avoided if possible;
+but if he insists on a larger sum being levied from the Commendas than
+has been offered, there remains no other alternative. The dignity of the
+flag must be the superior consideration to all others.
+
+The King has no need to doubt in the least the sincerity of the Cape
+Coast people, they are his friends, and have every inclination to
+continue so; and I am convinced his nephew will, on his return, confirm
+this report to him.
+
+I will make known to the Committee his request for a crown and clothes,
+and I have no doubt but it will be complied with.
+
+                                           I am, Sir,
+
+                                      your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                        JOHN HOPE SMITH.
+
+
+                                             _Coomassie, Aug. 29_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I HAVE the satisfaction to enclose a copy of the Preliminaries to the
+general Treaty, as signed this day by the King in Council, adjusting the
+Commenda palaver, agreeably to your letter of the 11th, which did not
+reach me till the 27th instant.
+
+I proceed to acquaint you with the transactions of the interval.
+
+The charge of a political Embassy, in a part of the world where respect
+and security are founded upon the opinion imposed by our conduct,
+exacted a spirit and dignity, which might have been abated in
+insinuating a Mission through the country for scientific purposes, but
+the inviolability of which was inseparable from the improvement and
+safety of neighbouring settlements. Since my last dispatch, I have been
+obligated to resist various encroachments, of which I shall mention two
+or three to justify my treatment of them.
+
+The death of Quamina Bwa, our Ashantee guide, in the early part of the
+last week, creating an idle, but popular superstition that he had been
+killed by the fetish for bringing white men to take the country; I was
+applied to in the King’s name, to ameliorate this impression, by
+contributing an ounce of gold towards the custom to be made by the King
+for his repose. I refused on two grounds; first, that Quamina Bwa had
+himself unjustly incensed the people against us, by panyaring[10] their
+provisions in the King’s name, for our subsistence, and defrauding them
+of the gold we gave him for the payment: secondly, that the rites of
+customs were unnatural to our religion, which bound us, at least, not to
+encourage them. Fifteen persons had been sacrificed the week before (in
+a custom for the mother of a captain) with aggravated barbarity.
+
+Several of the principal men having applied to me to send to Cape Coast
+for silks, to be paid for on receipt at Coomassie (a very dangerous and
+impolitic indulgence), I impressed, indignantly, that I was not sent as
+a trader to make bargains with them, but as an officer to talk the
+palavers with the King.
+
+These circumstances, and a personal chastisement of some insults from
+inferior captains, which was provoked after much patience, influenced ex
+parte representations, which, though they may not have sickened the
+King’s regard, induced hauteur and neglect. In proceeding to the King’s
+house on public occasions, which I never did without the flag, canes,
+and soldiers, we had been expected to make way for the greater retinues
+of superior captains, who would rudely have enforced it; and after
+soliciting audiences for two days, I was kept in waiting above an hour
+in the outer courts of the palace. On the last occasion of the latter
+treatment, knowing that it was affected, I returned to our quarters
+until I received the King’s invitation; representing to him, that as an
+officer dignified by an authority to make a treaty with him in the name
+of the British Government, I could not submit to disrespectful treatment
+at the Palace, nor allow the English flag to give place to any but
+himself; that, if it merely affected myself as an individual, my esteem
+for the King would induce me to compromise these points of etiquette
+with his captains; but, according to the custom of England, I dared not;
+for if I did, my sword would be taken from me on my return to Cape Coast
+Castle. It produced the desired effect; the gong gong proclaimed in
+every street that all captains must make way for the flag; and at the
+monthly levee of the captains (the Adaï custom) the King’s linguists
+were deputed to us first, with the customary present of a sheep and rum;
+and presented us the first to pay our compliments to the King, being
+followed by Amanquateä, Quatchie Quophi, Apokoo, and Odumata; the four
+captains composing the Privy Council, or Aristocracy, which checks the
+King. The first (whose power approximates to that of the Mayor of the
+Palace under the early French dynasty) sent his linguist and gold swords
+to compliment us on the ground. I determined to take advantage of this
+impression, and of the comparative facility of intercourse, and demanded
+an audience to discuss the treaty, a copy of which I enclose, and hope
+my additions will be satisfactory. I have the King’s assurance that it
+shall be formally executed in eight days; when all his tributaries will
+be present for the yam custom, and when I hope to make the King of
+Dwabin and its dependencies a party, whose power is equal to the King of
+Ashantee’s.
+
+To resume—the audience was granted; and I read the treaty before the
+King and his Council, submitting it article by article, to their
+consideration. It was debated the whole of that and the succeeding day.
+I considered that if I could get the treaty discussed and executed in
+this favourable interval, removing the Commenda palaver from the
+situation of an obstacle, and reserving it as the first proof of the
+King’s disposition to coincide with you in what was reasonable and just,
+I might, on the receipt of dispatches, gain the better terms for that
+people.
+
+On Saturday the 22d instant, I was summoned to declare the articles of
+the treaty before the assembly of captains, who were seated with their
+attendants and warriors in the large yard of the palace, with all the
+imposing pomp and military parade, which had before been collected to
+subdue us, in the scene of the declaration of war. The King’s sisters,
+with the females of his family, were seated, with their numerous
+attendants, on an elevated floor behind. The deputies from the Fantee
+towns in the interior, were placed within hearing, and the crowd was
+almost impervious: the most ghastly trophies were mixed with this blaze
+of ostentation. We were seated near the King immediately opposite to his
+linguists.
+
+In reading the treaty, I paused after every article, leaving it to be
+formally repeated to the King through his linguists, and then sat down
+whilst it was discussed by the assembly. It is not necessary to repeat
+the various debates; and I will only notice that Amanquateä, through his
+linguist, proposed the renewal of the Slave Trade as a sine qua non;[11]
+this, however, as I had all along declared it to be impossible, was at
+length over-ruled, but with considerable difficulty. It was also
+proposed to attach a fine to the infraction of the treaty; but this I
+resisted as derogatory to the dignity of the contracting parties; and
+urged, that as the King and his dignitaries would consider his oath as
+sacred, as you and the Government would mine, I considered no
+_infraction_ of the treaty could take place; though it might possibly be
+_offended_ by the conduct of his subjects, or of individuals under
+British protection, which was provided for, and must be visited
+accordingly by the authorities pledged to the treaty.
+
+I had declared from the first, that it would be expected that the King
+should swear in the form of his country to the fulfilment and
+preservation of the treaty, and that his oath should be attested by his
+principal captains, from my anxiety to fortify to the utmost, a measure
+not only valuable to commerce but to humanity, in averting the renewal
+of a war, recorded by indelible marks of carnage and devastation.
+
+At the moment I expected the King to execute the treaty, a fresh design
+was disclosed, in a long speech from the chief linguist, setting forth
+the wrongs the King had just received from the people of Amissa, who had
+scourged his messengers, and couched their insulting defiance in the
+foulest language; yet, he said, the King did not want to invade the
+Fantee country for the sake of one town, and therefore I must stay and
+assist him to settle that palaver; he would then readily swear to the
+treaty. I replied at length, declaring particularly that I could not,
+and would not recognize the Amissa palaver; that the King vitiated the
+compliments he had been pleased to pay me, in expecting me to be such a
+fool as to involve you in the palaver of a people, over whom you neither
+possessed nor desired authority; and that if I had not a right to think
+better of the King, I should view such a proposal as evasive of the
+treaty, and final to the hope of a thorough understanding.
+
+The chief linguist rejoined, that I had declared in announcing the
+treaty, that it was the wish of the British Government to put an end to
+war, and for the King to have no occasion to trouble the Fantees;
+whereas, if the people of Amissa were not persuaded to retract, the King
+must send a captain to destroy them, which could be done at a word, and
+this perhaps would make another war. I urged that the Fantee towns under
+the British forts must be considered distinctly, and that those, and
+those only, were viewed by the Government and the treaty; yet, for the
+cause of humanity, I would request you, for the King, to advise the
+people of Amissa better, through some medium, which I hoped might do
+good, but if disregarded, you could not even repeat it: that was all I
+could promise, and if that was not enough, our negociations were at an
+end. No! that was not enough, I must stay and see the palaver settled.
+
+We immediately rose, and I declared as impressively as I could, that as
+the officer of the King of England, your orders only could be obeyed by
+me, that I dared not remain or allow myself to be stopped, even if I
+should be killed on the path, for my life was not my palaver, but the
+King of England’s. As I bowed to retire, the linguist exclaimed, that
+the King promised to see me again in an hour.
+
+I used the interval for reflection, and resolved to act upon the
+conclusion, that nothing but an undaunted resolution could check these
+encroachments, which were to be attributed to the Government rather than
+to the King.
+
+The hour having fully expired, I sent a cane to Adoocee, the chief
+linguist, to desire the audience; he sent me word that the King was
+asleep, and no one dared to awake him. I then went to Odumata (who
+resides within the palace) and repeated to him, that I was determined to
+go, if the King did not keep his word and see me; he said I could not; I
+rejoined, I would, and left him. I then went to Adoocee’s house,
+declared the same, and received the same reply. I left a cane in waiting
+at the palace, with orders to quit and return to me at 4 o’clock, (which
+allowed altogether four hours instead of one) if he was not dispatched
+with a message in the interval. No notice was taken; there was no
+alternative to my making good what I had said. The views of the Mission
+were at risk, but they would have been too dearly purchased by such
+concessions, and I was sanguine, rather than apprehensive of the success
+of the measure I adopted; without spirit and fortitude nothing was to be
+done.
+
+I ordered all the baggage out, planted the flag, and giving the
+soldiers’ muskets to the officers, converted them and the artificers
+into bearers, as well as our own servants, for I saw the previous
+dismissal of my own people was considered a hold on me. I ordered the
+linguists to declare to the party publickly, that I would flog any man
+who attempted to leave the town in debt; I paid all they confessed, by
+advances on their pay to the amount of 10 ackies: this gave the greatest
+publicity to our movements.
+
+The King’s uncle, Bundaenha, and another superior captain came in form
+to entreat me to stay, whilst they affected to address the King. I saw
+through this, and that I might presume on it; holding the watch in my
+hand, I promised to wait half an hour, and no longer. They returned
+within the time to conduct me to the King, but after being kept
+unusually long in waiting, the answer to my remonstrance through the
+linguists, was, that the King was very busy hearing a great palaver; I
+saw they lingered still in their hope of my submission. I sent the two
+canes to tell the King that mine was a great palaver, and ought to be
+heard, not only from its importance, but because he had passed his word
+that it should; that after a King disregarded his promise, it was
+useless to wait any longer. Returning to our quarters, I ordered the
+people to load the baggage.
+
+At the moment of starting, a royal messenger ran up, to say the King was
+waiting to see me. I dismissed him with the message, that I could not
+stop, unless a person of consequence was sent to promise for the King.
+The King’s uncle came, and assured me the King would receive me himself
+at the entrance of the palace. We went, and were instantly ushered into
+the presence of the King and his captains, who were debating by torch
+light: the clamour and deportment of this assembly might have been
+subduing, had it been novel. The uproar having abated, the King
+demanded, through his linguist, why I had determined to leave so
+suddenly, and whether he had not behaved well to me, adding to much
+declamation, that he knew the King of England and the Governor wished to
+please him, and would not countenance the act. I replied, that “I had
+not only gone the full length of my instructions to please the King, but
+exceeded them; and all that I had to fear was, that you would not
+approve my remaining a moment after he had trifled with me. The King’s
+behaviour to me, as an individual, I should always be proud to speak of,
+but his respect of the Embassy was a very superior consideration. Every
+thing he wished had been done, and now he tried to impose a palaver on
+me, with which you had no more to do than with the Buntooko war. The
+King had promised me to settle the point of the treaty, I waited the
+discussion patiently, he pledged his word to see me that evening, he had
+avoided it; I had said I would wait no longer if he did not keep his
+word; no English officer dared to break his word, if he did, he lost his
+sword.” Much declamation ensued, but the King’s conviction silenced the
+assembly, and realized the triumph I expected. He said, what I told him
+was true, that he was very sorry, but he had too much to think about; he
+liked the Law (the Treaty) very well, but begged me to wait a little
+longer till all his captains came. I received his promise to see me the
+following day. The next morning the head linguist came in form to
+acquaint me that some palavers had arrived in the night, which had made
+it necessary for the King to go to Berramang (a croom about five miles
+to the N.E. on the road to Sallagha, the capital of the Inta country)
+but he had orders to furnish us with the King’s hammock-men, if we were
+inclined to follow him the next day. We did so, and I enclose an extract
+from my diary, with the circumstances of the day, as they do not affect
+the point in question: on taking leave in the evening, the King promised
+that I should hear from him the next day.
+
+Apokoo, who had been left in charge of the town, visited me in form by
+the King’s orders, with the criers and insignia, to assure me there
+should be no more impediments to the treaty, and that the King would
+return the next day. The evening was productive of another disturbance,
+from my resistance of an indignity. The Cape Coast messenger arriving,
+informed me that the dispatches and letters were retained by Adoo
+Bradie’s messenger, who accompanied him. I sent the canes to Apokoo’s to
+demand them, but ineffectually; I then went myself, and insisted on the
+delivery; he said it could not be allowed until the King returned to the
+capital. I protested so strongly against the act, that he sent for the
+chief linguist (Adoocee) and after a palaver, they promised to send me
+the letters on my return to the house: I left the canes in waiting. The
+time allowed having expired without the receipt, I went again to
+Apokoo’s, who referred me to Adoocee. I went to him, and he said he
+dared not interfere in the business. The Cape Coast messengers refusing
+to do so, we proceeded instantly to Adoo Bradie’s house, and finding the
+messenger, demanded the letters, and obtained them. I had scarcely read
+them, before Adoocee came with some captains, and about 100 persons,
+(being then 9 o’clock) to demand my delivery of your letter to his
+charge, until the King’s return. I indignantly refused, asserting my
+authority, and criminating such a request as injurious to the rights of
+the meanest subject of the King of England, and an insuperable affront
+to you. He tried threats and entreaties alternately; the former I
+treated with contempt, the latter I regretted I dared not yield to. The
+palaver was prolonged till 10 o’clock at night. I determined not to lose
+ground. The King did not arrive until the evening of the next day, I
+sent three canes with my compliments on his return, and received his
+with an appointment of an audience the next (this) morning.
+
+We were sent for early, the affair of the letters was opposed to me. I
+repeated my declarations to Adoocee, and added, that I should not think
+of leaving a Resident, if such were the forms of the Ashantee Court. The
+Ashantee messengers declared that you had ordered your letters to be
+delivered to the King. I said that was impossible. The King was very
+gentle, but such was the suspicion of the assembly, that they requested
+me to swear on my sword, that I had not altered any part of your letter;
+I did so, prefacing the act as such a suspicion merited. I then read
+your letter, abating nothing of its spirit and firmness, and laying
+stress upon your disposition to benefit the King, and the proofs you had
+given. I concluded my illustrations with the declaration, that you did
+not settle the King’s palaver from fear, but from friendship, as it
+remained with him to prove. I submitted the preliminaries in form, for
+rejection or acceptance. After an ardent debate among the captains, they
+were executed and attested, and I lose no time in forwarding the copy. I
+left a duplicate with the King, as I shall of the treaty.
+
+The King intends to dispatch a messenger directly to empower Adoo Bradie
+to receive the gold, and hopes you will recommend the people of Commenda
+to restore any of the slaves in their possession belonging to Elmina,
+although that is not his palaver.
+
+The King desired me to communicate his best thanks for your handsome
+treatment of his nephew, whose reports have been very flattering.
+
+I urged my intercessions for Quamina Bootaqua, until the King vouchsafed
+me his assurance that he would pardon him.
+
+I have the satisfaction to inform you, that I have been able, privately,
+so far to conciliate the Moors, as to have witnessed their forwardance
+of the certificates[12] to the Interior, with their own letters of
+recommendation indorsed.
+
+I advocated the merits of the Castle linguist, De Graff, as you desired,
+and successfully. I flatter myself this will anticipate the arrival of
+the King’s, and the Cape Coast messengers.
+
+                             I am, &c. &c.
+
+                                                          T. E. BOWDICH.
+
+_Preliminaries of a General Treaty, to be made and entered into by_
+THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH, _Esquire, for the Governor and Council of Cape
+Coast Castle, and on the part of the British Government, with_ SAÏ
+TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies._
+
+1st. The King accepts the offer of the people of Commenda, through the
+Governor in Chief; namely, one hundred and twenty ounces of gold for
+himself, and the customary fees to his embassadors, as a settlement in
+full of all demands.
+
+2nd. The people of Commenda shall acknowledge their fealty to the King,
+and be entitled to all the benefits of his protection.
+
+3d. The King shall authorize some responsible captain to receive the
+gold, from the hands of the deputies of the people of Commenda, at Cape
+Coast Castle.
+
+4th. It is hereby agreed, that every palaver is now settled preparatory
+to the General Treaty, which shall be executed forthwith.
+
+ Signed and sealed this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
+             Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
+
+                               The mark of SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA. X (L. S.)
+
+                                                  T. E. BOWDICH. (L. S.)
+
+In the presence of
+
+  WILLIAM HUTCHISON.
+
+  HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+  ADOOCEE, Chief Linguist.
+
+  APOKOO, Keeper of the Treasury.
+
+  QUAMINA QUATCHIE,  }
+                     } Linguists to the Mission.
+  QUASHEE APAINTREE, }
+
+_Extract from Diary._—Monday, 25th August, we started soon after seven
+o’clock, and proceeding in a N.E. direction, crossed the marsh close to
+the town, where it was about two feet deep and one hundred and fifty
+yards broad. We travelled the path to Sallagha, through a beautiful
+country, abounding in neat crooms (of which we passed through seven),
+the sites spacious, and environed by extensive plantations. The path was
+wide and so nearly direct, that the eye was always in advance through
+beautiful vistas varied by gentle risings. The iron stone still
+prevailed.
+
+The King received us in the market place, and enquiring anxiously if we
+had breakfasted, ordered refreshment. After some conversation we were
+conducted to a house prepared for our reception, where a relish was
+served (sufficient for an army) of soups, stews, plantains, yams, rice,
+&c. (all excellently cooked) wine, spirits, oranges, and every fruit.
+The messengers, soldiers, and servants were distinctly provided for.
+Declining the offer of beds, we walked out in the town, and conversed
+and played drafts with the Moors, who were reclining under trees; the
+King joined us with cheerful affability, and seemed to have forgotten
+his cares. About two o’clock dinner was announced. We had been taught to
+prepare for a surprise, but it was exceeded. We were conducted to the
+eastern side of the croom, to a door of green reeds, which excluded the
+crowd, and admitted us through a short avenue to the King’s garden, an
+area equal to one of the large squares in London. The breezes were
+strong and constant. In the centre, four large umbrellas of new scarlet
+cloth were fixed, under which was the King’s dining table (heigthened
+for the occasion) and covered in the most imposing manner; his massy
+plate was well disposed, and silver forks, knives, and spoons (Colonel
+Torrane’s) were plentifully laid. The large silver waiter supported a
+roasting pig in the centre; the other dishes on the table were roasted
+ducks, fowls, stews, pease pudding, &c. &c. On the ground on one side of
+the table were various soups, and every sort of vegetable; and elevated
+parallel with the other side, were oranges, pines, and other fruits;
+sugar-candy, Port and Madeira wine, spirits and Dutch cordials, with
+glasses. Before we sat down the King met us, and said, that as we had
+come out to see him, we must receive the following present from his
+hands, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, one sheep and one large hog to the
+officers, 10 ackies to the linguists, and 5 ackies to our servants.
+
+We never saw a dinner more handsomely served, and never ate a better. On
+our expressing our relish, the King sent for his cooks, and gave them
+ten ackies. The King and a few of his captains sat at a distance, but he
+visited us constantly, and seemed quite proud of the scene; he conversed
+freely, and expressed much satisfaction at our toasts, “The King of
+Ashantee, the King of England, the Governor, the King’s Captains, a
+perpetual union (with a speech, which is the sine qua non) and the
+handsome women of England and Ashantee.” After dinner the King made many
+enquiries about England, and retired, as we did, that our servants might
+clear the table, which he insisted on. When he returned, some of the
+wine and Dutch cordials remaining, he gave them to our servants to take
+with them, and ordered the table cloth to be thrown to them and all the
+napkins. A cold pig, cold fowls (with six that had not been dressed)
+were dispatched to Coomassie for our supper. We took leave about five
+o’clock, the King accompanying us to the end of the croom, where he took
+our hands, and wished us good night. We reached the capital again at
+six, much gratified by our excursion and treatment.
+
+Mr. Tedlie had brought Quamina Bwa (our guide) into a very advanced
+state of convalescence; but he so eagerly betook himself from low diet
+to palm oil soups, and stews of blood, that he soon relapsed, and a
+gathering formed on his liver, aggravated not a little by the various
+fetish draughts he swallowed. Seeing there was no other chance, Mr.
+Tedlie, who is a very skilful operator, would have scarified the liver;
+but although I had great reason to rely confidently on his judgment and
+ability, I thought our situation too critical to run such a risk. A
+Fantee boy having fractured his leg, and his dissolution appearing
+inevitable, the parents, in great distress, applied to the surgeon of an
+English outfort, who amputated the limb, and after much wearying
+attendance, to the surprise of every one, restored the boy to health.
+The family then brought him into the fort, and laying him down in the
+hall, addressed the surgeon (who was in charge of the fort) thus; “As
+Master cut off poor boy’s leg, and so spoil poor boy for work, we come
+to ask Master how much he think to give poor boy to keep him.”
+
+Quamina Bwa was fetished until the last moment, and died amidst the
+howls of a legion of old hags, plastering the walls, door posts, and
+every thing about him, with chopped egg and different messes. I forget
+how many sheep he had sacrificed to the fetish by the advice of these
+harpies. The King sent him a sheep and a periguin of gold, when he heard
+he was ill. This man had settled the palaver with Mr. White, after the
+blockade of Cape Coast, in 1815, the third invasion of the Ashantees,
+and was universally odious, for his cruel extortions; these being
+reported to the King, he was disgraced; and being very extravagant,
+became much involved. Being at Payntree, he prevailed on Quamina
+Bushmaquaw to allow him to conduct us, to retrieve his finances a
+little. Excepting Adoocee, the King’s chief linguist, he was the most
+plausible villain I ever met with.
+
+The head of an Akim caboceer arrived in Coomassie about this time. The
+King and the Ashantee government had proposed that every croom of Akim
+should pay 20 periguins of gold as an atonement for their late revolt.
+Ten periguins were advanced immediately by each, and the other moiety
+was excused until after the harvest; but Aboidedroo caboceer of Manasoo
+resolutely refused to pay a tokoo. The King’s messengers, however,
+appealed to his people with so much address, that they rose upon their
+caboceer, killed him, and sent his head to the King, with the 20
+periguins required.
+
+
+[Footnote 10: Seizing.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Presents from two Spanish slave ships were received
+through the Mulatto Brue on the 16th instant; they were general, but I
+can only particularise the following:
+
+  To the King, 3 pieces of cloth, 1 umbrella, and a hat.
+
+  To the chief linguist, 1 piece, do.  2 flashes liquor.
+
+  To the 4th do. (Otee) 1 do.          2 ditto, do.
+
+  To Odumata, 2 do.                    2 ditto, do.
+
+  To Quamina Bwa, agent for the purchase of the slaves, 2 pieces of
+  cloth, 1 umbrella, and 1 Dane gun.
+
+]
+
+[Footnote 12: For a copy of these certificates vide the opposite
+engraving.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+_Proceedings and Incidents until the Ratification of a General Treaty._
+
+
+The report of an Ashantee having been flogged to death in Cape Coast
+Castle, which was aggravated every hour to our prejudice, was explained
+by the following letter:
+
+
+                                   _Cape Coast Castle, August 17_, 1817.
+
+                          T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE day before yesterday an Ashantee man was guilty of a most daring
+insult to the fort. On passing the gate, he was desired by the sentinel
+to take his cloth off his shoulders, but instead of complying, he turned
+round and struck him. The offender was instantly secured, and I ordered
+him to be put in irons. Last night about nine o’clock, the captain of
+the guard came to me to say, that the sentry on duty had reported the
+Ashantee to have hung himself. The place in which he was with others
+confined, was immediately opened, and he was found in a room adjoining
+to that in which the prisoners sleep, with his under cloth attached to a
+beam not more than three feet high, and very tightly drawn round his
+throat, part of his body was lying on the ground, and it must have been
+by the most determined resolution that he succeeded in strangling
+himself. The surgeon was present, but his efforts to recover him were
+ineffectual. This is the second offence of a similar nature that has
+occurred; the first person, I most assuredly should have punished, had
+he not ran past the sentry and made his escape.
+
+The King’s displeasure will no doubt be excited when he hears of such
+acts of insolence, and I hope he will issue such orders to his people,
+as will make them more circumspect in future.
+
+                                            I am, Sir,
+
+                                        your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                            J. H. SMITH.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                         _Coomassie, 31st August_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I RECEIVED your letter last evening respecting the suicide of the
+Ashantee. I procured an audience this morning, and have just returned
+from the palace, where I had the honour to address you a letter, in the
+name of the King, on this, and other subjects.
+
+The messenger sent up by Adoo Bradie, was the brother of the deceased,
+and declared before the King upon oath, that he had been killed by the
+officers. The master (our landlord) proposed a fine to the captains
+assembled, but after the audience was gone through, the King retired to
+council, which is the form, and returning, dictated the sentiments I had
+the honour to communicate to you, and rebuked our house-master severely
+for his proposition. Of course I impressed the insult to the fort, as
+the superior consideration of your letter.
+
+The insolence of the lower orders here became insufferable, they
+proceeded even to pelting us with stones; after every effort on our part
+to conciliate them by the exhibition of the telescope and other
+novelties. As may be expected in a military government, they are beyond
+the King’s control, out of the field. He declared however, that he would
+behead any man I would point out to him, and begged me to punish them as
+I thought proper: a summary chastisement of two inferior captains
+repressed this spirit.
+
+All the captains of consequence have become friendly and respectful;
+Apokoo was deputed in form yesterday, in the name of the whole, to thank
+me for my conduct in negociating with the King.
+
+The Treaty will be brought forward to be executed in six days, before
+the annual assembly of Kings, caboceers, and captains. All the Kings
+tributaries and allies being compelled to attend him at the yam custom.
+
+The King intends your linguist De Graff, to take fetish with his five
+linguists, to be just to both the powers to be pledged to the treaty,
+and is convinced of his probity.
+
+                                I am, with respect, Sir,
+
+                                       your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                      T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                            _Coomassie, 31st Aug._ 1817.
+
+    SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee, &c. to_ JOHN HOPE SMITH,
+               _Esquire, Governor in Chief, &c. &c. &c._
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE King assures you, that, anticipating the permanent union of the
+English and Ashantees, so far from allowing the death of one man to
+retard it, he should take no notice if a thousand were flogged to death
+by you, as reported here, well knowing the insolent disposition of the
+lower order of Ashantees, which is as vexatious to him as to you. He is
+satisfied however, that this man came to his death by his own hands.
+
+The King wishes you to adjust the palaver between the Commendas and
+Elminas, as soon as convenient to you; that all the people who serve him
+may be united, relying entirely on your justice.
+
+The King will thank you very much if you will make the people of Cape
+Coast, Elmina, and Commenda “_all one together_.”
+
+The little palaver between these people, is the only one remaining; and
+therefore, though it is not his, he wishes you to settle it.
+
+The King hereby, and by his messenger, empowers his nephew Adoo Bradie,
+and the Captain Quantree, to receive the gold from the deputies of
+Commenda in your presence.
+
+You must settle the compliments and fees, which the Commendas send to
+the King’s linguists and captains.
+
+The King hopes you will advise the people of Amissa, through some
+medium, to retract their insolent message to the King, that the whole of
+the Fantee territory may be quiet.
+
+The King has condescended personally to solicit Mr. Bowdich to protract
+his stay fifteen days, and obliged all his captains to the same
+condescension, so that you will consider it the King’s act from the wish
+to send him down with an honourable escort, and other marks of his
+favour.
+
+The King wishes you health and happiness.
+
+                                   The mark X of Saï Tootoo Quamina, &c.
+
+    In the presence of
+
+      WM. HUTCHISON.
+
+      HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+A few only of the many curious observations of our Ashantee friends
+recur to me. One captain told us he had heard that the English were so
+constantly in palavers, one with another, that their houses, which he
+understood to be made of wood, the same as their ships, were always
+fixed on wheels; so that when a man had quarrelled with his neighbour,
+he moved to another part of the bush. Another insisted that monkies
+(whom the Moors said sprung from the Israelites, who disobeyed Moses)
+could talk as well as men; but they were not such fools; for if they
+did, they knew men would make them work.—This is better than Pliny’s
+account of monkies playing chess.
+
+The King walked abroad in great state one day, an irresistible
+caricature; he had on an old fashioned court suit of General Daendels’
+of brown velveteen, richly embroidered with silver thistles, with an
+English epaulette sewn on each shoulder, the coat coming close round the
+knees, from which the flaps of the waistcoat were not very distant, a
+cocked hat bound with gold lace, in shape just like that of a
+coachman’s, white shoes, the long silver headed cane we presented to
+him, mounted with a crown, as a walking staff, and a small dirk round
+his waist.
+
+The King presented one of our servants with six ackies of gold, for
+making trowsers for his child, and mending him a pair of drawers, which
+he thought it extravagant to put on under trowsers or small clothes, and
+therefore wore them alone.
+
+I fixed a rude leaping bar in the outer yard of our house, and trained
+the horse to it, preparatory to getting him over the trunks of trees on
+the path: this brought even greater levees than the camera obscura, or
+the telescope. Sometimes a gazer would start from the eye piece of the
+latter, to lay hold of the figure at the end, as he expected; and they
+all insisted on both being taken to pieces in their presence, that they
+might see what was inside. At length, being inexplicable, it was
+pronounced fetish. A captain had told the King, that with the telescope
+we saw, when at Doompassie, all that he was doing at Coomassie: and
+happening, in a sudden and heavy rain, to gallop from Asafoo to our
+house, with Mr. Tedlie on the horse behind me, holding the umbrella, it
+was immediately reported to the King as our plan of travelling to Cape
+Coast.
+
+Our Accra linguist pointed out a man to me named Tando, whom he
+recollected to have visited the Coast some years, in great pomp, never
+going the shortest distance, but in his taffeta hammock, covered with a
+gorgeous umbrella, and surrounded by flatterers, who even wiped the
+ground before he trod on it. This man had now scarcely a cloth to cover
+him. He had been retired from his embassy to Akim, in consequence of a
+dispute with Attah, then the king of that country; for though Attah was
+adjudged to be in fault, after the palaver was talked at Coomassie, the
+Ashantee government thought it politic to displace Tando, though he had
+become disagreeable to the other, only for his vigilance and fidelity.
+After a long interval of the most luxurious life the capital could
+afford, he was instructed to proceed to Elmina, to talk a palaver for
+the King; but thinking it would be a coup d’éclat much more important
+and agreeable, if he could settle the Warsaw palaver as well, he visited
+the country on his return, and persuaded them to conciliate the King,
+and avert their ruin, by carrying a considerable sum of gold to
+Coomassie, and agreeing to pay twenty-four slaves for every Ashantee
+subject killed or injured by one of Warsaw. Deputies returned with this
+man for this purpose; but the King dismissed them contemptuously; and to
+the disappointment and surprise of Tando, declared that no man must dare
+to do good out of his own head, or perhaps he would find he did bad, as
+Tando had done, in spoiling a palaver which he and his great men meant
+to sleep a long time. Tando was immediately stripped of all his property
+for his presumption, and from a noble became a beggar.
+
+The Moors now became friendly, and sent us some very good coffee, and
+choice pieces of meat.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                           _Coomassie, Sept. 8th_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I HAVE the satisfaction to inform you, that the treaty was signed and
+sworn to yesterday, by the King of Ashantee, and this day, by the King
+of Dwabin. The whole of the caboceers, captains, and tributaries having
+arrived, the treaty was finally discussed on Saturday, and two of the
+four members of the Aristocracy, with the two oldest captains (Ashantee
+and Nabbra) were deputed to swear for that assembly, with the King,
+whose oaths (being very rare) are solemnized by the presence of his
+wives.
+
+The King sent a handsome procession of flags, guns, and music, to
+conduct us to the palace on the occasion; and meeting us in the outer
+square, preceded us to the inmost, where about 300 females were seated,
+in all the magnificence which a profusion of gold and silk could
+furnish. The splendour of this coup d’oeil made our surprise almost
+equal to theirs. We were seated with the King and the deputies, under
+the large umbrellas in the centre, and I was desired to declare the
+objects of the Embassy and the Treaty, to an old linguist, peculiar to
+the women. The King displayed the presents to them; the flags were all
+sewn together, and wrapped around him as a cloth.
+
+I was afterwards desired to stand before the King, and swear on my sword
+that I had declared the truth: I did so, with the other officers. The
+next form dictated was, that I should seat myself, and receive the oaths
+of the deputies, and lastly, of the King himself, for his brother the
+King of England. They advanced in turn, extending their gold swords
+close to my face, as they declared their oaths. I rose to receive the
+King’s, all the women holding up two fingers, as their mark of
+approbation when he received the sword, and one of his counsellors
+kneeling beside him with a large stone on his head. The King swore very
+deliberately, that his words might be fully impressed on me, invoking
+God and the fetish to kill him; first, if he did not keep the law, if we
+had sworn true; and secondly, if he did not revenge the Ashantees to the
+full, if we had bad in our heads, and did not come for the purpose I
+avowed. The assurances, and the menaces of the oaths of the captains
+were equally forcible. The King sent an anker of rum to our people to
+drink on the occasion, and paid each captain the customary fee, of a
+periguin of gold on his oath.
+
+The King having communicated my wish, by a formal message, to Boïtinnee
+Quama, the King of Dwabin, who holds his temporary court on the north
+side of the town, I seconded it, by sending the canes to request an
+audience; at which I had again formally to declare the objects of the
+Embassy and the Treaty, which, after a great deal of form and enquiry,
+received his signature, with the attestations of his chief linguists,
+Quama Saphoo, and Kobara Saphoo, who are his principal counsellors. His
+court was equally crowded with the King of Ashantees, who sits on his
+right hand when he visits Dwabin; a reciprocal etiquette.
+
+By an addition to the 4th article of the treaty, I reconciled the point
+of the Amissa palaver; and the securing you the opportunity of
+mediation, (without attaching any thing like responsibility) I
+considered to be not only a precaution due to humanity, but a prudent
+and legitimate measure for the extension of our influence.
+
+The value of this treaty is enhanced by the reflection, that the
+justice, dignity, and spirit, of the British Government have been
+preserved inviolate; and that it has been the result of the impression,
+and not of the abatement of these characteristics.
+
+We are flattered by your acknowledgment of our offer to accompany the
+King to the Buntooko war, and feel the force of your reason in the
+present view of the invasion of that country. The lake proving to be
+southward instead of northward, and close to the Accra path, I did not
+think it prudent to aggravate suspicion, for so secondary and well
+defined an object, whilst every day exacted some exertion (beyond
+vigilance) to wear away the difficulties opposed to the more important
+views of the Mission.
+
+I expect the King will permit me to take leave on Saturday next. To-
+morrow Apokoo gives us a dinner in public.
+
+                             I am, with respect, Sir,
+
+                                        your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                          T. E. BOWDICH.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+_Treaty made and entered into by_ THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH, _Esquire, in
+the name of the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle on the Gold
+Coast of Africa, and on behalf of the British Government, with_ SAÏ
+TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, and_ BOÏTINNEE
+QUAMA, _King of Dwabin and its Dependencies._
+
+1st. There shall be perpetual peace and harmony between the British
+subjects in this country, and the subjects of the Kings of Ashantee and
+Dwabin.
+
+2nd. The same shall exist between the subjects of the Kings of Ashantee
+and Dwabin, and all nations of Africa residing under the protection of
+the Company’s Forts and Settlements on the Gold Coast, and, it is hereby
+agreed, that there are no palavers now existing, and that neither party
+has any claim upon the other.
+
+3rd. The King of Ashantee guarantees the security of the people of Cape
+Coast, from the hostilities threatened by the people of Elmina.
+
+4th. In order to avert the horrors of war, it is agreed, that in any
+case of aggression on the part of the natives under British protection,
+the Kings shall complain thereof to the Governor in Chief to obtain
+redress, and that they will in no instance resort to hostilities, even
+against the other towns of the Fantee territory, without endeavouring as
+much as possible to effect an amicable arrangement, affording the
+Governor the opportunity of propitiating it, as far as he may with
+discretion.
+
+5th. The King of Ashantee agrees to permit a British officer to reside
+constantly at his capital, for the purpose of instituting and preserving
+a regular communication with the Governor in Chief at Cape Coast Castle.
+
+6th. The Kings of Ashantee and Dwabin pledge themselves to countenance,
+promote, and encourage the trade of their subjects with Cape Coast
+Castle and its dependencies to the extent of their power.
+
+7th. The Governors of the respective Forts shall at all times afford
+every protection in their power to the persons and property of the
+people of Ashantee and Dwabin, who may resort to the water side.
+
+8th. The Governor in Chief reserves to himself the right of punishing
+any subject of Ashantee or Dwabin guilty of secondary offences, but in
+case of any crime of magnitude, he will send the offender to the Kings,
+to be dealt with according to the laws of his country.
+
+9th. The Kings agree to commit their children to the care of the
+Governor in Chief, for education, at Cape Coast Castle, in the full
+confidence of the good intentions of the British government, and of the
+benefits to be derived therefrom.
+
+10th. The Kings promise to direct diligent inquiries to be made
+respecting the officers attached to the Mission of Major John Peddie,
+and Captain Thomas Campbell; and to influence and oblige the
+neighbouring kingdoms and their tributaries, to befriend them as the
+subjects of the British government.
+
+Signed and sealed at Coomassie, this seventh day of September, in the
+year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
+
+                                The mark of SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA X (L. S.)
+
+                                The mark of BOÏTINNEE QUAMA X    (L. S.)
+
+                                THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH.           (L. S.)
+
+   In the presence of
+
+WILLIAM HUTCHISON, Resident.
+
+HENRY TEDLIE, Assistant Surgeon.
+
+ The mark of APOKOO X }
+                      }
+ ODUMATA X            } Deputed from the General Assembly of caboceers
+                      } and captains to swear with the King.
+ NABBRA X             }
+                      }
+ ASHANTEE X           }
+
+ KABRA SAPHOO X   }
+                  } Linguists to the King of Dwabin.
+ QUAMINA SAPHOO X }
+
+ QUASHEE APAINTREE X Accra Linguist.
+
+ QUASHEE TOM X      }
+                    } Cape Coast Linguists.
+ QUAMINA QUATCHEE X }
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+[Illustration: This _is to make known that Major John Peddie, Capt.
+Thos. Campbell, and Surgeon Willm. Cowdry, have been employed by the
+British Government to proceed from Senegal into the interior of Africa,
+to trace the course of the River Niger; and to obtain such information
+respecting the Countries through which they pass, as may be useful in
+the extension and improvement of Commerce which is the object of the
+British Government in sending those persons to Africa; and that any
+Person who may happen to meet with those Gentlemen, and shall be the
+Bearer of a Letter to the Governor of CAPE COAST CASTLE on the Gold
+Coast, from either of them, shall receive five Ounces of Gold, and be
+liberally rewarded for any Service or Act of kindness which it may
+appear by such Letter may have been rendered to either of them._
+
+_Witness my hand at Coomasie the Capital of the Kingdom of Ashantee the
+30th. day of July 1817_
+
+_Wm. Hutchinson Resident_
+
+_T. E. Bowdich Conductor of the Mission from Cape Coast Castle_]
+
+We were present at the trial of Appia Nanu, who had accompanied his
+brother Appia Danqua in the last invasion of Fantee, and was ordered by
+the King, on his death, to take the command of the army, and prosecute
+the campaign. In the irritation of the moment, he exclaimed, before the
+royal messengers, that though the King did not prevent him from
+succeeding to the stool, and the honours of his brother, he kept back
+all the rock gold which belonged to the inheritance, and desired to wear
+him out in the pursuit of the revolters, to prevent his claim and
+enjoyment of the property of his family. From this time he was very
+inactive, and became suspected of cowardice; however, having succeeded
+in getting the head of one of the revolters, he returned to Coomassie;
+where he was coolly received, but not accused until the 8th of July. The
+witnesses were the messengers the King had sent to him, who had been
+concealed in a distant part of the frontier ever since, that Appia Nanu,
+believing the general report of their death, might be the more
+confounded when they burst upon him at the moment of his denial of the
+charge. He was deprived of his stool and the whole of his property, but
+permitted to retire with three wives and ten slaves; the King hearing
+the next day that he still loitered in the capital, exclaimed, that no
+proper man would bear so much shame before all the people, rather than
+leave his home, and ordered only one wife to be left to him, whereupon
+Appia Nanu hung himself. The King considers, that none but the basest
+spirits can endure life after severe disgrace.
+
+The Moors celebrated the feast of Ramadan in this month: there was
+nothing curious in this ceremony. Men and women were dressed in their
+richest suits, and seated on large skins before their houses, for they
+occupy one street exclusively. They rose occasionally in small troops,
+made short circuits in different directions, saluted each other, and
+then sat down again. In the evening, the superiors exchanged visits at
+their houses; the one visited always accompanied the other some distance
+along the street on his way, where they exchanged blessings, and parted.
+The slaves who carried their small umbrella’s over their heads, seemed
+thoroughly jaded by this incessant parading.
+
+The King regretted in one of his visits about this time, that they were
+not more frequent; he said, our conversation entertained him more than
+any thing else, because it told him of so many things black men never
+heard of, but when he wished to see us on that account, his great men
+checked him, and said, it did not become him as a great King to want us,
+but that he should only send his compliments, see us, and make us wait a
+long time when he sent for us to the palace.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+ _Proceedings and Incidents until the completion of the Mission and its
+                     return to Cape Coast Castle._
+
+
+On the 11th of September I received the Governor’s reply to my letter of
+the 10th of August.
+
+
+                                   _Cape Coast Castle, August 25_, 1817.
+
+                          T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I HAVE received your letter of the 10th instant. The boy and girl shall
+be disposed of under the protection of the Government here, agreeable to
+the King’s wishes.
+
+The messenger (Ocranameah) has grossly misrepresented to the King, the
+reception he met with at Cape Coast; he was treated with the greatest
+civility during his stay, and on leaving, expressed himself gratified by
+the attention which had been shewn him.
+
+For the King’s satisfaction, I have subjoined a list of the articles I
+made him a present of;[13] the three first which I gave him, on taking
+leave, will, when produced, convince him how much he has been deceived,
+and prove to him, that his recommendation of the messenger was not
+unattended to.
+
+The Buntooko war, I consider a mere pretext for getting rid of the
+Resident; it cannot be the true motive: to oppose however, any
+disinclination to the measure, either on the part of the King or his
+principal men, would be entirely useless; the aversion to it has no
+doubt originated in the latter, with whom, under the present order of
+things, the Resident would be very unpopular; consequently unsafe. The
+eager desire which the King has manifested for enquiring into every
+trivial occurrence, is another cause of its being objectionable. The
+residence of a British officer would afford him the opportunity, not
+only of doing this, but of making demands which he might otherwise not
+have thought of. These and other circumstances, which were entirely
+unforeseen, have materially altered my opinion in regard to the
+Residency, which is certainly not so desirable as I before considered
+it. You will therefore, on your return, bring Mr. Hutchison with you.
+
+I am not aware of any Ashantees having introduced themselves here, but
+such as were duly authorised by the King; you will however inform him,
+that none will be attended to unless they bear his cane.
+
+As Mr. Hutchison is to return, it will be a most important point that
+you bring down two of the King’s sons for education, and I am very
+solicitous that you should accomplish this object if possible.
+
+The Commenda palaver being terminated, there will be nothing to detain
+you longer at Ashantee. Your returning by way of Warsaw will be
+desirable, and I hope the King will not object to your so doing.
+
+                                           I am, Sir,
+
+                                      your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                                        JOHN HOPE SMITH.
+
+
+                                            _Coomassie, Sept. 16_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I DID not receive your letter of the 25th of August, until the 11th
+instant, four days after I had advised you of the execution of the
+treaty. I considered it my duty to acquaint you of every variation in
+the prospects of the Embassy, although, even when communicating the
+discouraging circumstances of my letter of the 10th ult. I could not
+abate my hopes, or allow doubt to sicken my exertions. I valued on the
+reflection, that I had not been heard before the King in vindication of
+the Residency; the motives of which I knew to have been grossly
+misrepresented by our natural enemies the Moors, to whose arts the
+suspicion of the natives have been suitably auxiliary. My confidence was
+justified by the favourable impression the King and the Government
+manifested, when the subject was publicly advocated; since which I have
+never heard of an objection to it: it has indeed, become a favourite
+measure with the superior captains, who, as far as may be judged from
+the respect and deference with which they have treated us from that
+time, seem not only to have been conciliated, but won by the recent
+circumstances of the negotiation. The terms of the treaty, by exceeding
+your expectations, will compensate for the accumulation of difficulties
+which have been opposed to us. We are taught to believe that no law has
+ever been enacted in this kingdom with equal solemnity, or an oath, so
+serious, been before submitted to by the King, or imposed on the
+captains. Had the treaty disappointed, instead of exceeded our
+expectations, I must have viewed it as inviolable, and submitted myself
+to your candour; which I would now, and justify myself by answering the
+reasonable apprehensions which have recently affected your opinion of
+the Residency, rather than by the plea that the treaty was executed
+before I received them.
+
+If I had been convinced that it was dislike, and not suspicion, which
+actuated the opposition to the Residency, I should not only have
+considered it imprudent, but derogatory, to have persevered in the view;
+but, sensible that it was the latter, (from the evidence of the King’s
+deportment, and the knowledge of the intrigue and calumny excited
+against us,) I felt the greater anxiety for its accomplishment; since,
+to have yielded to suspicion, without every labour to eradicate it,
+would have been to have excluded ourselves from the kingdom hereafter.
+
+If the King had been actuated, individually, by the desire of detecting
+the frauds of his messengers, I should have viewed the measure as
+pernicious; but the Government itself having anxiously recommended it,
+for the sake of their own interest, (Fort pay, and purchases from the
+treasury being always divided amongst the superior captains) I
+considered it harmless; and not solely from the power of its advocates,
+but also from the impotence of the royal messengers in state affairs,
+being generally attendants on the King, and therefore jealously watched
+by the other parts of the Government. This desire has only been
+addressed to me in two instances, both of which I think justified it:
+first, respecting the fort pay; it having been since proved, and
+confessed, that, out of 62 oz. paid at Christiansburg Castle in 1816 and
+17, the Ashantee Government has been defrauded of 23 oz. by the
+messenger: and secondly, respecting the goods purchased by Ocranameah,
+where the fraud could not escape notice. Such peculations have probably,
+in the first case, given rise to doubts of our honour; and in the
+latter, have certainly proved a prejudice to the trade. On the occasion
+of Ocranameah’s baseness, I myself requested the King to allow me to
+address you for the particulars of his treatment; and if you consider
+the mischievous influence of the report, the fatality of the impression
+that the King’s Embassy had been subjected to contempt, whilst we had
+been treated with generosity and respect, you will admit that the
+disproof was imperious on me: he has been disgraced, and owes his safety
+to my intercession. Nothing but the most decisive conduct can arrest
+villainy here. The reports of Adoo Bradie have been highly flattering.
+The King will certainly have a better opportunity of making demands from
+the residence of a British officer; neither can I lessen the probability
+further than by my opinion, which though only indulgent of the people in
+general, is certainly favourable of the honour of the King, and the
+superior captains. The advantages and prospects of our preserving our
+footing by a Residency, have been too fully suggested by your
+experience, to require my dwelling on them.
+
+I will proceed to acquaint you of the circumstances subsequent to my
+receipt of your letter, one of which had nearly been serious. After the
+settlement of the Commenda palaver, the King requested me to wait 10
+days, which were afterwards extended to 15, as you were advised in his
+letter of the 31st ult. This time expired on Saturday last, but the King
+said then that we must not go until Monday. Accordingly, on that day, I
+delivered Mr. Hutchison written instructions (a copy of which I enclose)
+and sent several messages to the King to remind him of his promise. We
+were not sent for until six o’clock in the evening, when the King said
+he could not let me go then, nor before he had time to send me away
+properly. This I considered to be the mere affectation of state; I
+pleaded that your orders were binding, and that it was insulting to you,
+as well as dangerous to me, to prevent my respect of them, now every
+thing like business was settled. The King said he would only ask me to
+stop until Wednesday. I replied, that if he would give me his hand, and
+promise that I should go then, I would wait. No! he could not, but he
+would promise me for the Monday following. I saw that yielding to this
+would subject me to an indefinite delay. I told the King that I should
+be obliged to go, though unwillingly, without his approbation, and that
+not only my duty but his promise justified me. I had only to ask him if
+he still wished me to leave Mr. Hutchison? All the reply I could get
+was, that I might break the Law if I thought proper. I told them the Law
+would never be broken by an English officer, but still, if they were
+sorry that they had sworn to the Law, I would send for it and tear it in
+pieces before them; we did not make laws from fear. No! they liked the
+Law, and could not break it, but I might if I chose. I repeated my
+willingness to stay till Wednesday; the promise could only be given for
+the Monday: the King and the council retired abruptly. I followed them,
+told them I was obliged to be determined, and begged the King to shew
+his respect for you, and the friendship he had condescended to profess
+for myself, by considering your orders; this was construed as
+indecision; and Monday, or when the King has time, was the reply. I
+thanked him formally for all his kindnesses, told him I must go, and
+retired. It was necessary, at least, to make the attempt, although it
+was then eight o’clock. I left all the luggage in the charge of Mr.
+Hutchison, except two portmanteaus, the sextant, and the box containing
+my papers. We had scarcely proceeded fifty yards before the gong-gongs
+and drums were beat all around us, and we were attacked by a crowd of
+swords and muskets, headed by our house master Aboïdwee, who in the
+first rush seized the luggage and the flag. I felt myself compelled to
+attempt to regain the flag; and the value of my papers, and the impolicy
+of being intimidated by the outrage, were also considerations. I begged
+the officers not to draw their swords till the last moment, and taking
+the muskets, the butt ends of which cleared our way to the luggage, we
+fastened on it, with the soldiers, artisans, and our servants, who
+supported us vigorously. The Ashantees did not attempt to fire, but
+attacked us only with their heavy swords and large stones. We kept our
+ground nearly a quarter of an hour, though our belts and caps were torn
+away, and we frequently fell. At this time, Mr. Tedlie (who had regained
+his sword, which had been torn from his side) was stunned by a blow on
+the head, and as all were much bruised, and some of the people cut, I
+contented myself with the recovery of the flag, the sextant, and the
+papers, and we retired slowly to the house, not expecting they would
+follow us; but they did so, with a fury which led me to believe they
+intended our destruction. We posted ourselves in the door-way, and I
+immediately dispatched the canes by a back way to the King, to tell him
+we had not yet drawn our swords, but we must do so unless he rescued us
+immediately. The tumult did not allow expostulation, we had no
+alternative but to defend ourselves, which the narrow passage favoured.
+The captain, Aboïdwee, who was quite mad with fury and liquor, made a
+cut at me as I held him from me, which would have been fatal but for the
+presence of mind of one of the soldiers, through which it only grazed my
+face. We were soon rescued by the presence of Adoocee, the chief
+linguist, and Yokokroko, the King’s chamberlain, with their retinues.
+Nothing could exceed their servility, they offered to swear the King was
+not privy to the outrage, ordered Aboïdwee before them, and threatened
+him with the loss of his head. I told them I knew the King’s controul,
+and was not to be treated as a fool; he had forcibly detained us as
+prisoners, and must take the consequences; I should say no more. They
+continued their professions and entreaties upwards of an hour, and did
+all they could by their menaces to Aboïdwee, and their deference to the
+evidence of our people, to convince me of their discountenance of the
+outrage. I divided the people into watches for the night.
+
+By day light the next morning all our luggage was returned, I refused to
+receive it. Yokokroko and Adoo Quamina then sent to say they waited
+below until we had done breakfast; a long palaver succeeded, of the same
+tenour as that of the preceding night. About 11 o’clock, the linguists,
+Adoocee, Otee, and Quancum; Yokokroko, and a crowd of captains came from
+the King with a present of 20 ackies, two flasks of liquor, and a large
+hog. I asked them if they came to put more shame on my face, by bribing
+me to settle the great palaver they had made the night before with the
+King of England. They flattered and menaced by turns to make me take it,
+and urged, that to refuse the King’s present was to declare war. I
+persisted in refusing every thing short of an interview with the King.
+The Cape Coast messengers, impelled by their apprehensions and their
+avarice, had the temerity to declare at this moment, that you had sent
+them as a check upon me, and that they knew I was not doing as you
+wished in talking so to the King, and that you would make a palaver with
+me for not waiting the King’s pleasure. It was necessary to annihilate
+the impression of such language immediately. I deprived them of their
+canes, and threatened to put them in irons. The King not long after sent
+his eunuch and followers to conduct us to the palace, where he had
+assembled the superior captains. We went in plain clothes, alleging that
+we dared not wear our uniforms as prisoners. The King said, I must not
+say that; he was my good friend, and would do me right; he did not think
+I would have tried to go without his leave, and never meant his people
+to fight with us, he would give me the heads of all those who led them
+on, and beg me himself for the rest, as I begged him for Quamina
+Bootaqua; he never begged any body before; he did not send the gold, as
+I thought, he sent it to pay for any thing the people had spoiled, and
+meant to do us right all the same; it would break his heart if the King
+of England heard he had used his officers ill, and if I liked him, I
+must settle the palaver easy.
+
+Of course I would not hear of any heads being cut off, though they all
+pressed it repeatedly, and doubtless would not have regarded sacrificing
+a few inferior captains to varnish their allegation; yet, I must
+declare, it is my firm opinion, and it is supported by the evidence of
+our private friends, that the King and his principal men merely intended
+Aboïdwee to stop us, by placing his numbers before us and pleading the
+King’s orders, not dreaming of any outrage, or that the impetuosity of
+this man, irritated by the loss of his retainer at Cape Coast,[14] would
+hurry him to order his soldiers to assault us: he has not an atom of
+influence; but the King selected him as a near relative of his own, to
+succeed to Bakkee’s stool, to which 1700 men are attached: the King
+repeatedly offered me his head. To resume, the King requested us to
+drink with him, and then to shake hands, begged us to resume our
+uniforms, and ordered his own people to attend us at our house. I
+renewed the subject of our departure. The King said this was a bad week,
+and he did not like us to go in it, he would thank me very much to stay
+till Monday, and then he could get a proper present ready. Sunday too
+was the Adaï custom, and then I must put Mr. Hutchison’s hand in
+Adoocee’s, and Adoocee place it in his, and he would promise to take
+proper care of him before all the captains. Odumata and Adoocee came
+forward to give me their hands, as a pledge of their responsibility. I
+said I could receive no one’s hand but the King’s on such an occasion,
+but I ordered Quashie Apaintree to do so, and it was sworn to. The King
+then said Adoocee had told him the Cape Coast messengers had tried to
+put shame on my face—he was very angry with them—they ought to know God
+made white man’s head better than black man’s, and they must come before
+him, and put my foot on their heads. I told him, I could not let any one
+do so, but I sent for their canes, and entrusted them to them again,
+with a suitable reprimand. The King then begged me to receive his
+present, which I did, giving the people the hog and liquor, they had
+received another on the Friday before, which the King sent me, with 39
+yams.
+
+I have observed that the Government’s anxiety for the force of the
+Treaty, and for the Residency, has heightened in proportion to the
+indifference I have affected. I consider the affair of yesterday to have
+perfected the impression of our spirit. I certainly would not think of
+leaving any but an officer of the most considerate conduct as a
+Resident, and, I believe, Mr. Hutchison, by tempering his spirit with
+judgment, may safely realize the objects of the situation; if, however,
+on my return, you consider I have left him in a precarious situation, I
+volunteer my services to replace him, and deliberately to retire the
+Residency.
+
+It occurs to me, the Amissa palaver may possibly be the design of this
+interval, if it should, you may rely on my remaining resolute on the
+subject.
+
+                                                  I am, &c.
+
+                                         (Signed)     T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+
+                                                _Coomassie, Sept._ 1817.
+
+          _To_ WILLIAM HUTCHISON, _Esquire, British Resident._
+
+   SIR,
+
+I AM directed by the Governor in Chief to leave you written instructions
+for your future government.
+
+The conviction of the honour and justice of our public negotiations,
+having procured us a footing in opposition to the arts which have been
+practised upon the suspicion of the natives, your conduct is looked to,
+with confidence, to support it, by originating an opinion of our moral
+character, equally auspicious to the benevolent views of the British
+Government. The simplicity of our religion, tolerating the calumny of
+the Moors, that we are destitute of any, you will have the satisfaction
+of perfecting the confutation, by a regular retirement to its duties,
+and by the practice of that benevolence and forbearance, equally
+congenial to the policy prescribed to us.
+
+It would be premature, as well as dangerous, to direct any other than
+the tacit reproof of your own conduct and sentiments, to the cruelties
+consecrated by the superstitions of the Ashantees; you must be content
+to avoid the countenance of them by your presence, by adhering to the
+plea of the repugnance of your religion. This conduct, associated with a
+humanity always inclining you to induce mercy, whenever the offence, or
+prudence, may admit of an interference, will propitiate your own wishes,
+and the expectations of the Government.
+
+The friendship and respect which the King, and the superior captains
+have manifested, will not only be preserved, but strengthened, by a
+dignified deportment, and a considerate use of the private intercourse
+these feelings have established; and you will cultivate the frequent
+opportunities of instilling into their minds, that education originated
+the pre-eminence of Europeans; and that peace is most auspicious to the
+greatness of a Nation, directing all its powers to commerce and the
+arts, and thereby founding its superior comfort, prosperity, and
+embellishment. The power and resources of your own country should be
+quoted to illustrate this truth; and you will impress that it is the
+experience of it, which has imposed the benevolent anxiety of the
+British Government, to improve the condition of the people of Africa,
+through the legitimate medium of commerce. This impression you will
+extend, deliberately, to the visitors from other kingdoms, particularly
+to those from the Sarem and Mallowa countries.
+
+In encouraging the trade with the Coast, your measures must disprove any
+view but that of a fair competition; and your vigilance of the British
+interests must be distinct from any thing like jealousy, suspicion, or
+intermeddling: you will act as the advocate of the views of Europe, but
+not allow any interference to be imposed on you, without the sanction of
+the Governor in Chief, whose letters will be, exclusively, attended to,
+and to whom you will candidly communicate any circumstance or
+reflection, affecting our new connection.
+
+You will repress, rather than encourage the disposition of the King and
+the Council, to detect imposition through your assistance, by confining
+your justifications, as much as possible, to public transactions; for
+although the Government is gratified by it, it may tend to make the
+Residency unpopular.
+
+I enclose you a copy of the Treaty, and particularly direct your
+attention to the 4th article, which authorizes you to submit to every
+thing like a mediation, separable from responsibility, to the discussion
+of the Governor in Chief, for the sake of peace and humanity; but you
+will do this, invariably, with diffidence; without betraying any
+sanguine expectations.
+
+You will be more sensible to insult than injury; and the most politic
+conduct will be, to declare that the British Government exacts from all
+its officers, on pain of disgrace, a firm repulse of the former; and
+that they dare not admit the influence of their private feelings, as in
+the latter case.
+
+I leave you in possession of the esteem of the King, and the friendship
+of the superior Captains, and with every thing favourable to the objects
+of the Residency; but, should any caprice in the Government make you
+invidious to any thing like a party, or diminish their respect, you will
+immediately address the Governor in Chief, who will order your presence
+at Head Quarters. Another important consideration will be your health;
+also the character of the captain who may be left in charge of the
+capital, should the King go himself to the Buntooko war. Your personal
+safety is out of the question at present, but should the least doubt
+arise in your own mind hereafter, you must consult the Governor’s
+solicitude, rather than your own spirit.
+
+You see the necessity of keeping in with the Moors; the flattering their
+intelligence is most conducive to this, and also elicits valuable
+information.
+
+I shall afford you a perusal of the dispatch of the Committee, and the
+instructions of the Governor in Chief, to perfect the present.
+
+I have directed Mr. Tedlie to leave you a supply of medicines, and you
+will take charge of the Resident’s flag.
+
+                                            I am, Sir,
+
+                                        your most obedient Servant,
+
+                                         (Signed)     T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+Baba had a great number of Arabic manuscripts; I have preserved a leaf
+finely illuminated. Apokoo astonished us by offering to lend us some
+books to read; he shewed us two French volumes on geography, a Dutch
+bible, a volume of the Spectator, and a Dissuasion from Popery, 1620. It
+was gratifying to recollect that this chief, now become so much attached
+to us, was the man mentioned in our early dispatches as snatching Mr.
+Tedlie’s sword from him, on the declaration of war, to make his oath
+against us the more inveterate. Telling the King one day that Mr.
+Hutchison’s and Mr. Tedlie’s countries, Scotland and Ireland, were
+formerly distinct from mine, he begged directly to hear specimens of the
+different languages, and was reluctantly persuaded that it was the
+policy of England to get rid of all national distinctions between her
+subjects. Apokoo was very fond of scribbling, and with a smile
+frequently begged to know what he had written. They could not comprehend
+how any hieroglyphic that was not a picture, could express an object. My
+name, said the King, is not like me. He was rather uneasy at my
+sketching; the Moors, he hinted, had insinuated that I could place a
+spell on the buildings I drew. I told him, without drawings, the people
+in England could not be convinced that I had visited him; he appeared
+satisfied, and begged to be drawn handsome.
+
+There are only four direct descendants now living of the noble families
+which accompanied the emigration of Saï Tootoo, the founder of the
+Ashantee monarchy; none of them are wealthy, and Assaphi, who is one, is
+a beggar, wandering in the bush, having been disgraced from the highest
+favour, for the following fraud. An old linguist of the former King’s
+(Saï Quamina) having died at a distant croom, the King, according to
+custom, sent Assaphi with four periguins of gold, and a quantity of
+expensive cloths and mats to bury him; Assaphi kept the gold, and
+substituted inferior cloths of his own. The wife urged the great and
+zealous services of her husband to Saï Quamina, and her indignation at
+such a mean acknowledgment as the King had sent. Assaphi returned,
+reported her gratitude, and that every thing had been handsomely done,
+to the credit of the King. The wife privately dug up the cloths buried
+with the corpse, and suspecting the fraud, secretly conveyed them to the
+King, with a full account. The King sent for Assaphi and again enquiring
+the particulars, with seeming indifference, suddenly required him to
+swear to the truth, which he advanced to do, when the King said no! you
+must not swear, and the woman was immediately discovered to him with all
+the cloths. He then confessed the particulars, was stripped of every
+thing, and is now the more despised for not killing himself; and the
+King could not put him to death, as the direct descendant of one of Saï
+Tootoo’s peers. Part of the King’s reproach to him was curious: “my
+brother’s linguist did him great good, so when he and my brother, who
+now live with God, make God recollect all, and tell him the shame you
+put on him for me, in so burying him, God will kill me.”
+
+A man and a woman were beheaded on the 17th of this month, for an
+intrigue: the woman was very handsome, and the wife of a captain: on
+their being suspected, both were ordered to drink doom, which choking
+them, they were immediately executed. The King’s sister sent for Mr.
+Tedlie to go and see her, he enquired into her complaint and recommended
+some medicine, which she very thankfully agreed to take; he prepared
+some for her, and went to give her the proper directions; upon which,
+she handed the cup to her husband, who beginning to swallow it very
+fast, Mr. Tedlie stopped him, and said he had only prepared sufficient
+for one person; the lady replied, “let him drink this to day, and I can
+have more to-morrow;” he told her that he had very little medicine, and
+could not afford to give it to people that were in good health: she did
+not appear pleased with this reasoning. A man of Assiminia, who had
+received medicine and advice from Mr. Tedlie on our march up, sent him a
+third present about this time, of fruit, vegetables, and wild deer, with
+the account that he was quite well.
+
+Apokoo enquired very anxiously, why the King of England had not sent one
+of his sons with the presents to the King of Ashantee. He said he had
+himself conquered five nations, during the present and the preceding
+reign, and he named twenty one nations which now paid tribute to
+Ashantee; but he added, there were three countries which would not; two
+eastward, and one to the north-west; each of those eastward had defeated
+the Ashantees; the one north-westward, on the King sending for tribute,
+desired that he would come and take it, and afterwards entirely
+destroyed an Ashantee army.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                            _Akrofroom, Sept. 26_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE King only availed himself of our detention to introduce us to fresh
+ceremonies, and to augment the testimonies of his friendship. The Amissa
+palaver was not attempted, and nothing like design has disclosed itself.
+
+On the Monday there was a general assembly of the caboceers and
+captains, the King of Dwabin being present, with his linguists, also
+several Dagwumba caboceers, and the Moorish dignitaries. The King
+announced the execution of the Treaty by himself and the deputies, and
+impressed, in a long speech through his linguists, that he would visit
+the least offence against it with the greatest severity. I was then
+requested to read it for the last time, and the King’s duplicate was
+executed in a similar manner.
+
+In the evening, the King gave us our last audience before all his
+superior captains: a letter was dictated, which I shall present to you
+on my arrival; and Adoocee, the chief linguist, was formally deputed to
+receive Mr. Hutchison’s hand from me, and to place it in the King’s, who
+received it with a solemn avowal of his responsibility for the charge.
+The linguist then presented from the King,
+
+To the Government, four boys for education.
+
+To the British Museum, six specimens of the goldsmith’s work. (I had
+interested the King, by my account of this national repository.)
+
+To the Governor in Chief, one boy, one girl, to be brought up in his
+service.
+
+To Mr. Bowdich, one boy, one girl, and 2 oz. 6 ac. of gold.
+
+  Mr. Tedlie, one boy, and 1 oz.     4 ac. of gold.
+
+  Accra linguist, one cloth,         10 ditto.
+
+  Cape Coast linguists, two cloths,  10 ditto.
+
+  De Graaff’s messenger,             10 ditto.
+
+  The officers servants,             10 ditto.
+
+  The soldiers,                      10 ditto.
+
+I afterwards received a Sarem cloth and some trifles as a further dash
+from Apokoo; one sheep, &c. &c. from Baba the chief of the Moors; and 15
+ackies of gold from the King’s linguists, with their acknowledgments of
+my firmness during the negotiation.
+
+The King having a palaver at present with the Warsaws, objected so
+strongly to our returning through their territory, that after one or two
+attempts to over-rule his apprehensions, I found it would be imprudent
+to persevere in the wish, although the disappointment was great; the
+King assured me the Warsaw path was two days longer, and that he will
+not spare any labour on that of Assin directly after the war. I had
+permission to go some miles on the Warsaw path, to convince myself of
+its neglected condition.
+
+The King’s favorite son (a child about five years old) whom he had
+dressed in our uniform for the occasion, was so alarmed at the idea of
+being given over to us, that the King’s feelings obliged him to promise
+me that he would send the children after me; he is too jealous of the
+advantages to allow those of his great men to participate, until his own
+family are first distinguished by them.
+
+The King supplied me with bearers, and pressed me to take six hammock
+men in case of sickness; he would not hear of pay for any, and persisted
+in appointing one of his captains to take care of us. He yielded the
+point of an escort reluctantly, which I had combated from the
+consideration of the expense of a present to such a number. The King
+requested me on taking leave, to wait a short time until his captains
+had distributed the powder to salute as on our departure, and it being
+then dark, to proceed no further than a small croom just beyond the
+marsh, where the people should join us in the morning. The King and his
+captains were seated by torch light with all their insignia, without the
+palace, and we quitted the capital, preceded by the King’s banners,
+discharges of musketry, and every flattering distinction that could be
+thought of.
+
+The King has provided one of the best houses for Mr. Hutchison, very
+superior to any we could have raised at so short a notice, and has
+anticipated every thing to make him comfortable, and respected; nothing
+could be more considerate or kind, than his speech to him on my taking
+leave.
+
+A messenger of the King of Dwabin’s accompanies me for a suit of our
+uniform for the King’s wear, which I could not refuse.
+
+                                              I am, &c. &c.
+
+                                         (Signed)     T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
+
+
+                                        _Coomassie, September 22_, 1817.
+
+    SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee, &c. to_ JOHN HOPE SMITH,
+               _Esquire, Governor in Chief, &c. &c. &c._
+
+   SIR,
+
+WE are from this time forth good friends, and I shall send all the trade
+I can to Cape Coast Castle, and I hope that you will by and by have
+confidence in my word.
+
+I beg you will send my best compliments to the King of England, and
+accept them yourself, in proof of my satisfaction of the purposes of the
+Embassy, and its happy termination.
+
+You will call all the Fantee caboceers before you, and impress the
+importance of the Treaty, and exact their respect of it, as I have from
+all my great men and caboceers.
+
+I hope you will always act towards me as a friend, and I shall always be
+ready to protect and support the British interests.
+
+I wish you health and happiness, and all my captains send their best
+compliments to you.
+
+                                     I am, Sir,
+
+                                           your sincere friend,
+
+                                       The mark X of Saï Tootoo Quamina.
+
+   Present,
+
+W. HUTCHISON.
+
+HENRY TEDLIE.
+
+I will thank you to impress on the King of England that I have sworn not
+to renew the war with the Fantees, out of respect to him, and I shall
+consider them as his people. I hope therefore he will, in turn, consider
+if he cannot renew the Slave Trade, which will be good for me.
+
+I hope the King of England will now let all foreign vessels come to the
+coast to trade, and you must say that the path is now clear to do as
+much English trade as your supplies will allow.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+         The following letter was sent after me, to Doompassie.
+
+
+                                       _Coomassie, 23d September_, 1817.
+
+          JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
+
+   SIR,
+
+THE King of Ashantee desires me to request you will write to all the
+Governors of English forts, on the African coast, to order the caboceers
+of each town, to send a proper person to Cape Coast, and that you will
+add one messenger yourself; that they may all proceed to Coomassie to
+take the King’s fetish in his presence, that none may plead ignorance of
+the Treaty concluded between his Majesty and the British nation.
+
+The King wishes me to express, that he is fully satisfied with the
+objects of the Mission, and that the Treaty may be read by me to all the
+Fantee deputies you may send for that purpose.
+
+                                                 I am, &c. &c.
+
+                                              (Signed)     W. HUTCHISON.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+My last private letters from Cape Coast Castle had imposed the most
+painful anxiety; the two lives naturally beyond all others the dearest
+to me, were imminently endangered by the seasoning illness of the
+country; one yielded to it before I could arrive, yet, under all the
+impatience of my affliction, I must confess, when I took the King’s hand
+for the last time, when I reflected on the benevolence, the solicitude,
+and the generosity I had experienced whilst my life was in his hands,
+affected by the most untoward and irritating political circumstances, by
+the aggravated suspicions of his chiefs, and by the poisonous jealousy
+of the Moors, there was a painful gratification in the retrospect, which
+blended the wish to linger another hour in listening to acknowledgments
+of esteem and obligation, more affecting than flattering, and enhanced
+by the consoling reflection, that they were the natural emotions of one
+of those monarchs we are pleased to call barbarians. Night was coming
+on, but as I had so positively declared before the King and his council,
+on the former occasion, that nothing should deter me from keeping my
+word in quitting Coomassie on this day, it would not do to delay even
+until the morning. A strict observance of your word, is every thing in
+the eye of a Negro. The King said, he would not beg me to stay, as I had
+declared I dared not; he would only ask me to go no further than Ogogoo,
+that night, and his people should join me early in the morning. Our exit
+was a brilliant scene, from the reflection of the glittering ornaments
+of the King and his captains by the torches; they were seated in a deep
+and long line, without the palace, accompanied by their retinues; all
+their bands burst forth together, as we saluted the King in passing, and
+we were enveloped in the smoke of the musketry. The darkness of the
+forest was an instantaneous and awful contrast, and the howlings and
+screeches of the wild beasts, startled us as we groped our way, as if we
+had never heard them before. The torches provided for our protection
+against them were extinguished in crossing the marsh, which had swollen
+to between four and five feet deep, and the descent to it from Coomassie
+was rocky and abrupt. The linguists and soldiers lost themselves in the
+forest, and did not arrive at Ogogoo until long after Mr. Tedlie and
+myself. The inhabitants were asleep, but they rose cheerfully, cleared
+the best house for us, and made fires. The next morning I received the
+dash of gold from the King’s linguists, in a Mallowa bag, with a long
+compliment; the conclusion of which was, that I must always be ready to
+use the same spirit and address, in talking a palaver for the King of
+Ashantee, as I had shewn in talking that of my own King. This testimony
+of their good feeling and esteem, which they could not avow whilst we
+were political antagonists, was grateful.
+
+Marching through Sarrasoo, where we were liberally refreshed with palm
+wine, we halted in the evening at Assiminia. We were received with great
+hospitality by the principal man, who provided us with excellent
+lodging, to his own inconvenience, and presented us with some fowls. The
+path was almost a continued bog, for the rainy season had set in
+violently. The next day we marched through Dadasey to Doompassie, and
+occupied our former comfortable dwelling. One party spent the night in
+the woods. Thursday morning, the 6th, we had a short but most fatiguing
+march over the mountains dividing the frontiers, to Moisee, the first
+Assin town. The difficulty of procuring provisions until the people
+returned from the plantations, detained us in Moisee until four o’clock
+in the evening. As the stage from Doompassie had been short, (although
+fatiguing) I determined to proceed to Akrofroom, as we should gain a day
+by it. The Ashantees remonstrated, knowing the swollen state of the
+several small rivers, and the aggravated difficulties of the path from
+the heavy rain; but I was so apprehensive of being detained, by their
+pleading their superstitious observance of good and bad days for
+travelling, that I was afraid of seeming to yield to them, lest it might
+encourage the disposition. I recommended them to go back, and started
+without them, but they were soon at my heels, declaring, they should
+lose their heads if they quitted us. Mr. Tedlie, myself, a soldier, and
+the Ashantee next in authority under the captain, outwalked the rest of
+the party, and found ourselves out of their hearing when it grew dark.
+We lost some time in trying to make torches to keep off the beasts, and
+to direct us in the right track, for we were walking through a continued
+bog, and had long before lost our shoes. A violent tornado ushered in
+the night, we could not hear each other holla, and were soon separated;
+luckily I found I had one person left with me (the Ashantee) who, after
+I had groped him out, tying his cloth tight round his middle, gave me
+the other end, and thus plunged along, pulling me after him, through
+bogs and rivers, exactly like an owl tied to a duck in a pond. The
+thunder, the darkness, and the howlings of the wild beasts were awful,
+but the loud and continuing crash of a large tree, which fell very near
+us during the storm, was even more so to my ear. The Ashantee had
+dragged me along, or rather through, in this manner until I judged it to
+be midnight, when, quite exhausted, with the remnants of my clothes
+scarcely hanging together, I let go his cloth, and falling on the
+ground, was asleep before I could call out to him. I was awoke by this
+faithful guide, who had felt me out, and seated me on the trunk of a
+tree, with my head resting on his shoulder; he gave me to understand I
+must die if I sat there, and we pursued the duck and owl method once
+more. In an hour we forded the last river, which had swollen
+considerably above my chin, and spread to a great width. This last
+labour I considered final, and my drowsiness became so fascinating, that
+it seemed to beguile me of every painful thought and apprehension, and
+the yielding to it was an exquisite, though momentary pleasure. I
+presume I must have slept above an hour, lifted by this humane man from
+the bank of the river to a drier corner of the forest, more impervious
+to the torrents of rain; when, being awoke, I was surprised to see him
+with a companion and a torch; he took me on his back, and in about three
+quarters of an hour we reached Akrofroom. This man knew I carried about
+me several ounces of gold, for the subsistence of the people, not
+trusting to our luggage, which we could not reckon on in such a season
+and journey. Exhausted and insensible, my life was in his hands, and
+infested as the forest was with wild beasts, he might after such a
+night, without suspicion, have reported me as destroyed by them; this
+had occurred to me, and was an uneasy feeling as long as my torpor left
+me any. It was about two o’clock in the morning, and the inhabitants of
+Akrofroom were almost all asleep, for it was too rude a night for Negro
+revelry; however, I was directly carried to a dry and clean apartment,
+furnished with a brass pan full of water to wash in, some fruits and
+palm wine, an excellent bed of mats and cushions, and an abundance of
+country cloths to wrap around me, for I was all but naked. After I had
+washed, I rolled myself up in the cloths, one after the other, until I
+became a gigantic size, and by a profuse perspiration escaped any other
+ill than a slight fever. A soldier came up about mid-day, and gave me
+some hopes of seeing Mr. Tedlie again, who arrived soon afterwards,
+having left his companions in a bog, waiting until he sent them
+assistance from the town. Our gratification was mutual, for the only
+trace he had had of me was by no means an encouraging one; my servant
+meeting an Ashantee in the forest with fragments of my clothes, which he
+persisted he had not taken from any person, but picked up on his way.
+Mr. Tedlie (whose feet were cut and bruised much more than mine, and
+whose wretched plight made him envy the African toga I had assumed)
+after we had separated, and the storm had drowned our mutual hollaings,
+the howlings of the wild beasts meeting his ears on all sides, had just
+determined to roost in a tree for the night, when an Ashantee appeared
+with a torch, and conducted him out of the track to the remains of a
+shed, where four or five of the people had before strayed and settled
+themselves. Another party arrived at Akrofroom about four o’clock, and
+the last, with the Cape Coast linguist and the corporal, not until sun
+set; they had lost the track altogether, and spent the whole day, as
+well as the previous night, in the woods. We made an excellent duck
+soup, our grace to which was, “what a luxury to poor Mungo Park;” the
+name recalled sufferings which made us laugh at our own as mere
+adventures.
+
+On Saturday the 8th we marched to Asharamang. Here we found great
+difficulties in getting provisions until the Ashantees came up, for
+Quamina Bwa’s knavery had been ascribed to us; and here, panyaring all
+we required, he had not given the inhabitants a tokoo of the gold. At
+length we were well supplied and comfortably lodged. The next day we
+marched through Kickiwherree to Prasoo, where we occupied a good house,
+and an Ashantee captain proceeding on an embassy, dashed us a supply of
+fowls and yams. We crossed the Boosempra early the next morning, and
+thence began to leave the rains behind us. Persevering in making but one
+journey of the distances which occupied us two and three days going up,
+we pressed forward, passing by our former bivouacs in the woods,
+scarcely distinguishable, until we reached the site of Accomfodey, for
+only one hut now remained; the wretched inhabitants having deserted it
+in terror of the Ashantees. The solitary Fantee who occupied it, had the
+address to assure me, that I should find much better lodging at
+Ancomassa, where we recollected to have left some comfortable huts going
+up, and we resolved to try another stage, and were recompensed by
+finding scarcely a wreck of the place, and some tattered sheds only
+instead of the sound roof we had quitted. We proceeded early the next
+morning, passed Foosou, which was entirely deserted, and marched until
+we found ourselves at sun set on the banks of the Aniabirrim. The people
+were all behind, and the Ashantees coming up about an hour afterwards,
+informed us they had settled themselves for the night about two hours
+walk distant. Unfortunately we had no flint, and after fasting all day,
+we had the mortification of losing our supper merely for want of a fire;
+the wood was all so wet that friction had no effect on it, we could find
+no shelter, and a heavy rain set in as it grew dark; fatigue luckily
+beguiled us of cold and hunger, and of our apprehensions of a visit from
+the beasts, who were howling about the banks of their watering place. I
+wrapped myself up in the Inta cloth Apokoo had given me, and wet as the
+ground was, I never slept better. Hence the forest visibly declined in
+height towards the coast. We pressed on by day light, found some
+excellent guavas to allay our hunger, and reaching Mansue, made a good
+soup of our fowls, peppers growing luxuriantly all around us. We waited
+until we heard of the people behind us, and then proceeded; about five
+in the evening I reached Cottacoomacasa, with the Dwabin messenger only.
+The place was deserted, and a body of Ashantee traders had occupied the
+remaining shed. I would not disturb them, but waiting until sun set for
+Mr. Tedlie, I left him a supply of guavas, and proceeded to Payntree.
+There was a charm in the name of that place, being but one journey from
+the sea, superior to the recollection of the former night’s adventure.
+It was a brilliant night, and the dark gloom and hollow echos of the
+long vistas of the forest, formed a fine contrast to the extensive areas
+(sites of large Fantee crooms destroyed by the Ashantees) into which we
+frequently emerged. The wild music and cheerful revelry of the
+inhabitants of Payntree stole upon my ear, and raised the tone of my
+spirits in proportion as the sounds strengthened.
+
+A loud and continued shout warned me that I was announced; torches and
+music instantly encircled me, and I was conducted to old Payntree’s
+residence, who had built himself a new house somewhat in the Ashantee
+fashion. An excellent bed was prepared for me of an accumulation of mats
+and country cloths, and a famous supper of soups, stews, fruit, and palm
+wine. Quamina Bootaqua paid his respects, and old Payntree, Amooney King
+of Annamaboe, and two or three other caboceers, unknown to me, made a
+long adulatory speech, complimenting my ability, bewailing my hardships,
+and magnifying their obligations. I was requested to seat myself on old
+Payntree’s state stool, whilst they stood around me, and he begged me to
+listen to an air composed by his band on the occasion of the embassy,
+and its successful termination; “all would now be well, and Fantee
+revive and flourish.” I sat up till midnight, vainly expecting Mr.
+Tedlie and the soldiers; they awoke me by their arrival before sun rise;
+they had passed the night in a sound hut, on the path, which from the
+want of a torch had escaped my notice.
+
+Hearing, as I expected, that there was a path from Payntree to Cape
+Coast Castle, avoiding Annamaboe (whence the Mission had departed), I
+determined to explore it, and Payntree furnished me with a guide. The
+country was beautifully diversified with hill and dale, but the soil was
+generally lighter and more gravelly than that between Annamaboe and
+Payntree. We passed through several groves of guava trees, and all the
+other tropical fruits abounded. Occasionally there were small
+plantations of Guinea corn, where a few wretched Fantees still lurked in
+the ruins of the crooms the Ashantees had destroyed. We passed through
+eleven which had been considerable, and now presented but a few mud
+houses scattered over extensive sites. Their names were Assequah,
+Daöoramong, Amparoo, Taächoo, Coorikirraboo, Perridjoo, Abikarrampa,
+Aquoitee, Miensa, and Amosima. The only water was near Amparoo; it was a
+large pond nearly two miles in circumference, and sixty yards broad,
+impregnated with vegetable matter. After travelling 15 miles, we climbed
+some very steep and rocky hills, apparently of iron stone, and descended
+into a flat country, continuing until a small rising about two miles
+from Cape Coast Castle, (which I judged to be 20 miles from Payntree by
+this interior path) opened the sea to our view; as delightful to our
+sight, as land would have been after a prolonged and perilous voyage.
+The shouts and greetings of the natives were a grateful introduction to
+the more congenial congratulations of our countrymen.
+
+
+[Footnote 13: One piece of silk. 10 handkerchiefs of Dane. 1 umbrella. 4
+gallons of rum. 20 lbs. of pork. 1 basket of rice. Biscuit. 1 sheep.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The man who hung himself.]
+
+
+
+
+                               * * * * *
+                          MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
+                                PART II.
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                              _Geography._
+
+
+The impression of the Natives that we came “to spy the country” was
+sedulously strengthened by the Moors, who were actuated by alarm,
+jealousy, and a spirit of intolerance unmitigated by a previous
+intercourse with Europeans. I felt compelled, therefore, to suppress all
+curiosity for a considerable time, lest the anxiety to detect us in
+geographical enquiries, to make their calumny more imposing, might have
+been gratified. Latterly, when better feelings had been induced through
+patience and candour, as the Moorish charts and MSS. evidence, the
+inaptitude rather than the reluctance of the natives, made the shortness
+of our stay unaccommodating. I shall pass over a mass of memoranda
+recorded on individual report, and only select such, wherein Moors and
+natives, unknown to each other, have agreed; describing their travels in
+their own way, without my questions anticipating or directing them.
+These routes and observations were further confirmed by the evidence of
+children, recently arrived as slaves from the various countries, whose
+artless replies decided my credence. It may be remarked, that the
+children of the African Negroes, early accustomed to travel with their
+parents for their convenience or their assistance, and unoccupied by the
+difficulties of incipient education, observe nature more attentively
+than European children of the same age would; for they have nothing else
+to think of, or to divert the fatigue of these reiterated trading
+journies: their evidence, therefore, was a genuine and acceptable check
+on the Moorish and Negro adults.
+
+The difficulty of adjusting geography by investigation only, is not
+diminished by the numerous small states, scarcely less frequent than
+those of modern Italy, which we find to compose this part of Western
+Africa.
+
+Any thing like observations of the Sun’s place, during a journey, seemed
+to be so uncommon to the Natives, and so secondary to the Moors, from
+their confused accounts of the occasional changes, that, after expending
+much time to no purpose, I was obliged to content myself with placing
+the different kingdoms in the same direction as their several paths bore
+from Coomassie, taking every precaution to be convinced that the paths
+did not cross each other; and afterwards adjusting the positions by the
+various auxiliary evidence which occurred in the general course of my
+enquiries. I allow 15 miles for each days journey (which, from
+observation and report, I have reason to think is the average) and two
+thirds of the sum to be made good on the horizontal distance, as we
+found this to be nearly the case in our journey from Annamaboe to
+Coomassie; the distance travelled being 146 miles, Annamaboe laying in
+5° 4′ N., and 1° 43′ W., and the latitude of Coomassie being 6° 34′ 50″
+N.; and the longitude 2° 11′ W. by the mean of the observations of the
+eclipses of Jupiter’s 1st and 2nd satellites.
+
+I procured the numerals of the various countries whenever I could, to
+assist future enquirers.
+
+There are nine great paths leading from Coomassie, the Dwabin, Akim,
+Assin, Warsaw, Sauee, Gaman, Soko, Daboia, and Sallagha.
+
+Dwabin is not more than three quarters of a day’s journey eastward from
+Coomassie, by the route No. 1.; in which I have retained only the larger
+towns, omitting the villages; as I shall invariably. The river Dah is
+crossed close to the westward of Dwabin, and said to be as wide as we
+found it at Sarrasoo. Two journies beyond Dwabin is a small dependent
+district called Mohoo. Several names, such as Meäsee, Marmpon,
+Akrofroom, &c. will be found common to different states, as Larissa,
+Argos, and Thebes were in antient Greece.
+
+There is an eastern branch of the Akim path, entered immediately on
+leaving Coomassie, to a country called Quaöo, northward of Akim, (of
+which it seems formerly to have been a district) and adjoining the
+Volta. Diabbee is its principal town, and the second Wantomoo, 8
+journies from Coomassie by route No. 2. The latter is situated at the
+foot of a mountain whence the Boosempra issues, with two smaller rivers,
+the Soobirree and Sesee, running to the Kirradee. This district is
+entered the 3d day from Coomassie.
+
+There are two routes to Accra through Akim, the capital of which is
+Bannasoo, 5 journies, and the northern frontier town Feëa, 3 journies
+from Coomassie. The easternmost route to Accra is 15 journies; the other
+is made 17 journies to pass near the lake Boosmaquee. This lake, 3
+journies from Coomassie, was described as four miles long, and nearly
+three broad; upwards of thirty small crooms were reckoned situated
+around it, supported by fishing: the water was said to be unpleasant to
+drink, and to give a reddish hue to the hair of the people who washed in
+it. Fish were forwarded thence daily for the King’s table, by relays of
+men. It was called the white mans fetish, there being a popular
+superstition, nourished by the Moors, that Europeans were to join it
+with the sea, to introduce vessels for the subjugation of the country.
+Close to the lake is a mountain called Quashee Boposoo, sometimes seen
+clearly from Coomassie, abounding in large black stones, described as
+basaltes. By this route (No. 3.) to Accra, the Akim country is entered
+the 4th day, the Boosempra is crossed on the 6th, by a tree laid over
+it, and the Birrim, by a line and raft on the 12th; it is much wider
+than the Boosempra is where we crossed it, and runs to that river,
+falling into it just above our crossing. The Aquapim, a clear and
+mountainous country, is entered on the 16th day. By the eastern route,
+No. 4, the Akim country is entered the 4th day; a large hill called
+Abirrawantoo is passed the 9th; thence the Birrim springs, crossing the
+path twice before it runs to the Boosempra. Three days westward from
+this mountain, is a second, called Papow, in which the Aïnshue or the
+Winnebah river rises. A river called Dinshue rises also in this
+neighbourhood, running to the Saccomo, which falls into the sea 8 miles
+west of Accra. Isert, who visited Aquapim, called the capital Kommang,
+but Akropong is so now. The distance from Coomassie to Accra may be
+estimated at 230 miles, which bears about the same proportion to the
+horizontal distance, as the path we travelled through Assin from
+Annamaboe. Dr. Leyden was much imposed on in the extravagant account he
+has given of the extent, power, and commerce of Akim,[15] which is
+placed in the map accompanying his work, eastward of Dahomey, instead of
+westward of the Volta. Dr. Isert was a Danish gentleman, who had the
+good fortune to cure the former King of Ashantee’s sister of a lingering
+disorder, after she had exhausted all the skill of the fetish women, and
+came to Christiansburg Castle in despair. He afterwards expressed his
+wish to visit the Ashantee kingdom; and being encouraged, he set out in
+June 1786, and staying some days in Aquapim, was just about to enter
+Akim, when he was recalled by the Governor. A dangerous illness,
+heightened by his disappointment, soon afterwards disgusted him with the
+country, and he left it for the West Indies. As Dr. Isert’s letters are
+only known in German and Dutch,[16] and he was an industrious and
+scientific observer, an extract from his description of the Aquapim
+country will be acceptable. I am indebted for a Latin translation of
+this and other passages, adduced on different subjects, to Dr. Reynhaut
+of Elmina Castle.
+
+“I began my journey early in the morning of the 17th of June, and after
+walking two hours I arrived at a little village, picturesquely situated,
+named Aschiama. Two hours behind this lies a chain of mountains, which
+are composed of granitous stones; flints are but rarely found. The whole
+prospect shews itself here in a very different manner to that observed
+in sandy countries; the rocks are covered with lofty trees, which are
+encompassed with small forests almost impervious. The soil, no longer
+sandy, becomes argillaceous, and excellent for vegetation. Behind these
+forests I arrived at a Negro village called Abodee, eight leagues from
+Christiansburg: the inhabitants of this place are very tenacious of
+native ceremony and etiquette. Thence I passed by an irregular path
+through the following villages, Fiasso, Fientema, Futu, Mampon, Odaky,
+Manno, and Manseng. An hour afterwards I reached a village named
+Kommong, the residence of H.R.H. the Duke of Aquapim. Here the country
+is charming, though forests are still to be found. Mountains, rocks, and
+vallies vary each other in the most striking order; fresh water, so
+rarely obtained in maritime countries, is found here of an excellent
+quality. Near this village a stream constantly rushes from the summit of
+a rock, and affords a fresh and crystalline water. Trees of a very large
+circumference are also found; I calculated one of the biggest to be 45
+feet round and 15 in diameter. These trees are not the same as those of
+which Adanson speaks in his description of Senegal, (Adansonia digitata)
+but are of a peculiar species; they much resemble a round tower, as they
+do not bear either flowers or fruits. Here I found the Ammonium Grana
+Paradisi, the Ammonium Zerumber, and a new genus in a perpendicular tree
+ornamented by flowers, which resembled tulips, (Novum Genus Tetandriæ)
+and of great elegance: also a new species of aloe, of which the
+inhabitants make thread; a new species of citron with indented leaves,
+and a multitude of unknown trees and shrubs. In the thickest forests
+grows a species of Spanish cane, very straight and well proportioned,
+and often attaining six feet in height; it is to be wished that it could
+be made use of, treating it as the Chinese do, for if, when dry, an
+equal degree of tenacity could be induced, it would prove superior in
+quality. I observed, on the boughs of the trees, the Senna plant (which
+is parasitic, and consists entirely of a flower), it was almost the
+shape of a pine when open, and the inside is of a very deep red; the
+Negroes use it in the syphilitic disorder, when first attacked. I took
+it for the Aphuteia Hydrora of Thunberg, but on examination it differs
+much, as it belongs to Icosandria. Palm trees are here very rare, except
+the oliferous (Elois Guineensis) and the viniferous (an Phœnix) which
+are cultivated in great numbers; also the true cocoa nut trees (Cocas
+nucifera) and the false (an Borassus.) In a word, nature entirely
+changes her form as soon as you reach the summit of the chain of
+mountains, and I do not believe one twentieth part of the plants found
+here are the same as those on the Coast. With regard to natural history,
+I was less happy in making discoveries. The elephant, so abundantly
+inhabiting the environs of Fidah, (Whydah) and other wild beasts, are
+here very rare, which may be attributed to the scarcity of grass, the
+growth of which is prevented by the almost impenetrable forests. Several
+sorts of birds are here seen, principally paroquets, of which I knew six
+species, Psittacus, Erythæus and Pullarius (Linn.) the others seem to be
+new, and I also saw a great number of insects of new species. The
+mineral kingdom would perhaps be richer if they had mines here. The
+rocks are solely composed of rough stones like granite and grens, and
+their species; dry quartz and slate stones are often found; on the other
+hand I could not discover calcareous earth. The soil is varied, but
+consists in general of a rich aluminous earth, traced in different
+colours, and of a rich black earth with which sand is never mixed. The
+atmosphere seemed more salubrious than on the sea coast, though
+physicians generally deny this quality to exist near the forests which
+grow in warm climates. I believe the elevated situation of the country
+contributes much to it. The Europeans who inhabit the Coast in forts,
+would do well to establish an hospital and a garden here. The Arum
+Esculentum, the Banana (Musa sapientum) the Ananas (Bromelia Ananas) the
+Carica Papaia and Citron all abound here.”
+
+The Assin path is that described in the route from Annamaboe to
+Coomassie, it branches off at Foosoo to Ensabra, two journies from
+Winnebah, through Anissoo, Asoidroo (the head quarters of the King of
+Ashantee in the invasion of 1807) and Atoäperrim, which means “to fire a
+gun.” The principal town of Assin is Ansa, through which we passed,
+Akrofroom, apparently larger, is called the second. A range of stony
+hills is the boundary of Assin and Akim.
+
+The path to Elmina, through the Warsaw country, makes so considerable an
+angle to the westward, that the Ashantees invariably declared it
+occupied more time to travel than the Assin; it is allowed to be ten
+journies at Elmina, by route No. 5. The Dah is crossed the first day at
+its town Adahsoo, and in the evening Becquoi (one of the five large
+towns built by the Ashantees) is reached. The Dankara country is entered
+the third day, the Tufel the fourth, the Warsaw the sixth, the Boosempra
+is crossed the tenth day, the Ofim, which skirts this path to the
+westward (having received the Dah at Meeäsee) falling into it. The
+capital of the Dankara country is four journies westward of Coomassie,
+and the frontier is entered the second by route No. 6: it is the most
+productive of gold, but has been extravagantly over-rated in Bosman’s
+report of its population. The river Seënnee, or, as the Portuguese have
+called it, Ancobra, from its serpentine course, has been thought to rise
+just beyond the north eastern frontier, but it will presently appear to
+be a branch of the Tando of the Ashantees. In the Dutch copies of the
+old Portuguese charts, Dankara is placed eastward of Ashantee. The
+Warsaw country will be noticed more particularly, in considering the
+maritime geography from Cape Coast Castle to the river Assinee.
+
+The Warsaw path has two grand branches, one to Apollonia and one to
+Aöwin, each thirteen journies; the former is in the small kingdom of
+Amanăheä. The Aöwin country extends from Apollonia to the river Assinee,
+five journies in length and three in breadth; it is governed by seven or
+eight caboceers, like those of Warsaw, independent of each other: it can
+furnish about 5000 soldiers. The numerals of Amanăheä and Aöwin will
+appear in an essay on the Fantee language. Both countries are at the
+mercy of the Ashantees, who extort gold from them frequently, though
+they have not yet fixed the tributes.
+
+Sauëe lies eight journies W.N.W. from Coomassie, and Moinsan fifteen. I
+could not procure the routes, but Wom and Sannasee are two of the
+largest towns which are passed through.
+
+Buntookoo, the capital of the kingdom of Gaman, is 11 journies N.N.W. of
+Coomassie by route No. 7. The river Ofim is crossed the second day, the
+Tando the fifth, thence the country becomes open. Yammee, the frontier
+town of Gaman, is reached the eighth day. The name of the King of Gaman
+is Adinkara; the capital, though not so large, is allowed to be better
+built than Coomassie, and the Moorish influence has been longer
+established. It is incomparably the richest country in gold, and small
+pits were described to me, like those Mr. Park saw at Shrondo. The
+numerals are,
+
+  One      Tah.
+
+  Two      Noo.
+
+  Three    Sah.
+
+  Four     Nah.
+
+  Five     Taw.
+
+  Six      Torata.
+
+  Seven    Toorifeenoo.
+
+  Eight    Toorifeessa.
+
+  Nine     Toorifeena.
+
+  Ten      Noonoo.
+
+The four principal Gaman towns, are Sarem, which some call the capital,
+Bandakeeä, Bundoo, and Nasseä, five journies from Kong, and seven from
+Buntookoo.
+
+A powerful kingdom called Bahooree, which has hitherto successfully
+resisted the Ashantees, was described to be westward, and expected to
+afford refuge to the King of Gaman on the approaching invasion.
+
+I had heard it reported that the Tando formed the Assinee river, about
+35 miles westward of Cape Apollonia, but a very intelligent Ashantee
+satisfied me this was a mistake, arising probably from Seënee being the
+native name of the Ancobra, which is formed by one branch of the Tando;
+a second running westward. The Tando is not near so large as the
+Boosempra, and therefore very unlikely to form so large a river as the
+Assinee; the western branch may possibly run into it. Mr. Meredith,
+writing from report without sufficiently checking it, has made the Tando
+and the Chamah or Boosempra the same; yet, p. 225, he adds, “the Volta
+is more probably a branch of the Tando, a large river reported as
+running to the eastward, and which the Ashantees are obliged to cross in
+coming to the Coast;” he did not reflect that he thus laid down a river
+running out of the sea. The Tando, we have seen, is five days northward
+of Coomassie, it rises in some rocky hills called Toofeeä, near the
+large town Aënkroo, between the Banda and Inta paths.
+
+Soko (formerly a province of Gaman) is 11 journies from Coomassie; and
+Banda, four beyond, and a little to the eastward; see route No. 8. The
+first day, Tafoo is reached, a large aboriginal Inta town, for, as will
+be seen in the historical report, the Ashantees emigrated, and subjected
+several Inta districts now forming the northern part of their dominions,
+and trenched considerably on that declining kingdom, now entirely at
+their mercy. If Mr. Dalzel had reflected, it would have occurred to him,
+that the Taffoe, Tafoe, or Tafu of Snelgrave (placed so absurdly in his
+map, 60 miles west of the mouth of the Volta) and the In-ta[17] he heard
+of at Dahomey, and confounded with Ashantee, were the same: for the In
+in In-ta is scarcely audible, and only a slight nasal sound barely
+amounting to n, as N-ta; foo is merely an adjunct equal to people or men
+in our language, affixed in the present infancy of African language to
+all names of countries, as if we always said the Scotchmen or Irishmen,
+instead of the Scotch and Irish. The Ofim is crossed one day beyond
+Tafoo at its croom Ofeesoo, the Tando four journies beyond at Tandosoo.
+Takima is reached the eighth day, whence the Fantees are reported, by
+tradition, to have emigrated, and there is yet but little difference in
+the languages.
+
+Sixteen journies N.N.E. of Coomassie is Boopee (which I have placed
+accordingly in 8° 42′ N. and 1° 19′ W.) the frontier town of Inta,
+hitherto confounded with Ashantee, than which it is more populous and
+more civilized. The Moorish influence has been long established there,
+and almost all its caboceers affect to profess that faith. The river
+Adirri, which we shall presently identify with the Volta, is crossed
+four hours southward of Boopee, and is described as about 120 yards
+broad; it rises eight journies N.W. of Boopee, in a large mountain
+called Kondoongooree, one of the mountains of Kong, which were
+distinctly and invariably reported not to be a chain, but frequently and
+individually scattered, from Kong eastward. Seven journies from
+Coomassie, on the Inta route, is the smaller kingdom Coranza (probably
+the Corisseno of the old maps) the people of which are of the same
+origin as the Ashantees by tradition, but, as the King himself assured
+me, of much more genius and aptitude. Three journies from Boopee is
+Daboia, the second town of Inta. The first journey is to Minsiroo, where
+lions are numerous; the second to Moronko, the inhabitants of which are
+so fearful of being carried off as slaves by the Ashantee traders (who
+travel in great numbers) that they have no doors to their houses, but
+ascending by a ladder, which they immediately draw up, they enter
+through the thatch. Close to Moronko is a river, about as large as the
+Boosempra, called Adiffofoo. Pahmee, three journies south eastward of
+Daboia, and Yabo which I cannot place so precisely, are the alternate
+residences of the King of Inta. There is a constant commercial
+intercourse between Inta and Dahomey, the frontiers being five journies
+apart. The numerals of Inta are
+
+  One      Koko.
+
+  Two      Anyoe.
+
+  Three    Assa.
+
+  Four     Anna.
+
+  Five     Annoo.
+
+  Six      Assee.
+
+  Seven    Assoonno.
+
+  Eight    Adoobrooa.
+
+  Nine     Digrakoono.
+
+  Ten      Koodoo.
+
+Sallagha, the grand market of the Inta kingdom, is 17 journies north-
+eastward from Coomassie, by route No. 10. The first is to Marmpon, one
+of the five large towns built by the Ashantees, and possessing palatine
+privileges; the second, through five smaller towns to Aphwaguiassie, the
+largest market in the Ashantee kingdom; the 9th day the rivers Kirradee
+and Oboosoom are crossed, each about 60 yards wide, and flowing so near
+together, as to appear one in the rainy season; a high mountain,
+Aduarreekennee, is just beyond them, the boundary of Ashantee and
+Booroom. The tenth day the river Sennee is forded, which afterwards
+enlarges considerably, and runs into the Volta; it rises five journies
+from Coomassie (by route No. 11) between the Boopee and Sallagha paths.
+The Booroom country is quite open, and the Ashantees give the river the
+figurative name of Birrinsoo, which means that its distance is so
+deceiving, that you will cry before you reach it. The capital of Booroom
+is Guia, a considerable town, noticed in the route to Odentee, a fetish
+sanctuary of great repute, and said to be splendidly furnished. The
+Ashantee language is spoken very commonly in Booroom, but the vernacular
+numerals are
+
+  One      Ekoo.
+
+  Two      Enoo.
+
+  Three    Essa.
+
+  Four     Enna.
+
+  Five     Annoo.
+
+  Six      Esseä.
+
+  Seven    Assoono.
+
+  Eight    Aquiay.
+
+  Nine     Akonno.
+
+  Ten      Edoo.
+
+The tenth day the Adirri or Volta is crossed, more than a mile wide, but
+much interrupted by rocks, and described to be full of hippopotami
+(which they call sea elephants,) and alligators. This river divides
+Booroom from Inta, Sallagha being one day’s long march from it.
+Calculating the 17 journies to Sallagha at 15 miles each, the course as
+N.E. by E. and supposing two thirds to be made good on the horizontal
+distance, according to our own experience, which gives 170 B. equal to
+147 G. miles, Sallagha will lie in latitude 7° 56′ N., and longitude 9″
+W. As a check upon this position, it will be necessary to follow the
+Adirri or Volta as far as the natives navigate it from Adda, where it is
+called the Flou (as the falls of the Senegal.) Isert’s report may be
+interesting as an introduction.
+
+“The people of Adda think it derogatory to cultivate land, and live by
+fishing, and making salt, which they sell to the people of the Interior.
+The Volta has no breakers, and therefore may be presumed to be deep.”
+This is an extraordinary mistake; Dalzel says there are high breakers.
+Colonel Starrenberg (of Engineers) at Elmina Castle, who went about 60
+miles up the Volta, accompanied by a Danish officer and flag, and met
+with no impediment so far, but turned back reluctantly in three or four
+fathoms of water, observed to me, that he thought the channel between
+the breakers about a mile wide. Dalzel mentions an American brig making
+good her passage over the bar, on which there is about two fathoms
+water; and a Danish schooner has done so since. “An arm goes from the
+mouth to Quitta.” This must be the river running from Lagos into the
+Volta, near the mouth, as will be shewn in considering the errors in the
+maritime geography. “Six English miles from the mouth, it forms a lake
+60 miles long and 48 broad, whence an arm extends to Pottriba, 3 miles
+eastward of Quitta: in this lake are more than a hundred islands.”
+Colonel Starrenberg thought the river widened about 9 British miles from
+the mouth, but the number of small islands prevented even ocular
+demonstration. So large a lake would certainly have been spoken of by
+the natives to Europeans ere this; those whom I have questioned, have
+gone up the river to the extreme navigable point, and crossed it in many
+parts; and they all declare that at Ascharee, 2 days from Adda, it is
+not two miles wide. I never could find either an Ashantee, or a
+waterside native, who knew of the arm running to Pottriba, a name they
+had not heard of; neither could Col. Starrenberg learn any thing of it;
+no branch appeared as far as he went. Isert probably alluded, from
+report, to the river Assuafroo, which runs from eastward into the Volta,
+7 journies from Adda, as will appear in the natives account. “From May
+to December the water is good to drink, being then higher than the sea;
+in the other months it is not so, but produces more fish. The river
+overflows in July, and August, and the neighbourhood of its banks is
+excellent for the cultivation of rice.” Rice is abundantly cultivated in
+the Inta kingdom. “Three miles from the sea is an island, called Bird
+Island, full of pelicans of peculiar kinds. There is a fish in this
+river called hardrass, which, when smoked, is exactly like European
+salmon. There are also hippopotami and crocodiles: quantities of oysters
+adhere to the mangroves, but when the river is fresh they are good for
+nothing. There are a great number of singing birds, and a nightingale
+equal to the Polish, which sings in May and December.” Col. Starrenberg
+heard a nightingale, but saw only one hippopotamus. There is a kind of
+cedar tree, (Avicenniæ nov. spec.) which shoots up many branches from
+the ground, about as thick as a pipe, and bare of leaves: this tree is
+so very salt in its nature, that in the morning a great quantity of
+liquid salt is found on the leaves, chrystallizing in the course of the
+day.[18] Amalfee is on an island, 48 miles from the mouth, the
+inhabitants of which, and those on the banks of the river, of Agrafee,
+Wefee, Tophirree, and Bettoo, call themselves river inhabitants. The
+former are the brokers of slaves for the Creppee country, and receive a
+vast number from one of its provinces called Acottim, 3 journies
+eastward.”
+
+Mr. Meredith could scarcely have enquired about the Creppee or Aquamboe
+countries, to have placed them west of the Volta. The natives who carry
+salt up the Volta, pull the 1st day, by Agrafee, Foomee, and Tefferee to
+Amanfee, on the banks; the 2nd to Dofo on an island; the 3rd, by
+Ascharee, on the western bank, to Adomë; the 4th by Assafoo to the
+Aquamboe country; the 5th to Sowa; the 6th to Pessee; the 7th by
+Appasoo, to Deyatoompon, where a large river flows into the Volta from
+the eastward; to Doodee the 8th; to Tombo the 9th; to Akorosoo the 10th;
+to Odentee the 11th. Here the river becomes too rocky to proceed
+conveniently, and hence to Sallagha by land is 4 journies, through the
+large towns Oboëkee, Akuntong, Enkungquakroo, and Apapassee, famous for
+making cotton cloth. There is a small state northward, between Aquamboe
+and Inta, called Anoöchoo, subject to Ashantee, bordering on which is
+Guasoo, the southern district or province of Inta. The Creppee country
+borders on Aquamboe eastward, and is independent.
+
+I am not in possession of Colonel Starrenberg’s bearings, but the course
+of the river may be pretty well ascertained from fixing the points of
+Odentee, Quaöo, and Ascharee. Odentee is 6 journies southward of east
+(by route No. 12) from Pattooda, in the Booroom country, and mentioned
+in the route to Sallagha. Quaöo, the country where the Boosempra rises,
+has already been mentioned as entered 8 journies from Coomassie.
+Ascharee, 2 days and a half pull up the river, is reached in 1 day’s
+walk from Ningo. The course of the Volta is consequently about W.N.W. to
+Quaöo, N.E. by N. to Odentee, and N.W. by Sallagha, which course it
+appears to continue to Boopee, if not to its source in the Kondoongooree
+mountain. The 10 days pull from Adda to Odentee, and the 4 journies by
+land thence to Sallagha, agree very well with the distance and position
+of that place, as before calculated by the 17 days route from Coomassie.
+The houses of Sallagha and other towns of Inta were mentioned as
+peculiar from being round. Leo Africanus observed houses built in the
+form of bells at Timbuctoo.
+
+Seven days from Sallagha, N.E. according to the Moors, through the Inta
+town of Zongoo, is Yahndi, the capital of Dagwumba, which I have placed,
+calculating the course at N.E. by E., and allowing 18 miles for each
+journey, as the country is said to be open, in 55′ E. and 8° 38′ N.: the
+position is assisted by the common account of its being 8 journies from
+Daboia, by route No. 13, and that two obscure, but direct paths to
+Daboia and Yahndi, from Coomassie, occupy the first 19 days, and the
+latter (described as laying between Daboia and Sallagha) 23 days. Sir
+William Young, in his Report of the Geography and History of Northern
+Africa, writes, “the Slatees of Old Calebar are said to carry on their
+trade to Degombah _northward_,” which also supports my placing it more
+to the eastward than it appears in Major Rennel’s map. Yngwa, a district
+and large town of Dagwumba, is said to lie 8 days north-westward of
+Yahndi, through Sakoigoo; its distance from Daboia, by report 6
+journies, places it about N.N.W. Two journies from Daboia, towards
+Yngwa, is the river Adiffofoo, about 60 yards wide, running eastward, 2
+journies from which is Kooboro, a large Dagwumba town.
+
+North-eastward of Yahndi is Tonomah, of which I do not recollect more
+than the name, though I think it is a town and district of Dagwumba. The
+kingdom of Tonowah, of which Assentai has been described as the capital
+by the Shereef Imhammed,[19] must have been derived from this name,
+being otherwise unknown. Three journies north-eastward of Yahndi is
+Sokoquo or Ensoko, also a considerable town.
+
+Yahndi is described to be beyond comparison larger than Coomassie, the
+houses much better built and ornamented. The Ashantees who had visited
+it, told me, they frequently lost themselves in the streets. The King,
+Inăna Tanquăree, has been converted by the Moors, who have settled there
+in great numbers. Mr. Lucas called it the Mahomedan kingdom of Degomba,
+and it was represented to him as peculiarly wealthy and civilized. The
+markets of Yahndi are described as animated scenes of commerce,
+constantly crowded with merchants from almost all the countries of the
+interior. Horses and cattle abound, and immense flocks are possessed
+even by the poorer class. The numerals of Dagwumba and Yngwa differing,
+I submit both.
+
+          _Yngwa._    _Dagwumba._
+
+  One      Lakoo        Yahndo
+
+  Two      Ayee         Ayee
+
+  Three    Attah        Attah
+
+  Four     Anāhee       Nasee
+
+  Five     Leerennoo    Ennoon
+
+  Six      Ayoboo       Yohbee
+
+  Seven    Ayapaï       Poiee
+
+  Eight    Annee        Nehenoo
+
+  Nine     Awai         Whyee
+
+  Ten      Peä          Edoo.
+
+Yahndi is named after the numeral one, from its pre-eminence. Sarem is
+the name of a region, including Gaman, Inta, and Dagwumba, so called
+from the open nature of those countries.
+
+One day from Sallagha, towards Yahndi, and scarcely one journey westward
+from the latter, is the river Laka, described to be as large and as
+rapid as the Adirri or Volta, which it joins below Odentee, and may
+therefore be safely concluded to be the Assuafroo; for the names of
+rivers are very mutable in Africa, each country through which they pass
+naturalising them to its own language, and thus increasing the
+perplexities of a geography founded on investigation. I could not
+procure any authorized account of the northward course of this river,
+the best opportunities had escaped me when I heard of it.
+
+Five journies N.E. from Yahndi is the smaller kingdom of Gamba, the
+birth place of Baba the chief Moor at Coomassie, and the boundary of the
+Ashantee authority, though its influence, through the much respected
+medium of Dagwumba, would extend to the Niger. Seven journies northward
+of Yngwa is the kingdom of Fobee: the river Koontoorooa is crossed four
+days from it, being about half a mile broad, it has an eastern and
+western branch, the former running to the Karhala, one day farther,
+considerably wider, and the course south-eastward. One journey from the
+river is a large mountain called Sarraka, the same distance from Fobee,
+the capital of the kingdom. Lakoo, Lamma, Karhala, and Koomada are the
+next largest towns. Five journies northward is an independent kingdom
+called Chouoocha. The position of Fobee is checked by Goorooma, being 15
+journies from it, (a kingdom to be noticed presently in the direct
+northern route from Yahndi to Houssa,) and Kawerree only nine, doubtless
+Cayree, a kingdom in the route of the Moors from Coomassie to Jinnie.
+The numerals of Fobee are
+
+  One      Koroom.
+
+  Two      Nalay.
+
+  Three    Poompevarra.
+
+  Four     Leetaynalee.
+
+  Five     Kakwassee.
+
+  Six      Mannassa.
+
+  Seven    Noottoosoo.
+
+  Eight    Borafay.
+
+  Nine     Pirrifay.
+
+  Ten      Nanooa.
+
+Five journies from Yngwa is Mosee, a more warlike but less visited
+kingdom; it consists of many states, but the superior monarch is named
+Billa, and the capital Kookoopella. I place this N.W., because, although
+its traders pass through Yngwa, they do not cross the Karhala, or indeed
+any river but what they can walk through. The numerals are
+
+  One      Yimbo.
+
+  Two      Ayeeboo.
+
+  Three    Ataboo.
+
+  Four     Annasee.
+
+  Five     Annoo.
+
+  Six      Ayobee.
+
+  Seven    Owhi.
+
+  Eight    Ennee.
+
+  Nine     Aïhopoi.
+
+  Ten      Peega.
+
+A few days northward of Fobee, through Chamday and Kobafoo, is Calanna,
+described as a very large city, rivalling Yahndi as a market, and
+situated at the foot of a mountain abounding in iron stone, which they
+manufacture for rude purposes in much the same manner as Mr. Park
+witnessed at Jeningalla. Calanna is probably the Calanshee of Imhammed,
+who told Mr. Lucas that it was a dependency of Tounouwah or Assentai,
+situated mid-way between it and the coast, 18 journies from each. The
+numerals are
+
+  One      Kodoom.
+
+  Two      Naboolla.
+
+  Three    Naweedazoo.
+
+  Four     Nabonaza.
+
+  Five     Nabonoa.
+
+  Six      Lodoo.
+
+  Seven    Logwa.
+
+  Eight    Littaïzoo.
+
+  Nine     Nako.
+
+  Ten      Yewoo.
+
+Kumsallahoo I have not attempted to lay down, having no other guide for
+placing it than the report that it is one moon’s journey from Dagwumba,
+that its traders pass through Mosee, and cross only one river, the
+Fachinga, and that not large. The numerals are
+
+  One      Yumbo.
+
+  Two      Yeeboo.
+
+  Three    Tabo.
+
+  Four     Nasee.
+
+  Five     Annoo.
+
+  Six      Yobo.
+
+  Seven    Poihee.
+
+  Eight    Nehee.
+
+  Nine     Wahee.
+
+  Ten      Pega.
+
+We will now return to Coomassie and proceed northwards to Jinnie, or as
+it was generally pronounced, Jennë. This route to Tombuctoo (or
+Timbooctoo) is much less frequented by the Moors than that from
+Dagwumba, through Houssa. They alledge that the people northward, are
+neither so commercial, so civilized, or so wealthy as those north-
+eastward. The first 12 journies are to Buntookoo, seven journies whence
+is a river called by the natives Coombo, and by the Moors, Zamma; it is
+described as half a mile broad, and running westward. I could not find
+any Ashantee who had travelled beyond this river, which is the northern
+limit of their authority. Five journies eastward of north from the
+river, is Kong, the King of which is named Asequoo. A large mountain
+called Toolileseena is near the capital, and a small river, Woora, four
+journies from it. The kingdom is said to be by no means so wealthy or
+powerful as that of Ashantee; the market is supplied from Houssa, the
+country is populous, horses numerous, and elephants killed daily. The
+people fight with spears, and bows and arrows. Seven journies from Kong
+several mountains are passed, called Koonkoori. Mr. Park says, that
+“Kong signifies mountain in the Mandingo language, which language is in
+use from the frontier of Bambarra to the western sea.” The language of
+Kong seems to be a corruption of the Bambarra or Mandingo: the numerals
+are
+
+  One      Kiddee.
+
+  Two      Filla.
+
+  Three    Sowa.
+
+  Four     Nanoo.
+
+  Five     Looroa.
+
+  Six      Wora.
+
+  Seven    Ooranfilla.
+
+  Eight    Leeaygee.
+
+  Nine     Konunto.
+
+  Ten      Tah.
+
+The Ashantees calling all the slaves whom they brought down to the water
+side Dunkos, it had been, for many years, naturally concluded that there
+was a large country of that name in their neighbourhood. Isert writes,
+“the Dunkoers are a people behind Ashantee.” On enquiry, however, I
+found to my surprise, that there is no country of that name, but that it
+is merely an epithet, synonymous with the barbarian of the Greeks and
+Romans, which they apply to all the people of the interior but
+themselves, and implies an ignorant fellow. I first suspected this from
+observing some Dunkos were cut in the face, and some not, and I
+presently discovered their vernacular languages were various, and
+unintelligible to each other. Generally speaking, the bush or country
+people of Dagwumba have three light cuts on each cheek bone, and three
+below, with one horizontal under the eye; those of Yahndi, three deep
+continued cuts; the people of Mosee, three very deep and long, and one
+under the eye; those of Bornoo are frequently cut in the forehead; of
+Marrowa all over the body in fine, small, and intricate patterns. In
+Fobee, Kumsallahoo, and Calanna, the lower orders have a hole bored
+through the cartilage of the nose. These cuts are made during infancy,
+to insinuate fetish liquids to invigorate and preserve the child.
+
+Nine journies northward of Kong is Kaybee, the King of which, named
+Mamooroo, killed the former monarch Dabbira. The country was said to be
+very populous, the capital behind a mountain called Beseeree, the soil
+chalky, and asses as numerous as horses. Three journies from the
+frontier of Kaybee, over a large mountain called Seboopoo, and across a
+large river, is Kayree, through which country it is very dangerous to
+pass, the people laying in ambush in small parties to rob or kidnap
+travellers, and subsisting by rapine. Five journies thence is Garoo
+(probably Gago[20]) a very powerful kingdom, the King, Batoomo, lives at
+Netaquolla. Twenty journies beyond is the kingdom of Doowarra, the
+people of which are indifferent warriors, but superior agriculturists,
+and plant extensively; the soil is red earth. A smaller kingdom called
+Filladoo or Firrasoo, is in the neighbourhood. Five journies north of
+Doowarra is the Niger, and on an island, about a mile from the southern
+bank, is Jennë. The route from Kong to Jennë is the only one which has
+not been checked by Negro evidence, but I had reason to think well of
+the Moor who furnished it, who never contradicted himself, though
+repeatedly cross questioned during the four months I was at Coomassie.
+The places reported to Mr. Park on this route, it is true, are none of
+them mentioned, but, probably, the people who were insuperably adverse
+to his proceeding, were the least likely to satisfy his curiosity but by
+imposing on him.[21] Mr. Park in his route from Sego to Bædoo, has a
+town called Doowassoo, only four journies from Sego; but I was assured
+repeatedly that Doowarra is a powerful kingdom. In the first Mission,
+Mr. Park reported the kingdom of Gotto to be so close to the Niger, that
+its chief, Moösee, embarked on it to attack Jinnie, and Major Rennell
+has placed it accordingly: but, in the second, he writes, “one month’s
+travel south of Bædoo,” (which he makes 30 journies southward of Sego)
+“through the kingdom of Gotto, will bring the traveller to the country
+of the Christians, who have their houses on the banks of the Ba Sea
+Feena.” He says the Ba Nimma rises in the Kong mountains south of
+Marraboo, but does not mention the kingdom of Kong in his route, which
+is about one moon’s travel from the sea, as he has described Bædoo to
+be. Now it is very unlikely, if Bædoo had been but 20 journies from
+Coomassie, that we should not have heard of it; and it is next to
+impossible, that if any kingdom called Gotto laid still nearer, (which
+it must have done, to have been passed through from Bædoo to the sea)
+that it should have been unknown. Indeed, if the kingdom of Bambarra
+extended 28 days south of Sego, as appears by the route given to Mr.
+Park, the Ashantees would not have spoken of it from mere report, but
+would probably have become acquainted with it, either through war,
+commerce, or negotiation. It is a little extraordinary that the kingdom
+of Ashantee, reported as eminently powerful to Mr. Lucas even so far
+distant as Mesurata, and which must be well known in the neighbourhood
+of Jennë, from the number of Moors who visit it from that city, should
+not even have been noticed to Mr. Park in this southern route from Silla
+or Sego to the sea. Mr. Park writes of the Moors not being able to
+subject Jinbala; I believe they insinuate themselves as residents every
+where, but I could not hear of their having established themselves by
+force, or of their composing even the greater part of a population any
+where.[22]
+
+Having reached the Niger it is time to observe, that it is only known to
+the Moors by the name of Quolla, pronounced rather as Quorra by the
+Negroes, who, from whatever countries they came, all spoke of this as
+the largest river they knew; and it was the grand feature in all the
+routes (whether from Houssa, Bornoo, or the intermediate countries) to
+Ashantee. Mr. Horneman wrote that the Niger, in some parts of Houssa,
+was called _Gaora_, which must sound very like Quorra. The Niger, after
+leaving the lake Dibbir, was invariably described as dividing in two
+large streams; the Quolla, the greater, pursuing its course south-
+eastward until it joined the Bahr Abiad, and the other branch running
+northward of east near Timbuctoo, and dividing again soon afterwards;
+the smaller stream running northwards by Yahoodee, a place of great
+trade,[23] and the larger turning directly eastward, and increasing
+considerably, running to the lake Caudi or Cadi under the name of
+Gambaroo.[24] The Moors call the branch running by Timbuctoo the
+Jolliba, I presume figuratively, as a great water, for I was assured by
+a native of Jennë, who had frequently visited Timbuctoo, that this
+branch was called Zah-mer by the Negroes.[25]
+
+The variety of the concurrent evidence respecting the Gambaroo,
+certainly made an impression on my mind almost amounting to conviction.
+De Lisle, in his map of Africa for the use of Louis XV, (the accuracy of
+which in one point where our latest charts are in error, the Lagos
+river, will be shewn towards the close of this Report) makes a branch
+from the Niger running near Timbuctoo; and what is even more to the
+point, writes “Gambarou ou Niger.” It was not till sometime after my
+return from Ashantee, that I unexpectedly discovered this solitary
+European record of such a name, and it will at least be allowed that so
+respectable a character as De Lisle, would neither have laid down the
+branch from the Niger (for it is as likely to be so in the absence of
+explanation, as a river running into it) without some authority, nor
+have invented the name Gambarou: and it will also be allowed, that he
+must have heard of it as being a very large river, to have confounded it
+with the Niger. De Lisle has preserved most of the names reported to me,
+more closely than any other geographer.[26] In the judicious compendium
+of Mr. Murray, I observe the following note. “It is but justice to
+D’Anville to say, that in his map of central Africa, inserted in the
+26th volume of the Academie des Inscriptions, he has represented a river
+passing close to Timbuctoo, running S.W., and falling into the Niger.
+This delineation has not been copied by others, but it is not the less
+probable that that excellent geographer may have had positive
+information on which to found it.” Now, I may presume, this is only
+recorded in delineation, and not noticed by D’Anville in the text, or,
+his authority would have appeared. I shall be indulged in such a
+conjecture, when it is recollected I am writing where I cannot satisfy
+myself, in a place destitute of literary facilities. If it is only to be
+found in the delineation, it is of course, as likely to be a branch
+running N.E. from the Niger, as a river running S.W. into it. Mr. Park
+has described the Niger as dividing into two large branches after
+leaving Dibbie, and their re-union has been admitted by considerate
+investigators, to be a very improbable addition to that report.[27] Sidi
+Hamet assigns no course to the great river which he described as about
+an hour’s ride with a camel south of Timbuctoo, and distinguished from
+the Niger, or, as he called it, Zolilib, by saying the latter was two
+hours ride. Adams placed La-mar-Zarah, about three quarters of a mile
+wide, two miles south of the town, without hesitation, but he only
+_conceived_ that the course was S.W.[28] Leo, ambiguous as the context
+may be, certainly writes that there is a _branch_ of the Niger passing
+Timbuctoo, “Vicino a un ramo del Niger.” Mr. Beaufoy’s Moor says that
+below Ghinea is the sea into which the river of Tombuctoo disembogues
+itself; on which Major Rennell observes, “by the word sea, it is well
+known the Arabs mean to express a lake also:” this river of Timbuctoo
+is, doubtless, the branch of the Niger forming the Gambaroo, and the sea
+below Ghinea, the lake Caude. In the Description de l’Afrique, traduite
+du Flamand, D’O. Dapper, à Amsterdam, 1686, I find “Ce Royaume de Tombut
+ou Tongbutu environ à quatre lieuës _d’un bras_ du Niger.” The account,
+to be submitted presently, that this branch of the Niger passing
+Timbuctoo is not crossed until the third day going from Timbuctoo to
+Houssa, is not an argument against its identity with the Zarah of Adams,
+or the river of Sidi Hamet, only two or three miles from the city;
+because, giving a northerly course to the branch, and Houssa laying
+north eastward 20 journies from Timbuctoo, as will be shewn presently,
+the direction of the path would not require the river to be crossed
+immediately, but, evidently, not till the second or third day.
+
+De Barros, who considered the Senegal to be the Niger, wrote, that it
+received various names,[29] and was called by the Caragoles
+(Serawoollies) Collë; on which Mr. Murray reasonably observes, “this
+name seems readily convertible into Joli-ba, the latter syllable being
+merely an adjunct, meaning a river:” this I was also given to
+understand. Now, if the name Joliba had not been reported on the
+authority of Mr. Park, I might submit that Collë is more readily
+convertible into Quolla, which approximating even more closely to Kulla,
+seems to identify the Collë and Kulla under the common name of
+Quolla.[30] Mr. Park in his memoir to Lord Camden, writes, “the river of
+Dar Kulla, mentioned by Mr. Browne, is generally supposed to be the
+Niger, or at least to have a communication with that river.” The name
+and course of the Quolla suggested this to me before I observed the
+above remark, which I did not until my return.[31] Other arguments will
+presently appear for the identity of the Kulla and the Niger.[32]
+
+The Gambaroo seems to me to identify the Gir of Ptolemy,[33] carried by
+him into the centre of Africa, and which would appear as large as the
+Niger by the expression, “maximi sunt Gir et Nigir.” The river of
+Bornoo, hitherto assumed, is not adequate to the impression Ptolemy
+conveys, and the names “Gir et Nigir,” seem to indicate a connection.
+The Niger may be considered to terminate when the smaller stream is lost
+in the Nile.
+
+Concerning the source of the Niger, there was a difference of opinion
+amongst the Moors, and not the least notion amongst the Negroes. Some
+said that it rose in Bambooch, meaning, as I presume, Bambouk, and
+others in Jabowa, where they described another large river to rise also,
+running westward. Jabowa was said to be 40 journies from Sego, and
+Bambooch 43.
+
+From Jabowa the Niger was described to run to Fouta Gollabi, and in six
+days thence to Fouta Towra; the Moors must certainly have meant Foota
+Galla, and Footatora, for their pronunciation was more imperfect than
+their knowledge of the native names westward, whither they rarely
+travelled. I induced a Moor on each side the question, and of different
+countries, to draw in my quarters, unknown to each other, what they
+called a chart of the Quolla, for the sake of preserving the several
+names in their own writing. They were only inferior to one Moor, from
+whom I never had an opportunity of inducing a chart. Both parties met,
+apparently, at Hasoo, as will be seen by submitting the names.[34]
+
+               _Bambooch._                                     _Jabowa._
+
+  _Journies._
+
+      10       to Gadima, probably Gadoo, little more than 6
+               journies from the capital of Bambook, according
+               to Major Rennell.
+
+      20       to Hasoo                                         Hasoowa.
+
+       4       to Jaoora                                        Jaoona.
+
+       2       to Jamoo                                         Gamsoö.
+
+       5       to Mallaïa                                       Mallaïu.
+
+       2       to Shégo                                         Sego.
+
+Sego was correctly described according to Mr. Park, and the death of the
+monarch he first knew spontaneously mentioned, with his warlike
+disposition, and great power. Mr. Park observes that he found the
+language of Bambarra a sort of corrupted Mandingo; this confirms the
+numerals repeated to me as the Bambarra:
+
+         _Bambarra._    _Mandingo._
+
+  One      Killi          Killin.
+
+  Two      Foolla         Foola.
+
+  Three    Sabba          Sabba.
+
+  Four     Nani           Nani.
+
+  Five     Looroo         Looloo.
+
+  Six      Wora           Woro.
+
+  Seven    Worroola       Oronglo.
+
+  Eight    Sagi           Sie.
+
+  Nine     Konunto        Konunto.
+
+  Ten      Ta             Tang.
+
+From Sego to Sansanding was called one journey, from Sansanding to Jennë
+three. Jennë was described as on an island of the Niger, the town
+considerable, and fortified, and with large houses to pray in. I did not
+understand that it was subject to Timbuctoo; it certainly has a distinct
+monarch, who was called Malaï Smaera, and the head Moor, Malaï Bacharoo.
+From Jennë through Dibbir, at the entrance of which is Sanina, to
+Kabarra or Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo (half a day’s walk from it) is a
+voyage of 20 days. By land, it was only 12 journies, through Mashena
+(Masina) Farrimabbie, Jimballa (the Jinbala of Mr. Park, which they
+persisted was not on an island of the Niger, but on the northern bank of
+it) Taäkim, Assoofoo, Zeddaï, Douraï (probably the Downie in Major
+Rennell’s map) Matarooch, and Makkasoorfoo, probably the Soorka’s, whom
+Mr. Park mentioned as inhabiting the northern bank of the river between
+Jinnie and Timbuctoo: he also writes that it is 12 journies by land from
+Jinnie to Timbuctoo. The horizontal distance from Jennë to Jimballa, on
+Major Rennell’s map is about 100 B. miles, and thence to Timbuctoo 90
+more. Now 12 journies at 18 miles, give but a horizontal distance of 144
+B. miles, wherefore, I should think the northern bank of the lake
+Dibbir, is not so high as it has been hitherto drawn, and the path so
+distant as not to be deflected by any curve of the lake. Timbuctoo was
+described as a large city, but inferior to Houssa, and not comparable
+with Bornoo. The Moorish influence was said to be powerful, but not
+superior. A small river goes nearly round the town, overflowing in the
+rains, and obliging the people of the suburbs to move to an eminence in
+the centre of the town, where the King lives. This is, probably, the
+smaller river described by Sidi Hamet as close to the town. Leo says,
+when the Niger rises, the waters flow through certain canals to the
+city. There were very few muskets to be seen; the King, a Moorish Negro
+called Billabahada, had a few double barrelled guns, which were only
+fired at customs, and gunpowder was almost as valuable as gold. The two
+latter circumstances, besides the name of the river, were all that I
+recognised in their reports confirming the description given by Adams,
+which I conceive to be as inadequate as those collected by Mr. Jackson
+are extravagant.[35] The three last Kings before Billa, were Osamana,
+Dawoolloo, and Abass. Mr. Jackson says there was a King Woollo reigning
+in 1800, and a Moor who had come from Timbuctoo to Coomassie ten years
+ago, did not know King Woollo (Adams’s King) was dead, as he was
+reigning at the time he left Timbuctoo. Abass probably had a short reign
+like Saï Apokoo the second. This Moor also said that Woollo’s favourite
+wife (called by Adams, Fatima) was named Fatooma Allizato. The editor of
+Adams shews that the name of Fatima, affords in itself no proof that its
+possessor was Moorish, or even a Mohammedan woman. I think it is
+probably derived from a numeral, for it answers to five in the numerals
+of Garangi (a country described to be northwards of Jennë) which are
+
+  One      Kerriminna.
+
+  Two      Ferriminna.
+
+  Three    Sowaninna.
+
+  Four     Firrima.
+
+  Five     Fahtima.
+
+  Six      Tata.
+
+  Seven    Mannima.
+
+  Eight    Pirima.
+
+  Nine     Missirĭma.
+
+  Ten      Guahee.
+
+Numerals are frequently added to names in Ashantee.
+
+Perhaps the old ms. which I purchased with difficulty from a Jennë Moor,
+will recompense the translator by a fuller account, but I fear religion
+only is the subject. It contains thirteen pages, with some marginal
+notes in a different hand. I should have observed, that, generally
+speaking, I found the Moors very cautious in their accounts, declining
+to speak unless they were positive, and frequently referring doubtful
+points to others whom they knew to be better acquainted with them. I did
+not succeed in procuring the numerals of Timbuctoo, but the language is
+different from that of Houssa, as the words opposed to those recollected
+by Adams will shew:
+
+          _Timbuctoo._    _Houssa._
+
+  Man       Jungo          Motoo.
+
+  Woman     Jumpsa         Motee.
+
+  Camel     So             Rakoomee.
+
+  Dog       Killab         Karree.
+
+  Cow       Fallee         Saneä.
+
+  House     Dah            Garree.
+
+  Water     Boca           Looa.
+
+  Tree      Carna          Leeseeä.
+
+  Gold      Or             Jennarreä.
+
+  A Moor    Seckar         Bibay.
+
+From Timbuctoo[36] to Houssa is 20 journies; the three first through a
+woody country, and over the branch of the Niger to Azibbie, the frontier
+town. Houssa was said to be the largest city north or south of the
+Quolla, except Bornoo; the Moorish influence to have been established
+there beyond memory, and the King’s name Serragkee. Cabi is not the name
+of the kingdom, but of a large dependent town and district on the Niger.
+Mallowa, or Marrowa, as the Negroes pronounce it, (for they seemed
+invariably to substitute _r_ for the _l_ of the Moors, as Quorra for
+Quolla)[37] is the next extensive in its limits to Bornoo. It is, no
+doubt, the kingdom of Mellè, misplaced by Leo, and reported to Cadamosto
+in 1455, as 30 journies beyond Timbuctoo. Major Rennell observes, “we
+should naturally look for it on the eastward of Timbuctoo,” and it has
+only been placed south eastward, and south of the Niger, because Edrisi
+has a city called Malel thereabouts, though he calls the name of the
+kingdom of which it is the capital Lamlam, which Hartman would reconcile
+by supposing it to be a transposition of Malel, certainly a forced
+conjecture.[38] A large town called Mahalaba is the nearest I have found
+to Malel, to be noticed on the route from Dagwumba to the Niger.[39] In
+speaking of all fortified cities, the negroes of Mallowa invariably
+prefixed Berinnë or Brinnë to the name, as an indication that they were
+so; this was always the case in mentioning Houssa, Cabi, Cassina,
+Katinna, &c. &c. I shall place the numerals of Cassina, as written by
+Mr. Lucas after the Shereef Imhammed, to the right of those of Houssa or
+Mallowa, from their close affinity, perhaps identity; for this language
+is spoken far eastward, and the Shereef, as we shall presently see, was
+rather inaccurate in his recollection of the numerals of Bornoo.
+
+  One      Daia        Deiyah.
+
+  Two      Beeyoo      Beeyou.
+
+  Three    Okoo        Okoo.
+
+  Four     Odoo        Foodoo.
+
+  Five     Beä         Beat.
+
+  Six      Seddah      Sheedah.
+
+  Seven    Becquay     Bookai.
+
+  Eight    Tacquass    Takoos.
+
+  Nine     Tarra       Tarrah.
+
+  Ten      Gwoma       Goumah.
+
+Two large lakes were described close to the northward of Houssa, one
+called Balahar Soudan, and the other Girrigi Marragasee. Calculating the
+20 journies from Timbuctoo at 18 miles each, supposing two-thirds to be
+made good on the horizontal distance (equal to 212 g. miles) and the
+course N.E., I have placed Houssa, 18° 59′ N. and 3° 59′ E. This agrees
+pretty well with the account of its being 17 journies from the Niger, or
+Quolla, which give 306 B. miles, and the horizontal distance 176 g.
+miles. Houssa has hitherto been laid down about 2 journies N. of the
+Niger. I have an impression that the city of Houssa will be found to lay
+about E.N.E. of Timbuctoo, of course nearer the Gambaroo, which runs
+through its dominions, and thus account for the reports of its being
+situated upon the Niger. Leo certainly meant Mallowa and the Gambaroo,
+when he wrote, “Melli regio quæ extendit se ad flumen quoddam quod ex
+Nilo (i.e. Nigro) effluit trecenta millia passuum,” adding, “regnum
+opulentissimum, maximè artificum et mercatorum copia, frequentia templa,
+sacerdotes et populus qui Nigritas omnes civilitate antecedunt;” which
+they certainly appear to do: see a few of their articles for the British
+Museum. May not the Maurali of Ptolemy be the Melli of Leo, and the
+modern Mallowa or Marrowa? his large adjunct to the Niger to the south
+indicates the two rivers. Major Rennell seems to have expected the
+present discovery, when he writes (commenting on Mr. Park’s report that
+Houssa was 30 journies by land from Tombuctoo, and 45 by water)
+“Possibly it may be that Houssa is situated on a different river from
+that which passes by Tombuctoo (the Joliba,) but which may be an adjunct
+of it, and may run into it in the quarter of Tombuctoo.” In Dapper’s
+translation of the Description De l’Afrique du Flamand, 1686, I find
+“Cette contreé (Melli) s’etend environ cent lieuës _le long d’un bras_
+du Niger.”
+
+Tarrabaleese, 50 journies westward of north, was much spoken of from the
+number of its market places. This must be Tripoli, the Arabic corruption
+of which is Trabŏlis. The Moors gave me a route to Tunis or Toonis, but
+I cannot recognise any name in Major Rennell’s map, (which I could not
+procure until my return,) unless Sabbai be Sebba, and Mookanassa
+Mourzouk, in Fezzan. There is also another route eastward which I cannot
+trace. See Appendix.
+
+From Kabarra the Quolla, continuing its course southward of east, passed
+by Uzzalin, Googara,[40] Koolmanna, Gauw, Tokogirri, (perhaps the Tokrur
+of Edrisi and Gatterer) Askeä, Zabirmë, and Cabi to Yaoora, which I
+imagine to be the Youri of Major Rennell’s map.[41] De Lisle places a
+kingdom, Yaouree, south of the Niger. It is a very celebrated ferry,
+occurring in a variety of routes from the north of the Quolla to
+Ashantee, spoken of always as westward of Cassina, and with little
+variation as 25 journies from Timbuctoo. Now as the Moors called it one
+day’s journey from Sego to Sansanding, and Mr. Park made it scarcely
+more, I will assume this as the rule to calculate the distance from
+Timbuctoo to Yaooree, and afterwards consider its place according to the
+routes from Dagwumba, through it, to Cassina. Twenty five journies from
+Timbuctoo would place Yaoora about 70 miles above the Berrisa in Major
+Rennell’s map, but this makes the horizontal distance from Yaoora to
+Dagwumba about 850 B. miles, and therefore too great for 42 journies,
+the greatest number allowed in the routes from Dagwumba to Yaoora.
+
+I would not presume to investigate after Major Rennell, it would be
+absurd in me to expect to throw any new interest into the discussion,
+but by making clear the accounts I collected; to do which I must decline
+the course of the Niger from Cabi (Mr. Horneman writes it flows
+southward from Haoussa) even to a junction with the Bahr Kulla. For,
+placing Yaoora in 13° 30′ N. and 8° 30′ E. in conformity with its
+distance from Timbuctoo and a declining course to the Kulla, the
+horizontal distance to Yahndi, the capital of Dagwumba, will be 600 B.
+miles: now 42 journies, the greatest number allowed by the travellers,
+at 20 miles each, (rejecting one third, as heretofore, lost in the
+windings of the path) give the horizontal distance at 560 B. miles. This
+is certainly an additional argument to the similarity of the names
+Quolla and Kulla, for the identity of these rivers; but not so strong a
+one as that the routes both of Moors and Negroes, allow but 40 journies
+from Dagwumba to the point of crossing the Niger for Houssa. The course
+to this point was described by the Moors as a little to the eastward of
+north: now 40 journies on a N.N.E. course, by the former rule, places
+this ferry 15° 1′ N. and 3° 33′ E. agreeing very well with our previous
+position of Houssa, and proving that the course of the Niger must
+decline considerably, for more than two extra journies would otherwise
+be required for the north eastward route from Dagwumba to Yaoora. Major
+Rennell only writes that the course of the Niger is _probably_ to
+Wangara. Mr. Ledyard, in his comparatively minute description of that
+country, (which I shall notice in the route to Bornoo) says nothing of
+its bordering on the Niger. Major Rennell, in the construction of the
+geography of Mr. Horneman’s report, writes, “M. D’Anville also had an
+idea, and so describes it in his map of Africa, 1749 (possibly from
+actual information,) that the Niger declined to the south beyond Gana,
+so that the termination of it in the lake Semegonda was 3½ degrees of
+latitude to the south of Gana.” There is a kingdom called Kulla as well
+as a river, and there is also a kingdom Quollaraba: raba being probably
+no more than an adjunct equal to the prefix dar, and signifying a
+kingdom. Mr. Dupuis, in his notes on Adams, says of an intelligent
+Negro, “his account was chiefly curious from his description of a nation
+which he called Gallo or _Quallo_, which conveyed to me an idea of a
+people, more advanced in the arts, and wealthier than any that I had
+previously heard of: within three days journey of the capital was a
+large lake or river which communicated with the Wed Nile.” The commended
+arguments of the Quarterly Review, (which I have never had the advantage
+of reading,) must be in a great degree auxiliary, in arguing, to support
+the Congo hypothesis, a course of the Niger equally declined with that
+which I have followed for the identity of the Quolla and Kulla. The
+junction of the Quolla with the Bahr Abiad, or Nil, as the Moors called
+it, cannot be more descriptively expressed, according to every account I
+received, than in the words of Mr. Horneman. “Some days past I spoke to
+a man who had seen Mr. Brown in Darfoor, he gave me some information
+respecting the countries he travelled through, and told me that the
+communication of the Niger with the Nile was not to be doubted, but that
+this communication before the rainy season was very little.”[42]
+
+We will pursue the course of the Quolla from Yaoora (where I should
+judge from description it must be about 3 miles wide) before we apply
+the routes northward of it.[43] One journey eastward of Yaoora,
+(sometimes called Yawooree by the Negroes,) it passed Nooffie, doubtless
+the Nyffe of Mr. Horneman and others, and which De Lisle has written
+Nouffy: 3 journies thence it passed Boussa, which Amadi Fatouma
+reported, as it was to me also (see Diary) as the place of Mr. Park’s
+death, but I could hear nothing of the rock and door. Boussa is not in
+Major Rennell’s map, but I observed Bousa in the map of De Lisle before
+alluded to; it is probably the Berrisa of Edrisi. Twelve journies thence
+it passed Atagara, but, previously, Hoomee, and Rakkah.[44] Southward of
+the latter, they described an inland country called Koofee, possibly
+Kosie, a country I shall presently introduce, as visited by a mulatto,
+behind Lagos. Thirty journies from Atagara, it flowed through the
+kingdom of Quollaraba,[45] which thus falls precisely where Major
+Rennell has laid down the kingdom of Kulla. Six journies thence it
+passed Mafeegoodoo, and 13 journies beyond, the lake Cadee or Caudee.
+This I should consider to be the Cauga of Edrisi, which Major Rennell
+has identified with the Fittri of Mr. Brown, for into this the second
+large branch of the Niger, or the river Gambaroo, is said to run; but it
+is considerably too much to the southward for the Cauga in Major
+Rennell’s map, being, according to the accounts of the Moors, only 3
+journies northward of the Quolla: yet Edrisi writes “besides a river of
+the name of Nile or Neel _passes by_ Kauga.” What inclines me to think
+the Cauga may be more distant from Bornoo the capital, though not from
+the frontier of that kingdom, (15 journies being the number reported to
+me as well as to Mr. Brown) is, that the Negroes of that city were not
+so well acquainted with this lake as the Moors. My sketch in the map, of
+course, represents the sketches and descriptions of the natives. They
+described the Cadee or Caudee as an immense water, like a small sea,
+frequently overflowing the neighbouring country, and sometimes so
+convulsed as to throw up large quantities of fish and other contents;
+meaning, in short, a volcanic lake. The Moors called it also the Bahr el
+Noä, having a tradition that the waters of the deluge retired to, and
+were absorbed in it. A very high mountain was spoken of, at an equal
+distance between the Caudee and the Quolla.[46] Twelve journies from
+Caudee, the Quolla received the river Sharee from northward, which, I
+imagine, if not the Misselad, may be a river deriving its name from the
+Abu Shareb of Major Rennell’s map. The Quolla was said to pass to the
+southward of Bagarrimee, (the Baghermee of Mr. Brown.) Kalafarradoo, (I
+cannot find any name nearer to this than the Courourfa of De Lisle, and
+Kororfa, said in Mr. Beaufoy’s MSS. to be W. of Begarmee). Foör (Darfur,
+according to Mr. Brown, means the kingdom of Foör) and lastly to skirt
+Waddaï, the Waddey of Mr. Horneman, who wrote that it was east of
+Begharmee, and west of Darfoor; but, as it was reported to me east of
+Darfoor, by every person, and as Mr. Brown did not hear of it to adjust
+its position, I have placed it so.[47]
+
+The junction with the Nile having taken place, as Mr. Horneman before
+reported, south of Darfoor, they continued the course to a large country
+called Soonar,[48] indisputably the kingdom of Sennaar. Hence to
+Massar,[49] or Egypt, they did not always agree themselves in the
+various names, nor can I recognise any on the map, unless their Shewa
+Abenhassa be Bennassa, Minsoor, Misur, Gammeacha, Gammazie; Sooess,
+Sohaig; Kaheea, Kahoul; Zaragoo, Nayazoogoo; and their Lamabalara, in
+the country of Egypt, the Bahr be la ma of Mr. Horneman; of the latter
+there can be no doubt.[50]
+
+My friend, the Shereef Brahima had, as well as some others, been to
+Mecca and Medina. I place great reliance on this man’s information
+(invariably confirmed by the Negroes) from his caution and diffidence,
+and my experience of his character; for he was ultimately a valuable
+friend to the Mission: he was the only Moor who dared to refuse to be
+present at human sacrifices. The MS. No. 2. is his writing, and
+professedly the route from Dagwumba through Bornoo to Massar,[51] it
+consists of six pages well written. This would have been a valuable man
+to have engaged to travel through the interior, for he was capable of
+making circumstantial minutes, and I think he might have been engaged to
+do so by a moderate Fort pay. The Moors talk much of the King of
+Santambool,[52] as a powerful monarch and formidable to the Christians.
+
+It will excite surprise that I heard nothing of Wangara,[53] as was the
+case with Mr. Brown, not even after I had, contrary to my general
+custom, submitted the name: but I heard very much spontaneously of
+Oongooroo. Mr. Horneman called Wangara, Ungura, and De Lisle, Ouangara,
+we shall find it in the route from Yaoora to Bornoo or Barranoo. Bornoo
+was described to me about north-east from Yaoora, which agrees very well
+with Major Rennell’s position, established beyond all contradiction
+short of an observation, but, the horizontal distance, (lowering the
+place of Yaoora as I have done) thence to Bornoo would be upwards of
+1000 B. miles, whereas they described it to be but 51 journies, which
+allowing 20 miles to each, as the country was said to be much more
+favourable to travelling, and the path more direct than that we came,
+would give but an horizontal distance of 680 B. miles. Mr. Horneman
+heard that Bornu was but 15 journies from Kassina; I was told 33 if
+walked, 19 if rode. Major Rennell has made the distance about 30
+journies, considering the 15 journies applicable to the western
+boundaries of the empire, and not to the capital.
+
+We will now return to Yahndi and proceed northwards to Houssa. Nineteen
+journies from Yahndi is Matchaquawdie, six beyond is Goorooma, 10 thence
+Dolooë, subject to Goorooma, and only five journies from the Quolla,
+described as about two miles wide there. When Amadi Fatouma mentioned
+that he passed Gourouma, I should suppose he meant this kingdom of
+Goorooma, Dolooë, as subject to it, being probably included under that
+name. I must impress, however, that this northern route from Dagwumba to
+the Niger, being, with that from Kong to Jennë, the only ones
+unauthenticated, otherwise than by cross examination, I do not report
+them with the same confidence, which I do the others. Two journies from
+the northern bank of the Quolla is Gamhadi, to which three large towns
+belong, Dogondaghi, Toodonkassalee, and Toompasseä, and numerous
+dependent crooms. There were three routes from Gamhadi, the first
+northward to Houssa 15 journies, passing the large river Gambaroo the
+ninth, between which and Houssa is a district called Zessa. The second
+route is to Katinnee, a city and state of the Mallowa kingdom, one month
+from the Quolla. On this route the Gambaroo is crossed the tenth day,
+and Sowhoondë, Souoola, (perhaps Sala) Quattaraquassee, Doorooma, Soroo,
+Zabbakou, Dinka, Doochingamza, and Dammisamia were mentioned as large
+towns on the route. The third route was through the Fillanee country,
+(doubtless the Fullan[54] of Ben Ali) which had been frequently at war
+with Mallowa, to the kingdom of Kallaghee, 14 journies from the Quolla,
+the Gambaroo being passed the tenth. The numerals of Kallaghee are
+
+  One      Gadee.
+
+  Two      Sillil.
+
+  Three    Quan.
+
+  Four     Foolloo.
+
+  Five     Vydee.
+
+  Six      Zoodoo.
+
+  Seven    Etkassa.
+
+  Eight    Shiddowka.
+
+  Nine     Woollaä.
+
+  Ten      Woma.
+
+A country called Barrabadi was described eastward of Mallowa, between it
+and Bornoo; its numerals corresponded with those of Bornoo.
+
+We will now return again to Dagwumba, and follow the route thence, over
+the Quolla, through Yaoora to Bornoo. Gamba we have already described as
+five journies north eastward of Yahndi, thence two journies, over a high
+mountain called Yerim, and across a river running southwards (which the
+Moors called Mory, but which it would seem is the continuation of the
+Karhala) is Gooroosie, four journies thence Zoogoo, probably the Zeggo
+of Major Rennell’s map; 10 farther the kingdom of Barragoo. De Lisle has
+placed his kingdom of Bourgou thereabouts. North-westward of Barragoo is
+Koomba, the Kombah of Major Rennell’s map. The position of this kingdom
+is pretty well ascertained, because those who came from it, described
+Goorooma as its northern neighbour, and Barragoo to be the first kingdom
+passed through in their journies to the coast below Whydah. Eight
+journies from Barragoo is Toombeä, three beyond is Goodoobirree. A river
+running to the Quolla (as it was said, but more probably from it) called
+Leeäsa, flows close to the eastward of this path, and is crossed, going
+from Goodoobirree southwards, to a large kingdom called Yariba by the
+Moors, but Yarba more generally by the natives. Major Rennell has drawn
+a river communicating with the Niger close to Youri, so has De Lisle.
+This river Leeäsa is the only one I heard of, answering in the least
+degree to that of Sidi Hamet, but Wassana was a name unknown. Aquallie
+is the frontier town of Yariba, one journey from Goodoobirree, and one
+from Bootee, second only to the capital, Katanga, four journies beyond
+it. Yariba was described to be about 24 journies, through Hio, (its
+immediate neighbour) from Arătakassee or Alătakassee, which we shall
+hereafter recognise in Ardra: this determines its position pretty
+well.[55] Dahomey was said to be tributary to Yariba, as well as to Hio,
+which I have an impression is also tributary to Hio. From Hio to Dahomey
+is seven journies. The military are despotic in Hio, they always
+intercept the new King on his way to the palace, and demand his naming
+some neighbouring country for their invasion and plunder, before they
+confirm him. The King before the present, had named Dahomey, but after
+three years neglect of the fulfilment, he ordered the army against a
+northern neighbour. The army went, wasted and pillaged the country, but
+when within a day’s march of the capital on their return, they sent
+deputies to enjoin his abdication, as inevitable to a falsehood to them;
+he was obstinate; they arrived and cut off his head. The numerals of Hio
+are
+
+  One      Innee.
+
+  Two      Eygee.
+
+  Three    Etta.
+
+  Four     Ernee.
+
+  Five     Aroon.
+
+  Six      Effa.
+
+  Seven    Eggay.
+
+  Eight    Eggo.
+
+  Nine     Essun.
+
+  Ten      Eywaw.
+
+The Hio man, who gave me the above numerals, spoke of the Apaccas as a
+more powerful northern neighbour, but I never heard of them from any
+other person.
+
+Yariba must certainly be the Yarba of Imhammed, though he described it
+as 18 or 20 journies from Gonjah towards the N.W., for he is likely to
+have been incorrect in this, because we have proved him to be so, in
+stating, that Ashantee was the capital of Tonouwah, which appears to be
+a district or town of Dagwumba, the people of which kingdom are by no
+means warlike as he represented them, nor have they any notion of taming
+the elephant: he reported that Calanshee was a dependency of Ashantee,
+whereas no Ashantee knows the name; that Gonjah was 46 journies from the
+coast, when it is but 30. Major Rennell reasonably conceived the Yarba
+of Imhammed to be the Yarra of De Lisle, at the back of Sierra Leone,
+but as this country is not preserved in his own map, I presume it cannot
+be of much consequence, politically or commercially, whereas Yariba,
+indisputably eastward of Kong, is always announced to enquirers, both by
+Moors and Negroes, as a very powerful, and much frequented kingdom.
+Another argument is, that all the Moors I saw at Coomassie, were almost
+ignorant of the countries westward, only speaking of those their
+enquiries for the source of the Quolla had made known to them: indeed, I
+did not see one who had travelled westward, or south westward of
+Bambarra, but our Accra linguist told me that he had recognised a Moor
+at the Rio Pongos, whom he had seen in Coomassie (when sent there on the
+eve of the second Ashantee invasion) who told him that he had been two
+months travelling from Kong, and crossed a very large river. Imhammed’s
+Affow (if not Taffoo, or the Inta country) I conceive to be Afflou, a
+town and district of the Krepee or Kerrapay country, and a short walk
+from the sea by Quitta, westward of Yarba, as he says, but more than
+eight journies. The Kerrapay country, which is extensive and
+independent, will be described, in proceeding from Cape Coast Castle,
+along the coast, eastward.
+
+[Illustration: _London published as the Act directs by John Murray
+Albemarle Street 4th. Jany. 1819._
+
+_J. Walker Sculpt._]
+
+To return to the route from Yahndi to Yaoora, three journies from
+Goodoobirree towards the Quolla through Gillimakafoo, Garagaroogee, and
+Paänghee, is the large city of Kaiama, and four beyond it, through
+Mahalaba, (the nearest name to the Malel of Edrisi,) Marramoo, and
+across the small river Wooroo, (running to the Quolla) is the city of
+Wauwaw,[56] three journies from the Quolla. Ten journies from the
+northern bank, through Yaoora, and skirting the eastern limits of
+Zamfara, is Goobirree, so called by the Moors, and Goobur by the
+Negroes.[57] Mr. Beaufoy learned that Gubur was to the south of Wangara,
+and De Lisle writes it Goubour. Thence to Kassina, having crossed the
+large river Gambaroo, is eight journies. Eighteen journies, calculated
+at 18 miles each on a N.E. course, from the altered position of Yaoora,
+would place Kassina in 15° 43′ N. and 10° 43′ E., instead of 16° N. and
+11° 45′ E. Mr. Lucas learned that Kassina was five journies from the
+Niger, or about 100 miles from that water, which it is likely to be from
+the upper branch or the Gambaroo, which river skirting Kanoo, and
+Oongooroo, (or Wangara,) before it descends to the lake Cadee, (though I
+could not prove satisfactorily that it did so,) would account for
+Edrisi’s placing Kano, and Wangara, on the Niger.[58] From Kassina to
+Dawoorra is six journies: this must be the Daura of Mr. Horneman, though
+in the drawing of the Marrabut it is placed north of Kano. From Dawoorra
+to Kanoo is four journies. D’Anville placed it 90 miles to the N.E. of
+Kassina, and in the drawing just alluded to, it is placed inland
+northward of the Niger. The only authority for supporting Edrisi’s
+position of it, is what Mr. Matra was told at Marocco. The Moor who
+informed Mr. Beaufoy that boats went with the stream to Ghineä, (the
+Gano or Kano of Major Rennell) placed Jinnie between it and Houssa, so
+gross an inaccuracy as to justify our doubting him on the other point.
+The Ginea of Leo more probably meant Jennë, and he seems to write of
+that navigation as a distinct one from that to Melli eastward.[59] From
+Kanoo, through the large towns Madagee and Adagia, to Oongooroo is nine
+journies, but seven on a joma or camel, “Est iter octo dierum versus
+orientem” (Edrisi.) From Oongooroo to Barranoo is 15 journies on foot
+according to the Moors, nine on horseback according to the Negroes, by
+route No. 12. Bornoo or Barranoo was spoken of as the first empire in
+Africa,[60] the King’s name, according to the Moors, was Baba Alloo, but
+the Negroes called him Massinnama.[61] Kassina, and the intermediate
+countries on the route, were subject to him with many others. One
+district belonging to Bornoo was named Panaroo, and the vassal King or
+governor of it, Yandee Kooma. A small river, called Gaboöa[62] by the
+Negroes, ran southwards near Bornoo, and six journies eastward from it,
+close to Aweeac, a large one Zerrookoo Keroboobee. Mr. Horneman writes,
+the Wad el Gazel is not a river, but a large and fertile valley. The
+Negroes of Bornoo were well acquainted with Baghermee. Imhammed’s
+recollection of the numerals of Bornoo must have been very imperfect,
+for I have written them at least half a dozen times, both from Moorish
+and Negro inhabitants, and my spelling agreed with that of another
+person present. They are
+
+                   _Imhammed’s._
+
+  One      Leskar    Lakkah.
+
+  Two      Ahndee    Endee.
+
+  Three    Yaskar    Nieskoo.
+
+  Four     Deegah    Dekoo.
+
+  Five     Oöogoo    Okoo.
+
+  Six      Araskoo   Araskoo.
+
+  Seven    Tooloor   Naskoo.
+
+  Eight    Woskoo    Tallóre.
+
+  Nine     Likkar    L’ilkar.
+
+  Ten      Meeägoo   Meikoo.
+
+Ben Ali said the language of the common people of Bornoo had a strong
+resemblance to that of the neighbouring Negroes. Mr. Lucas writes that
+no less than 30 languages are spoken in these dominions. The following
+are the numerals of Maïha, one month to the north-eastward, subject to
+Bornoo, and the King’s name Smaï Doonama.
+
+  One      Lagen.
+
+  Two      Indë.
+
+  Three    Eäska.
+
+  Four     Daäger.
+
+  Five     Ohoo.
+
+  Six      Araska.
+
+  Seven    Tooloor.
+
+  Eight    Weska.
+
+  Nine     Likar.
+
+  Ten      Inagoon.
+
+The Negroes called Kanem, Kandem; were well acquainted with Doomboo, and
+spoke much of the kingdom of Asben.
+
+We will now return to Cape Coast Castle, and seek the best descriptive
+authorities, in aid of the observations which have been made by the
+Commissioners and others, for the maritime geography from the river
+Assinee to Lagos.
+
+The latitude and longitude of Cape Coast (called by the natives Igwa,
+and in the Affettoo district) according to Messrs. Ludlam and Dawes, the
+Government Commissioners who surveyed the coast in 1810, is 5° 6′ N. and
+1° 51′ W. Elmina, the native name of which is Addĭna, is about seven
+miles to windward of Cape Coast. Twelve miles from Elmina is Commenda,
+an English fort, the town is called by the natives Akatayki, the Dutch
+fort was destroyed in the American war. Nine miles thence is Chama, or
+Assĕma, at the mouth of the Boosempra. Six hours pull up the river, is
+an island, where Attobra, one of the Warsaw caboceers, who supplies the
+Dutch with canoes, is building a large house to retire to; four hours
+above which is his croom. Colonel Starrenberg was pulled three days up
+the river in a canoe; his progress was much impeded by rocks, and at
+length arrested by a large cataract, which, being considered a powerful
+fetish by the natives, the canoe-men dared not to approach. Nine miles
+from Chama, where the Dutch have a fort called Sebastian, is Succondee,
+the first town in the Ahanta country. The English fort was destroyed by
+the French in the American war, but there is a settlement house. The
+Dutch fort is called Orange. Four miles from Succondee is Taccorary, and
+a Dutch fort. Nine miles beyond is Boutrie where the Dutch have a fort,
+formerly belonging to the Brandenburgh Company. Three miles from Boutrie
+is Dix-Cove, or Nfooma, and in the interval Boossooä, the capital of
+Ahanta, which is divided into three districts, Amanfoo, Adoom, and Poho.
+The first is about one journey (through Geämma) behind Boossooa, and one
+from the river Ancobra, the caboceer is of the next consequence to the
+King, whose power and means are extremely limited. The two latter
+districts are not more than half a journey behind Taccorary. The small
+river running into the sea at Boutrie, rises in the Adoom district,
+which is said to abound in gold, but the pits have not been worked for
+many years, from their fear of the Warsaws. Amanfee also abounds in very
+fine gold, which is generally found in quartz, and is ground upon stones
+arranged under large sheds for the purpose. In a respectable periodical
+publication of the last year, I observe, the King of Ashantee called
+King of Ahanta, Inta, or Ashantee; this is one of the many proofs of the
+indiscriminate ideas of that monarch before the Mission. Eighteen miles
+from Dix-Cove passing Achooma and Accoda, (where the Dutch have a fort,
+and which is close to Cape Three Points) are the ruins of Hollandia,
+formerly belonging to the Brandenburgh Company, and called Fort Royal
+Fredericksburg. Sixteen miles farther is Axim, where the Dutch fort
+Anthony, their Vice Presidency, is situated. The people of Axim speak a
+dialect of the Ahanta. About two miles westward is the mouth of the
+Ancobra, so called by the Portuguese from its windings, the native name
+is Seënna. Col. Starrenberg, who went up the river as far as the ruins
+of Elisa Carthago, the extreme navigable point, for any but a very small
+canoe, says, he cannot form any accurate idea of the distance, but
+supposes it was about 20 Dutch miles and the course N.E. Meredith says
+50 English: he was very careless and incorrect in writing, “the French
+built a fort on the right bank of this river, and at about 50 miles from
+its mouth; where they had a great gold trade, that soon excited the
+jealousy of the Dutch, who expelled them. The Dutch however did not long
+enjoy this acquisition, for the chief got embroiled with the natives,
+and betook himself to the desperate remedy of blowing up the fort.”
+Elisa Carthago was built by the Dutch governor Ruighaven, who died, as
+appears by his tomb stone at Elmina, before 1700. The French never had
+any but a small factory, almost at the mouth of the river, and the Dutch
+officer in charge of Elisa Carthago had enjoyed a good trade many years
+before the cupidity of the natives reduced him to the act of despair,
+related by Bosman, and still recorded by the natives, who narrated it to
+Col. Starrenberg. The following is from the Latin translation of Dr.
+Reynhaut: “The chief of Elisa Carthago being at variance with the
+natives, who invested the fort, and finding he could not resist them any
+longer” (for as the story goes, he had been reduced to fire pieces of
+rock gold from the want of bullets) “feigned to treat with them, and
+invited them for that purpose into the hall of the fort, under which he
+had placed several barrels of gunpowder, and a small boy with a match,
+ordering him to apply it directly he stamped his foot on the floor of
+the hall above. This he did, after reproaching the natives with their
+cupidity, and they were all blown up together. One of the servants of
+the fort had just before contrived to effect his escape with most of the
+papers.” In navigating from the mouth of the Ancobra or Seënna to Elisa
+Carthago, the following towns, on the banks, are passed, Boasso, Tarbo,
+Marmeresse, Ejujan, Tetchbrouw, Gura, Barnesoe, Uromanio, Afamkan, and
+Aduwa. Gura is a small state, the people of which speak the same
+language as those of Axim. From Aduwa there are three grand roads, one
+to the Aowin country, one to the Dankara, and one to Asankarie, a
+considerable town in Warsaw. From Aduwa to Dankara numerous small crooms
+are passed through, and the first large one of the latter country is
+Kenkoomabaraso, only three journies from Coomassie. The people of
+Dankara come to Axim to trade. From Aduwa to Aowin the first
+considerable town is Taqua. The Warsaw country is governed by four
+caboceers, independent of each other, of whose relation and power, the
+best idea I can give, is by comparing it with that of the tyrants Geron
+and Theron, who ruled at the same time in Sicily. Intiffa, the richest
+caboceer, and whose power extends the farthest, resides at Abbradie, one
+short journey from Elmina. Cudjo Miensa (Miensa is the numeral three) is
+his principal counsellor, and will succeed him. Nerbehin was formerly
+the residence of Quashee Jacon, another independent caboceer, but of
+Intiffa’s family; he was driven from thence by Esson Cudjo, who now
+rules there: he fled to Samcow (situated about one day’s journey on the
+frontier of Warsaw, behind Succondee) of which Musoe, a slave of his,
+has raised himself to be the caboceer, and now protects his master until
+Esson Cudjoe’s death. Attobra, another independent caboceer, lives at
+Dabroādie, on the Boosempra. The greatest breadth of the Warsaw country
+is supposed to be 60 B. miles, and the greatest length 100 or 120. About
+28 miles from the Ancobra, begins the kingdom of Amanaheä, in which the
+English fort Apollonia is situated: it extends about 100 miles along the
+coast, but not more than 20 in-land. The various numerals of the coast
+will be submitted in an essay on the Fantee language.
+
+Barely four miles eastward of Cape Coast is Moree, and the Dutch fort
+Nassau. Six miles from Moree is Annamaboe, the most complete
+fortification in the country; five miles thence Cormantine, the first
+fort possessed by the English, and built by them about the middle of the
+seventeenth century. It was taken afterwards by the Dutch, and being
+stormed, was almost destroyed by the Ashantee army, before it attacked
+Annamaboe: the position is very commanding. Tantumquerry, a small
+English fort, is about 18 miles from Cormantine, (crossing the small
+river Amissa, an hour’s walk in-land from which is Mankasim, the capital
+of the Braffoe district of Fantee) the natives call the town Tuam. Eight
+miles from Tantum is the town of Apam, where is a Dutch fort and a small
+river. Eight miles from Apam is Simpah or Winnebah. The people of Simpah
+are Fantees, but their language is called Affoottoo. They are in the
+district of Agoona. About nine miles from Simpah is the Dutch fort
+Berracoe, the natives call the town Seniah. Attah of Akim laid a
+contribution on this fort in March 1811. About 27 miles from Berracoe is
+Accra, or Inkran, once subject to Aquamboo, which people, according to
+Isert, formerly drove them to Popo. Meredith fully describes Accra and
+the environs, but he does not mention that according to the natives the
+Portuguese settled here first, (Isert writes in 1452) and exercising the
+greatest cruelties and enormities, were extirpated by the Accras (their
+town was then situated a little behind the present), who executed the
+governor and his countrymen, on a spot whence they still take the earth
+to rub a new born child, in commemoration of the event. Accra, according
+to the observations of the Commissioners, is in 5° 20′ N. and 10′ W. Mr.
+Meredith, after quoting this observation, placed it in his outline of
+the coast in 58′ E. Between two and three miles from the English fort,
+is Christiansburg Castle, the Danish head-quarters.
+
+We will follow[63] Isert in his route from Accra to the Volta, as he
+travelled it several times. “Two miles from Christiansburg is Labbodee,
+where there was formerly a fort: this is the residence of the grand
+fetish, and the Bishop. Two miles to Pessin, two to Temmen, where the
+Dutch had a small fort, abandoned in 1781, two (leaving Nimboe a little
+in the bush) to Ponee, a deserted Dutch fort, now a Dutch factory; two
+miles thence (crossing a brakke streek or low land, up to the shoulders
+in the rains, and 300 fathoms broad, sometimes called Ponee river) are
+great and small Pram Pram, where the English have a small fort or
+fortified factory. Two long miles thence is Friedensbourg fort at Ningo,
+the people of which speak a different language called Adampee, (the name
+given to their country,) a mixture of Ashantee, Kerrapee, and Accra; it
+is a republic.” Behind Adampee is the Crobo mountain, the people of
+which, though but a few hundreds, have hitherto baffled the Ashantees,
+by leaving their croom at the bottom of the mountain, which is of great
+height, rugged, accessible but by one narrow path, and with springs of
+water on the top, whence they roll down upon their enemies, the large
+stones and fragments of rock which abound. “From Adampee I went in one
+day to Addah, 12 miles. Two and a half from Ningo is a croom called Laï,
+the inhabitants of which have removed, some to Addah, some to Ningo: the
+English had a factory here, long gone to ruin. One mile west of the
+Volta, there was formerly a croom called Foutchi.” Reckoning four
+English miles to one Danish or Dutch, Addah would be 96 miles from
+Christiansburg, but Meredith makes it but 67, therefore we will take the
+medium and call it 87. From the Volta to Cape St. Paul’s is five leagues
+by sea, according to Dalzel, and 15 miles by land, according to Norris’s
+map of Dahomey and its environs. Quitta, about 12 miles from it
+(according to Norris) by the observation made in H.M.S. Argo in 1802, is
+in 5° 45′ N. and 1° 29′ 30″ E. by chronometer. Accra lies, according to
+the Commissioners, in 10′ W. Taking the medium between Isert and
+Meredith, Christiansburg Castle, about three miles eastward of the
+English fort, is 87 from Addah, but as that place is six miles from the
+mouth of the Volta, we will call it 81: allowing one mile for the
+breadth of the river and 18 miles for the difference of longitude
+between it and Quitta, (according to Norris,) the distance from English
+Accra to Quitta will be 103 B. miles, which being equal to 89
+geographical miles, place Quitta in 1° 19′ E. instead of 1° 29′ 30″ as
+by the observation of the Argo, and that supposing the whole distance to
+be made good horizontally, which is impossible. Wherefore I should think
+Isert, who had travelled it, was more likely to be correct in making the
+distance from Christiansburg to Addah 96 miles, than Meredith in calling
+it 67.
+
+Norris’s observation, placing Cape St. Paul’s in 5° 52′ N., I conceive
+to be incorrect, as that of the Argo must be preferred, which places
+Quitta in 5° 42′ N., instead of 6° 2′ N., as in Norris’s map. This
+should not have escaped Mr. Dalzel’s notice in the “New Sailing
+Directions,” where both observations are cited in the same page, without
+any remark on the inconsistency, for Quitta and not St. Paul’s, is thus
+made the Cape or western limit of the Bight, the eastern side of which
+is called the Bight of Benin, I regret, amongst other disadvantages,
+that of not having the opportunity to consult the chart of Mr. Demayne
+(the master of H.M.S. Amelia) which is said to be more accurate than any
+other.[64]
+
+Quitta is included in an independent state of Kerrapay, called Agwoona,
+which extends thence along the coast to the Volta; the towns from that
+river to Quitta are Attoko, Terrobee, Footee, Agwoona, Whiëe, and
+Tegbay. Agwoona lays half a mile from the shore, and about 15 miles from
+the Volta. The inhabitants of all the other towns are obliged by the law
+to bury their dead in Agwoona, the capital; the caboceer of which is
+supreme over the others, but not absolute. Between Quitta and Popo, lay
+the Kerrapay towns Egbiffeemee, to which several of the Quittas have
+retired, Edjenowah, Oöogloobooë, and Afflou or Afflahoo, a little way
+from the beach. These towns are governed by caboceers, independent of
+each other, as well as of Agwoona; and in the last a mixture of Adampë
+and Kerrapay is spoken, accounted for by the emigration of a large body
+of the former people. Another independent state of Kerrapay is
+Tettaytokoo, 2 journies behind Popo; the King is said to be despotic,
+and the capital composed of circular houses. There is also another
+smaller interior state, governed by a caboceer called Quaminagah. Tadoo,
+however, is allowed to be the largest kingdom of Kerrapay, 6 journies
+behind Popo, (which the Fantees call Inshan, but the natives Taun or
+Taum) described as a large town; and the Accra language is spoken there
+as well as the Kerrapay, in consequence of the temporary emigration of
+the former people in 1680. The Kerrapay numerals are
+
+  One      Eddee.
+
+  Two      Effee.
+
+  Three    Eltong.
+
+  Four     Ennay.
+
+  Five     Altong.
+
+  Six      Adday.
+
+  Seven    Adrinnee.
+
+  Eight    Ennee.
+
+  Nine     Indee.
+
+  Ten      Owoo.
+
+The Negroes of this country are of a much more daring and desperate
+character than their neighbours, and were always the most severely
+treated in the slave ships. Mr. Meredith, who writes it Crepee, placed
+it west of the Volta.
+
+Whydah, according to an observation of the Argo, is 6° 14′ N. 2° 31′ E.
+I do not recollect Dalzel to have mentioned that Anotto is produced in
+the neighbourhood of Whydah. I am not certain whether it is by the Bixa
+orellana; but the shrub at Whydah may be classed under Polyandria
+Monogynia. Lambe made it 200 miles from Whydah beach to Abomey; Norris
+112, Dalzel 96. By Mr. Norris’s own account of his journey, not more
+than 20 hours were occupied in travelling, which at 4 miles an hour, the
+greatest pace which I think the hammock men can average, would make the
+distance 80 miles. An officer in this service went to Dahomey, without
+hurrying, in 3 days; and considers a dispatch would reach it in 2: he
+thinks it can scarcely be 70 miles; but calling it 80 as above, and
+supposing 54, two thirds, to be the horizontal distance made good, equal
+to almost 47 G. miles, Abomey would lay in 7° 12′ N. Yet Mr. Dalzel
+writes it lays in about 7° 59′ N.: Whydah being in about 6° 25′ in the
+map affixed to his history; this requires 108 B. miles to be made good
+on the horizontal distance, whereas he calls that of the whole journey
+but 96, and Mr. Norris, who drew the map, 112. The public were certainly
+indebted to Mr. Dalzel for the History of Dahomey, but it was his duty,
+as an intelligent and considerate man, to correct such an error as this;
+and if the author of the preface had reflected, he would not have
+written, “The map, is that of Mr. Norris, with a few additions, which
+for the places on the coast, and the position of Abomey, is near enough
+to the truth.” Mr. Dalzel should have corrected a greater error in this
+map, the course of the Lagos river, for altering which I shall presently
+quote his own authority in addition to others.
+
+An officer in this service, who resided at Lagos three years, and is the
+only European resident who has survived of those who have made the
+attempt, enables me to correct the following errors. The Pelican bank is
+much smaller than it appears on the charts; the Doo island (which lays
+N.W. and not N. of Lagos town) where the natives go to make fetish, is
+not more than one mile in circumference; and there is no river of that
+name. The beach over which the Portuguese and French (who never cross
+the bar, where there are 3 fathoms water) transport their goods to the
+canoes, is not more than 100 yards wide, instead of one mile. In
+Norris’s map prefixed to Dalzel’s History, the Lagos river is made to
+cross the path to Dahomey near Torë. In the Sailing Directions for the
+Coast of Africa, to which Mr. Dalzel was the chief contributor, and who
+revised the work, we find, “River Lagos is the mouth not only of the
+river of that name, which runs to the _eastward from Ardrah_,” &c. and
+the river Mr. Norris crossed near Torë, which he calls pretty deep and
+rapid, but with a bridge over it, is by the account of other gentlemen,
+officers in this service, who have been to Dahomey, no more than a
+marsh. The gentleman before mentioned to have resided three years in
+Lagos, informs me the grand branch of that river flows from the
+northward of the island, where the pretended river Doo is placed, he
+found it so wide on entering it, that being in the middle, where there
+are 10 fathoms water, he could scarcely see the land on either side. The
+current is impetuous, and floating islands, and large masses of alluvial
+matter come down with such force, in the rainy season, as to trip
+vessels from their anchors in the English road. De Lisle makes the Lagos
+river flowing from the N., and the French are allowed to be much better
+acquainted with this part of the coast. That called the West river in
+Norris’s map, is only a creek; and what he calls the Lagos river, and
+draws running close to Bădaggry, Ardrah, and passing Torë, is the
+Western river. Bădaggry is not more than 5 or 7 miles from the beach,
+instead of 15, and the tide only ebbs and flows so far. Ardrah is from
+25 to 30 miles from the beach, instead of 18; and the river is crossed
+at about one-third of the distance from the sea: this is what we call
+Porto Novo, for there is not more than beachmen’s huts on the shore
+opposite the anchorage. The natives call Ardrah Aratakassee, or
+Allatakassee, and the country Essaäm, or the great. The river continues
+its course not more than 100 yards from the sea, at Whydah, and proceeds
+equally close (indeed frequently the ridge between them is covered with
+water) until passing Quitta, it falls into the Volta near the mouth.
+
+The above mentioned gentleman proves the informant of Adams’s editor
+incorrect, in stating that the Houssa traders were constantly to be met
+with at Lagos, previous to the abolition of the slave trade, for it has
+always been the policy of Kosie, a kingdom on the eastern bank of the
+river, and about 60 miles inland from the mouth, to prevent all
+intercourse between the traders of the interior, and those of Lagos, to
+secure to themselves the exorbitant profits they made as the brokers or
+medium. The Europeans who traded at Lagos, once meditated forcing a
+passage up the river in armed boats, and a vessel of 18 guns was got
+over the bar, and anchored close to Lagos town; but the project was
+abandoned as too perilous. Sometime afterwards the King of Kosie desired
+a European might visit him, to gratify his curiosity, and that of his
+people; but no one being willing, a mulatto, named Peter Brown, was
+dressed up and sent. This man, being now at Cape Coast, I have
+questioned. Several armed men were sent to conduct him, and relays of
+canoe men sufficient to continue brisk pulling; which they did from the
+evening till the next day, before he left the river to proceed by land;
+it was still very wide, and more than 4 fathoms deep; considerably, for
+aught he knew, for the bamboo poles of that length, with which the
+natives push the canoe forward, when they get close enough to the banks
+to do so, would not touch the bottom in the middle. Relays of hammock
+men then carried him at a brisk pace until evening, when he reached
+Kosie, which he described as a town of great extent, and the buildings
+to resemble those in the drawings of Coomassie. The King gave orders
+that the crowd should not intrude themselves into his house, treated him
+very handsomely, and dismissed him after three days. He only heard the
+people of Kosie speak of two great nations, the Hios, and the Awissees.
+
+The gentleman before mentioned has an impression, from all the enquiries
+he recollects to have made, of the slaves of the interior, that the
+merchants convey them by water the greater part of the way; and their
+reports were strengthened by his having an opportunity of seeing canoes
+brought from Kosie to Lagos, and purchased from the slave merchants of
+the interior. They were very superior in size and convenience to those
+of the coast, were covered in, with a distinct apartment for the trader
+and his wives, and would hold a hundred slaves. I never heard any slaves
+speak of being brought any part of the way by water, but I have not seen
+any who were brought to Kosie or Lagos.
+
+The Karhala is the only large river likely to communicate with, or to
+form that of Lagos; possibly the Karhala might run to the large lake in
+Hio, which Snelgrave says (from the information of the Portuguese
+mulatto he found at Abomey) “is the fountain of several large rivers
+which empty themselves into the Bay of Guinea.” The Lagos river may flow
+from this lake, but this is mere conjecture. The gentleman to whom I am
+indebted, places the Mahees north of Dahomey, instead of north-west as
+in Norris’s map, which is allowed to be far from discriminate in the
+interior parts, in the preface to Dalzel’s History, and this is also
+more probable, because about nine years ago, the King of Hio entirely
+conquered the Mahees, and upwards of 20,000 of them were brought for
+sale to Lagos.
+
+The Joös, inconsiderately reported to Adams’s editor as being, with the
+Anagoos and Mahees, the principal nations on the journey to the Niger,
+and nearer to the coast, avoiding Dahomey, are probably the Jaboos, who
+are about 40 miles westward of Kosie, and not behind Cradoo, as in
+Norris’s map. They are celebrated for the cloths of their name, of which
+the Portuguese have shipped such large quantities. The Anagoos, or
+Nagoos, are the north westward neighbours of Dahomey.
+
+The extent of Fantee is corrected from the conjectural enlargement of it
+by Mr. Meredith, and, with that of Ashantee, Akim, Assin, Warsaw,
+Ahanta, &c. &c. is sufficiently distinct in the present map. A more
+enlarged, and particular map of Fantee, &c. would not be interesting to
+the public, but as it might be desirable to geographers, I shall keep it
+in view as a duty, and, at some future time, endeavor to add to the
+observations of latitude and longitude which have been already made on
+the coast.
+
+I may not conclude without acknowledging the guidance, and assistance,
+which Major Rennell’s previous investigations have afforded me; without
+impressing, that had not some sketches of the interior been collected by
+the industry of the emissaries of the African Association, and
+afterwards connected and formed into a general outline, blended with the
+feeble lights of the ancients, my enquiries would neither have been
+excited or directed; and this present small contribution to our slender
+knowledge would have perished an embryo. When I reflect on the creative
+researches of the genius of D’Anville, and the acumen and erudition of
+Major Rennell, it is my greatest anxiety to make my deference in
+investigation, as manifest as the public duty which exacted the
+involuntary presumption; and I cannot conclude more appropriately, than
+by addressing the latter in the expressive lines of Virgil:
+
+
+  “Nec calamis solum æquiparas sed voce magistrum
+
+   Fortunate—tu nunc eris alter ab illo.
+
+   Nos tamen hæc quocunque modo tibi nostra vicissim
+
+   Dicemus.”
+
+
+[Footnote 15: “On the west of Aquamboe lies the powerful state of Akim,
+sometimes denominated Akam, Achem, and Accany, which occupies almost all
+the interior of the Gold Coast, and is supposed by the natives to extend
+to Barbary. The Accanese are represented as carrying on an extensive
+commerce with the interior kingdoms of Africa, particularly Tonouwah,
+Gago, and Meczara, by which Mourzouk the capital of Fezzan seems to be
+intended.”]
+
+[Footnote 16: “Reize van Koppenhagen naar Guinea, &c. Door den Heer
+Isert. Amsteldam, 1797. Naar het Hoog Duitsch.”]
+
+[Footnote 17: This induced me to think that In-ta and Ta-pah, as well as
+Assiantee might mean the same place, as we find of Mahee, Yahon,
+&c.—Dalzel.]
+
+[Footnote 18: “In the province of St. Jago, in Chili, there is a plant
+of this class and order (Didynamiæ gymnosperma) supposed to be a species
+of wild basil (Ocimum salinum), resembling the common basil so much as
+to be hardly distinguished from it, except that the flower stem is round
+and jointed, and its scent and taste not like the basil, but rather like
+the sea flag, or some marine plant. It is an annual, shooting forth in
+the spring, and continuing till the commencement of winter: every
+morning it is covered with hard and shining saline globules, resembling
+dew, which the countrymen shake off the leaves to serve them as common
+salt, and in some respects is thought to be of a superior quality. Every
+plant produces daily about half an ounce of this salt; but Molina, a
+scientific naturalist, to whom we are indebted for this information,
+says, that it is extremely difficult to account for this phenomenon, as
+the situation where he found these plants was in the most fertile part
+of the kingdom, and at a distance from the sea of more than seventy
+miles. When we see some plants secrete flint, separate and distinct from
+their fibres, as well as combined with their organic structure; and when
+we also know that plants secrete alkali, in every situation, I cannot
+perceive why Molina should consider the contiguity of the sea to be
+essential to the production of a neutral salt in the Ocimum salinum.”
+Linnæan System, London, 1816, vol. ii. p. 303.
+
+Riley, whose narrative has recently appeared, saw in the desert, “A
+dwarf thorn bush from two to five feet high with succulent leaves
+strongly impregnated with salt.”]
+
+[Footnote 19: In the Dutch copies of the old Portuguese charts, Xabunda
+(perhaps Banda) is placed as the capital of Ashantee, and two or three
+large Portuguese towns, one St. Lawrence, with several convents and
+crosses between it and the Coast.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Gago oppidum amplissimum nullis quoque cingitur muris,
+distat a Tumbuto meridiem versus quadringentes fere passuum millibus,
+inclinatusque fere ad Euroaustrum. Leo Af.]
+
+[Footnote 21: “To what degree the natives of Silla would have
+contradicted each other in their accounts of Tombuctoo, Park’s short
+stay there could not have allowed him time to ascertain, even if his
+knowledge of their language had enabled him to understand their accounts
+as well as he did those of the slatees on the Gambia.
+
+“Several instances of the contradictory testimony of the Negroes occur
+in Park’s travels, Jennië, for instance, is stated in his first Mission
+to be situated on the Niger, but on his second journey he renounces that
+opinion, on the apparently good authority of an old Somonie (canoe man)
+who had been seven times at Tombuctoo.” Adams’s Editor.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Mr. Hutchison writes, that from Inta to Jennë is said to
+be 41 journies. This Gentleman, the Resident at Coomassie, merely
+accompanied the Mission to act in that capacity in case the object could
+be accomplished, and was not instructed to report: the officer
+conducting the Mission being responsible to the extent of his industry,
+and the opportunities, for the various desiderata, excepting the
+Botanical and Medical, which were expected from the Surgeon, Mr. Tedlie.
+Mr. Hutchison’s time was much employed in making duplicates and copies
+of the frequent and voluminous dispatches to head quarters. The Moors
+disliking even a second European to be present at their geographical
+communications, Mr. Hutchison, through his obliging disposition, which
+accommodated itself to every thing auxiliary to the pursuits of the
+Mission, rendered me a great service, and quieted the uneasiness of the
+Moors by keeping watch, and diverting the various Ashantee visitors who
+would have intruded, with great patience and address. There was no time
+even for a communication of the data I had collected before the Mission
+left Coomassie, for we may be said to have lived in public the latter
+part of the four months, and Mr. Hutchison’s genius inclining more to
+the cultivation of the Ashantee and Arabic languages, which I had no
+doubt would yield to his great industry, I did not intrude less
+congenial pursuits on his attention, (the desiderata having been amply
+realized,) but merely requested he would let me know what any
+intelligent Moor, arriving after my departure, might say of the
+Interior, and, if possible, procure a chart from him, especially if he
+was not a native of Houssa or Bornoo, which two of the Moors who had
+drawn for me were. After I had finished my Geographical Report, Mr.
+Hutchison sent, with some other interesting particulars, added as notes
+with his initials, a chart drawn by a Jennë Moor just arrived,
+confirming all I had collected in the most satisfactory manner. The
+names of the countries from the source of the Niger to Egypt were
+written in Arabic, with Mr. Hutchison’s expression of the pronunciation
+in English opposite. I particularly recollect that his ear differed
+somewhat from mine, which accounts for the trifling differences in our
+spelling. I shewed Mr. Hutchison my charts as curiosities, but he took
+no minutes of the names, uninteresting from his never having had an
+opportunity of reading Major Rennell’s Dissertations, which would alone
+make them so to any one. He gives a better proof of this, than my own
+impression, by the following extract from his letter to me, accompanying
+the chart: “The Bornoo you used to talk about, you will find the same as
+the lake Chaudi, or Al Bahare Noohoo, or else you know a country I I do
+not recollect hearing of;” but, in the postscript, he writes, “On
+looking over my memoranda, I find Bornoo is the principal monarchy the
+Arabs alone stand in awe of, and one of the four kingdoms best known on
+the Quolla.” Mr. Hutchison _unconsciously_ confirming what I had
+learned, is even more satisfactory than if I had left him any basis for
+his enquiries; indeed, his own object, the acquirement of the language,
+was too important to be interrupted unnecessarily. Before I attach any
+quotation from this Gentleman’s letters, I must acknowledge the
+assistance I had previously derived from his spirited zeal as an
+officer, as well as that which has since resulted from his interest in
+intellectual pursuits.]
+
+[Footnote 23: The Moors particularly mentioned buying their writing
+paper there. One told me that the Joliba ran to a river called Hotaiba
+after it passed Yahoodee, which river ran towards Toonis. Several talked
+of vessels coming to Yahoodee, navigated by white men, but whence I
+could not learn, and Brahima had never visited it, though such reports
+were familiar to him.]
+
+[Footnote 24: The rivers Arauca and Capanaparo in Cumana form
+bifurcations similar to those of the Niger. The Arauca divides itself
+into two rivers, the northern one, the Arauquito, runs through the lake
+Cabullarito into the Orinoco, and the southern retaining the name of
+Arauca, also flows to the Orinoco. The Capanaparo falls into the Orinoco
+in two streams, the northern retaining the original name, and the
+southern acquiring that of Mina. See Humboldt’s map of the eastern part
+of the province of Verina.]
+
+[Footnote 25: See note, p. 189.]
+
+[Footnote 26: “No one who compares the maps of De Lisle and D’Anville
+with the materials then published, can doubt the excellent means of
+information with which they must have been supplied both by government,
+and by private individuals.” Murray.
+
+We find a remarkable instance of De Lisle’s accuracy in Major Rennell’s
+construction of the geography of Mr. Horneman’s expedition. “Mr.
+Horneman was informed that there are 101 inhabited places in Fezzan.” It
+is remarkable that this is precisely the number stated in M. Delisle’s
+map of Africa, drawn in 1707; and, according to Mr. Beaufoy’s informant,
+there are nearly 100.
+
+I have since found an older authority for the name _Gambaroo_, and which
+also shews that the name _Quolla_ and its connection with the Gambaroo,
+have not been wholly unknown hitherto. It is in the L’Afrique de Marmol,
+livre viii. chap. 3. “C’est une chose estrange que ce fleuve venant de
+si loin, car Ptolomée le fait venir du lac _Quélonide_, et de celui de
+Nuba, il n’entraine pas tant d’eaux par ce costé-là, et la marée ne
+monte pas si avant, _que par l’autre bras que l’on appelle Gamber_.” One
+may almost fancy Quolla and Quellonide to have been derived from the
+Chalonides of Ptolemy.]
+
+[Footnote 27: “The fact of a large lake like the Dibbie, discharging its
+waters by two streams flowing from distant parts of the lake, and re-
+uniting after a separate course of a hundred miles in length, has always
+appeared to us extremely apocryphal, at least we believe that the
+geography of the world does not afford a parallel case.” Adams’s
+Editor.]
+
+[Footnote 28: “According to these statements of the Moorish traders,
+Adams would seem to have mistaken the course of the stream at Tombuctoo.
+In fact, I do not recollect that he told me at Mogadore that it flowed
+in a westerly direction: but, I think, I am correct in saying, that he
+discovered some uncertainty in speaking upon this subject, (and almost
+upon this subject alone) observing, in answer to my inquiries, that he
+had not taken very particular notice, and that the river was steady,
+without any appearance of a strong current.” Dupuis on Adams.
+
+Adams’s name, La-mar-Zarah (for of course he did not attach _La_ mar to
+indicate water, but pronounced La-mar-Zarah, as an integral name) seems
+accounted for by his confounding or connecting the Arabic name of the
+river, _Lahamar_, with the Negro name _Yça_ (for we find these names in
+Marmol, tom. 3. liv. 8.) making _Lahamar-yça_, La-mar-Zarah.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Les Sénégurs le nomment Sénédec, les Jalofes Dengueh, les
+Turcorons qui sont plus au-dedans du pays Maye, les Saragoles qui sont
+plus haut Colle, et en un contrée plus vers l’orient Zimbale: au royaume
+de Tombut on le nomme Yça. Marmol, tom. 3, livre 8. The name Zimbale
+must be derived from Jimballa, by which country the river passes; it
+occurs in the route from Shégo to Timbuctoo. P. 194.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Kulla, in the Mallowa, if not in the Kassina language,
+means _child_; perhaps, allegory being the character of African
+language, the southern river may be called Quolla or Kulla, from being a
+_branch_ only of the great river which forms it and the Gambaroo.]
+
+[Footnote 31: See the account of the large interior river known at
+Gaboon, under the name of _Wole_ or _Wolela_.]
+
+[Footnote 32: “There is one thing that disagrees with Mr. Park’s
+account, they call the Niger Quolla at Jennë, Sansanding, &c. &c. and
+describe the Jolliba as falling into the Quolla east of Timbuctoo.” W.
+H.
+
+The Moors invariably reported to me that it ran from it. Mr. H. might
+perhaps have misunderstood the Jennë Moor, whose single authority cannot
+be opposed to the concurrence of several.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Illorum verò qui per interiorem Æthiopiam fluant, quique
+fontes et ostia in continente habent maximi sunt Gir et Nigir. (Lib. 2.
+E. 1. De maximis _fluminibus_.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: The Jennë Moor does not appear to have been so
+particularly acquainted with the source of the Niger. He has drawn two
+hills, from one of which springs a large river he could not name,
+running westward, the other is the source of the Quolla, and Mr.
+Hutchison has written its name Bieteerilmiloo. Between this source and
+Mala, the King of which he describes as a great monarch, he mentions no
+towns or kingdoms. This Mala is the Malay of the Moorish charts I
+procured, between the source and which five places or countries were
+written. Mr. Hutchison writes the course thus, without time or distance,
+Mala, Bambarra, Shego, Sansanding, Jena, Mashina, Dahleä (a small croom
+on the lake Dibber,) Kabarra: he adds, cannibals are close to the
+Joliba, and 30 journies from Timbuctoo, they eat their prisoners: the
+dead of their own people are put in the Joliba, in wooden coffins.]
+
+[Footnote 35: The following sentence in the description of Leo, conveys
+an idea of the decline or decay of the city. “Cujus domus omnes in
+tuguriola cretacea stramineis tectis _sunt mutatæ_.” Yet immediately
+after we receive the contrary impression on reading “Visitur tamen
+elegantissimum quoddam templum cujus murus ex lapidibus atque calce vivo
+est fabricatus: deinde et palacium quoddam regium quodam Granato viro
+artificissimo conditum. Frequentissimæ hic sunt artificum mercatorum
+præcipuè autem telæ atque gossypii textorum officinæ; huc mercatores
+Barbari pannum ex Europa adferunt.” In the Description de l’Afrique en
+Flamand, published about a century and a half afterwards, the author
+seems to be aware of the advanced decline or decay of Timbuctoo. “Les
+maisons étoient autrefois fort sumptueuses, mais elles ne sont
+maintenant que de bois enduites de terre grasse et couvertes de
+paille.”]
+
+[Footnote 36: “All the country from where the Joliba discharges itself
+into the Quolla is subject to the Sultan Malisimiel. What makes the
+Sultan of Timbuctoo so much talked of, is his being near the water side;
+but his master, the Sultan of Malisimiel considers him merely as a
+deputy or governor. The four greatest monarchs known on the banks of the
+Quolla, are Baharnoo, Santambool, Malisimiel, and Malla.” W. H. Malla is
+Mallowa.]
+
+[Footnote 37: “The Chaymas substitute _r_ for _l_, a substitution that
+arises from a defect of pronunciation, common in every zone. The
+substitution of _r_ for _l_ characterizes, for example, the Bashmouric
+dialect of the Coptic language. It is thus that the Caribbees of the
+Oroonoko have been transformed into Galibi, in French Guiana, by
+confounding _r_ with _l_, and softening the _c_. The Tamanach has made
+choraro (solalo) of the Spanish word soldado.” Humboldt’s personal
+narrative, book iii. chap. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 38: The position of Mellè is further confirmed in Dapper “Le
+Roi de _Tombut_ prend le nom d’Empereur de _Melli_.” This title seems to
+have been transferred to the King of Houssa from the decline of
+Timbuctoo, to which the aggrandisement of the former city is to be
+attributed.]
+
+[Footnote 39: The King residing in Houssa is the King of Malla; he has
+seven tributary Kings. W. H.]
+
+[Footnote 40: I did not hear of the Gotoijegee, Carmasse, or Gourmon of
+Amadi Fatouma; it is clear that he was not very correct in names. I
+never once heard Silla called Sellee, Dibbie, Sibbie, or Kabra,
+Rakbarra.]
+
+[Footnote 41: The Jennë Moor notices between Kabarra and Cabi, Gauw (a
+great kingdom) Quoülla, Askeä, Zabirma. Ptolemy has a city called Geua
+on the Gir.]
+
+[Footnote 42: The Jennë Moor told Mr. Hutchison, “the Quolla was the
+largest river in the world, and about 5 miles wide, having a very rocky
+channel, the banks on both sides very high, and rugged: in many parts
+canoes often take a day to cross, from the dangerous whirlpools, and
+sudden squalls; at other places the stream runs with great rapidity. The
+houses in its environs are either terraced or shingled, as thatch cannot
+resist the frequent high winds.”]
+
+[Footnote 43: The Jennë Moor has placed Gangë as an island in the Quolla
+just below Bousa. This must be the Gongoo of Imhammed, and Ben Ali,
+south of Cassina. Mr. Lucas writes “the width of the Niger is such, that
+even at the island of Gongoo, where the ferrymen reside, the sound of
+the loudest voice from the northern shore is scarcely heard.”]
+
+[Footnote 44: The Jennë Moor traces the course from Yaoora, thus:
+Boussa, Gangë, Wawa, Noofa, Quollaliffa, Atagara; the only difference
+being the position of the latter place, possibly an error of mine, as
+the name Atagara was not noticed in the charts I made the Moors draw,
+but only in the more particular enumerations of the countries the Quolla
+passed; the names of which I minuted from their utterance, and
+afterwards attached their remarks as interpreted to me.]
+
+[Footnote 45: The Jennë Moor calls this Quolla liffa. Mr. Hutchison, who
+has a servant, a native of it, describes it as a very powerful kingdom,
+as the Shereef Brahima described it to me, and as was the impression of
+Mr. Dupuis. Mr. H. adds, on Negro and Moorish authority, “it is to the
+King of Quallowliffa that the country in which Canna, Dall, and Yum Yum,
+where cannibals are, is subject.” Mr. Horneman mentions Yem Yems
+cannibals south of Kano 10 days; and the account is further confirmed in
+my subsequent geographical sketch of the interior of Gaboon. Mr.
+Horneman’s information that the Niger flowed towards the Egyptian Nile
+through the land of the Heathens, which Mr. Park quoted as an argument
+for the Congo hypothesis, doubtless referred to these cannibals.]
+
+[Footnote 46: “At times the water of this lake is hot, and it boils and
+bubbles with a great noise, often overflowing the surrounding country.
+The bones of fish thrown up by the volcano are so numerous, that the
+Arabs mix them in the swish of their houses. There are a great many
+islets in the lake, which is so extensive, that they cannot see the end.
+Between it and the Quolla rises a very high hill, from the top of which
+is an extensive view; it is a day’s journey from the water on either
+side. The Arabs eat black rice, corn, and sweet beans, called Tummer.”
+W. H.]
+
+[Footnote 47: The Jennë Moor has also placed it E. of Foor. Mr.
+Hutchison writes the course, after him, from Atagara, thus:
+“Maffagoodoo, Sharee, Lake Chadee, Phorr (beginning of Arabs) “Wadie.”
+Mr. Horneman writes “A great part of the people of Wadey, together with
+their King, are Arabs.”]
+
+[Footnote 48: Mr. Hutchison has written it Sooänar.]
+
+[Footnote 49: “Cairo is still called, in the figurative language of the
+East, Misr, without an equal; Misr, the mistress of the world.”
+Quarterly Review. Mr. Hutchison writes, that the Moors told him it was
+so called after Misraim, who settled there.]
+
+[Footnote 50: The following, in the left hand column, are the places or
+countries as written by Mr. Hutchison, after the Jennë Moor, agreeing
+with those the Moors reported to me.
+
+  Shuewa                                     Shewa Abenassa.
+
+  Swiss                                      Sooess.
+
+  Zall                                       Zaloo.
+
+  Machazoogee                                Machawazoo.
+
+  Tabarbass, cultivation, volcano from
+  the Quolla two days, two days to the top,  Tabarrabass.
+
+  Askanderee                                 Askandaraia or Sakunderree.
+
+The latter place is Alexandria. The Moors called the Mediterranean Sea
+to me by two names, Baharlë Malee, and Sabbaha Bahoori. Mr. Hutchison
+writes it Baramela or Bahermale, and adds, “Seven rivers from Africa
+turn their course to it, but only two reach the shores, of which the
+Nile is one. The rush of the waters of the Nile when they meet the sea,
+is so great, that the waves are driven into the air with great force,
+and retire like waves against a rock. The Red Sea, they say, assumes
+various colours at different periods from seven streams pouring their
+course into it, salt water and fresh, red, blue, yellow, &c.”]
+
+[Footnote 51: “Half of the inhabitants of Massar are white, and half
+black; they have a Fort and Governor.” W. H.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Stambool is the Arabic pronunciation of the familiar or
+vulgar name of Constantinople, the etymology of which is ιϛαμαι πολιν.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Mr. Hutchison writes, “Wangara is the name of a region
+comprehending Mosee Kong, and other neighbouring countries south of the
+Niger (if not some to the north of it) but Oongooroo is the name of the
+country laying between Cassina and Bornoo.)” Mr. Park has _Wangeera_ in
+the route from Sego to the coast of Guinea.]
+
+[Footnote 54: “The dress of the people of Fullan (a country to the west
+of Kassina) resembles the cloth of which the plaids of the Scotch
+Highlanders are made.” Ben Ali.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Mr. Hutchison sends me this route, as given him by the
+Jennë Moor, thus, (supposing me not to have heard of Yariba) “from
+Goodaberry, over Lasa small water to Quolla, at Boussa; few hours walk
+to Yaraba; 28 days from Dahomey:” he adds, “recollect that the King of
+Dahomey is tributary to the King of Yaraba, who is the same in that
+quarter, as the King of Ashantee is here.”]
+
+[Footnote 56: The Jennë Moor gave this route thus: Wawa to Kiama, a
+great kingdom, 3 days; close to the eastward a desert; 1 day
+Garagroogee; 1 day Wala; 1 day Goodaberry.]
+
+[Footnote 57: “Guber est à cent lieuës de Gago vers l’Orient, et en est
+separé par un desert inhabitable à quatorze ou quinze lieuës du Niger.
+Cette contrée est entre de hautes montagnes, et toute pleine de
+villages; celui où le Prince tient sa Cour a quelque mille maisons.”
+Dapper.]
+
+[Footnote 58: I shall adjoin an outline of the great river in one of the
+maps of Dapper’s Description de l’Afrique, traduit du Flamand, because
+the book is very scarce, and I do not remember to have seen the Niger,
+the Gir, or the Congo so laid down in any other.]
+
+[Footnote 59: The removal of Cano from the banks of the Niger agreeable
+with every report I received, is supported by Dapper. “A cent soixante
+et dix lieuës d’Agadez et à deux cent du Niger on trouve ce royaume
+(Guber), au milieu du quel est la ville de Cano fermée de murailles de
+bois et de pierre, et qui a des maisons bâties de même.”]
+
+[Footnote 60: “The Mahometans of Senaar number Bornoo amongst the four
+most powerful monarchies of the world; the other three are Turkey,
+Persia, and Abyssinia: the sovereign of Bornoo is more powerful than the
+Emperor of Morocco.” Lucas.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Ce royame, qu’on croit avoir été la demeure des
+Garamantes, est une vaste Province au levant de Gangara, qui s’étend
+vers l’Orient l’espace de cent soixante dix lieuës et est éloignée du
+Niger de cinquante.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Mr. Hutchison heard of another river near Bornoo called
+Koomoodoo gaiguina: he could not hear of the Wad el Gazel.]
+
+[Footnote 63: I observe, in a modern publication, Dr. Isert’s described
+as a second visit to Africa, under the auspices of the Danish
+government, encouraged by his reports to attempt colonization in
+Aquapim, and that he died from anxiety and exertion. This was not the
+case, it was his first and only visit, the Danes never attempted
+colonization, and he embarked for the West Indies as I have before
+stated. Having read the above, however, I wrote to Dr. Reynhaut, who
+translated some passages from the Dutch into Latin for me, and the
+following is an extract from his letter in reply. “Quod attinet Iserti
+in Africam reditum, ibique ejus obitum, ficta hæc est fama. Verum est
+juxta Quitam post victoriam in Augnaeos populos reportatam, Danos arcem
+condidisse, cui nomen insigniverunt Prinzenstein; sed nullæ culturæ
+incubuerunt, nec colonias struxerunt, nec minus falsum est umquam
+Isertum in Africæ littoræ inferiora regis jussu rediisse, colonias
+extruendi gratia, nam præter opus Botanicum quod Floræ Guinensis titulo
+occurrit, nullum aliud de illo scriptum existit.”]
+
+[Footnote 64: Since I have been at sea I have drawn the maritime part of
+my map again, and laid down the Forts and other points according to the
+observations quoted in Norrie, (4th edition, 1816,) which agree so very
+nearly with those of the Commissioners in the two instances cited, that
+I conclude he has been allowed to copy the whole series from their
+papers, which I believe have never been published. Even in Dr. Mackay’s
+valuable publication, Cape Coast Castle is laid 1° 23′ too much to the
+eastward. I presume too that the observations made by H.M.S. Amelia, are
+part of those quoted by Norrie, although the Argo’s observations of the
+longitude of Quitta and Whydah are not confirmed. I observe a small
+error which makes 1′ 28″ N. and 7′ 24″ E. the difference between
+Kormantine and Annamaboe, the former is only 5 miles eastward of the
+latter.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                               _History._
+
+
+To speak of the death of a former king, the Ashantees imagine to affect
+the life of the present equally with enquiring who would be his
+successor; and superstition and policy strengthening this impression, it
+is made capital by the law, to converse either of the one or the other.
+The inability of the natives to compute time, and the comparatively
+recent establishment of the Moors, may be pleaded as additional
+apologies for the imperfect history I have collected.
+
+According to a common tradition, which I never heard contradicted but
+once, the Ashantees emigrated from a country nearer the water side, and
+subjecting the western Intas, and two lesser powers, founded the present
+kingdom. These people being comparatively advanced in several arts, the
+Ashantees necessarily adopted a portion of their language with the
+various novelties; which probably created the limited radical difference
+between their language and that of the Fantees; for I could not find,
+after taking the greatest pains, more than 200 words unknown to the
+latter. The weights of the Inta country, in particular, were adopted
+with their names, by the conquerors, without the least alteration.
+
+The tradition, scanty in itself, is very cautiously adverted to, the
+government politically undermining every monument which perpetuates
+their intrusion, or records the distinct origins of their subjects: but,
+from the little I could collect, it appeared to have been an emigration
+of numerous enterprising or discontented families, to whom the parent
+state afterwards became subject. I am inclined to think, (the account of
+their coming from a country nearer the sea being too general for
+conjecture to revolt from,) that they emigrated from the eastward of
+south, where the territory admitted to be Ashantee proper is remote,
+compared with its extent southward, or westward of south, and the former
+consequence of Doompassie, and the towns eastward of it, support this:
+yet, the very few natives who pretended to any opinion on the subject,
+had an impression, that their ancestors emigrated from the neighbourhood
+of a small river, Ainshue, behind Winnebah: a croom called Coomadie is
+to be found there, but there is nothing else to countenance the report.
+
+The Ashantee, Fantee, Warsaw, Akim, Assin, and Aquapim languages are
+indisputably dialects of the same root; their identity is even more
+striking than that of the dialects of the ancient Greek: now the Fantees
+and Warsaws both cherish a tradition, which exists also in many Ahanta
+families, that they were pressed from the interior to the water side by
+the successful ambition of a remote power; whence it may be concluded,
+that the Ashantee emigration we are now considering, was posterior to a
+more important movement of the whole people, corresponding with that of
+their neighbours. I will not dilate upon this secondary subject by
+referring to internal evidence, there is nothing to recompense either
+the investigation or the perusal.
+
+One curious evidence however may be added of the former identity of the
+Ashantee, Warsaw, Fantee, Akim, Assin, Aquamboe, and part of the Ahanta
+nations; which is a tradition that the whole of these people were
+originally comprehended in twelve tribes or families; the Aquonna,
+Abrootoo, Abbradi, Essonna, Annŏna, Yoko, Intchwa, Abadie, Appiadie,
+Tchweedam, Agoona, and Doomina; in which they class themselves still,
+without any regard to national distinction. For instance, Ashantees,
+Warsaws, Akims, Ahantas, or men of any of the nations before mentioned
+will severally declare, that they belong to the Annŏna family; other
+individuals of the different countries, that they are of the Tchweedam
+family; and when this is announced on meeting, they salute each other as
+brothers. The King of Ashantee is of the Annŏna family, so was our Accra
+and one of the Fantee linguists; Amanquateä is of the Essonna family.
+The Aquonna, Essonna, Intchwa, and Tchweedam, are the four patriarchal
+families, and preside over the intermediate ones, which are considered
+as the younger branches. I have taken some pains to acquire the
+etymology of these words, but with imperfect success; it requires much
+labour and patience, both to make a native comprehend, and to be
+comprehended by him. Quonna is a buffalo, an animal forbade to be eaten
+by that family. Abrootoo signifies a corn stalk, and Abbradi a plantain.
+Annŏna is a parrot, but it is also said to be a characteristic of
+forbearance and patience. Esso is a bush cat, forbidden food to that
+family. Yoko is the red earth used to paint the lower parts of the
+houses in the interior. Intchwa is a dog, much relished by native
+epicures, and therefore a serious privation. Appiadie signifies a
+servant race. Etchwee is a panther, frequently eaten in the interior,
+and therefore not unnecessarily forbidden. Agoona signifies a place
+where palm oil is collected. These are all the etymologies in which the
+natives agree. Regarding these families as primæval institutions, I
+leave the subject to the conjectures of others, merely submitting, that
+the four patriarchal families, the Buffalo, the Bush Cat, the Panther,
+and the Dog, appear to record the first race of men living on hunting;
+the Dog family, probably, first training that animal to assist in the
+chase. The introduction of planting and agriculture, seems marked in the
+age of their immediate descendents, the Corn stalk and Plantain
+branches. The origin and improvement of architecture in the Red earth;
+and of commerce, probably, in the Palm oil: indeed, the natives have
+included the Portuguese, the first foreign traders they knew, in that
+family, alleging, that their long and more intimate intercourse with the
+blacks, has made the present race a mixture of the African and
+Portuguese. The Servant race reminds us of the curse of Canaan. This
+resembles a Jewish institution, but the people of Accra alone practise
+circumcision, and they speak a language, as will be shewn, radically
+distinct, yet not to be assimilated to the Intā, to which nation they
+are referred by the Fantees, merely because it is the nearest which
+practises circumcision. Accra is a European corruption of the word
+Inkran, which means an ant, and they say the name was either given or
+assumed on account of their numbers; this must have been before their
+wars with the Aquamboes.
+
+When Adokoo, chief of the Braffoes, a Fantee nation, consulted the
+venerable fetish men of the sanctuary, near Sooprooroo, on the Ashantee
+war, they answered, that nothing could be more offensive to the fetish,
+than the Fantees preventing the peaceable intercourse of their inland
+neighbours with the water side, because they were formerly all one
+family.
+
+The conduct of the later emigration of the Ashantees is ascribed to Saï
+Tootoo, who, assisted by other leading men of the party, and encouraged
+by superstitious omens, founded Coomassie, and was presented with the
+stool, or made King, from his superior qualifications. This account is
+supported by the mixed nature of the government, founded on equality and
+obligation, and the existence of a law, exempting the direct descendants
+of any of Saï Tootoo’s peers and assistants, (in whom the Aristocracy
+originated) from capital punishment.
+
+The Dwabin monarchy is said to have been founded at the same time by
+Boitinnë, who was of the same family as Saï Tootoo, being the sons of
+sisters. Boitinnë and his party, took possession of Dwabin, the largest
+of the aboriginal towns, (leaving Saï Tootoo to build Coomassie) whence
+it seems his followers were the more powerful; indeed I have heard it
+confessed by a few Ashantees, that Dwabin had formerly the pre-eminence,
+though they have always been firm allies in war, and equal sharers in
+spoil and conquest. This common interest, preserved uninterrupted more
+than a century, by two rising powers, close to each other, with the view
+of a more rapid aggrandisement, and their firm discretion in making many
+serious disagreements subservient to the policy, is one of the few
+circumstances worth considering in a history composed of wars and
+successions. I do not think there is such an instance in our heptarchy,
+nor do I recollect any other in history, but that of Chalcis and
+Eretria.
+
+Bakkee, who died, as I have related,[65] about a year ago, was the son
+of Saï Apokoo, the second king, and an infant at the breast at the time
+of his father’s death; he was a very old man when he incurred the
+present King’s displeasure, which supports the report of the Moors, that
+the kingdom has been founded about 110 years. Bosman and Barbot mention
+the Ashantees, as just heard of by Europeans, about the year 1700, which
+confirms this account. The anxiety of the Ashantee government for daily
+records, immediately on the establishment of the Moors, who were only
+visitors until the present reign, acknowledges the perplexities and
+deficiencies of their early history too candidly, to leave any
+encouragement to the researches of strangers. Records beyond half a
+century are not to be found in the archives either of Cape Coast, or
+Christiansburg Castles, so that the chronology can only be founded on
+that of the Moors, and circumstances.
+
+The Ashantee government concentred the mass of its original force, and
+making the chiefs resident in Coomassie and the few large towns they
+built in its neighbourhood, with titular dignities, conciliated those
+whom they subdued by continuing them in their governments, and checked
+them by exacting their frequent attendance at festivals, politically
+instituted. Military command seems to have been the sole prerogative of
+Saï Tootoo; his judicial and legislative power being controlled by the
+chiefs or aristocracy much more than at present, who, as in the Teutonic
+governments, directed the common business of the state, only consulting
+a general assembly on extraordinary occasions.
+
+Saï Tootoo defeated the Akims and Assins, subjected the Tufel country,
+and subdued many small states in the neighbourhood. He also conquered
+Dankara, the King of which, Intim Dakarey, was so considerable a trader
+in slaves, that the Dutch Governor General paid him a monthly note from
+his own purse, and assisted him with two or three small cannons, and a
+few Europeans, on the eve of the Ashantee invasion: the former are now
+placed as trophies in Coomassie, at the top of the street in which the
+Mission was quartered. Booroom was subjugated soon after.
+
+Saï Tootoo did not live to see all the streets of Coomassie completed,
+for war being declared against Atoä, a district between Akim and Assin,
+he invaded that country. The chief of the Atoas, unable to face such a
+power, dexterously insinuated his small force through the forest, until
+he reached the rear of the Ashantee army, which the King was following
+leisurely with a guard of a few hundred men, all of whom were destroyed
+by the Atoäs, who shot the King in his hammock. This happening near a
+place called Cormantee, (razed to the ground in vengeance,) and on a
+Saturday, the most solemn oath of the Ashantees, is “by Saturday and
+Cormantee;” (“Mĭminda Cormantee;”) and no enterprise has since been
+undertaken on that day of the week.
+
+1720. Saï Apokoo, brother of Saï Tootoo, was next placed on the stool.
+Had there been no brother, the sister’s son would have been the heir;
+this extraordinary rule of succession, excluding all children but those
+of a sister, is founded on the argument, that if the wives of the sons
+are faithless, the blood of the family is entirely lost in the
+offspring, but should the daughters deceive their husbands, it is still
+preserved.
+
+Saï Apokoo finished the building of Coomassie, and exchanged compliments
+with the King of Dahomey, since which there has been no intercourse; the
+latter, probably, as a despotic monarch, did not wish to give his people
+any opportunity of contemplating the greater freedom of the Ashantee
+government.
+
+Saï is the family name of the present race of Kings, some of their
+relatives bearing it as well. Innăna is also the cognomen of the Kings
+of Dagwumba.
+
+Apokoo invading the kingdom of Gaman, Abo, the King, fled to Kong,
+whither the Ashantee army pursued him. The King of Kong politically
+compelled Abo to meet his enemies on the frontier, least they might
+disturb a neutral kingdom. Abo being defeated, purchased a peace by
+presenting large sums of gold to the various chiefs, and consenting to
+an annual tribute. Apokoo next subjected Takima, whence the Fantees are
+said to have emigrated, and forced a second emigration of the people to
+Gomawa, at the back of Winnebah. He dispossessed the Akims of the
+English, Dutch, and Danish Accra notes.[66] The mortifying destruction
+of European records, confines me to the report of the more intelligent
+natives on the subject of these notes, who declare, that the people of
+Accra being deprived of them by the fraud of the Akims, when they were
+assisted by them against the Aquamboes, the Akims were in their turn
+obliged to yield them to their conquerors the Ashantees.
+
+Tribute being demanded from the neighbouring kingdom of Dagwumba, a war
+ensued, and its troops were defeated. The King of Dagwumba, convinced
+that his former reliance on a superior population was vain, from the
+military genius of the Ashantees, and the commercial disposition of his
+own people, dispirited from their want of fire arms,[67] prudently
+invited a peace, before a more decisive defeat left him no dignity, and
+his enemies no moderation for treating. As it was, they still respected
+his resources, and were content to secure him as a tributary, rather
+than exhaust their forces in his subjugation, in the infancy of their
+kingdom. A triumph in policy was in the view of the King of Dagwumba,
+equivalent to the small diminution of personal dignity; and at the
+expense of an inconsiderable tribute, he established a commercial
+intercourse, which, his markets being regularly supplied from the
+interior, was both an advantage and a security to him, from the great
+convenience to his warlike neighbours, whose superstition assenting to
+his great reputation for making saphies, and for augury, would not only
+augment his revenue, but insure him superior respect as a tributary.
+Intā had previously become tributary.
+
+I should have mentioned, that every subject state was placed under the
+immediate care of some Ashantee chief, generally resident in the
+capital, who seldom visited it but to receive the tribute from the
+native ruler, for whose conduct he was in a reasonable degree
+responsible. Thus Quatchi Quofie has now the care of Dankara, Odumata of
+Soota, Apokoo of Aquamboe, Oöosa Quantabisa of Daboia, &c. &c. Their
+policy, in short, not only in this particular, but in many others, seems
+to have been closely similar to that of the Persians, as described by
+Herodotus.
+
+Boitinnë, the founder of Dwabin, died in this reign.
+
+1741. Saï Apokoo was succeeded by his brother Saï Aquissi. I could not
+learn any particular exploits of his, excepting that he preserved the
+subjection of the states previously reduced. The King of Akim, in his
+time, (the last who had the power of governing without consulting the
+pynins or elders) desiring to go to war with his neighbours, was obliged
+to obtain permission from the Ashantee government, which he did by the
+promise of sending them half the spoil; but, gaining little or nothing,
+he did not do so. He soon afterwards heard of Aquissi’s intention, to
+demand his head; and knowing that King’s word was irrevocable, he
+summoned his ministers, and desired to sacrifice his life for the quiet
+of his people: his ministers insisted on sharing his fate; and a barrel
+of powder being brought for each to sit on, they drank a large quantity
+of rum, and blew themselves up with the fire from their pipes. Dr. Isert
+also heard of this in Akim.
+
+1753. Aquissi was succeeded by Saï Cudjo. The Aristocracy was retrenched
+and conciliated by this monarch, who raised his favourite captains to
+the vacant stools,[68] uniting three or four in one, and swearing that
+their lives should be equally sacred, (see p. 4,) to anticipate any
+doubts of his fidelity to the constitution.
+
+Saï Cudjo defeating the Warsaws and Assins more decisively than his
+predecessors, first compelled them to acknowledge their fealty to
+Ashantee. He also subjected Aquamboe, and Aquapim, quelled several
+revolts of other countries, and was esteemed a very great captain. The
+grandfather of Amanquateä Atooa, conquered Sawee, killing the king
+Boomancumma; and Bakkee, soon afterwards, subjugated Moinseä. In this
+reign Quama, king of Dwabin, died.
+
+1785. Saï Quamina succeeded his grandfather Saï Cudjo, at a very early
+age. The Akims revolted soon after his accession, under Ofoosoo, their
+most active ruler for many years: he engaged several smaller states in
+alliance, and defeated the Ashantees repeatedly; at length the treachery
+of his followers procured Quatchi Quofie, the Ashantee general, his
+head; with which he returned to Coomassie, the country having again
+submitted. The fame of Ofoosoo made Quatchi Quofie so vain of this
+achievement, that he had a figure of him made, with which his umbrella
+is still crowned, and before which he dances with every insulting
+gesture and vaunt, when he arrives on the ground at the various
+ceremonies. The present king has frequently been heard to say, that it
+was a great pity this old man did not know better, for the Akim
+caboceers generally attended his summons with alacrity and good will;
+but the sight of the insulted effigy of their favourite leader,
+disgusted them, and excited their revolt. These brave people have risen
+from their dependence at least eight times.
+
+The government finding a pretext to invade Banda, the King Odrasee
+vigorously opposed the Ashantee army; but at length, seeing he must
+inevitably fall into their hands, to prevent his head being found, which
+circumstance he knew would sorely disquiet the enemy,[69] and solace his
+own people, ordered, just before he killed himself, a woman to be
+sacrificed, and the abdomen being ripped, his head to be sewn up within
+it, and her body afterwards to be buried in the heap of the slain. It
+was discovered by bribes, and is now on one of the King’s great drums.
+Soota was also subjugated in this reign, occupying the army under
+Odumata ten years, during which period he was not allowed to see
+Coomassie. Odumata afterwards subdued Coranza, the larger part of his
+army being Gaman auxiliaries.
+
+Saï Quamina raised Apokoo to the stool of Assimadoo, to whom he had been
+a servant, in exclusion of the family.
+
+The Danish Governor-General, meditating the punishment of the Popos,
+applied to Saï Quamina for 5000 Ashantee auxiliaries; the request was
+granted, but while the troops were on their march down, the Governor
+died, and his successor prudently paid 250 ounces of gold, (alleged to
+have been advanced by the King for their subsistence on their march to
+Christiansburg Castle) rather than involve himself in the expenses and
+troubles of such an alliance.
+
+1798. Saï Quamina had remained twelve months on a visit at Dwabin, deaf
+to the remonstrances of various deputations urging his return, and
+infatuated beyond recovery by the arts of his mistress, Gyawa, the
+daughter of the King; when it was formally announced to him, that if he
+was not present at the approaching Yam custom, he would be deprived of
+the stool. It is said, that this woman refused to accompany him to
+Coomassie, either dreading the resentment of his mother, a woman of
+violent passions, and great ambition, or, which is more probable,
+influenced by her father to mingle this repugnance with her
+blandishments, to accelerate the ruin of Saï Quamina, which he was not
+without hopes might lead to his own aggrandisement. The form of the
+dethronement is interesting. Appia Danqua, whose power seems to have
+been equal to that of mayor of the palace, repaired to the King’s mother
+with the chief captains, and deliberately recounting the offences of her
+son, commanded her to remonstrate with him, as the daughter of their old
+king, and the parent to whom he owed his elevation. The mother, who no
+doubt had assisted in the private council, affecting to bewail her own
+misfortune and her son’s disgrace, confessed, with seeming reluctance,
+that her remonstrances had already been despised, that the king had even
+attempted her life, and begged them to raise her second son, Saï Apokoo,
+to the stool the elder had forfeited. This was complied with, and they
+sent Saï Quamina a few of his women and slaves, desiring him to retire
+into the bush and build himself a croom, and on his death, which
+happened soon after, as it was said, from the poignancy of his feelings,
+they made the greatest custom for him which had ever been known. The
+sable Cleopatra died soon after him. It was whispered, that those he had
+formerly injured incessantly insulting him in his retirement, even to
+abusing his wives before his face, he had a private interview with the
+present King, communicated several schemes of conquests, invoked him to
+distrust, and, if possible, to punish those who had forsaken him, and
+implored death; which was inflicted (as the blood of the royal family
+could not be shed, and as he could not be privately drowned in the
+sacred river) by fixing his feet on the ground, bending his body
+backwards with a prop in the small of his back, and suspending several
+large teeth of ivory from a noose around his neck, which, hanging from
+the prop, strangled him.
+
+1799. Saï Apokoo did not live more than a few weeks after being elevated
+to the stool, and was succeeded by his brother Saï Tootoo Quamina, the
+present King, who must then have been about seventeen years of age. On
+this occasion, the general assembly of the captains, jealous of the
+aristocracy, and desirous of making a favourable impression on the young
+King, insisted that the remaining members of it, should propitiate the
+reign, by publicly disclaiming their exemption from capital punishment.
+
+The invasion of the Fantee kingdom in 1807 was the first important
+military act of the present reign, the circumstances and origin of
+which, being pretty accurately described by Mr. Meredith, in the extract
+in the Appendix, I need not repeat. Whilst the invasion was meditating,
+Baba, now the chief of the Moors, presented himself to solicit an asylum
+in Coomassie, having been driven from Gamba by the rapacity of the King,
+his near relative; and professing solely to desire the recovery of a
+large property with held from him, to make the King of Ashantee the heir
+to it. The King promised he would oblige the King of Gamba to do him
+justice, on his return from the Fantee war, if Baba and his companions
+were fortunate in their prayers and charms for his success. The King of
+Gamba did not think proper to resist the demand afterwards made through
+the Ashantee government.
+
+1807. Coonadua, the King’s mother, was left regent during his absence;
+this woman was a second Messalina, and many young captains who refused
+to intrigue with her, from fear or disgust, have been ultimately the
+victims of her artifice and vengeance.
+
+Yaboquorra, the King of Dwabin, died in this interval, and was succeeded
+by his grandson, Boitinnë Quama, now about twenty years of age.
+
+1811. Attah, caboceer or King of Akim, had followed the King to the
+first Fantee war, and behaved well. Apokoo being sent on an expedition
+against the Fantees of Winnebah and Berracoo, Attah received orders to
+join him with his contingency; instead of which, he sent a message to
+Apokoo, before he passed the Boosempra river, refusing to join him, and
+advising him not to attempt to pass through his country. Apokoo reported
+this immediately to the King, who, as is usual, sent to Attah to enquire
+if he had said so. He confessed that he had, without hesitation, adding,
+that the King treated him like a slave, in incessantly summoning him to
+attend his wars, and besides, that he never could forget that Saï Cudjo
+had cut off his grandfather’s head, and that he would fight with Apokoo
+whenever he came. Soon afterwards, Quamina Guma, (the father of Becqua,
+captain of Danish Accra,) and one of the King’s sons, returning to
+Coomassie with a large quantity of gold collected to make custom for the
+King’s mother, Attah intercepted, robbed, and murdered them and their
+party, with the exception of one, whom he desired to tell the King that
+this act would convince him he was in earnest, and determined to go to
+war with him. Apokoo was immediately ordered to proceed against Attah,
+who had engaged Quaw Saffătchee as a party in the revolt, who was weary
+of the same laborious vassalage. When Apokoo entered the Akim country,
+Attah was for attacking him immediately, and at sun rise, but Quaw
+impressing his doubts of their succeeding against the superior warfare
+of the Ashantees, begged him to stop until three o’clock, when the
+Ashantees generally ate and slept, and when they might be better able to
+retreat if worsted, as the enemy never pursued in the dusk. The attack
+was a surprise, but the fight continued obstinate and undecided until
+night, when Apokoo found he had lost so many men, that he immediately
+dispatched a messenger to summon the Accras to his aid, as vassals to
+the King. His messenger reached Accra the next day, and that people
+joined him on the following, on which the enemy retreated precipitately;
+Attah to windward, and Quaw to Adda. Apokoo followed the latter, who
+having escaped him after a tedious watchfulness, Apokoo, believing the
+Danish governor, Mr. Flindt, to have connived, made him his prisoner,
+and kept him with the army, which soon afterwards encamped in Aquapim,
+five months, during which time he was treated with kindness and respect,
+but his ransom amounted to nearly £400. Apokoo was soon after ordered
+back to Coomassie. He told me he brought the bell of Adda fort as a
+trophy.
+
+Appia Danqua had been sent, at the same time with Apokoo, with 6000 men
+against the Fantee states which were disposed to the revolters. He
+defeated them at Apam, and took Baffoo the Annamaboe caboceer prisoner,
+but whilst his army was before Tantum, intelligence of the approach of
+Attah, who had retreated from Apokoo, but whose name was as redoubtable
+as his disposition was rapacious, subdued his firmness, and under the
+plea of prudence, hurried him back to the interior.
+
+[Sidenote: 1814.]
+
+The path was afterwards shut for two years, through the vigilance, and
+from the terror of Cudjo Cooma, who had been elected to the stool of
+Akim, six months after the death of Attah, whose immediate successor
+(Quawko Ashantee) tyrannized so cruelly during that period, that he was
+commanded by the people to kill himself, and could only obtain the
+indulgence of a week’s respite, which he spent in singing and dancing,
+in fact in making his own custom Quaw Saffătchee had also leagued with
+the Fantees who attacked the Accra town, but were repulsed. The King
+suddenly determined to open the path to receive the arrears of pay due
+from the Forts, and sent Amanqua Abiniowa with an army of 20,000 men,
+charging him to offer no violence nor commit hostility, unless provoked
+by attack, but to receive the submission of the Akims and Aquapims, and
+merely to exact a fine to seal it. Appia Danqua was sent at the same
+time with a smaller army to the back of Winnebah and Tantum, to
+intercept the revolters if they fled to windward. Abiniowa proceeded to
+Aguiasso, one day’s march from Aquapim, unmolested, when one of his
+foraging parties was attacked by Cudjo Cooma and seven men killed. A
+general engagement took place the next morning, and after six hours
+fighting the Ashantees were victorious, and sent a jaw-bone and a slave
+to each of the Accra towns. Amanqua then marched to Accra to receive the
+King’s pay, and remained nearly twelve months in its neighbourhood. He
+then returned to Aquapim, where, after some time, he received a message
+from the King, with a large quantity of gold, advising him that he must
+not see his face again unless he brought the heads of Cudjo and Quaw.
+Amanqua did not immediately communicate this message to his captains,
+but ordered them to deposit their equipage and property in Accra, and
+then, making a large custom for three days, to propitiate the
+enterprise, he took fetish with all his captains that they would never
+return to Coomassie without the heads.
+
+1816. Appia Danqua had died in Assin in the interim, and was succeeded
+by his brother Appia Nanu, under whom Bakkee was the second in command.
+The King hearing nothing of his progress, and his indolence being
+reported to him, sent orders to Amanqua to join him, which he did at
+Essecooma, reproaching him for his cowardice. Soon after this, the
+skirmish at the salt pond near Cape Coast took place, the detachment was
+principally of Assins, and commanded by Quasheemanqua. Yokokroko soon
+afterwards joined the combined army, (which had marched to Abra,) with a
+few hundred men destined to attack Commenda.
+
+Not long after the palaver was settled at Cape Coast, and the army again
+divided, Cudjo Cooma was killed by a party of Appia Nanu’s at Insoom or
+Incoom near Essecooma; upon which, Appia, instead of marching to join
+Amanqua as had been concerted, returned to Coomassie, where he was
+coldly received, but not accused until the 12th of July last (see
+Diary). Adoo Danqua, the brother of Quaw Saffătchee, came to the Accras
+and concerted the delivering of him up, as he had tired him out with his
+wanderings. The Ashantees agreed to prevail on the King to give him the
+stool if he did. A few Accras and a few Ashantees accompanied him, and
+when he came near where his brother was hid, one day’s journey from
+Accra, he placed an ambush, and sitting down, expostulated with him, and
+recommended him to kill himself; but Quaw would not, alleging that he
+should eventually wear out the King’s patience in pursuing him; on this
+Adoo rose, and a shot was immediately fired at Quaw, who was brought
+down and rose again four times, exclaiming that his brother was his
+murderer, who reflected the reproach on his own obstinacy. The body was
+brought to Accra, and his head sent to Coomassie, and it is now a trophy
+at Bantama or the back town. Amanqua then returned to Coomassie, and
+arrived about six months before the Mission.
+
+The Aowins, to anticipate the ambitious views of the Ashantee
+government, lately sent an embassy with offers of service and tribute,
+but the amount of the latter has not yet been decided.
+
+The King had sent to demand the royal stool of Buntooko or Gaman which
+was thickly plated and embossed with gold; it was given up by Adinkara,
+the King, from fear; his sister, a woman of masculine spirit and talent,
+and the soul of the government, being absent. On her return, she
+reproached her brother severely, and ordered a solid gold stool to be
+made to replace it. That being also demanded, as the right of the
+superior, with a large gold ornament in the shape of an elephant, dug
+out from some ruins, the sister, receiving the ambassadors, replied,
+that the King should not have either, and added, impressing it with more
+force than delicacy, that her brother and she must change sexes, for she
+was most proper for a King, and would fight to the last rather than be
+so constantly despoiled. The King of Ashantee sent word that she was fit
+to be a king’s sister, and a strong woman, and he would give her twelve
+months to prepare for war. Several embassies have been sent however to
+negotiate; two during our stay, the latter, it was said, with an offer
+of 400 Bendas, (£3200.) but the aristocracy were obstinate, and urged to
+the King, that his other tributaries would laugh at him, if he did not
+get the King of Gaman’s head. The small pox was raging in Buntooko.
+
+It is clear, that the King of Ashantee contemplates the reduction of the
+King of Dwabin from an independent ally to a tributary. We witnessed one
+circumstance to the point. A messenger being sent to require gold of
+Dwabin, the King of which is a very weak young man, a captain of the
+royal family replied, that there was no war on foot to require gold, and
+as it could only be for the individual benefit of Ashantee, the
+government must be reminded that Dwabin had formerly exacted gold, and
+was not now to be subjected to imposition, because the right had been
+yielded from respect to the sister kingdom. This being reported to the
+King, he suppressed his anger, and sent a gold headed sword, with other
+marks of dignity and favour to this man, who, to his surprise, refused
+them, alleging, that the honours he already possessed at home became him
+better. The King still temporised. Some months after, at the full
+assembly convened for the proclamation of the treaty with the British
+Government, the mother of the King of Dwabin, who acts as regent, and
+over whom Saï is known to have much influence, suddenly, and no doubt at
+his instance, accused this captain of plotting to deprive her son of the
+stool. The accusation was supported by others, who prayed the King to
+judge the palaver. The King of Dwabin sat with the greatest
+indifference. The accused made an animated appeal to the assembly, and
+Saï affected to support him vehemently, and ordered the linguists to
+give him chalk, or acquit him. The man thanking him very earnestly,
+Adoosee was desired to tell him, that his ill-will to the King of
+Ashantee had been reported in a very aggravated manner; but as it was no
+longer believed, he was only required to take fetish, that he liked the
+King, and would do him all the good he could; this done, the man
+received several marks of favour and bounty.
+
+Saï Tootoo is considered to take better care of the treasury than any of
+his predecessors: he cautiously extends his prerogative, and takes every
+opportunity of increasing the number of secondary captains, by
+dignifying the young men brought up about his person, and still
+retaining them in his immediate service.
+
+Saï Acotoo, the King’s brother, and the heir to the stool, appeared to
+me very inferior in ability; but the Ashantees say otherwise.
+
+The King’s private character is amiable; the children of his brothers
+share the fondness and indulgence which endear him to his own, and his
+few moments of recreation are the liveliest of theirs. The circumstances
+connected with the various instances which we witnessed of his
+generosity to others, justify me in ascribing it to the benevolence of
+his disposition. His admiration of ingenious rather than splendid
+novelty, has frequently imposed the appearance of a covetousness,
+scarcely culpable from his reverence for invention, and the amazement
+its extent excited. To present him with the trifles which attracted his
+notice when he visited us, offended him, he told us we must only answer
+his questions, and let him examine them; to make dashes on the occasion
+of a private visit, was to vitiate the motive of the condescension,
+which could not be repeated unless we paid more respect to his dignity
+and friendship. The King is certainly capricious, and his liberality of
+mind is stained by prejudices against individuals which he confesses to
+be unaccountable; and to several of the principal actors in his
+brother’s deposition, (which, desirous to extend his prerogative, he
+would tacitly censure,) he has been unjustly severe. His humanity is
+frequently superior to his superstition and policy, he offended Quatchi
+Quofie, one of the four, by limiting the human sacrifices at his
+mother’s funeral, and resisted all the importunities, founded on
+precedent, for the allowance of a greater number. He dismissed us twice
+with apologies for not proceeding to business, confessing, the first
+time, that he had been unusually irritated just after he sent for us,
+and had not recovered his calmness; the latter, that some agreeable news
+had induced him to drink more than fitted him to hear great palavers
+like ours. In his judicial administration, a lie always aggravated the
+punishment, and truth generally extenuated, and sometimes atoned of
+itself for the offence: he invariably anticipated the temerity of
+perjury, where convicting evidence was to be opposed to the accused. The
+King’s manners are a happy mixture of dignity and affability, they
+engage rather than encourage, and his general deportment is conciliating
+though repressive. He speaks well, and more logically than most of his
+council, who are diffuse, but his superior talent is marked in the
+shrewd questions by which he fathoms a design or a narrative. He excels
+in courtesy, is wisely inquisitive, and candid in his comparisons: war,
+legislature, and mechanism, were his favourite topics in our private
+conversations. The great, but natural fault of the King is his ambition;
+I do not think it has ever proved superior to the pledge of his honour,
+but it certainly has, and that frequently, to his sense of justice,
+which is repressed rather than impaired by it. This sketch of his
+character being narrowed to my own knowledge, will be assisted by the
+following history of Agay, the second linguist.
+
+Agay, when a boy, carried salt from Aquoomo to Coomassie for sale; he
+was afterwards taken into the service of Aquootoo, caboceer of that
+place, against whom the government had instituted a palaver, but
+wrongfully. Agay accompanied the caboceer when he was sent for to
+Coomassie for judgment. After the King’s messengers had spoken,
+misrepresenting the case in preference to confessing the King to be in
+the wrong, and the caboceer was confused, this boy suddenly rose, and
+said, to use the words of the narrators, “King, you have people to wash
+you, to feed you, to serve you, but you have no people to speak the
+truth to you, and tell you when God does not like your palaver.” The
+assembly cried out unanimously, that the boy might be hurried away and
+his head taken off; but the King said, “No! let him finish;” and Agay is
+said to have spoken three hours, and to have disclosed and argued the
+palaver to the King’s conviction, and his master’s acquittal. He was
+retained to attend the King, but treated with no particular distinction.
+A serious palaver occurring between two principal men, it was debated
+before the council, who were at a loss to decide, but inclined to the
+man whom the King doubted; judgment was suspended. In the interim the
+King sent Agay, privately, to the house of each, to hear their palavers
+in turn, tête-à-tête; he did so, and when the King asked him who he
+thought was right, he confirmed his impression. “Now,” said the King, “I
+know you have a good head.” Agay was then made a Linguist, and presented
+with a house, wives, slaves, and gold. Sometime afterwards, the King
+confessing a prejudice against a wealthy captain, his linguists, always
+inclined to support him, said, “If you wish to take his stool from him,
+we will make the palaver;” but Agay sprung up, exclaiming, “No, King!
+that is not good; that man never did you any wrong, you know all the
+gold of your subjects is your’s at their death, but if you get all now,
+strangers will go away and say, only the King has gold, and that will
+not be good, but let them say the King has gold, all his captains have
+gold, and all his people have gold, then your country will look
+handsome, and the bush people fear you.” For this the King made him
+second linguist, and much increased his property. When Amanqua had the
+command of the army against Cudjo Cooma, the King asked him which
+linguist he would take, he replied, Adoosee or Otee; the King said, no!
+I will give you this boy, he has the best head for hard palavers.
+Amanqua urged that he was too young, the King told him he was a fool to
+say so. He then made Amanqua take fetish with him to report the merits
+of Agay faithfully, who distinguished himself so much, that he is always
+employed in difficult foreign palavers.
+
+The manners of the higher orders of captains, always dignified, are
+courteous and hospitable in private, though haughty and abrupt in
+public. I believe them to be jealous rather than tenacious of their
+honour, and their sophistry is as ingenious as their maxims are
+prepossessing. They consider that war alone affords an exertion or
+display of ability, and they esteem the ambition of their King as his
+greatest virtue. They have no idea of the aggrandisement of a state by
+civil policy alone. They are candid in acknowledging their defeats, and
+just to the prowess of their enemies, but they possess little humanity,
+and are very avaricious and oppressive. They listen to superstition with
+the most childish credulity, but they only cultivate it for the
+preservation of life and the indulgence of passion; beyond this, the
+Moors could never advance their enquiries; they are neither curious nor
+anxious about a future state, pretending to it from rank and achievement
+rather than domestic virtue; and believing, if the latter were outraged,
+the solemnities and sacrifices of their funeral customs would purchase
+their repose. Indeed, licensed as they are by the zealous conflicts of
+rival superstitions, (Moorish and Pagan,) their lives are moderate and
+benevolent to what might be expected, and merit more than our excuses.
+
+The lower order of people are ungrateful, insolent, and licentious. The
+King repeatedly said, he believed them to be the worst people existing,
+except the Fantees, and not comparable with many of their inland
+neighbours. Perhaps we should agree with Voltaire, “Je crois qu’il faut
+plutôt juger d’une puissante nation par ceux qui sont à la tête, que par
+la populace.”[70]
+
+
+[Footnote 65: See Diary.]
+
+[Footnote 66: See the explanatory list of words and the early dispatches
+in the First Part.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Fire arms are unknown to such of the nations on the south
+of the Niger as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he assigns
+for it is, that the Kings in the neighbourhood of the coast, persuaded
+that if these powerful instruments of war should reach the possession of
+the populous inland states, their own independence would be lost, have
+strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures, have
+effectually prevented this dangerous merchandise from passing beyond the
+limits of their dominions. Lucas.]
+
+[Footnote 68: “To succeed to the stool,” does not mean to the seat in
+the council, but is the common expression for succeeding to a property
+even in private life. The same stool, or seat descends through many
+generations.]
+
+[Footnote 69: On the death of the late King of Amanaheä, two competitors
+for the stool appeared, one called Suikee or Suiquah; the other’s name I
+am ignorant of. Both collected their slaves and adherents, and fought.
+Suikee was obliged to fly, and hide himself in the bush; but the people
+being dissatisfied with the conqueror, Suikee re-appeared against the
+town. When his rival was reduced beyond all hope, he threw all his gold,
+which filled several jars, into the lake; and then collecting his wives
+and the different branches of his family, went with them into a remote
+part of the bush, and cut all their throats, with the exception of one
+son, whom he reserved to assist him in burying the bodies. He then made
+this son swear on his fetish, to kill and bury him, and never to
+discover where the bodies were laid: the son fulfilled the oath, and
+returned to Apollonia, but I am not certain what became of him. After
+Suikee had seated himself firmly on the stool, he by some means
+discovered where the bodies were concealed; he caused them to be dug up,
+and taken to Apollonia town; he then ranged them in a sitting posture,
+in a row along the beach, with stakes to extend their arms, and support
+their heads: this horrid spectacle was exhibited until even their bones
+had perished. One of Suikee’s first acts after his accession, was to
+consecrate his hiding place in the bush, making it death, or a heavy
+fine, for any one to swear by Suikee’s bush, and not to keep the oath.]
+
+[Footnote 70: The principal districts of Fantee, are, the Affettoo, the
+Braffoo, and the Essecoomah; Cape Coast is in the former. The Dey of
+Affettoo (a title probably introduced by the Portuguese) was formerly
+supreme in Fantee, so far as summoning the other kings and caboceers at
+pleasure, prescribing their political conduct, and being appealed to and
+sentencing in all cases of life and death, wherever or by whomsoever the
+crime may have been committed; witchcraft excepted. Upwards of a century
+ago the small pox almost depopulated Affettoo, then the largest town and
+capital of all Fantee, (it is about 10 miles inland from Cape Coast,)
+and all the immediate heirs to the stool being cut off, the supremacy
+was transferred to Mankasim. The present Dey, however, preserves a
+spiritual authority over the other kings and caboceers, and is esteemed
+as the superior fetish man; when they desire rain, for instance, they
+apply to him to procure it, and they look to him solely for their
+chronology, which he preserves by knotting strings. Mankasim then became
+the capital and largest town of Fantee, but it was almost destroyed by
+the Ashantees in their first invasion of 1807. Any Fantee caboceer who
+did not attend the summons of the King of Mankasim, was suspended by
+him, and afterwards displaced by the diet. Adoo, the last King of the
+Braffoos, despoiling all his subjects of their most valuable property,
+and countenancing the individuals of his family in the same assumption
+and violation, without any regard to persons; they were all seized, on
+his death, by a simultaneous rising of the people, and sold off the
+coast as slaves, to get rid of the race. Adookoo, one of the leading
+men, was then called to the care of the stool, with the title of
+caboceer only, it being still considered as an interregnum, but he
+exercised the same supremacy and privileges which the King had done, and
+was acknowledged by the whole country. During his retreat and wanderings
+in the bush, after several defeats by the Ashantees, the Fantee towns
+have assumed many political and judicial rights before centered in
+Mankasim; but Adookoo is now expected to summon them all, and re-
+establish the ancient order of things, which they deem too sacred to
+think of resisting. It was not the Braffoos, or the whole people of that
+district, who had the privilege of living abroad at the public expense,
+and who took whatever they pleased of the property of others, as Mr.
+Meredith has stated; but the state officers of that district called
+Brofoos, who acquired that name from the hide in which the tobacco is
+rolled, being formed into a seat peculiar to them, never using a wooden
+stool. They were the executors, and not the organs of the law, and
+always sat to the right and left of Adookoo, but had no voice. The
+number was twelve, and the dignity immemorially hereditary in as many
+families. These men were allowed to take whatever they pleased at home
+and abroad, but since Adookoo’s misfortunes, and inability to support
+them, they have been content to beg for their tithes in the large towns,
+and only exercise their rapacity in the small crooms of their own
+district.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                        _Constitution and Laws._
+
+
+The King, the Aristocracy, now reduced to four, and the Assembly of
+Captains,[71] are the three estates of the Ashantee government.
+
+The constitution requires or admits an interference of the Aristocracy
+in all _foreign_ politics, extending even to a veto on the King’s
+decision; but they watch rather than share the _domestic_
+administration, generally influencing it by their opinion, but never
+appearing to control it from authority; and their opinions on civil
+questions, are submitted with a deference, directly in contrast to their
+bold declarations on subjects of war or tribute, which amount to
+injunction.
+
+The Ashantees advocated this constitution by the argument, that the
+interference of the Aristocracy in all foreign politics, makes the
+nation more formidable to its enemies, who feel they cannot provoke with
+impunity, where there are so many guardians of the military glory; who,
+by insisting on a war, become responsible in a great degree for the
+issue, and pledge an energy and exertion, in comparison with which, such
+as could be excited by a despotic monarch, must be deemed disinterested.
+They added, that an almost independent administration of the King, was
+better calculated for the domestic government, because the decrees of a
+monarch have naturally more force with the people, (over whom his power
+is unlimited) and, further, that a civil power in the Aristocracy could
+not be reconciled to the Assembly of Captains, to whom the former estate
+was already sufficiently invidious for the health of the constitution.
+
+In exercising his judicial authority, the King always retired in private
+with the Aristocracy to hear their opinions, to encourage their candor
+without diminishing his majesty in the eye of the people; and in using
+his legislative prerogative, he was said always to give them a private
+opportunity of defending the old law, rather than of objecting to the
+new; though, from the same state policy, the latter was announced to the
+Aristocracy as well as to the Assembly of Captains, before the people,
+as the sudden and arbitrary pleasure of the King.
+
+The general Assembly of the Caboceers and Captains, is summoned merely
+to give publicity to the will of the King and Aristocracy, and to
+provide for its observance; unless on state emergencies, or
+unprecedented occasions, such as the Treaty with the British Government.
+The following anecdote, related to me by many Ashantees, will illustrate
+the freedom of their constitution.
+
+A son of the King’s quarrelling with a son of Amanquateä’s, (one of the
+four) told him, that in comparison with himself, he was the son of a
+slave; this being reported to Amanquateä, he sent a party of his
+soldiers, who pulled down the house of the King’s son and seized his
+person. The King hearing of it sent to Amanquateä, and learning the
+particulars, interceded for his son, and redeemed his head for 20
+periguins of gold.
+
+The most original feature of their law, that of succession, has been
+mentioned in the History, with the argument on which it is founded: it
+is universally binding; the course is, the brother, the sister’s son,
+the son, the chief vassal or slave to the stool. In the Fantee country,
+the principal slave succeeds to the exclusion of the son, who only
+inherits his mother’s property, frequently considerable, and inherited
+from her family independently of her husband: the daughters share a
+small part of the fetish or ornamental gold, which is much alloyed with
+silver.
+
+The sisters of the King may marry or intrigue with whom they please,
+provided he be an eminently strong or personable man; that the heirs of
+the stool may be, at least, personably superior to the generality of
+their countrymen.
+
+The King is heir to the gold of every subject, from the highest to the
+lowest; the fetish gold and the cloths are generally presented by him to
+the successor to the stool, from which the slaves and other property of
+the deceased are inseparable. The King contributes to the funeral custom
+to validate his claim, and usually bestows ten periguins of the dust
+gold on the successor, (if of a rich man,) who is in all cases liable
+for the debts of the deceased, though the amount is generally made good
+to him sooner or later, if he has influence with those about the King,
+or recommends himself to his notice personally. This law is sometimes
+anticipated, by a father presenting his children with large sums of gold
+just before his death. Boiteëm, the father of Otee, one of the King’s
+linguists, is known to have done so, but the son discovers his wealth
+very deliberately.
+
+The gold buried with members of the royal family, and afterwards
+deposited with their bones in the fetish house at Bantama, is sacred;
+and cannot be used, but to redeem the capital from the hands of an
+enemy, or in extreme national distress; and even then, the King must
+avoid the sight of it, if he would avoid the fatal vengeance of the
+fetish or deity.
+
+If a slave seeks refuge from an ally or tributary, he is restored; if
+from an unconnected power, he is received as a free subject.
+
+The tributary state which distinguishes itself in suppressing the revolt
+of another, is rewarded by privileges at the expense of the offending
+power: thus if a subject of the former kills a subject of the latter,
+the price of a slave only can be recovered, instead of the fine
+otherwise attached to the death of a freeman; and the damages for other
+injuries are reduced in proportion.
+
+If the subjects of any tributary do not like the decision of their
+ruler, according to the laws of their own country, they may appeal to
+the King, and claim decision by the law of Ashantee. The commission
+allowed to the collectors of tribute or fine, is two periguins out of
+ten.
+
+The direct descendants of the noble families who assisted the enterprise
+of Saï Tootoo, the founder of the kingdom, are not subject to capital
+punishment, but can only be despoiled. There are now but four remaining,
+Ananqui, Assafee, (see Diary,) and two others, all beggars.
+
+We were present at the promulgation of the following law: “All persons
+sent on the King’s business shall no longer seize provisions in any
+country, whether tributary or otherwise, in his name; but requiring
+food, shall offer a fair price for the first they meet with, if this is
+refused, they shall then demand one meal, and one meal only, in the
+King’s name, and proceed. This extends to all messengers sent by the
+head captains, whose servants, as well as the King’s, have been long in
+the habit of extorting goods from traders, and tobacco and provisions in
+the market place, in the names of their masters, which they shall do no
+longer without incurring the same penalty which is attached to the
+former part of this law, 110 penguins.” The form of making this law,
+was, the linguists with their insignia advanced and announced it to each
+of the four members of the Aristocracy, then to the whole assembly;
+afterwards Cudjo Appăni, the chief crier, proclaimed it to the people,
+who shouted their thanks; his fee from the King was ten ackies, from the
+people twenty. This attachment of the penalty to the law (the chief
+merit of Zaleucus) manifests some advancement in polity, in securing the
+accused against arbitrary judgment.[72]
+
+The caboceers of Soota, Marmpon, Becqua, and Kokofoo, the four large
+towns built by the Ashantees at the same time with Coomassie, have
+several palatine privileges; they have an independent treasury, though
+subject to the demands of the government and a judicial power, with the
+reserve of an appeal to the King. They celebrate their own yam custom
+after they have attended that at Coomassie, at which all dependents and
+tributaries must be present, and which seems to have been instituted
+like the Panathenæa of Theseus, to unite such various nations by a
+common festival. These four caboceers, only, are allowed, with the King,
+to stud their sandals with gold.
+
+The blood of the son of a King, or of any of the royal family cannot be
+shed; but when guilty of a crime of magnitude, they are drowned in the
+river Dah, by a particular captain, named Cudjo Samfani.
+
+If a man swears on the King’s head, that another must kill him, which is
+understood to be invoking the King’s death if he does not, the other man
+must do so, or forfeit the whole of his property, and generally his
+life. This very frequently occurs, for the blacks in their ardor for
+revenge, do not regard sacrificing their own lives to bring a palaver on
+their murderer, which their families are sure to do.
+
+To be convicted of cowardice is death.
+
+A subject may clear any part of the bush for building a croom, or making
+a plantation, without paying any thing to the King as lord of the soil;
+but he must pay a small sum to the possessor of the nearest croom or
+plantation, through which his path runs.
+
+The government has no power to direct the traders to any particular
+market, though it interdicts the commerce with any power which may have
+offended it.
+
+All the King’s linguists take fetish to be true to each other, and to
+report faithfully.
+
+If any subject picks up gold dropped in the market place, it is death,
+being collected only by order of the government on emergencies; see
+Revenue.
+
+Theft of the King’s property, or intrigue with the female attendants of
+the royal family, or habitual incontinence, is punished by emasculation;
+but crim. con. with the wife of a man who has been so punished, is
+death: being considered an aggravated contempt of law.
+
+Interest of money is 33⅓ per cent. for every forty days, which is
+accompanied after the first period by a dash of liquor. When the
+patience of the creditor is exhausted, he seizes the debtor, or even any
+of his family, as slaves, and they can only be redeemed by the payment.
+This barbarous law was nearly the same in Athens.[73]
+
+In almost all charges of treason, the life of the accuser is at risk as
+well as that of the accused, and is forfeited on the acquittal of the
+latter. I understood this, from the best authorities, to be
+indispensible as a check on the palavers; envy, spleen, or covetousness
+would otherwise accumulate.
+
+The accuser is never discovered or confronted to the accused, nor the
+evidence revealed, until the latter has fully replied to the charge, as
+outlined by the King’s linguists.
+
+Palavers are frequently allowed to sleep even for years, as in the
+Fantee country, to make the damages sued for, the heavier: for instance,
+if a man stole a hen twelve months before, the value of the broods and
+eggs it would have produced, on a fair average, in the interval, would
+be shrewdly calculated, and sued for.[74] State palavers are also
+allowed to sleep for years, but that is to impose the confidence on the
+accused that the principal witnesses are dead, and the impression is
+artfully assisted by the policy of the council. The witnesses against
+Appia Nanu, who had reported his haughty message to the King, had not
+been seen for nearly twelve months before they burst before him on the
+day of his trial, having been sent into the bush on the most distant
+frontier.
+
+No man is punished for killing his own slave, but he is for the murder
+of his wife or child.[75] If he kills the slave of another, he must pay
+the value. If a great man kills his equal in rank, he is generally
+allowed to die by his own hands: the death of an inferior is generally
+compensated by a fine to the family, equal to seven slaves.[76]
+
+If a person brings a frivolous palaver against another, he must give an
+entertainment to the family and friends of the acquitted.
+
+If an aggry bead is broken in a scuffle, seven slaves are to be paid to
+the owner.
+
+Trifling thefts are generally punished by the exposure of the party in
+various parts of the town, whilst the act is published; but more serious
+thefts cannot be visited on the guilty by any but his family, who are
+bound to compensate the accuser, and punish their relative or not as
+they think fit; they may even put him or her to death, if the injury is
+serious, or the crime repeated or habitual.
+
+If a man cohabits with a woman without the house, or in the bush, they
+are both the slaves of the first person who discovers them; but
+redeemable by their families.
+
+It is forbidden, as it was by Lycurgus, to praise the beauty of another
+man’s wife, being intrigue by implication.
+
+A captain generally gives a periguin to the family on taking a wife, a
+poor man two ackies: the damages for intrigue in the former case are ten
+periguins; in the latter, one ackie and a half, and a pot of palm wine.
+
+If a woman involves herself in a palaver, she involves her family, but
+not her husband.
+
+None but a captain can sell his wife, and he, only, if her family are
+unable to redeem her by the repayment of the marriage fee.
+
+The property of the wife is distinct, and independent of the husband,
+though the King is the heir to it.
+
+None but a captain can put his wife to death for infidelity, and even
+then he is expected to accept a liberal offer of gold from the family,
+for her redemption. To intrigue with a wife of the King’s is death.
+
+If the family of a woman are able and willing, on her report of her
+dislike to her husband, or his ill-treatment of her, to tender him the
+marriage fee, he must accept it, and the woman returns to her family,
+but may not marry again.
+
+If a husband is not heard of by his wife for three years, she may marry
+again, and if the first husband returns, the claim of the second is the
+better; but all the children of the after marriage are considered the
+property of the first husband, and may be pawned by him.
+
+Those accused of witchcraft, or having a devil, are tortured to death.
+
+The good treatment of slaves is in some degree provided for, by the
+liberty they have of dashing or transferring themselves to any freeman;
+whom they enjoin to make them his property by invoking his death if he
+does not; an imperative appeal.
+
+
+[Footnote 71: It has been shewn in the history, that the Aristocracy was
+originally formed of the peers and associates of Saï Tootoo the founder
+of the monarchy, who owed his elevation not to his superior rank, but to
+his superior endowments and address. The Aristocracy has been gradually
+retrenched since Saï Cudjo pointed out the way.]
+
+[Footnote 72: By the laws of Ahanta, which are peculiar, if any subject
+or sojourner is in urgent want of provisions, he may seize the first he
+meets with, paying the owner the prices which have been fixed by the
+caboceers: this is similar to the law of Lycurgus. At the Contoom or
+annual Harvest Custom, the Ahantas revise their laws, as Solon enjoined
+the Athenians to do, annulling some and adding others.]
+
+[Footnote 73: In Ahanta, all old debts must be paid within six weeks
+from the commencement of the Contoom or Harvest Custom. The creditor can
+panyar or seize not only the family, but the townsmen of the debtor.]
+
+[Footnote 74: The Ahanta laws do not allow of these protracted palavers,
+and only award the intrinsic value of the articles stolen or destroyed.
+If a man robs a plantation of a yam, he must pay the owner a tokoo of
+gold, and take two more. In Fantee the pettiest theft frequently entails
+slavery.]
+
+[Footnote 75: In the kingdom of Amanaheä or Apollonia, the tenth child
+is always buried alive.]
+
+[Footnote 76: A person accidentally killing another in Ahanta, pays 5
+oz. of gold to the family, and defrays the burial customs. In the case
+of murder, it is 20 oz. of gold and a slave; or, he and his family
+become the slaves of the family of the deceased. If a man dashes himself
+to the fetish on the head of another, the other must redeem him. If a
+man kills himself on the head of another, the other must kill himself
+also, or pay 20 oz. to the family: in Fantee the sum is indefinitely
+great: this is frequently resorted to, when there is no other prospect
+of revenge.
+
+Adumissa, an extraordinarily beautiful red skinned woman of Cape Coast,
+possessed numerous admirers, but rejected them all. One of them, in
+despair, shot himself on her head close to her house. The family
+demanding satisfaction; to save her relations from a ruinous palaver,
+she resolved to shoot herself in expiation. She accordingly assembled
+her friends and relatives from various parts of the country, and
+sitting, richly dressed, killed herself in their presence with golden
+bullets. After the body had been exposed in state, it was buried with a
+profusion of cloths and gold. The beautiful Adumissa is still eulogised,
+and her favourite patterned cloth bears her name amongst the natives.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                            _Superstitions._
+
+
+The Negro tradition of the book and the calabash, cited by St. Pierre,
+is familiar to every native of these parts, and seems the source of
+their religious opinions. Impressed that the blind avarice of their
+forefathers inclined all the favour of the supreme God to white men,
+they believe themselves to have been committed to the mediating care of
+subordinate deities, necessarily as inferior to the primary, as they are
+to Europeans.
+
+As the Ashantee manner of relating this tradition differs a little from
+that of the Fantee, I will repeat it, on the authority of Odumata and
+other principal men. In the beginning of the world, God created three
+white and three black men, with the same number of women; he resolved,
+that they might not afterwards complain, to give them their choice of
+good and evil. A large box or calabash was set on the ground, with a
+piece of paper, sealed up, on one side of it. God gave the black men the
+first choice, who took the box, expecting it contained every thing, but,
+on opening it, there appeared only a piece of gold, a piece of iron, and
+several other metals, of which they did not know the use. The white men
+opening the paper, it told them every thing. God left the blacks in the
+bush, but conducted the whites to the water side, (for this happened in
+Africa) communicated with them every night, and taught them to build a
+small ship which carried them to another country, whence they returned
+after a long period, with various merchandise to barter with the blacks,
+who might have been the superior people.
+
+With this imaginary alienation from the God of the universe, not a shade
+of despondency is associated; they consider that it diminishes their
+comforts and their endowments on earth, but that futurity is a dull and
+torpid state to the majority of mankind.
+
+Their fetishes or subordinate deities, are supposed to inhabit
+particular rivers, woods, and mountains, as the imaginary deities of the
+Celts. They are venerated in proportion as their predictions (always
+equivocal) chance to be realized. The present favourite fetish of
+Ashantee is that of the river Tando. Cobee, a river in Dankara, and
+Odentee on the Adirree, are two of the others.
+
+The kings, caboceers, and the higher class, are believed to dwell with
+the superior Deity after death, enjoying an eternal renewal of the state
+and luxury they possessed on earth. It is with this impression, that
+they kill a certain number of both sexes at the funeral customs, to
+accompany the deceased, to announce his distinction, and to administer
+to his pleasures.
+
+The spirits of the inferior classes are believed to inhabit the houses
+of the fetish, in a state of torpid indolence, which recompenses them
+for the drudgery of their lives, and which is truly congenial to the
+feelings of the Negro. Those of superior wisdom and experience, are said
+to be endued with foresight after death, and to be appointed to observe
+the lives, and advise the good of those mortals who acknowledge the
+fetish; their state corresponding, in short, with that of the first race
+of men after death, as described by Hesiod. Those whose enormities
+nullify the mediation of the funeral custom, or, whom neglect or
+circumstances might have deprived of it, are doomed, in the imagination
+of others, to haunt the gloom of the forest, stealing occasionally to
+their former abodes in rare but lingering visits. Those who have
+neglected the custom, or funeral rites of their family, are thought to
+be accursed and troubled by their spirits.
+
+There are two orders of fetishmen. The first class dwell with the
+fetish,[77] who has a small round house, built generally at a distance
+from the town. They question the oracle respecting the future fortune of
+a state or an individual, convey its advice, and enjoin the attention of
+the _audible_ spirits of those, any member of their family would
+question respecting property or domestic circumstances:
+
+
+  “Auditur tumulo et vox reddita fertur ad aures.” Æn. vi.
+
+
+The inferior class pursue their various occupations in society, assist
+in customs and superstitious ceremonies, and are applied to as fortune
+tellers or conjurors are in Europe; especially in cases of theft; when,
+from a secret system of espionage, and a reluctance, frequently
+amounting to a refusal to discover the culprit, or to do more than
+replace the property whence it was taken, they are generally successful.
+The magical ceremony consists in knotting, confusing, and dividing
+behind the back, several strings and shreds of leather. They are also
+frequently applied to by slippery wives, to work charms to keep their
+husbands in ignorance of a projected intrigue, which they affect to do.
+
+The primary dignity is hereditary in families, as the priesthood was in
+Egypt, celibacy not being enjoined; their property is also hereditary,
+and they possess other immunities. The latter order is frequently
+augmented by those, who declare that the fetish has suddenly seized, or
+come upon them, and who, after inflicting great severities on
+themselves, in the manner of the convulsionists, are ultimately
+acknowledged. The fetish women, generally preferred for medical aid, as
+they possess a thorough knowledge of barks and herbs, deleterious and
+sanative, closely resemble the second class of Druidesses as described,
+I think by Mela: they seem licensed prostitutes, before and after
+marriage.
+
+The present state of these people referring them to a comparison with
+the nations of ancient Europe,[78] the close resemblance of many points
+of their superstition to relative particulars recorded of Greece and
+Gaul, recalls the following reflection of an eminent writer. “The truth
+is, there is hardly any thing more surprising in the history of mankind,
+than the similitude, or rather identity, of the opinions, institutions,
+and manners of all these orders of ancient priests, though they lived
+under such different climates, and at so great a distance from one
+another, without intercourse or communication. This amounts to a
+demonstration, that all these opinions and institutions flowed
+originally from one fountain.”
+
+Half the offerings to the fetish, are pretended to be thrown into the
+river, the other half belongs to the priests. The King’s offering is
+generally ten ounces, and three or four slaves: that of a poor subject
+about four ackies. Children are frequently vowed to the service of the
+fetish before their birth. A slave flying to the temple, may dash or
+devote himself to the fetish; but, by paying a fee of two ounces of gold
+and four sheep, any person shuts the door of the fetish house against
+all his run away slaves.[79]
+
+Every family has a variety of domestic fetishes, furnished by the
+priests, and answering to the Penates of the Romans; some are wooden
+figures, others of arbitrary shapes and materials; they receive
+offerings and libations at the yam custom, but are not brought out of
+the house.[80]
+
+In Ashantee there is not a common fetish day, as on the coast.[81]
+Different families solemnize different days of the week, by wearing
+white cloths, abstaining from palm wine and labour, as they do the day
+of the week on which they were born, which is in fact their second
+fetish day. The King’s family keep Tuesday as their fetish day.
+Odumata’s, Friday. Saturday was the King’s birth day, when, as well as
+on his fetish day, he always sat on a stool placed before his chair as a
+foot stool would be. Some families never eat beef, others abstain from
+pork. Fowls and beef are the fetish of the King’s family, and
+consequently never eaten by it.
+
+The Ashantees have their Fasti and Nefasti, or lucky and unlucky days,
+as the Romans had.[82] The former consecrated by some good fortune, the
+latter condemned from some national calamity, as Saturday, for instance,
+from the defeat and death of Saï Tootoo. They are also otherwise marked
+than by the week; for I was told, that our month of September contained
+fewer bad days than any other, and was besides deemed auspicious to
+travelling:
+
+
+  Ipsa dies alios alio dedit ordine Luna
+
+  Felices operum · · · ·
+
+  · · · · nona fugæ melior. Geor. I.
+
+
+I have known Ashantees thirty days coming with dispatches from Cape
+Coast Castle to Coomassie, in August; and in September, to have arrived
+in twelve.
+
+If the successor to a stool, or any rich inheritance is a child, they
+grind aggry beads into a powder, and rub him with it daily, after
+washing, believing that it hastens his growth and maturity. When any one
+denies a theft, an aggry bead is placed in a small vessel, with some
+water, the person holding it puts his right foot against the right foot
+of the accused, who invokes the power of the bead to kill him if he is
+guilty, and then takes it into his mouth with a little of the water, the
+rest being thrown on the ground, and crossed as he repeats the
+invocation: their superstition is generally superior to their
+resolution. I shall be expected to notice these aggry beads.
+
+The natives invariably declare that the aggry beads are found in the
+Dankara, Akim, Warsaw, Ahanta, and Fantee countries, the greater number
+in the former, being the richer in gold; they say they are directed to
+dig for them by a spiral vapour issuing from the ground, and that they
+rarely lay near the surface; the finder is said to be sure of a series
+of good fortune. The plain aggry beads are blue, yellow, green, or a
+dull red, the variegated consist of every colour and shade. The Fantees
+prefer the plain yellow bead, the Amanaheäns the blue and yellow, for
+which they will give double the weight in gold; those of inferior beauty
+frequently fetch a large price, from having been worn by some royal or
+eminent character. Dr. Leyden, who writes, “the aigris is a stone of a
+greenish blue colour, supposed to be a species of jasper, small
+perforated pieces of which, valued at their weight in gold, are used for
+money,” (which I never heard of,) rather describes the popo bead; though
+that is semi-transparent, (of a bright blue,) resembling carnelian,
+(which is frequently found in these countries) and said to be obtained
+in the same manner as the aggry bead. Isert writes, “they are a sort of
+coral, with inlaid work: the art of making beads is entirely lost, or
+was never known in these parts: it is not improbable, that in the golden
+age of Egypt, she had communication with the Gold Coast; indeed, it has
+been thought, and perhaps not without some reason, that the Gold Coast
+is the Ophir of Solomon.”
+
+The variegated strata of the aggry beads are so firmly united, and so
+imperceptibly blended, that the perfection seems superior to art: some
+resemble mosaic work, the surfaces of others are covered with flowers
+and regular patterns, so very minute, and the shades so delicately
+softened one into the other, and into the ground of the bead, that
+nothing but the finest touch of the pencil could equal them. The
+agatized parts disclose flowers and patterns, deep in the body of the
+bead, and thin shafts, of opaque colours, running from the centre to the
+surface. The natives pretend that imitations are made in the country,
+which they call boiled beads, alleging that they are broken aggry beads
+ground into powder, and boiled together, and that they know them because
+they are heavier; but this I find to be mere conjecture among
+themselves, unsupported by any thing like observation or discovery. The
+natives believe that by burying the aggry beads in sand they not only
+grow but breed.[83]
+
+To return to the superstitions of the Ashantees: when they drink, they
+spill a little of the liquor on the ground as an offering to the fetish;
+and on rising from their chairs or stools, their attendants instantly
+lay them on their sides, to prevent the devil (whom they represent to be
+white) from slipping into their master’s places.
+
+But the most surprising superstition of the Ashantees, is their
+confidence in the fetishes or saphies they purchase so extravagantly
+from the Moors, believing firmly that they make them invulnerable and
+invincible in war, paralyse the hand of the enemy, shiver their weapons,
+divert the course of balls, render both sexes prolific, and avert all
+evils but sickness, (which they can only assuage,) and natural death.
+The King gave to the King of Dagwumba, for the fetish or war coat of
+Apokoo, the value of thirty slaves; for Odumata’s, twenty; for Adoo
+Quamina’s, thirteen; for Akimpon’s, twelve; for Akimponteä’s, nine; and
+for those of greater captains in proportion. The generals being always
+in the rear of the army are pretty sure to escape, a circumstance much
+in favour of the Moors. The drawing of Adoo Quamina will convey the best
+idea of this dress, which has been described before, in our entrée; it
+is so weighty that old Odumata could scarcely move in his. Jannequin,
+who visited Mandingo in 1637, describes exactly the same sort of dress
+as worn by the chiefs of that country, and adds, “their bodies are so
+encumbered with these defences, that they are often unable to mount on
+horseback without assistance.” For a small fetish of about six lines,
+sewn in a case of red cloth, which the King presented to our Accra
+linguist, Baba charged and received six ackies. The man valued the gift
+highly; he had expended two pieces of cloth and a quantity of rum in
+fetish, at Accra, before he joined the Mission; but for which, he told
+me, he was convinced the Ashantees would have managed to poison him:
+yet, he was one of the most sensible natives I ever conversed with. A
+sheet of paper would support an inferior Moor in Coomassie for a month.
+Several of the Ashantee captains offered seriously to let us fire at
+them; in short, their confidence in these fetishes is almost as
+incredible, as the despondency and panic imposed on their southern and
+western enemies by the recollection of them: they impel the Ashantees,
+fearless and headlong, to the most daring enterprises, they dispirit
+their adversaries, almost to the neglect of an interposition of fortune
+in their favour. The Ashantees believe that the constant prayers of the
+Moors, who have persuaded them that they converse with the Deity,
+invigorate themselves, and gradually waste the spirit and strength of
+their enemies. This faith is not less impulsive than that which achieved
+the Arabian conquests.
+
+Neither the Ashantees or their neighbours have any tradition of a
+deluge, nor does Catcott, the only writer I recollect to have read on
+its universality, report any Negro tradition, though he submits that of
+the American tribes, with those of the other nations of the world. The
+Moors told me, that the waters of the deluge retired to, and were
+absorbed in the lake Caudi or Caughi, which they also called Bahar
+Noohoo, or the sea of Noah.
+
+Amongst other observations, I recollect the Moors to have said, that
+Moses spoke like God, that Abraham was the friend of God, that Jesus was
+a spirit of God, but that Mahomet was the best beloved of God. They
+added, that there were four books written by the inspiration of God, at
+different times. Moses wrote Tauratoo; David, Zaboura; Jesus, Lingheel;
+and Mahomet, Al Koran. Lightning, they said, was occasioned by God
+waving his hand to direct the courses of his angels. One Moor was a
+great etymologist; he told me, that Mahomet rushing between two armies,
+who were fighting, exclaimed to one party, “Toorek! Toorek!” (leave off!
+leave off!) and that those people were thenceforward called Turks. I
+questioned them concerning the origin of nations; they told me, that
+Japhet was the most active in covering the nakedness of his father,
+which Ham discovered, and thence the subjection of black men the
+descendants of Ham, to Europeans the descendants of Japhet. Shem, from
+whom they were themselves descended, they said, was neither so good or
+so bad as his brothers, and therefore his children enjoyed a medium of
+endowment and favour. They augured from the sacrifice of sheep, with
+which the King supplied them abundantly, and, excepting those who had
+made a pilgrimage to Mecca, (of which they told us wonderful tales) did
+not hesitate mingling the superstitions of the natives with their own,
+either for their profit or safety. They were tolerably expert in slight
+of hand tricks.
+
+
+[Footnote 77: At Nanampong (Nanan means a grand-father) near Mankasim,
+in the Braffoo country, there is a deep dell, inhabited by a number of
+aged fetish men, whom the Fantees believe to be immortal, and to have
+lived there beyond all memory, in close converse with the fetish, and
+ignorant of the world but by intuition. The spirits of the aged and wise
+are believed to dwell amongst them, and their prophecies and advice are
+revered as emanations from the fetish. Adookoo, the chief of the
+Braffoos, used sometimes to consult them in person, but generally
+through his head fetishman, and the Fantees now attribute the successes
+of the Ashantees, and their own defeats and misfortunes, to the
+disregard of what the oracle enjoined; for, whilst it was obeyed, they
+say the country always prospered; and, indeed, from the instances which
+have been reported to me, the responses appear to have directed a just
+and prudent policy, highly conducive to the welfare of Fantee. This dell
+is so impervious, and yet so capacious, that many hundred Fantees were
+secreted there, during the Ashantee invasions, which these priests had
+predicted. The house or temple of the principal fetish of the Ahanta
+country, called Checquoo, is at Apremmadoo, about four miles up the
+Takaradee river: upwards of fifty superior priests are resident there.]
+
+[Footnote 78: “And here I cannot but remark, that those accounts, when
+compared, shew how little manners and minds improve in Africa, and how
+long, and how much society has been there at a stand:—Jobson saw, in
+1620, exactly what Park saw in 1798.” Sir W. Young.]
+
+[Footnote 79: A slave dashing or devoting himself to Checquoo, the great
+fetish of Ahanta, is never redeemed; the impression of the superior
+power of that fetish being so awful, that the proprietor of the slave,
+would believe the death of all his family inevitable, were he to redeem
+him from the sanctuary.]
+
+[Footnote 80: The different states of the water side revere different
+animals as fetish: the hyæna is esteemed so at Accra, the alligator at
+Dix Cove and Annamaboe, and vultures universally; and with more apparent
+reason, as they consume all the offal of the neighbourhood, and thus
+contribute to its health and cleanliness. A black man killing a hyæna at
+Accra, would incur a serious penalty. A European is obliged to pay a
+case of neat rum and one piece of white baft, in which the head of the
+animal is wrapped, and afterwards buried by the natives. Almost every
+resident on the coast, can speak to the imitative powers of the hyæna,
+which Pliny has been ridiculed for reporting. In a fresh water pond at
+Dix Cove, there is an alligator, about twelve feet long, which always
+appears on the bank, at the call of the fetish men, who then throw it a
+white fowl. In a modern natural history, I read, “in this part of the
+world (Africa) also, as well as at Siam, the crocodile makes an object
+of savage pomp, near the palaces of their monarchs. Philips informs us,
+that at Sabi, on the slave coast, there are two pools of water near the
+royal palace, where crocodiles are bred as we breed carp in our ponds in
+Europe.” I never heard of any royal palaces, or of Sabi (probably
+Assaboo) on the Slave Coast; the alligator of Dix Cove may possibly be
+alluded to.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Tuesday is the common fetish day on the coast, when they
+neither fish or work in their plantations.]
+
+[Footnote 82:
+
+
+  Ille et nefasto te posuit die. Hor. 12, 13.
+
+
+Romani pariter quosdam atros et nefastos habuere, eo quod in iis clades
+acceperant; · · ·]
+
+[Footnote 83: The coloring matter of the blue beads has been proved, by
+experiment, to be iron; that of the yellow, without doubt, is lead and
+antimony, with a trifling quantity of copper, though not essential to
+the production of the color. The generality of these beads appear to be
+produced from clays colored in thin layers, afterwards twisted together
+into a spiral form, and then cut across: also from different colored
+clays raked together without blending. How the flowers and delicate
+patterns, in the body and on the surface of the rarer beads, have been
+produced, cannot be so well explained. Besides the suite deposited in
+the British Museum, I had the pleasure of presenting one of the most
+interesting kind to Baron Humboldt; and I have also sent one to Sir
+Richard Hoare, as it seemed to correspond so closely with the bead which
+he found in one of the barrows, and describes, as follows, in his
+History of Wiltshire. The notion of the rare virtues of the Glain
+Neidyr, as well as of the continued good fortune of the finder, accords
+exactly with the African superstitions. “A large glass bead, of the same
+imperfect petrefaction as the pully beads, and resembling also, in
+matter, the little figures that are found with the mummies in Egypt, and
+are to be seen in the British Museum. This very curious bead has two
+circular lines of opaque sky blue and white, which seem to represent a
+serpent entwined round a centre, which is perforated. This was certainly
+one of the Glain Neidyr of the Britons, derived from glain, which is
+pure and holy, and neidyr a snake. Under the word glain, Mr. Owen, in
+his Welsh Dictionary, has given the following article: “The Glain
+neidyr, transparent stones, or adder stones, were worn by the different
+orders of the bards, each having its appropriate color. There is no
+certainty that they were worn from superstition originally; perhaps that
+was the circumstance which gave rise to it. Whatever might have been the
+cause, the _notion of their rare virtues was universal_ in all places
+where the Bardic religion was taught. It may still be questioned whether
+they are the production of nature or art.” The beads which are the
+present object of my attention, are thus noticed by Bishop Gibson in his
+improved edition of Camden’s Britannia. “In most parts of Wales, and
+throughout all Scotland, and in Cornwall, we find it a common opinion of
+the vulgar, that about Midsummer eve (although in the time they do not
+all agree,) it is usual for snakes to meet in companies; and that by
+joining heads together, and hissing, a kind of bubble is formed like a
+ring, about the head of one of them, which the rest, by continual
+hissing blow on till it comes off at the tail; and then it immediately
+hardens, and resembles a glass ring, _which whoever finds (as some old
+women and children are persuaded) shall prosper in all their
+undertakings_. The rings which they suppose to be thus generated are
+called Gleinu Nadroedh, i.e. Gemmæ Anguinum, whereof I have seen at
+several places about twenty or thirty. They are small glass annulets,
+commonly about half as wide as our finger rings, but much thicker; of a
+green color, usually, though some of them are blue, and others curiously
+waved with blue, red, and white. I have also seen two or three earthen
+rings of this kind, but glazed with blue, and adorned with transverse
+streaks in furrows on the outside. There seems to be some connection
+between the Glein Neidyr of the Britons, and the Ovum Anguinum mentioned
+by Pliny,[a] as being held in veneration by the Druids of Gaul, and to
+the formation of which he gives nearly the same origin. They were
+probably worn as an insigne, or mark of distinction, and suspended
+around the neck, as the perforation is not sufficiently large to admit
+the finger.”
+
+The bead engraved in Tumulus No. 9, resembles closely a coarse sort of
+bead, still manufactured in Syria, brought over by Dr. Meryon. The glass
+globes dug up in Lincolnshire, and presented by Sir Joseph Banks to the
+British Museum, are very like a distinct sort of aggry bead, dug by the
+natives even more rarely than the others, but not larger than a moderate
+sized apple: they are more opaque than the other beads, and the ground
+or body is generally black, speckled confusedly with red, white, and
+yellow.
+
+_Aggry_ is the generic, not the abstract name; ‘_awynnee_’ is _bead_,
+but aggry is an exotic word no native can explain. When first I heard of
+similar beads having been lately dug in India, I associated for an
+instant the expectation that it might have been in the neighbourhood of
+Agra, and thus have thrown some light on the name; but it appears they
+were found in Malabar. I am indebted for the following account of this
+interesting discovery to a gentleman lately returned from India. “The
+bead you sent me is more like those I saw in India, than any I have seen
+before; but it is thicker and shorter; neither does the material of
+which it is formed exactly agree with those in India, which appear to be
+of a red glass, very like red carnelian (such, however, are frequent
+among the Aggry beads) with white lines of enamel, inlaid, as it were,
+in the body of the bead. I gave these to a friend in India, who promised
+to send them to the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. The circles of stone in
+which these beads have been found, abound most in Malabar, in the
+neighbourhood of Calicut; but I have seen them in other parts of India,
+and I am of opinion that they might be traced throughout the whole of
+the southern peninsula. They are formed of large masses of rough stones,
+placed round in irregular circles, some of very large extent, some of
+smaller: they appear so much like natural rocks, that most persons would
+pass them unobserved. Several of these circles about three years since
+were excavated, in the vicinity of Calicut, and in the centre of each of
+them we found, at the depth of about five feet, a large earthen jar of
+the same shape as those found in Wiltshire, as near as we could judge,
+for it was broken to pieces: it was about four or five feet deep, its
+mouth in general closed with a square piece of granite: the beads were
+found at the bottom of these jars with some pieces of iron, apparently
+parts of swords and spears. There was an iron javelin found in one of
+these places, tolerably perfect: it was about five feet long, with a
+large iron knob at one end of it. In the centre of one of the circles we
+came to a flight of seven steps, which led to a cave excavated in the
+rock; it measured 11 feet in diameter, and 7 feet in its highest part;
+the entrance to it was a square opening of about 18 inches, which was
+closed up by an immense block of granite. We found in this place a great
+number of earthen pots of very curious shape; in one of these there were
+the remains of bones, which appeared to have been but imperfectly
+calcined; in several of the larger jars there were the husks of rice,
+which dropped into dust immediately they were opened. We found here also
+an iron tripod, and a very curious stone, somewhat similar to what the
+Indians now use for grinding their curry powder on. The large stones
+forming the circles were set upright and capped with still larger ones.
+They are not of granite, but of the stone of the country in which they
+are situated; they are of different sizes; I have seen some of them 10
+or 12 feet high, and the large stone on the top from 10 to 12 feet in
+diameter, or perhaps more. Coimbatore is a district situated between the
+Coromandel and Malabar coasts; it is bounded on the east by the river
+Cavery, on the banks of which the tumuli are in general situated. In
+some, a few silver coins have been found, of a square figure, with
+characters on them, which none of the most learned Bramins have been as
+yet able to make out; it is in these also that remains of very large
+swords, &c. have been found. The Roman coins to the number of upwards of
+90 were all of gold, and Nero’s; each of them had a cut or slit in it.
+They were not found in one of these barrows, but were discovered in a
+garden by one of the natives when digging: they were in a small copper
+pot. Pandu Kuri literally means Pandu’s caves or holes. Pandu is a very
+celebrated personage in the Hindoo Mythology, and a great warrior; it is
+common in India to ascribe to him all great works of antiquity; this
+term therefore only shews that those places are very ancient, and that
+the present inhabitants are quite ignorant of their origin.”]
+
+[Footnote a: Præterea est ovorum genus in magna Galliarum fama, omissum
+Græcis. Angues innumeri æstate convoluti, salivis faucium, corporumque
+spumis artifici complexu glomerantur, anguinum appellantur. Druidæ
+sibilis id dicunt in sublime jactari, sagoque oportere intercipi ne
+tellurem attingat. Profugere raptorem equo. Serpentes enim insequi donec
+arceant amnis alicujus interventu. Experimentum ejus esse si contra
+aquas fluitet vel auro cinctum Insigne Druidis. Ad victorias litium ac
+regum aditus maxime laudat. Plinii Hist. Natural. L. 29. c. 3.]
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                               _Customs._
+
+
+The Yam Custom is annual, just at the maturity of that vegetable, which
+is planted in December, and not eaten until the conclusion of the
+custom, the early part of September. All the caboceers and captains, and
+the majority of the tributaries, are enjoined to attend, none being
+excused, but such as the Kings of Inta, and Dagwumba, (who send
+deputations of their principal caboceers,) and those who have been
+dispatched elsewhere on public business. If a chief or caboceer has
+offended, or if his fidelity be suspected, he is seldom accused or
+punished until the Yam Custom, which they attend frequently unconscious,
+and always uncertain of what may be laid to their charge. The Yam Custom
+is like the Saturnalia; neither theft, intrigue, or assault are
+punishable during the continuance, but the grossest liberty prevails,
+and each sex abandons itself to its passions.
+
+On Friday the 5th of September, the number, splendor, and variety of
+arrivals, thronging from the different paths, was as astonishing as
+entertaining; but there was an alloy in the gratification, for the
+principal caboceers sacrificed a slave at each quarter of the town, on
+their entré.
+
+In the afternoon of Saturday, the King received all the caboceers and
+captains in the large area, where the Dankara canons are placed. The
+scene was marked with all the splendor of our own entré, and many
+additional novelties. The crush in the distance was awful and
+distressing. All the heads of the kings and caboceers whose kingdoms had
+been conquered, from Saï Tootoo to the present reign, with those of the
+chiefs who had been executed for subsequent revolts, were displayed by
+two parties of executioners, each upwards of a hundred, who passed in an
+impassioned dance, some with the most irresistible grimace, some with
+the most frightful gesture: they clashed their knives on the skulls, in
+which sprigs of thyme were inserted, to keep the spirits from troubling
+the King. I never felt so grateful for being born in a civilized
+country. Firing and drinking palm wine were the only divertissemens to
+the ceremony of the caboceers presenting themselves to the King; they
+were announced, and passed all round the circle saluting every umbrella:
+their bands preceded; we reckoned above forty drums in that of the King
+of Dwabin. The effect of the splendor, the tumult, and the musquetry,
+was afterwards heightened by torch light. We left the ground at 10
+o’clock; the umbrellas were crowded even in the distant streets, the
+town was covered like a large fair, the broken sounds of distant horns
+and drums filled up the momentary pauses of the firing which encircled
+us: the uproar continued until four in the morning, just before which
+the King retired. I have attempted a drawing, (No. 2.) it is by no means
+adequate, yet more so than description could be.
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_Engraved by R. Havell & Son._
+
+THE FIRST DAY OF THE YAM CUSTOM.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+On the left side of the drawing is a group of captains dancing and
+firing, as described in our entré. Immediately above the encircling
+soldiery, is a young caboceer under his umbrella, borne on the shoulders
+of his chief slave; he salutes as he passes along, and is preceded and
+surrounded by boys (with elephants tails, feathers, &c.) and his
+captains, who, lifting their swords in the air, halloo out the deeds of
+his fore-fathers; his stool is borne close to him, ornamented with a
+large brass bell. Above is the fanciful standard of a chief, who is
+preceded and followed by numerous attendants; he is supported round the
+waist by a confidential slave, and one wrist is so heavily laden with
+gold, that it is supported on the head of a small boy; with the other
+hand he is saluting a seated caboceer, sawing the air by a motion from
+the wrist. His umbrella is sprung up and down to increase the breeze,
+and large grass fans are also playing; his handsomest slave girl
+follows, bearing on her head a small red leather trunk, full of gold
+ornaments, and rich cloths; behind are soldiers and drummers, who throw
+their white-washed drums in the air, and catch them again, with much
+agility and grimace, as they walk along. Boys are in the front, bearing
+elephants tails, fly flappers, &c. and his captains with uplifted
+swords, are hastening forward the musicians and soldiers. Amongst the
+latter is the stool, so stained with blood that it is thought decent to
+cover it with red silk. Behind the musicians is Odumata, coming round to
+join the procession in his state hammock lined with red taffeta, and
+smoking under his umbrella, at the top of which is a stuffed leopard. In
+the area below is an unfortunate victim, tortured in the manner
+described in the entré, and two of the King’s messengers clearing the
+way for him. The King’s four linguists are seen next; two, Otee and
+Quancum, are seated in conversation under an umbrella; the chief,
+Adoosey, is swearing a royal messenger, (to fetch an absent caboceer,)
+by putting a gold handled sword between his teeth, whilst Agay delivers
+the charge, and exhorts him to be resolute. The criers, all deformed and
+with monkey skin caps, are seated in the front. Under the next umbrella
+is the royal stool, thickly cased in gold. Gold pipes, fans of ostrich
+wing feathers, captains seated with gold swords, wolves heads and snakes
+as large as life of the same metal, depending from the handles, girls
+bearing silver bowls, body guards, &c. &c. are mingled together till we
+come to the King, seated in a chair of ebony and gold, and dressed much
+in the same way as described at the first interview. He is holding up
+his two fingers to receive the oath of the captain to the right, who,
+pointing to a distant country, vows to conquer it. On the right and left
+of the state umbrella are the flags of Great Britain, Holland, and
+Denmark. A group of painted figures are dancing up to the King, in the
+most extravagant attitudes, beating time with their long knives on the
+skulls stuck full of thyme. On the right of the King is the eunuch, who
+superintends the group of small boys, the children of the nobility,
+waving elephants tails, (spangled with gold,) feathers, &c.: behind him
+is the above mentioned captain and other chiefs dressed as in the left
+end of the drawing. Musicians, seated and standing, are playing on
+instruments cased or plated with gold. The officers of the Mission are
+next seen, their linguists in front, their soldiers, servants, and flag
+behind, at the back of whom is placed the King’s state hammock, under
+its own umbrella. Adjoining the officers is old Quatchie Quofie and his
+followers; at the top of his umbrella is stuck a small black wooden
+image, with a bunch of rusty hair on the head, intending to represent
+the famous Akim caboceer who was killed by him; vain of the action, he
+is seen according to his usual custom, dancing before and deriding his
+fallen enemy, whilst his captains bawl out the deed, and halloo their
+acclamations. The manner of drinking palm wine is exhibited in the next
+group, a boy kneels beneath with a second bowl to catch the droppings,
+(it being a great luxury to suffer the liquor to run over the beard,)
+whilst the horns flourish, and the captains halloo the strong names. The
+Moors are easily distinguished by their caps, and preposterous turbans.
+One is blessing a Dagwumba caboceer, who is passing on horseback, (the
+animal covered with fetishes and bells,) escorted by his men in tunics,
+bearing lances, and his musicians with rude violins, distinct from the
+sanko. The back of the whole assembly is lined with royal soldiers, and
+the commoner ones are ranged in front, with here and there a captain and
+a group of musicians, who, some with an old cocked hat, some with a
+soldier’s jacket, &c. &c. afford a ludicrous appearance. This
+description will be rendered more illustrative of the drawing, by
+referring to that of our entré.
+
+The next morning the King ordered a large quantity of rum to be poured
+into brass pans, in various parts of the town; the crowd pressing
+around, and drinking like hogs; freemen and slaves, women and children,
+striking, kicking, and trampling each other under foot, pushed head
+foremost into the pans, and spilling much more than they drank. In less
+than an hour, excepting the principal men, not a sober person was to be
+seen, parties of four reeling and rolling under the weight of another,
+whom they affected to be carrying home; strings of women covered with
+red paint, hand in hand, falling down like rows of cards; the commonest
+mechanics and slaves furiously declaiming on state palavers; the most
+discordant music, the most obscene songs, children of both sexes
+prostrate in insensibility. All wore their handsomest cloths, which they
+trailed after them to a great length, in a drunken emulation of
+extravagance and dirtiness.[84]
+
+Towards evening the populace grew sober again, the strange caboceers
+displayed their equipages in every direction, and at five o’clock there
+was a procession from the palace to the south end of the town and back;
+the King and the dignitaries were carried in their hammocks, and passed
+through a continued blaze of musketry: the crush was dreadful. The next
+day (Monday) was occupied in state palavers, and on Tuesday the diet
+broke up, and most of the caboceers took leave.
+
+About a hundred persons, mostly culprits reserved, are generally
+sacrificed, in different quarters of the town, at this custom. Several
+slaves were also sacrificed at Bantama, over the large brass pan, their
+blood mingling with the various vegetable and animal matter within,
+(fresh and putrefied,) to complete the charm, and produce invincible
+fetish. All the chiefs kill several slaves, that their blood may flow
+into the hole from whence the new yam is taken. Those who cannot afford
+to kill slaves, take the head of one already sacrificed and place it on
+the hole.[85]
+
+The royal gold ornaments are melted down every Yam Custom, and fashioned
+into new patterns, as novel as possible. This is a piece of state policy
+very imposing on the populace, and the tributary chiefs who pay but an
+annual visit.
+
+About ten days after the custom, the whole of the royal houshold eat new
+yam for the first time, in the market place, the King attending. The
+next day he and the captains set off for Sarrasoo before sun rise, to
+perform their annual ablutions in the river Dah. Almost all the
+inhabitants follow him, and the capital appears deserted; the succeeding
+day the King washes in the marsh at the south-east end of the town, the
+captains lining the streets leading to it on both sides. He is attended
+by his suite, but he laves the water with his own hands over himself,
+his chairs, stools, gold and silver plate, and the various articles of
+furniture used especially by him. Several brass pans are covered with
+white cloth, with various fetish under them. About twenty sheep are
+dipped, (one sheep and one goat only are sacrificed at the time,) to be
+killed in the palace in the afternoon, that their blood may be poured on
+the stools and door posts. All the doors, windows, and arcades of the
+palace, are plentifully besmeared with a mixture of eggs, and palm oil;
+as also the stools of the different tribes and families. After the
+ceremony of washing is over, the principal captains precede the King to
+the palace, where, contrary to usual custom, none but those of the first
+rank are allowed to enter, to see the procession pass. The King’s fetish
+men walk first, with attendants holding basins of sacred water, which
+they sprinkle plentifully over the chiefs with branches,[86] the more
+superstitious running to have a little poured on their heads, and even
+on their tongues. The King and his attendants all wear white cloths on
+this occasion. Three white lambs are led before him, intended for
+sacrifice at his bed chamber. All his wives follow, with a guard of
+archers.
+
+Another national custom is the Adaï, by the number of which the
+Ashantees appear to reckon their year, which began, I could not
+understand why, on the first of October. The common people pretend, or
+believe, that the time for repeating the Adaï, is marked by the falling
+of a fruit like a gourd, from a tree called Brebretim, and which
+generally takes place in about twenty days from its first appearance,
+all the birds and beasts in the neighbourhood crying out simultaneously.
+They further pretend, that from the fruit of this tree spring various
+kinds of vegetables. This account of the tree, known in Warsaw as well,
+is peculiar to Ashantee. The customs are alternately called the great
+and little Adaï, the former taking place always on a Sunday, the latter
+on a Wednesday; and it appeared to me, from calculation, that there were
+six weeks between each great Adaï, and six between each little one, so
+that the custom was generally held every twenty-one days.
+
+The large drum which stands at the entrance of the palace, adorned with
+skulls and thigh bones, is struck with great force at sun set the
+preceding day, as a signal; the whole of the establishment of the palace
+shout, and their shout is echoed by the people throughout the town.
+Music and firing generally beguile the night. The next morning the King
+goes to the fetish house, (Himma,) opposite the palace, and offers
+several sheep; the blood of this sacrifice is poured on the gold stool,
+to which extraordinary virtues are ascribed, being considered the
+palladium of the kingdom: the deposition of Saï Quamina was protracted
+from his having it in his possession at Dwabin. The caboceers and
+captains, many coming from towns two or three days distant, begin to
+march to the large yard of the palace about sun rise, to secure their
+places. We generally attended between nine and ten, when the King had
+just seated himself. The first ceremony was penetrating to the King,
+through the various state officers and attendants, to wish him good
+morning, at which he slightly inclined his head. The chiefs as they
+advanced to do so, were supported and followed by a few favourite
+attendants, who flourished their swords in the air, the gold handles
+upwards, and the band of each began to play as he left his seat. Young
+caboceers of five and six years of age, stalked by with interesting
+vanity. After this the King left his chair, which was turned upside
+down, and retired a few minutes into the palace. All the horns
+flourished as he made his exit and entrée; swords, feathers, elephants
+tails, were waved rapidly, and the drums beaten with deafening effect.
+After he was seated, the linguists, preceded by their gold canes and
+insignia, presented a sheep, a flask of rum, (drank on the ground,) and
+ten ackies of gold to each superior captain, and somewhat less to the
+others. Another flourish proclaimed the dispensation of the King’s
+bounty. Five or six men then rose; and chaunted his deeds and titles for
+about ten minutes. I regret exceedingly that this chaunt was not noted,
+it was so harmonious. I observed them put something between their teeth
+before they began. The same tedious form of saluting the King was now
+repeated to return thanks. Any new law was afterwards promulgated, which
+occurred but twice during our stay, and the levee broke up on the King’s
+leaving his chair. Not unfrequently the whole took place during heavy
+rain. It was computed that the King dashed or presented forty pereguins
+of gold (£400.) every Adaï custom.[87]
+
+The decease of a person is announced by a discharge of musketry,
+proportionate to his rank, or the wealth of his family. In an instant
+you see a crowd of slaves burst from the house, and run towards the
+bush, flattering themselves that the hindmost, or those surprised in the
+house, will furnish the human victims for sacrifice, if they can but
+secrete themselves until the custom is over. The body is then handsomely
+drest in silk and gold, and laid out on the bed, the richest cloths
+beside it.[88] One or two slaves are then sacrificed at the door of the
+house. I shall describe the custom for Quatchie Quofie’s mother, which
+we witnessed August the 2d.; it was by no means a great one, but it will
+give the most correct idea of these splendid, but barbarous ceremonies.
+The King, Quatchie Quofie, and Odumata each sacrificed a young girl
+directly the deceased had breathed her last, that she might not want for
+attendants until the greater sacrifice was made. The retainers,
+adherents, and friends of the family then sent contributions of gold,
+powder, rum, and cloth, to be expended at the custom; the King, as heir,
+exceeding every quota but that of the nearest relative, who succeeded to
+the stool and slaves. The King also sent a sum of gold, and some rich
+cloths to be buried with the deceased, in the basket or coffin. I could
+not learn the various sums of gold dust with sufficient accuracy to note
+them, but the following were the quantities of powder presented on the
+occasion:
+
+  Quatchie Quofie                20 oz. (of gold) kegs.
+
+  King                            4
+
+  King’s brother                  2
+
+  Amanquateä                      2
+
+  Odumata                         2
+
+  Apokoo                          1
+
+  Otee                            1
+
+  Yapensoo                        1
+
+  Amanqua Abiniowa (the nephew)   2
+
+  (Name illegible)                1
+
+  Adoosey                         1
+
+  Jessinting                      1
+
+  Saphoo                          1
+
+  Ooshoo                          1
+
+  Inferior retainers              4
+                                 --
+                                 44 nearly 12 barrels.
+
+The inferior retainers of Quatchie Quofie gave four ackies of gold, and
+eight fathoms of cloth each. I was told these contributions were
+unusually small, from the command of the King that the greatest economy
+should be observed in every expenditure of powder, on account of the
+approaching war.
+
+We walked to Assafoo about twelve o’clock; the vultures were hovering
+around two headless trunks, scarcely cold. Several troops of women, from
+fifty to a hundred in each, were dancing by in movements resembling
+skaiting, lauding and bewailing the deceased in the most dismal, yet not
+discordant strains; audible, from the vast number, at a considerable
+distance. Other troops carried the rich cloths and silks of the deceased
+on their heads, in shining brass pans, twisted and stuffed into crosses,
+cones, globes, and a fanciful variety of shapes only to be imagined, and
+imposing at a small distance the appearance of rude deities. The faces,
+arms, and breasts of these women were profusely daubed with red earth,
+in horrid emulation of those who had succeeded in besmearing themselves
+with the blood of the victims. The crowd was overbearing; horns, drums,
+and muskets, yells, groans, and screeches invaded our hearing with as
+many horrors as were crowded on our sight. Now and then a victim was
+hurried by, generally dragged or run along at full speed; the uncouth
+dress, and the exulting countenances of those who surrounded him,
+likening them to as many fiends. I observed apathy, more frequently than
+despair or emotion, in the looks of the victims. The chiefs and captains
+were arriving in all directions, announced by the firing of muskets, and
+the peculiar flourishes of their horns, many of which were by this time
+familiar to us; they were then habited plainly as warriors, and were
+soon lost to our sight in the crowd. As old Odumata passed in his
+hammock, he bade us observe him well when he passed again: this prepared
+us in a small degree. Presently the King’s arrival in the market place
+was announced, the crowd rolled towards it impetuously, but the soldiery
+hacked on all sides indiscriminately, and formed a passage for the
+procession. Quatchie Quofie hurried by, plunging from side to side like
+a Bacchanal, drunk with the adulation of his bellowing supporters; his
+attitudes were responsive to the horror and barbarism of the exultations
+which inspired them. The victims, with large knives driven through their
+cheeks, eyed him with indifference; he them with a savage joy, bordering
+on phrenzy: insults were aggravated on the one, flattery lavished on the
+other. Our disgust was beguiled for an instant by surprise. The chiefs
+who had just before passed us in their swarthy cloths, and the dark
+gloomy habits of war, now followed Quatchie Quofie, glistening in all
+the splendor of their fetish dresses; (see drawing, No. I.) the
+sprightly variety of their movements ill accorded with the ceremony. Old
+Odumata’s vest was covered with fetish, cased invariably in gold or
+silver. A variety of extraordinary ornament and novel insignia, courted
+and reflected the sun in every direction. It was like a splendid
+pantomime after a Gothic tragedy.
+
+We followed to the market place. The King, and the chiefs not
+immediately connected with Quatchie Quofie, were seated under their
+canopies, with the usual insignia and retinue, and lined about the half
+of a circle, apparently half a mile in circumference; the soldiery
+completed it, their respective chiefs situated amongst them. Thirteen
+victims, surrounded by their executioners, whose black shaggy caps and
+vests gave them the appearance of bears rather than men, were pressed
+together by the crowd to the left of the King. The troops of women,
+before described, paraded without the circle, vociferating the dirge.
+Rum and palm wine were flowing copiously, horns and drums were exerted
+even to frenzy. In an instant there was a burst of musketry near the
+King, and it spread and continued incessantly, around the circle, for
+upwards of an hour. The soldiers kept their stations, but the chiefs,
+after firing, bounded once round the area with the gesture and
+extravagance of madmen; their panting followers enveloping them in
+flags, occasionally firing in all the attitudes of a scaramouch, and
+incessantly bellowing the strong names of their exulting chief, whose
+musket they snatched from his hands directly he had fired. An old hag,
+described as the head fetish woman of the family, screamed and plunged
+about in the midst of the fire as if in the greatest agonies. The
+greater the chief the heavier the charge of powder he is allowed to
+fire; the heaviest charge recollected, was that fired by the King on the
+death of his sister, 18 ackies, or an ounce avoirdupoise. Their
+blunderbusses and long guns were almost all braced closely with the
+cordage of the country; they were generally supported by their
+attendants whilst they fired, several did not appear to recover it for
+nearly a minute; Odumata’s old frame seemed shaken almost to
+dissolution. Many made a point of collecting near us, just within the
+circle, and firing as close as possible to startle us; the frequent
+bursting of their muskets made this rather alarming as well as
+disagreeable. The firing abated, they drank freely from the bowls of
+palm wine, religiously pouring a small quantity on the ground before
+they raised them to their lips.[89]
+
+The principal females of the family, many of them very handsome, and of
+elegant figures, came forward to dance; dressed, generally, in yellow
+silk, with a silver knife hung by a chain round their necks; one with a
+gold, another with a silver horn; a few were dressed as fetish women; an
+umbrella was held over the grand daughter as she danced. The Ashantees
+dance incomparably better than the people of the water side, indeed
+elegantly; the sexes do not dance separately, as in Fantee, but the man
+encircles the woman with a piece of silk which he generally flirts in
+his right hand, supports her round the waist, receives her elbows in the
+palms of his hands, and a variety of figures approximating, with the
+time and movement, very closely to the waltz.
+
+A dash of sheep and rum was exchanged between the King and Quatchie
+Quofie, and the drums announced the sacrifice of the victims. All the
+chiefs first visited them in turn; I was not near enough to distinguish
+wherefore. The executioners wrangled and struggled for the office, and
+the indifference with which the first poor creature looked on, in the
+torture he was from the knife passed through his cheeks, was remarkable:
+the nearest executioner snatched the sword from the others, the right
+hand of the victim was then lopped off, he was thrown down, and his head
+was sawed rather than cut off; it was cruelly prolonged, I will not say
+wilfully. Twelve more were dragged forward, but we forced our way
+through the crowd, and retired to our quarters. Other sacrifices,
+principally female, were made in the bush where the body was buried. It
+is usual to “wet the grave” with the blood of a freeman of
+respectability. All the retainers of the family being present, and the
+heads of all the victims deposited in the bottom of the grave, several
+are unsuspectingly called on in a hurry to assist in placing the coffin
+or basket, and just as it rests on the heads or skulls, a slave from
+behind stuns one of these freemen by a violent blow, followed by a deep
+gash in the back part of the neck, and he is rolled in on the top of the
+body, and the grave instantly filled up. A sort of carnival, varied by
+firing, drinking, singing, and dancing, was kept up in Assafoo for
+several days; the chiefs generally visiting it every evening, or sending
+their linguists with a dash of palm wine or rum to Quatchie Quofie; and
+I was given to understand, that, but for the approaching war and the
+necessary economy of powder, there would have been eight great customs
+instead of one, for this woman, one weekly, the King himself firing at
+the last. The last day, all the females in any way connected with the
+family (who are not allowed to eat for three days after the death,
+though they may drink as much palm wine as they please,) paraded round
+the town, singing a compliment and thanks to all those who had assisted
+in making the custom.
+
+On the death of a King, all the Customs which have been made for the
+subjects who have died during his reign, must be simultaneously repeated
+by the families, (the human sacrifices as well as the carousals and
+pageantry) to amplify that for the monarch, which is also solemnised,
+independently, but at the same time, in every excess of extravagance and
+barbarity. The brothers, sons, and nephews of the King, affecting
+temporary insanity, burst forth with their muskets, and fire
+promiscously amongst the crowd; even a man of rank, if they meet him, is
+their victim, nor is their murder of him or any other, on such an
+occasion, visited or prevented; the scene can scarcely be imagined. Few
+persons of rank dare to stir from their houses for the first two or
+three days, but religiously drive forth all their vassals and slaves, as
+the most acceptable composition of their own absence. The King’s Ocras,
+who will be mentioned presently, are all murdered on his tomb, to the
+number of a hundred or more, and women in abundance. I was assured by
+several, that the custom for Saï Quamina, was repeated weekly for three
+months, and that two hundred slaves were sacrificed, and 25 barrels of
+powder fired, each time. But the custom for the King’s mother, the
+regent of the kingdom during the invasion of Fantee, is most celebrated.
+The King of himself devoted 3000 victims, (upwards of 2000 of whom were
+Fantee prisoners) and 25 barrels of powder.[90] Dwabin, Kokoofoo,
+Becqua, Soota, and Marmpong, furnished 100 victims, and 20 barrels of
+powder, each, and most of the smaller towns 10 victims, and two barrels
+of powder, each. The Kings, and Kings only, are buried in the cemetery
+at Bantama, and the sacred gold buried with them; (see Laws;) their
+bones are afterwards deposited in a building there, opposite to which is
+the largest brass pan I ever saw, (for sacrifices,) being about five
+feet in diameter, with four small lions on the edge. Here human
+sacrifices are frequent and ordinary, to water the graves of the Kings.
+The bodies of chiefs are frequently carried about with the army, to keep
+them for interment at home, and eminent revolters or enemies also, to be
+exposed in the capital. Boiteäm, (the father of Otee the fourth
+linguist,) who accompanied the army of Abiniowa in his political
+capacity, dying at Akrofroom in Aquapim, during the campaign, his body
+was kept with the army two months before it arrived at Coomassie. I
+could not get any information on their treatment of the corpse, beyond
+their invariable reply that they smoked it well over a slow fire.
+
+The laws of Ashantee allow the King 3333 wives, which number is
+carefully kept up, to enable him to present women to those who
+distinguish themselves, but never exceeded, being in their eyes a
+mystical one. Many of these reside in a secluded part of the King’s
+croom, or country residence, at Barramang; a greater number in a croom,
+at the back of the palace, immediately in the marsh; and the remainder
+in two streets of the capital. Many, probably, the King has never seen.
+The streets as well as the croom, are inhabited by them exclusively, and
+never approached but by the King’s messengers, or their female
+relatives, who only communicate with them at the entrances, which are
+closed at each end with bamboo doors, where there is always a guard. If
+the King _consaws_ or marries an infant at the breast, which is not
+unfrequent, she is thenceforth confined to the house, and rigorously
+secluded from the sight of any but the female part of her family. The
+King has seldom more than six wives resident with him in the palace. On
+the occasion of signing the treaty, as explained in the public letter,
+about 300 were assembled, and none but the King’s Chamberlain, and the
+deputies of the parts of the government, were allowed to be present:
+they were addressed through their own linguist, a very decrepid old man;
+many of them were very handsome, and their figures exquisite. When they
+go out, which is seldom, they are encircled and preceded by troops of
+small boys with thongs or whips of elephants hide, who lash every one
+severely who does not quit their path for another, or jump into the bush
+with his hands before his eyes; and sometimes the offenders are heavily
+fined besides. The scrambling their approach occasioned, in the more
+public parts of the city, was very diverting; captains, caboceers,
+slaves, and children tumbling one over another. I was told what it cost
+the King daily to support them, but it has escaped me; they are said to
+live as daintily as himself. None but the chief eunuch, an immense
+creature, is allowed to bear a message to the King when in the seraglio
+of the palace.
+
+It has been mentioned before, that the King’s sisters are not only
+countenanced in intrigue, with any handsome subject, but they are
+allowed to choose any eminently so, (however inferior otherwise,) as a
+husband; who is presently advised by the King of his good fortune; thus
+they consider they provide for a personal superiority in their monarchs.
+But if the royal bride dies before the husband, unless his rank be
+originally elevated, he is expected to kill himself on the occasion, and
+also if the only male child dies: if he hesitates, he is peremptorily
+reminded that as either are his superiors, to whom he is to be
+considered as a slave, so he must attend them wherever they go; and when
+a male child is born, the father does it homage and acknowledges his
+vassalage in the most abject manner.
+
+The Ocra’s are distinguished by a large circle of gold suspended from
+the neck; many of them are favourite slaves, many, commoners who have
+distinguished themselves, and who are glad to stake their lives on the
+King’s, to be kept free from palavers and supported by his bounty, which
+they are entirely; some few are relatives and men of rank. All of the
+two former classes, excepting only the two or three individuals known to
+have been entrusted with the King’s state secrets, are sacrificed on his
+tomb. The royal messengers, and others of the suite have been described
+in the processions; they are sometimes fed in the palace, but they have
+a free seat at the table of every subject.
+
+The King has a troop of small boys, who carry the fetish bows and
+arrows, and are licensed plunderers; they are so sly and nimble, that it
+is very diverting to watch them in the market place, which they infest
+every morning. Whatever they can carry off is fair game, and cannot be
+required or recovered; but the loser, if he can catch them before they
+arrive at the palace, may beat them as severely as he pleases, short of
+mortal injury; however, they bear it as obdurately as young Spartans.
+Sometimes one party trips up a person with a load of provisions, whilst
+another scrambles them up: the anxious alarm of the market people,
+sitting with sticks in their hands, and the comic archness of these boys
+threading the crowd in all directions, is indescribable. Some of the
+earliest European travellers in Abyssinia met with a similar troop of
+royal plunderers, and I believe suffered from them; our property was
+always respected by them, but they used to entertain themselves with
+mimicking our common expressions and our actions, which they did
+inimitably: whilst sketching, they buzzed about me like musquitoes. The
+Ashantees are without exception the most surprising mimics I have ever
+heard. I have known a captain, called Adoo Quamina, repeat a sentence
+after I had finished it, of at least a dozen words, which he knew
+nothing about, and had not heard before. The King has a sort of buffoon,
+whose movements were as irresistibly comic as those of Grimaldi.
+
+The King appeared to have nearly a hundred negroes of different colors,
+through the shades of red and pink to white; they were collected for
+state, but were generally disgusting objects, diseased and emaciated;
+they always seemed as if going to shed their skins, and their eyes
+blinked in the light, as if it was not their element.
+
+About twenty pots of white soup, and twenty pots of black (made with
+palm nuts) are cooked daily at the palace, (besides those for the
+consumption of the household,) for visitors of consequence, and a
+periguin of gold is given daily to Yokokroko, the chamberlain, for palm
+wine. This would have appeared too large a sum, had I not witnessed the
+vast consumption and waste of it; for the vigour of an Ashantee being
+estimated by the measure of the draught he can drink off; nearly half is
+generally spilt over his beard, which it is his greatest pride and
+luxury to draw through his fingers when wet. The King was very proud of
+the superior length of his beard. A large quantity of palm wine is
+dashed to the retinues of all the captains attending in the course of
+the day; much is expended in the almost daily ceremony of drinking it in
+state in the market place; and our party was always well provided for in
+the course of the evening. The palm wine at the palace was seldom good,
+but a zest was excited by the exquisite polish of the plate in which it
+was served. Apokoo, Odumata, and others, sent us some daily that was
+excellent.
+
+It is to be observed that the King’s weights are one third heavier than
+the current weights of the country; and all the gold expended in
+provision being weighed out in the former, and laid out in the latter,
+the difference enriches the chamberlain, cook, and chief domestic
+officers of the palace, as it is thought derogatory to a King avowedly
+to pay his subjects for their services. In the same manner the linguists
+derive the greater part of their incomes, (their influence being
+occasionally purchased,) for all the dashes or presents of gold the King
+makes in the year, are weighed out by the royal weights, and re-weighed
+by them in the current ones. The law allows a debtor to recover of a
+reluctant or tardy creditor, in the King’s weights, besides the
+interest, (noticed in the laws,) if he is esteemed enough by Apokoo the
+treasurer, to be trusted with them; or rather, if he can afford to bribe
+him, or engages to share the profit with him.
+
+After a subject is executed for crime, the body and head are carried out
+of town by some of the King’s slaves, appointed for that purpose, and
+thrown where the wild beasts may devour them; but if the deceased be of
+any consequence, some of his friends conceal themselves near where they
+know the body will be carried, and purchase it, and the right of burial,
+of these domestics, generally for eight ackies. There are a number of
+fine large sheep, decorated with bells and other ornaments, about the
+palace. If any person gets into an ordinary palaver, and wishes the
+King’s interference in his favor, he goes to the captain who has the
+charge of these sheep, pays him 20 ackies for one, and sends or takes it
+to the King, as a dash, who commits it again to the care of the captain.
+
+When the King sends an ambassador, he enriches the splendor of his suite
+and attire as much as possible; sometimes provides it entirely; but it
+is all surrendered on the return, (except the additional wives) and
+forms a sort of public state wardrobe. The King’s system of espionage is
+much spoken of (for its address and infallibility) by Apokoo and others,
+who abet it. A shrewd but mean boy is attached to, or follows the
+embassy, (sometimes with a trader,) in the commonest capacity and
+meanest attire; and he is instructed to collect every report as he
+passes, and to watch the motions of the embassy as closely as possible.
+As the extortions of these deputies are always loudly and publicly
+complained of by the injured inhabitants of the dependent or tributary
+crooms they pass through, (perhaps being aware they will reach the
+King’s ears,) the particulars are easily acquired. The messengers who
+were sent with our first dispatches to Cape Coast, excusing the length
+of the time, (forty days) by alleging that it was found necessary to
+collect a session of the Fantee caboceers at Paintree; the King replied,
+“You tell me a lie; you fined a captain there four ounces for breaking
+an Ashantee law, and you waited to procure and expend the gold, not
+intending it should be known.” The men instantly confessed, and were put
+in irons; one was the brother of Yokokroko, who paid six ounces for his
+release, after several days.
+
+When the King spits, the boys with the elephants tails sedulously wipe
+it up, or cover it with sand; when he sneezes, every person present
+touches, or lays the two first fingers across the forehead and breast,
+as the Moors did when they pronounced a blessing, and the Ashantees,
+invariably, to propitiate one. These troops of boys who carry the
+elephants tails, are the sons of men of rank and confidence; for
+whenever the King dignifies a deserving subject, with what may be termed
+nobility, he exchanges some of his own sons or nephews, (from eight to
+fourteen years of age,) for those of the individual, who maintains them,
+and for whom they perform the same offices, as his own and others do for
+the King. Thus the present King (the short reign of his brother Saï
+Apokoo being unanticipated) carried an elephants tail before Apokoo,
+whose kindness and indulgence to the child secured the preference of the
+monarch.
+
+It is a frequent practice of the King’s, to consign sums of gold to the
+care of rising captains, without requiring them from them for two or
+three years, at the end of which time he expects the captain not only to
+restore the principal, but to prove that he has acquired sufficient of
+his own, from the use of it, to support the greater dignity the King
+would confer on him. If he has not, his talent is thought too mean for
+further elevation. Should he have no good traders amongst his
+dependents, (for if he has there is no difficulty) usury and worse
+resources are countenanced, and thought more creditable than a failure,
+ascribed to want of talent rather than to a regard of principle.
+
+The fees to the King’s household on a captain being raised to a stool,
+are generally eight ounces. I saw two instances of the King paying them
+himself; the individuals, very suddenly elevated for extraordinary
+courage, being too poor to do so. They were immediately dispatched to
+collect tributes, the per centage on which, (see Laws,) and the
+douceurs, which may be judged of by the amount provided for them in the
+settlement of the Commenda palaver, would possess them of a good sum to
+begin with.
+
+The interference of Amanquateä, Quatchie Quofie, Odumata, and Apokoo, is
+purchased at a most extravagant rate by offenders, whether foreigners or
+subjects; it is irresistible with the King; Apokoo is generally
+preferred; minor influence is purchased in proportion. No subject can
+sit in public with a cushion on his stool, unless it has been presented
+to him by the King, or one of the four, who, as well as all the other
+superior captains, receive a periguin of gold for every oath the King
+exacts of them.
+
+During the minority, or the earlier part of the reign of a monarch, the
+linguists and oldest counsellors visit him betimes every morning, and
+repeat, in turn, all the great deeds of his ancestors. The greatest
+deference seemed to be paid to aged experience or wisdom.
+
+Apokoo is the keeper of the royal treasury, and has the care of all the
+tributes, which are deposited, separately, in a large apartment of the
+palace, of which he only has the key. Numerous and various as the sums
+are, he disposes of them by a local association which is said to be
+infallible with him, for the Moorish secretary, (who resided some time
+at Hio,) only records the greater political events. Apokoo holds a sort
+of exchequer court at his own house daily, (when he is attended by two
+of the King’s linguists, and various state insignia,) to decide all
+cases affecting tribute or revenue, and the appeal to the King is seldom
+resorted to. He generally reclined on his lofty bed, (of accumulated
+cushions, and covered with a large rich cloth or piece of silk,) with
+two or three of his handsomest wives near him, whilst the pleadings were
+going forward. He was always much gratified when I attended, and rose to
+seat me beside him. I observed that all calculations were made,
+explained, and recorded, by cowries. In one instance, after being
+convinced by a variety of evidence that a public debtor was unable to
+pay gold, he commuted sixteen ounces of gold, for twenty men slaves.
+Several captains, who were his followers, attended this court daily with
+large suites, and it was not only a crowded, but frequently a splendid
+scene. Before the footoorh or treasury bag is unlocked by the weigher,
+though it be by the King’s order, Apokoo must strike it with his hand in
+sanction.
+
+In all public trials, the charges are preferred, in outline, against the
+criminal by the King’s linguists, and he is always heard fully, and
+obliged to commit or exculpate himself on every point, and to take the
+various primary oaths, before the witnesses are confronted with him; of
+whom he is kept as ignorant as possible until the moment of their
+appearance. The oaths, sometimes four or five, are progressive,
+generally beginning by the King’s foot, or some arbitrary form, and are,
+apparently, not considered awful or decisive; such perjuries being
+commutable by fine. But when the oath, “by the King’s father,” is
+administered, every one looks serious, and if, “by Cormantee and
+Saturday” (see History) is resorted to, there is a gloomy silence; but
+this is seldom ventured, if the witnesses, (hurried in with a sort of
+stage effect between that and the former oaths,) confound or perplex the
+accused.
+
+There are various ways of taking fetish; the two I observed, were,
+licking a white fowl twice or thrice, and drinking a nauseous vegetable
+juice without coughing: it was administered by the linguists out of a
+brass pan in a folded leaf of the plant. If the accused is cleared, he
+comes forward, and is marked with white chalk by the linguists, after
+which he bows to, and thanks all the great men in the council. Taking
+doom is the infallible test, when they consider the case to be too
+doubtful for human decision. The bark of that tree is put into a large
+calabash with water, so as to make a strong infusion; it is stirred up
+whilst the suspected parties sip in turn. It operates, instantaneously
+and convulsively, as a most violent emetic and purge; those who sip
+first may recover, and the dregs are frequently left designedly for the
+obnoxious.[91]
+
+The criers, upwards of a hundred, who always attend the linguists, are
+all deformed or maimed, to make them more conspicuous; they wear a
+monkey skin cap, with a gold plate in front, and the tail hanging down
+behind. Their common exclamations are, Tehoo! Tehing! Odiddee! Be
+silent! Be quiet! Pray hear! and these are so incessantly uttered, that
+they are themselves the only interruption. Several less interesting
+peculiarities are represented in the drawings of the Yam Custom, and
+associated with other subjects.
+
+A general is appointed to the command of an army by receiving a gold
+handled sword of the King’s from his hand, (who strikes him gently with
+it three times on the head,) swearing to return it encrusted with the
+blood of his conquered enemies. One of the King’s linguists always
+accompanies an army of any consequence, to whom all the politics of the
+war are entrusted, and whose talent and intelligence in negotiating, are
+expected to mature the fruits of the military genius of the general, and
+to reimburse the expense of the war by heavy fines and contributions.
+The Ashantees are as superior in discipline as in courage to the people
+of the water side, though their discipline is limited to the following
+precautions. They never pursue when it is near sun set; the general is
+always in the rear; the secondary captains lead the soldiers on, whilst
+those in command, with a few chosen individuals, urge them forward from
+the rear with their heavy swords, and cut any man down who retreats
+until the case is desperate. The first object of the Ashantee in close
+fight, is, to fire and spring upon the throat of his enemy; to advance
+every time he fires he feels to be imperative, if his commander thinks
+it possible, who would, otherwise, if he escaped death in the action,
+inflict it on him directly it was over. It is one of the sentences of
+the most popular song in Coomassie, “if I fight I die, if I run away I
+die, better I go on and die.” They are as the antient Spaniards have
+been described, “prodiga gens animæ et properare facillima mortem.” The
+general has his umbrella spread in the rear, and, besides his guard, has
+several extra muskets ready loaded for those soldiers who may be driven
+to him in case of reverse. His band plays all the time, and in his
+assumed contempt for the enemy, it is the etiquette for him to divert
+himself at some game, whilst the heads of the slain of any rank in the
+hostile army are sent to him to put his foot on. When the result of an
+important action is expected, even with an anxiety by no means sanguine,
+and the messengers are known to be near the capital, the King is always
+seated in public, with his golden worra board before him, playing with
+some dignitary; and thus receives the news, to impress the people with
+confidence by his affected indifference to victory or defeat, when
+superstition had revealed and fated inevitable success ultimately.
+
+All the superior captains have peculiar flourishes or strains for their
+horns, adapted to short sentences, which are always recognised, and will
+be repeated on enquiry by any Ashantee you may meet walking in the
+streets, though the horns are not only out of sight, but at a distance
+to be scarcely audible. These flourishes are of a strong and distinct
+character. The King’s horns uttered, “I pass all Kings in the world.”
+Apokoo’s, “Ashantees, do you do right now?” Gimma’s, “Whilst I live no
+harm can come.” Bundahenna’s, “I am a great King’s son.” Amanqua’s, “No
+one dares trouble me.” This will be further noticed in the chapter on
+Music. These peculiar flourishes are more particularly for their
+government in action, for all the soldiery, indeed I might say all the
+women and children, being familiar with every flourish, the positions of
+the various chiefs are judged of when they cannot be seen; whether they
+are advancing, falling back, or attempting to flank the enemy by
+penetrating the woods, is known, and the movements of all the others
+become co-operative, as much as possible. The King’s horns go to the
+market place every night, as near to midnight as they can judge, and
+flourish a very peculiar strain, which was rendered to me, “King Saï
+thanks all his captains and all his people for to-day.”
+
+Several of the hearts of the enemy are cut out by the fetish men who
+follow the army, and the blood and small pieces being mixed, (with much
+ceremony and incantation,) with various consecrated herbs, all those who
+have never killed an enemy before eat a portion, for it is believed that
+if they did not, their vigor and courage would be secretly wasted by the
+haunting spirit of the deceased. It was said that the King and all the
+dignitaries partook of the heart of any celebrated enemy; this was only
+whispered; that they wore the smaller joints, bones, and the teeth of
+the slain monarchs was evident as well as boasted. One man was pointed
+out to me, as always eating the heart of the enemy he killed with his
+own hand. The number of an army is ascertained or preserved in cowries
+or coin by Apokoo. When a successful general returns, he waits about two
+days at a short distance from the capital, to receive the King’s
+compliments, and to collect all the splendor possible for his entrée, to
+encourage the army and infatuate the people. The most famous generals
+are distinguished by the addition of warlike names, more terrific than
+glorious, as they designate their manner of destroying their prisoners.
+Apokoo was called Aboäwassa, because he was in the habit of cutting off
+their arms. Appia, Sheäboo, as he beats their heads in pieces with a
+stone. Amanqua, Abiniowa, as he cuts off their legs.
+
+The army is prohibited during the active parts of a campaign, from all
+food but meal, which each man carries in a small bag at his side, and
+mixes in his hands with the first water he comes to; this, they allege,
+is to prevent cooking fires from betraying their position, or
+anticipating a surprise. In the intervals, (for this meal is seldom
+eaten more than once a day,) they chew the boossee or gooroo nut. This
+meal is very nourishing and soon satisfies; we tried it on our march
+down. Ashantee spies have been stationed three and four days in the high
+trees overlooking Cape Coast Castle, with no other supply than this meal
+and a little water, before the army has shewn itself. There is always a
+distinct body of recruits with the army, to dispatch those with their
+knives whom the musket has only wounded, and they are all expected to
+return well armed from despoiling the enemy, or they are not esteemed of
+promise, and dismissed to some servile occupation. I could not find that
+they had any idea of fortifications, though undoubtedly common to the
+large cities on the Niger.
+
+It is the invariable policy of Ashantee to make the contingency of the
+power last subdued, the revolters recently quelled, or the allies last
+accepted, the van of their army throughout the campaign, and very
+frequently there are no Ashantees but captains with the army; but it is
+composed entirely of tributaries and allies. Thus Odumata subdued Banda
+with an army of Gamans. In the Ashantee body of the army, which is
+always that of reserve, the youngest or last made captain marches and
+engages first, and the others follow seriatim, until Odumata precedes
+Quatchie Quofie, Amanqua follows him, and Apokoo precedes the King. Were
+the country generally open, I have no doubt, necessity and their
+military genius would have suggested greater arrangement and compactness
+in their movement, which is nevertheless very orderly. Two divisions of
+an army are rarely allowed to go the same path, lest, being in want of
+supplies, the neighbourhood should prove inadequate. Aboidwee, our house
+master, (see correspondence on the Ashantee suicide) who has 1700
+retainers, always precedes the King’s or Apokoo’s division, (which will
+exclusively occupy the Banda path in the invasion of Gaman) to raise a
+bamboo house for the King’s reception when he comes up.
+
+Infants are frequently married to infants, for the connection of
+families; and infants are as frequently wedded by adults and elderly
+men. The ceremony is to send the smaller piece of cloth, worn around the
+middle, to the infant, and a handsome dash of gold to the mother, as her
+care then ceases to be a duty, but becomes a service performed to the
+husband, who also sends frequent presents for the support of the child.
+Apokoo told me it was a good plan for a man to adopt who wished to get
+gold, for as the circumstance was seldom generally known, the most
+innocent freedom when the girl became ten or eleven years old, grounded
+a palaver against the individual, though he might consider he was but
+fondling a child, and be wholly ignorant of her marriage. I afterwards
+understood from several others, that this view was the leading
+motive.[92]
+
+It frequently happens, when the family of the wife is too powerful for
+the husband to venture to put her to death for intrigue, that he takes
+off her nose as a stigma and punishment, and makes her the wife of one
+of his slaves. A wife who betrays a secret is sure to lose her upper
+lip, and, if discovered listening to a private conversation of her
+husband’s, an ear. Women so maimed are to be met with in all parts of
+the town. Prostitutes are numerous and countenanced. No Ashantee forces
+his daughter to become the wife of the man he wishes, but he instantly
+disclaims her support and protection on her refusal, and would persecute
+the mother if she afforded it; thus abandoned, they have no resource but
+prostitution. During the menses, the women of the capital retire to the
+plantations or crooms in the bush.[93]
+
+In visiting, the chief always gives his principal slaves a few sips of
+the liquor offered to him, not for security, for it is more frequently
+after than before he has drank, but as a mark of his favour. He will
+frequently give his daughter in marriage to a confidential slave, but
+where there are a few thus distinguished and indulged, (apparently as a
+political check upon a heterogeneous populace,) there are thousands
+barely existing.
+
+Their principal games are Worra[94] (see drawing, No. 10.) which I could
+not understand, and Drafts, which both Moors and Negroes play well and
+constantly. Their method resembles the Polish, they take and move
+backwards and forwards, and a king has the bishop’s move in chess. They
+have another game, for which a board is perforated like a cribbage
+board, but in numerous oblique lines, traversing each other in all
+directions, and each composed of three holes for pegs; the players begin
+at the same instant, with an equal number of pegs, and he who inserts or
+completes a line first, in spite of the baulks of his adversary, takes a
+peg from him, until the stock of either is exhausted.
+
+
+[Footnote 84: The description of the siege of Pondicherry in Voltaire
+occurred to me; it will assist the imagination of the reader: “De grands
+magasins de liqueurs fortes y entretenaient l’ivrognerie et tous les
+maux dont elle est le germe. C’est une situation qu’il faut avoir vue.
+Les travaux, les gardes de la tranchée étaient faits par des hommes
+ivres · · · · · · · · De-là les scènes les plus honteuses et les plus
+destructives de la subordination et de la discipline. On a vu des
+officiers se colleter avec des soldats et mille autres actions infâmes,
+dont le détail, renfermé dans les bornes de la vérité la plus exacte,
+paraîtrait une exagération monstreuse.”]
+
+[Footnote 85: In Ahanta, at the Contoom or Harvest custom, each family
+erects its rude altar, composed of four sticks driven in the ground, and
+twigs laid across the top; the whole is then covered with fresh pulled
+leaves. A hog, a sheep, a goat, or a fowl is killed, according to the
+means of the family, and the most delicate parts laid on the altar, a
+mixture is made of eggs, palm oil, palm wine, the blood of the animal
+slain, and other ingredients, and also dedicated to the fetish, in small
+pots placed on the altar. In a few days these altars become so offensive
+as to render it disagreeable to pass them, but they are never removed.]
+
+[Footnote 86:
+
+
+  “Idem ter socios purâ circumtulit undâ,
+
+   Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivæ.” Æn. VI.
+
+
+]
+
+[Footnote 87: The Ahanta’s divide time into periods of three weeks. The
+first week is called Adaï, and is termed the good week, in which much
+work is done; and traders visit the markets more frequently in this week
+than at any other time, supposing all they do in it must prosper. The
+second week is Ajamfoe, or the bad week, in which no work or trade is
+done, the natives believing every thing undertaken in it must fail. The
+third week is Adim, or the little good week, in which they both work and
+trade, but not as much as in the Adaï.]
+
+[Footnote 88:
+
+
+  · · · Tum membra toro defleta reponunt,
+
+  Purpureasque super vestes, velamina nota,
+
+  Conjiciunt;
+
+                                          Æn. VI.
+
+
+In Fantee they dress the body richly, and usually prop it erect in a
+chair, exposing it until it is dangerous to do so any longer: they bury
+it in their house, with as many gold ornaments as they can afford to
+dedicate. The men called the town drummers are only allowed to die
+standing, and when expiring are snatched up, and supported in that
+posture. In Ahanta they frequently exhibit the body chalked all over.]
+
+[Footnote 89:
+
+
+  “Hic duo rite mero libans carchesia Baccho
+
+  “Fundit humi.
+
+                                             Æn. V.
+
+  “Οἶνον δ’ἐκ δεπάων χαμάδις χέον, οὐδέ τις ἔτλη
+
+  “Πρὶν πιέειν, πρὶν λεῖψαι ὑπερμενέϊ Κρονίωνι.”
+
+                                             Ομηρ. η.
+
+
+The Ashantees do so not only on solemn occasions, but invariably; and it
+would seem that the Greeks did, from the following words of Hecuba to
+Hector,
+
+
+  “Ἀλλὰ μέν’, ὄφρα κέ τοι μελιηδέα οἶνον ἐνείκω,
+
+   Ὡς σπείσῃς Διῒ πατρὶ καὶ ἄλλοις ἀθανάτοισι
+
+   Πρῶτον· ἔπειτα δέ κ’αὐτὸς ὀνήσεαι, αἴ κε πίῃσθα·”
+
+                                             Ομηρ, ζ.
+]
+
+[Footnote 90: Suetonius tells us that Augustus sacrificed 300 of the
+principal citizens of Perusia, to the manes of his uncle Julius. We read
+in Prevost, that 64080 persons were sacrificed, with aggravated
+barbarity, in the dedication of a temple in Mexico.]
+
+[Footnote 91: In the Warsaw country there is said to be a more dreadful
+poison called Sabë: if it is thrown upon the skin, it is absorbed by the
+pores, and has nearly the same instantaneous mortal effect as when given
+internally.]
+
+[Footnote 92: On the Coast, the bride’s character is very notoriously
+published, for part of the husband’s present to her family being a flask
+of rum, and that not sent until the next day; whether it is brimful, or
+somewhat wanting, indicates her virginity, or early frailty.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The women of Ahanta, on the same occasion, are prohibited
+from entering any inhabited place; and if they attempt to go into a
+house, are heavily fined or punished. If the family is respectable, they
+generally erect a temporary shed to shelter her; the poorer class are
+forced to endure the inclemencies of the weather without any retreat.]
+
+[Footnote 94: This game is said to be played in Syria also.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                _Architecture, Arts, and Manufactures._
+
+
+The construction of the ornamental architecture of Coomassie reminded me
+forcibly of the ingenious essay of Sir James Hall, (in the Edinburgh
+Philosophical Transactions,) tracing the Gothic order to an
+architectural imitation of wicker work. The drawings will serve to shew
+the various and uncommon character of their architectural ornaments,
+adopted from those of interior countries, and, confessedly, in no degree
+originating with themselves.
+
+In building a house, a mould was made for receiving the swish or clay,
+by two rows of stakes and wattle work, placed at a distance equal to the
+intended thickness of the wall; as two mud walls were raised at
+convenient distances, to receive the plum pudding stone which formed the
+walls of the vitrified fortresses in Scotland. The interval was then
+filled up with a gravelly clay, mixed with water, with which the outward
+surface of the frame or stake work was also thickly plastered, so as to
+impose the appearance of an entire thick mud wall. The houses had all
+gable ends, and three thick poles were joined to each; one from the
+highest point, forming the ridge of the roof, and one on each side, from
+the base of the triangular part of the gable; these supported a frame
+work of bamboo, over which an interwoven thatch of palm leaves was laid,
+and tied with the runners of trees, first to the large poles running
+from gable to gable, and afterwards, (within,) to the interlacing of the
+bamboo frame work, which was painted black and polished, so as to look
+much better than any rude cieling would, of which they have no idea; a
+small part appears in the houses in the drawing of Adoom-street (No. 9.)
+The pillars, which assist to support the roof, and form the proscenium
+or open front, (which none but captains are allowed to have to their
+houses) were thick poles, afterwards squared with a plastering of swish.
+The steps and raised floor of these rooms were clay and stone, with a
+thick layer of red earth, which abounds in the neighbourhood, and these
+were washed and painted daily, with an infusion of the same earth in
+water; it has all the appearance of red ochre, and from the abundance of
+iron ore in the neighbourhood, I do not doubt it is.
+
+The walls still soft, they formed moulds or frame works of the patterns
+in delicate slips of cane, connected by grass. The two first slips (one
+end of each being inserted in the soft wall) projected the relief,
+commonly mezzo: the interstices were then filled up with the plaster,
+and assumed the appearance depicted. The poles or pillars were sometimes
+encircled by twists of cane, intersecting each other, which, being
+filled up with thin plaster, resembled the lozenge and cable ornaments
+of the Anglo-Norman order; the quatre-foil was very common, and by no
+means rude, from the symmetrical bend of the cane which formed it. I saw
+a few pillars, (after they had been squared with the plaster) with
+numerous slips of cane pressed perpendicularly on to the wet surface,
+which being covered again with a very thin coat of plaster, closely
+resembled fluting. When they formed a large arch, they inserted one end
+of a thick piece of cane in the wet clay of the floor or base, and
+bending the other over, inserted it in the same manner; the entablature
+was filled up with wattle work plastered over. Arcades and piazzas were
+common. A white wash, very frequently renewed, was made from a clay in
+the neighbourhood. Of course the plastering is very frail, and in the
+relief frequently discloses the edges of the cane, giving however a
+piquant effect, auxiliary to the ornament. The doors were an entire
+piece of cotton wood, cut with great labour out of the stems or
+buttresses of that tree; battens variously cut and painted were
+afterwards nailed across. (See drawing, No. 5.) So disproportionate was
+the price of labour to that of provision, that I gave but two tokoos for
+a slab of cotton wood, five feet by three. The locks they use are from
+Houssa, and quite original; one will be sent to the British Museum.
+Where they raised a first floor, the under room was divided into two by
+an intersecting wall, to support the rafters for the upper room, which
+were generally covered with a frame work thickly plastered over with red
+ochre. I saw but one attempt at flooring with plank, it was cotton wood
+shaped entirely with an adze, and looked like a ship’s deck. The windows
+were open wood work, carved in fanciful figures and intricate patterns,
+and painted red; the frames were frequently cased in gold, about as
+thick as cartridge paper.
+
+What surprised me most, and is not the least of the many circumstances
+deciding their great superiority over the generality of Negroes, was the
+discovery that every house had its cloacæ, besides the common ones for
+the lower orders without the town. They were generally situated under a
+small arch way in the most retired angle of the building, but not
+unfrequently up stairs, within a separate room like a small closet, (see
+drawing No. 3.) where the large hollow pillar also assists to support
+the upper story: the holes are of a small circumference, but dug to a
+surprising depth, and boiling water is daily poured down, which
+effectually prevents the least offence. The rubbish and offal of each
+house was burnt every morning at the back of the street, and they were
+as nice and cleanly in their dwellings as in their persons.
+
+[Illustration: ODUMATA’S SLEEPING ROOM.
+
+_No. 5._]
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 6._
+
+INNER SQUARE of APOOKOOS HOUSE.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+[Illustration: THE OLDEST HOUSE in COOMASSEE.
+
+_No. 3._]
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 4._
+
+PART of the QUARTERS of the MISSION.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+Drawing No. 3, is one of the oldest houses in Coomassie, inherited by
+the unfortunate Bakkee, and part of the quarters of the Mission. Its
+comparative rudeness is evident.
+
+No. 4, is a more modern part of the same house, being one side of a
+small area about 15 feet square, allotted to the chief officer of the
+Embassy. These areas are all distinct, and a house consists of an
+indefinite number of them, some 36 feet square, with several long
+courts. In paying a visit to a principal man, the state was to detain us
+some minutes at the door of each area, as he generally received us in
+the innermost. The figure is one of the King’s body guards, which have
+been described before. The figures are introduced to shew the proportion
+of the buildings, and to give some idea of the costume.
+
+No. 5, is the exterior of a bed room of Odumata’s, which is one side of
+an oblong area in a very retired angle of his house, about 25 feet by 8.
+The cloth suspended to the left of the door on the top of the steps,
+hides the bloody stools which are in the recess. The small gallery in
+front of the upper room is only wide enough for one person to walk in.
+The recess and small room below accommodate confidential slaves. The bed
+room was very small, about 8 feet square, but being hung round with a
+variety of gold and silver ornaments, had a very rich appearance. The
+bed is generally about 5 feet high, and composed entirely of large silk-
+cotton pillows piled one above another. The King of Gaman, we were
+assured, had steps of solid gold to ascend to his bed. A man wearing a
+crier’s cap, is playing the sanko.
+
+No. 6, is a perspective view of the entrance area to Apokoo’s house; the
+fourth side is an open fronted building like those on the right and left
+for attendants to wait in, and for the hearing of palavers. The opposite
+closed side is a bed room. The figure is playing the bentwa (see Music.)
+
+[Illustration: PART of a PIAZZA in the PALACE.
+
+_No. 7._]
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 8._
+
+PART of a PIAZZA in the PALACE.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 9._
+
+PART of ADOOM STREET.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
+
+_No. 10._
+
+THE KINGS SLEEPING ROOM.
+
+_Published Decr. 2, 1818, by John Murray, Albemarle Street._]
+
+No. 7, is a part of a piazza, which lines the interior of the wall
+secluding the palace from the street. The piazza is 200 yards long, and
+inhabited by captains and other attendants on the King; above is a small
+gallery. Piles of skulls, and drums ornamented with them, are frequent
+in this piazza. The figure is a common soldier of Ashantee, his belt
+ornamented with red shells, and stuck full of knives.
+
+No. 8, is the upper end of the piazza, which is more ornamented, and
+appropriated to the superior captains, who have each a suite of rooms,
+marked by the small doors under the piazza. A woman is dancing whilst a
+man plays the flute and rattle.
+
+No. 9, is a view of part of Adoom-street: each open front denotes the
+residence of a captain, being used for talking palavers, receiving
+strangers, observing or superintending customs, and evening recreation.
+The dwelling is entered by the small door at the side, which generally
+leads through a narrow passage or court to a large area like No. 6, and
+thence by various intricate ways to smaller and more retired areas like
+No. 4 and No. 5. A fetish woman has just quitted the centre house; she
+has on a white cloth, and various pieces of rich silk are hanging round
+her girdle, her breasts are confined with a scarf, a fillet encircles
+her head, in each hand she waves a horse’s tail, and she continues
+yelling and swinging round and round until she is quite stupified. A
+weaver and loom are on her right, and a market woman under her shed on
+the left.
+
+No. 10, is the exterior of the King’s bed room, being one side of an
+inner area, about 30 feet square. The stunted silk-cotton and the
+manchineal tree are fetish or sacred, as are the white and red rags at
+the top of the pole, and the small brass cups supported by the forked
+sticks. The colored bags hanging over the round doors (the chequering of
+which is in relief,) contain Moorish charms. The carving of the left
+hand window is cased in silver, of the right hand, in gold. The two men
+are playing at Worra. The King made frequent enquiries about the
+architecture of England, of which we gave him some idea by drawings. He
+was very fond of referring to a project ascribed to Saï Cudjo, and which
+he declared he would carry into effect directly the Gaman war was over.
+This was to build a house for his own immediate residence, roofed with
+brass pans, beaten into flat surfaces, and laid over an ivory frame work
+appearing within. The windows and the doors to be cased in gold, and the
+door posts and pillars of ivory. Whether the Moors originated or
+encouraged this extravagance by the descriptions in their tales, for
+some of the stories of the Arabian Nights were commonly in their mouths,
+or whether it was the scheme of his own disposition, prone to
+magnificence and novelty, the King dwelt ardently on the intention, and
+by their frequent conversations on the subject, his chiefs appeared
+scarcely less anxious for the execution than himself. He meditated great
+improvements and embellishments in his capital, on his return from the
+war, when it was intended that every captain should be presented with an
+extraordinary sum out of the public treasury, for adorning or enlarging
+his house. The ruined streets between Asafoo and Bantama were to be
+rebuilt, and the six or seven small crooms between Coomassie and
+Baramang, (the King’s country residence,) were to be pulled down, and
+the inhabitants to occupy a wide street to extend from the city to that
+croom. This was the darling design of the King; he had already made a
+sound, broad, and almost direct road, and numerous labourers were
+continuing to bring it as near as possible to a straight line.
+
+The Ashantee loom is precisely on the same principle as the English; it
+is worked by strings held between the toes; the web is never more than
+four inches broad. A weaver is represented in the drawing, No. 3, and a
+small loom complete is amongst the articles for the British Museum. They
+use a spindle, and not a distaff, for spinning, holding it in one hand,
+and twisting the thread, (which has a weight at the end,) with the
+finger and thumb of the other. The fineness, variety, brilliance, and
+size of their cloths would astonish, could a more costly one be
+exhibited; in the absence of which, that for the Museum will doubtless
+be admired for the two first qualities, and for having precisely the
+same appearance on both sides. I shall notice in the Chapter on Trade,
+that the richest silks are unravelled to weave into them. The white
+cloths, which are principally manufactured in Inta and Dagwumba, they
+paint for mourning with a mixture of blood and a red dye wood. The
+patterns are various, and not inelegant, and painted with so much
+regularity, with a fowl’s feather, that they have all the appearance of
+a coarse print at a distance. I have seen a man paint as fast as I could
+write. There will be a very fair specimen in the British Museum, the
+price of painting which was one ackie.
+
+They have two dye woods, a red and a yellow, specimens of which I
+brought down; they make a green by mixing the latter with their blue
+dye, in which they excel; it is made from a plant called acassie,
+certainly not the indigo, which grows plentifully on the Coast. The
+acassie rises to the height of about two feet, and according to the
+natives, bears a red flower, but the leaf is not small, fleshy, or soft,
+nor is it pale or silvery coloured underneath; it is a thin acuminate
+leaf about five inches long, and three broad, of a dark green.[95] I
+regret to add, our best specimens of this plant perished in the
+disasters of our march, and no drawing was made of it, as it bore no
+flower in that season; it grows abundantly in the woods, and produces a
+fast and beautiful colour without requiring a mordant. They gather a
+quantity of the leaves, bruise them in a wooden mortar, and spread them
+out on a mat to dry, this mass is kept for use, a proportion of it is
+put into a pot of water and remains six days previous to immersing the
+thread, which is left in six days, drying it once every day in the sun,
+it is then a deep lasting blue colour. When a light blue is wished for,
+the thread is only allowed to remain in the dye pot three days.
+
+They excel in pottery, as the pipes for the Museum will shew; they are
+rested on the ground when smoked; the clay is very fine, polished (after
+baking) by friction, and the grooves of the patterns filled up with
+chalk. They have also a black pottery which admits of a high polish.
+
+The people of Dagwumba surpass the Ashantees in goldsmith’s work, though
+the latter may be esteemed proficients in the art. The small articles
+for the Museum, a gold stool, sanko, bell, jaw bone, and drum, are not
+such neat specimens as I could wish; the man who made them having too
+much costly work on hand for the King, to pay our trifles his wonted
+attention; unfortunately too, he was committed to prison before they
+were quite finished; however, they will give an idea. I weighed out
+nineteen ackies and a half of gold dust for making these articles, one
+third of an ackie was lost in melting, and five was the charge of the
+goldsmith. We lost a beautiful silver pipe in the bustle. Bees wax for
+making the model of the article wanted, is spun out on a smooth block of
+wood, by the side of a fire, on which stands a pot of water; a flat
+stick is dipped into this, with which the wax is made of a proper
+softness; it takes about a quarter of an hour to make enough for a ring.
+When the model is finished, it is enclosed in a composition of wet clay
+and charcoal, (which being closely pressed around it forms a mould,)
+dried in the sun, and having a small cup of the same materials attached
+to it, (to contain the gold for fusion,) communicating with the model by
+a small perforation. When the whole model is finished, and the gold
+carefully enclosed in the cup, it is put in a charcoal fire with the cup
+undermost. When the gold is supposed to be fused, the cup is turned
+uppermost, that it may run into the place of the melted wax; when cool
+the clay is broken, and if the article is not perfect it goes through
+the whole process again. To give the gold its proper colour, they put a
+layer of finely ground red ochre, (which they call Inchuma,) all over
+it, and immerge it in boiling water mixed with the same substance and a
+little salt; after it has boiled half an hour, it is taken out and
+thoroughly cleansed from any clay that may adhere to it. Their bellows
+are imitations of ours, but the sheep skin they use being tied to the
+wood with leather thongs, the wind escapes through the crevices,
+therefore when much gold is on the fire they are obliged to use two or
+three pair at the same time. Their anvils are generally a large stone,
+or a piece of iron placed on the ground. Their stoves are built of swish
+(about three or four feet high) in a circular form, and are open about
+one fifth of the circumference; a hole is made through the closed part
+level with the ground, for the nozzle of the bellows. Their weights are
+very neat brass casts of almost every animal, fruit, or vegetable known
+in the country. The King’s scales, blow pan, boxes, and weights, and
+even the tongs which hold the cinder to light his pipe, were neatly made
+of the purest gold that could be manufactured.
+
+Their blacksmith’s work is performed with the same sort of forge as the
+above, but they have no idea of making iron from ore, as their interior
+neighbours do. Their swords are generally perforated in patterns like
+fish trowels; frequently they make two blades springing parallel from
+one handle, which evince very fine workmanship. The needles and
+castanets will only give some idea of their progress. The iron stone is
+of a dark red colour, spotted with gray, and intermixed with what had
+all the appearance of lava, they cut bullets out of it for the army,
+when lead is scarce. I have brought some arrows of native iron. They
+have no idea of making a lock like the people of Houssa and Marrowa.
+
+They tan or dress leather in Ashantee, but they do this, and dye it, in
+a very superior manner in Houssa and Dagwumba; see the sandals and
+cushion in the British Museum, the former varied and apparently
+stitched; doubting that there could be such stitching, I undid a part,
+and discovered that they perforated the surface, and then stuck in the
+fine shreds of leather. The curious will observe, that the patterns of
+the stool cushion are all produced by paring the surface. They make
+their soldiers belts and pouches out of elephant or pig skin, ornamented
+with red shells. (See drawing, No. 7.)
+
+Of their carpenter’s work the stool is a fair specimen, being carved out
+of a solid piece of a wood called zesso, white, soft, and bearing a high
+polish; it is first soaked in water. They sell such a stool for about
+three shillings, in Accra or Fantee it would fetch twenty. The umbrella
+is even more curious, the bird is cut almost equal to turning, and the
+whole is so supple that it may be turned inside out. This, only a
+child’s umbrella, is a model of the large canopies I have described in
+the procession; I gave a piece of cloth value twenty shillings for it.
+The sanko or guitar is also neatly made, and the chasteness and Etruscan
+character of the carving is very surprising. The surface of the wood is
+first charred in the fire, and then carved deep enough to disclose the
+original white in the stripes or lines of the patterns.
+
+Numbers of workmen are employed in breaking, rounding, and boring the
+snail shells, as big as a turkey’s egg generally, and sometimes as large
+as a conch. They are first broken into numerous pieces, then chipped
+round, the size of a sleeve button, and afterwards bored with a bow and
+iron style fixed in a piece of wood. Lastly they are strung, and
+extended in rows on a log of wood, and rubbed with a soft and bluish
+gray stone and water, until they become perfectly round.
+
+Their pine apple thread is very strong, and is made from the fineness of
+a hair to the thickness of whip cord, it bleaches to a beautiful
+whiteness, and would answer for sewing any strong material, but, when
+muslin is stitched with it, it is liable to be cut from the harshness.
+The women frequently join their cloths, and ornament their handkerchiefs
+with a zigzag pattern, worked with unravelled silks of different
+colours. The fetish case is a specimen of their needle work, in the
+manner of chain stitch.
+
+
+[Footnote 95: It is a shrub with opposite leaves, no stipules, and
+having a certain degree of resemblance to _Marsdenia suave-olens_ (the
+indigo of Sumatra) but as the leaves are toothed in the acassie, it
+probably does not belong even to the same natural order.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+           _Climate, Population, Revenue, City, Market, &c._
+
+
+The climate will be best judged of by the account of the thermometer
+(from May to February) in the Appendix. During the first two months, May
+and June, it rained about one third of the time, throughout July and
+August it rained nearly half, and abrupt tornadoes were frequent in the
+evening, just after sun set, ushered in by a strong wind from the south-
+west. The heaviest rains were from the latter end of September to the
+beginning of November, they fell even in more impetuous torrents than
+are witnessed on the coast.[96] The influence of the harmattan was
+described as very powerful. Generally speaking, from the elevation of
+Ashantee, (unfortunately we had no barometer,) it was much cooler in
+Coomassie than at Cape Coast; indeed, from four to six in the morning,
+there was a severity of cold unknown on the coast.
+
+I can only calculate the population of the kingdom of Ashantee, small in
+itself, from its military force, of which the following is the most
+moderate of the estimates I received.
+
+  Coomassie district (extending to the northern frontier)         60,000
+
+  Dwabin ditto                                                    35,000
+
+  Marmpon ditto                                                   15,000
+
+  Soota ditto                                                     15,000
+
+  Kokoofoo ditto                                                  15,000
+
+  Becqua ditto                                                    12,000
+
+  Adiabin ditto (between Coomassie and the lake)                  12,000
+
+  Aphwagwiasee ditto                                              10,000
+
+  Daniasee ditto (southwards of Coomassie)                         8,000
+
+  Koontarasie ditto (on the lake)                                  8,000
+
+  Gamasie ditto                                                    8,000
+
+  Amafoo ditto                                                     6,000
+                                                                 -------
+                                                                 204,000
+
+This appears an extravagant force, until we recollect that it is
+probably one fifth of the whole population.[97] The Romans when they
+were a nation of warriors, which these people are, raised a military
+force equally great in proportion to their population. Barbot heard of
+the Ashantees losing 50,000 men in two actions, an exaggeration which,
+nevertheless, serves to argue great military resources. Since the
+Ashantee invasions, their disposable force has been estimated by old
+residents in public reports, as upwards of 150,000. From the above
+particular statement, the population may be estimated at one million,
+which I believe is little more than half the population of Scotland, the
+area of which must be more than double that of Ashantee, which certainly
+does not contain more than 14,000 square miles. Amanquateä, Quatchie
+Quofie, Odumata, and Apokoo’s forces alone amounted to 25,000. The
+contingencies at command from tributaries, (21 in number) are too
+indefinite to attempt to detail. Neither Inta or Dagwumba furnish any,
+the Ashantees pretending to despise their troops too much to use them.
+The following, which are known to be pretty correct, have generally been
+the first called into action:
+
+  Coranza        10,000
+
+  Assin           8,000
+
+  Takima          6,000
+
+  Dankara         5,000
+
+  Warsaw          7,000
+
+  Booroom        12,000
+
+  Sawee           4,000
+
+  Akim            4,000, before their later destructive revolts 16,000
+
+  Aquapim, &c.    1,000
+
+Though polygamy is tolerated to such an excess amongst the higher
+orders, I do not think, from observation, that the proportion of women
+to men is two to one. Most of the lower order of freemen have but one
+wife, and very few of the slaves (the greater proportion of the military
+force) any. The following calculation is the only one I can think of,
+and it supports my impression after five months residence.
+
+  204,000 Men able to bear arms, about one-fifth of the
+          whole population                                     1,000,000
+
+  101,000 Or one-fourth, children under ten years of age as
+          found in Great Britain.
+
+   50,000 Boys above that age not capable of bearing arms.
+
+    7,000 Or one in about 28 incapacitated by old age or
+          accidents, as found in Great Britain.
+  -------
+  362,000                                             Males      362,000
+                                                                 -------
+                                                    Females      638,000
+
+The men are very well made, but not so muscular as the Fantees; their
+countenances are frequently aquiline. The women also are generally
+handsomer than those of Fantee, but it is only amongst the higher orders
+that beauty is to be found, and amongst them, free from all labour or
+hardship, I have not only seen the finest figures, (which the ease of
+their costume and habits may account for,) but, in many instances,
+regular Grecian features, with brilliant eyes set rather obliquely in
+the head. Beauty in a Negress must be genuine, since complexion
+prejudices instead of imposes, and the European adjudges it to the
+features only, which appeared in this class to be Indian rather than
+African; nor is it surprising, when we recollect that they are selected
+from, or are the daughters of the handsomest slaves or captives; or are
+expressly chosen by their interior neighbours, to compose part of their
+tribute to the King of Ashantee, who retains but a small proportion.
+
+Both men and women are particularly cleanly in their persons, the latter
+washing themselves, and the former being washed by them daily on rising,
+from head to foot, with warm water and Portuguese soap, using afterwards
+the vegetable grease or butter, which is a fine cosmetic. Their cloths,
+which are beetled, are always scrupulously clean. The lowest orders are
+generally dirty. Occasionally, small delicate patterns in green or white
+paint are traced on their cheeks and temples. The Moorish negresses
+darken the edges of their eye lids with lead reduced to a fine powder.
+The ore was brought from Mallowa and is very rich. The powder is
+moistened a little, and kept in small boxes, like bodkin cases with a
+bulb at the end, and prettily covered with cow’s hair, within which is a
+metal stylus to apply the powder, as the women of India do antimony for
+this purpose. Top-cloths are generally worn, and not by the higher order
+only as in Fantee. They are commonly of a coarse silk bought at
+Dagwumba. They wear little or no antiffoo, a sort of cushion projecting
+from just below the small of the back in the Fantee women, by the size
+of which, frequently preposterous, and at all times unsightly, their
+rank, or the number of their children is known. The bosoms of girls of
+thirteen and fourteen are frequently models, but the young women
+sedulously destroy this beauty for what is considered a greater, wearing
+a broad band tight across their breasts, until ceasing to be globular
+they project conically. Their heads are shaved in fanciful elaborate
+patterns, having as intricate an appearance as a rich carpet.
+
+The food of the higher orders is principally soup of dried fish, fowls,
+beef, or mutton, (according to the fetish,) and ground nuts stewed in
+blood. The poorer class make their soups of dried deer, monkeys flesh,
+and frequently of the pelts of skins. Yams, plantains, and foofoos, (see
+the kouskous of Mr. Park) are commonly eaten, and they do not make
+cankey of their corn, (a coarser sort of kouskous not cleared from the
+husk) as the Fantees do, but they roast it on the stalk, and when young
+the flavour closely resembles that of green peas. Besides palm wine they
+drink Pittō, made from dried corn, which I think must have been the beer
+Lieutenant Martyn relished so much, for it is quite as pleasant as a
+brisk small ale. They are forbidden eggs by the fetish, and cannot be
+persuaded to taste milk, which is only drank by the Moors. Their stews
+and white soups are excellent, and my companions reported their black
+soups (made with palm oil) to be equally so.
+
+I cannot pretend to calculate the variable revenue of Ashantee, nor
+indeed to report its optional sources; I noted a few particulars.
+
+1. The dust gold of all deceased and disgraced subjects. Boiteäm, the
+father of Otee, left five jars (said to hold about four gallons each)
+and two flasks. On Appia Nanu’s disgrace three jars were seized.
+
+2. A tax in gold upon all slaves purchased for the coast.[98] Customs
+paid in gold by all traders returning from the coast, levied near Ansa
+in Assin.
+
+3. A tax on the elephant hunters.
+
+4. The small pits in Soko, which with the washings were reported to
+yield, sometimes 2,000 ounces per month, at others not more than 700.
+
+5. The daily washings throughout Dankara, and the hills dividing Akim
+and Assin; very rich in gold.
+
+6. A tax on every chief increasing the number of his gold ornaments.
+Apokoo paid 20 periguins to the King on melting 100.
+
+7. The soil of the market place (see Laws) has been washed but twice
+during the present reign. I was told it produced about 800 ounces of
+gold each time. During our stay a heavy rain washed down a large
+quantity, which was replaced and carefully covered with the soil, by the
+Captain in charge of the market place. It was very easily seen after
+rain.
+
+The tributes of the various nations they had subdued, were in some
+instances fixed, but more frequently indefinite, being proportioned to
+the exigencies of the year; indeed from various conversations with
+Apokoo and others, and my own observations during state palavers, it
+appeared that the necessities and the designs of the Ashantee government
+were the superior considerations, and the rule in levying tribute every
+where. I made the following memoranda.
+
+Inta and Dagwumba never pay in gold, which though plentiful from
+commerce, is not found there, cowries being the circulating medium.
+Their capitals and all their large towns send the following tribute
+annually, and the smaller in proportion.
+
+  500 Slaves.
+
+  200 Cows.
+
+  400 Sheep.
+
+  400 Cotton cloths.
+
+  200 Ditto and silk.
+
+Takima a smaller proportion of the same kind.
+
+Coranza is generally excused, from fidelity, and a long series of
+military services.
+
+  Sawee                                200 periguins annually.
+
+  Moinseän                              50 bendas ditto.
+
+  Gaman had paid, (besides all large
+  pieces of rock gold,)                100 periguins ditto.
+
+Akim, Assin, Warsaw, Aowin, &c. &c. were taxed indefinitely by crooms.
+
+Coomassie is built upon the side of a large rocky hill of iron stone. It
+is insulated by a marsh close to the town northwards, and but a narrow
+stream; half a mile distant from it N.W., and 60 yards broad; close to
+it N.E., E., S.E., and S., and about 100, 20, 70, and 50 yards broad at
+these points. In many parts depth after heavy rains was five feet, and
+commonly two. The marsh contains many springs, and supplies the town
+with water, but the exhalation covers the city with a thick fog morning
+and evening, and engenders dysentery, with which the natives of the
+coast who accompanied us were almost immediately attacked, as well as
+the officers. It is a little extraordinary that we never saw a musquito
+in Ashantee. I could find none but birds eye views of the city, which
+were uninteresting, presenting nothing but the thatch of the houses; it
+was encircled by a beautiful forest, which required more time than I
+could spare, and a more expressive pencil to pourtray. Coomassie is an
+oblong of nearly four miles in circumference, not including the suburbs
+of Assafoo nor Bantama, (the back town,) half a mile distant, and
+formerly connected by streets with the city, as is evident from the
+numerous ruins of houses on the path. The slaughter of constant warfare,
+and the extinction or removal of several ill affected chiefs with their
+adherents, account for this even in a rising state. The ruins in the
+interval to Bantama were indeed accounted for by Amanquateä (who holds
+his court there, as Quatchie Quofie does at Assafoo) informing us, that
+almost all the Ashantees killed before Annamaboe (about 2000 by the most
+moderate computation) belonged to him, as it was his division which
+marched along the beach from Cormantine, exposed to the cannon of the
+fort. Four of the principal streets are half a mile long, and from 50 to
+100 yards wide. I observed them building one, and a line was stretched
+on each side to make it regular. The streets were all named, and a
+superior captain in charge of each; ours for instance, was Aperremsoo,
+big gun or cannon street, because those taken when Dankara was
+conquered, were placed on a mound at the top of it, near Adoo Quamina’s
+house. The area in which we had our first audience was called Daëbrim,
+the great market, in distinction to a lower street called Gwaba, or the
+small market. The street above where we lived was called Osamarandiduüm,
+meaning literally, “with 1000 muskets you could not fight those who live
+there.” One street was named after Odumata, and there was another near
+it, whose title I forget, but it was equal to prison street. The palace
+was situated in a long and wide street running through the middle of the
+town, from which it was shut out by a high wall, terminating at each end
+at the marsh, where it was discontinued, that being a sufficient
+boundary. It included Odumata’s and the King’s brothers residences, and
+two or three small streets, (besides the several areas and piazzas,) for
+the King’s relief and recreation when the superstitions of the country
+confine him to the palace. I reckoned twenty seven streets in all, which
+I have laid down in a ground plan of the town. The small grove at the
+back of the large market place was called Sammonpomë or the spirit-
+house, because the trunks of all the human victims were thrown into it.
+The bloody tracks, daily renewed, shewed the various directions they had
+been dragged from, and the number of vultures on the trees indicated the
+extent of the recent sacrifice; the stench was insupportable, and the
+visits of panthers nightly. Several trees were individually scattered
+about the town for the recreation of the inhabitants of those quarters,
+and small circular elevations of two steps, the lower about 20 feet in
+circumference, like the bases of the old market crosses in England, were
+raised in the middle of several streets, on which the King’s chair was
+placed when he went to drink palm wine there, his attendants encircling
+him.
+
+[Illustration: _Ichnographical Sketch of_ COOMASSIE, _with the principal
+Streets and the Situations of remarkable Houses._
+
+  1. Entrance from Fantee and Assin.
+
+  2. Agwabu or the small market.
+
+  3. King’s eldest Sister’s house.
+
+  4. —— Goldsmith’s ditto.
+
+  5. Appia Nanu’s ditto.
+
+  6. Otee’s (3d Linguist) ditto.
+
+  7. Odumata’s (1 of the 4) ditto.
+
+  8. King’s youngest Sister’s ditto.
+
+  9. Adoom Street.
+
+  9.* Baba’s house and the Crambos (Moors) Street.
+
+  10.* Aboogaywa or place of execution.
+
+  10. Palace.
+
+  11. King’s wives Croom.
+
+  12. Marsh.
+
+  13. Entrance from Dwabin.
+
+  14. ——— Barramang.
+
+  15. King of Dwabin’s temporary Court.
+
+  16. King’s Blacksmith’s Croom.
+
+  _a._ Himma or the King’s fetish temple.
+
+  _b._ Apokoo’s (1 of the 4) house.
+
+  _c._ Adoocee’s (chief linguist.)
+
+  _d._ Apirremsoo Street.
+
+  _e[Symbol]._ Aboidwee’s house, the quarters of the Embassy.
+
+  _f._ Adoo Quamina’s (chief Captain) house.
+
+  _g._ Osarramandiduum Street.
+
+  _h._ King’s Umbrella maker’s Croom.
+
+  _i._ Entrance to the high street of Bantama.
+
+  _k._ Croom.
+
+  _l._ Ditto.
+
+  _m._ Ditto.
+
+  _n._ Long irregular suburb, and road to Dankara.
+
+  _o._ Sammonpome or the Spirit Grove.
+
+  _p._ Adooebrim, the large market place.
+
+  _p*._ Small Market.
+
+  _q._ High Street of Assafoo. Course of the procession of the Embassy
+  on its entré.
+
+  _r._ Halted to witness the war dance.
+
+  _s._ Halted to pass the baggage and presents.
+
+  _t._ Halted to witness the human sacrifice.
+
+  _u._ Presented to the King and Chiefs.
+
+  _w._ Seated to see them march home.
+
+_T. E. Bowdich_, 1817.]
+
+The Ashantees persisted that the population of Coomassie, when
+collected, was upwards of 100,000. I think it likely to be much greater
+than that of Sego, (which Mr. Park reported as 30,000,) from the
+extended masses of crowd I observed on festivals, when the plantations
+of the environs are almost wholly deserted. I compared them in my
+recollection with the crowds I have seen collected in the secondary
+cities of England, on similar occasions of public curiosity; the only
+criterion, as I had not time to finish reckoning the number of houses. I
+say when collected, because the higher class could not support their
+numerous followers, or the lower their large families, in the city, and
+therefore employed them in plantations, (in which small crooms were
+situated,) generally within two or three miles of the capital, where
+their labours not only feed themselves, but supply the wants of the
+chief, his family, and more immediate suite. The middling orders station
+their slaves for the same purpose, and also to collect fruits and
+vegetables for sale, and when their children become numerous, a part are
+generally sent to be supported by these slaves in the bush. Perhaps the
+average resident population of Coomassie is not more than from 12 to
+15,000.
+
+The markets were held daily from about eight o’clock in the morning
+until sun set. The larger contains about sixty stalls or sheds, (a small
+square frame covered with cotton cloth with a pole from the centre,
+stuck into the ground, see drawing, No. 9.) besides throngs of inferior
+venders, seated in all directions. Amongst the articles for sale, were
+beef, (to us about 8_d._ per lb.) and mutton, cut in small pieces for
+soup, wild hog, deer, and monkey’s flesh, fowls, pelts of skins; yams,
+plantains, corn, sugar-cane, rice, encruma, (a mucilaginous vegetable,
+richer than asparagus, which it resembles,) peppers, vegetable butter;
+oranges, papaws, pine apples, (not equal to those on the coast,)
+bananas; salt and dried fish from the coast; large snails smoke dried,
+and stuck in rows on small sticks in the form of herring bone; eggs for
+fetish; pittō, palm wine, rum; pipes, beads, looking-glasses, sandals,
+silk, cotton cloth, powder, small pillows, white and blue cotton thread,
+calabashes, &c. &c. See Chapter on Trade.
+
+The following are the comparative prices of the markets of Coomassie and
+Yahndi, the capital of Dagwumba:
+
+                   _Coomassie._           _Yahndi._
+
+  A fat bullock      £.6   0  0          £.1  0  0
+
+  A sheep              0  15  0            0  4  0
+
+  A fowl               0   1  8            0  0  5
+
+  A horse             24   0  0            8  0  0
+
+  Yams                 0   0  8 for two    0  0  8 for ten.
+
+The surprising exorbitance of the former is to be accounted for by the
+abundance of gold, yet labour and manufacture was moderately purchased.
+In Mallowa, provision is dearer than in Dagwumba, but the articles of
+trade much cheaper; they manufacture very little cloth, the Moorish
+traders supplying it so abundantly. The cattle we saw in Ashantee were
+as large as the English, unlike those on the coast, which resemble the
+Jersey. The sheep are hairy in Ashantee, but woolly in Dagwumba, an open
+country, where they manufacture a coarse blanket. The horses in Dagwumba
+are generally small, some were described to be 15 hands high, but these
+were never parted with, and the Ashantees did not desire them, for I
+never saw but one who rode fearlessly. The horses I saw were like half
+bred galloways, their legs lathy, with a wiry hair about the fetlock,
+only requiring to be pulled. Their heads were large; dun and mouse
+colours were said to be common; they were never shod, and their hoofs
+consequently in the eye of the European, though not in nature,
+disproportionate; they were fed on guinea grass, occasionally mixed with
+salt, and sal-ammoniac was frequently dissolved in the water. The
+saddles were Moorish, of red leather, and cumbersome; the bridles of
+twisted black leather thongs, and brass links, with a whip at the end;
+the bit severe, with a large ring hanging from the middle, and slipped
+over the under jaw instead of a curb chain; the stirrups were like large
+blow pans, and hung very short. Some of the Moors rode on bullocks, with
+a ring through the nose.
+
+The extent and order of the Ashantee plantations surprised us, yet I do
+not think they were adequate to the population; in a military government
+they were not likely to be so. Their neatness and method have been
+already noticed in our route up. They use no implement but the hoe. They
+have two crops of corn a year, plant their yams at Christmas, and dig
+them early in September. The latter plantations had much the appearance
+of a hop garden well fenced in, and regularly planted in lines, with a
+broad walk around, and a hut at each wicker gate, where a slave and his
+family resided to protect the plantation.
+
+All the fruits mentioned as sold in the market grew in spontaneous
+abundance, as did the sugar cane: the oranges were of a large size and
+exquisite flavour. I believe this fruit has hitherto been considered
+indigenous to India only. We saw no cocoa nut trees, nor was that fruit
+in the market. Mr. Park’s route was through a very different
+country.[99] In the marshy ground, a large species of fern is very
+abundant, there are four varieties of it; in shady places that have been
+cultivated, various tribes of urtica; and the leontodon grows abundantly
+to the north of Coomassie. The miraculous berry, which gives acids the
+flavour of sweets, making limes taste like honey, is common.[100] The
+castor oil, (ricinus communis) rises to a large tree, I have only seen
+it as a bush about three feet high on the coast; and the wild fig is
+abundant, though neither of them are used by the natives. The cotton
+plant is very plentiful, but little cultivated. The only use to which
+they apply the silk cotton, is to the stuffing of cushions and
+pillows.[101] Mr. Park observed the tobacco-plant, which grows
+luxuriantly in Inta and Dagwumba, and is called toah. The visitors from
+those countries recognised it in a botanical work. They first dry the
+leaves in the sun, then, having rubbed them well between their hands,
+mix them with water into oval masses, as will be seen; it is further
+noticed in the Trade Report.
+
+Lions are numerous on the northern frontiers of Inta, elephants (assoon,
+F. A. soorer, B.[102]) are remarkably numerous in Kong, but they are
+also found in Ashantee, with wild hogs (yambo, F. A.) hyænas (patacoo,
+F. A. boofooree, B.,) cows (anantwee, F. A. B.,) sheep (ygwan, F. A.
+tsan, B.,) goats (apunkie, F. A. terrie, B.,) deer (wonsan, F. A. B.,)
+antelopes (ettwan, F. A. B.,) dogs (boddum, etcha, F. tweä, A. opooree,
+B.,) approximating to the Danish, cats (agramwaw, F. A. B.,) extremely
+sharp visaged and long necked, Gennet cats (essoor, F. A. B.,) pangolins
+(appra, F. A. aypra, B.,) alligators (dankim, F. A. B.,) &c. &c. &c. The
+rhinoceros (năree) is found in Boroom, and the hippopotamus (shonsa, A.
+tchoosooree, B.) in the Odirree river.
+
+The Ashantees say, that an animal called sissah or sissirree, will
+attack every other however superior in size. The Fantees who had never
+seen it, had imbibed a tremendous idea of it, from the stories in their
+own country. I doubt its being so formidable to all other animals, for
+the skin I saw was not more than three feet long, and the legs short, it
+resembled that of a boar, but the natives said it was between a pig and
+a goat. I enquired of the people of Inta and Dagwumba if they had ever
+heard of a unicorn; one replied, yes! in the white man’s country. It is
+extraordinary that the gnoo, (antelope gnu,) which is found behind the
+Cape of Good Hope, is known in Inta by the same name.[103] Where the
+beds were not an accumulation of cushions, the skin of the gnoo was
+nailed to a large wooden frame, raised on legs about a foot from the
+ground, and stretched as we would sacking. It was a revered custom that
+no virgin of either sex should sleep on this kind of bed. Another
+animal, called otrum, was described by the inhabitants of the eastern
+frontier as having one very long horn on one side of the head and a
+short one on the other; it is much larger than the gnoo. We met with a
+spotted animal of the cat kind (gahin, F. A. B.,) very common, and
+allied to the leopard or panther, but whether referable to either of
+those species, or to be considered as distinct, we could not determine,
+owing to the very vague and unsatisfactory character by which
+naturalists have attempted to distinguish them, the kind and number of
+the rows of spots; which we have observed in individuals of the same
+decided species, to present almost an infinity of variation.
+
+The vulture (pittay, F. A. epraykee, B.,) which I have before mentioned
+to be venerated by the natives, for the same reason which the Egyptians
+venerated the Vulturus Percnopterus, is the Vulturus Monachus, figured
+by Le Vaillant. Green pigeons (assam) are found, and crows with a white
+ring round their necks, probably the corvus scapularis figured by Le
+Vaillant. There were several small birds of beautiful plumage, which
+sung melodiously; two in particular, the one like a blackbird, and the
+other of the same colour as the English thrush, but larger. Also a
+variety of parrots beautifully spangled with different colours. M.
+Cuvier was misinformed when he wrote (Regne animal, tom. i. p. 108)
+“Macaque est le nom générique des singes à la côte de Guinée.” The name
+is unknown there as well as in the interior. Dokoo is the generic name.
+The Simia Diana (effoor, F. A. B.,) which has the most beautiful skin of
+any monkey, is found in Ashantee as well as in Warsaw. All the natives
+agree that they do not know of any monkies which dare to attack men, but
+the akonëson, which they describe as small, and always seen in troops.
+
+Snakes (aboïtinnee, F. A. ewaw, B.,) green, and of all colours;
+scorpions, lizards, &c. &c. were found as on the coast, with a curious
+variety of beetles, and the most beautiful butterflies. A few specimens
+preserved in spirits will be sent to the British Museum,[104] as the
+best apology for my ignorance rather than neglect of natural history.
+
+
+[Footnote 96: At Cape Coast in 1815 there was scarcely any rain fell in
+its season, from May to August. In 1816, the rains were heavy, but no
+fogs succeeded. In 1817, there was but little rain, but a protracted
+succession of slight fogs. The climate has been observed, by old
+residents, to alter as unaccountably within these few years as that of
+Europe.]
+
+[Footnote 97: “My friend Mr. Morton Pitt, M.P. has proved, by the
+enumeration of the inhabitants of a country parish in Dorsetshire, that
+the men of an age capable of bearing arms are one fourth of the whole
+community. Mr. Horneman, if I understand him rightly, states the number
+of actual warriors to be 1500; so that we ought, perhaps, to multiply
+that number by 5, to get nearer to the total amount of the population.”
+_Major Rennell_.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Issert mentions this being levied in Akim and other
+tributary states.]
+
+[Footnote 99: “It is observable, however, that although many species of
+the edible roots which grow in the West India islands, are found in
+Africa, yet I never saw, in any part of my journey, either the sugar
+cane, the coffee, or the cocoa tree; nor could I learn, on inquiry, that
+they were known to the natives. The pine apple, and the thousand other
+delicious fruits, which the industry of civilized man (improving the
+bounties of nature,) has brought to such great perfection in the
+tropical climates of America, are here equally unknown. I observed,
+indeed, a few orange and banana trees, near the mouth of the Gambia; but
+whether they were indigenous, or were formerly planted there by some of
+the white traders, I could not positively learn. I suspect that they
+were originally introduced by the Portuguese.” Park’s First Mission.]
+
+[Footnote 100: The curious fruit mentioned in the introduction, and to
+which I have given the name of oxyglycus, I find was known to Des
+Marchais, who describes it as a little red fruit, which, being chewed,
+gives a sweet taste to the most sour or bitter things. Dalzel’s
+Dahomey.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Cotton of the cotton tree (or _silk_ cotton) _Bombax
+Pentandrium_ _Lin._ This cotton is not made into thread, but is used
+for making pillows and beds. It is also, from its catching fire so
+easily, commonly put into tinder boxes, and employed in the preparation
+of fire works. Ainslie’s Materia Medica of Hindostan.]
+
+[Footnote 102: F. A. affixed to assoon, denote that to be the native
+name in the Fantee and Ashantee languages, as B. represents Boroom.]
+
+[Footnote 103: C’est probablement lui qui a donné lieu à leur
+_catoblepas_. Voyez Pline, lib. 8, c. 32, et Ælien, lib. 7, c. 5,
+Cuvier. The gnoo is almost always _looking down_.]
+
+[Footnote 104: See Dr. Leach’s notice in the Appendix.]
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                                _Trade._
+
+
+The currency of Ashantee is gold dust, that of Inta, Dagwumba, Gaman,
+and Kong, cowries. Mr. Lucas writes, “to the merchants of Fezzan who
+travel to the southern states of the Negroes, the purchase of gold,
+which the dominions of several, and especially those of Degombah,
+abundantly afford, is always the first object of commercial
+acquisition.” I could not learn that any gold was dug or collected in
+Dagwumba, though considerable quantities are imported, from its
+extensive commerce. Sixteen ackies make an ounce or newemeën, 36 a
+benda, 40 a periguin: eight tokoos (a small berry) are reckoned to the
+ackie, but it will not weigh more than seven: there are eight distinct
+names for quantities of gold dust from one to eight ackies. Five strings
+or 200 cowries are equal to a tokoo, as at Accra. The clearest manner of
+shewing the articles, prices, and profits of the Ashantee, Inta, and
+Dagwumba markets, will be by a table with remarks; substituting, for the
+greater convenience, English monies calculated at the currency of gold
+here, which is £4. the oz.
+
+  [Q.: Quantity.; P.: Profit.; P. pC.: Profit. per Cent.;
+   Pce.: Piece.; Gll.: Gallon.; Brl.: Barrel.; fth.: fathom.;
+   hdk.: hdkchf.; chg.: charge.]
+
+  +------------------------------+------------------+------------------+
+  |                _Cape Coast._ |  _Coomassie._    |   Sallagha and   |
+  |                              |                  |     Yahndi.      |
+  +---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
+  |  Articles.    |£ |s.|d.| Q.  |£.|s.|d.| Q.  |P. |£.|s.|d.| Q.  |P. |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |pC.|  |  |  |     |   |
+  +---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
+  |(_a_) Silk,    |4 |  |  | per |  |5 |  |  1  |175|  |  |  |     |   |
+  |India          |  |  |  |Pce. |  |  |  |span.|   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  | —— Fezzan     |  |  |  |     |2 |  |  |  1  |100|1 |  |  |  1  |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |fth. |   |  |  |  |fth. |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_b_)          |1 |10|  |     |  |2 |6 |  1  |400|  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Sarstracunda   |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |span.|   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_c_) Glasgow  |1 |10|  |     |  |5 |  |  1  |75 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Dane           |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |hdk. |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_d_) Romal    |1 |  |  |     |1 |5 |  |pce. |20 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_e_) Guinea   |  |10|  |     |  |15|  |     |33 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Stuff          |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_f_) Silesia  |  |10|  |     |  |15|  |     |33 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Dagwumba       |  |  |  |     |  |5 |  | sq. |100|  |2 |6 | sq. |   |
+  |white Cotton   |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |yard.|   |  |  |  |yard.|   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Rum            |  |10|  |Gll. |  |  |7½|dram.|400|  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_g_) Tobacco, |6 |  |  |Roll.|10|  |  |roll.|75 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Portuguese     |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |7½|span.|   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  | —— Inta       |  |  |  |     |  |2 |6 | lb. |150|  |  |  | lb. |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_h_) Gunpowder|4 |  |  |  ¼  |  |  |7½|  1  |400|  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |Brl. |  |  |  |chg. |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Iron           |1 |  |  |Bar. |1 |15|  |bar. |75 |3 |  |  |bar. |200|
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Lead           |  |10|  |     |  |  |7½|  ½  |75 |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |inch.|   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Flints         |  |5 |  | 100 |  |  |¼ |each.|600|  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_i_) Spanish  |  |5 |  | ea. |  |5 |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Dollar         |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |(_k_) Sandals  |  |  |  |     |  |10|  |pair.|100|  |5 |  |pair.|   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Cushions       |  |  |  |     |1 |  |  | ea. |100|  |10|  | ea. |   |
+  |               |  |  |  |     |  |  |  |     |   |  |  |  |     |   |
+  |Marrowa Locks  |  |  |  |     |  |5 |  |     |100|  |2 |6 |     |   |
+  +---------------+--+--+--+-----+--+--+--+-----+---+--+--+--+-----+---+
+
+(_a_) The red taffetas (11 yards in each piece) are unravelled by the
+Ashantees, and wove into the cloths of their own manufacture: they
+unravel a few of the fancy silks, but these are generally bought for
+wear, though they prefer those from Fezzan for that purpose, because the
+colours are more shewy. Coarse thick scarves are also brought from the
+interior, equal in substance to a double wove ribbon. One ackie a span
+was the price in the public market, where it was retailed in these small
+quantities, for the convenience of the weavers, who did not require, or
+could not afford to purchase more: the price of a piece was uncertain,
+as the person who could purchase so much, generally sent a trusty
+servant to the foreign market, and seldom bought of the traders but when
+they were necessitated to sell at little more than prime cost. The
+richest silks, I saw, were worn by the Moors, who had bought them at
+Yahndi and Houssa.[105] Reckoning nine inches to a span, there are eight
+spans in a fathom, which is the Ashantee measure; but the fathom of Inta
+and Dagwumba, contains only six spans. Even if the Ashantee traders give
+twenty shillings a fathom, in barter of boossee, salt, rum, iron, &c.;
+it is considerably cheaper to them than ours, considering that they get
+100 per cent. on it at Coomassie. Mr. Lucas mentions “silk wrought and
+unwrought amongst the articles exported from Fezzan to Kassina. Apokoo
+and several others related to me, that Saï Cudjo bought a piece of silk
+at Yahndi, so very fine, that although it could be compressed between
+two hands, it was nevertheless larger than any cloth I had seen the
+present King wear, and his appeared monstrous. Apokoo added, that six
+slaves were paid for it, which would have produced £160. at the water
+side.
+
+(_b_) This is a highly glazed British cotton of bright red stripes with
+a bar of white: it is bought solely for the red stripe, (as there is no
+red dye nearer than Marrowa) which they weave into their own cloths,
+throwing away the white. There are 280 inches in a piece. A cloth of
+Ashantee manufacture will be sent to the British Museum, and, I expect,
+the size, fineness, and variety will surprise.
+
+(_c_) This is also a highly glazed British cotton of more colours, and
+in handkerchiefs; ten of which are in a 30_s._ piece.
+
+(_d_) This is an unglazed India cotton, not much in demand, and yielding
+the least profit. The Manchester cotton called Tom Coffee is preferred.
+
+(_e_) This is India cotton unglazed, for all of which there is, in
+proportion, but a small demand. The Ashantees invariably prefer cloths
+of the Dagwumba, or their own manufacture, and we rarely saw any others
+worn in Coomassie.
+
+(_f_) These are white cottons, six yards in a piece, but narrow, they
+are bought for fetish cloths; but the next article, the white cotton
+cloth of Dagwumba, is preferred, a piece of which, painted, will be sent
+to the British Museum.
+
+(_g_) These are the wholesale and retail prices at Coomassie, the
+average length of a roll is 42 fathoms.
+
+(_h_) Powder is retailed for customs or festivals: those who purchase it
+for war, or can afford a ¼ barrel, send to the water side for it. A ¼
+barrel contains 25 lbs. and the Ashantee charge weighs 16 ackies, equal
+to ¾ of an ounce avoirdupoise.
+
+(_i_) This was owing to their brisk intercourse with the Spanish and
+Portuguese slave ships, a dollar generally fetches two ackies or 10_s._
+Mr. Park writes, from £1. 5_s._ to £2. 10_s._ at Sansanding.
+
+(_k_) Sandals and a cushion will be sent to the British Museum. In
+Marrowa they decoct a good red dye from a tree called mossarātee.
+
+The reason green ells are purchased by the Warsaws only, is, that they
+must be the wedding garment of the females of that country: if they are
+fast colours, and will not change to a blue with lime-juice, they will
+not look at them.
+
+Most of the slaves in Coomassie, were sent as part of the annual tribute
+of Inta, Dagwumba, and their neighbours, to Ashantee; very many were
+kidnapped, and for the few who were bought, I was assured by several
+respectable Ashantees, 2000 cowries, or 1 basket of Boossee was the
+greatest price given; so full were the markets of the interior. I have
+brought some pods of the Boossee; it is astringent, and the natives chew
+it to excite a flow of saliva, and allay the sensation of hunger.
+The[106] Boossee must be the Gooroo nut, which Mr. Lucas describes as
+one of the articles of trade between Fezzan, Kassina, Bornoo, and the
+states south of the Niger. He writes, “Gooroo nuts, which are brought
+from the Negro states on the south of the Niger, and which are
+principally valued for the pleasant bitter that they communicate to any
+liquor in which they are infused,” and again “a species of nut—which is
+much valued in the kingdoms to the north of the Niger, and which is
+called Gooroo. It grows on a large and broad leafed tree, that bears a
+pod of about 18 inches in length, in which are inclosed a number of nuts
+that varies from 7 to 9. Their colour is a yellowish green; their size
+is that of a chesnut, which they also resemble, in being covered by a
+husk of a similar thickness, and their taste, which is described as a
+pleasant bitter, is so grateful to those who are accustomed to its use,
+and so important as a corrective to the unpalatable or unwholesome
+waters of Fezzan, and of the other kingdoms that border on the vast
+Zahara, as to be deemed of importance to the happiness of life. They
+are purchased at the rate of 12_s._ for 100 pods.”
+
+Sal ammonia is found abundantly in Dagwumba: in the Ashantee market, a
+lump the size of a duck’s egg, was sold for 2_s._: they grind it to mix
+with their snuff, (of which they take large quantities,) as it gives it
+a pungency agreeable to them. They also dissolve it in the water they
+give to their cattle, and sometimes drink it themselves for pains in the
+bowels. The Tamool practitioners in the East Indies suppose it to be a
+useful remedy in certain female obstructions, and morbid uterine
+enlargements. Mr. Lucas writes, “No commercial value appears to be
+annexed to the fleeces which the numerous flocks of the Negro kingdoms
+afford; for the cotton manufacture, which, the Shereef says, is
+established among the tribes to the south of the Niger, seems to be the
+only species of weaving that is known among them.” In Dagwumba, however,
+they manufacture a coarse kind of blanket from sheep’s wool. There is a
+white grease, which has long been called Ashantee grease by the natives
+on the coast, who supposed it to be produced in that country. They use
+it daily to anoint their skins, which otherwise become coarse and
+unhealthy. The Ashantees purchase it from the interior, and make a great
+profit by it: it is a vegetable butter, decocted from a tree, called
+Timkeëä: it is doubtless the Shea butter of Mr. Park.[107] Mr. Lucas
+mentions, “small Turkey and plain Mesurata carpets,” among the articles
+exported from Fezzan to Kassina: a small carpet fetches 2 oz. of gold at
+Coomassie. The Ashantees procure most of their ivory from Kong, where
+they give 8 ackies, or 40_s._ in barter, for a very large tooth.
+
+“The preference of the Ashantees for the Dagwumba and Inta markets, for
+silk and cloth, results not merely from their having been so long
+accustomed to them, but because they admit of a barter trade. The
+Boossee or Gooroo nut, salt, (which is easily procured, and affords an
+extravagant profit,) and small quantities of the European commodities,
+rum, and iron,[108] yield them those articles of comfort and luxury,
+which they can only purchase with gold and ivory from the settlements on
+the coast. Gold they are all desirous of hoarding; even those less
+covetous than is generally their nature, that they may be prepared for
+the purchase of guns and powder to a large extent, on any sudden war,
+and thus ingratiate themselves with the king and the government. Were
+the Ashantees a commercial people, they might be the brokers between the
+interior and Europeans, or, purchasing supplies more adequate to the
+demands of their neighbours for European commodities, which would be
+bought with avidity, realize large properties. But they have no idea of
+buying more of the various articles than will supply themselves; and
+leave a small residue to barter for the cloth, silk, and tobacco in the
+Inta and Dagwumba markets. They are as little commercial as the Romans
+were in their infancy, and their government would repress rather than
+countenance the inclination, (believing no state can be aggrandized but
+by conquest,) lest their genius for war might be enervated by it, and
+lest, either from the merchants increasing to a body too formidable for
+their wishes to be resisted, or too artful from their experience to be
+detected, they might sacrifice the national honour and ambition to their
+avarice, and furnishing Inta, Dagwumba, or any of their more powerful
+neighbours (who have yielded to circumstances rather than force) with
+guns and powder (which are never allowed to be exported from
+Ashantee,[109]) break the spell of their conquests, and undermine their
+power. The chiefs are fed bountifully by the labours of their slaves,
+and sharing large sums of the revenue, (the fines their oppression has
+imposed on other governments,) with incalculable fees for corruption or
+interference, refine upon the splendor of equipage even to satiety, and
+still possess a large surplus of income daily accumulating. Were they to
+encourage commerce, pomp, the idol of which they are most jealous, would
+soon cease to be their prerogative, because it would be attainable by
+others; the traders growing wealthy, would vie with them; and for their
+own security, stimulated by reflections they have now too little at risk
+to originate, they would unite to repress the arbitrary power of the
+Aristocracy; and even if they did not, inevitably (as the chiefs
+conceive) divert the people’s genius for war.
+
+It will occur that even to furnish the necessities or luxuries of the
+Ashantees alone, in cloth, silk, &c. would, considering the extent of
+the kingdom, considerably augment the returns of our commerce in this
+part of the world; and therefore it would be well to wean them,
+gradually, from the markets of the interior, by inducing their
+cultivation of cotton, which grows abundantly, is of a superior quality,
+and which, offered in quantities, in addition to the ivory, would lessen
+the balance of trade now in our favor, and by enabling them, in some
+degree to purchase with produce instead of gold dust, remove the present
+comparative disadvantage in trading with Europeans entirely. This
+occurred to me, and I explained the view not only to the king, but to
+the more enterprising and reflecting natives: but they had no idea of a
+quantity, and immediately concluded cotton to be so desirable to us,
+that 40 or 50 lbs. would be received in barter for twenty times its
+value; and they required one tokoo and a half per lb. for it, (say one
+shilling,) even in gold, and on the spot. When I urged that they must
+clear the ground, form plantations, and superintend the labours of their
+slaves; they replied, that the Boossee or Gooroo nut grew spontaneously,
+and required no labour, that salt was brought to their frontier by
+poorer nations, and sold for little without the trouble of fetching it;
+and these articles, with the value, their prevention of all intercourse
+but their own with the water side nations, attached to a little rum and
+iron in the interior, furnished them with silks and cotton cloths at a
+much easier rate, pattern and quality.
+
+A serious disadvantage opposed to the English trade, is that the
+Ashantees will purchase no tobacco but the Portuguese, and that eagerly
+even at 2 oz. of gold the roll. Of this, (the Portuguese and Spanish
+slave ships regularly calling at Elmina,) the Dutch Governor-General is
+enabled to obtain frequent supplies, in exchange for canoes, two of
+which, though they cost him comparatively nothing, fetch 32 rolls of
+tobacco; and the General has sometimes received 80 oz. of gold a day
+from the Ashantees for tobacco only. If they cannot have this tobacco,
+they will content themselves with that grown in the interior, of which I
+have brought a sample. A preference for the Dutch has long been natural
+to the Ashantees, from an earlier though limited intercourse with them,
+and from the natural impression, that the English settling amongst their
+enemies, the Fantees, have encouraged and assisted their provocations
+and resistance. With this bias in his favor, though the Dutch market,
+destitute of supplies, had not been visited for many years, the talent
+of General Daendels, “callidum quicquid placuit,” would no doubt have
+again raised it to a level with the English, cæteris paribus; and his
+unlimited importation of powder and guns in the first place, with the
+still more valuable supplies of Portuguese tobacco he receives at
+present, as superior advantages, have, of course, possessed the Dutch
+market of superior inducements.
+
+It is to be lamented, the indifference of the Dutch and Danes to their
+settlements here, being evident from their neglect and reduction of
+them, that the British government did not take advantage of the
+disregard, and add them to their own. Elmina is a much finer position
+for head quarters than Cape Coast; the Dutch fort at Succondee, the best
+point for the Warsaw trade, and where we have but a house, is strong,
+admirably situated, and might be put in good condition for £1000. in
+addition to which, Axim, near the mouth of the Ancobra, would be the
+only fort to windward worth keeping; and the Danish head quarters,
+Christiansburg Castle at Accra, with their fort at Adda, (to secure the
+navigation of the Volta,) would have answered every purpose and view to
+leeward. One system could then have been acted upon towards the natives,
+the commerce, confined to the English, would have grown from wholesome
+regulations, which no other settlers could counteract by selfishness,
+jealousy, or by facilitating the illegitimate trade we would crush; and
+the benevolent views of the British government for the improvement and
+civilization of the natives, would not be defeated by those, who,
+holding their private interest superior to views in which their own
+government has evinced no interest, militate against them by fostering
+suspicions to bar our progress in the interior, and by indulging those
+habits and customs of the natives, which it must be our first step to
+correct and divert.
+
+In addition to the obstacles which the inconsistent and selfish conduct
+of the different European powers towards the natives presents to
+intercourse and civilization, the continuance of the slave trade under
+the Spanish flag, is one more serious: no one can imagine the stubborn
+impediment it was to our negotiations at Ashantee, where the native
+emissaries from these slave ships arrived not long after us. It not only
+injures the British commerce here, almost to annihilation, but, slaving
+being the natural trade of the natives, because it is the most indolent
+and the most lucrative, the opposition, which is insinuated and believed
+to proceed from the English alone, conveys a disagreeable impression of
+us to the interior, as inauspicious to our intercourse and progress, as
+the even partial continuance of such a trade is to legitimate commerce
+and civilization. One thousand slaves left Ashantee for two Spanish
+schooners or Americans under that flag, to our knowledge, during our
+residence there, doubtless the whole number was much greater; since our
+return it must have been very considerable, for the slave trade was
+never more brisk than it is at this moment under the cloak of the
+Spanish flag, and great risk has been incurred, in consequence, of
+offending our new friend and formidable neighbour the King of Ashantee,
+from the firm resistance of his strong intreaties to the Governor in
+Chief, to allow the return of a powerful mulatto slave trader to Cape
+Coast town, whence he had been expelled under the present government, as
+the most daring promoter of that commerce. It is a great pity, in the
+infancy of our intercourse with this great interior power, that there
+should have been occasion either for the request or refusal; which there
+would not have been had the slave trade been abolished, instead of
+crippled, at the expense, probably, of our own interests and views in
+the interior, and, which is worse, of the happiness and improvement of
+the natives. For it is certainly our duty, because it is the most
+acceptable and the only efficient acknowledgment we can make of the
+superior blessings and endowments by which we are so indulgently
+distinguished from these nations, to extend the influence and the
+participation, both by enterprise and policy, even if our commerce may
+not be benefitted; and if we gain no other recompense than the
+satisfaction of our own minds in the ameliorated condition of others,
+and the opportunity we have made to ourselves of exemplifying our own
+gratitude.[110] Whilst one slave ship is allowed to visit this coast,
+the great convenience and the great profits of the trade will recur, and
+be perpetuated amongst the Ashantees; they will linger in the hope of
+its entire renewal, and view the English invidiously, as the enemies to
+what they conceive to be their only natural commerce; this is another
+advantage to the Dutch, added to the inherent bias in their favour; and,
+from the reception and facilities which slave ships meet with at Elmina,
+our odium is aggravated instead of being participated. “Delenda est
+Carthago.”
+
+Let us suppose this irreconcilable obstacle to be annihilated, as no
+doubt it will be, and resume our reflections on a commercial intercourse
+with the interior. The people of Inta and Dagwumba, being commercial
+rather than warlike, the object, deliberately to be obtained, is an
+intercourse with them, which would in fact be an intercourse with the
+interior as far as Timbuctoo and Houssa northwards, and Cassina, if not
+to Bornoo, eastwards. The wealth, civilization, and commerce of
+Dagwumba, Mr. Lucas has before reported. Now, in effecting such an
+intercourse through the Ashantees, who are indisputably the greatest and
+the rising power of western Africa, and who, having acquired their
+present extent of influence and command in little more than a century,
+may be expected to aggrandize their empire considerably; in seeking this
+connection through them, there are these adverse circumstances, their
+policy, their jealousy, and their inaptitude to commerce. It has been
+suggested to the King, and urged with all the address of General
+Daendels, to open a path to the interior through his kingdom, and to
+receive a duty or tax on all the merchandize transported, which would
+afford him a certain and considerable addition to his revenue; but even
+this appeal to the avarice of the Ashantee government has had no
+influence. It would be dangerous as well as impolitic to offend the King
+of Ashantee at any time, with the present garrisons of the forts,
+madness; and though his influence through that of Dagwumba, which is at
+his command, would extend to the Niger, yet, I think our anxiety to
+explore so far should be suppressed for two or three years, until he is
+satisfied that commerce and not ambition is the impulse. But in the
+interim, it would be desirable gradually to approach Inta and Dagwumba,
+by establishing a settlement up the Volta, which has been shewn to run
+close to Sallagha, the grand emporium of Inta, and is navigable within
+four days of it; and possibly might be made so even nearer. The Danes
+would no doubt relinquish their claim to the navigation of the Volta,
+for it is a doubtful one. Dalzel writes, “the Danes claim the exclusive
+navigation of the Volta, which is disputed by the English, who have a
+settlement near it, called Loy.” The great prices the Ashantees get for
+rum, iron, &c. from the people of Inta and Dagwumba, and the avidity
+with which they purchase their small supplies, leave no doubt of the
+eagerness with which they would resort to our market; and the silks they
+obtain from Fezzan being dearer than our own, I should think we could
+induce a preference. Our Manchester cloth and cotton manufactures would
+be novel and useful to them, as those I saw wore vests and tunics. But
+here I must observe, that whenever our commerce with the interior may be
+established, the returns of it, in my opinion, will fall short of the
+general idea and expectation.
+
+The King of Ashantee viewing our settlements on the Volta, would, I have
+no doubt, be reconciled by our undertaking to sell neither guns or
+powder to any but his own people; a measure due to humanity as well as
+policy, for the preponderance of one great nation is auspicious to the
+civilization as well as the tranquillity of Africa; but for that, the
+slaughter of the human species would be incalculable; there would be a
+constant warfare between the numerous states, naturally querulous, and
+our passage to the interior would be impossible, not only on that
+account, but because there would be no powerful monarch to recommend or
+protect us. If the King of Ashantee were not satisfied with our new
+settlement confining the trade of guns and powder to himself, he would
+certainly be repressed by the alarming reflection, that it was at our
+discretion, (depending on his behaviour,) to supply Inta and Dagwumba
+with both, and thus to undermine his empire; for it is well known, and
+has been confessed, that the greater population of these countries,
+could they but procure fire-arms, would give them a superiority over the
+Ashantees, to which their greater civilization seems to entitle them.
+Our force and establishments should be respectable; not to arrogate or
+to intrude, but to protect the legitimate commercial views, sanctioned
+and invited by the voice of less arbitrary powers, and also to make
+their first impression of the English imposing and preservative.
+Residencies should be established at these courts, and young men of
+talent, temper, and discrimination be found to fill them, collecting the
+geographical and statistical desiderata, and forwarding them to be
+investigated and digested into one report at head quarters, before they
+were transmitted to England. One or two intelligent Moors might also be
+engaged to trade by different routes, and minute the directions,
+distances, and descriptions of the several places; thus paving the way,
+and lessening the difficulties of a future Mission to the Niger. If the
+working of gold mines were also an object, the vicinity of the Ancobra
+affords a rich field; and a small district might either be purchased of
+the natives, or they might receive a dividend of the proceeds, which
+would produce them much more than their present inadequate researches,
+suppressed by their more powerful neighbours the Warsaws.
+
+The benevolent and politic views of the British Government, would thus,
+by making use of what we have or might easily get, be more probably, if
+not more speedily realized, than by the perilous, desultory, and limited
+enterprises of two or three individuals.
+
+
+[Footnote 105: Since my return to England I have seen some silk brought
+from Aleppo, and manufactured there, precisely resembling these, which
+were frequently enriched by gold threads interwoven.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Sterculia acuminata _Palis de Beauvais Flore d’Oware_, 1.
+_p._ 41, _tab._ 24.]
+
+[Footnote 107: See Sketch of Gaboon.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Though iron is manufactured in Dagwumba, that from Europe
+is preferred for finer purposes. The former is an imperfect steel
+containing a mechanical mixture of unreduced ore.]
+
+[Footnote 109: “Fire arms are unknown to such of the nations on the
+south of the Niger as the Shereef has visited; and the reason which he
+assigns for it is, that the kings in the neighbourhood of the coast,
+persuaded that if these powerful instruments of war should reach the
+possession of the populous inland states, their own independence would
+be lost, have strictly prohibited, and by the wisdom of their measures
+have effectually prevented this dangerous merchandize from passing
+beyond the limits of their dominions.” Lucas.]
+
+[Footnote 110: The dissuasion from barbarities of which millions are now
+the victims, as the descriptions of the customs of Ashantee and the
+interior have shewn, and the interests of science, render this duty more
+imperious. It has been well observed, “apologies for our present
+ignorance of every thing that regards geography, &c. might be pleaded by
+mercantile speculators, but can have little weight with those who have
+the interests of science at heart, or the national honour and fame,
+which are intimately connected with those interests. It was not with a
+view to any immediate commercial advantages, that this liberal
+encouragement for the discovery of the north-west passage was held out,
+but with the same expanded objects that sent Cook in search of a
+southern continent.”
+
+Voltaire’s remark on India is now only applicable to Africa, “Plusieurs
+y ont fait des fortunes immenses, peu se sont appliqués à connoître ce
+pays.” I would even recommend indulging the wish of the King of Dahomey
+to renew and perpetuate his connection with the English, not indeed by
+resuming the fort, that would be a useless expense, as there is no trade
+but in ivory, but by establishing a Residency at his capital, the most
+frugal method of collecting the various accounts of the interior of that
+neighbourhood for geographical investigators, besides supplying the
+naturalist. Geographical discoveries in Africa have long been ardently
+emulated between England and France, and they have stimulated a generous
+rivalry of investigation between the men of science of both countries.
+An Englishman first penetrating to the Niger, and determining its course
+at the moment a learned investigator of the other kingdom had concluded
+it to be a contrary one, was one of those rational and illustrious
+triumphs which adorn the historical pages of a nation much more than
+those of war; for the gratification and the benefit is shared by both,
+and such successes cease to be invidious when the interests of science
+are thus mutually at heart. The following immortal tribute from a
+classic of a rival nation, should stimulate us to challenge as
+illustrious a record of intellectual research,
+
+
+  · · · · “monumentum ære perennius,
+
+  Regalique situ pyramidum altius;”
+
+
+by a correspondent pursuit of intelligence in Africa.
+
+“Un Anglais, détruit tout ce vain amas d’erreurs dont sont remplies nos
+histoires des Indes, et confirme ce que le petit nombre d’hommes
+instruits en a pensé.” Voltaire.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                              _Language._
+
+
+The hypothesis I have met with, I think in Parsons’s Remains of Japhet,
+that the confusion of languages at Babel was a visitation on the family
+of Ham only, which spread itself over Africa, is certainly supported
+(considering the radical affinities which have been traced between the
+Arabic the Russ and the Greek, the Persian and the German, the Qquichua,
+or language of the Incas, and the Sanscrit, and many others[111]) by the
+variety of languages in Africa which cannot be assimilated in the least
+degree to each other, and which would, I think, resist the laborious
+ingenuity of the philologist.
+
+I have heard about half a dozen words in the Fantee, which might be said
+to be not unlike the same nouns in the Welsh language; and this is the
+only affinity which has been imagined. Two words only in the Accra
+language have struck me as assimilating to those of any other, the
+conjunction “_kay_” (_and_), which with a broader sound would answer the
+corresponding Greek conjunction και; and _fai_ (_to do_,) pronounced as
+the perfect participle of the same verb in French, and which is spelled
+_fai_ in the old songs of Richard the first, and the troubadour Faydit.
+The Fantee word _umpa_ (_true, indeed_,) may be imagined to resemble the
+Greek εμπας, which has the same meaning; but it is a solitary instance.
+
+From Apollonia or Amănăheä to the Volta, about 300 miles, six languages
+are spoken: the Amanaheä, Ahanta, Fantee, Affoottoo, Accra, and the
+Adampë. The numerals of which will appear, collaterally with others
+hitherto unknown, at the end of this chapter.
+
+The Ashantee, in comparison with the Fantee, Warsaw, &c. &c. from its
+refinement of idiom, oratory being so much more cultivated, may be
+considered as the Attic amongst the dialects of the Greek, but it owes
+its superior euphony, striking to any ear, to the characteristics of the
+Ionic, an abundance of vowel sounds, and a rejection of aspirates:
+
+          _Fantee._     _Ashantee._
+
+  Key      Sāfie         Saphwooa.
+
+  Lock     Karradacoo    Karradoo.
+
+  Night    Adayfwa       Adagio.
+
+  Day      Aweeabil      Aweeabillee.
+
+  Gun      Etoorh        Oteuh.
+
+Vocabularies of these languages would not be interesting to the public,
+especially as no affinity can be traced; and I know not how to acquit
+myself of every thing like indifference to the curiosity at home,
+(without the dulness of the subject proving more irksome than a
+disappointment,) unless I endeavour to give an idea of the philosophy of
+the languages,[112] and submit their progress, collaterally with that of
+the arts and manners. The genius of the Accra language differing the
+most essentially from that of the Ashantee or Fantee, examples from both
+will be instanced for illustration. I have principally consulted two
+gentlemen, natives of the country, but educated in Europe: the one
+resident between forty and fifty years; the other, who has a respectable
+knowledge of the grammar of the English and French languages, returned
+from England about ten years back, and both are as fluent as the Negroes
+in the Fantee and Accra, the latter being their vernacular tongue.
+
+Impressed with the ingenious hypothesis of the learned author of the
+Diversions of Purley, my first care has been to investigate the
+particles of the Fantee and Accra, considering the languages of
+uncivilised people, to be least advanced or removed from the primeval
+simplicity, to which Mr. Horne Tooke’s system refers. I found, however,
+both the Accra and Fantee languages more complete than I expected in
+conjunctions, and seldom using verbs instead of them, which I presumed
+they might do. Yet I have no doubt, their half dozen of conjunctions, if
+examined etymologically by a person thoroughly conversant in the
+languages, might be traced, and shewn to be the contracted imperatives
+of the most recurrent verbs, as Mr. Tooke has proved those of our own
+language to be. Neither the Accra or Fantee have conjunctions answering
+to each of ours; the distinction between many is neither comprehensible
+or necessary to them. I will submit their conjunctions, with those
+investigated in the first volume of the Diversions of Purley.
+
+  _Fantee._                        _Accra._
+
+  Onee           and               Kay
+
+              {  if
+  Sey         {                    Kedgee
+              {  unless
+
+              {  still
+  Emphee      {                    Shee
+              {  but
+
+              {  because           Nooyĕwon
+  Interah     {
+              {  since             Nunnë
+
+              {  notwithstanding
+  Namoo       {                    Nemoolay
+              {  though
+
+              {  otherwise
+  Anna        {                    Noollay
+              {  or
+
+There are no adverbs in either language. There are but two in our own
+which may not be expressed by a verb or an adnoun, _still_ and _since_;
+and these they express by the conjunctions _but_ and _because_. “I
+intreated, but (still) he would not,” “because (since) it is so,” as the
+Latins frequently used prepositions for the Greek adverbs. Indeed
+_since_ is expressible by a verb, being derived according to Mr. Tooke
+from the Saxon _sithan_, seeing that. They express the adverb _much_ by
+the adjective _many_; _ago_ by a verb, “_it passes_ ten years;” _almost_
+by the verb _it wants_, “_it wants_ to rain;” and _when_ by a noun,
+“_the time_ I was there,” coincident with Jones’s derivation of
+ὁτε.[113] _Nooyĕwon_, (_because_) in Accra, is literally, “_for the sake
+of_.” _Intērah_, the corresponding word in Fantee, “on the head of,”
+(_tirree_ is head) thus, they would say, “I do this on your head,” or
+because you told me. Lest, which is considered by Mr. Horne Tooke to be
+the past participle of the Saxon verb leyan, to dismiss, is not to be
+found either in the Accra or Fantee: in the former they would say,
+“_Menkaw hauh ebbēbărădi_,” “do not go there, you fall down;” and in the
+latter, “_Kaiheah djai nee oheäbwayshee_,” “do not go there, and (or
+for) you fall down.” The use of the noun for the adverb is frequent in
+Demosthenes, (“εϛι δικαιος εχειν,” “he justly deserves”) and can only be
+accounted for in a prose writer, who does not need poetical licenses, as
+an archaism, disused generally, through invention or refinement. The
+term adverb is not a just indication of the origin of that part of
+speech, for, although they are derived from verbs as well as nouns, yet,
+in our own language, as well as in the Greek, following Mr. Horne Tooke,
+the greater number are derived from nouns: and those (of which there are
+some in the Greek) which may be indifferently derived from a noun, or a
+verb, may be referred to the former; because, many of the adnouns from
+which adverbs are derived in the Greek, have been pointed out as
+disused; and therefore the verbs from which adverbs are exclusively
+derived, are likely to be derived themselves from obsolete adnouns,
+which cannot be recalled; for it has been philosophically advanced, that
+originally there could have been but one sort of words, that is, nouns,
+or the names of the objects of our sensations and ideas.[114]
+
+I consider the absence of adverbs, participles, and prepositions,
+certainly the least indispensible parts of speech, and favouring
+copiousness rather than energy, to be a proof of the almost genuine, or
+primeval simplicity of the Accra and Fantee languages, which have not
+advanced or altered, even in the small degree of their arts or manners;
+for these have only been ameliorated by commercial intercourse with
+strangers, who not understanding their language could not have suggested
+improvements, and from whose languages, they being equally
+unintelligible, amendments could not have been copied. We find
+Portuguese nouns, and nouns only, adopted in the Fantee; and that, of
+necessity, as Saxon nouns were adopted in the Welsh or Celtic, because
+they had no words to designate novelties they had never before seen or
+heard of; and, therefore, they called them as those did who introduced
+them. These primitive languages being, nevertheless, thoroughly adequate
+to oratory as well as the commoner purposes of speech, is a strong proof
+that language was revealed, as Johnson, Blair, Warburton, and others
+have maintained, and that it was not the fruit of human invention or
+industry, as Lucretius, Horace, and most of the antients imagined.
+
+Neither the Accra or Fantee distinguish genders, the name of the person,
+or the context, is the only explication; they have not even a third
+person feminine, but one pronoun serves for _he, she, it_.
+
+The Accra has a definite and indefinite article, but both are affixed to
+the noun, as “_minna nooleh_,” I saw the man; “_minna nookoo_,” I saw a
+man. The indefinite article “_koo_” is the contraction of numeral one,
+“_ekoo_,” so that I saw a man, is literally “I saw man one.” _An_ is
+simply another form of the numeral one, still used in North Britain
+under the form ane; and in the French, the numeral and the article
+corresponding to one, are the same. The Fantee, like the Greek, has no
+indefinite article, or according to Mr. Harris’s expression, on which
+Mr. Horne Tooke is so pleasant, “supplies it by a negation of the
+definite,” which is “_noo_,” affixed, as “_mehoon nimpanoo_,” I saw the
+man.[115]
+
+In the Accra, the plural is formed by inflection, epenthesis, paragoge,
+and apocope: these changes are almost peculiar in every noun; the more
+frequent inflections are, ai, ay, and ee.
+
+            _Singular._    _Plural._
+
+  A woman     yeo           yeay.
+
+  A box       adikka        adikkai.
+
+  A stone     teh           tai.
+
+  Ground      shepong       shepongee.
+
+  A hyæna     krang         krangee.
+
+  A father    tchay         tchaymë.
+
+  A liar      amallalo      amallaloi.
+
+  A gun       toon          tween.
+
+  A vessel    lelen         ledgenë.
+
+  A man       noon          nhal.
+
+  A house     tchoon        tchuë.
+
+In the Fantee the plural number is distinguished by the prefix _en_,
+though generally, if they can, (in a glance whilst speaking) discover
+the number of objects, they use a numeral with the noun singular; or, if
+they cannot be so precise in the instant, they substitute _many_ to mark
+an indefinite number. The Chinese also, are said to drop their plural
+adjunct “_min_,” when there is another word of plurality attached to the
+noun.
+
+Neither language has prepositions, and of course peraphrasis is
+generally resorted to: conjunctions are sometimes substituted, as _and_
+for _with_; occasionally verbs, as “the King _to give_ his captain,” for
+_to his captain_; and, sometimes, they are presumed from the tone or the
+context. Mr. Horne Tooke, who values prepositions very much, has traced
+all but five, of our own language, to nouns and verbs; and of these
+five, three have since been traced to nouns and a numeral; so that _out_
+and _off_, only, are unaccounted for. Jones, in his Greek Grammar,
+writes, “the roots of prepositions are nouns and verbs,” and,
+accordingly, he derives απο from the Hebrew, _ab_, a stem, περι from the
+Arabic _pera_, eminence, υπερ from the Hebrew _aber_, sky, or the
+Persian _ober_, a cloud: the inseparable prepositions had been traced to
+nouns and verbs long before.
+
+Degrees of comparison are not expressed by adjectives or adverbs, in
+either language: but, for he is richer than he, the Accras would say,
+“_eh phay leh ne_;” the Fantees, “_aw tchen adee_,” he _passes him_ (in)
+things: neither language has an adjective answering to rich or wealthy,
+but “_ne_,” and “_adee_,” in both, correspond exactly in meaning and use
+with the _res_ of the Latins: the superlative would be expressed by “_he
+passes all_.” The antient idiom of comparison, antecedent to the general
+use of inflections or adverbs, was probably similar, judging from the
+following, and many other sentences in the Greek, “Παῥ ἑαυτὸν μηδένα
+ἐπιτὴδειον ἡγεῖτο, he thought no body fitter than himself;” “πλείονος
+δοξης παρὰ Μωσῆν ἠξίωται, Heb. xiii. he was counted of more glory, or
+more glorious than Moses.” Here παρα, so frequently expressing
+comparison, being derived from the verb περαω, _to pass_, is identical
+with the Accra and Fantee expression.
+
+I observed before that the Accra and Fantee have no adjective answering
+to rich, they are also deficient in many others, which they supply by a
+second substantive in the same manner. This idiom is found in the Greek,
+“Το σωμα της ταπεινωσεως ἠμων, our humiliated body, the body of our
+humiliation; Αιρεσεις απωλειας. destructive heresies, &c. &c.” and it
+is said to be both a Hebrew and Celtic idiom; primeval languages, and
+the latter, I presume, as rude as those we are investigating.
+
+In the Accra, the personal pronouns are
+
+  I             me
+
+  thou          boh
+
+  he, she, it   lheh
+
+  we            whah
+
+  you           nnheay
+
+  they          amăy
+
+_Me_ is generally reduplicate before verbs, as “_me me yay_” I eat.
+_Boh_ before verbs generally suffers aphæresis as “_oh yay_,” thou
+eatest, but sometimes not, as “_boh fai_,” thou doest: this is also the
+case with _lheh_ as “_heh yay, lheh fai_.” _Me_ is added, as _met_ in
+Latin, to make these pronouns compound. In Fantee the personal pronouns
+are
+
+  I             me
+
+  thou          awaw
+
+  he, she, it   narra
+
+  we            yarra
+
+  you           awoo
+
+  they          warra;
+
+the latter is used as a possessive pronoun also; _woodde_ is affixed to
+make them compound; they are irregularly contracted before verbs.
+Considering these barbarous languages of primitive simplicity, and
+recollecting the original and philosophical deduction of pronouns from
+verbs, by the Greek professor of Glasgow, as εγω or εγων (which is the
+more ancient) from λεγων, ipse from επω, I particularly enquired for
+verbs resembling their pronouns; but, after a long and diligent
+recollection, neither of my authorities could furnish me with any to the
+point. It is curious to observe, that the _me_ represents the pronoun I,
+in both these rude languages,[116] as it does, though not in the
+nominative case, in most other primitive languages, and in the modern
+ones derived from them: it would seem to be the natural and involuntary
+expression for that pronoun.
+
+There is only an active voice in the Accra or Fantee; the passive is
+expressed by a circumlocution, as he loves, or they love me, for I am
+loved, &c.[117] It appears erroneous to consider the infinitive mood as
+the root of the verb, when it has a separable or distinguishing
+termination, and _mong_ is as distinctly the verbalizing adjunct in the
+Accra language, as _ere_ or _are_ in the Latin, ειν in Greek, or an in
+the Anglo-Saxon. If we consider the imperative as the divested
+fundamental form of the verb, it is still difficult in these languages
+to get at the root, for the use of the infinitive for the imperative,
+occasional in the Greek, is, in the Accra, so general, that for some
+time I thought it unexceptionable, and that it had not the two moods.
+
+The Accra has the neuter verb _to be_ in the present, perfect, and
+future tenses, but in the perfect, it is irregular.
+
+  I am   I have been   I shall be
+
+  meyeh      metay       mahyeh
+
+The Fantee only has it in the present, “_oh yea_, he is.” It is
+remarkable that even the linguists of our forts, who speak English
+fluently, never understand or use our neuter verb _to be_, but
+substitute _live_ for it, and that, whether they speak of animate or
+inanimate things; a servant would say, “your keys live in your pocket.”
+
+The imperative mood has a present tense complete in each language.
+
+They express the potential mood by adding auxiliary verbs, such as our
+can, may, &c., have been shewn to be derived from.
+
+The termination of the infinitive in the Accra is generally _mong_,
+which is rejected in conjugating. In the Fantee it is not distinguished
+from the first person present, or root. The use of the infinitive mood,
+even in Accra, is very circumscribed, for it is not found even in the
+most natural case when two verbs come together, as I want to eat, for
+which they say, “_metōn meyay_,” I want I eat. The infinitive is
+generally used for the imperative in the Accra, but, otherwise, it only
+occurs in an idiom almost peculiar to that language, for instance, for
+are you walking now, they say,
+
+  “_Neo_mong oh _neo_ neh,”
+
+  “To walk are you walking now.”
+
+For I am straightening it,
+
+  “_Jadjumong_ me _jadjio_ leh.”
+
+  “To straighten I am straightening it.”
+
+Verbs are invariably used thus, interrogatively, and, generally, in
+replies. I said almost peculiar, because I think this pleonasm is
+identified in the Greek idiom, “Ουχι μενον σοι εμενε. Remaining, did it
+not remain to thee.”
+
+The Accra has the present, imperfect, perfect, and future tenses: the
+imperfect and future being distinguished by the prefixes _bleh_ and
+_ah_, the one before, the other after the pronoun.
+
+  “me yāyne.   bleh me yayne.   me yăy.    m’ahye.”
+
+  I eat it.   I was eating it.  I eat.   I will eat.
+
+But the imperfect tense is never used, unless a sentence precedes it, as
+
+  “Bennay heh bă bleh me yay.”
+
+  “When he came I was eating.”
+
+Otherwise, they use the perfect for the imperfect, never replying to a
+question even, in the latter. The perfect is only distinguished from the
+present by being pronounced short. These explicative particles, _bleh_
+and _ah_, would, no doubt, be found to be remnants of verbs of
+appropriate signification, as the _ai_ of the French future is derived
+from _avoir_, were any philologist sufficiently acquainted with the
+languages to investigate them. _Ne_, signifying it or thing, is adjoined
+to many verbs, frequently in the present tense only, like the
+explicative particle _en_ conjugated with “_aller_.”
+
+The Fantee has a present, perfect, and pluperfect: as “me dedee,” I eat,
+“me adee,” I have eaten, “me waya dedee,” I had eat. It has no future,
+yet the time is marked precisely, by adding _soon_, _to-morrow_, &c. to
+the present.
+
+Neither language has participles; for, I see him coming, the Accras
+would say, according to their idiom,
+
+  “Minnā eh ba’lheh.”
+
+  “I see his coming.”
+
+_Ba_ being a noun, with the definite article _lheh_ affixed. The Fantees
+would say,
+
+  “Mehoon deh orraba.”
+
+  “I see that he comes.”
+
+Many verbs in the Accra language are conjugated like reflectives, though
+they are not so in their nature, as
+
+  “Me  nakoo  me  fai  lheh
+
+   I    not   I   did   it, for I did not do it.
+
+In the Accra, _ko_, the contraction of _nakoo_, (not,) is added to verbs
+as a negative, as “_meyayko_,” I did not eat; yet, in some instances,
+they have distinct verbs to express the negative of the action, as
+“_mahttay_,” I will go, “_meyang_,” I will not go.
+
+The Fantee prefixes _neën_, not, as “_me dedee_,” I eat, “_me neën
+dedee_,” I do not eat; and they have also, apparently, distinct negative
+verbs, as “_me becko_,” I go, “_me’nkoko_,” I do not go.
+
+The Accra resembles the Greek in the nice distinctions of some of its
+verbs and nouns.
+
+  Gnăghmong         To salute in the morning.
+
+  Cotaghmong        To roll up.
+
+  Balbaghtoomong    To draw towards
+
+  Tehtemong         To gather up
+
+  Kakow             The tooth ache (_nanyong_ a tooth)
+
+  Kodjomong         To talk a palaver
+
+  Song              To work as a smith  }
+                                        } neechoomong to work
+  Ghnāmong                    mechanic  }
+
+  Ninnamong         To separate weeds from earth
+
+The Accra and Fantee interjections are generally parts of sentences, as,
+Mr. Horne Tooke has shewn most of our own to be: “_minnannako_,” what do
+I see now, “_me ä whoo!_” I die, “_màdja!_” oh my father, equally
+responsive to grief, joy, or surprise; and used as involuntarily, and as
+frequently as the two syllables _boh_, _hah_, which answer to our _oh_,
+and _ah_, and which, of course, cannot be called words. An Ashantee
+striking his foot against a stone, or any thing in his way, exclaims
+“the thing is mad.”
+
+I was surprised to find little, or no inversion in the Accra or Fantee
+prose[118]; the substantive precedes the adjective, but there is
+scarcely any other trace of it: yet, it is one of their poetical
+licenses, as may be instanced in the following line of a Fantee song;
+
+          “Abirrikirri croom ogah odum.”
+
+          Foreign town fire put in,
+
+for “the foreign town is set on fire.” In addition to this inversion, so
+many peculiar additives, (generally vowels,) and inflexions are allowed,
+as well as the figures Synæresis, Diæresis, Metathesis, and Anastrophe,
+in their poetry, and in their poetry only, (making it unintelligible
+even to those who can converse fluently with them) that both languages
+may be said to have a Prosody. From the following song, I imagined the
+Fantees (for the Accra’s are said to possess none but fetish hymns in
+their own language) to have some idea of rhyme, considering the
+inversion of the first line as forced, and expressly accommodated to the
+metre,
+
+  Abirrikirri croom ogah odum,
+
+  Ocoontinkiï bonoo fum,
+
+  Cooroompun,
+
+  Coom agwun,
+
+but I have not met with any other instance.
+
+The Ashantees generally use much and vehement gesture, and speak in
+recitative: their action is exuberant, but graceful; and from the
+infancy of the language,[119] nouns and verbs are constantly repeated,
+for force, and distinction, as _one one_, for, _one by one_, or, _each_;
+_one tokoo one tokoo_, for, _one tokoo a-piece_. They frequently are
+obliged to vary the tone, in pronouncing a word which has more than one
+meaning, as the Chinese do. They have no expression short of you are a
+liar, and the king was surprised, when I told him we made a great
+difference between a mistake and a lie; he said the truth was not spoken
+in either case, and, therefore, it was the same thing; they did not
+consider the motive but only the fact.
+
+Like the American languages, those of this part of Africa, are full of
+figures, hyperbolical and picturesque.[120] One of the kings of the
+interior, whose territories the Ashantees had long talked of invading,
+sent forty pots of palm oil to Coomassie, with the message, that, “he
+feared they could not find their way, so he sent the oil to light them.”
+The Accras instead of good night, say “_wooäu d’tcherrimong_,” sleep
+till the lighting of the world: one of their imprecations against their
+enemies, is, “may their hiding place be our flute,” that is, “our
+plaything:” when they speak of a man imposing on them, they say, “he
+turned the backs of our heads into our mouths.” Having occasion, whilst
+at Coomassie, to protest against the conduct of an individual, the king
+replied, through Adoosee, “The horse comes from the bush, and is a fool,
+but the man who rides him knows sense, and by and by makes him do what
+he wishes; you, by yourself, made the horse, who was a fool, do better
+the other day, therefore, three of you ought to teach a man, who is not
+born a fool, and does not come from the bush, to do what you know to be
+right by and by, though I see he does wrong now.” Other instances will
+appear in their songs.
+
+I shall transfer the imperfect Vocabularies which I formed, and the
+incidental observations, to the Appendix; as they may not be indulged
+with so much attention by the generality of readers, as the
+investigation of the structure.
+
+
+[Footnote 111: The eastern and western branch of this polar race, the
+Eskimoes and the Tschougazes, notwithstanding the enormous distance of
+800 leagues which separates them, are united by the most intimate
+analogy of languages. This analogy extends, as has been recently proved
+in the most evident manner, even to the inhabitants of the north-east of
+Asia; for the idiom of the Tschouktshes at the mouth of the Anadin has
+the same roots, as the language of the Eskimoes who inhabit the coast of
+America opposite to Europe. The Tschouktsches are the Eskimoes of Asia.
+Humbolt, P. N. v. 3, p. 291.]
+
+[Footnote 112: “I am aware that languages are much more strongly
+characterised by their structure and grammatical forms, than by the
+analogy of their sounds and of their roots; and that their analogy of
+sounds is sometimes so disfigured in the different dialects of the same
+tongue, as not to be distinguishable; for the tribes into which a nation
+is divided, often designate the same objects by words altogether
+heterogeneous. Hence it follows, that we are easily mistaken, if,
+neglecting the study of the inflexions, and consulting only the roots,
+for instance the words which designate the moon, sky, water, and earth,
+we decide on the absolute difference of two idioms from the simple want
+of resemblance in sounds.” Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. iii. p.
+251.
+
+I am gratified to find, since my return to England, and consequent
+perusal of the Congo publication, that my investigations of these
+languages have happened to be consonant with the instructions of Mr.
+Marsden in his letter to Captain Tuckey, as appears from the following
+extract. “Where a longer residence admits of freer intercourse, and a
+means of acquiring a more perfect knowledge of the language, it will be
+desirable, besides attempting to fill up the larger vocabulary, that
+pains should be taken to examine its grammatical structure, and to
+ascertain, for instance, how the nominative and subjunctive words in a
+sentence are placed with respect to the verb; how the adjective with
+regard to the substantive; how plurals and degrees of comparison are
+formed; whether there is any kind of inflexion or variation of syllables
+of the same word, according to its position in the sentence and
+connection with other words; whether the pronouns personal vary
+according to the rank or sex of the person addressing or person
+addressed; and whether they are incorporated with the verb; and to
+observe any other peculiarities of idiom, that the language may present;
+noting the degree of softness, harshness, indistinctness, intonation,
+guttural sounds, and the prevalence or deficiency of any particular
+letters of the alphabet, as we should term them, such as R and F. The
+extent of country over which a language is understood to prevail should
+also be a subject of investigation; and, by what others it is bounded on
+every side. Also, whether there may not be a correct language of
+communication between nations, whose proper languages are distinct.” I
+think the very frequent use of _q_ is one distinguishing character of
+African languages: the _r_ and _f_ are very frequent, the latter
+especially; the former as a liquid is frequently substituted for _l_, as
+I have illustrated in the Chapter on Geography. Their pronunciation of
+_z_ approximates to that of the _aspro z_ of the Italians. I hope to
+have leisure and opportunity hereafter for paying this subject more
+attention. I have not yet had time to make sufficient progress in German
+to read Vater’s Mithridatis, which will no doubt assist my
+observations.]
+
+[Footnote 113: “From the Hebrew עתה, ote, _time_, has flowed ὁτε,
+_when_; which τ, π, οπ, being prefixed, becomes τοτε, ποτε, ὁποτε.”]
+
+[Footnote 114: “Every verb consists of a pronoun, expressing an agent,
+and of a noun, or the substitute of a noun, expressing an object. Thus,
+οινος and εγω joined and abbreviated is οινοω; and this term would be
+sufficient to express _I drink wine_, though originally it meant only
+_wine I_; association supplying to the speaker and the person addressed
+the intermediate notion _of drinking_.” Jones.]
+
+[Footnote 115: The word _caboceer_ (_chief_,) which I have used in the
+correspondence, history, and other parts of this work, as the only title
+familiar to Europeans, (being always substituted, even by native
+interpreters for the vernacular,) was of course introduced by the
+Portuguese, and consequently unknown in the interior. It is applied to a
+chief who has the charge or government of a town, (_croom_.) Such
+however are indiscriminately called _ōhen_ or _king_, in Fantee.
+Throughout Ashantee the monarch only is called _ōhennie_ or _king_, and
+the chiefs who have the care or government of the towns of his
+dominions, _sāf ĕhen_. _Sāfie_ or _saphwooa_, means _key_, and the last
+syllable of the compound, _hen_, is evidently an abbreviation of
+_ōhennie_. _Safie_, a _charm_, is without doubt identical in a
+figurative sense with _sāfee_, _key_; and should, on consideration, be
+spelt as such, and not _saphie_ as I have generally written it hitherto.
+A Moor is called _Crambo_ by the Negroes of the interior, which bears
+the same interpretation as _Pongheme_, a Spaniard, in the Tamanack, i.e.
+_a man clothed_.]
+
+[Footnote 116: It is also found in the Empoönga, and other African
+languages.]
+
+[Footnote 117: “The distinction of active and passive is not essential
+to verbs. In the infancy of language, it was in all probability not
+known; in Hebrew, the difference but imperfectly exists, and in the
+early periods of it, possibly did not exist at all. In Arabic, the only
+distinction which obtains, arises from the vowel points, a late
+invention compared with the antiquity of that language. And in our own
+tongue the names of active and passive would have remained unknown, if
+they had not been learnt in Latin.” Jones.]
+
+[Footnote 118: “He (the savage) would not express himself according to
+our English order of construction, Give me fruit, but according to the
+Latin order, Fruit give me, Fructum da mihi, for this plain reason, that
+his attention was wholly directed towards fruit, the desired object.
+This was the exciting idea; the object which moved him to speak, and of
+course would be the first named. Such an arrangement is precisely
+putting into words the gesture which nature taught the savage to make,
+before he was acquainted with words; and therefore it may be depended
+upon as certain, that he would fall most readily into this arrangement.
+· · · · · · We might therefore conclude, à priori, that this would be
+the order in which things were most commonly arranged at the beginning
+of language, and accordingly we find, in fact, that in this order words
+are arranged in most of the antient tongues; as in the Greek and the
+Latin; and it is also said, in the Russian, the Sclavonic, the Gaelic,
+and several of the American tongues.” Blair.
+
+The arrangement of words in the Chayma is such as is found in every
+language of both continents, which has preserved a certain air of youth.
+The object is placed before the verb, the verb before the personal
+pronoun. The object on which the attention should be principally fixed,
+precedes all the modifications of that object.
+
+The American would say; “liberty complete love we;” instead of we love
+complete liberty; “Thee with happy am I”—instead of I am happy with
+thee. Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, vol. 3, p. 261.]
+
+[Footnote 119: “In the infancy of language, while words were yet scanty,
+the most natural way, whereby a writer or speaker might give an
+additional force to his discourse, was to _repeat_ such terms as he
+wished to render _emphatic_. The more ancient any language is, the more
+numerous appear the traces of such repetitions; and next to the Hebrew,
+they form a remarkable feature in the Greek tongue. This μαω μαω, I
+desire desire, blended into one word, become μιμαω, and mean, I greatly
+desire. βαω βαω, I walk walk, βιβαω, I stride, &c. &c. &c. See Jones.]
+
+[Footnote 120: “The messenger concluded this insulting notification by
+presenting the king with a pair of iron sandals, at the same time
+adding, that until such time as Daisy had worn out these sandals in his
+flight, he should never be secure from the arrows of Bambarra.” Park’s
+1st Mission.]
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                                _Music._
+
+
+The wild music of these people is scarcely to be brought within the
+regular rules of harmony,[121] yet their airs have a sweetness and
+animation beyond any barbarous compositions I ever heard. Few of their
+instruments possess much power, but the combination of several
+frequently produces a surprising effect. The flute is made of a long
+hollow reed, and has not more than three holes; the tone is low at all
+times, and when they play in concert they graduate them with such nicety
+as to produce the common chords. Several instances of thirds occur,
+especially in one of the annexed airs, played as a funeral dirge; nor is
+this extraordinary considering it is the most natural interval; the
+addition of fifths, at the same time, is rare. The natives declare they
+can converse by means of their flutes, and an old resident at Accra has
+assured me he has heard these dialogues, and that every sentence was
+explained to him.
+
+On the Sanko (see Drawing No. 5, and Specimen in the Museum) they
+display the variety of their musical talents, and the Ashantees are
+allowed to surpass all others. It consists of a narrow box, the open top
+of which is covered with alligator, or antelope skin; a bridge is raised
+on this, over which eight strings are conducted to the end of a long
+stick, fastened to the fore part of the box, and thickly notched, and
+they raise or depress the strings into these notches as occasion
+requires. The upper string assimilates with the tenor C of the piano,
+and the lower with the octave above: sometimes they are tuned in
+Diatonic succession, but too frequently the intermediate strings are
+drawn up at random, producing flats and sharps in every Chromatic
+variety, though they are not skilful enough to take advantage of it. I
+frequently urged this by trying to convince them they were not playing
+the same tune I had heard the day before, but the answer was invariably,
+“I pull the same string, it must be the same tune.” The strings are made
+from the runners of a tree called Enta, abounding in the forests. All
+airs on this instrument are played very quick, and it is barely possible
+to make even an experienced player lessen the time, which quick as it
+is, is kept in a surprising manner, especially as every tune is loaded
+with ornament. They have a method of stopping the strings with the
+finger, so as to produce a very soft and pleasing effect, like the Meyer
+touch of the harp.
+
+The horns form their loudest sounds, and are made of elephant’s tusks,
+they are generally very large, and, being graduated like the flutes,
+their flourishes have a martial and grand effect. It has been mentioned
+in the Military Customs of the Ashantees, that peculiar sentences are
+immediately recognised by the soldiers, and people, in the distinct
+flourishes of the horns of the various chiefs: the words of some of
+these sentences are almost expressible by the notes of the horns; the
+following, uttered by the horns of a captain named Gettoä, occurs to me
+as an instance
+
+  “O Saï tĭntĭntoo, ma yūāyĭä pa pa.”
+
+   O Saï great king! I laud thee every where, or exceedingly.
+
+The Bentwa (see Drawing No. 6.) is a stick bent in the form of a bow,
+and across it, is fastened a very thin piece of split cane, which is
+held between the lips at one end, and struck with a small stick; whilst
+at the other it is occasionally stopped, or rather buffed, by a thick
+one; on this they play only lively airs, and it owes its various sounds
+to the lips.
+
+The Mosees, Mallowas, Bournous, and natives from the more remote parts
+of the interior, play on a rude violin: the body is a calabash, the top
+is covered with deer skin, and two large holes are cut in it for the
+sound to escape; the strings, or rather string, is composed of cow’s
+hair, and broad like that of the bow with which they play, which
+resembles the bow of a violin. Their grimace equals that of an Italian
+Buffo: they generally accompany themselves with the voice, and increase
+the humour by a strong nasal sound.
+
+The Oompoochwa is a box, one end of which is left open; two flat bridges
+are fastened across the top, and five pieces of thin curved stick,
+scraped very smooth, are attached to them, and (their ends being
+raised,) are struck with some force by the thumb. I can compare it to
+nothing but the Staccado nearly deprived of its tone.
+
+The Ashantees have an instrument like a Bagpipe, but the drone is
+scarcely to be heard.
+
+The rest of the instruments can hardly be called musical, and consist of
+drums, castanets, gong-gongs, flat sticks, rattles, and even old brass
+pans.
+
+The Drums (see Drawing No. 7.) are hollow’d trunks of trees, frequently
+carved with much nicety, mostly open at one end, and of many sizes:
+those with heads of common skin (that is of any other than Leopard skin)
+are beaten with sticks in the form of a crotchet rest; the largest are
+borne on the head of a man, and struck by one or more followers; the
+smaller are slung round the neck, or stand on the ground; in the latter
+case they are mostly played with the inside of the fingers, at which the
+natives are very expert: amongst these drums are some with heads of
+leopard skin, (looking like vellum,) only sounded by two fingers, which
+are scraped along, as the middle finger is on the tamborine, but
+producing a much louder noise. The gong-gongs are made of hollow pieces
+of iron, and struck with the same metal. The Castanets are also of iron.
+The Rattles are hollow gourds, the stalks being left as handles, and
+contain shells or pebbles, and are frequently covered with a net work of
+beads; the grimaces with which these are played make them much more
+entertaining to sight than hearing.
+
+I was fortunate enough to find a rare instance of a native able to play
+the radical notes of each tune; he is the best player in the country,
+and I was enabled to collect the airs now offered: with some of the
+oldest date I have also selected a few of the latest compositions. Their
+graces are so numerous, some extempore, some transmitted from father to
+son, that the constant repetition only can distinguish the commencement
+of the air: sometimes between each beginning they introduce a few
+chords, sometimes they leave out a bar, sometimes they only return to
+the middle, so entirely is it left to the fancy of the performer. The
+observation made on the time of the Sanko may be extended to almost
+every other instrument, but it is always perfect, and the children will
+move their heads and limbs, whilst on their mother’s backs, in exact
+unison with the tune which is playing: the contrasts of piano and forte
+are very well managed.
+
+The singing is almost all recitative, and this is the only part of music
+in which the women partake; they join in the chorusses, and at the
+funeral of a female sing the dirge itself; but the frenzy of the moment
+renders it such a mixture of yells and screeches, that it bids defiance
+to all notation. The songs of the Canoe men are peculiar to themselves,
+and very much resemble the chants used in cathedrals, but as they are
+all made for the moment, I have not been able to retain any of them.
+
+To have attempted any thing like arrangement, beyond what the annexed
+airs naturally possess, would have altered them, and destroyed the
+intention of making them known in their original character. I have not
+even dared to insert a flat or a sharp.
+
+No. 1. is the oldest air in the whole collection, and common both to
+Ashantees and Warsaws; I could trace it through four generations, but
+the answer made to my enquiries will give the best idea of its
+antiquity; “it was made when the country was made.” The key appears to
+be E minor.
+
+The old and simple air No. 2, is almost spoiled from the quick method of
+playing it, but when slow it has a melancholy rarely found in African
+music, and it is one of the very few in which the words are adapted to
+the tune. I think it is decidedly in the key of C major. The noun
+aganka, an orphan, is from the verb agan to leave. Oboïbee is a bird
+that sings only at night, for which I know no other name than the
+Ashantee. The Warsaw air, No. 3, also in C major, was composed in
+consequence of a contest between the two principal caboceers of that
+country, Intiffa and Attobra; one extremely thin and the other very fat;
+Attobra ran away, and is derided by Intiffa in the following satirical
+words:
+
+          Asoom cōōcŏŏrŏŏcōō ŏninny ăgwanny.
+
+Asoom is a dolphin, which, as a beardless creature, is an epithet of the
+strongest contempt. The literal translation is,
+
+          The big dolphin runs away from the small man.
+
+No. 5, which I should conjecture to begin in E minor, and to end in D
+minor, was occasioned by an English vessel bringing the report of a
+battle, in which the French were defeated and their town burned. The
+words are allegorical.
+
+      Abirrikirri croom ogah odum;
+
+      French town fire put in;
+
+      Ocoontinkii bonoo fum;
+
+  Great fighting man, wolf take you away;
+
+      Cooroompun coom agwun.
+
+      Cooroompun kills all goats.
+
+Abirrikirri applies indiscriminately to all nations beyond the sea, as
+Dunko does to all nations far in the interior. Cooroompun is a very
+large insect of the genus mantis (soothsayer) frequently met with here,
+and the natives believe that it kills the sheep and goats by
+fascination, standing with its eyes fixed on those of the object, and
+swinging its head and body from side to side without moving its feet,
+until the animal falls in fits and dies.[122] Agwun is a noun of
+multitude, comprehending all the goat kind.
+
+A long tale accompanies No. 6. An Ashantee having been surprised in an
+intrigue with another man’s wife, becomes the slave of the King, and is
+obliged to follow the army in a campaign against the celebrated Attah,
+the Akim caboceer mentioned in the history. The Ashantee army having
+retired, this man either deserted or could not join his division, and
+after concealing himself some time in the forest, was taken by a party
+of Attah’s, whom he addresses in the following words:
+
+    Eqqwee odin ahi,
+
+    Panther bush here (belongs to)
+
+      Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
+
+      I die! I die!
+
+    Me’din adoo croom,
+
+    Bush now my croom,
+
+      Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
+
+      I die! I die!
+
+    Babisseäche Minăwoo! Minăwoo!
+
+  For woman’s sake I die! I die!
+
+    Attah m’incomie! Attah m’incomie!
+
+    Attah don’t kill me! Attah don’t kill me!
+
+The man’s life, it was added, was preserved when he urged that he
+understood how to make sandals. The key appears to be E minor.
+
+No. 7, in G major, seems to convey the moral, that riches prompt mankind
+to wickedness, the word “_makes_” is understood.
+
+No. 9, became a common song in March last in praise of the present
+Governor in Chief; who, in consequence of the famine occasioned by the
+preceding invasion from the Ashantees, daily distributed corn to the
+starving multitude: the words are even more incoherent and figurative
+than the others, therefore I have not written them, but the meaning to
+be gathered is, “Poor woman and poor child got no gold to buy kanky;
+good white man gives you corn.” It will be observed that the air much
+resembles No. 11, wherefore I suspect it is an alteration, and not a
+composition; although the key seems to be G major, and it is impossible
+to attach any key to the latter.
+
+The dirge, No. 12, certainly in the key of C major, has been mentioned
+before, but here I must add, that in venturing the intervening and
+concluding bass chord, I merely attempt to describe the castanets, gong-
+gongs, drums, &c. bursting in after the soft and mellow tones of the
+flutes; as if the ear was not to retain a vibration of the sweeter
+melody.
+
+No. 13, in D minor, is played by only two flutes, and is one of the
+softest airs I have met with.
+
+No. 14, is an Accra fetish hymn, sung by one man and one woman, or more,
+at Christmas:
+
+  Afĭnaïē pweë,
+
+  The year’s ends have met,
+
+  Gnōr woorra
+
+  Somebody’s child
+
+  Mŏrbee.
+
+  Take blessing.
+
+“Somebody’s child,” means the child of a person of consequence,
+reminding us of Hidalgos, “the son of somebody,” so applied in Spanish.
+Its regularity is surprising, and its transition from G major to C major
+is very harmonious.
+
+No. 15, in G major, is a specimen of the Kerrapee or Kerrapay music,
+which I have made a point of preserving, as it appeared to me superior
+even to Ashantee. A young man acknowledges a crime he had attempted to
+conceal:
+
+  Kennĕödvay nooblou adomevai,
+
+  Oh pity! the palaver is spoiled,
+
+  Noodooloo adomevai,
+
+  It is found, it is spoiled;
+
+    Ēnnŏblou;
+
+    Think for me;
+
+  Dootŏh mĕ pŏ mĕ blōh,
+
+  Elders, settle it for me,
+
+    Adăn vō,
+
+    I am at a loss,
+
+        Iëe!
+
+        Oh!
+
+The following is a translation of a long Ashantee song, with little or
+no air. The men sit together in a line on one side, with their sankos
+and other instruments; and the women in a line opposite to them.
+Individuals rise and advance, singing in turn.[123]
+
+  _1st Woman._   My husband likes me too much,
+
+                 He is good to me,
+
+                 But I cannot like him,
+
+                 So I must listen to my lover.
+
+  _1st Man._     My wife does not please me,
+
+                 I tire of her now;
+
+                 So I will please myself with another,
+
+                 Who is very handsome.
+
+  _2nd Woman._   My lover tempts me with sweet words,
+
+                 But my husband always does me good,
+
+                 So I must like him well,
+
+                 And I must be true to him.
+
+  _2nd Man._     Girl you pass my wife handsome,
+
+                 But I cannot call you wife;
+
+                 A wife pleases her husband only,
+
+                 But when I leave you, you go to others.
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+The oldest ASHANTEE and WARSAW AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+A very old ASHANTEE AIR.
+
+  Aganka oshoom noofa Oboibee oshoom noofa Aganka oshoomnoofa
+
+  Orphan cries at night · · · cries at night Orphan cries at night
+
+  wekirree wekirree oimiyow wekirree wekirree oimiyow wekirree
+
+  sad thing sad thing I’m sorry sad thing sad thing I’m sorry sad thing
+]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+WARSAW AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+FANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+AN ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+AN ASHANTEE AIR.
+
+  Onoompah yahpah onompah yahpah onoompah yahpah
+
+  (Makes) Person do bad · · · · · · · · · ·
+
+  sicca sicca onoompah yahpah onoompah yahpah
+
+  gold gold (makes) person do bad · · · · · · · ·
+
+  onoompah yahpah Akim sicca onoompah yahpah.
+
+  · · · · · · Akim gold (makes) person do bad.
+]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+MODERN FANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+MODERN FANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+A FANTEE DIRGE.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+AN ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+AN ACCRA FETISH HYMN.
+
+  Afinaiepwaëe gnorwoorra afinaiepwaëe
+
+  gnorwoorra gnorwoorra
+
+  gnorwoorra afinaiepwaëe gnorwoorra morbee gnorwoorra
+
+  gnorwoorra gnorwoorra morbee gnorwoorra
+]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+A KERRAPEE SONG.
+
+  Kenneovay nooblou adomevai Kenneovay nooblou adomevai
+
+  noodooloo adomevai ennoblou Dootoh me po me bloh adanvo Iëe
+]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+FANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+FANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+ASHANTEE AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+MALLOWA AIR.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+MOSEE AIR.]
+
+
+[Footnote 121: “A few melodies in national music have been found
+incapable of harmony; such as the two first bars of the second part of
+the Irish tune called The Fair Hair’d Child.” Dr. Crotch.]
+
+[Footnote 122: The power of fascination by the eyes, is believed and
+dreaded in those parts of Africa as mortal, whether exercised by the
+fetish priests against men, or by the cooroompun against animals. The
+idea prevailed in Pliny’s time, but it was ascribed to the voice. “In
+libro quodam Plinii naturalis historiæ legi esse quasdam in terrâ Africâ
+familias hominum voce atque linguâ effascinantium. Qui si impensiùs
+fortè laudaverint pulchras arbores, segetes lætiores, infantes
+amœniores, egregios equos, pecudes pastu, atque cultu optimas,
+emoriantur repentè hæc omnia.” A cooroompun will be found amongst the
+specimens for the British Museum.]
+
+[Footnote 123: I never heard this sung without its recalling Horace’s
+beautiful little dialogue ode, (9. lib. 3) “Donec gratus eram tibi.”]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                     _Materia Medica and Diseases._
+
+
+The report of the Materia Medica and Botany of Ashantee, was the only
+one which I was not required to furnish. It was afforded by Mr. Henry
+Tedlie, assistant surgeon, whose subsequent death has mingled a regret
+with the recollection of the Embassy, which the recall of my own
+sufferings, and the family affliction it entailed on me, could never
+have exacted. The intelligence reached me in England, to correct the
+pride of success by associating misfortune with it; for the recollection
+of Mr. Tedlie’s social virtues, of his enterprise and ability, makes it
+a severe one to myself, and to the world. Mr. Tedlie suffered severely
+from intermitting dysentery during the Mission, but I had hoped it would
+have been eradicated after his return. He had previously attended the
+expedition to Candy, and expired at Cape Coast Castle in the 27th year
+of his age. Throughout the Mission he indulged the feelings of the
+natives, in his professional capacity, with a patience few could have
+exerted; whether labouring under sickness himself, or disturbed in the
+moments of a scanty rest; he awed and conciliated the people by the
+importance of his cures, and thus contributed to the success of the
+enterprise.
+
+“During the earlier part of our residence at Coomassie, the season was
+tolerably favourable to the gathering of plants, but we were then
+allowed to go out but seldom, and never beyond the town. Latterly, when
+better impressions succeeded, and our walks were unrestrained by limits
+or attendants, the rains not only checked, but generally disappointed my
+researches, by presenting the subject flowerless, (or in an unfit state
+for preservation,) and consequently not admitting their classification,
+as is too evident in the following list of such plants as are used as
+medicines by the Ashantees.
+
+1. Cutturasuh. ([124]_Chrysanthellum procumbens_. _Persoon. syn._ 2.
+_p._ 471, _Verbesina mutica_ _Willd._) A small plant, a decoction of
+which is purgative, before boiling it should be bruised.
+
+2. Adumba, (a species of Ficus.) The bark and fruit are pounded with
+Mallaguetta pepper and a small plant called awhinteywhinting, boiled in
+fish soup: two doses in the third month of gestation are said to cause
+abortion.
+
+3. Koofoobah (_Gloriosa superba_. _Linn._) is bruised with Mallaguetta
+pepper (lesser cardamom seeds) and applied to the ancle or foot when
+sprained.
+
+4. Tandoorue (_perhaps a_ _Cupania_ _or_ _Trichilia_.) The bark is
+pounded and boiled with Mallaguetta pepper; used for pain in the belly,
+and acts as a purgative.
+
+5. Bissey. (_Sterculia acuminata_. _Palis. de Beauvois, Flore d’Oware_
+1. _p._ 41. _tab._ 24.) The fruit is constantly chewed by the Ashantees,
+especially on a journey; it is said to prevent hunger and strengthen the
+stomach and bowels; has a slight bitter aromatic astringent taste, and
+causes an increase of the saliva while chewed.
+
+6. Attueh. (_Blighia sapida_. _Hort. Kew. ed._ 2. _vol._ 3, _p._ 350.
+_Akeesia africana_ _Tussac Flor. des Antilles_ 66.) A decoction of the
+bark is said to be anti-venereal. The fruit is eaten.
+
+7. Ricinus Communis _Linn._ Castor oil nut tree, 30 feet high here, and
+not a bush as on the coast: not used as medicine by the natives.
+
+8. Apooder. (_Two species of_ _Leucas_, _of which one is hardly
+different from_ _L. Martinicensis_ _Hort. Kew. ed._ 2. _vol._ 3, _p._
+409, _the other is perhaps new._) A mixture of the bruised leaves with
+lime juice is applied to inflammations.
+
+9. Hooghong. (A species of Urtica) is bruised, mixed with chalk, and
+drank by pregnant women to correct acidity in the stomach, heartburn,
+&c.
+
+10. Accocottocotorawah. (_Heliotropium indicum_. _Linn._) The juice
+expressed from this plant is snuffed up the nostrils in cases of severe
+head-ach. They also inhale the smoke of it into the nose.
+
+11. Crowera (_Acalypha ciliata_. _Willd. sp. pl._) is bruised with
+lesser cardamom seed, and rubbed on the chest and side when pained.
+
+12. Enminim (_a species of_ _Vitis_.) A climbing plant. The juice
+expressed from the leaves is dropped into the eyes when affected with
+opthalmia or pain.
+
+13. Secoco. (_Leptanthus_?) A small marshy plant. Is pounded with lime
+juice and rubbed on the body to cure the crawcraws; a severe and
+obstinate species of itch.
+
+14. Ammo.—The juice is applied to cuts and bruises.
+
+15. Petey (_possibly a_ _Piper_.) The leaves are pounded and applied as
+a plaister to inflammatory swellings and boils.
+
+16. Abromotome.—The bruised leaves are used to discuss boils.
+
+17. Yangkompro. (_A syngenesious plant related to_ _Cacalia_.) The
+pounded leaves are applied to cuts and contusions.
+
+18. Oeduema. (_Musanga cecropioides_ _Br. See Tuckey’s Congo, p._ 453.)
+The hairy sheath or stipule of a large palmated leaved tree; it
+resembles a skin, is boiled in soup, and used as a powerful emmenagogue.
+
+19. Semeney, (_probably a species of_ _Aneilema_.) The leaves are
+pounded and applied as a plaister to favour the discharge of boils and
+collections of pus.
+
+20. Wowwah (_perhaps a_ _Sterculia_.) The inner bark of this tree is
+scraped fine and mixed with Mallaguetta pepper, and drank for colic and
+other pains in the belly.
+
+21. Anafranakoo.—The bruised leaves are applied to discuss boils and
+other inflammatory swelling.
+
+22. Kattacaiben (_Leea sambucina_.) A decoction of the leaves is drank
+every morning by pregnant women when they experience any uneasiness in
+the abdomen. The bark of the tree powdered is rubbed on chronic
+swellings.
+
+23. Aserumbdrue (_a species of_ _Piper_ _related to_ _umbellatum_.) The
+leaves are used in soup to allay swellings of the belly.
+
+24. Ocisseeree.—The bark of this tree is used to stop the purging in
+dysentery and diarrhoea.
+
+25. Gingang. (_Paullinia africana_ _Br. See Tuckeys Congo, p._ 427.) The
+bark of this tree is used internally and externally, mixed with
+Mallaguetta pepper for pain in the side.
+
+26. Cudeyakoo.—A very small plant. The leaves and stalk pounded are
+applied to eruptions on the head. A mixture of it with lime juice is
+applied to the yaws.
+
+27. Affeuah (_unknown_) and Nuinnuerafuh (_Hedysari species_.) A mixture
+of the bruised leaves of these plants with Mallaguetta pepper, is rubbed
+on the body and limbs when swelled or pained: a decoction of them, with
+an addition of the plant Comfany (_Alternantheræ, sp._) is used
+internally in the same cases.
+
+28. Adummah. (_Paullinia africana_. _The same as No._ 25.) A decoction
+of the bark of this tree, reduced to powder with Mallaguetta pepper,
+drank once a day, stops the discharge of blood and cures the dysentery.
+
+29. Tointinney (_probably a_ _Menispermum_.) Is chewed with Mallaguetta
+pepper as a cure for a cough.
+
+30. Apussey. (_A leguminous plant, probably allied to_ _Robinia_.)
+
+The bark of this tree pounded with Mallaguetta pepper is applied to the
+head in cases of head-ach.
+
+31. Thuquamah.—The bark is pounded and drank in Palm wine, with
+Mallaguetta pepper, for pain in the belly.
+
+32. Conkknoney, a dark purple coloured Toadstool, the size of a hazel
+nut, rubbed with Mallaguetta pepper and lime juice, it purges briskly.
+To stop the purging, a mess of boiled Guinea corn meal and lime juice
+should be eaten.
+
+33. Suetinney.—(_Brillantaisia owariensis_. _Palis. de Beauvois Flor.
+d’Oware_, 2. _p._ 68 _tab._ 100, _fig._ 2.) A decoction of the leaves is
+drank for pain in the belly.
+
+34. Soominna, (Tetandria Monogynia,) is bruised with lime juice and used
+to abate cough.
+
+35. Thattha (_Scoparia dulcis_. _Linn._)—The expressed juice of this
+plant is dropped into the ears when pained.
+
+36. Aquey (_Melia Azedarach_. _Linn._) A decoction of the leaves of this
+tree is used with Palm wine as a corroborant.
+
+37. Dammaram (_Mussænda fulgens_. _nov. spec._)
+
+The diseases most common in the Ashantee Country are the Lues, Yaws,
+Itch, Ulcers, Scald-heads, and griping pains in the bowels. Other
+diseases are occasionally met with, I should suppose in the same
+proportion that they occur in civilized countries; but I do not know to
+what cause to assign the prevalence and frequency of one of the most
+unsightly diseases that can occur in any country: it is an obstinate
+species of ulcer, or, Noli me tangere, which destroys the nose and upper
+lip; it attacks women chiefly, although men are not exempt from it;
+there are more than 100 women in Coomassie who have lost the nose or
+upper lip from this cause alone: it commences with a small ulcer in the
+alæ nasi, or upper lip, the size of a split pea, excavated, with the
+edges ragged and turned inwards, it proceeds by ulcerating under the
+skin; the bottom of the ulcer is uneven, covered with a foul slough, of
+a very disagreeable smell, and the discharge is thin, watery, and very
+irritating: it seldom cicatrices before the alæ nasi and lip are
+completely destroyed; when it does cease, the skin is puckered and
+uneven, and has a very disagreeable appearance; the only remedy which
+the natives use, is an external application of bruised leaves; they seem
+to let it take its course, without being very anxious about a cure.
+
+Framboesia, the Yaws, is a very frequent disease with the children of
+the poor and slaves: before the eruption takes place they are severely
+afflicted with pains in the joints, and along the course of the muscles
+of the superior and inferior extremities; in young persons, hard, round
+bony excrescences, the size of a walnut, form on each side of the nose
+under the eyes. The Natives either are not acquainted with a remedy for
+this enlargement of the bones, or if they are, they do not put it in
+practice. I administered alterative doses of calomel and antimonial
+powder with success, as it stopped the enlargement of the bones and
+caused them to be absorbed, and relieved the pain in the arms and legs
+particularly; during the exhibition of the alterative pills, a foul
+ulcer on the head got well: the natives apply a mixture of the plant
+Cudey-akoo, with lime juice, to the eruption, but apparently with very
+little benefit.
+
+Psora, the itch, a very severe species of which, called craw craw, is a
+frequent disease, and is very contagious; it is most commonly met with
+in children, few of the Dunko slaves are without it, from their poor
+diet and extreme dirtiness; they do not seem to experience much
+uneasiness from it, as they seldom apply any remedy; sometimes they use
+a rubefaciant, made of a plant called secoco, bruised and mixed with
+lime juice.
+
+Gonorrhœa is of rare occurrence, two cases came under my care, the
+patients had never used injections, they drank decoctions of leaves and
+bark, but could not tell me the plants they used; one of the
+ingredients, was a small plant call Cutturasuh, of a purgative nature.
+The disease is allowed to take its course by the natives, as they are
+unacquainted with any method to stop it.
+
+Tinea Capitis, the scald head, is a common disease with the poorer sort
+of Ashantees and slaves, arising from their neglect of cleanliness; the
+applications which they use to cure it have seldom the desired effect.
+They apply plaisters of pounded leaves and charcoal, but do not wash the
+head. In one case, where a boy was placed under my care, he got well in
+eight days, by having his head very well washed with a brush, soap, and
+warm water; then a strong infusion of tobacco, applied with a sponge,
+and when the head was dry, a composition of resinous and mercurial
+ointment was rubbed on it.
+
+Hydrocele occasionally occurs; they attempt to cure it by frictions of
+the castor oil nut, burnt and bruised with Mallaguetta pepper, but
+without any benefit. I drew off the water from one hydrocele, but, from
+our want of stimulants, could not perform any radical cure. Their
+applications to Inguinal hernia are equally ineffectual. They never
+attempt the reduction of umbilical hernia, although some are very large,
+and the disease very frequent.
+
+When a fracture of the leg or arm happens, the part is rubbed with a
+soft species of grass and palm oil, and the limb bound up with splints.
+“If God does not take the patient he recovers in four months,” as they
+say.
+
+I have not seen a single instance of fracture in the Ashantee country.
+Gun-shot wounds of the extremities, when the bone is fractured, are
+generally fatal, or, where a large blood vessel is wounded, as they are
+unacquainted with any method of stopping the hæmorrage; in fact they pay
+little attention to their wounded men; if they are not able to travel,
+they are abandoned. One of the King’s criers had his thigh dislocated at
+the hip joint with an anchylosis of the knee; the limb was considerably
+longer than the other, and the accident must have occurred a long time
+ago, as he walks very well.
+
+During the time we remained in Coomassie, and from our first entrance
+into the Ashantee country, I was every day applied to for advice and
+medicines by those who were afflicted with diseases, of which the number
+was great, and in the capital more especially, from its very unhealthy
+situation, being entirely surrounded by an extensive tract of swampy
+ground, and the natives consequently very subject to dysentery and
+fever. On first entering the country I was applied to by numbers of
+patients, many of them miserable objects, from the effects of the
+venereal disease: to as many of those as applied, during our halt in a
+town, I gave boxes of pills and strict directions for their use, and
+told them if they came to Coomassie during my residence there, I would
+do every thing in my power to cure them. Many availed themselves of my
+offer, and attended me on my arrival. To those who had ulcers or wounds,
+I applied the proper dressings, and left with them lint, adhesive
+plaister, and ointment. Most of them as a mark of their gratitude, sent
+presents of fowls, fruit, palm oil, wine, &c. to me after I had arrived
+in the capital. One man in Assiminia, who was nearly in the last stage
+of existence from a complication of disorders, originating from lues
+venerea, after I had seen him, sent every week to Coomassie for
+medicines, and completely recovered. Another in Sarrasoo who had the
+worst looking ulcers of the inferior extremities, that I have ever seen,
+did the same, and with the same success. A great many caboceers attended
+me every morning with their slaves and children affected with dropsy,
+crawcraws, yaws, fever, bowel complaints, &c. and expressed the most
+unbounded thanks for the medicine and advice they received.
+
+At the King’s particular request, I attended his own brother, the heir
+apparent, who had oedematous feet: by the use of friction, a roller, and
+an alterative course of calomel, and diuretics, he soon recovered.
+
+The King’s uncle, heir to the crown after the brother, was severely
+tormented with stricture of the urethra; he could only pass urine, drop
+by drop; three weeks passing the catheter, enabled him to make it in a
+full stream; when he immediately requested some powerfully stimulating
+medicine to correct impotency, which it was not in my power to grant.
+
+The captain whose office it is to drown any of the King’s family who
+have offended, had an ulcer two inches long in the palate bone; when he
+drank, part of the fluid passed out of his nose, and his speech was very
+unintelligible; the sides of the opening were scarified, and the
+granulations touched every third or fourth day with lunar caustic until
+they united; he got well in one month.
+
+The only unfortunate case I attended, was our guide Quamina Bwa; shortly
+after we arrived in Coomassie he was attacked with remittent fever; by
+the use of febrifuge medicines, the cold bath, bark, &c. he recovered,
+and was able to attend his usual duty of waiting on us, when we visited
+the king; he went into the country, and I did not see him for six weeks;
+at the end of that time, he sent for me, and I found him labouring under
+a severe bilious dysentery, and liver complaint. I was unable to prevent
+the formation of matter in his liver; it formed a large swelling with
+distinct fluctuation, and as he hesitated to have it discharged by
+puncturing with a trochar, it burst internally, and he died. I had one
+case of cancer of the upper lip, although the disease is said rarely to
+occur in that part. This case had all the marks of a true cancer; I
+dressed it every day during the whole time I remained in Coomassie, but
+the effect flattered and disappointed me by turns.
+
+The most importunate man for medicine, especially of an invigorating
+kind, in the whole Ashantee country, was old Apokoo, the treasurer and
+chief favourite. He was afflicted with inguinal hernia: I wrote to Cape
+Coast for a truss, which I applied, and it gave him immediate relief and
+satisfaction. He would take the most nauseous drug with pleasure. I
+generally gave him bark and peppermint water, which he regularly either
+sent or came for every day, during the two last months of our residence,
+and earnestly requested me to leave plenty of medicine with Mr.
+Hutchison, the British resident there. Most of the chief men were very
+earnest in their solicitations for me to give them stimulating
+medicines. I always assured them that it was impossible, that the
+English never used any, and that nothing astonished me more than that
+they should ask for such things. Their answers were, “they knew that the
+English had good heads and knew every thing, and must know that too, but
+I did not wish to give them any.”
+
+  _A List of the Diseases which I have seen in the Ashantee country._
+
+  Febris remittens        2 cases
+
+  Hepatitis               1
+
+  Dysenteria mucosa       6
+
+  Colica                  1
+
+  Anasarca                3
+
+  Ascites                 3
+
+  Scrophula               many cases
+
+  Syphilis                many
+
+  Gonorrhœa               2
+
+  Stricture               3
+
+  Cataract                2
+
+  Staphyloma              5
+
+  Ectropium               1
+
+  Bronchocele             many
+
+  Cephalagia              many
+
+  Odontalgia              10
+
+  Ulcers                  8
+
+  Framboesia              many
+
+  Psora                   many
+
+  Hernia inguinal         1
+
+  Umbilical (hernia)      many
+
+  Dracunculus             7
+
+  Tinea capitis           many
+
+  Hydrocele               many
+
+  Cancer                  1
+
+  Elephantiasis           1
+
+  Lepra                   7
+
+
+[Footnote 124: I am indebted to Mr. Brown’s knowledge for the names and
+references in the parentheses.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                        _Mr. Hutchison’s Diary._
+
+
+September 26. After we left the palace this morning, Apokoo invited me
+home to take some refreshment. He entered into a long conversation
+concerning the slave trade: he heard, he said, that an English vessel
+had arrived at Cape Coast, and had brought out a letter from the King of
+England to the Governor-in-Chief, ordering a renewal of the slave trade,
+and asked me, if I had received any letter. I said I had not, but if
+such a thing had taken place, I thought I should have early accounts. He
+enquired what were the objections we had to “buy men?” I told him what I
+conceived to be proper; he laughed at our ideas, and enquired if the
+king of Dahomey had not sent a “book four moons ago to Cape Coast,
+inviting the English to trade again, in his kingdom.” I replied there
+was a message sent, but I could not say exactly in what words, as I was
+at Dix Cove at the time. “England,” he said, “was too fond of fighting,
+her soldiers were the same as dropping a stone in a pond, they go
+farther and farther:” at the same time he described an enlarging circle
+with his hand, and shook his finger and head significantly at me. He was
+anxious for me to write a “proper book” on the slave trade, many slaves,
+he told me, had revolted, and joining the Buntokoo standard were to
+fight against them; there were too many slaves in the country, (an
+opinion I tacitly acquiesced in), and they wanted to get rid of some of
+them. There might be a deal of trouble from them; he alone had one
+slave, who had 1000 followers at arms, and he might trouble them as
+Cudjo Cooma did, who was a slave of his when he revolted, and whose
+adherents alone were 10,000, independent of runaways, &c.
+
+In the afternoon the King sent me a ceremonious message, with his
+compliments, saying he would be glad if I attended him in his customs,
+&c. when he should sit in public. I replied that I would be happy to do
+so, as it was the King’s wish, except when human sacrifices were
+offered, but then it would be contrary to my inclinations, my religion,
+and my instructions.
+
+Shortly after I was told the King was in the market-place drinking palm
+wine. I went for the first time and took my seat on his left. The King
+made me a present of a pot of wine, as did several of his chiefs. When
+he drank, the whole of the music played, while the executioners, holding
+their swords with their right hands, covered their noses with their
+left, whilst they sung his victories and titles. About half a dozen
+small boys stood behind his chair, and finished the whole with a fetish
+hymn. The King enquired how many servants I had, and several questions
+of the same kind. After sitting about half an hour the assembly broke
+up, the King rising first, which is the signal to retire.
+
+Since the mission departed I have not been annoyed by any boys calling
+after me. After seeing Messrs. Bowdich and Tedlie through the town, on
+their going away, as I returned home the crowds thanked me as I passed,
+for staying. I suppose they hardly imagined, when it came to the last,
+that I would do so: indeed when I returned to my lodgings I found them
+solitary enough; and, in the night time, three men found their way into
+the house; one of my servants awakening, shouted out; I struck at one of
+them with my sword, but missed him: in the morning it was discovered
+that he had succeeded in stealing nearly half a sheep, a quantity of
+kankey belonging to the boys, and a table knife. I am not sanguine
+enough to imagine I shall be long allowed to take my walks unmolested;
+when the novelty of my remaining alone passes away, they will return to
+their old insolencies.
+
+Monday 29. Paid Apokoo a visit, and dashed him a razor. Several people
+were there talking palavers, and wishing him to interest the King for
+them; among others, an old captain complained heavily of Quamina Bwa,
+our guide, but since dead, who he said had stolen a slave from him and
+sold him during the Fantee war; he had unavailingly applied to the
+family, he therefore wished it to be brought before the King.
+
+Apokoo complained of head-ach, and one of his women brought a decoction
+of herbs, which she poured into a hollow piece of wood with two tubes,
+these were inserted in the nostrils, and the liquor poured in, while the
+head was held back, and afterwards spit out by the mouth; I have seen
+the same poured into the ear for a like complaint. He wished me to try a
+little of it; I of course declined it. He called one of his daughter’s,
+and wished me to consaw, or espouse her; I told him she was too young;
+he said that was nothing, as he would keep her for me: he added, the
+Ashantee custom was, if a great man’s wife with child took another man’s
+fancy, he consawed the child in the womb, and if born a girl, when she
+grew up she became his wife; if a boy, it was his to serve and attend on
+him, and he took care of it. Four ounces of gold it generally cost to
+consaw a girl. I said he was a rich man; “true,” he replied, “but it
+sometimes costs eight or ten ounces, sometimes only two.” Observing a
+bow and arrows standing in the room, I began to amuse myself with
+shooting them; he told me these were only for play, but when they went
+to fight, they tipped them with iron, and put a deadly poison on it,
+which caused almost instant death; the poison is made from vegetables
+boiled in a large pot, and the arrows steeped in it. He shewed me the
+marks of two arrow wounds which he received in battle. He then began to
+consult his fetish, by a quantity of strings, with various ornaments on
+one end to denote their good or evil qualities; these were mixed
+promiscuously together, and taking them in his right hand, he put them
+behind his back, and drew out one with his left; this was repeated about
+20 times. A wicker basket was then brought on a small stool covered with
+a silk cloth, in it were two lumps like pincushions, made of eggs, palm
+oil, &c.: he then turned up the bottom of his stool, and making three
+holes in it with something like a cobler’s awl, he drove in three pegs
+with a stone, muttering to himself all the time, and waving each string
+round his right ear; an egg was then brought in broken at one end, and
+placed alternately on the lumps in the basket, and crushed on the stool
+where the pegs were put in: this he did every morning before he went
+out, to keep him out of bad palavers through the day.
+
+Tuesday 30. This morning Apokoo invited me to take a share of his
+umbrella, and attend the King, who went to finish his ablutions. We
+walked along through an immense crowd; the streets were lined with the
+chiefs and their respective suites. We went down to the place where the
+King washes; a low platform was erected where the stools were laid on
+their sides. The linguists and officers of the household stood on one
+side holding gold rods and canes, the fetishmen formed a crescent to the
+north side. The King performed the ceremony of laving the water over
+himself, sprinkling the various articles the same as on Saturday, and
+the procession concluded as before.
+
+On walking back Apokoo wished to try on one of my gloves, and as usual
+put it on the wrong hand; his gold castanets pinched him when the glove
+was on, which made him shout out rather lustily, and stop short, I
+called out “you stop the King;” “never mind,” said he, and his
+attendants pulled to get the glove off. The King sent to know what
+occasioned the stoppage, Apokoo held up his hand compressed, exclaiming,
+“_Gamphnee_,” (it hurts me,) and stopped till it was got off.
+
+In the afternoon I called on Odumata, who said he was angry that I had
+not called before. I told him I came to thank him for allowing a slave
+boy he has, to do any thing for me; he said I might have him so as I fed
+him, I replied I would do so. He entered into conversation concerning
+the power of England over other nations, and the danger of going to sea;
+he had lived three years at Apollonia when a young man, and had seen
+many Portuguese, but did not like them, “as they were all wenches!” He
+seemed pleased that I did not like them either. He wished me to purchase
+a horse from him for eight ounces, I said I would give him four.“ “I
+must not want one, or I would not offer him so,” was his reply. I said
+that I had no place to ride it in, the country being all bush, and the
+King did not like me to go very far; he replied, they were soon going to
+fight, and, as I should go with them, it would be better for me to have
+a horse to ride than to walk. I answered, I should lay hold of some wild
+boar and gallop it; this observation struck him with astonishment, and
+stroking down his beard, he asked my servant if he thought I could do
+so, who replied, if I took it in my head I certainly would. Odumata said
+the people would think the devil was come among them. This he told me is
+the last day of the year, according to their calculation, but from what
+reason I do not know. In the Sarem countries, he told me, they work iron
+from the stone, and silver, gold, &c. into trinkets, better than in
+Ashantee. I enquired why they did not make iron here, as they have
+plenty of ore; his reply was truly African; “why should they do so, when
+they had plenty of gold to buy it, and could get it so near.” I told him
+of England’s resources from her own manufactories; he said it was not
+good for white men to know so much; if black men knew those things they
+would all run to England. When I got home I sent him a present of a
+razor, he sent two messengers to thank me, such is their fashion; and
+for even the smallest article they return thanks the next day. Odumata
+enquired why I did not get drunk sometimes, and come to see him then, I
+told him, were I to get drunk in Ashantee, I ought to have my sword
+broke over my head, that I had indeed got tipsey the evening before I
+came away, with my friends, and might perhaps do so when I returned, but
+not till then. He gave me some palm wine, and looked amazed at my
+swallowing only half a tumbler full, “he would drink three pots before
+he went to bed!” (about 15 gallons.)
+
+Wednesday, October 1. The King dictated a letter to the Governor at Cape
+Coast, stating, that the King of Cape Coast had broken the law by
+insulting an Ashantee man, who swore, by the King of Ashantee’s head,
+that if the Cape Coast King did not kill him, he must pay 110 periguins
+of gold to the King. This practice, though it savours of madness, is yet
+often resorted to for revenge, as it is almost sure to end in the ruin
+of the other party. The Cape Coast King had threatened, that the
+Governor would put the Ashantee man in the slave hole till he died,
+which appeard to irritate the King very much.
+
+The King then enquired if I had any yams at home; I told him I had a few
+of his last present; he told me he would send more to the house for me,
+which he did, and gave me 5½ ackies gold; then pressed me to take some
+gin and water; on his being told that it must be very little, for I was
+afraid of an attack of spleen and liver, and eat little and walked much,
+he said that was proper.
+
+Thursday 2. Through this and the afternoon of yesterday I felt very
+feverish, not being able to get any sleep for the rats at night. I kept
+my room all day; the King sent a pot of palm wine in the evening. Adoo
+Quamina called.
+
+Friday 3. Whilst writing letters, Apokoo sent his compliments and would
+be happy to see me; I went, and he said he was sorry he had not seen me
+for some days. I told him I was sick the two former days, and to-day was
+writing to my family how I liked Ashantee; he hoped I would give the
+King a good name in England. I should tell truth. He enquired if I would
+like to see his croom (village.) I replied yes! He was going there this
+evening, and if no palaver came, he would send his people for me in the
+morning, to carry me. He asked if I was not for one of his daughters,
+that he might be called my father. He then enquired why I did not wear
+my hair tied, and let my beard grow; he recollected Colonel Torrane and
+Mr. White having tails at the siege of Annamaboe, and they looked very
+handsome. He requested me to show him the skin of my arm, he gazed on it
+with seeming pleasure, begged I would allow him to touch it; on
+receiving permission, he rubbed his hand over it, exclaiming “_Papa
+Taffia_,” (very handsome) and repeated his invitation to go to the
+croom. I took my leave.
+
+As I was going home I met a man white-washed, carrying a vessel covered
+over with a white cloth: this I have been often told is Tando fetish,
+but can learn nothing more. Music and a great crowd went with it to Adoo
+Quamina’s house, at the front of which they put it down, and sacrificed
+a child of Cudjoo Cooma’s, the Akim revolter, over it, as an annual
+sacrifice of the King’s.
+
+Saturday 4. Apokoo sent his people for me in the morning, who took me to
+his croom, about three miles S.W. of Coomassie. The road was in good
+order, and newly cut on account of my going; his slaves all turned out
+to see me, many of them never having seen a white man before. Apokoo
+came to the entrance of the croom, which is small, to meet me, and took
+me into the place where he lives himself; it is like all country houses
+here, a square lined with palm leaves and thatched with grass; his own
+room, raised on the floor, painted with red inchuma or ochre, and at one
+end of it, his couch raised on wood with plaited palm leaves, and
+covered with large cotton cushions. Near his head hung three strings of
+fetish, made of gold, red earth, horn, and bone, in the shape of thigh
+bones, horns, jaw bones, &c. &c. One side of the square was fitted up
+with a forge and bellows to work gold; another served as a cooking
+place, and the fourth for his sons to sleep in. About 11 o’clock he went
+to one of the side places to eat, that he might not trouble me in his
+room, as he said. Before he began, small pieces of yam were laid on his
+fetish; a small table was then set before him, and clean water poured
+into a brass pan, with which he washed his right hand, and then eat with
+it:—they are careful not to touch victuals with their left hand. A large
+pot of yams and another of fish being boiled, he satisfied himself
+first; the remainder was then divided into as many lots as there were
+persons to partake; when the door was opened, and about twenty sons and
+daughters, with their calabashes, received each their mess. He had given
+my servant two fowls, some fish and yams, and told him to make any thing
+I could eat; I told him to make a soup of the fowls. When I was eating,
+Apokoo said he thought I was ashamed, and requested I would let him put
+down the screen; I told him I dared not eat much through the day, being
+afraid of sickness. He enquired if I wished to go to sleep, for his
+couch was at my service. I declined the offer, and he went to sleep
+himself. Shortly after, four of his wives came from town with a mess for
+him; he was awaked to know if they were to have admittance, as usual: he
+ordered them to set down the meat and go away; they pretended to do so,
+but sat down under one of the sheds, and began to annoy the slaves, but
+their stifled laughter soon awoke Apokoo, who stretched out his neck,
+and seeing them, told them in a passion, it was because I was there that
+they wished to stop, and that they had better be off; they took the hint
+and made their retreat. He got up to shew me his gold ornaments, which
+weighed 146 bendas (£1168.) and made his people kindle the forge fire to
+melt some rock gold to make a fish; but the mould not being perfect, it
+was spoiled. He enquired if ever I had been in a yam plantation; on my
+replying in the negative, we went to see one; he asked if I would allow
+him to ride in my hammock, I gave him leave; it was better than his
+basket, he said, except that he did not like his legs hanging down. He
+wished me to dig up a yam; the people brought me a long pointed stick,
+which is forced into the earth to loosen the yam, afterwards the fibres
+are cut with a knife. After I had dug up ten, he hoped I would accept of
+them as a present; yams are set like potatoes in Europe, they are put in
+the ground about December, so that they are nine months growing to
+maturity. He said he should not go to Coomassie that night, as he had to
+decorate his drums with tigers skins, but that he would be in on
+Tuesday. If I wished to come out and see him before that time he would
+send people for me, and be glad. I said I should come out some other
+time, but not so soon. I set off for Coomassie about six o’clock, having
+spent a very agreeable day.
+
+About seven o’clock the King sent for me; on my going, he would trouble
+me, he said, to read a book he had that day found in a man’s possession.
+It proved to be a Danish note to the King for three ounces per month,
+dated August 1, 1811; it seemed as if a seal had been affixed to it, but
+the impression had disappeared, and it was very much worn. The King said
+he never knew of it; that an Ashantee captain had received and kept it,
+but he would enquire about it. His majesty wished me to drink something,
+I declined it; he hoped I was not sick, I said no, but drinking made my
+head ach; he hoped I would sleep sound, paid me many compliments that I
+cannot repeat; enquired of my servant if I was a good master, with other
+questions of the like nature.
+
+Saturday 11. The King sent for me, and on going to the palace I found
+them in full council talking palavers. Adoosee was ordering a messenger
+to go to Quamina Bootaqua, to make him proceed to Cape Coast, and inform
+the Governor that Payntree had sworn by the King and had broke his oath,
+Bootaqua having sent word to the King of it; but they did not mention
+any thing to me. After this, Adoosee informed me, that messengers have
+gone from Amanfoo, sent by Sam Brue, to complain that the Cape Coast
+people had come armed against him to kill him. After hearing a long
+statement of grievances, they told me I must write to the Governor about
+it; I said I would, at the same time I assured the King that Sam Brue
+was a slave trader, and not to be tolerated at Cape Coast, his conduct
+was so infamous; they then called on his messenger to know what reason
+Sam had to leave Cape Coast; he entered at great length into the
+grievances experienced by Brue from the Governor in Chief and officers,
+because he owed eight ounces of gold; I was called in to reply, which I
+said I could not condescend to do, until I heard from the Governor in
+Chief, as they had sent messengers to complain to him. Adoosee charged
+four messengers with what they were to tell the Governor, making them
+take fetish and other formalities usual only on great occasions, thereby
+giving the affair an importance it did not merit. The King, on the
+breaking up of the council, said he would send for me shortly after, to
+write an account of the affair to the Governor; when I returned home, I
+did communicate the whole to the Governor, as the King’s letters are so
+hurried.
+
+I heard nothing from the King all day, but at night a Fantee man called
+on me, who had been taken by the Ashantees in last year’s war, and whom
+I had been trying to liberate by speaking in his behalf to the King, and
+concerning four ounces of gold that had been taken. The captain
+concerned in it, to get quit of the palaver, had urged one of his wives
+to swear the man had lain with her; she accordingly made a formal
+complaint; the man was put in irons in the bush and only released
+yesterday morning as they thought to catch the King when he had some
+palavers pending, which would make him angry; they therefore brought it
+before the King yesterday morning, thinking he would order the man’s
+head to be cut off; but he told the King that this palaver was brought
+against him because I had spoken for him; the woman was called, who
+insisted the man had lain with her, the man denied it, and on being
+offered fetish he cheerfully took it, and swore by the King to the
+contrary. The woman would not do so, and the King ordered the irons to
+be taken from the man, and put on the woman, telling her, she had not
+looked at the man properly, as it must be some other person.
+
+Tuesday 14. This morning a man was beheaded at the door of the house
+where I live, by Aboidwee, the house master: it appears, the man in
+question was brother to a caboceer, and presumptive heir to his
+property; tired of waiting so long he made fetish incantations, and
+other ceremonies peculiar to them, to destroy his brother; this coming
+to the brother’s ears, and also, that he had enjoyed one of his wives
+five times, he complained to the King and requested he would put the
+offender to death to save his own life; the King complied, and ordered
+Aboidwee to put the sentence in execution.
+
+Wednesday 15. The Adaï custom. I went as usual with flags, and first
+received the usual offering of rum, and ten ackies of gold instead of a
+sheep. I called on Baba, the chief of the Moors, in the afternoon, who
+said he would teach me Arabic if I would teach him English; I said I
+would; but I am afraid he is too old for progress. I called on Odumata
+in my way back, who annoyed me as usual to drink palm wine, although it
+gives me a head ache. Akotoo, the King’s brother, was there, who said he
+had only seen me four times since the mission went away, and wished me
+to call on him. The conversation turned on the King’s going to war, and
+his anxiety for me to go and see how they killed their enemies, and he
+would give me gold to feed me. I was told by a Fantee man, that Sam Brue
+had procured 200 guns and a quantity of powder for the King, for slaves
+he had sold to the Spaniards now on the coast.
+
+Friday 17. Deputies from the Warsaw states arrived a few days ago, to
+settle the differences between them and the Ashantees. It is thought, a
+fine to the King and future tribute may compromise the matter. Odumata
+informed me, that the slave ship has 600 slaves on board; and that,
+through Sam Brue’s exertions; he confirmed the report of the guns and
+powder.
+
+Sunday 19. The heaviest rain, thunder, and lightning I ever saw, and has
+continued for several days and nights. About 7 o’clock A.M. the King’s
+drums announced his going to the market-place, where all his chiefs went
+and were drenched with wet till 2 o’clock P.M. when the King sent for
+rum and palm wine and dismissed them drunk and dirty. On Monday the
+scene was continued till the slaves had got the house covered in.
+
+Tuesday 21. Agay the linguist returned from Assin, where he had been
+four months; and brought with him a number of Fantees and their
+families, as slaves. During the eruption of the Fantees in 1816, many of
+them ran to the Assin country to try and elude the vigilance of the
+King, but he heard of it, and sent Agay to demand them, who, after a
+long negociation, succeeded. A council was held at Abrassoo on the
+Barramang road, and the slaves were sent to Barramang to build a new
+croom for the King.
+
+Sunday, November 2. The King has been busy for the last twelve days
+making fetish, &c. for the success of the war; the Moors going every
+morning to the palace for prayer and sacrifice: to day being Adaï
+custom, I went as usual, and received ten ackies of gold and a flask of
+rum, the foremost in the assembly, which was numerous.
+
+Friday 7. A serious palaver has arisen between the King and Adoosee the
+chief linguist, he having taken a bribe from some person to misrepresent
+a palaver to the King; this coming to the King’s ear, he sent in a fury
+to Adoosee, who, on being charged with it, thought his life would be the
+forfeit, and sent an express to Apokoo to come and intercede for him;
+Apokoo being at his croom, it has been several times talked before the
+King, but no settlement, has taken place.
+
+Several people have been making application to me to demand them of the
+King, as belonging to the forts, having been detained as slaves during
+the Fantee war, and when Winnebah fort was destroyed. They are commonly
+very old, and of the female sex.
+
+Saturday 8. Adoosee has got his palaver settled by paying twenty ounces
+of gold, and six or eight sheep to the King; Adoosee’s friends alleged
+that he ought not to pay any thing, because when any palaver comes he
+settles it at once; but if he is not there, they have to go to council,
+which in fact is true; but notwithstanding his abilities, and that he
+takes his seat as usual, the King looks at him with a gloomy eye. The
+King has been busy making human sacrifices for the success of the war,
+at Bantama, Assafoo, and Aduma, in the evenings; and the Moors make
+their offerings of sheep in the palace in the mornings according to the
+moslem ritual. Though the zealous Christian may lament that the Gospel
+has not taken place of the fetish, yet the friends of humanity will
+rejoice that the King favours the Moors, as many lives have been saved
+that would otherwise have been destroyed at the present crisis. To day a
+bullock was offered up in the chief market-place, previous to the
+entrance of the chiefs, caboceers, &c. into the town, to meet in
+council, and determine on the method of conducting the war: in the
+afternoon, Boitinnë Quama, King of Dwabin, sent his compliments to me to
+announce his arrival. Shortly after, the various bands of music declared
+the arrival of the tributaries, &c.; the King of Ashantee took his seat
+in the market-place, and received their compliments as they passed
+before him. About nine o’clock at night Boitinnë, King of Dwabin paid me
+a private visit, and brought me a present of two curious Gennet cats.
+
+Sunday 9. At day break the firing of guns, music, &c. announced a custom
+for the husband of the King’s sister (the second woman in the kingdom),
+he having died in the bush on Friday, about 7 o’clock; the King went to
+the market-place to make custom, and sacrificed two men; several others
+were killed by various caboceers. In the evening Apokoo and the other
+captains who are to exhibit their gold, paraded the streets, firing
+musketry, &c.; the crowd was great. At 8 o’clock, his majesty of Dwabin
+came with the messengers he sent to Cape Coast to have a suit of
+clothes, he said two trunks were at his house and he brought a sword to
+shew me, which the Governor had sent.
+
+Friday 14. Before I got up, I was annoyed with a crowd of captains who
+began to annoy me for liquor. I ordered them out and desired a boy to
+keep the door fast. I sent a dash of wine, rum, sugar, soap, butter, and
+perfumery to the king, who was highly pleased. To all the principal
+captains, a dash of rum, wine, and sugar, till I had nearly expended my
+stock: the whole day was a continual annoyance from visitors, troubling
+me for drink, but as I was resolved to give to those only who were
+worthy, many of them were disappointed. This week past Apokoo and
+several of the captains have been making an exhibition of their riches;
+this is generally done once in life, by those who are in favour with the
+King, and think themselves free from palavers. It is done by making
+their gold into various articles of dress for show. Apokoo, who sent for
+me before his uproar began, shewed me his varieties, weighing upwards of
+800 bendas of the finest gold; among the articles, was a girdle two
+inches broad. Gold chains for the neck, arms, legs, &c. ornaments for
+the ancles of all descriptions, consisting of manacles, with keys,
+bells, chairs, and padlocks. For his numerous family of wives, children,
+and captains, were armlets and various ornaments. A superb war cap of
+eagle’s feathers, fetishes, Moorish charms, &c. Moorish caps, silk
+dresses, purses, bags, &c. made of monkey skin. Fans, with ivory
+handles, made of tiger skin, and decorated with silk. New umbrellas made
+in fantastical shapes, gold swords and figures of animals, birds,
+beasts, and fishes of the same metal; his drums, and various instruments
+of music, were covered with tiger skin, with red belts for hanging them.
+Ivory arrows and bows, covered with silk and skins, and many other
+weapons of war or fancy, such as the mind in a like situation would
+devise. Apokoo was anxious that I should come and see him when out, but
+from the noise, I judged that they were too turbulent for me to venture
+without a chance of being insulted.
+
+Saturday 15. Again annoyed by the people wishing for drink. Apokoo
+called with his retinue to thank me; for the Governor had given his
+people a flask of Jamaica rum. He had got three days to play, as he
+called it, and was sorry that he had not seen me. I told him I had very
+seldom been out, except when there was no noise, as the people were so
+unruly in the evening.
+
+Monday 17. In the afternoon Apokoo sent a message, saying he was come to
+the door of the house to play and shew me his gold, hoping I would come
+out. I went and found a Moorish carpet spread, at one end of which I was
+seated under an umbrella, while Apokoo and his wives, children, and
+captains danced by turns before me. Some of his young wives were dressed
+with great taste, a rich silk cloth with a bag made of fine fur, slung
+over the shoulder, studded with gold ornaments: on the left shoulder
+they held a pistol, and in the right hand a silver bow and arrow. During
+the dance, if Apokoo was pleased with them he took the bow and hung it
+on some of the ornaments, when she retired from the dance; this was a
+strong mark of approbation, if I may judge from the applause that
+followed: to some he gave a little gold. Several times he took from
+their necks various ornaments which he placed on my knees and over my
+left shoulder; this was the greatest mark of honour he could shew me;
+and his band played a tune in praise of England, and of our abilities in
+settling differences. Many of the captains sent him presents of gold and
+rum. I gave him a large flask of wine, which he said pleased him more
+than all the others, as it would shew the people I thought him a good
+man.
+
+Thursday 20. The Moorish caboceer of Alphia called to day, requesting I
+would allow him to bring his brother and nephew who had arrived, as they
+wished to see me: on receiving my permission he sent for them, and as
+they immediately made their appearance, they must have been waiting at
+the door. I shewed them a compass, sand-glass, quadrant, some
+phosphorus, and several other things; at the sight of each they bent
+their heads to the ground, exclaiming “Allahoo Akabir!” God is great. I
+gave the caboceer a wax candle, piece of a perfumed soap (which he was
+going to eat!) a flask of Jamaica rum, and some sugar; things he had
+never seen before: he begged to be allowed to touch my hand, and
+continued calling out Ah! bielane Wasieh! Ah Nasara! Ah white visier! Ah
+Christian. He said he had a sister whom he would make me a present of,
+if I would have her. The caboceer of Alphia is brother to the caboceer
+of Premehinie, east of Ashantee, in the Sarem region, and subject to Saï
+Tootoo; it is 14 days journey to Alphia, one day to Brookoom, where the
+head fetish of that country dwells, and one day more to Crumassia and
+Sodie, a range of high hills.
+
+I told him I would buy his horse if he would put a reasonable price on
+it, and would give him a note to get powder, rum, &c. at the Cape: he
+said the Ashantees brought rum to Sarem, but they boiled pepper in water
+and sold it to them; he never tasted such good adrue (medicine) as mine.
+
+I have been learning Arabic this last month, principally from the
+Shereef Abraham, who comes from Boussa, where Mungo Park was drowned,
+and he, as he says, was an eye witness to it; his great sanctity made
+the King of Ashantee send for him to pray and make sacrifice for the
+success of the war. The other Moors here look on him with an evil eye,
+because he will not wear fetishes as they do, and be present at human
+sacrifice. This place now presents the singular spectacle of a Christian
+and Mahometan agreeing in two particulars, rejecting fetishes, and
+absenting themselves from human sacrifices and other abominations: the
+rest of the people, of whatever country they may be, when the King’s
+horns announce any thing of the kind, strive who will get there first to
+enjoy the agonies of the victims. The Shereef told me to-day, that the
+reason he came so seldom to see me, was, that the King had heard he was
+teaching me the Koran, but he wished him not to do so, he did not wish
+me to know how “to call on God;” but, said Abraham, I shall teach you as
+much as I can, that when you go to your own country you may give the
+Moors a good name, for I told the King you knew Arabic before you saw
+me, and we sometimes spake together in that language. He had a beautiful
+copy of the Koran which he intended to leave me, but the King had told
+him he must have it, that when any trouble came he might hold it up to
+God, and beg his mercy and pardon: but he would try and get a small one
+for me.
+
+Saturday 22. This morning a slave belonging to the house master swore by
+the King’s head that he must kill him to-day. A great uproar ensued,
+while they put him in irons, and they got out the family stools and
+sacrificed fowls and sheep, pouring the blood on them to propitiate the
+wrath of the King from the family. The King was then told of it, who
+said as that was his fetish day he could not kill a man that day, but
+to-morrow he would behead him.
+
+It appears he had connection with one of his brother’s wives, who,
+hearing of it, cautioned him from doing so again, or else he would tell
+the King and make him kill him: he was again found with the woman, and
+his brother went to the King to complain. Hearing this, and fearing the
+torture, he swore by the King that he must shoot him with eight muskets.
+The King on being told this, said he would put such small shot into the
+muskets as only to wound him, and then he should torture him; hereby
+fulfilling his own law, which he considers sacred.
+
+Sunday 23. About 12 o’clock sent for by the King, whom I found scolding
+his sister for disobedience in one of her slaves. After sitting some
+time talking on indifferent subjects, the King said he should go to
+council, about what he was going to say to me. Shortly after he sent one
+of his sons to say his father was going to eat and wash, if I would be
+kind enough to return home. I heard that messengers from Elmina had
+arrived the evening before, and expected to hear of some complaint of
+breaking the law, as they style it: although I could not reconcile it
+with an observation I had made; a pair of razors I had presented to the
+King were invariably sent to me to sharpen, as the King wished to shave
+with them, when any favourable affair was to be talked, and that morning
+they came as usual.
+
+I was again sent for, and the King announced in a formal manner his
+intention of going in person to make war on Adinkara, the King of
+Buntookoo, and wished me to announce it to the Governor. I therefore
+wrote a letter of the King’s dictating, stating this to the Governor,
+and requesting him to give on trust 300 oz. kegs, powder, and 300
+muskets, and sending to the Governor in Chief six periguins of gold, and
+to the Governor of Annamaboe four periguins, to purchase a cloth for
+him, the handsomest they could find, and inviting them to send him a
+dash and make the town’s people do the same, for the prosperity of the
+war. His Majesty was very lavish in his compliments of the generosity of
+the English, and their great riches; he then enquired if I was willing
+to go to fight, I replied certainly, if I could obtain the Governor’s
+permission, I should like it very much: he thanked me very warmly. I
+heard, on my return to the house, that the Dutch General had sent as a
+present to the King 60 oz. kegs powder, and the Elmina people 40, which
+caused this stir.
+
+Monday 24. Sent for again to write the Governor word that the King sent
+down 30 men to be clothed as soldiers, if the Governor could spare
+clothes, one of them to be as captain and one a serjeant, with a flag.
+His Majesty also wished to have arrow root, Port wine, sugar, candles,
+and a few other things for the campaign. I was then told to write a
+letter to the Danish Governor in Chief to the same effect, and to ask
+him for payment of what was due on his note. I foresaw this would make
+an uproar; and on the note being handed to me to know what was due on
+it, when I told the King that nothing was on it, he got into the
+greatest rage I have yet seen him in, with the captain who receives the
+pay. This man had been sent down to Accra about three months ago, to
+receive what pay was due, Mr. Bowdich writing to the Danish Governor in
+Chief to know, for the King’s satisfaction, what was sent. On his
+return, the latter stated that the King’s note was paid up to the
+ensuing Christmas. There being a great deficiency between what was
+stated in the letter, and what the captain produced, he charged Mr.
+Bowdich with mis-stating what was in the letter; Quashie Apaintree, the
+linguist, was sworn on the King’s fetish to interpret proper; the
+Ashantee still insisted, and to clear himself, said the book was _not_
+paid to Christmas. The King and linguists remembered this, and when they
+heard that the note was actually paid to the end of the year, every one
+tried who would be loudest in their accusations against him. Apokoo, who
+is his chief, was loudest against him, he said he had used him
+disrespectfully, and never gave him any of the dashes he received;
+besides he had given the lie to an English officer, and at the same time
+he cheated the King; he therefore left him to the mercy of his Majesty.
+The King said he must return him all the gold back he had lent him; and
+as for the fort at Accra, he might take the pay when he pleased. A hat,
+certainly a bad one, was brought in, and the King asked me if I thought
+it worth the price charged for it. I replied I was not a judge, as such
+hats were not sent out for us; but if I were, I must positively decline
+interfering in the King’s affairs with his servants. By degrees the King
+worked himself to such a height of passion, that throwing his cloth
+around him, and hastily rising, he ordered the captain’s arrest. The
+King’s sons seized on him, and he stood appalled, as the silver cane
+fell from his hand. I once thought the King would have committed some
+extravagance, none of the chiefs daring to rise; Agay at length arose,
+and in his energetic manner requested that his majesty would recollect I
+was present. The King ordered his sons to go with the captain to his
+house, and bring him all the gold they found; he then withdrew, but I
+heard him storming in his apartments. Shortly after, Odumata’s brother
+came to say, that the chiefs might thank me, as were it not for my sake,
+every one of them would have been turned out of the palace by the
+slaves. Agay, who was the only one who followed the King, came to
+apologise for the abrupt departure of his Majesty: he hoped I would not
+be offended, and requested I would go home and dine, as it was late, and
+the King would send for me soon.
+
+Tuesday 25. The King sent for me to write another letter to the
+Governor, saying he had sent down three pieces of rock gold as a pawn
+for powder; they were the largest I have yet seen, one of them weighing
+about 20 ounces. I gave his Majesty a packet of letters to be forwarded
+to Cape Coast: he rallied me on the size of it, and said he supposed I
+wrote the Governor and Mr. Bowdich every palaver in town.
+
+To-day the stool of Alphia was declared in abeyance; the son of the
+caboceer Premehinia having brought a complaint against the caboceer of
+Alphia, who is brother to the former; his sable highness came on a
+beautiful Arabian, of a very small size; at the sound of drums and horns
+he danced and went through various evolutions.
+
+Friday 28. To-day the caboceer of Alphia was deposed, and his brother
+the caboceer of Premehinia had the stool attached to his other
+possessions. In the afternoon whilst I was out, the Moorish prince, with
+a large retinue, called to pay me a visit, I found one of his attendants
+sitting at the door with a gold sword, who, on receiving permission,
+went and told him I was come home; shortly after he came, and expressed
+great wonder at all he saw. He said I had too many silver spoons, and
+modestly requested I would give him one or two; his attendant who fanned
+him thought so too, as he attempted to steal one, but one of the
+servants happening to pass, he threw it under the table. I wished him to
+sell me his horse, but he said he was too great a man to walk home, and
+the ground hurt his feet.
+
+Sunday 30. The King paid me a long visit, he heard, he said, that my
+horse had died, and had come to see me least I should think he forgot
+me, but he had so much fetish to make, and so many palavers to settle,
+that he had little time. The conversation then turned on the travels of
+Englishmen, and the white men drowned in the Quolla (Niger.) I explained
+to his Majesty the objects of the expeditions sent from England to the
+interior of Africa, and expressed how anxious I was to get Mr. Park’s
+books and papers for the King of England; his Majesty promised to aid me
+in doing so, and before he went away, desired me to point out to him
+what I conceived the proper method.
+
+The King then began to talk about my living with him, and if I liked to
+do so; he said I was like a king, and wished his people to treat me with
+respect, and every one run to see me when I went out, as they run to see
+him. I said that some of his people wished to accuse me of treason for
+putting buckles in my shoes at the Adaï custom. The King said that none
+dared do so, but those whom he ordered, any other would have their heads
+cut off: but I was different, and he knew Englishmen did what was
+proper. His majesty took his leave with many expressions of personal
+attention, which, whether they were sincere or not, were at least to be
+received with politeness.
+
+Monday, December 1. One of the King’s nephews came to see me, but was
+terribly afraid to pass the man in irons who swore on the King, least he
+should swear that when the King killed him, he must also kill his
+nephew, which would cost a deal of gold; for such is the sacredness of
+the law, that in that case the King must do it. I had a key of a door
+where I could privately let him out, without passing through the courts
+of the house, by which he gladly made his escape. This man has been no
+small annoyance, as no person of rank will venture to call on me, least
+they should be brought into trouble by his swearing on their heads.
+
+Tuesday 2. The King to-day made a present of 10 periguins of gold to the
+Moors in town for their services, and they were to divide it themselves.
+This created no small altercation among them; those belonging to the
+town wished to keep it all, and not give the Shereef Abraham any, who
+came from the banks of the Niger; as the King had that morning told him
+he wished him to accompany him to the war, he told them it was of no
+consequence, as he should not accompany the King unless he was looked on
+with the same degree of rank as Baba, as, indeed, he was superior from
+his knowledge, and belonging to Mahomet’s family. On this they gave him
+three periguins, the same that Baba had: all were then pleased with
+their portion except one, called Aboo, who only had 10 ackies; he
+consoled himself by making the usual exclamation, “God is great! he
+never dies, he never sleeps,” and said he left the palaver in his hands.
+
+Thursday 4. Apokoo paid me a visit to thank me for some medicine I had
+given him, being sick after his great custom; he enquired if I heard
+that Fantee messengers were come to this place, I said no, but I
+expected them soon to take the King’s fetish, as he wished them to do
+so, previous to his going to war; he then told me that the King heard
+there were some on the path, and could not think what their message was;
+I told him they must either be those the Governor was sending up, or
+Fantees with the King’s tribute; on his going away, he requested I would
+let him out by the door I had the key of, as he also was afraid of the
+man in irons swearing on his life, and was glad he could avoid passing
+him.
+
+Friday 5. This was the coldest morning I have felt since I came to
+Africa, being scarcely able to take breakfast, I was so chilly; the
+thermometer stood at 65°.
+
+I was desired to write a letter to General Daendels, telling him the
+King had lost his notes for the Dutch forts, and requesting him to give
+new ones to Akimpon. The King’s father had conquered the Akim chief, who
+held a note for Dutch Accra; he also conquered the King of Adinkara, who
+had the Elmina note, both of which were given up to him; he would not
+take them both in one note as the General wished, but he must have one
+payable at Elmina and one at Accra. When the King weighed out the gold
+for his messengers expences, he weighed 10 ackies for me, which I hoped
+his Majesty would take back, as I did not wish for them, and requested
+he would not think I wished payment for writing a letter for him. My
+scruples were laughed at by them all, and the King said “that white men
+were very singular, as they gave gold or a good dash to any one who did
+any thing for them, yet they would not take any: he wished to do
+something like white men, and when any one did any thing for him he gave
+them something, and he wished me to take this to shew his good will.”
+Odumata, who is the greediest man in Coomassie for gold, whispered, if I
+did not like it, I might send it to him when I got home. I did not
+exactly understand him, or I would have offered it to him then with
+pleasure, to expose his avarice.
+
+The captain who was arrested last week for peculation on Danish Accra,
+appeared in his place to day; he had promised Amanquateä and Quatchie
+Quophie, the two chief captains, a large present if they would settle
+the affair for him, which they did, and he received the letters to
+proceed to the fort as usual.
+
+Apokoo having told the King of the inconvenience arising to any chief
+coming to me, from the culprit in irons being in the way, he was removed
+to a private part of Apokoo’s house, where he could annoy no one, till
+the Adaï custom, when he is to be beheaded, as the affair cannot be
+settled without.
+
+Sunday 7. Several of the Moorish caboceers came to take leave, as they
+were going to-morrow to their own country previous to the war, and were
+to meet the King on the road when he went, and consequently would not
+see me again for some time; on my enquiring how long the King was to be
+absent, they replied, God had told them seven months would finish the
+war; they enquired if I should like to see them at Cape Coast, as they
+should come and see me, to which I said I should. After drinking coffee,
+&c. they took a hurried leave, as one of the King’s people came to tell
+me one of his Majesty’s daughters was dead, and shortly after, constant
+discharges of musketry announced the custom. The King in the afternoon
+came to the market place close to the house, to make custom with his
+chiefs. I understood that human sacrifices were to be offered, and
+walked out to avoid the uproar.
+
+On my way I paid a visit to Baba, who was performing ablution; he said
+he was going to prayer, but would soon have done, I told him I would sit
+down till he had finished. Cow hides were spread in rows for the
+worshippers, in the front was a large hide for Baba. All having taken
+off their sandals and prostrated themselves with their faces to the east
+(to Mecca,) the service began by one of them chaunting the usual call to
+prayer; the chorus of Allahoo Akaber! (God is great) was well performed
+by the others.
+
+There was something solemn and affecting in it, contrasted with the
+heavy discharges of musketry and shouts of the populace in the distance,
+which proclaimed the bloody sacrifice was begun, while the vultures and
+crows wheeled in mazy circles expecting their usual share of the
+banquet, and the sun shot his last gleams through the heavy fogs that
+encircled the town.
+
+As I went home I passed the headless trunks of two female slaves, laying
+neglected and exposed in the market place, that had been sacrificed, one
+by the King and one by the deceased’s family. The vultures were
+revelling undisturbed amidst the blood.
+
+I happened to-day to throw down a tumbler of wine and water with my
+foot, having placed it on the ground, while the Moorish Shereef was with
+me; he bent his head to Mecca, pronouncing “God is great!” and told me
+it was my good angel who had done so, for who might tell but there was
+poison in the cup to destroy me? he said man had always two angels
+attending him, one on his right hand as his good angel, and one on his
+left as his evil one; whatever good he did was prompted by the former,
+and whatever ill by the latter one. I have never found them without a
+reason for every thing, or a name, except to the mother of Moses, whom
+they say nobody knows on earth; the Shereef gravely enquired if I knew
+the name of Aboobaker’s father, I assured him I did not; he told me many
+of the Moors could not tell, but as he was of Mahomet’s family he knew
+more things, and told me it was _Kahābata_.
+
+I heard from the Sarem Moors that they fight with bows and arrows
+steeped in deadly poison, the least scratch of which is instant death.
+They gather scorpions tails, snakes heads, and the poisonous parts of
+any reptile that affects man; this, with several vegetable substances
+which they would not name, are put in a pot, and set over the fire at
+sun rise; they boil it all day and must not eat or drink, but stir it
+about repeating incantations, and shaking a pair of iron castanets,
+without which, the charm would be incomplete. I saw an old hag at this
+work on the Bantama road, who would not answer my question as to what
+she was doing, but made many wry faces, and squint looks, for me to be
+gone and not spoil her work, and while I stood, she stirred, and
+muttered, and clattered the castanets with greater fury.
+
+My attention being anxiously turned towards information concerning the
+Niger and its course, all enquiries end in making the Nile its
+continuation. An old Moor from Jennë told me, unasked, that while he was
+at Askanderee (Alexandria) twenty-six years ago he saw a fight at the
+mouth of the Nile between ships, and one of them was blown up in the air
+with a terrible explosion. This must have been the battle fought by Lord
+Nelson, although there is a mistake in the date of seven years; he
+surely could not invent such a story. He states also, that returning to
+Masser (Grand Cairo) the European armies advanced to that place; the
+first army took every thing they wanted and would not pay: but when the
+second European and Turkish army got possession of it, they paid for
+whatever they wanted. All the Moors were ordered to retire to one
+quarter of the city, and not allowed to mix with the soldiers; this
+agrees with Sir Robert Wilson’s account of the Egyptian campaign. I
+shewed him a seal I have, of Pompey’s pillar, which he said he knew; he
+had travelled from Jennë to Masser on a joma (camel) and drew me a map
+of the Quolla and Nile from its source to its emptying itself into the
+sea at Alexandria. There is one thing that disagrees with Mr. Park’s
+account, they call the Niger Quolla at Jennë, Sansanding, &c. and
+describe the Jolliba as falling into the Quolla to the east of
+Timbuctoo. When I told them of the conjectures that the great river of
+Africa emptied itself into a large lake, they laughed at such an idea,
+and reasoned so as to put wiser heads to the blush. “God,” say they,
+“made all rivers to run to the sea, you say that small rivers go there:
+the Quolla is the largest river in the world, and why should it not go
+there also? Was it to lose itself in the lake, where could the waters go
+to?” They describe the Quolla as about five miles in breadth, and having
+a very rocky channel, the banks on both sides very high and rugged; in
+many places, canoes often take a day to pass a short distance, from the
+dangerous whirlpools, and sudden squalls: at other places, the stream
+runs with great rapidity.
+
+They think the Mediterranean sea to be circular, without mixing with the
+ocean; seven rivers from Africa turn their course to it, but only two
+reach the shores, of which the Nile is one. The rush of the waters of
+the Nile, when they meet the sea is so great, that the waves are driven
+into the air with great force, and retire like waves against a rock.
+They call the Mediterranean sea Bahare Mall. The Red sea, say they,
+assumes various colours at different periods, from seven streams pouring
+their course into it, red, blue, yellow, &c. Hence they call it Majumaal
+Bahare, or the confluence of streams. They are very fond of mystical
+numbers, and often quote seven. The lake Caudie they call Bahare Nohoo,
+or the water of Noah, from the tradition that the deluge broke out from
+thence. They describe it as encompassed with rocks, within which is a
+bed of sand, and then the water. This we may allow to be a little
+fanciful, as I have seen a map of the earth drawn by Baba, where the
+world is supposed to be round, and encompassed with a rocky girdle, the
+sea is supposed to flow between this and the earth, which is placed in
+the centre. They are not singular in this idea; as all rude nations form
+the same notions of the globe: but though we reject, with reason, their
+foolish notions of many things, it would be no great sign of wisdom to
+refuse every information from them.
+
+Man is a reasoning animal, and enquires into the nature of things in a
+rude, as well as in a civilised state; and if he cannot give a just,
+will at least give a plausible reason for many things.
+
+The Moors say “That the noise people hear, when they stop their ears
+with their hands, is the rolling of the waters of libation in paradise,
+where Mahomet purifies all those he saves from hell, before they enter
+into the state of the blessed. It is for this reason they perform
+ablution before they pray; the fire burning other parts of their bodies,
+while their face, hands, feet, &c. remained untouched, hence Mahomet
+when he looks for them, knows them from Jews, Christians, &c. They have
+also a sentence written on their foreheads, “Hooalie Jahanamoo naataka
+raboo baskafaatee Mahomada roosoola lahee sallee allahoo alahe
+wasalame.”
+
+Inoculation for the small pox is practised in the Moorish countries;
+they take the matter, and puncture the patient in seven places, both on
+the arms and legs. The sickness continues but a few days, and rarely any
+person dies of it. It is also done in Ashantee. Seven is their mystical
+number.
+
+Monday, December 8. To day the King killed a man on account of his
+daughter who died yesterday, and to be out of the way, I called on
+Odumata, whom I found well charged with palm wine: his usual discourse
+of the greatness of the King and the manner of the Ashantees fighting
+took up his time: he said that when white men wished to fight, they sent
+a book to the other party, telling them they would meet them on such a
+day, but the Ashantees took their enemies by surprise, which shortened
+their wars. I told him he had repeated the same story about fifty times
+in two months, and wished to know if the English did so at Annamaboe,
+where fifteen white men killed thousands of Ashantees; this put him on
+the fidget, as I knew it would, and he said that it was on him the
+English fired first, and he fought them without the King’s leave, who
+was angry when he heard that they had returned the fire of the fort; I
+told him it was a fine excuse to cover their defeat. He enquired if I
+thought they could not have taken the fort? I told him if they could
+have done it they would. He said, if the King says we must do any thing,
+we must do it. I asked him, if the King told them to pull down the moon,
+if they could do it? He then got up from his chair and began to
+manoeuvre how he and Apokoo were to have made a breach in Annamaboe
+fort, to the no small enjoyment of several of his wives, captains, and
+slaves, who were present; they were to have burned the gates, and with
+axes to have cut through the walls. He said they had Dutch and Danish
+flags, which they had taken from forts; why, I enquired, did they not
+show the English trophies? They had none, he said: and the King had told
+them, that were he to kill white men from England, he might as well kill
+all the cocks in the kingdom; the one told the hour, and when to rise in
+the morning; the other brought them good things from England, and
+learned them sense; besides, if any of their slaves did ill, they told
+them they would sell them to the whites, which made them better. I told
+him black men had the eyes of a thief, the paws of a tiger, and the
+belly of a hog, for they were never satisfied; he said I was right, for
+they were now going to war, and would take whatever they could find; he
+thought 30,000 Ashantees would be killed, but that was nothing. He then
+locked up his wives because I put evil in their heads, by saying that
+Englishmen allowed every one a husband. I then took my leave.
+
+Monday 15. Baba, the chief of the Moors, having told me that a Moor was
+going to Jennë, I took the opportunity of writing a letter to two
+Europeans who reside there, and, I suppose, belonged to Mungo Park’s
+expedition, seven soldiers being unaccounted for, who were in good
+health when they were separated from Mr. Park. There are also two white
+men at Timbuctoo, who have been there several years. The Moors are
+confident that the letter will reach them, which is much to be desired,
+as some information may be obtained of that celebrated traveller. Baba
+came, and the old Moor with him, to whom I delivered the letter; he
+received it from Baba with much ceremony, and to induce him to forward
+an answer, I promised him a suitable reward[125]. The whole of the Moors
+came in a body with drums, muskets, horns, and all the attendant pomp of
+chiefs; they had just taken leave of the King, and came to do the same
+to me. Having remained about half an hour, and drank some wine, they set
+out for their journey with noisy clamour.
+
+Sunday 21. Apokoo called and told me he was going to morrow, with the
+King, to the camp, on the Barramang path, to make fetish, and would
+return on Wednesday: he seemed to expect that I would say I would go
+also; but as the King had not sent to me, I did not express any wish. A
+boy brought some milk covered up, and he lifted the lid to look what it
+was, some of it touched his fingers, and he sent for water, herbs, and
+different things to purify his fingers; he said he would give me a
+present if I would give over drinking milk: I told him if he sent me an
+ounce of gold daily, I would not do it; he cursed the milk, and the boy
+for bringing it. Thus many of them are so particular, they will not stay
+where eggs are, another shuns a fowl, one hates beef, and many mutter a
+charm if they meet a pig. The Moorish Shereef discovered a piece of pork
+one day in the boy’s room, and made such a noise, that I thought one had
+struck him, nor would he cease till I ordered it away.
+
+Monday 22. The King, and almost all the captains, set out early this
+morning, with great bustle for the camp, many sent their compliments
+previous to going.
+
+Wednesday 24. The King and all the people returned in the evening, and
+went to the upper market place; where the King seeing me at the door,
+ordered them to pass down the street to the palace, the chiefs all
+saluting as they passed. The King, who was the only one that did not
+walk, made his people halt, and held out his hand to me, which I took,
+and bade him welcome to his capital; he enquired if I was well, and
+after he passed, he looked round with a smile and shook his finger at
+me: I suppose because I did not follow him to the camp. His Majesty
+afterwards sent his compliments, as did several of the chiefs.
+
+Thursday 25. This being Christmas day, I displayed the flag, and paid
+every attention to it that I possibly could; many of the chiefs hearing
+of it, sent their compliments, expecting a present, but of course were
+disappointed.
+
+Friday 24. Baba called, and began an oration about Sam Brue, hinting
+that he should like if I could get Brue, the slave trader, back to Cape
+Coast. He was my good friend, I was his friend, the Governor was my
+friend, Brue was his friend, and a long genealogy fit to puzzle a
+Scottish or Welch family herald. I told him no person must interfere in
+such affairs. He had that morning received from Brue, powder, guns, and
+cloth for slaves he had sent down; he brought me a piece of the cloth to
+shew me, it was very coarse with large red figures on it. I told him
+when he washed it, he would need to take his staff and put on his
+sandals to hunt after the colours; he told me he had found that out; for
+he had washed a piece, and he could not tell what colour it was. He then
+began a dissertation on the _good_ the slave trade did them, and what
+changes he had seen since he came here; he thought God intended to
+change the power of white men, and give it to the blacks and Moors. I
+told him he was going to make Mahomet a liar, as the Alkoran told them
+that the whites were to have sovereign dominion to the end, because of
+Noah’s sons’ behaviour to him when drunk; and if God was inclined to
+hide his face from white men, because of any ill they did, I did not
+think he would transfer it to Africans for any good they had done; he
+said I was right, and when they thought wrong the Christians could put
+them right. Seeing a Prayer Book on the table, he enquired if that was
+“Lingeel,” the name they give the New Testament; I replied it was the
+form of worshipping God in English Churches; he wished me to read a
+little of it to him, as he had heard that white men prayed to God so—and
+muttered in a form, it must be allowed, too often resorted to by lazy
+clergymen. They conceive to worship God in any other way than chaunting
+or singing is absurd. I have had more than once to sing (if I may
+presume to call it so) from the psalms of David, and chaunt the
+responses of the service, to convince them that there is something more
+than mere muttering in prayer, were it properly performed, besides
+describing the organ used in churches to assist the harmony. They have
+often asked me about the high priest at Rome, and whether or not we had
+any thing shaped out that we called god. I told them the English
+abhorred all representations of the Eternal, and that nothing was
+adequate to represent him. They are very tenacious on this point, and as
+scrupulous as any Protestant may wish, conceiving it an inexcusable
+crime to have any thing of the kind. They have many times enquired if we
+offer any sacrifice to God. I told them that our Scriptures do not allow
+the shedding of blood of any kind; the last great expiation of the
+Christians being performed by Jesus when he died on the cross, in
+commemoration of which, the offering of bread and wine formed the
+sacrifice. Neither did we pour out libations[126] before drinking,
+because any thing poured forth before drinking, or victuals set apart
+before eating, is an offering to devils.
+
+The Shereef Abraham coming in with one or two more, I enquired about
+Solomon’s Al Genii, and whether or not they knew any thing of free
+masonry. I had questioned them several times before, and knew none of
+them were free masons; they now told me that there was such a sect in
+Arabia, and conceived them to be magicians, as they controlled the
+spirits of air. They were much astonished to hear that I was one, and
+eagerly enquired if I knew about Solomon’s seal, the building of the
+temple, and other matters, which universal belief endows free masons
+with,—matters, I told them, I might not speak of. They told me they knew
+we kept some of our genii on a floating island in the sea; if any ships
+came near it, the genii were instructed to laugh at them, and the island
+disappeared; with other such stories. One of the boys told them I had a
+stuff (phosphorus) which they supposed gave me such power; they wished
+to see it, and laughed at first at the idea of any thing in water
+producing fire, or that I could confine that element and dare to keep it
+in a trunk; I put it to the proof, by burning a piece of cloth, paper,
+and mat, and told them if they were not satisfied they might have some
+on their skins, but they did not choose it, and called out in wonder,
+“Houa Kahina iakul naroo malekaneran,” “he is a magician and eats fire,
+he is the King of fire;” be it remembered that this last appellation is
+peculiar to the devil. The Shereef after thinking some time, enquired if
+that stuff was not made from the bones of genii? I told him bones were
+in the composition. He wished to know if we killed genii and took their
+bones, I told him blood was never shed in England but for great crimes;
+true, he said, but none could see _us_ do so. I told him there was an
+eye that never sleeps, at which he bent his head, pronouncing “God is
+great.” The Moors then held a conversation in Arabic, by which they
+settled that I must be in the secrets of Solomon, and the Shereef
+Abraham related one of the Arabian tales, by which Balkes or Bilkis,
+Queen of Sheba, is made out to be the child carried away by the dog in
+one of the stories of that work. Balkis, according to them, adored the
+sun, and Solomon made her turn and worship God; he commanded the genii
+to transport her palace from her own country to Jerusalem, and the three
+palaces he built for her in Arabia Felix had gold mixed with the mortar
+with which they were formed. They wished to know if I could move a
+house? I told them, such was the mystery attached to our concerns, that
+it was difficult to answer them; any thing not concerned with masonry, I
+might answer; this, they said, was what the people in their country
+said. Abraham said he was sure the Arabian magicians made use of bones
+from genii to make fire and control them. It would be a curious
+circumstance to know that phosphorus, and inoculation, existed in Arabia
+in the days of its splendour, and continue now; as they are considered
+as two of the most eminent among modern European discoveries. After they
+were gone, I called on Odumata, whom I found all talk as usual. He said
+he knew I wished to take some of the King’s sons to Cape Coast for
+education, but the captains had represented to his Majesty, that they
+did not wish it. If the King wanted gold, and they had it, they would
+give it him; and were always ready when he called them, to receive his
+foot on their necks, and swear to do whatever he wished them, or never
+to return. The reason he gave, was, that they were afraid of being
+discovered when they cheated the King, which they made no secret of
+avowing, and having their heads cut off. I told him he did not like a
+white man to live here then; yes, he said, they all liked that; but he
+was sufficient to settle all palavers between the King and the English,
+without any of the King’s people knowing English. He began to boast of
+the many wives and children he had, more than Englishmen. I told him
+there was a possibility of an Englishman knowing his father; but no
+black man could tell his; they were all slaves, and rendered incapable
+of inheriting their father’s property; none of his children need to
+thank him, he neither could give them any thing while alive, nor leave
+them any thing when dead, and many of them kept wives, while their
+slaves enjoyed them. He said I spoke very true, but that I could not
+show keys with him; he produced two large bunches, and I offered him an
+ounce of gold if he would shew me a lock for each key; he evaded this: I
+took them in my hand, and found many of them broken, and various
+articles of lead and iron to make the bunches large; his people, and
+some chiefs that were with him, enjoyed his perplexity, if I might judge
+from their chuckling.
+
+Several of the King’s brother’s slaves appeared in pursuit of two of
+their fellows, flogging them with whips; one of the culprits bounding
+over every obstacle, threw himself at Odumata’s feet, which saved him
+from their flogging; the man who had charge of him appeared, and in a
+long and animated harangue, with many gestures, stated the trouble he
+had had from the runaway, and concluded by swearing, the man must be
+given up to him in the morning to go and work. It is customary for
+slaves, when they fall under their master’s displeasure, to take shelter
+in some other chief’s house, who tries to get them excused.
+
+Saturday 27. The King sent for me, to give me letters which had arrived;
+and on my opening them, two small packages of gold tumbled out. The King
+asked, if they were for me or him. I enquired if he expected gold from
+any one at Cape Coast, he said, no. I told him, it was unlikely gold
+would be sent to any one but me. The King, turning to his captains, said
+the Governor was a good man, sending me gold whenever I asked for it,
+and I eat a great deal of gold. I told him, I never wished a present of
+gold from any one; what I got was my pay, as Englishmen did not give
+gold to one another. He intended returning his messengers on Tuesday, as
+he said, two of them having come up in English uniforms, as the Governor
+was to fit out thirty at the King’s request. His Majesty wished me to
+taste a bottle of tincture of rhubarb the Governor had sent him; I did
+so, lest he should think there was something bad in it. I had then to
+taste some tincture of cinnamon he had received some time ago; I
+swallowed them with great distaste, as I had felt very unwell the
+preceding day, and that morning, and had taken medicine just before the
+King sent, and not eaten any breakfast.
+
+In the afternoon Apokoo called; he had heard Adoo Bradie had been on
+board a ship, and that 400 flags were hoisted to receive him;[127] that
+was the reason, he said, they did nor wish any of the King’s people to
+learn to read and write, they became white men, and saw so many fine
+things, they never thought of returning to Ashantee. I told him if it
+was disagreeable, it would be given over. Every one was pleased, he
+said, to think any Ashantee great man was well used at Cape Coast; but
+it turned their heads, not being accustomed to it. The King would give
+Adoo Bradie fetish when he came back, and if he told the King lies, the
+fetish would catch him, and where would be the good? The English would
+have all their trouble for nothing.
+
+His Majesty, some years ago, took one of Apokoo’s daughters to wife; she
+is now one of the finest women in Coomassie, and must have been a great
+beauty. It was discovered by the chief eunuch that she had intrigued
+with one of the attendants. It was told the King that one of his wives
+had proved false; “let her die instantly,” said he in a rage; the slave
+whispered him “it is Apokoo’s child.” He rose in silence, and went to
+the harem, and the culprit being sent for, the King turned his head
+away, while he folded his cloth around him, and lifting the curtain to
+let her pass, he exclaimed “go, you are free! your father was my
+father,[128] he is my friend, and for his sake, I forget you; when you
+find any man good enough for you, let me know and I will give him gold.”
+Her father has not allowed her to marry again.
+
+When any public execution, or sacrifice, is to take place, the ivory
+horns of the King proclaim at the palace door, “wow! wow! wow!” “death!
+death, death, death!” and, as they cut off their heads, the bands play a
+peculiar strain, till the operation is finished.
+
+The greatest human sacrifice that has been made in Coomassie during my
+residence, took place on the eve of the Adaï custom early in January. I
+had a mysterious intimation of it two days before, from a quarter not to
+be named. My servants being ordered out of the way, I was thus
+addressed, “Christian, take care and watch over your family; the angel
+of death has drawn his sword, and will strike on the neck of many
+Ashantees; when the drum is struck, on Adaï eve, it will be the death
+signal of many. Shun the King if you can, but fear not.” When the time
+came to strike the drum, I was sitting thinking on the horrors of the
+approaching night, and was rather startled at a summons to attend the
+King. This is the manner he always takes to cut off any captain or
+person of rank; they are sent for to talk a palaver, and the moment they
+enter, the slaves lay hold of them, and pinion them, and throw them
+down; if they are thought desperate characters, a knife is thrust
+through their mouth to keep them from swearing the death of any other,
+when they are charged with their crime, real or supposed, and put to
+death or torture.
+
+Whilst I was with the King, the officers, whose duty it is to attend at
+sacrifices, and are in the confidence of the King, came in with their
+knives, &c. and a message was sent to one chief to say, that the King
+was going to his mother’s house to talk a palaver, and shortly after his
+Majesty rose, and proceeded thither, ordering the attendants to conduct
+me out by another door.
+
+This sacrifice was in consequence of the King imagining, that if he
+washed the bones of his mother and sisters, who died while he was on the
+throne, it would propitiate the fetish, and make the war successful.
+Their bones, were therefore taken from their coffins, and bathed in rum
+and water with great ceremony; after being wiped with silks, they were
+rolled in gold dust, and wrapped in strings of rock gold, aggry beads,
+and other things of the most costly nature. Those who had done any thing
+to displease the King, were then sent for in succession, and immolated
+as they entered, “that their blood might water the graves.” The whole of
+the night, the King’s executioners traversed the streets, and dragged
+every one they found to the palace, where they were put in irons: but
+(which is often the case) some one had disclosed the secret, and almost
+every one had fled, and the King was disappointed of most of his
+distinguished victims. Next morning being Adaï custom, which generally
+brought an immense crowd to the city, every place was silent and
+forlorn; nothing could be found in the market, and his Majesty proceeded
+to the morning sacrifice of sheep, &c. attended only by his confidents,
+and the members of his own family. When I appeared at the usual time, he
+seemed pleased at my confidence, and remarked that I observed how few
+captains were present. He appeared agitated and fatigued, and sat a very
+short time.
+
+As soon as it was dark, the human sacrifices were renewed, and, during
+the night, the bones of the royal deceased were removed to the sacred
+tomb at Bantama, to be deposited along with the remains of those who had
+sat on the throne. The procession was splendid, but not numerous, the
+chiefs and attendants being dressed in the war costume, with a musket,
+and preceded by torches; the sacred stools, and all the ornaments used
+on great occasions, were carried with them; the victims, with their
+hands tied behind them, and in chains, preceded the bones, whilst at
+intervals, the songs of death and victory proved their wish to begin the
+war. The procession returned about three P.M. on Monday, when the King
+took his seat in the market place with his small band, and “death!
+death! death!” was echoed by his horns. He sat with a silver goblet of
+palm wine in his hand, and when they cut off any head, imitated a
+dancing motion in his chair; a little before dark, he finished his
+terrors for that day, by retiring to the palace, and soon after, the
+chiefs came from their concealment, and paraded the streets, rejoicing
+that they had escaped death, although a few days might put them in the
+same fear. I had been attacked by a violent fit of ague in the morning,
+from having stood so long in the sun the day before while with the King,
+it being unusually hot. I dared not send out my people to procure any
+thing, least they should be murdered, and in fact there was nothing in
+the market to be had: there was not even a drop of water in the house.
+The sacrifice was continued till the next Adaï custom, seventeen days.
+
+
+[Footnote 125: “Mr. Wm. Hutchison, British Resident at Coomassie, the
+capital of Ashantee, hearing there are two Europeans at Jennë, takes the
+opportunity of a Moor returning to that place, to write to them. It is
+earnestly requested, that some information will be sent to Cape Coast
+Castle, whether or not, those, to whom this is addressed, belonged to
+the expedition of Captain Mungo Park, or by what means they reached
+Jennë. As no certain accounts have reached England of the fate of that
+gentleman and his companions, any particulars will be interesting; also,
+whether or not the Niger is the river known here by the name of Quolla,
+Joliba, or any other appellation unknown in Europe. Also, its course,
+and the opinions among the natives as to its termination, with the names
+of any towns or countries it may run through. It is also reported that
+there are two white men at Timbuctoo: should it be possible to render
+any assistance to either, it will be done from Cape Coast Castle on
+accounts being received of the certainty of their situation; and the
+means which may be found to make the Europeans on the Quolla revisit
+their native country: in the mean time, any information will be
+anxiously expected, as to the fate of their companions; and whether they
+have heard of an English expedition, lately arrived at the Niger. Two
+notices in English and Arabic accompany this, offering a reward for
+information.
+
+December 9th.]
+
+[Footnote 126: I have observed some of the Moors who have been a long
+time in Ashantee pour forth a little of any thing before drinking. It
+may be remarked, that all the worshippers of the fetish do this, and
+also set apart some of their victuals before they eat.]
+
+[Footnote 127: The signals happened to be drying on board H.M.S. Cherub,
+Captain Wills, then lying in the roads of Cape Coast.]
+
+[Footnote 128: It will be remembered, that the present King carried an
+elephant’s tail before Apokoo, until he unexpectedly succeeded to the
+stool.—See page 295.]
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                 _Sketch of Gaboon, and its Interior._
+
+
+The River Gabon, or Gaboon, as the English pronounce it, is placed by
+some, N. 30’, E. 8° 42’, by others, on the equator and E. 9° 23’: the
+former longitude is certainly the more correct; judging from three
+reckonings of the vessel in which I visited it; unfortunately, I had not
+the requisites for an observation. The former latitude also, is,
+doubtless, the correct one of Cape Clara; for an observation, taken as
+we were beating in by Round Corner, gave 23’ N.; and another, taken
+about 35 miles up the river, 15’ N. From Cape Clara (which is not ‘very
+high land,’) to Sandy point, being an oblique line, may be about 25
+miles, but the direct width of the mouth of the river, cannot be more
+than 18. From 22 to 25 miles up the river, lay Parrot and Konig islands,
+called by the natives Embenee and Dambee; the former (on which ships
+have been hauled to careen) 1¾ miles in circumference and uninhabited,
+the latter considerably larger, and having a village on the hill. The
+natives mentioned the ruins of a Portuguese fort there. Konig island is
+not more than a mile from Rodney’s or Oweëndo point, where there is a
+large bight; which, with the one opposite, within Eghirrighee point,
+makes the width of the river nearly thirty miles in this part. From
+these points it seems to form an inner basin, the greatest width of
+which, just above Goombena creek, is about twelve miles, judging from
+shots; for the work of the ship being heavy whilst in the river, and the
+crew suffering from the climate, (the first mate and carpenter dying,)
+no assistance could be spared for a survey. There are several large
+creeks in the river, Goöngway is the most so, and Goombena the second.
+
+These names, being, of themselves, as uninteresting as the list of
+bearings would be, I shall reserve both the one and the other, with the
+outline of the river adjusted to them, for the Portfolio of the African
+Association; and also two or three sketches of the different parts of
+the river, not worth publishing, but, possibly, useful for the
+introduction of more accurate observers.[129]
+
+About forty-five miles from the mouth, the river forms two arms. The one
+runs north eastwards, by a point called Ohlombompole by the natives of
+Gaboon, and Gongoloba by the Shekans or interior people; the entrance is
+about four miles wide. The other, runs apparently S.S.E. by a point
+called Quawkaw, and Quanlie by the two nations, and is about two miles
+broad. It was an inconsiderate observation of Mr. Maxwell’s, “If the
+Niger has a sensible outlet, I have no doubt of its proving the Congo,
+knowing all the rivers between Cape Palmas and Cape Lopez to be
+inadequate to the purpose.” The Volta may be thought so, but the Lagos
+certainly cannot, nor the Danger, or Gaboon; and, surely, the rivers del
+Rey, and Formoso are not; which are thus noticed, within a few pages of
+Mr. Maxwell’s observation, by the judicious Editor of Mr. Park’s last
+mission, “The Rio del Rey and the Formoso, are stated to be of
+considerable size, being each of them seven or eight miles broad at the
+mouth; and the supposed Delta, estimated by the line of coast, is much
+larger than that of the Ganges: consequently, the two streams, if
+united, must form a river of prodigious magnitude.”
+
+There being little prospect of the ship completing her cargo (red wood
+and ebony) within two months, I determined to divert such a tædium under
+an insalubrious climate, by investigating and compiling the interior
+geography, as far as I could from the reports of the slaves, and
+traders. The most enterprising of the latter, and the greatest
+travellers in the interior, living on board the vessel during her
+loading, I conversed with them constantly, as they spoke good English;
+and I went on shore twice, passing a night the latter time, to Naängo or
+George’s Town, two miles up the romantic creek of Abaäga, about forty-
+five miles from the mouth of the river. I found the Governor (so his
+title was interpreted) a very hospitable and intelligent native, and
+speaking good English. He had travelled much in the interior, when
+young, was still very inquisitive for particulars, and produced me a
+troop of slaves for questioning, which furnished a native of almost
+every country I could hear of. I saw two young negroes, the sons of
+native rulers, who spoke and wrote French fluently. The one had been
+sent to that country for education, and the other in his voyage to
+England for the same purpose, was taken and carried to France, and
+generously educated and maintained by the owner of the privateer.[130]
+Each remained in France upwards of eight years before they were sent
+back to Gaboon, and professed to be very anxious to return to it,
+depicting the native habits not only as uncongenial, but disgusting to
+them. The Congo hypothesis, the primary stimulus to my enquiries, making
+geographical particulars the most desirable, I will defer those on other
+subjects, and submit the compilation of seven weeks investigation and
+inquiry under the above advantageous circumstances.
+
+The native name of the country of Gaboon, is Empoöngwa; it dos not
+extend above the branching of the river, or more than forty miles in
+length; and is about thirty in breadth, including the river, which they
+call Aroöngo. We will pursue the north-eastern arm first. There is a
+sand-bank in the middle of the entrance, and three small islands,
+Soombëä, Ningahinga, and Ompoöngee, are just beyond it, where the water
+becomes fresh. About two miles further, is a larger island called
+Cheēndue, inhabited, and the women of which are constantly employed in
+fishing for white mullet, being abundant. They dress them with a kind of
+chocolate, which I shall notice presently. Several large trees grow out
+of the water, one, eminently high, is directly in the middle of the
+river; they are called Intinga, or the iron tree. The eastern banks of
+this arm are inhabited by the Sheekans, who, with all the nations of the
+interior, are called Boolas by the Gaboons, a term synonymous with Dunko
+in Ashantee. Adjoining Sheekan are the Jomays, who speak a dialect of
+the same language. The Sheekans bury their dead within the house, under
+their beds. The Gaboons prohibit these people from visiting the coast,
+lest they should deprive them of their profits, as the medium between
+the interior and shipping, whether for slaves or manufactures.
+
+The Sheekans, like their neighbours, only reckon from 1 to 5, conjoining
+these numerals afterwards, as Mr. Park has shewn the Feloops and the
+Jaloffs to do.
+
+  One       Ilwawtoe
+
+  Two       Ibba
+
+  Three     Bittach
+
+  Four      Binnay
+
+  Five      Bittah
+
+  Ten       Ducoom
+
+  Twenty    Eboomebba
+
+  Hundred   Kama
+
+The source of the north-eastern arm is unknown, it probably flows from
+the River Danger, called by the natives Moöhnda, which flows very far
+from the interior; and, though not so wide, is considerably deeper than
+the Aroöngo or Gabon. There is a creek passing Quaw Ben’s town in the
+River Gabon, which runs inland, within a short distance of the Moöhnda,
+so that traders proceeding so far by it, carry their canoes over the
+interval to that river. The Nokos, Apooks, and Komebays, inhabit the
+lower space between the Rivers Gaboon and Danger.
+
+Having pulled up the N.E. arm for two days and nights, they land,
+leaving the river about one mile broad; and after two journies,
+(skirting Sheekan,) reach Samashialee, the capital of the country of
+Kaylee, (sometimes called Kalay,) and the residence of the King Ohmbay.
+Samashialee, is described as a considerable town, and Asāko, as the
+second to it; their houses are all of bamboo. The Kaylees manufacture
+iron from the ore, which abounds every where in this part of Africa; but
+they are very careful not to let the coast people see them do so, as
+knives, spears, mats, and bamboo cloth, are their articles of barter
+with them, for brass rods, cottons, and other European commodities. I
+procured some of the knives and spear heads, of their own iron. The
+bamboo-cloth has the appearance of coarse brown Holland. Their mats are
+very fine, and much varied in colors and patterns. It is remarkable,
+that the latter do not partake at all of their own wild character, but
+are of that chaste, simple outline which would be called elegant by
+civilized nations. These people are cannibals, not only eating their
+prisoners but their dead, whose bodies are bid for directly the breath
+is out of them. A father has frequently been seen to eat his own child.
+Fowls abound in their country, but they never eat them, nor will they
+goats, which are equally numerous, whilst human flesh is to be had. Salt
+fetches an enormous price. The people of Gaboon would be afraid to
+venture amongst them, even as traders, but for their musquets, and a
+strong body of Sheekans, always engaged to accompany them. Their country
+is mountainous and woody. There are people inhabiting a mountain close
+to the north-eastward of Kalay, who are said to see best in the night
+time, when they travel and work, sleeping most of the day, because the
+light hurts their eyes, which are remarkably brilliant. Ivory is
+plentiful. The Kaylee seems to be a dialect of the Sheekan.
+
+  One      Woto
+
+  Two      Ibba
+
+  Three    Battach
+
+  Four     Binnay
+
+  Five     Bittan
+
+  Ten      Duëoom
+
+Northward of Kaylee, two journies, is Imbekee, adjoining the Moöhnda or
+Danger. One moon distant, in the same direction, passing through the
+countries, Beesoo (three journies from Imbeekee) Aösa, and Hetan, are
+the larger kingdoms of Badayhee, and Oongoomo; the King of the latter is
+Enjukayamoo, and the capital Mattadee, described as a very large town.
+The numerals assimilate to those of Kaylee.
+
+  One      Woötta
+
+  Two      Beeba
+
+  Three    Bittach
+
+  Four     Binnay
+
+  Five     Bitten
+
+Travelling (still northward,) through the small states of Oondamee and
+Bolaykee, in six journies they reach the extensive countries of Paämway,
+and Shaybee, which adjoin each other; and on their northern frontier is
+Bayhee, through which kingdom the River Wola or Wole flows; the largest
+river they had ever seen or heard of, and running eastward. My friend
+the Governor, always impressed on me, that this was the largest river in
+the world, and ran, to use his own words, “farther than any one, except
+God, knows, farther than Indee; all the great rivers in this country
+come from Wole.” The Moöhnda, he had always understood in the long
+course of his enquiries, to flow from it; but he could not speak so
+positively of that, as of the junction of the Ogooawai and the Wole, as
+he had himself been to a considerable distance up the Ogooawai, which,
+returning to Gaboon, we shall proceed to. All the nations on this route
+were said to be cannibals, the Paämways not so voraciously so as the
+others, because they cultivate a breed of large dogs for their eating;
+this seems the favourite meat in most parts of Africa.
+
+Those who travel eastward, pull for a day and a half up the right hand
+or south-eastern arm of the Gaboon or Aroöngo, which arm is formed by
+the junction of several small streams, about sixty miles from its
+confluence with the north-eastern arm. Landing about thirty-five miles
+up it, two and a half journies are occupied in travelling over an
+uninhabited country, described as savannah, and called Woongawoonga; it
+is entirely open, and buffaloes are numerous. Here they reach the
+Ogooäwai, a rapid river, frequently as wide, and, generally,
+considerably deeper than the Gaboon; and which, as we shall presently
+see, runs to the Congo, of itself insignificant. One day up the
+Ogoöawai, is the small kingdom of Adjoomba, consisting but of four
+towns. One journey beyond, on the Ogooäwai, and north-eastward, is
+Gaelwa, a kingdom of more importance, its length three journies. The
+King’s name is Roiela, and the capital, a considerable town, Inkanjee:
+Goondemsie is second to it. Adjoining Gaelwa is Eninga, where the river
+widens considerably; this country is larger than Adjoomba, very
+populous, and composed of several small governments. The river winds
+very much; frequently they save time by carrying their canoes over the
+peninsulas; they are also opposed by impetuous currents. Hitherto the
+language is the same as the Empoöngwa or Gaboon. Twenty journies from
+the frontier of Gaelwa and Eninga, through the small state of Okota, is
+the kingdom of Asheera; and ten beyond it, that of Okandee, the greatest
+they know. The King’s name is Adoomoo, the capital extensive, and kept
+particularly clean: their law forbids any native of Okandee to be sold
+as a slave. None of the nations on the Ogooäwai are cannibals. On the
+eastern confines of Okandee this river is described to join or flow from
+the Wōla. The countries between the Moöhnda and Ogooäwai, are called
+Sappalah, Koomakaimalong, and Okaykay, and described as vast extents of
+savannah. Deeha was spoken of as a large country in the neighbourhood of
+the Wōla. I could not make these interior natives, or the people of
+Gaboon, understand what I meant by a Moor; there are none but pagan
+negroes throughout. The slaves recently arrived viewed me with affright;
+they said none in their country would believe there were white men.
+
+I could hear of no great controlling kingdom, like Ashantee, in these
+parts of the interior, nor do I think any such exists eastward of
+Yarriba, or other than numerous small states, as far behind Dagwumba and
+its neighbours in civilization, as they are behind Europeans. The
+name,[131] situation, magnitude, and course of the Wōla, leave little
+doubt of its being the Kulla or Quolla; though I am not clear that they
+said there was a country of the name of the river, nor did I recognize
+the name of any of the countries I had before heard of, as being in its
+neighbourhood. With those on the northern banks of this large river they
+did not profess to be acquainted, and those on the southern may be
+intermediate between the Moöhnda and Ogooawai routes, which diverge from
+Empoöngwa, the former northward, the latter north-eastward. Forty
+journies from the Empoöngwa frontier to the Bahr Kulla agree very well
+with the distance. A strong argument, in addition to the above, for the
+Wōla and the Quolla being the same river, (recollecting my description
+of the Paämways, and all the nations on the line of the Moöhnda, as
+cannibals,) is suggested by the reperusal of the following remarks of
+Mr. Horneman, and Mr. Hutchison, already quoted in page 202: “The Yem
+Yems, cannibals, are south of Kano, ten days,” which agrees very well
+with the lowered course of the Niger, which I have been obliged to lay
+down. “It is to the King of Quallowliffa that the country in which
+Canna, Dall, and Yum Yum, where cannibals are, is subject.” It is true,
+that the character only, and not the names of the nations visited from
+Empoöngwa, can be identified with Mr. Hutchison’s Canna, Dall, and Yum
+Yum; but the Moorish pronunciation, or writing of negro names,
+especially those only known to them by report, is very incorrect and
+capricious. To Mr. Horneman, they were called Yem Yems; to Mr.
+Hutchison, Yum Yums, and sometimes Jum Jums. The names Bapoonoo,
+Okobella, Banginniga, Oonbamba, and Asango, may possibly be identified
+hereafter amongst the countries approximating to the Wōla.
+
+We will return to Adjoomba, where the Ogooäwai divides itself; the
+smaller arm called Assazee runs to Cape Lopez, which is in the kingdom
+of Oroöngoo; the monarch, Ogoöla, from his power surpassing every other
+in the neighbourhood of the coast, has acquired the name of Pass-all
+with the traders who speak English. Between Oroöngoo and Adjoomba is the
+kingdom of Oongobai. The King’s name is Pendanga, and the numerals are,
+
+  One      Rappeek.
+
+  Two      Ramboise.
+
+  Three    Mittasee.
+
+  Four     Binnay.
+
+  Five     Bittan.
+
+  Six      Sambal.
+
+  Seven    Bittooba.
+
+  Eight    Bissamen.
+
+  Nine     Bwoi.
+
+  Ten      Deëoom.
+
+An intelligent native of this country had fled to Gaboon to avoid
+execution.
+
+The larger arm of the Ogooäwai, flowing south-eastward, as wide as the
+Gaboon, through the country of Tanyan, (the western frontier of which is
+five journies from that of Adjoomba,) runs into the Congo, (which is
+comparatively small before the confluence,) about ten days pull from the
+mouth of that river. A very intelligent man who acts as interpreter or
+trade man to the vessels which frequent the river Gaboon, confirming
+this account of the slaves and traders, I enquired into the
+circumstances to which he owed his knowledge. He is the son of the
+principal trader in Gaboon, called Tom Lawson, who speaks English
+fluently. Eight years ago, this young man, Wondo, went from Gaboon to
+the Congo, in the Nimble, Everett master. After the vessel had traded
+some time, as high up in the river as she might safely venture, the
+captain sent him and three or four other negroes in a boat with goods,
+to go up as much higher as they could. His account was, that they passed
+Evehelee and Cormee, when they came to a fall of water upwards of twenty
+feet high. A native, who preceded them in his canoe, directed them to
+enter a small channel to the east, which, by a considerable sweep,
+avoided it, but the natives, he persisted, both pulled their canoes up,
+and let them down this fall, by long fibrous roots twisted into cordage,
+and affixed to the large trees above; frequently, however, the most
+expert were victims to their intrepidity, generally in the descent;
+their canoes were made purposely in the shape of a bow. I expressed my
+doubts, questioned him with seeming indifference, at many different
+times, on this subject, and requested others to do the same; his account
+never varied. He was naturally very cautious in what he said, by no
+means given to the marvellous in recounting his travels, but a corrector
+of that disposition in others. To the last moment he persisted in this
+report. Just beyond this fall is the confluence of the Ogooawai and the
+Congo, which takes place in Tanyan.[132] From this point he described
+the latter as gradually dwindling to its source, (not more than six days
+distant, by Encombë and Eveheea,) so that the Congo owed its magnitude
+and rapidity entirely to the Ogooawai.[133] He mentioned a chief named
+Mangoff, to have been a principal man in the Congo, and he sung his boat
+chorus as a specimen of the language, “Malava napa, malava mabootay,
+mabootay.” He said, Mangoff lived at Barrima. He spoke of a place called
+Ohlobe, but I omitted to minute the particulars.
+
+The master of a Liverpool ship, laying in Gaboon river, having visited
+the Congo annually for many years, I availed myself of an opportunity of
+conversing with him also. He mentioned Bōma as the principal place of
+trade, but he did not consider it more than forty miles up the river; it
+was so called after a chief, whose son has now succeeded him. Binda, a
+secondary place of trade, he reckoned to be ninety miles from the
+entrance of the river, on the north side; but there are so many arms or
+branches there, that it is very difficult to distinguish the Congo
+itself, which he had always understood to terminate soon
+afterwards.[134] The houses he described as wretched, and transportable,
+so that a trader buying one for a trifle, could have it moved to any
+part of the banks he pleased. Sea horse teeth were to be bought
+plentifully, they buried them with their dead, dedicating them as the
+Ashantees do gold, and generally sticking one erect on the grave, as a
+sort of monument. He spoke very ill of them from his own experience;
+they had frequently attempted to poison the water on board his vessel. A
+few months back they cut off a Portuguese vessel, destroyed the crew,
+and plundered her. I anxiously anticipate the perusal of Captain
+Tuckey’s journal.
+
+Tom Lawson, who has as much, if not more influence than his brother the
+King, says he would provide an escort headed by his son Wondo, and
+guarantee the safety of any exploratory party to the river Ogooawai, and
+five days up it; that is as far as Okota. Two hundred pounds laid out in
+goods, I think, would defray the expenses, and presents, en passant,
+handsomely, and there are many opportunities by which two officers might
+be sent from Cape Coast to Gaboon for the purpose, and by way of the
+islands, return to it. A man of war might convey them, and call for
+them, on her cruise.
+
+Kings are numerous in Gaboon, and scarcely comparable even with the
+petty caboceers of Fantee. The greatest trader, or the richest man of
+almost every small village assumes the title, and frequently suffers
+gross indignities from his subjects, from not having the power to punish
+them. The King of Naängo seems of acknowledged superiority, and is
+comparatively respectable, both in means and power; he is known to
+trading vessels by the name of King George. The brother succeeds before
+the son. The legislative and judicial power is vested in the Governor,
+controlled by the King, who may order the death of a man; but, if he
+assigns no good reason, the offensive party is generally allowed to
+retire elsewhere. All children share the property of the father in equal
+portions, except the eldest son, who has about half as much again as any
+other. If a man kills another, he has a public trial; and, if he cannot
+justify the act, which it seems he may in many instances, his own death
+is inevitable. If he kills one of his wives, (his rank is designated by
+the number,) he pays a fine to her family, who, and not the husband, are
+involved in all her palavers. The acknowledged heir to a property may
+bring a palaver against his father, or whoever may be possessor of it,
+for killing a slave unjustly, or otherwise injuring the property, and
+oblige him to make good the injury.
+
+A man may not look at, or converse with his mother-in-law, on pain of a
+heavy, perhaps a ruinous fine; this singular law is founded on the
+tradition of an incest. It is a common custom to lend their wives to one
+another; if a man evades a promise of this kind, the Governor awards
+heavy damages to the plaintiff. If an applicant is refused, and is
+detected in intrigue, the whole of his property is forfeited to the
+husband of the woman, who, if it is not speedily delivered, may kill the
+man, and burn his house. I heard of no law so barbarous or disgusting,
+as this any where in the interior of the Gold Coast. They assured me
+they never made human sacrifices.
+
+A man of consequence never drinks before his inferiors, without hiding
+his face from them, believing that at this moment only, his enemies have
+the power of imposing a spell on his faculties, in spite of the
+guardiance of his fetish. When a man dies, the door of his house is kept
+shut seven days. The whiskers of the men, and the side locks both of
+them and the women, hang down in narrow braids, sometimes below their
+shoulders, the ends commonly tipped with small beads, and the front
+locks are generally braided to project like horns. The women wear a
+number of thick brass rings (the trade brass rod twisted) round their
+legs. A woman of consequence has a succession of them from the ancle to
+the knee, which announce her approach when walking, and jingle when she
+dances. The female slaves support even the heaviest burdens from a broad
+band or string around the temples. Like other negroes, different
+families have different fetish, some will not eat a cock, nor others a
+hen. I could not discover any distinct ideas of the creation, or of a
+future life. They believe implicitly in the superior fetish of
+individuals from Sappalah and other countries in the interior.
+
+Tom Lawson’s ‘fetish man,’ a native of Sappalah, has so thoroughly
+persuaded his master, by his address and fortuitous circumstances in
+war, that no bullet can injure him, strike him where it will, (either
+rebounding, or penetrating to be thrown from the stomach at pleasure)
+that this old man, who has lived almost the whole of his life in
+European vessels, always presses every stranger to become equally
+convinced by firing at him. His son bribed this man to endue him with
+the same fetish, and eagerly making trial of its virtue, received a
+musket ball, which fractured the small bone of his arm. The address of
+the fetish man accounted for this, to the entire satisfaction of every
+body, by declaring (being the most probable crime he could guess in the
+emergency) that it was at that instant revealed to him by the offended
+fetish, that this young man once had a stolen intercourse with his wife
+at an improper season; it was immediately confessed as a truth, and they
+are as obstinate believers as ever.
+
+Naängo consists of one street, wide, regular, and clean. The houses are
+very neatly constructed of bamboo, and afford a ground floor of spacious
+and lofty apartments. They sleep on bedsteads encircled with musquito
+curtains of bamboo cloth. The manners of the superiors are very pleasing
+and hospitable, and a European may reside amongst them, not only with
+safety, but with comfort and dignity. I do not think the old and new
+town contain 500 inhabitants between them. From the sickness which
+prevailed on board the vessel, the climate must be very insalubrious.
+The density of the atmosphere from exhalation was even more oppressive
+than the heat, which was intense before the setting in of the sea-
+breeze, and at all times sensibly much greater than I had experienced on
+the Gold Coast, or in the interior: there was no thermometer on board.
+The Empoöngwa is the softest negro language I have ever heard, being
+characterized by the duplication of vowels, separately pronounced. Their
+numerals are;
+
+  One      Hemoödee
+
+  Two      Mban
+
+  Three    Ntcharoo
+
+  Four     Nahee
+
+  Five     Nchanee
+
+  Six      Oroöba
+
+  Seven    Ragginnoömoo
+
+  Eight    Ennanakee
+
+  Nine     Enogoöm
+
+  Ten      Hegoöm
+
+They do not possess a single manufacture, depending for all their
+comforts and conveniences on the superior ingenuity of their inland
+neighbours, and the supplies of shipping. They plant but handfuls of
+corn, and rear a few goats and fowls. Cotton grows spontaneously. They
+make a good black dye from the mangrove and ebony shavings. They reduce
+the red wood to a very soft powder, by breaking a soft species of stone,
+and sprinkling the finest particles of it on a flat piece of red wood,
+which they rub violently against another flat piece; the mixed powders
+are then thrown into water, and that of the wood floating on the surface
+is strained and dried. They rub children with this powder for cutaneous
+eruptions.
+
+The African Ourang-outan (Pithecus Troglodites) is found here, the one I
+saw was two feet and a half high, but said to be growing. I offered a
+fair price for it, considering they are not rare there, and would not
+give more when I heard of one being already in England. The native name
+is Inchego: it had the cry, visage, and action of a very old man, and
+was obedient to the voice of its master; its agony on espying the
+panther on board was inconceivable.[135] There is a curious variety of
+monkeys. The favourite and most extraordinary subject of our
+conversations on natural history, (which I introduce merely to excite
+enquiry) was the Ingēna, compared with an Ourang-outan, but much
+exceeding it in size, being generally five feet high, and four across
+the shoulders; its paw was said to be even more disproportionate than
+its breadth, and one blow of it to be fatal; it is seen commonly by
+those who travel to Kaylee, lurking in the bush to destroy passengers,
+and feeding principally on the wild honey, which abounds. Their death is
+frequently accelerated by the silliness which characterizes most of
+their actions: observing men carry heavy burthens through the forest,
+they tear off the largest branches from the trees, and accumulating a
+weight (sometimes of elephants teeth,) disproportionate even to their
+superior strength, emulously hurry with it from one part of the woods to
+another, with little or no cessation, until the fatigue, and the want of
+rest and nourishment, exhausts them. Amongst other of their actions,
+reported without variation by the men, women, and children of Empoöngwa
+and Sheekan, is that of building a house in rude imitation of the
+natives, and sleeping outside or on the roof of it; and also of carrying
+about their infant dead, closely pressed to them, until they drop away
+in putrefaction.[136] The larger birds in the creeks were uncommon, if
+not unknown. Pelicans abounded.
+
+Chamelions were plentifully caught, but none lived more than a month on
+board the vessel, whether fed with flies, or not at all. The changes of
+those I watched seemed confined to the shades between a very dark, dusky
+green, and a bright yellow; when placed on any black substance they
+became the former, and when any thing light approached them, they
+changed to a bright green, which hue, if the substance was yellow, was
+interspersed with the most brilliant spots of that colour. I could not
+discern that they ever acquired a tinge of blue or red; when at rest in
+their cage, their color was dark green, mottled with still darker spots.
+
+In my rambles about the environs of Naängo, I formed some idea of the
+general face of vegetation in Empoöngwa. Being the rainy season, of
+course it did not possess its usual beauty. The red wood trees abounded,
+with many which were new to me. The Mangroves clothed the banks of the
+creeks and river, even growing some yards from the banks in the water,
+and their lower branches frequently covered with oysters. The palm wine
+tree was plentiful. Like most parts of Western Africa, the woods were so
+covered beneath with shrubs and plants, that they seemed impenetrable.
+Immense runners, twisting together, dropped from the branches like large
+cables, generally covered with parasites; sometimes adhering to the
+parent stem, they became themselves a tree, and at others, shooting
+across to the branches of neighbouring trees, seemed to connect the
+forest in a general link. The climbing plants contributed to this
+entanglement, for, interlacing their tendrils amongst the trees, they
+enwreathed them in the most beautiful flowers, or dropping in festoons,
+formed a splendid drapery to the sober green of the canopy: amongst
+these the convolvolus cairicus was conspicuous, from its extreme
+variety, the flowers being not only of that beautiful lilac, so much
+esteemed in England, but of the brightest blue, dark brown, pale yellow,
+white, pink, buff with a purple eye, and all the shades which an opening
+flower presents from budding to decay.[137] I gathered a few specimens
+of the plants as I walked along, which may be acceptable to botanists. I
+can only lament that so many circumstances conspired to render my
+account of them imperfect; the rainy season, my slight knowledge of
+botany, and the absence of all instruments which might have enabled me
+to examine the very minute flowers which frequently presented
+themselves; but I am convinced many new species might be discovered. I
+will submit a few which were remarkable for their different virtues, and
+of which drawings or specimens are preserved.
+
+The Cosa Cosa grew upon a tree about ten feet high, the flowers in
+clusters, but rarely two fully blown at the same moment, the corolla
+white, tube shaped, but cleft to the bottom, tinged at the top with
+crimson and yellow; a slightly tinged glutinous petal was fixed within
+the corolla, and adhered firmly to it; when separated, I found the two
+anthera fastened to it, without filaments, and between them laid the
+style, the stigma having a small hook at the back to fasten it between
+the two anthera. The juice is used for curing inflammations of the eyes.
+
+The Endaägoo (_Cyperas articulatus_. _Linn._) had the appearance of a
+grass, the bulbous root was used as a worm medicine.
+
+The Owallifa was not in blossom, the prickly leaf was applied to
+swellings when they wished to reduce them by bleeding; flogging the part
+affected, as boys frequently do their chilblains with holly.
+
+The Edjamba (_a species of_ _Urtica_) bears a multitude of minute green
+flowers, the leaves wear the appearance of nettles, and when laid on the
+skin produce blisters.
+
+The Eninda Aboönee (_Leea sambucina_) is an umbelliferous plant, the
+infusion of which is said to correct nausea.
+
+The Oonkoolankolee (_Aneilema bracteolata_. _Br._) bears a very delicate
+lilac blossom, with only two petals, which fly back and expose the other
+parts of the flower; the least breath of air will disturb them. The
+natives wash their children with its infusion, if they are backward in
+walking.
+
+The Econda Boomba (_Bidens_, probably a new species, but too imperfect
+to be determined) is anti-venereal, as an infusion; the flower resembles
+the chamomile.
+
+The Shewawono bears a spike with leaves resembling those of Hedysarum.
+The decoction is said to cure rheumatism.
+
+The tobacco grows spontaneously, but I do not consider this so strong a
+proof of its being indigenous to Africa, as that it grows in Inta. The
+Portuguese have probably introduced it into Gaboon.
+
+The natives here as well as elsewhere have a number of fetish plants;
+the most remarkable seems the Ewelly welly, (the Aserumbdrue of
+Ashantee, a species of Piper related to Umbellatum) the broad leaf of
+which, when rubbed on a fetish man, is said to render him invisible.
+
+The Eroga, a favourite but violent medicine, is no doubt a fungus, for
+they describe it as growing on a tree called the Ocamboo, when decaying;
+they burn it first, and take as much as would lay on a shilling.
+
+The medicine they most prize is the Neoöndoo; a small quantity was
+spared to me reluctantly. Four nuts grow in a pod on a very large tree
+of the hardest wood; it is purchased greedily, only growing on the
+frontier of Empoöngwa, and is used successfully by those afflicted with
+gravel.
+
+In killing elephants they use two poisons, both of which are the milky
+juices of the stalks of plants. Inquaw indjoo (a plant belonging to the
+natural order _Aroidea_, and referable to the Linnean genus _Arum_)
+bears a hard white berry in a spiral cluster. The Ygwan agwan berries
+are red, and in perfection at the time that the flowers are budding.
+These juices are rubbed on the muskets balls, spears, arrows, and
+knives, and the effect on the elephant is described as almost
+instantaneous.
+
+They make bird lime from a tree called Epoowa.
+
+Besides the pine apple, the common thread of Africa, they use that of
+two other plants, the Ezoönee (_Triumfitta elliptica_, _Nov. Sp._) and
+the Naängoo, an _Urtica_, or genus nearly allied to it. The former bears
+a yellow flower, too minute for my inspection. The top of the latter is
+surmounted by five or six delicate flower stalks; the blossoms were
+exceedingly minute, and of a lively green.
+
+The governor of the town brought me two or three very harsh rough
+leaves, which he said were from the plant Egoögoo (a species of _ficus_)
+not then in blossom; they are used in planing wood, polishing and
+cleaning various articles of household furniture, and feel like emery
+paper. At the same time he gave me what they are very fond of chewing, a
+delicate little mimosa, (_Abrus precatorius_. _Linn._) the taste of
+which resembles liquorice.
+
+A beautiful red pod, the blossom of which was out of season, contains
+small black seeds, in taste exactly resembling the cardamom. The natives
+of this place, and also of the interior, are very fond of them. In
+Booroom the plant is called Booroomma, and at Gaboon, Entoöndo.
+
+The Caoutchouc is to be met with here; the natives describe it as the
+product of one tree only,[138] the olamboo; their method of collecting
+it is curious. After the incision is made in the tree, whence it oozes
+like a glutinous milk, they spread it over their arms and breasts with a
+knife, (having first shaved themselves, that the hair of the skin may
+not be torn up when it is taken off,) in the form of a plaister. It is
+either rolled up in balls to play with, or stretched over the heads of
+drums; they do not seem to apply it to any other use.
+
+They make their torches from the wood (odjoo) of which they form their
+canoes, the resinous parts are broken in small pieces, and tied closely
+in very long leaves; the smaller end is fixed to an upright stick placed
+in the ground of the apartment; they afford a brilliant light, and the
+resin, when burning, emits a grateful odour.
+
+The Odica, from which they make a kind of chocolate, is a very high and
+large tree, bearing an acuminate shining leaf. The nuts, which are
+white, are contained in a round pod with a bulb at the end, twice as
+large as a man’s fist, green without, and yellow within; the parts
+surrounding the nuts are squeezed into water, which they sweeten like
+honey. The kernels are strung and smoke dried, and then beat in water
+into large masses, having the appearance of coarse chocolate, but the
+flavour of a rank gross gravy. It might be more palatable otherwise
+prepared.
+
+The vegetable butter (which certainly belongs to the natural order
+_Sapoteæ_) brought to the Ashantee market, is here well known by the
+name of Onoöngoo: it is a large tree, and the nuts are enclosed in a
+round red pod, containing from four to six: the flower is also red, from
+description. My servant, a native of Booroom, called the tree
+Kirrimkoon, and the butter Incoom; the Ashantees call the latter
+Sarradee; in Mallowa the tree is called Timkeëä. The nut is first
+boiled, and the oil or butter afterwards expressed; in Booroom and
+Mallowa it is skimmed from the surface. It tasted quite as good as fresh
+butter before any salt is added, and we relished the meat fried in it
+exceedingly. Being the rainy season I could neither get a sight of the
+flower or the pod of this or the odica, but I procured the nuts and
+produce of both. The curious may compare this butter with the specimen
+of the Ashantee grease. Before I understood them to be distinct trees, I
+concluded the odica and the butter both to be the produce of the cacao-
+nut, but the butter answers closely to Mr. Park’s description of the
+shea-tolu, though the tree did not resemble the American oak.
+
+The Kolla nut grows on one of those trees which are supposed to sow
+their own seed; it is round, and the size of an Orleans plum, having a
+very hard shell, the kernel is white, and, after being exposed to the
+sun for a few days, becomes even sweeter than a filbert. The natives
+frequently soak them in salt water for a few weeks, and relish the rank
+flavour they then acquire. They form the principal food of the lower
+orders. They have a round orange coloured fruit, called Incheema, the
+size varies from that of a small cocoa nut to a large one; the capsule
+is very thick, and when cut yields a milky juice; a number of hard, dark
+brown seeds, surrounded by a pulp, are found within, the latter only is
+eaten, and when gathered fresh from the tree, is of a very delicious
+flavour, not unlike that of a green gage. If the fruit is suffered to
+fall from the tree, the bruise renders it unwholesome and unpalatable.
+
+Every dark night, Tom Lawson was sure to direct me to look in the
+direction of what some foolish Europeans had persuaded him must be a
+diamond mountain. It lays about three days eastward of Empoöngwa in
+direct distance, but from the fear of the intervening people, he had
+been obliged to visit it by a circuitous route, which occupied seven
+days; he lost the pieces he procured, in a skirmish on his return; they
+illuminated a great circumference. It is considered a powerful fetish,
+and described as a very high mountain. I must admit, that when there was
+no moon, a pale but distinct light was invariably reflected from a
+mountain in that quarter, and from no other.
+
+The red and yellow ochres brought to me, were dug in the neighbourhood
+of a savannah three journies south-eastward of Empoöngwa, where they
+insisted there were large pits of strata, not only of red and yellow,
+but of other colours. They believe, that if a man attempts to carry off
+different colours at the same time, he is paralyzed on the spot. Gold
+has never been found in this part of Africa.
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+EMPOÖNGWA SONG.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+EMPOÖNGWA SONG.]
+
+[Illustration: Music score
+
+Notes sung by the white Negro from Imbeekee.]
+
+The music of Empoöngwa is, generally, very inferior to that I have
+before noticed. The enchambee, their only peculiar instrument, resembles
+the mandolino, but has only five strings, made from the root of the palm
+tree; the neck consists of five pieces of bamboo, to which the strings
+are fastened, and, slipping up and down, are easily, but not securely
+tuned; it is played with both hands; the tones are sweet, but have
+little power or variety. Long stories are recited to the enchambee in
+the moon-light evenings, in a sort of recitative; a favourite one, is an
+account of the arts by which the Sun gained the ascendancy over the
+Moon, who were first made of coeval power by their common father.
+
+No. 1, (which, I imagine, commences in F major, and ends in G major) is
+an Empoöngwa air played on the enchambee. I do not know if the inversion
+of words is common in their conversation as well as in their songs. A
+native envies a neighbour, named Engaëlla, who has ivory to barter with
+a vessel.
+
+  Amorill injanja        Engaëlla;  impoongee  m’adgillinjanja.
+
+  A brass pan he has got Engaëlla;   ivory,    I have got none.
+
+Here again we find _me_ answers to the personal pronoun I.
+
+No. 2, in G major, is a song in which the men sing the air alone, and
+the women join in the chorus. It is an old one, and the subject the
+first appearance of a white man. One verse will be quite enough to
+satisfy others and exculpate myself. At least half a dozen followed it.
+
+       Ma         bengwoo        ma bengwa           baïa.
+
+  A fine strange  thing,    A fine strange thing,  my mother.
+
+          Deboonga sai                 camberwoona  nayennee.
+
+  Like the leaf of the fat tree,[139]  true I say,  so it is.
+
+     Sangwa moochoo,          baïa.
+
+  I make you look to-day,  my mother.
+
+        Baï yamgwan boonoo.
+
+  My mother fears this fetish man.
+
+My patience during a series of dull Empoöngwa songs, was recompensed by
+the introduction of a performer, as loathsome as his music was
+astonishing. It was a white negro from the interior country of Imbeekee;
+his features betrayed his race, his hair was woolly, and of a sandy
+colour, with thick eye brows of the same; his eyes small, bright, and of
+a dark grey; the light seemed to hurt them, and their constant quivering
+and rolling gave his countenance an air of insanity, which was confirmed
+by the actions of his head, and limbs, and the distortions of his mouth.
+His stature was middling, and his limbs very small; his skin was
+dreadfully diseased, and where it was free from sores bore the
+appearance of being thrown on, it hung about him so loose and so
+shrivelled; his voice was hollow, and his laugh loud, interspersed with
+African howls. His harp was formed of wood, except that part emitting
+the sound, which was covered with goat skin, perforated at the bottom.
+The bow to which the eight strings were fixed, was considerably curved,
+and there was no upright; the figure head, which was well carved, was
+placed at the top of the body, the strings were twisted round long pegs,
+which easily turned when they wanted tuning, and, being made of the
+fibrous roots of palm wine tree, were very tough and not apt to slip.
+The tone was full, harmonious, and deep. He sat on a low stool, and
+supporting his harp on his knee and shoulder, proceeded to tune it with
+great nicety; his hands seemed to wander amongst the strings until he
+gradually formed a running accompaniment (but with little variety) to
+his extraordinary vociferations. At times, one deep and hollow note
+burst forth and died away; the sounds of the harp became broken;
+presently he looked up, pursuing all the actions of a maniac, taking one
+hand from the strings, to wave it up and down, stretching forth one leg
+and drawing it up again as if convulsed, lowering the harp on to the
+other foot, and tossing it up and down. Whilst the one hand continued
+playing, he rung forth a peal which vibrated on the ear long after it
+had ceased; he was silent; the running accompaniment served again as a
+prelude to a loud recitative, uttered with the greatest volubility, and
+ending with one word, with which he ascended and descended, far beyond
+the extent of his harp, with the most beautiful precision. Sometimes he
+became more collected, and a mournful air succeeded the recitative,
+though without the least connection, and he would again burst out with
+the whole force of his powerful voice in the notes of the Hallelujah of
+Handel. To meet with this chorus in the wilds of Africa, and from such a
+being, had an effect I can scarcely describe, and I was lost in
+astonishment at the coincidence. There could not be a stronger proof of
+the nature of Handel, or the powers of the negro.
+
+I naturally enquired if this man was in his senses, and the reply was,
+that he was always rational but when he played, when he invariably used
+the same gestures, and evinced the same incoherency. The accompanying
+notes were caught whilst he was singing; to do more than set them down
+in their respective lengths, was impossible, and every notation must be
+far inadequate.
+
+As regards the words, there was such a rhapsody of recitative, of
+mournful, impetuous, and exhilarated air, wandering through the life of
+man, throughout the animal and vegetable kingdom for its subjects,
+without period, without connection, so transient, abrupt, and
+allegorical, that the Governor of the town could translate a line but
+occasionally, and I was too much possessed by the music, and the
+alternate rapture and phrenzy of the performer, to minute the half
+which he communicated. I can only submit the fragments of a melancholy
+and a descriptive part.
+
+Burst of a man led to execution,
+
+  Yawa yawa wo wo oh
+
+  Yawa waï yawa
+
+  What have I done? what have I done?
+
+Bewailing the loss of his mother,
+
+  Yawa gooba shangawelladi yaisa
+
+  Wo na boo, &c.
+
+  My mother dies; who’ll cry for me now
+
+  When I die? &c.
+
+  Pahmbolee gwoongee yayoo, &c.
+
+  Which path shall I seek my love?
+
+  Hark! I know now,
+
+  I hear her snap the dry sticks,
+
+  To speak, to call to me.
+
+Jiggledy jiggledy, jiggledy, too too tee too, often invaded or broke off
+a mournful strain; it was said to be an imitation of the note of a bird,
+described as the wood-pecker.
+
+Three Portuguese, one French, and two large Spanish ships, visited the
+river for slaves during our stay, and the master of a Liverpool vessel
+assured me that he had fallen in with 22 between Gaboon and the Congo.
+Their grand rendezvous is Mayumba. The Portuguese of St. Thomas’s and
+Prince’s islands send small schooner boats to Gaboon for slaves, which
+are kept after they are transported this short distance, until the coast
+is clear for shipping them to America. A third large Spanish ship, well
+armed, entered the river the night before we quitted it, and hurried our
+exit, for one of that character was committing piracy in the
+neighbouring rivers. Having suffered from falling into their hands
+before, I felicitated myself on the escape. We were afterwards chased
+and boarded by a Spanish armed schooner, with three hundred slaves on
+board; they only desired provisions.
+
+
+[Footnote 129: I believe no instructions for entering the River Gabon
+are in print, the following were compiled from the log-book of the Lord
+Mulgrave, which has been laden in the river the three successive years
+she has been chartered as a store-ship by the African Committee, and
+beat into it this time. When standing for the river, from the southward,
+it is best to give Round Corner a good birth, as a shoal or sand-bank
+runs off between that and Sandy point, and also in case of being
+becalmed, as the ground is foul and bad for anchoring. A channel goes in
+by Sandy point, but it is rarely used but by small vessels. Leave Round
+Corner about three leagues, and stand over for Cape Clara until you have
+the river well open, then steer for a bluff point about two miles inside
+of the Cape, where you will find from eight to ten fathom water. You may
+stand in, till you are about two miles from the above point, and then
+steer up the river, keeping the north shore aboard, and steering for the
+highest land you see, which lies above Quaw Ben’s town. In mid-channel,
+you will find nine fathoms, until you bring Sandy point on a line with
+Cape Clara bearing S.S.E. You are then in the narrowest part of the
+channel, which is not more than two or three miles wide, and your
+greatest soundings will be six fathoms. When you are well inside these
+bearings you may haul off from the shore at your leisure, and steer for
+Parrot Island. When athwart of Quaw Ben’s town, and about five miles off
+shore, you will find twelve and thirteen fathoms. In standing up from
+Quaw Ben’s, give Prince Glass’s town a good birth, as a shoal runs off
+to some distance, your soundings will be from seven to nine fathoms; you
+may anchor on any part of the north side, without danger. Between Konig
+and Parrot Islands, is very good anchorage in seven fathoms, and a soft,
+muddy, bottom; thence to Abraham’s town, you will have from seven to
+four fathoms at low water; and small vessels may go a considerable way
+up the river, for there are three fathoms at Naängoo or George-Town
+creek, about forty-five miles up the river. If you are turning into the
+river, when you are within the Cape, stand no further off than into five
+fathoms, for as you close the middle ground, the soundings are very
+irregular; you may have five fathoms; and, before the next cast, the
+ship may be ashore. The widest part of the channel, is not more than
+about 5½ miles, until you are nearly athwart of Quaw Ben’s town, when
+you may stand over to the south side, as you are then inside the bank.
+There is a very good watering-place at Rodney’s point. Ships
+unacquainted, may anchor off the Cape and wait for the sea breeze, which
+generally sets in before noon.]
+
+[Footnote 130: I am sorry to say those whom their parents have been
+persuaded to entrust to English vessels for the same purpose, have
+invariably been sold as slaves, in violation of every assurance; an
+infamy of which the French have never been guilty in a single instance.]
+
+[Footnote 131: Wōla is probably the Empoöngwa corruption of the original
+name Quolla or Kulla, for, presuming that name to be given to it in the
+Mallowa or Houssa country,[a] to denote its being a branch or arm of the
+great river, dividing into it and the Gambaroo after leaving the lake
+Dibbir, (Kulla being _child_ in the Mallowa,) it doubtless retains the
+same name in the country known at Gaboon; not only because Mr. Brown
+first reported the river Kulla (_Bahr Kulla_) and the kingdom (_Dar
+Kulla_) to be situated thereabouts, but because from the following
+observation of Mr. Hutchison’s, received since I wrote my geographical
+chapter, it appears, that the language of the kingdom which bears the
+name of the river, is at least a dialect of the Mallowa language. “I
+send you the numerals of Quolla liffa, as given me by the servant boy I
+have got lately, who comes from that country, which is near the
+cannibals:” see Appendix, Language.]
+
+[Footnote a: The Jennë Moors however called it Quolla, which inclined me
+at first to derive its name from _Killi_, the numeral _one_ in the
+Bambarra, as if to denote it the first or greatest river; as Yahndi, the
+name of the capital of Dagwumba, implies its pre-eminence; _Yahndi_
+being _one_ in the language of the country.]
+
+[Footnote 132: “The information received here (at Mavoonda) of the
+upward course of the river, was more distinct than any we have yet had;
+all the persons we spoke to agreeing that after ten days in a canoe, we
+should come to a large sandy island, which makes _two channels, one to
+the north west, and the other to the north east; that in the latter
+there is a fall, but that canoes are easily got above it_; that twenty
+days above the island, the river issues by many small streams from a
+great marsh or lake of mud.” Captain Tuckey’s Narrative. In a map,
+“Regna Congo et Angola,” in Dapper’s Description de l’Afrique, 1686, a
+large arm is laid down, about two hundred and fifty miles up the Zaire,
+running to or coming from the north-east. As this book is scarcely
+known, there being but one copy in England, it may be interesting to the
+reader to see a description of the Congo and its source, according to
+the geographical opinions, a century and a half ago, for 1686 is the
+date of the translation from the German. Refer first to my copy of a
+part of one of the many maps in Dapper’s work, p. 211. Au midi de cette
+riviere (Niger) est le Zaire, ou la grande riviere de Congo qui prend sa
+source de trois lacs, au sentiment de Pigaser. Le premier se nomme
+Zambre d’où procede le Nil, le second Zaire d’où sortent les rivieres de
+Lelunde et de Coanze, et le troisiême est un lac formé par le Nil. Mais
+le principal est le Zambre qui est comme le centre d’où les fleuves de
+nord le Nil, au levant Cuama et Coavo, au midi Zeila et Manice ou
+Manhessen, et au couchant la riviere de Zaire, qui par divers bras
+arrose toute la partie occidentale de l’Afrique, situé au delà de la
+ligne, les royaumes de Congo, d’Angola, de Monomatapa, de Matamam, de
+Bagamadiri et d’Agasymba jusqu’au cap de bonne-esperance; pendant que le
+Nil, Cuama, Coavo, Zeila, et Manice traversent l’Abyssinie et tous les
+pais qui sont entre la mer-Rouge et Cuama. L’embouchure de Zaire est à
+cinq degrez quarante minutes de latitude Meridionale. Elle a trois
+milles de large et se décharge dans l’ocean avec tant d’impetuosité, que
+l’impression qu’elle donne à la marée, dont elle rend le cours ouëst-
+nord-ouëst et nord-ouëst au nord se ressent en pleine mer, à douze
+milles de la côte. Quand on a perdu la terre de vue, on découvre une eau
+noire, de la verdure, des cannes et des roseaux qui ressemblent à de
+petites îles, et que la violence de la marée entraine après soi du haut
+des ecœuils. De sorte qu’à moins d’un vent d’arrière il est fort
+difficile de resister au courant et d’aller jetter l’ancre dans la rade
+de Cabo Padron. On ne sauroit remonter ce fleuve plus de vint ou vint
+cinq lieues au-dessus de son embouchure, à cause des cascades qui sont
+au milieu de son lit et qui s’élancent du haut des rochers avec tant de
+bruit qu’on l’entend à deux ou trois lieues de là. Plusieurs ruisseaux
+se déchargent ou sortent de ce fleuve et arrosent le pais: ce qui est
+fort commode pour les marchands et les habitans qui peuvent aller
+commodément d’un village à l’autre sur des canots. Les peuples qui
+demeurent le long de ces ruisseaux sont des gens de petite taille.]
+
+[Footnote 133: The following, which Baron Humboldt sketched before me,
+(and which is only laid down in Walker’s Map of the World on the
+globular projection) is a more extraordinary concatenation of rivers;
+considering the opposite courses of the Orinoco and Amazon when
+connected by the Casiquaire, which is more curiously situated than the
+south eastern branch of the Ogooawai, flowing, through Tanyan, into the
+Zaire.
+
+[Illustration]
+]
+
+[Footnote 134: “Captain Tuckey could only learn that the paramount
+Sovereign was named Blindy N’Congo, and resided at a banza named Congo,
+which was six days journey, in the interior from the ‘Tall Trees,’
+where, by the account of the negroes, the Portuguese had an
+establishment, and where there were soldiers and white women. This place
+is no doubt the St. Salvador of the Portuguese. The following is the
+description in Dapper: La province de Pembo est la plus considerable de
+tout le royaume dont elle contient la ville capitale, et forme comme le
+centre. Cette ville porte le nom de banza chez les Ethiopiens, les
+Portugais la nomment présentement S. Salvador, et Marmol l’appelloit
+Ambas Congo. Elle est presque au milieu de la province, située sur une
+roche fort haute, _à 76 lieues de France ou 150 milles de la mer_, au
+sud-est de la riviere de Zaire, et ombragée de Palmiers, de Tamarins, de
+Bacoves, de Colas, de Limoniers et d’Orangers. Le côtau sur lequel elle
+est bâtie est si haut, que de dessus son sommet on porte la vue aussi
+loin qu’elle se peut étendre, sans qu’aucune montagne l’arrête. Il n’y a
+point de murailles autour de cette ville, si ce n’est d’un côté de
+devers le Midi, que le premier roi chrétien donna aux Portugais pour les
+mettre à couvert des insultes. Il fit aussi fermer de murailles son
+palais et toutes les maisons royales qui sont aux environs, laissant une
+place vuide où l’on bâtit ensuite un palais et un cimétiere. La cime de
+la montagne est occupé par des maisons baties fort près l’une de
+l’autre: les personnes de qualité en possedent la plus grande partie, et
+sont des enceintes de bâtimens qui ressemblent à une petite ville. Les
+habitations des personnes du commun sont rangées de file, en diverses
+rues, elles sont assez grandes, mais les murailles ne sont que de
+paille; excepté quelques unes que les Portugais ont faites, dont les
+murs sont de brique & le toit de chaume. Le palais du roi est aussi
+grand qu’une ville ordinaire; il est fermé de quatre murailles, celle
+qui regarde sur le quartier des Portugais est de chaux & de pierre, les
+autres ne sont que de paille, mais travaillée fort proprement. Les
+murailles des sales & des chambres sont orneés de tapisseries de paille
+nattées avec beaucoup d’art. Dans l’enceinte interieure du Palais, il y
+a des jardins & des vergers embellis de berceaux & de pavilions fort
+beaux pour le pais, quoiqu’au fond ce ne soit pas grande chose. Il y a
+dix ou douze Eglises, la Cathedrale, sept chapelles dans la ville &
+trois Eglises dans le chateau du Prince. Il y a aussi un couvent de
+Jesuites, où trois ou quatre de ces Peres sent tous le jours le
+Catechisme au peuple, & des écoles où l’on enseigne le Latin & le
+Portugais. Il y a deux fontaines, l’une dans la rue de St. Jaques &
+l’autre dans une cour du Palais, qui fournissent abondance d’eau
+fraiche, sans qu’on se donne la peine de refaire les aqueducs ou de les
+entretenir. Outre cela il y a un bras de la riviere Lelunde, qu’on nomme
+Vese, qui sort au pié de la montagne, au Levant de la ville; son eau est
+fort bonne, le peuple en va puiser, & elle sert à arroser & rendre
+fertiles les campagnes d’alentour. On y a des pourceaux & des chevres;
+mais peu de moutons & boeufs; on les renferme la nuit dans des parcs qui
+sont dans la ville près des maisons.]
+
+[Footnote 135: This panther or leopard, was sent to the Governor-in-
+Chief by the King of Ashantee, and was so perfectly tame as never to be
+tied up, but strolled at liberty through the apartments, playing with
+the servants and children. It was presented to the Duchess of York, and
+died at Exeter ’Change, a short time after it landed, of an inflammation
+on the lungs. The extraordinary playfulness and good humour of the
+animal, and the preservation of its health and tameness during a four
+months voyage, (during the colder part of which he banquetted
+sumptuously on dead parrots) made the loss very mortifying.]
+
+[Footnote 136: The description the natives give of this animal agrees
+extraordinarily with that of the Quoja Morrou in Dapper.
+
+Les Quojas Morrou, dont on a parlé dans le royaume de Quoja, naissent
+dans le royaume d’Angola. Comme cet animal tient beaucoup de l’homme,
+bien des gens ont cru qu’il étoit issu d’un homme & d’un singe, mais les
+Negres même rejettent cette opinion. Il y a trente ou quarante ans qu’on
+apporta en Hollande un de ses animaux, dont on fit present à son Altesse
+le Prince Frederic Henri. Il étoit de la grandeur d’un enfant de trois
+ans, _mais il avoit bien le double d’épais, étant d’une taille carreé_,
+fort vigoureux & agile: _car il levoit des choses fort pesantes & les
+portoit d’un lieu en un autre_. Le devant de son corps étoit nud, mais
+le dos étoit couvert de poil noir. Sa face avoit quelque chose d’humain,
+mais son nez étoit plat & retroussé. Ses oreilles, son sein, et ses
+mamelles, ses coudes ses mains, le bas de son ventre & ses parties
+naturelles, ses jambes & ses pieds resembloient parfaitement à ceux
+d’une femme, parce que c’étoit un animal femelle. _Il se tenoit debout &
+marchoit souvent tout droit; il buvoit fort proprement, portant, d’une
+main le pot à la bouche et le soutenant de l’autre; il se couchoit de
+même, mettoit sa tête sur un chevet, ajustoit la couverture sur son
+corps, & à le voir ainsi étendu on l’auroit pris pour un homme_. Aussi
+les Negres rapportent-ils des choses prodigieuses de cet animal; ils
+assurent qu’il force des femmes & des filles, _& qu’il ose s’en prendre
+à des hommes armez_. Et selon toutes les apparences c’est là ce Satyre
+si celebre chez les Anciens, dont Pline & les poëtes ont tant parlé par
+oui-dire & sur des rapports incertains.]
+
+[Footnote 137: “Les Botanistes remarquent même très fréquemment ces
+accidens de couleurs dans les plantes venues en lieux agrestes. Je n’en
+citerai qu’un exemple entre mille. Sur les rives sauvages du Volga et du
+Samara, Pallas a trouvé l’_Anemone patens_ chargé de périanthes tantôt
+bleus, tantôt blancs, tantôt jaunes.”—Mirbel 1ère partie, p. 264.]
+
+[Footnote 138: “India rubber is obtained from the milky juice of
+different plants in hot countries. The chief of these are, the Jatropha
+elastica and Urceola elastica. The juice is applied in successive
+coatings on a mould of clay, and dried by the fire or in the sun, and
+when of a sufficient thickness the mould is crushed and the pieces
+shaken out.” Nicholson.
+
+“It has been discovered that caoutchouc is not exclusively the produce
+of the Heven caoutchouc, but that it is furnished by several other
+plants. We know it to be obtained in large quantities from the Jatropha
+elastica of South America, and Dr. Roxburgh has given us a description
+of an Indian plant (Urceola elastica) which affords a juice that when
+thickened has all the properties of the caoutchouc. We moreover know
+that the milky exudations of the Jack tree (Artocarpus integrifolia) the
+Banyan tree (Ficus Indica) and also that of the Arasum tree (Ficus
+religiosa) possess nearly similar qualities.” Ainslie’s Materia Medica
+of Hindoostan.]
+
+[Footnote 139: The vegetable butter.]
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+      _Suggestions for future Missions to the Interior of Africa._
+
+
+A mission to Dagwumba is of the first importance. See Geography, p. 178.
+The commercial genius and opulence of its people, their disinclination
+and inaptitude to war, their superior civilization, and the numerous
+caravans which frequent this emporium, from the most remote parts of the
+interior, make a treaty of intercourse most desirable, both for commerce
+and science. But it is more imperiously desirable, or rather this
+enterprise becomes a duty, from the recollection, that, from this King’s
+proverbial repute for sanctity, if he were persuaded by the deliberate
+remonstrance of a British Resident, at least to mitigate, if not
+ultimately to abolish human sacrifices, his example would naturally be
+followed by the several neighbouring monarchs who make him their oracle.
+
+Mr. Hutchison’s courage, his love of enterprise, and his interest in
+intellectual pursuit, to say nothing of a feeling towards myself, which
+I cannot but be proud of, would, I am sure, lead him to anticipate my
+wishes and strengthen my hopes of success, by having him again as a
+companion; and his diary must have proved, though very imperfectly,
+compared with a personal acquaintance with him, how well he is qualified
+for an appointment, so important to the interests of commerce, science,
+and humanity, by his discretion, zeal, and benevolence.[140]
+
+A third officer (and a zealous and able successor to Mr. Tedlie has
+presented himself) should accompany this mission, to proceed under the
+King of Dagwumba’s guarantee and recommendation, which is omnipotent to
+the Niger, to Wauwaw (on the banks of that river where Mr. Park was
+buried; for no plea could be less suspicious, than the King of England’s
+natural anxiety to send an officer to the Sultan of Wauwaw, to learn the
+particulars of Mr. Park’s death, and to enquire for his papers,
+especially as a Moorish emissary passing through Yahndi, was instructed
+to do so, directly we heard of the circumstance in Ashantee. The officer
+alluded to (who is a medical man, well acquainted with natural history,
+and an accurate draftsman) should be content with a sight of the Niger,
+and remain at Wauwaw collecting and observing, until an exchange of
+letters with Cape Coast, through the Resident at Yahndi[141]; when it
+would be seen how far it might be prudent, (having replaced him at
+Wauwaw) to allow him to proceed to Cassina, Houssa, or Timbuctoo; that
+is, if the Sultan of Wauwaw would guarantee his safety, under the same
+promise of reward previously held out to the King of Dagwumba.
+
+No moment could be more auspicious than the present for this enterprise
+to Dagwumba, since the King of Ashantee’s absence and perplexity in the
+Gaman war bars his molestation or hindrance; though I have no
+expectation that he would offer either, were he at liberty, or aware of
+the occasion: see page 342.
+
+If the trade of Dagwumba be so extensive as was invariably reported to
+us (and to Mr. Lucas at Mesurata on the Mediterranean) it might then
+become desirable to establish a British market up the Volta; but this is
+an after consideration. Geographical circumstances are much more in
+favour of a mission to Dagwumba than they were in that to Ashantee,
+(besides, that there are no irritating political retrospects to be
+debated on arrival,) for the Volta or Adirree is navigable from the sea
+to within eight days march of Yahndi; (see page 176;) even if we do not
+calculate on the reported junction of the river Laka, which would bring
+us close to Yahndi.
+
+The presents should all be ingenious novelties, rather than costly
+apparel, for they are not only more acceptable and more imposing, but,
+which is very important, much more portable; and would require so few
+carriers, as to diminish the expense of conveyance as much as the
+expense of purchase. The negroes have more than anticipated our
+_portable_ displays of splendour, from the pageantry and descriptions of
+the Moors; and we have had the advantage of witnessing what kind of
+presents made the most auspicious impression on the King of Dagwumba’s
+powerful neighbour, which were certainly all of the class of ingenious
+novelty. I should recommend, therefore, a few pieces of tissue and rich
+silk, with gold thread interwoven, to shew that our manufactures can be
+accommodated to their taste; see note page 331.
+
+Pieces of worked muslin.
+
+One piece of ditto, worked with gold thread.
+
+Scotch damask.
+
+Palampours, with gold and silver leaf.
+
+Manchester cottons, of rich pattern.
+
+Red, blue, and yellow broad cloth.
+
+Raw silk, of various colours; see page 331.
+
+Of the foregoing, only small quantities as presents to the King and
+principal Moors, by way of samples of our manufactures.
+
+Two pair of richly cut glass decanters.
+
+A small silver bowl embossed.
+
+A handsome lamp.
+
+A military saddle and bridle, with pistols, &c.
+
+Two musical snuff boxes.
+
+A good bird organ.
+
+Two or three common violins, being the instrument of the country.
+
+Pandean pipes.
+
+Cymbals.
+
+Two bugles.
+
+Kaleidescopes.
+
+An inferior gold repeater for the King.
+
+Two or three common silver watches.
+
+A telescope.
+
+Camera obscura.
+
+Magic lantern.
+
+Microscope.
+
+Pocket compasses.
+
+Boxes of phosphorous matches.
+
+Arabic Bibles, and Arabic literature.
+
+Two or three landscapes, in sympathetic ink.
+
+A port-folio of engravings of English costume and public buildings, with
+a set of the drawings of this work.
+
+A copying writing apparatus for the chief Moor.
+
+Wax, seals, pencils, Indian rubber.
+
+Two boxes of water colours.
+
+Drawing and writing paper, and vellum.
+
+Razors, scissors, knives.
+
+A handsome double barrelled gun.
+
+Two boxes of carpenters tools.
+
+A small turning lathe.
+
+A small plough.
+
+A made up turban of gold tissue, with a gilt circle for the head, set
+with false stones, for the chief Moor.
+
+A silk union flag.
+
+An air gun.
+
+Candles and perfumed soap.
+
+Bark, and other medicines.
+
+The officers of the mission should be provided with Troughton’s pocket
+sextant, Dollond’s 32 feet telescope, the new barometers, &c. &c.
+
+The Danes having deserted their fort (Adda) at the mouth of the Volta,
+their government, on being solicited, would surely not only not
+obstruct, but favour so important a scientific enterprise, and not
+compel us to reach the river over land, as we could do, by marching
+through Aquapim and Quaoo. The man of war on the station might convey
+the mission to the mouth of the Volta, and one of her boats accompany
+the canoes (which should be brought from Cape Coast) a day or two up the
+river.
+
+It would be well to be prepared with several impressions of a manifesto
+(in Arabic,) explanatory and impressive of the legitimate and benevolent
+views of the British government, as an introduction to the King of
+Dagwumba, preparatory to our negociation, and also to serve the same
+purpose at Wauwaw, and to circulate through the interior. Numerous
+impressions of the certificates circulated in behalf of Major Peddie,
+should also be circulated, Mr. Ritchie’s name being substituted, and the
+reward for an act of kindness acknowledged in a letter from that
+gentleman, being made payable (after an authority from Cape Coast) at
+either of the British Residencies, Coomassie, Yahndi, or Dahomey; for as
+there are many officers to spare at Cape Coast, the expressed wish of
+the latter monarch should be immediately gratified, and our intercourse
+renewed by a Residency. See note, p. 340.
+
+I think all the objects of the Dagwumba mission could be effected in
+four months; when I should feel impatient to visit the river Gaboon, for
+the purpose of penetrating to the Ogooawai, and going as far up it as I
+might with prudence. See p. 436. The discovery of so large a river in
+this situation is very important.
+
+Arrangements could probably be made at Eninga or Okota (p. 429.) for the
+guarantee of an after mission to Asheera: also for one from Gaboon to
+Kaylee; and, which is most important, for the south-eastern navigation
+(from Adjoomba, p. 431) of the branch of the Ogooawai running through
+Tanyan into the Congo.
+
+But there is another enterprise which should not be forgotten, the
+navigation of the Lagos river to the highest point, (p. 224) and a visit
+to Kosie, (p. 225,) a Residency at which court would doubtless lead to a
+similar establishment in the powerful and commercial kingdom of Yarriba.
+See p. 209.
+
+The Residents at the various courts, who, as I have impressed before,
+should be young men of acquirement, patience, and address, should
+receive occasional instructions from head quarters, directing their
+enquiries and observations to the geographical and scientific
+desiderata, more peculiarly belonging to or expected from their
+different neighbourhoods, which would be suggested from the closer study
+of these subjects by the individual at the head of a department of
+discovery at head quarters, and also by the scientific Societies in
+England according to their peculiar pursuits.
+
+The Residents should make quarterly reports, accompanied by specimens of
+natural history, to be digested into one annual report at head quarters,
+(with the various geographical improvements and discoveries, adjusted
+and embodied in one large chart) for forwardance to England.
+
+All Residents and Conductors of Missions, should be provided with small
+copying apparatuses, so that they might forward their original dispatch,
+and one duplicate, to Cape Coast, by two different opportunities, always
+retaining the other copy, in case of accident, or until the receipt were
+acknowledged.
+
+If it could be afforded, a medical officer should afterwards be added to
+the more important Residencies, to attach and relieve the natives.
+
+Botanical and Mineralogical excursions, (taking sextants, telescopes,
+and barometers,) into Ahanta, Aowin, Warsaw, Akim, and Aquapim, small
+surveys, &c. &c. should be undertaken, ad interim, not only from the
+smallness of the expense and the great comparative benefit, (as we know
+nothing of these countries beyond their position,) but to qualify the
+younger officers (of congenial disposition and acquirement,) for future
+missions and residencies.
+
+The young men soliciting appointments in England, should be required to
+make themselves acquainted with the grammar of the Arabic language, and
+practical astronomy, before they receive their commissions; and one or
+two intelligent Moors from the interior, should be invited, by a pay, to
+settle at Cape Coast Castle, to perfect these officers in writing and
+speaking the language. The Fantee language should also be cultivated, as
+it is a dialect of the Ashantee.
+
+The soldiers of the settlements should no longer be enlisted from the
+mulattoes and Fantees of the neighbourhood, making the present paltry
+force the more inefficient, from local and family attachments,
+inseparable from human nature, and preventing their acting cordially, if
+at all, on emergencies for the rescue of human victims, or the
+punishment of their relatives and townsmen, for insult, or contempt of
+the British legislation for the abolition of the slave trade, &c. The
+Negroes captured in the illicit Spanish and Portuguese slave ships, of
+whom there must be a number unemployed at Sierra Leone, would form the
+most desirable military force, even preferable to European, which has
+recently been adopted by the Dutch. These rescued Negroes would possess
+no attachment, beyond that which the considerate kindness and good
+conduct of their officers might induce; the climate would be natural to
+them; and they would prove valuable companions, if not intelligent
+guides, in future missions to the interior. There should at least be two
+hundred and fifty of these soldiers at head quarters, (one company being
+trained as artillery by European serjeants) and fifty at each other
+settlement, if but two.
+
+The three missions, to Dagwumba, Wauwaw, and Ogooawai, would not cost
+above a thousand pounds, judiciously expended in England; which is not
+so much as the annual expense of either of the six paltry out-forts
+(exclusive of the head quarters, and the vice presidency, which is but 9
+miles from Cape Coast, and, since the abolition of the slave trade, an
+useless and absurd position;) the mere existence of which, although it
+may excite astonishment, and reflect credit on the mercantile ingenuity
+and economy of the African Committee, is notoriously a disgraceful
+caricature on the British name.
+
+Three respectable establishments, one at Cape Coast Castle, one at
+Accra, (a rich and open country,) and one at Succondee, (if we could not
+purchase Axim, which commands the navigation of the Ancobra,) with an
+allowance of a thousand a year for a progress in the interior,
+(beneficial to commerce, science, and humanity,) would be productive of
+fame and honour, and probably of wealth, to our nation.
+
+
+[Footnote 140: This gentleman being already superseded by Mr. Dupuis
+(formerly Vice-consul at Mogadore, and now Consul at Coomassie) is of
+course at liberty to indulge his disposition for enterprise.]
+
+[Footnote 141: The King of Dagwumba should be promised additional
+presents on the receipt at Cape Coast Castle of the first dispatch from
+the Niger.]
+
+                               * * * * *
+                               APPENDIX.
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                            APPENDIX. No. I.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+          _Extract from Meredith’s Account of the Gold Coast._
+
+
+               _Origin and History of the Ashantee War._
+
+
+The Assin country lies at the rear of the Fantee, and borders on the
+Ashantee country. It was divided into two states: the one governed by
+King Cheboo and Quacoe Apoutay; and the other by King Amoo. Apoutay,
+although not elevated to the dignity of King, held equal sway with
+Cheboo; but they were each subordinate to the King of Ashantee. A man of
+opulence died in Amoo’s town; and, as is customary on such occasions,
+gold and other valuable articles were deposited with the body in the
+grave. On this occasion, one of Cheboo’s people was present, and seeing
+what was done, watched an opportunity to rob the grave; which he
+effected, and escaped with the treasure. Amoo his neighbour sought
+redress of Cheboo and Apoutay, but without success: he then laid the
+affair before the King of Ashantee; who summoned all the parties before
+him, gave them an impartial hearing, and awarded in favour of Amoo.
+Quacoe Apoutay was detained as a hostage until restitution should be
+made: but he, in a short time, contrived to make his escape, and, when
+at liberty, refused to accede to the award made by the King of Ashantee.
+On this Amoo attacked the town in which Cheboo and Apoutay resided, and
+routed his opponents: after this, at the instigation of the King of
+Ashantee, the parties met to settle the dispute; but Quacoe Apoutay
+acting treacherously on the occasion, sent privately to Cheboo for an
+armed force to support him: and a battle was the consequence, which
+ended in the death of the man who had committed the theft, and the total
+defeat of Apoutay and his forces. At this crisis the King of Ashantee,
+willing to bring about a peace, again interfered. He sent two gold
+manillas, the one to Amoo, the other to his adversary, directing them to
+cease all hostilities; to which both parties agreed, and took the
+manillas. Amoo obeyed the King; but Quacoe Apoutay attacked Amoo, and
+drove him in his turn from his town. Amoo, indignant at the repeated
+deceptions of Apoutay, obtained succours, and overthrew his treacherous
+opponent. The King of Ashantee still anxious to reconcile his
+neighbours, and unwilling to draw his sword, presented two gold swords
+and an axe to Amoo, and recommended him to conciliate Quacoe Apoutay,
+and terminate their quarrels. Amoo consented to obey the King, but in
+the mean time was again attacked by his implacable foe, and totally
+defeated, and lost in the contest the golden sword and hatchet. His
+opponent committed ravages wherever he came, killing messengers, and
+every man who fell into his hands, not sparing even the King of
+Ashantee’s messengers! A war with the King of Ashantee followed
+hereupon: Quacoe Apoutay and Cheboo dreading his vengeance, fled to the
+Fantee country: in consequence of which the King sent a message to
+Acoom, the caboceer or mayor of Assecoomah (a small state tributary to
+the King of Ashantee,) accompanied by a present of twenty ounces of
+gold; stating the necessity of his pursuing his enemies to the Fantee
+country, but giving assurance of the King’s pacific disposition towards
+the Fantees, and that his only object was to get into his possession
+Cheboo and Apoutay: the Fantees would not interfere, nor allow the
+Ashantee forces to come into their country. Upon this answer, Appey
+Dougah,[142] the King of Ashantee’s general, collected, by command of
+his master, a large force, and gave the enemy battle at Buinka in
+Fantee; he displayed great gallantry, and defeated the two Kings, in
+conjunction with the Fantee forces that had joined them. Next day Cheboo
+and Apoutay having rallied their forces, and formed a junction with a
+fresh Fantee force, gave Appey Dougah battle; but were totally defeated,
+with the loss of many killed and made prisoners: among the latter was
+Atia,[143] the caboceer of Abrah, the principal town of Fantee. A large
+sum was offered for his ransom, but refused; and he was committed to the
+care of Acoom, the caboceer of Assecoomah, in whom the King had great
+confidence; but this person betrayed his trust, and liberated the enemy.
+Quacoe Apoutay, baffled at all points, sent to the King of Ashantee to
+accept his conditions, provided he would discharge his debts on his
+return home. To this proposal the King agreed, and, in token of his
+friendship, sent various presents to Cheboo and Apoutay; who, instead of
+receiving them with gratitude, beheaded the messengers. This wicked and
+unprovoked act roused the indignation of the King of Ashantee, and he
+vowed eternal war against the aggressors. Acoom (who had been forgiven
+by the King for his treachery in suffering Atia to escape,) being in
+possession of a large quantity of provisions, was applied to by the King
+of Ashantee for a supply, which he with seeming cheerfulness granted:
+six times he delivered faithfully those that were contracted for, but,
+the seventh time, he betrayed about one thousand men who had been sent
+for them, and sold them in March or April, 1806. In consequence of this
+conduct Acoom became involved in the war: very shortly afterwards the
+King of Ashantee defeated him, and made rapid progress with his army
+towards the coast in search of Cheboo and Apoutay. The Fantees opposed
+his march, but were defeated in every onset, and the Braffoes were
+nearly extirpated by the Ashantees in their march. The Annamaboes,
+instigated by the remaining Braffoes, were impudent enough to receive
+and protect Cheboo and Apoutay; which proved fatal to them. At this
+period the Governor of Cape Coast Castle, being under some apprehension
+for the safety of the British settlements, was inclined to send a flag
+of truce with a message to the King of Ashantee, who was now (May, 1806)
+at Abrah, and only fifteen or twenty miles from the coast. The
+Annamaboes (who were consulted on the measure) objected to it, and the
+design was consequently suspended. The Governor was anxious to know upon
+what terms the King would consider the British, and wished to become a
+mediator; but the Annamaboes, who placed a vain dependence on their name
+and strength, fully expected that the King and his army would be
+conquered; and that if not the whole, the greater part of the army would
+fall into their hands; and hence were not disposed to pacific measures,
+nor would they permit the Governor’s messenger to proceed inland.
+Shortly after this, a division of the Ashantee army made its appearance
+at Cormantine, and routing the inhabitants from the town, completely
+destroyed it. The captain of this division contrived to get into the
+Dutch fort, and having pillaged it of a number of articles, took up his
+residence there. It was now time to become acquainted with the King’s
+intentions; and for that purpose the Governor of Annamaboe fort sent a
+messenger with a flag of truce to the commander of this division,
+intimating a wish to be acquainted with the King’s motives for marching
+an army to the coast, and proposing himself as a mediator. This message,
+we may suppose, was conveyed to the King; and on the following day three
+men were observed coming from Cormantine with a white flag displayed,
+and (Mr. White) the Governor, expected they were the bearers of some
+agreeable and satisfactory intelligence: in this however he was much
+disappointed; for the commander of that division of the Ashantee army
+being in possession of fort Amsterdam, was elated with his success,
+particularly in getting to the sea side; (a circumstance which inspired
+him with such joy, that he went to the beach and dipped his sword three
+times in the sea, some of which he had conveyed to the King as a proof
+of his success:)—whether those circumstances stimulated him to try the
+disposition of the English chief, we know not; but the message he sent,
+imported a degree of haughtiness by no means agreeable to Mr. White, and
+was to this effect: that when the Governor would send him twenty barrels
+of gunpowder, and one hundred muskets, he would be told what the King’s
+designs were. To comply with this demand would be acknowledging too much
+submission, and would doubtless give the King a very indifferent opinion
+of the British character. Mr. White behaved politely to the people, gave
+them some refreshment, and told them that he regretted that the King, or
+their master, did not appear inclined to come to an explanation, or to
+conciliate matters: that if the King would point out in what manner the
+Annamaboes had offended, he would use his authority to have satisfaction
+given: that until he was assured of their having transgressed, or having
+injured his Majesty, they were entitled to the protection of the fort,
+if they sought for it: and that, finally, if the King’s army should come
+with any hostile intentions near the fort, it would be fired upon.
+
+After this two or three of the heavy guns were fired with shot, for the
+purpose of giving them an idea of the destructive power of artillery;
+and they were preparing to depart, when private information was
+received, that the flag of truce would be violated in its return, and
+the men murdered. Whereupon Mr. White and Mr. Wilson (a gentleman not in
+the service,) escorted them, and left them in safety within a short
+distance from their quarters. The Governor now anxiously looked for a
+definitive reply from the King, and every assiduity was used to place
+things in a defensive position; and the towns-people having heretofore
+placed a firm reliance on their strength, became alarmed, and were
+solicitous to be assured of the Governor’s protection. Mr. White
+informed them, that if the King of Ashantee intended to attack the town,
+he would give them all the assistance and protection in his power; at
+the same time advised them of the most prudent measures to be employed
+for their safety and defence. He instructed them, in the first instance,
+to have strong parties on the look-out, and to guard every avenue
+leading into the town; and, on the first alarm, or approach of the
+enemy, to send the old men, women, and children to the fort, where they
+would be received; and as many as the fort would not accommodate, to
+come close to the walls, where they would be under the protection of the
+guns.
+
+At this crisis Mr. White and the inhabitants of the town were ignorant
+as to the strength of the Ashantee forces, and had but an imperfect idea
+of the bravery and intrepidity of the men who composed the King’s army.
+It was supposed that the Ashantees partook of the dispositions of the
+natives on the coast, who in general cannot stand against a regular and
+determined fire, and often creep into some concealed hole, when cannon
+or musket shot are heard to whiz among them; or, if the Ashantees were
+superior, it was little imagined that their courage, or ardour for
+conquest, would carry them to the very muzzles of the guns, and
+consequently expose them to inevitable destruction.
+
+About a week had elapsed, and no news from the King; which was no
+favourable indication of pacific measures. The commander of the division
+at Cormantine, and who proved to be the King of Dinkara, sent forward a
+party to ascertain the strength of the town of Annamaboe, and succeeded
+in gaining possession of a village called Agah, situated upon a point of
+land about one mile eastward from Annamaboe; whence every movement of
+the Annamaboes on that side could be observed. This was considered an
+annoyance, and on the 14th of June a strong body (indeed almost the
+whole of the town’s people) marched out for the purpose of dislodging
+the Ashantees. The action was clearly seen from the fort. The Annamaboes
+were received in the most gallant and spirited manner by nearly a third
+of their force, and for some time the contest was doubtful. The
+Ashantees fired with more regularity than could be expected, and their
+muskets were well directed; whereas the Fantees kept up a confused fire
+without taking aim; they however succeeded, and the Ashantees retreated
+in excellent order, keeping possession of part of the village which lay
+concealed in a valley, and where the Annamaboes did not think proper to
+proceed. The Annamaboes were either too confident of their strong
+position, or thought too insignificantly of their opponents, to attend
+to the advice given them by Mr. White; for while they were amused by
+this small party, the King, with the main body, was vigilant in securing
+the different passes leading to the town, and was at this time only
+three miles to the rear of it.
+
+Early on the 15th those who were on the look-out observed the Ashantee
+army in motion: the alarm was given, and every man who was able to carry
+a musket, repaired to meet the enemy. As the town was situated at the
+rear of the fort, and extended some distance inland, no prospect of the
+contending parties could be obtained; smoke was seen to arise from
+different parts of the surrounding country, and heavy discharges of
+musketry were distinctly heard. Alarm and confusion now prevailed
+throughout the town, and the women, children, and old men, made the best
+of their way to the fort, the area of which they soon filled, after
+which the gates were closed. The volleys of musketry were advancing very
+fast, and the Fantees were retreating in great disorder: one or two
+great guns were fired over the town with a view to impel terror on the
+assailants, but they were too much elated with hopes of conquest, and
+too resolute to be affrighted: about eleven o’clock the musket balls
+were heard to whistle in every part of the fort, and the Ashantees
+entered the town in every direction, pursuing the vanquished to the
+beach, where the slaughter was great.
+
+The Annamaboes conceived, that with the aid of their canoes and their
+knowledge of swimming, they should be able to escape, but they were
+pursued too closely by the Ashantees, whose fury appeared to be
+insatiable; men, women, and children were followed by indiscriminate
+destruction. During this work of carnage, the Governor was very active
+with his small garrison to repel the assailants; a twenty-four pounder,
+that pointed along the beach to the westward, several times discharged
+grape-shot among them, whereby vast numbers must have fallen: a three-
+pounder likewise, which flanked the gate on the east side was frequently
+fired with grape, notwithstanding fresh parties came on much quicker
+than they could be repelled; and at length they came under the walls for
+the purpose of carrying away the women who could not be received into
+the fort. About this period the Governor[144] was wounded in two places;
+one ball struck his mouth and carried away four of his teeth, another
+ball passed through his left arm; and nearly at the same time an officer
+and two men were wounded, and one man killed.
+
+Things assumed now a more serious and dangerous aspect than was
+apprehended, and gave the garrison a strong assurance of the disposition
+of the enemy, who, it was evident, intended to bend his utmost efforts
+against the fort. The Ashantees were confident that by gaining
+possession of it, a large booty would be obtained. However, the small
+number which composed the garrison of Annamaboe at this period,
+consisting of Governor White, Messieurs Meredith, Swanzy, Smith, and
+Baines; also four free mulattoes and twenty men, including soldiers,
+artificers, and servants, were confident of the severity of their
+situation. The walls being high, and accurately flanked, and the gates
+sound and well barricadoed; the Governor, from the nature of his wounds,
+from great debility in consequence of much effusion of blood, being
+constrained to retire, and the command of the fort having devolved on
+the senior officer, who perceiving that the cannon in one quarter could
+not be used with effect, for the enemy fired with such precision as to
+cut off every man who was exposed at an embrasure, depended solely on
+the musket; and another man having been killed about noon, and two more
+wounded:—the garrison was now reduced to the small number of eight,
+including officers, who could be depended upon, and the Ashantees were
+using every effort to force the western gate; but were twice repulsed
+with no small loss. A third time they attempted it, and endeavoured to
+apply fire to the gate; but the man who brought the materials for that
+purpose, extinguished the fire by falling a corpse upon it. In all their
+attempts they were defeated with musketry alone, and notwithstanding
+that their efforts to gain an entrance into the fort proved ineffectual,
+the contest was continued till six o’clock. After this cessation, and
+before total darkness came on, the garrison used all possible energy in
+repairing injuries, and preparing for the defensive, in case of
+hostilities being renewed in the night.
+
+On the following day a scene replete with the horrors of war exhibited
+itself:—heaps of dead and wounded around the walls, and for a mile along
+the eastern shore, tossed about by a violent surf:—houses unroofed, and
+others on fire:—the sorrowful countenances of the old men, who sought
+refuge in the fort; the mournful lamentations of the women, and the
+pitiable cries of the children, presented a picture of exquisite feeling
+and of the greatest distress! Of the number the town contained, and
+which we will calculate to have been at least fifteen thousand souls, we
+may suppose that two-thirds of that number perished. The fort afforded
+refuge to about two thousand of every description, and about two hundred
+escaped to a rock surrounded by the sea, and at pistol-shot from the
+beach, where they remained unmolested, and notwitstanding the vigilance
+of the Ashantees, we may suppose that two or three thousand effected
+their escape. Without going into further enquiry, we may venture to
+state that eight thousand Fantees were destroyed; and although they were
+attacked by at least three times their number, yet if they were actuated
+by one-third of the bravery of their opponents, they would have
+committed some execution, and doubtless would have checked that
+intrepidity and ardour which were so pre-eminently conspicuous in their
+enemy. Their resistance was very feeble; terror seized them at the
+commencement of the attack, and it impressed them so forcibly, that the
+sea formed but an indifferent barrier to their precipitate flight.
+
+When the fury of the Ashantees against the Fantees was a little
+diminished, they turned part of their force against the fort with great
+coolness and resolution, advancing with shouts expressive of their
+loyalty and courage, to the very muzzles of the guns. At the east side
+of the fort, two three pounders, which were well served, destroyed
+numbers of them with every discharge of grape: but at the west side, the
+cannon which flanked the gate could not be rendered useful, in
+consequence of advantages the enemy possessed, and which were not to be
+found on the opposite quarter, where the musket alone was to be
+dependended upon: and we have the authority of the gentleman who
+commanded (after Mr. White was wounded) of stating, that he and another
+officer (Mr. Swanzy) fired nearly three hundred rounds of ball-cartridge
+in keeping the gate clear, and protecting those who were under the
+walls. Mr. Swanzy was so injured with the recoil of his musket, that he
+could not use his right arm for some days without much pain, and the
+other officer (Mr. Meredith) was nearly in the same state.
+
+What loss the Ashantees sustained cannot be precisely laid down: the
+King, prior to his departure from Annamaboe, said, he lost three
+thousand men: but in that number he probably included those who were
+carried off by disease. His men however suffered very severely; for
+their approach was made with such large bodies, that twenty, thirty, or
+perhaps more, fell with every discharge of grape-shot; and the musket
+not only killed, but very often wounded at the same time, so close were
+the enemy.
+
+At this period (the 16th of June,) the fort was in an awkward
+state,—completely blockaded on the land-side, and a very imperfect
+communication by sea, and only a few weeks provisions for the number it
+contained; add to which, the effluvia from the dead bodies, which were
+approaching fast to a putrid state, excited very uneasy apprehensions.
+These circumstances demanded some extraordinary effort, which the
+garrison, from its weakness, could not attempt. Every person, from great
+exertion and constant exposure to a vertical sun on the 15th, and from
+solicitude and want of rest, was much fatigued. Nevertheless things wore
+a more promising appearance; whenever plunder was attempted, which now
+and then was the case, it met with resistance. There was not, however,
+any desire manifested by the Ashantees to renew hostilities, and every
+motion indicated a wish for peace. The garrison too was very desirous of
+such an event, but did not wish to be the first to yield, or to offer
+any terms without orders from the chief-governor. The King, from his
+late successes, had a high opinion of his power and the bravery of his
+army. On the other hand the small garrison, notwithstanding its reduced
+state, had no mean opinion of itself, and wished to confirm in his
+Majesty an idea of the superior skill of Europeans.
+
+The Governor at Cape Coast was apprised of the state of affairs at
+Annamaboe, and lost no time in sending assistance. Two ships were
+provided for the purpose, which sailed from the Cape on the morning of
+the 16th: but, from unavoidable circumstances, the re-inforcement the
+ships brought could not be landed before four o’clock in the afternoon.
+This re-inforcement consisted of twelve men and four officers; and their
+arrival in the fort afforded much satisfaction. This party was landed
+under cover of the smoke of some heavy guns, and was not fired at; but
+the canoe, on returning, was fired upon and one man wounded. It was the
+Governor’s order that a flag of truce should be sent to the King, to
+endeavour to bring about an amicable understanding. A white flag was
+accordingly lowered over the wall, accompanied with the national
+colours; and when the emblem of peace was observed, it is impossible to
+express sufficiently the joy that diffused itself among the people: the
+multitude which crowded around the flags was inconceivably great, and it
+was with difficulty that the King’s officers, who were known by golden
+swords and axes, could clear the way leading to his quarters: the air
+resounded with acclamations in praise of their King, and expressive of
+their satisfaction at the prospects of peace.
+
+And here we cannot forbear remarking, that although the Ashantees are so
+remote from polished or civilized nations, they seem not to be
+unacquainted with the customs of a civilized people, as they are
+connected with the rules of war; for they paid every respect to the flag
+of truce: a few indeed of them were making towards the rock on which
+were a number of Fantees, but they well understood the signal of recall,
+when a musket or two were fired over their heads. The flag of truce
+returned about seven o’clock, with three messengers from the King; and
+they, in order to justify the King for his proceedings against the
+Fantees, entered into a long detail of the origin of the war, which we
+have been attempting to describe. The King was pleased that the flag of
+truce was sent, and expressed his satisfaction by giving the two
+soldiers who were the bearers of it a fat sheep. After a conference that
+continued beyond two hours, the messengers departed.
+
+A communication was thus established with the King and his army; but it
+was considered prudent to keep the gates closed until a perfect
+understanding was effected. It appeared, however, that this could not be
+done, without a meeting between the chief Governor and the King. To
+accomplish this Mr. Meredith tried to persuade the King to go to Cape
+Coast, but in this he was disappointed; he however gained his Majesty’s
+consent to send some of his confidential and chief men to wait upon the
+Governor, and to hear his sentiments.
+
+It will, we doubt not, be gratifying to the reader, if we here subjoin
+the correspondence between Mr. Meredith and Mr. Torrane, the Governor in
+Chief, on this occasion.
+
+
+                                        _Annamaboe Fort, June 17_, 1807.
+
+   SIR,
+
+MR. WHITE directs me to acknowledge the receipt of your letter to the
+Governor of Elmina. The state Mr. White is in, being much weakened with
+loss of blood and other causes, prevented him paying that attention to
+your letters which they demanded, and my duty was such, that I could not
+spare a moment to write you fully. I had a conference with three of the
+King’s messengers last night, and at this instant there are two men with
+his Majesty; when they return, you shall be acquainted with the result.
+I have already mentioned to the King that Cheboo would be given up, and
+if it was agreeable for him to send his cane, and one or two of his
+gold-headed swords, I would engage their security by going to Cape Coast
+with them. The message received from the King was of a favourable
+tendency; and I trust he will perceive the expediency of putting an end
+to this sanguinary war. Be assured we are all so employed on various
+duties, it debars me more particularly of giving you a further detail of
+our proceedings. But I trust, by a messenger this evening, to relate
+fully every circumstance attending this very severe contest. The party
+were landed in safety, viz. twelve privates, one corporal, with Messrs.
+Bold, Galloway, and Woolbert. Both ships will remain here until to-
+morrow. I am well pleased with the attention and assistance afforded us
+by Captain Coley.
+
+                                                  I am, &c.
+
+                                                         HENRY MEREDITH.
+
+ _Colonel Torrane, Governor in Chief, &c. &c. &c._
+             _Cape Coast Castle._
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                                        _Annamaboe Fort, June 17_, 1807.
+
+   SIR,
+
+I WROTE you this morning, acknowledging the receipt of your letters,
+and, agreeably to my intentions then, I take the liberty of stating more
+particularly the occurrences in this garrison on the 15th and subsequent
+to it. I beg leave to remind you, that we were prepared for any attack
+that might be made upon us, by any body of men unaccustomed to the shock
+of artillery; and I believe Mr. White assured you of the confidence he
+placed in the officers and men under his command, and every soul was
+animated with a desire to do his duty.
+
+[Here follows a description of the battle as before related.]
+
+The re-inforcement you was pleased to send, got on shore without any
+opposition about four o’clock P.M.; and I assure you we were very glad
+to receive them, as, from the severe duty we had undergone the preceding
+day, we were much cut up by fatigue. About six P.M. the flag of truce,
+with a corporal and private from the detachment you sent, were conveyed
+to the King; and as they proceeded, they were warmly greeted by the
+Ashantees. The message the King returned was modest; he said, it was not
+his intention to commence hostilities with the fort, nor to distress any
+of the whites; his enemies were the Assins and Fantees, and he now
+conceived his anger against them pretty well assuaged. This morning
+(17th) according to agreement, his messengers came, and said, that the
+King wished to see the same person that conveyed the flag of truce, that
+they might hear from his own lips what he had to deliver. Accordingly I
+sent them with Dutton, a man of quick understanding, to hear more
+particularly the sentiments of his Majesty. After remaining some time
+hearing the opinion of his counsellors they returned, and after some
+preliminary discourse, they informed me that the King had deputed six of
+his principal men, with six deputed by the men of power in his train, to
+repair to Cape Coast to hear what you have to say, and to negotiate. In
+course of their communication the King deplored the number of lives that
+were lost in consequence of the fire from the fort.
+
+As the messengers mean to repair to Cape Coast, I will forbear relating
+every particular. The King seemed to say that he must have those who
+sought protection in the fort: this he only hinted at, and probably the
+same may be hinted to you; but in giving them up, we ought to be assured
+of their being used kindly. I send a canoe with this, and have agreed
+with the messengers, that you will send canoes and a guard for their
+protection. Mr. White’s travelling canoe is in good order, therefore be
+pleased to send eleven canoe-men for her. This canoe, with three more
+from the Cape, will, in my opinion, be fully sufficient to convey the
+whole twelve messengers with their guard. The number of persons here are
+reducing our provisions very fast, and if not removed soon, some of them
+will be most likely starved, or will be the cause of some serious
+malady: the sooner we are rid of them the better. But if you can gain
+their protection, it will be a humane act. Mr. White, who I am happy to
+say is in a fair way, desires his respects.
+
+                                                   I am, &c.
+
+                                             (Signed)    HENRY MEREDITH.
+
+ _Colonel Torrane, Governor in Chief,
+             &c. &c. &c._
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+   SIR,
+
+BOTH your letters of yesterday’s date I have received; the latter has
+given me particular satisfaction, not only as it affords every prospect
+that this war will be terminated, but also as it removes great anxiety
+from my mind respecting the state of Mr. White’s wounds. The assurances
+you now give me that he is in a fair way of recovery, are highly
+gratifying. I dispatch eleven canoe-men for Mr. White’s canoe; and I
+also send three other canoes. I trust the King will appoint persons of
+sufficient consequence to negotiate with me: I have an earnest wish to
+see the King: make this desire known to him; tell him I think it may
+essentially lead to the arrangement of affairs of much importance; that
+I have greatly to deplore with him this war; that although these events
+cannot always be guarded against, they may even ultimately bring future
+good consequences; and herein I think much depends on our meeting.
+Assure the King, that notwithstanding the steps I have taken to give
+protection to the Fantees, I have ever held him in the highest respect,
+from the many reports I have heard of him, and that, had I seen any
+messenger from him antecedent to his attack on Annamaboe, I am of
+opinion we should have avoided the blow in that quarter. The King I
+understand to be a man of strong mind: it will naturally suggest itself
+to him, that a meeting between us may be of vast importance to the
+country. Assure him I have too high a consideration for my own
+character, as well as his consequence, to suffer the smallest indignity
+to be offered to him; that if he will come to the castle I shall be
+proud to shew him every honour, and that I will give every possible
+security for his personal safety. I have apartments ready for him, and
+officers shall be sent to attend him here. On receipt of this, send your
+accustomed messenger to the King, saying, that you have a letter from
+me, and that an officer will wait personally on him to explain the
+contents. This officer with this letter in his hand, you will send (say
+Mr. F. L. Swanzy) as early as you shall receive the King’s reply. I know
+not whether you have a good flag for the occasion; I therefore send one.
+Mr. F. L. Swanzy will have two flag-bearers, one with a white flag, the
+other carrying the union; and he will be very particular in explaining
+every part of this letter, and do his utmost to persuade the King to
+visit the Cape. He may also add, that a ship can be procured, if he (the
+King) prefers coming that way, and that an officer of distinction shall
+be sent to accompany him. In a few words, Mr. F. L. Swanzy will do his
+utmost to persuade the King to visit the castle. An officer should come
+here, with the guard you send to protect the messengers. You must let me
+know of what consequence the messengers are, that I may treat them
+accordingly, and this it will be advisable to acquaint me of before
+their arrival.
+
+                                                  I am, &c.
+
+                                            (Signed)     GEORGE TORRANE.
+
+_To Henry Meredith, Esq._
+
+Although these men proceeded to the Cape, it was found that nothing
+important could be transacted without an interview with the King, and
+for this purpose Colonel Torrane was obliged to go to Annamaboe, and a
+day was fixed for a conference. To give as favourable and as respectable
+an opinion as possible of the British, a number of articles as presents
+were sent to the King, and as many officers and soldiers as the service
+could afford, were assembled to attend the Governor on the day
+appointed; but previous to those preparations, and a few days after the
+flag of truce was received by the King, Cheboo (one of the men who was
+the cause of the war) was secured by the Governor at Cape Coast and sent
+to Annamaboe, to be delivered up to the King, in expectation that any
+further effusion of blood would be prevented, and that it would be the
+means of saving the Fantees from entire destruction. These benevolent
+purposes were not realized: the King had proceeded so far in the war,
+that he could not recede without displeasing those auxiliaries he had
+with him, and who expected a vast deal of plunder; and besides, Apoutay
+and Acoom were again in arms, and collecting all the Fantees they could
+to oppose the King’s progress. On the day appointed for the interview,
+the Governor and his party were put in motion, and although the
+procession was not very numerous, it was arranged with taste, and made
+no despicable appearance. About twenty of the Company’s artificers,
+habited in a neat manner, marched in front; a guard of forty men, and a
+band of music followed them; next walked the Governor, followed by ten
+officers, two and two, and some gentlemen traders (who were enticed from
+the Cape by curiosity), brought up the rear. When the procession had got
+a short distance it was met by a principal man, who was sent by the King
+to conduct the Governor, and to keep off the multitude, which was
+assembling in great numbers, some of whom had never seen a white man.
+Notwithstanding the authority of this person, and the exertions of his
+attendants, the curiosity of the people was so great that every avenue
+was crowded; which, by preventing the circulation of air, augmented the
+natural heat of the day, and this inconvenience was farther increased by
+the putrid smell from the dead bodies, and the vast swarm of flies. The
+Governor was obliged to visit each man of rank, before he could be
+received by the King; a ceremony that could not be prudently denied, and
+which occupied some time: for those men had their several courts, and
+collectively had formed an extensive circle. Every one of them was
+seated under a huge umbrella, surrounded by attendants and guards, with
+young persons employed in fanning the air and dispersing the flies,
+which were numerous and troublesome. One of those men and his attendants
+excited some curiosity and attention: his dress and appearance were so
+different from those of the others, that it evidently proved he must
+have come from countries situated a considerable distance inland. He was
+a tall, athletic, and rather corpulent man, of a complexion resembling
+an Arab or an Egyptian. His dress was heavy, and by no means adapted to
+the climate. He wore a cap that came down below his ears, and being made
+of yellow cloth, it did not contribute to diminish his tawny complexion.
+He was a follower of the Mohammedan religion, possessed much gravity;
+but was communicative, condescending, and agreeable. He had about him a
+great number of sentences from the Alkoran, which were carefully incased
+in gold and silver, and upon which he set a high value. He was a native
+of Kassina, a country that appears to be situated to the south of east
+from Tombuctou. He said he had been at Tunis and at Mecca; had seen many
+white men and ships, and described the method of travelling over the
+great desert. This person commanded a body of men who fought with
+arrows, as well as muskets: four of the arrows were found in the fort;
+they were short and pointed with barbed iron. He had many persons in his
+train who were of the same colour, but varied a little as to dress: they
+were all habited in the Turkish manner, but did not wear turbans. After
+the ceremony of visiting those persons was over, the Governor was
+conducted towards the King, who was surrounded by a number of
+attendants, whose appearance bore evident signs of riches and authority:
+chains, stools, axes, swords, flutes, message-canes, &c. were either of
+solid gold, or richly adorned with that metal: those dazzling
+appearances, added to damask, taffety, and other rich dresses, gave a
+splendour to the scene highly interesting. When the Governor approached
+the King, and when an interchange of compliments had passed, the air
+resounded with the noise of musical instruments, such as drums, horns,
+and flutes. After some conversation, during which much politeness was
+observed in the behaviour of the King, the Governor wished this
+ceremonial visit to be returned; which was agreed to, and a convenient
+place was found to receive the King and his train. The Governor, his
+officers, and attendants, were formed in a half-circle, and seated under
+the shade of some trees, and a passage of sufficient breadth was formed
+by the soldiers for the King and his attendants to pass through. It was
+full two hours before his Majesty was announced, so numerous was his
+train. Each man of rank, as he advanced, paid the necessary compliments
+agreeably to the custom of his country, and then filed off. It was
+previously directed, that the King should be received with arms
+presented and the grenadiers march when passing the soldiers. This mark
+of distinction and respect appeared to give him much satisfaction: he
+halted to observe the orderly behaviour and uniform appearance of the
+soldiers; and the martial air that was playing, seemed to produce the
+most agreeable sensations on his mind. The writer had an opportunity of
+seeing this man. He was of the middle size, well formed, and perfectly
+black, with regular features and an open and pleasing countenance. His
+manner indicated understanding and was adorned with gracefulness; and in
+all respects he exceeded the expectations of every person. His dress was
+plain: it consisted of a piece of silk wrapt loosely about him; a wreath
+of green silk ornamented his head: his sandals were neatly made, and
+curiously studded with gold. He was not distinguished by any gold
+ornaments, as his attendants were. One man who was dressed in a
+grotesque manner, and who appeared to act the buffoon, was, literally,
+loaded with gold.
+
+As this was a visit of ceremony, no business of consequence was
+transacted. The King politely enquired after Mr. White, and expressed a
+hope that he would soon be well of his wounds. He said he would move
+from Annamaboe soon, as his army felt ill effects from the water, and
+from the dead bodies. After this visit, every confidence was placed in
+the King and his army, and as the gates were now opened, a free
+admittance was allowed: various conferences of a favourable nature were
+carried on between both parties; but peace with the Fantees was
+considered impracticable. Apoutay had escaped the King’s vigilance; and
+Acoom was at the head of a strong party, and marching towards Annamaboe
+to give the King battle. The King assured the Governor, that after he
+had subdued his enemies to leeward, he would return to Annamaboe for the
+purpose of making arrangements relative to the future welfare of the
+country, and the regulations of trade.
+
+It was agreed, that those residing under British forts, provided they
+observed a neutrality, should not be molested, and that every respect
+should be paid to the British flag. The Governor likewise procured the
+release of those who sought refuge in the fort, although the King
+contested his right to them; for this reason, that as he destroyed the
+town, he had a claim to every person and to every thing belonging to it.
+On report of Acoom being in arms and making preparations to attack the
+Ashantees, the King ordered his army to collect and march to meet him.
+Two days subsequent to the King’s departure (3d July,) Acoom’s party and
+the advanced guard of the Ashantee’s met; a battle was the consequence,
+which ended in the defeat of Acoom, who, with his party, would have been
+cut off, if a river, that was in their rear, had not favoured their
+flight; the fordable parts of which were known to them, but not to the
+Ashantees. After this defeat, the King’s enemies dared not shew
+themselves in the field in any force; they however supported a kind of
+predatory warfare, and were sometimes successful in cutting off small
+foraging parties. As the Ashantees proceeded to leeward, desolation
+accompanied them; almost every town and village were laid in ruins; but
+disease, which got among them at Annamaboe, and which spread rapidly,
+carried off vast numbers. This unexpected calamity altered the King’s
+intentions: he could not return to Annamaboe without risking the loss of
+his whole army; prudence therefore directed him to face towards his
+kingdom, leaving at Accra a sufficient force to dispose of prisoners,
+and to convey them in safety to Ashantee.
+
+Cheboo and Apoutay, who appeared inseparable friends at the commencement
+of this war, and throughout it, fled to Cape Coast with about five
+hundred followers, as soon as they perceived the Ashantees approaching
+towards Annamaboe, on the 15th of June. The Cape Coast people were
+willing to afford them protection and assistance, but when the Governor
+heard how things were at Annamaboe, he warned them of the danger, and
+advised them to be neutral. When an account arrived at Cape Coast of the
+desperate attack made on Annamaboe fort, the Governor came to the
+resolution of securing, if possible, both these men, and delivering them
+up to the King as the most probable means of not only putting an end to
+the war, but of securing the King’s friendship. A party was accordingly
+selected for that purpose; but Apoutay, after a warm contest, wherein
+some were killed on both sides, effected his escape. Cheboo was not so
+fortunate; he was secured and sent to the King, as we have already
+mentioned; his followers too made a precipitate flight, leaving behind
+them some bulky articles, among which were the whole of Cheboo’s
+regalia, which were carefully lodged for the King; and it had the effect
+on his disposition that was intended; it gave a favourable opinion of
+the British, and assured him of the Governor’s friendship, and at the
+same time it abated the desire he encouraged, to be revenged for the
+loss his army had sustained on the 15th. For he concerted a design to
+attempt the fort by storm, and Wednesday the 17th was the day appointed
+for this enterprise. The plan was not badly arranged; and was to be
+conducted in the following manner. Six thousand men were to be selected;
+half of them destined not only to mount the walls, but to apply a
+quantity of gunpowder under them; the explosion from which was expected
+to shake the fort very much, and likewise to create such a confusion
+within as to cause the garrison to be off its guard; the other half were
+to keep up a continued firing. The plan was averted by the prudent
+policy of the Chief Governor, not only by his securing Cheboo, but by
+his alacrity in demanding a truce, whereby the King’s resentment was
+cooled, and his inclinations diverted towards pacific measures.
+
+
+[Footnote 142: This should be Appia Dunqua; he was the elder brother of
+Appia Nanu, an account of whose disgrace is in the Diary.]
+
+[Footnote 143: This should be Atta.]
+
+[Footnote 144: Mr. White, who, after an absence of twenty seven years
+from his native country, expired a few hours after he landed in it.]
+
+
+
+
+                           APPENDIX. No. II.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+    _Translations of a Manuscript descriptive of Mr. Park’s Death._
+
+
+                       MR. SALAME’S TRANSLATION.
+
+[The words in italics, so distinguished at that Gentleman’s request, not
+                        being in the original.]
+
+A literal translation of a Declaration, written in a corrupted Arabic,
+from the town of Yaúd in the interior of Africa.
+
+          In the name of God the Merciful and the Munificent.
+
+This Declaration is issued from the town called[145] Yaúd in the Country
+of Kossa[146].—We (the writer,) do witness the _following_ case;
+(statement.) We never saw, nor heard of the sea (River) called[148]
+Koodd; but we sat to hear (understood) the voice (report) of some
+persons _saying_, “We saw a ship, equal to her we never saw before; and
+the King of Yaúd had sent plenty of every kind of food, with cows and
+sheep; _There_ were two men, one woman, two male slaves and two maids in
+the ship;[149] _The_ two white men _were_ derived from the race (_sect_)
+of Nassrí; (Christ or Christianity.) The King of Yaúd asked them to come
+out to him; (to land[150]; and they refused coming out, (landing,) and
+they went to the _King of the_ Country of[151] Bassa, who is greater
+than the King of Yaúd; And _while_ they _were_ sitting in the ship and
+gaining a position (rounding) over the Cape of Koodd, and _were_ in
+society with the people of the King of Bassa, the ship reached (struck)
+a-head of Mountain which took (destroyed) _her_ away,[152] and the men
+and women of Bassa all together, with every kind of arms; (goods); And
+the ship could find no way to avoid the mountain; And the man who _was_
+in the ship, killed his wife, and threw all his property into the Sea,
+(River), and _then_ they threw themselves _also_ from fear[153]:
+Afterwards they took one _out of the_ water till the news reached the
+town of Kanji,[154] the country of the King of Wawí, and the King of
+Wawí heard of it, he buried him in his earth, (grave), and the other we
+have not seen[155]; perhaps he is in the bottom of the water.”—And God
+knows best. Authentic from the mouth of Sherif Abrahim.—Finis.
+
+
+                       MR. JACKSON’S TRANSLATION.
+
+[Of this Gentleman’s considerate politeness in anticipating my wishes by
+a spontaneous offer to translate this MS., I shall have occasion to
+repeat my acknowledgments in the Geographical Appendix.]
+
+              In the name of God the Merciful and Clement.
+
+This Narrative proceeds from the territory in Housa[146] called[145]
+Eeauree. _We observed_ an extraordinary event or circumstance[147], _but
+we neither saw nor heard of the River which is called[148] Kude_, and as
+we were sitting, we heard the voice of children and _we saw a vessel_
+the like to which in size we never saw before; and, _we saw_ the King of
+Eeauree send cattle and sheep, and a variety of vegetables in great
+abundance: and there were two men and one woman, and two slaves, and
+_they tied or fastened them in the vessel_.[149]
+
+There were also in the vessel, two white men of the race called
+Christians (N’sarrah) and the Sultan of Eeauree called aloud to them to
+come out of the vessel,[150] but they would not.
+
+They proceeded to the country of Busa, which is greater than that of the
+Sultan of Eeauree, and as they were setting in the vessel, they hung or
+were stopped, by the Cape or Head Land of Kude.[151]
+
+And the people of the Sultan of Busa called to them, and poured their
+arms into the vessel, and the vessel reached the head-land or cliff, and
+became attached or fixed to the head of the mountain, and could not pass
+it. Then the men and women of Busa collected themselves hostilely
+together, with arms of all descriptions, when the vessel being unable to
+clear or pass the Cape, the man in the vessel killed his wife[153] and
+threw the whole of her property into the river: they then threw
+themselves into the river, fear seizing them (the news of this
+occurrence was then conveyed to the Sultan Wawee) until it reached by
+water the territory of Kanjee,[154] in the country of the Sultan Wawee,
+and we buried it (a male body) in its earth, and one of them, we saw not
+at all in the water,[155] and God knows the truth of this report. From
+the mouth of the Shereef Ibrahim.—The end.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+I have sent the original MS. to the African Association, the following
+is Mr. Jackson’s transcript of it. I regret that Mr. Salamé did not also
+furnish a transcript of this MS.
+
+                         بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
+
+هذه الوثيقه خرج من بلد حوسا يقال يَور ونحن راينا الامر لم نري ولانسمع في
+البحر الذي يقال كوض انما نحن جلسنا نسمع صاخ صبيان لرايت السفينه لم نري
+مثله قط فارسل سلطان يَور لرايته مع البقر والكبس مع انواع الطعام كثيرِ
+هما رجلان وامراة واحدة والعبدان وعقدان في السفينة رجلان بيضان خرجوا من
+نسب نصري ويدعوهو سلطان يور الي ان خرجوا اليه وابوا خروج ومشوا الي بلد
+بسا وهوا كبر من سلطان يور وهم يجلسون ويعلكون ملوك علي راس كُوض ويصاخور
+اهل سلطان بُسا لرايته وهم ركوب في السفينة بلغ السفينة راس جبل وياخد
+الجبل السفينة ورجال بُسا والنساه بسا يجمعون كلهم مع انواع السلاح
+والسفينة لم يجد طريق المنع الجبل ورجل الدي في السفينة قتل امراته ورمي
+ماله كله في البحر ورموا نفسهما في البحر لخوف ثم ياخدوا بلغ خبر الي سلطان
+واوي حتي بلغ ماه به الي بلد كنجي بلد سلطان وَاوَيَ ودفنه في قرابه وواحد
+منهما لم نره اقل في قهر الماه والله اعلم صح في فَم شريف اِبراهيم * تمت *
+
+
+[Footnote 145: Sir William Ouseley (who very obligingly communicated a
+hurried translation from Crickhowel, although the original had been but
+two hours in his possession) read this Yaur or Yaôur.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Sir Wm. writes Husa or Haousa: the latter is occasionally
+the Moorish pronunciation, but Houssa is invariably the negro. I
+certainly never once heard that Houssa included Yawoorie, which has a
+distinct Sovereign, who is mentioned in the MS.: Perhaps it may be
+accounted for, from Yawoorie being one of the seven kingdoms tributary
+to Houssa or Mallowa.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Mr. Jackson has preserved this apparent contradiction in
+his fidelity to the original, according to his reading. He considers, it
+may be reconciled by presuming that the writer only saw the vessel pass
+Yawoorie, and did not witness the ultimate catastrophe at Boussa, where
+he imagines the river may first receive the name of Kude, as African
+rivers frequently have a different name in every country through which
+they flow. This interpretation does not make the writer a mere reporter
+as in the other translation, but a witness of all that happened at
+Yawoorie, although not afterwards. I never understood the river to have
+any other name than Quorra or Quolla, from Shego to Foör, yet of this we
+ought not to feel positive.]
+
+[Footnote 148: It is very extraordinary that the name of the Quolla
+should always be written Kude, Koad, or Koada, and that Mr. Hutchison,
+who was learning Arabic of the Moors, in Ashantee, should be taught to
+write and pronounce as Quolla, the same Arabic word which every European
+proficient reads as above. I cannot help thinking that, from bad
+writing, ignorance, or perhaps some occidental difference, the _d_ is
+put for the _l_,[a] and that it should be Kule or Koala, especially as
+there appears to be a town called Kula on its banks, (see routes in
+Appendix) which comes very close to Kulla, Mr. Brown’s river. The
+identity of the Quolla and Kulla, seems confirmed by Mr. Dupuis reading
+the name of the kingdom, as written by the Moors, Koora, which seems as
+if they had written it for once, according to the negro pronunciation,
+(Quorra,) for as I have observed (p. 196) that the negroes always
+substitute r for the Moorish _l_ (a defect also characterising a dialect
+of the Coptic, the Chayma, the Tamanack, &c. &c., and common, as Baron
+Humboldt observes, to every zone) Koora becomes Koola, for the same
+reason which the Quorra of the negroes was always pronounced Quolla by
+the Moors; and Koola, it will be allowed, is very near to Mr. Brown’s
+Kulla.]
+
+[Footnote a: I recollect one, but only one instance of the negroes
+substituting _d_ for the Moorish _l_, which was in Toppodo for Toppollo,
+a town of Bornoo.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Mr. Jackson writes وعقدان في السفينة Uakkadan fee sfeena,
+i.e. and tied or bound them in the vessel or ship, adding, that he is at
+a loss to imagine how it can have been converted into “two maids in the
+ship.”[a] Sir Wm., however, in his hurried notice, rendered it ‘female
+slaves.’]
+
+[Footnote a: _Ockdan fi ássafinat_, means either “_Two maids_, or _two
+female slaves_, in the ship,” and no otherwise.—A. S.]
+
+[Footnote 150: “Invited (or entertained them) until they left him,” Sir
+Wm.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Sir William, in his hurried perusal, read this, “and went
+on to the country of Besa, and (the Sultan of) this country is greater
+than the Sultan of Yaour: there they settled or halted, above Ras (Cape)
+Koumen. The people belonging to the Sultan of Besa saw the boat, and
+they went into the boat, and it reached the Mountain Cape, (or
+Headland,) and was there stopped.”]
+
+[Footnote 152]
+
+[Footnote 153: “And _the man who was_[a] in the boat slew his woman
+(امراة) and threw every article of his property into the river, and then
+cast _themselves_ into the river through fear.]
+
+[Footnote a: I translate this in the singular, yet afterwards, there
+seems a confusion with the plural.” Sir Wm. This act, which appears very
+improbable, and which I never heard of in the oral accounts which I
+received whilst in Coomassie, (Diary, p. 91) if it was committed, must
+have been by Lieut. Martyn, recollecting the difference of his and Mr.
+Park’s dispositions, and Amadi Fatouma’s anecdote of the former wishing
+to kill him for preventing him from firing any more at the people of the
+King Gotoijege, I should observe here, that Amadi Fatouma’s _Poul_
+nation can be no other than the Fillani, (p. 207) the Fullan of Ben Ali,
+for though it has been translated Poul, there is no _p_ in the Arabic,
+and the Moors in Ashantee always wrote _f_ for the negro _p_, as _fon_
+for _pon_. As Col. Maxwell merely observes in his letter, that “Isaaco’s
+Arabic Journal was translated into English, by a person resident in
+Senegal, who probably had but an ordinary or colloquial knowledge of
+Arabic, it is to be regretted that the original was not transmitted with
+it, as a more careful perusal of it by Sir William Ouseley or some
+Arabic scholar in England, would probably reconcile the two accounts, at
+least in the names of places, if not in the circumstances, more than
+they can be from the translation remitted.]
+
+[Footnote 154: See note; p. 202.]
+
+[Footnote 155: “And the other did not,——from the violence of the
+water.”—Sir Wm.]
+
+
+
+
+                           APPENDIX. No. III.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+                                ROUTES.
+
+                                   1.
+
+                               To Dwabin.
+
+  Seepa
+
+  Marmpon
+
+  Pakooroo
+
+  Aquooquamong
+
+  Okimdaia
+
+  Weterkroom
+
+  Bunkooroo
+
+  Boomfeea
+
+  Kinnesoo
+
+                                   2.
+
+                               To Quaoo.
+
+  1. Assiempong
+
+  2. Thro’ Amoom R. to Oseemadoo
+
+  3. Obogoo, Frontier Quaoo town.
+
+  4. Adumpong, the Government of the C. Coast Captain
+
+  5. Assebanasoo
+
+  6. Minidasoo, Famous for Palm Oil.
+
+  7. Assoona
+
+  8. Wantomo
+
+                                   3.
+
+                               To Accra.
+
+  1. Odossoo
+
+  3. Kroofoofroom, Two hours from the lake.
+
+  4. Obirribee, The 1st Akim town
+
+  5. Assinee
+
+  6. Over Boosempra to Gawasee
+
+  7. Meeasee
+
+  8. Monasa
+
+  9. Over the Aninnee, (rising in a hill called Quomshoo, 1 day to the
+  W.) on a tree
+
+  10. Ashoosoo
+
+  11. Aquapong
+
+  12. Over Birrim to Measa
+
+  13. Asheeaqua
+
+  14. Kookrantoom
+
+  15. Aguiesso
+
+  16. Marmpon and Aboödee, Visited by Issert, who calls it 24 miles from
+  Christiansburg Castle.
+
+                                   4.
+
+                               To Accra.
+
+  1. Ashiedumpong
+
+  2. Assaboo
+
+  3. Assuennie
+
+  5. Antarranaï
+
+  6. Ammoonoom
+
+  7. Akropong
+
+  9. Abirriwantoo
+
+  10. Aradntem
+
+  11. Kookrantoom
+
+  13. Aguiesso.
+
+                                   5.
+
+                               To Elmina.
+
+  1. Thro’ the towns Akasee, Kankawasee, Odasoo, Adiabin, Asakkraka,
+  Adoonko, Agafrompon, to Adoomasa
+
+  2. Fiasee, Bonechumay, Asanasoo, to Becquoi
+
+  3. Inshuentem, (_between waters_) Abimpingua, to Atobiasee
+
+  4. Thro’ Hoomassie, Assekosoo, Edoomassie, Akoorkerry, Akotokee,
+  Yankeren, to Abateä, the frontier town of Dankara
+
+  5. Thro’ Sewooterasee, (_put your head lower_) Aboposoo, the frontier
+  Tufel town, to Ensuaguesoo, (_woman’s town_) the capital of Tufel
+
+  6. Morobim
+
+  7. Thro’ Akoontarrem, (the 1st Warsaw town) Amodai, over Bopoquaw, (a
+  high hill where there was formerly a large croom, now deserted) &
+  Apachamba, to Kaïrakoo
+
+  8. Over Pra to Demamba
+
+  9. Dadiasoo
+
+  10. Asseecooma, Abannasoo, Abrādi, Elmina, or, as the natives call it,
+  Addĭna.
+
+                                   6.
+
+                              To Dankara.
+
+  1. Dakoon
+
+  2. Terraboöom, the frontier town of Dankara
+
+  3. Thro’ Mosiasoo to Enquanta
+
+  4. Thro’ Ofoo, Amasoo, to Dankara.
+
+                                   7.
+
+                             To Buntookoo.
+
+  1. Barree [156]or to Passaroo
+
+  2. Beamasoo, or to Dooniantiffee
+
+  3. Ensoota
+
+  4. Quanta
+
+  5. Across Tando, to Odomassee
+
+  6. Suaterree
+
+  7. Birrakoomee
+
+  8. Yammee
+
+  9. Kirribeeö
+
+  10. Kickiwerree
+
+  11. Buntookoo
+
+                                   8.
+
+                               To Banda.
+
+  1. Tafoo
+
+  2. Ofeesoo
+
+  3. Abofoo
+
+  4. Kinkawasoo
+
+  5. Akomada
+
+  6. Tandosoo
+
+  7. Koontoosoo
+
+  8. Takima
+
+  9. Weäkee
+
+  10. Aousa
+
+  11. Soko
+
+  12. Namasa
+
+  13. Coransoo
+
+  14. Bimma
+
+  15. Banda
+
+                                   9.
+
+                               To Boopee.
+
+  1. Esansoo, or Medima
+
+  2. Through Ofim, which rises close to the E. to Bümsoo or Akimakasie
+
+  3. Soodroo
+
+  4. Takimenteä, or Quamang
+
+  5. Akommadeä, or Boomang
+
+  6. Boisoo
+
+  7. Coranza
+
+  8. Boibin
+
+  9. Koonquoontee
+
+  10. Dawdaw
+
+  11. Akrofroom
+
+  12. Oboosmosoo
+
+  13. Moboäsoo
+
+  14. On the path
+
+  15. Over Adirri
+
+  16. Boopee
+
+                                  10.
+
+                              To Sallagha.
+
+  1. Marmpon
+
+  2. Aphwaguiasee
+
+  3. Gammasee a fetish temple
+
+  4. Akrofroom
+
+  5. Intonnasoo (Cloth Town)
+
+  6. Quanasee or Troabirree
+
+  7. Agwoona
+
+  8. Adoogan
+
+  9. Over rivers and mountains to Aguirra, or Poorra
+
+  10. Through Sennee to Amanting
+
+  11. Pattooda
+
+  12. Atoboboo
+
+  13. Weasee
+
+  14. Pannangha
+
+  15. Yadjee
+
+  16. Over Adirri to Sallagha
+
+                                  11.
+
+                          To Source of Sennee.
+
+  1. Agamachasee
+
+  2. Aboiman
+
+  3. Yatirrim
+
+  4. Oweeamasee
+
+  5. Anyanasue
+
+  6. Assekadoomasee
+
+                                  12.
+
+                           To Odentee ferry.
+
+  1. Kokoofoo
+
+  2. Guia
+
+  3. Weeäsee
+
+  4. Bassa
+
+  5. Tarrisoo
+
+  6. Over Sennee, to ferry
+
+                                  13.
+
+                         From Yahndi to Daboia
+
+  1. Through Patinga to Duetuem
+
+  2. Tampeūn
+
+  3. Through Nantong to Kompoongo
+
+  4. Through Boö to Dindinno
+
+  5. Daboia
+
+           Large Towns on the Route from Boornoo to Oongoora.
+
+  Deeagarra
+
+  Digza
+
+  Gellaroo
+
+  Rakah
+
+  Zaghgah
+
+  Ariggum
+
+  Madellarie
+
+  Zogogdo
+
+  Doobba
+
+  Toppollo, or Toppodo
+
+  Garaga
+
+  Gaskaia
+
+  Matchella
+
+  Goozirrinkoorra
+
+  Dumgabalo
+
+  Potuskum, or Kuskum
+
+  Dawaso
+
+  Woodbo
+
+  Gummo
+
+  Zega
+
+   Adagia, Mallagee, and Katanga, lay between Oongoora, and Kassina.
+
+  Towns adjoining, or laying close to the right and left of the above
+                                 Route.
+
+  Serrakeelaia
+
+  Dakum
+
+  Lismaroo
+
+  Goobilwa
+
+  Gobookalashee
+
+  Dazakou
+
+  Danga
+
+  Likhalalie
+
+  Looha
+
+The following transcripts of the most intelligible of the MSS. I
+brought, according to the different readings, with the Negro
+pronunciation as it was familiar to me in Ashantee, will show how
+careless or incapable the Moors are of writing the names of Negro
+kingdoms accurately according to the expression of the natives. The
+original MSS. will be sent to the African Association, to whom I had
+hoped to present the interesting itinerary of Shereef Brahima from
+Dagwumba to Mecca, but this valuable MS. which it had cost me so much
+pains to procure, after being kept three months by one gentleman before
+he discovered that he had not time to translate it, was lost or mislaid
+by another in the course of doing so, and I have the mortification of
+being unable to submit any other than the mere skeleton of it. See
+Geography, p. 205.
+
+
+                              CHART No. I.
+
+          _Course of the Niger or Quolla (by a Houssa Moor.)_
+
+ Negro pro-   Mr. Jackson’s reading       Mr. Dupuis’ reading and
+ nunciation.     and transcript.                transcript.
+
+  Gebowa                                  Gebawa         جباو
+
+  Toro        Futa Jelua    فوت جلوا      Foota Joolaba  فُوتَ جلوب
+  Jollabi
+
+  Fota Tora   Futa Tura     فوت طورَ      Foota Tooroo   فُوتَ طُورُ
+
+  Hasoo       Kassua        خَصوا         Khassoua       خَصُوا
+
+  Jaoona      Jäun          جَعونْ        Jafoona        جفون
+
+  Gammoe      G¯remua       غموا          Ghemoua        غمُوا
+
+  Mallaia     Maly Faly     مَلَي فَلي    Malia          مَلي
+
+  Shego       Shag¯ru       شاغُ          Shagho         شاغُ
+
+  Sansandin   Sansandia     سَنسَندي      Sansandia      سَنسَندي
+
+  Jennie      Janni         جَان          Jinnie         جَان
+
+  Mashina     Masheena      مَاشِنَ       Mashena        مَاشينَ
+
+  Jimballa    G¯rimbala     غِمْبَلَ      [157]Ghimballa غِمْبَلَ
+
+              (G¯r nearest sound
+              to غ.)
+
+  Kabarra     Kabra         كَبرَ         Kabara         كَبَرَ
+
+  Timbuctoo                               Timbuctoo      ثمْبَكْتُ
+
+  Jolliba     Jilab Karihua جلاب كريهوا   Jilleb Kareho  جلاب كريهوا
+
+              (or Garihua.[158])
+
+  Uzzabin     Asabin        احبن          Azbene         ازبن
+
+  Gaw         G¯raheh       غاي           Ghou           غاو
+
+  Kabi        Keb           كب            Kabi           كب
+
+  Yaoora      Eüra          يورَ          Yaoury         يور
+
+                                          Hooman         حمن
+                                          (Dhooman)
+
+  Raka        Baka          بَكا          Raka           رَكَا
+
+  Quarraraba  Kurauabee     كرَوبَي       Koorawaba      كْرَوَبَ
+
+  Mafeegoodoo Mafikadoo     مَافِقُدَ     Mafhygodo      مَافْقِغُدُ
+
+  Cadie,      Shad          شد            Shada          شَدَ
+  Caudee,
+  and Chadi
+
+  Sharee R.   Shar          شر            Sharry         شَرِ
+
+  Foor        Fure          فور           Foor           فُوُرْ
+
+  Weddai      Wadan         وادان         Wadana         وَادَانَ
+
+               (i.e. two rivers.)
+
+  Soonar      Sanar         سَنَارْ       Sanar          سَنَارْ
+
+  Shuar       Sheua         شوَا بنَسر    Shewa ben      شوَا بن حسن
+  Benassa     benasser                    Hassan
+
+              Shousuad      شوسواد        Shousooda      شوسواد
+
+                                          Doulamba       دُلَنْبَ
+
+              Kalen or      فالن or كالن  Kalana         كالن
+              Falen
+
+  Jefeesgo    Jafag¯r       جَفَغْ        Jafegh         جفغ
+
+  Massar      Mass’r        مصر           Massir         مصر
+
+
+                               MS. No. I.
+
+                    _Route from Boussa to Yarriba._
+
+  Wauwaw            Wou             واوْ
+
+  Kaiama            Kima            كيما
+
+  Godoobirrie       Khudubar        خدوبار
+
+  Gamba             Khamba          خَمْبَ
+
+  Kroomie Yarriba   Kurmi Yarabia   كُرْم يَرَبي
+
+  Ageasee           Abashee         ابَشي
+
+A more familiar illustration of the difficulty or carelessness of the
+Moors in writing Negro names, is the following route to Sallagha, to
+which there are many paths, containing several Ashantee towns, which I
+have laid down in the map. I rather think, however, the corrupt Arabic
+of the interior is not quite understood.
+
+
+                              MS. No. II.
+
+  Negro pronun-    Mr. Jackson’s reading and transcript.
+  ciation.
+
+                    Jemakashee       جماكاشي
+
+  Gammasee          Khemashee or     خماشي
+                    Ghemashee
+
+  Akrofroom         Kukerume or      كوقروم or كوكروم
+                    Kuferume
+
+                    Ber kaleela (a   برقليلا
+                    narrow or close
+                    country)
+
+  Soota             U badha Shta  }
+                                  }
+                                  }  وبعده شتا
+                                  }
+  And afterwards Shta or an       }
+  alluvial country                }
+
+  The people of Sudi in the          وحيل اسود كان في بلد شتا
+  territory of Shta
+
+  Marmpon           U badha Mamefm   و بعده مَمفم
+
+  Aduarrie Kennie   D’keen Adjar     دكين ادجار
+
+  Aguira            Ajuee or Ajree   اجري or اجوي
+
+  Antonasoo         Anteenee         عنتيني
+
+                    Akakuee          اككوي
+
+  Patooda (no P     Ketdee           كتدي
+  in Arabic)
+
+  Atoboo            Atab             اتاب
+
+  Weasee            Hooashee or      جومشي or حوعشي
+                    Weeashu
+
+                    Feneeueekee      فنيويقي
+
+  Perhaps meaning   Bure             بور
+  frontier of
+  Booroom
+
+  Sallagha          Salag~r          سلغ
+
+I shall submit more translations or transcripts of routes and charts in
+Arabic, adding the Negro pronunciation, as the situations of most of the
+places were not so clearly confirmed as to enable me to insert them in
+my map, and consequently it is important to enable future travellers to
+refer to them; such outlines being a great assistance in directing and
+checking enquiry (which they frequently originate) and investigation.
+The original MSS. will be sent to the African Association, in case a
+further examination may be desirable hereafter.
+
+
+                              MS. No. III.
+
+          _Course of the Niger or Quolla (by a Bornoo Moor.)_
+
+      Negro        Mr. Jackson’s reading    Mr. Dupuis’ reading and
+  pronunciation.      and transcript.           transcript.
+
+  Bambooch         Banbug~r    بَنبُغ الدي  Banboogho    بَنْبغ
+                   eladi eeakul ياكل
+
+                   el Ham Abn   الحم ابن ادم
+                   Adam
+
+                   Banbug~r, who eat the flesh of men.
+
+                   Firmagr~a   فرمَغَ       Fermagha     فرمَغَ
+
+  Hasoo            Hâsu         حاسُ         Hasoo        حَاسُ
+
+  Jaoona           Jahunu       جَاحُنُ      Jahoonoo     جَاحُيُ
+
+  Gamoo            Jamu         جَمُ         Jamoo        جَمُ
+
+  Malay or Mallaia Mali         مَلي         Malabi       مَلبي
+
+  Shego            Shaegru      شَيْغُ       Shagho       شَيْغُ
+
+  Sansandin        Sansandy     سَنسَندِ     Sansadia     سَنسَدَ
+
+  Jennie           Jany         جَنِ         Jinnie       جني
+
+  Mashina          Masina       مَاسَنَ      Massina      مَاسنَ
+
+  Timbuctoo        Tunbûktu     تُنبَقْتُ    Timbuctoo    تمبقْتُ
+
+  Gauw             G¯rau        غَاوْ        Ghaou        غاوْ
+
+  Kolomanni        Kulman       كُلْمَنِ     Koolmani     كُلْمَن
+
+  Zinberme         Dtanberma    ذَنبرْمَ     Danberma     ذَنْبرْمَ
+
+  Cabi             Kabi         كَبِ         Kabi         كَبِ
+
+  Yawoorie or      Eauri        يَاوُرِ      Yaouri       يَاوُرِ
+  Yaoora
+
+  Noofee           Nufy         نُفي         Noufee       نفي
+
+  Boussa           Busâa        بوسَا        Boussa       بوسا
+
+  Rakka            Raka         رَاقَا       Rakka        رَاقَا
+
+  Bornoo           B’rn Bernu   برن          Bornou       برن
+
+  Chadee L.        (The lake drawn, but the name not written.)
+
+  Bagarrimee       Bag¯rarm     باغرو        Baghroom     باغرم
+
+  Kalamfarradoo    Kaferk or    كافرد or     Kaferda      كافرد
+                   Kaferd       كافرك        Kalferka
+
+  Weddaï           Wadana (two  وَدَان       Wadai        وَدَان
+                   rivers)
+
+  Soonar           Surnar       سُرنَرْ      Soonar       سُونَرْ
+
+                   Siua         سيوا         Sewa         سيوا
+
+  Schweess         Suis         سويس         Souisa       سويس
+
+  Zaloo            Jal          جال          Jaloo        جال
+
+  Kataëba          Katab        قَتَب        Kataibi      فَتَيب
+
+  Makidzue         Mek’duh      مقدوح        Mokad        مقدوح
+
+  Mertabass        M’rtabas     مرتباس       Mertabas     مرتباس
+
+  Hoodayba         Mamudeeb     مَموديب      Haoudeba     هوديي
+
+  Taiboos          Teesuse      تيسوس        Tesoos       تيسوس
+
+  Jarooba          Jerub        جروب         Jarouba      جروب
+
+  Tabarrabass      Tidburse or  تدبرس or     Tarbasa      ترباس
+                   Tidfurse     تدفرس
+
+  Gedda.           J’da         جدا          Jidda        جدا
+
+  Geddook          J’duk        جدوخ         Jidoukh      جدوخ
+
+  Limbarr’         Linbabahr    لنبَبَحر     Linbahar     لنبحر
+
+  Tarrowm          Term         ترم          Taroom       ترم
+
+  Massar           M’nser       منصر         Minsor       منصر
+
+  Sakunderree or   Skender, a   سكندر مرج    Sakundria,   سْكَنْدَرِ
+  Askandarie       swamp lake                Alexandria
+
+          _Route from Timbuctoo to Ferjan (from the same MS.)_
+
+                   Tuan         توان         Toowano      توان
+
+                   M’brûk       مبروك        Mobaruka     مبَرْوك
+
+                   Jeerban      حيربن        Joojebani    اجوجبن
+
+                   Abugiberk    ابوجبرخ      Kheerabi     خيربي
+
+                   Tehekeem     تحكيم        Tahkema      تحكيم
+
+  Bageeacha  }
+             }
+  Hootailee  }
+             }
+  Goosaicha  }    not written, but position marked, and thus pronounced.
+             }
+  Hayloon    }
+             }
+  Barrahese  }
+
+                   Ferjan       فرجان        Ferjan       فَرْجَانْ
+
+            _From Timbuctoo to Tunis (from the same Chart.)_
+
+  Ziggie           Jak, Jik, or جق           Jagha        جغ
+                   Juk
+
+  Arowalla         Arun or Arul عرول or عرون Aaroon       عرون
+
+  Tarrabaleese     Trahesen     ترهيسن       Trabolas     ترهبليس
+
+  Mooquinassa      M’kenas      ممكناس       Mookanassa   مَكْنَاس
+
+  Hass             Has          حَاسْ        Hhas         حَاسْ
+
+  Landoloos        Lindalsu     لَندَلْسُ    Lankalsoo    لَنكَلْسُ
+
+  Toonis           Tunis        تونس         Tunis        تونس
+
+                   Near the sea كباله بحر
+
+Other towns named on this route were
+
+  Hassaladee
+
+  Hassazedeed
+
+  Hassat
+
+  Omattaras
+
+  Dizzaela
+
+  Dazeleel
+
+  Katerbaîlie
+
+  Bahadzai
+
+  Maratooph
+
+  Swamach
+
+
+                              MS. No. IV.
+
+    _Course of the Niger or Quolla (by a Jennie Moor who had been to
+                                Egypt.)_
+
+  Negro         Mr. Jackson’s reading         Mr. Dupuis’ reading and
+  pronun-          and transcript.                  transcript.
+  ciation.
+
+  Mallaia        Malh         ملح             Mahh            مَاحْ
+
+  Shego          Shak         سك              Shako           سكُ
+
+  Sansandin      Sansandee    سنسدَي          Sansandia       سنسنديَ
+
+  Jennie         Jin          جن              Jinnie          جنِ
+
+  Massina        Masheen      ماشين           Mashina         ماشين
+
+  Tinbuctoo      Tinbut       تنبت            Tinbuctoo       تنبت
+
+  (Here he draws the Jolliba flowing from or into the Quolla by
+  Timbuctoo.)
+
+  Gauw           Gru          غو              Ghou            غو
+
+  Quoälla        Kula         كولا            Koualla         كولا
+
+  Askeä          Assaëe       اَساَي          Askea           اسكي
+
+  Zabirma        Zabuaä       زبوعا           Zaberma         زبرما
+
+  Cabi           Keb          كب              Kaby            كبا
+
+  Yaoora         Eeurë        يور             Yeory           يور
+
+  Boussa         B’sa         بسا             Bussu           بسا
+
+  (Here he branches off a southern route to Yarriba with precisely the
+  same names as in MS. I, by the Houssa Moor.)
+
+  Noofee         }
+                 }
+  Quolla-liffa   }
+                 }
+  Atagara        } not written, but position marked, and thus
+                 } pronounced.
+  Sharee R.      }
+                 }
+  Chadee L.      }
+
+  Foor           Foo          فوُ             Sour            صُره
+
+  Weddai         Wadaee       وداي            Wadai           وداي
+
+  Joonar         Jusenaw      جوسناو          Joosnou         جوسناو
+
+  Shewa          Shuee        شوي             Shouy           سوي
+
+  Sooeess        Siuse        سُوسْ           Sweis           سُوسْ
+
+  Zale           Zal          زاَل            Zal             زاَل
+
+  Zaedooma       Zeehwam      زيهوم           Zeedouma        زيدوم
+
+  Lachtamoo      Lahellam     لاحلام          Lakhtamo        لاخطام
+
+  Makagoodoo     Mehed’twa    محذوْع          Mohadzou        محذوْع
+
+  Dalooba        Deeluba      ديلوبا          Djaoba          دجاوبا
+
+  Tarbass        Tubas        توباس           Terbasa         ترباس
+
+  Jaheesoo       Jekeesee     جخيس            Jakhesa         جخيس
+
+  Latooha        Lituh or     ليعوح or ليطوح  Letouh          ليطوح
+                 Liauh
+
+  Mabanoos       M’benuse     مبنوس           Mabanouso       مَبَنُوس
+
+  Itkhame        Atekam       اتخام           Etakhamo        اطخدَمُ
+
+  Massar         Missu        مصو             Massir          مصر
+
+  Sooryada       Sueed        سويد            Sourida         سُويد
+
+  Nezoogoo       Teeawa       تياوع           Nezugh          نيزوخح
+
+  Kataramoo      Kateram      كترام           Kateramo        كترام
+
+  Dahloomoo      D’helume     دحلوم           Dhalomo         دحلوم
+
+  Hateboo        Heteeb       حتيب            Hhateba         حتيب
+
+  Haheenie       Heneen       حنين            Hahhene         ححين
+
+  Hajamie        Khejam       خجام            Hajame          حجام
+
+  Tapasooloo     Tefawn       تفعون           Tafsoona        تفصون
+
+  Askandarie                                  Askundria       اسكندري
+
+  Bahar Mela      (Bahar Melhah the           Bahar al Malah
+                      salt sea)
+
+
+                              MS. No. IV.
+
+This was written by an old Moor, a native of the Mallowa country, but
+unfortunately just as he had finished (for I made them all write at the
+moment in my own apartment, however hurried, rather than allow them to
+go home and compose for me) and was beginning to explain what he had
+written, a summons from the King obliged me to quit him, and he left
+Coomassie before I could procure another visit from him. In the absence
+of all explanation, I can only conclude from some few names that are
+familiar to me, that it is a route from Berragoo over the Quolla, and
+then westward to Bergoo, known to Mr. Brown. I am only induced thus to
+preserve a transcript of this ms. from its fortunate co-incidence in
+several names with the valuable lost itinerary of my friend Brahima, as
+far as can be collected from a mere sketch of a translation, which was
+made in anticipation of the perfect one. I shall submit them
+collaterally, as they assist to elucidate each other, and agree very
+well in the relative positions of places, although the parties never saw
+each other, which is some satisfaction under the disappointment.
+
+ _Outline of Brahima’s                    MS. No. IV.
+      Itinerary._
+
+ Mr. Dupuis’ reading and   Mr. Jackson’s reading         Other readings.
+ transcript.               and transcript.
+
+
+ Bazao      بَزاوُ (بَراوُ)  Burg¯ru          بُرْغُ            Bouroughoo
+ (Barao)
+
+                             Babigry          بَبِغي            Babaghe
+
+ Kaikshi    كَيَقشي          Keekesh          كيقش              Keekash
+
+ Droo       دروو             Serkune          سركون             Serkoon
+
+ Mashooko   مَشوُكوْ
+
+ Banghoo    بَانْغُوا        Banaka           بانعقا
+
+ Toonooma   تُونُومُ         Tuee             توي
+
+ Yajoury    يَجُورِ          Tenbykukmaetunby تنب كوك مَيتُنْب
+ (doubtless
+ Yawoorie)
+
+                             Kenbua           كنبوا             Kanboo
+
+                             Dendawy          دنداوي            Danadoo
+
+                             Belg¯rua         بلغوا             Balaghou
+
+ Jabdgho    جَبْذْغُ         Jebeng¯rua       جبنغوا            Jabadghoo
+
+ Keemba or  كمْبَا (كصْبَا)  Kamba            كمبه
+ Keerba
+
+ Kadarkoo   اَلجركَدَرْكُ    Kedug¯reh R.     كَدوغه            Kadarko
+ R.
+
+ Doodirba   ذُذْرْبَا        Dtedterba R.     ذذربا             Dodarba
+ R.
+
+                             Uwawfeh          وواوفه
+
+                             Mhaka Kury       محكا كوري
+                             (arrival at
+                             Kury)
+
+                             Saffer           سفر
+
+                             Aäu Khashah      اعَوو كحاشه
+
+ Shawanka   اشَوَنْكَا       Shawangra        شاوَنْغَ
+
+ Ghoufel    غوفل             Jafu             جافُو             Japhoo
+
+ Simmer     سمر
+
+ Yarkoo     يركو
+
+ Daghm      دغم
+
+ Bannanao   بَنَنَوْا
+
+ Doonkee    دُنْقيْ          Dunka            دُنقَيْ           Doonkot
+
+ Ghodau     غوضا             G¯ru’w           غووَ              Ghouwa
+
+ Salamo     سَلَمْوُا
+
+ Janboodoo  جَانْبُدُوا      Jabendu          جابندوا
+
+ Soosoo     سُسُوْا          Susu             سُوسُوْا
+
+ Kooreree   كُرر             Koos             كوصْ
+
+ Barghoowa  برغَوَا          Berg¯rua         برغوا
+
+ Nak or     نك
+ Naka
+
+ Water of   وض
+ Wada
+
+ Douga      ضوغا
+ (probably
+ Donga)
+
+ Mazim      مزم
+
+ Kal        كل
+
+ Makji      مقجي
+
+ Tafkat     تفقت
+
+ Shal L.    شل
+
+ Koad or    كوض
+ Koada
+
+  Here the writer signified that he went back to _Kateen_, as appeared
+  to the transcriber, but more probably_Kassina_, and thence proceeded
+  to
+
+ Kano       كَن
+
+ Bornou     برنو
+
+ Sher R.    شر
+
+ Shadda L.  شاد
+
+ Foor       فر
+
+ Wada       وداء
+
+ Massir     مصر
+
+ Makata     مكة
+ (Mecca)
+
+ Madina     مدينه
+
+ Shem       شام
+ (Damascus)
+
+ Jerusalem, بيت المقدس
+ &c. &c.
+
+
+[Footnote 156: When _or_ appears between two names, it means that each
+town is equally close to the path, and indifferently visited.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Mr. Dupuis renders the Arabic غ g¯h agreeable to
+Richardson. Mr. Jackson has insisted on preferring g˘r throughout. Mr.
+Dupuis, having sailed for Africa, has not had the advantage of
+correcting the press for himself, but every care has been taken.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Sir W. Ouseley remarks, that the letter _k_ is frequently
+softened into _g_.]
+
+
+
+
+                           APPENDIX. No. IV.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+                         REPTILIA. (REPTILES.)
+
+_Gen._ MONITOR, _Cuvier._
+
+  _Sp._ 1. _Pulcher_, _Leach._
+
+    M. Supra niger albo pulcherrime zonatus et maculatus: zonis
+    dorsalibus e maculis effectis, ventre albido nigro transversim vage
+    lineato, cauda compressa carinata.
+
+    This elegant species was found in Fantee. The whole upper parts of
+    the body, the legs and tail, are black, most beautifully banded and
+    spotted with white. The bands on the tail are alternately wide and
+    narrow; the wider bands are each much and abruptly dilated above
+    into a kind of spot, whilst the narrow ones become gradually wider
+    in the inverse direction. The legs are spotted above with white; the
+    under parts of them, as well as of the belly and throat, are also of
+    the same colour with the spots.
+
+_Gen._ CHAMÆLEON, _of authors._
+
+  _Sp._ 1. _Dilepis_, _Leach._
+
+    Ch. Capite supra sub plano utrinque bicarinato: carinis antice
+    conniventibus, occipite utrinque squama magna instructo, dorso
+    subspinoso-carinato.
+
+    This species may readily be distinguished from all that have been
+    hitherto discovered, by the two large scales, affixed one on each
+    side to the back part of the head. These scale-like processes, are
+    covered by the same scaly integuments which cover the head and body.
+
+_Gen._ ACONTIAS, _Cuvier._
+
+  _Sp._ 1. _Punctatus_, _Leach._
+
+    A. Supra brunneo-fuscus obsolete purpurascens, squamis postice
+    macula ventreque fulvescentibus.
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ MACROSOMA, _Leach._
+
+    1. _Elegans, Leach._
+
+    Coluber elegans, _Shaw._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ COLUBER, _Cuvier._
+
+    1. _Bicolor_, _Leach._
+
+    C. Supra badio-niger subtus albidus, squamis dorsalibus elongatis
+    gradatim angustioribus; apice obtusiusculis.
+
+    Fantee.
+
+    2. _Irroratus_, _Leach._
+
+    C. Badio-fuscus, gula pallida, squamis pulcherrime albido irroratis;
+    dorsalibus subelongatis apice rotundatis.
+
+    Fantee.
+
+    3. _Irregularis_, _Leach._
+
+    C. Azureo-virescens, ventre albido, squamis simplicibus
+    irregularibus: dorsalibus ovatis: lateralibus superioribus superne
+    truncatis; inferis subhexagonis.
+
+    Fantee.
+
+    The above three species of _Coluber_ are decidedly new, as well as
+    the _Acontias_; the latter is more particularly interesting, since
+    it encreases the species of a very limited genus.
+
+
+                              ARACHNOÏDA.
+
+_Gen._ SCORPIO, _of authors._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Afer_, _Fabr._
+
+_Gen._ MYGALE, _Latreille._
+
+    The only specimen was too mutilated to enable me to make out its
+    specific character.
+
+
+                               MYRIAPODA.
+
+    Of this class you found two species in Fantee; a _Scolopendra_, and
+    a gigantic _Julus_; neither of which are in a sufficiently good
+    state to enable me to make out whether they be described or not.
+
+
+                                INSECTA.
+
+_Gen._ TEFFLUS, _Leach_, new genus.
+
+                           Generic character.
+
+    CAPUT. _Mandibulæ_ æquales edentulæ. _Palpi labiales_ et _maxillares
+    externi_ articulo ultimo elongato-securiformi.
+
+    THORAX hexagonus antice et postice rectus. _Alæ_ nullæ. _Elytra_
+    coalita abdomen tegentia apicem versus utrinque sinuata. _Tibiæ_
+    anticæ latere interiore apicem versus emarginatæ calcare elevato
+    instructæ. _Tarsi antici_ MARIS articulis duobus primis tenuiter
+    dilatatis.
+
+    Habitus et Antennæ Carabi.
+
+   _Sp._ 1. _Meyerlei_.
+
+    Carabus Meyerlei, _Fabr. Syst. Eleut._ i. 169.—_Voet. col._ ii.
+    _tab._ 39, _f._ 49.
+
+_Gen._ ODONTOMERUS, _Dahl._
+
+   _Sp._ 1. _Serratus_.
+
+    Buprestis serratus, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ CETONIA, _of authors._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Marginata_, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ PHYLLOTOMA, _Wm. MacLeay, MSS._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Reflexa_.
+
+    Melolontha reflexa, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ HELOPS, _Fabr._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Marginatus_, _Olivier_.
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ UPIS? _Fabr._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. Cuprea.
+
+    Tenebrio Cupreus, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ LAMIA, _Fabr._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. Tri-fasciata, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee. This species is also found at Sierra Leone, and in the Back
+    Settlements of the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+_Gen._ PETROGNATHA, _Leach._
+
+                               Character
+
+    _Caput_ thorace paulo latius. _Antennæ_ (_maris_ corpore duplo
+    longiores et ultra,) articulo secundo longiore flexuoso. _Labrum_
+    lineare transversum nudum utrinque rotundatum. _Mandibulæ_ petrosæ
+    (MARIS interne apicem versus obtuse unidentatæ,) infra et externe
+    irregulariter carinatas. _Palpi maxillares_ et _labiales_ articulo
+    ultimo basi subattenuato, apice externe oblique truncato-acuminato.
+
+    THORAX transversus utrinque 1-spinosus. _Elytra_ humeris 1-spinosis,
+    apiceque ad saturam spinoso-subproducto.
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Gigas_.
+
+    Lamia Gigas, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ CALLICHROMA, _Latreille._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Festivum_.
+
+    Cerambyx festivus, _Oliv. Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ MANTIS.
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Superstitiosa_, _Fabr_.
+
+    Fantee
+
+    This species, as well as its congeners, is an object of
+    superstitious veneration amongst the natives of north-western
+    Africa, Syria, and India. It agrees in all points with the original
+    specimen of _Superstitiosa_, so named by Fabricius in the Banksian
+    Cabinet.
+
+_Gen._ GRYLLUS, _Fabr._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Squarrosus_, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+_Gen._ REDUVIUS, _Fabr._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Barbicornis_, _Fabr._
+
+    Fantee.
+
+    I have received this species from the Cape of Good Hope.
+
+_Gen._ CANOPUS, _Rodhe._
+
+    _Sp._ 1. _Punctatus_, _Leach._
+
+    Supra olivaceo-ater impresso-punctulatus rubro punctatus, subtus
+    ruber segmentis marginibus stigmatibus tibiis tarsisque nigris,
+    capite rubro irrorato.
+
+    Gaboon.
+
+
+
+
+                            APPENDIX, No. V.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+              _Mr._ TEDLIE’S _Account of the Thermometer._
+
+     Date.     |  A.M. |   M.  |  P.M. |           Weather.
+               |       |       |       |
+  April 28     |6 74   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |7½ 75  |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |11 80  |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |       |       |2 88½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 82½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  May 1        |8 77   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |8 76½  |       |1 91   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 76   |12 89  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  May 4.       |The Thermometer was broken last night at Asharaman.
+               |       |       |       |
+  At Coomassie, from the 7th June to the 11th, it varied from 80 to 85,
+  between 12 and 2.
+               |       |       |       |
+  June 15      |       |       |1 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |10 79  |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |       |12 82  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |9 79   |       |2 84   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |7½ 73  |       |2½ 78  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |5 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |10 78  |       |1 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2½ 82  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |8 74   |       |2½ 82  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |8 76   |12 82  |1 74   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |8½ 74  |       |1 81   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |11½ 76 |       |2 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |9 75   |       |1 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |9 76   |12 76  |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |8½ 79  |       |3½ 80  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |8½ 74  |12 77  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |9½ 74  |       |2 77   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |9 77   |       |1 80   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  July 1       |9 76   |       |1 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |8 73   |12 78  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |9 78   |       |1 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  4            |8 72   |12 74  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |8 72   |       |1 78   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |6 71   |12 76  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |6 71   |       |2 80   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |6 72   |12 78  |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 80   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  9            |6 72   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |1 79   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |7 73   |       |2½ 81  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |8 73   |       |2 81   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |6 72   |       |2½ 80  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |8 77   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |11 73  |       |3 77   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |8 71   |       |2 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |8 70   |12 74  |6 72   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |7 69   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |7 69   |       |2½ 79  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |8 71   |       |3 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |6 70   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2½ 76  |Fair,
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |8 72   |       |2½ 78  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |7½ 71  |12 75  |2½ 78  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6½ 75  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 70   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |6 70   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |8 70   |       |2 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |8 69   |       |1 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |7 70   |       |2 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |7 68   |       |3½ 80½ |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |8 70   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7½ 73  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |7 70   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  39           |7 66½  |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  31           |8 70   |12 76  |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Aug. 1       |7 70   |       |2 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |7 71   |       |2 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 70   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |7 69½  |12 72  |3 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 70½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  4            |7 70   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |7 71   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |7 70   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |7 71   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |6 70   |12 73  |2½ 77  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  9            |6 70   |       |2½ 78  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |7 71   |       |2 76   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |7 71   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |7 70½  |       |3 76   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |7 70   |       |2 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |7 70   |       |2 74   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |7 70   |       |2 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |7 70   |       |2 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |7 70   |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |7 71   |12 77  |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |7 71   |       |2 75   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |7 68½  |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 72½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |6 69   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |1 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 68   |12 73  |2 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |7 68   |       |1 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |7 69   |       |3 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 71½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |6 68   |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 68   |       |3 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |7 69   |       |       |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |1 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 70½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |6 69 ½ |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 72   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |7 70   |       |3 78   |Fair
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |7 70   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2½ 76  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  31           |7 70½  |       |3 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Sept. 1      |7 71   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 71   |       |       |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 74   |Slight showers
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 71   |12 74  |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |1 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  4            |7 71   |12 77  |7 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |5 71   |       |3 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 76   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |6 70   |       |2 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |8 71   |       |3 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |Slight showers
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |7 71   |12 76  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  9            |6 71   |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |7 71   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |6 72   |       |       |Heavy rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 77   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |10 72  |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |7 72   |12 78  |3½ 80½ |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |10 76  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |7 22   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3½ 80  |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |9 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |7 72   |       |       |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2½ 79  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |5 71   |       |3 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |7 72   |       |2½ 80  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |7 72   |12 78  |2½ 81  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |9 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |7 72   |       |2 77   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |7 71   |       |3 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |9 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |7 72   |       |2 79   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |7 72   |       |2½ 81  |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |8 71   |       |       |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |12½ 71 |       |2 82½  |
+
+ _Mr._ HUTCHISON’S _Account of the Thermometer, after the Departure of
+                              Mr. Tedlie._
+
+     Date.     |  A.M. |   M.  |  P.M. |           Weather.
+               |       |       |       |
+  Sept. 23     |8 73   |       |       |Thunder, with rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |6 72   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 78  |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair, but cloudy
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |6 71½  |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |10 76  |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 83  |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 75   |Violent tornado
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71½  |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 70   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 73  |       |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |Cloudy
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |4 77   |Wind
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71   |Heavy rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |6 73   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |10 75  |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 80½ |6 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |6 71   |       |2 81½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |6 71½  |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |6 73   |       |       |Cloudy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 71½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Oct. 1       |6 72½  |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |10 70  |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 70   |       |2 79   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |Sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 71   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |6 72   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |6 72   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 79   |Much rain, thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |6 72   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |6 71   |12 79  |2 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  9            |6 71   |       |2 79   |Sultry and cloudy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |6 73   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 78  |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 71½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 73½  |Much rain, thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |6 73   |       |       |Heavy fog.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 76½  |Fair, cloudy.
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |6 71½  |       |       |Sultry, foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |6 73   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 78  |       |Sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 77   |Rain, thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |6 74½  |       |       |Rain, foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 78½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |6 72½  |       |       |Rain, foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 74   |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |6 73½  |       |       |Rain, foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |6 73   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |Rain and thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |73½    |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |71½    |       |       |Much rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |6 70½  |       |       |Dense fogs.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 73   |Foggy, with showers.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |6 72½  |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 73   |12 77  |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy, with thr. showers.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 80  |2 83   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |6 73   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |12 80  |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 78½  |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |6 74½  |12 82  |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |78     |Rain, thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |6 72   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 76   |Thunder shrs.
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |6 7    |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |6 73   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 83   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  31           |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Nov. 1       |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 80   |Sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 73   |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 81½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 73   |       |       |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  4            |6 72   |       |2 78   |Rain, foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74½  |Sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |6 72½  |       |2 79½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |6 74   |       |2 80½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 79   |Rain, sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |6 72½  |       |2 82½  |Fair, thunder
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |3 79   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |6 72   |       |2 78½  |Thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |Hazy.
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |6 71   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 82   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |6 72½  |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |2 81½  |       |       |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |6 74½  |       |2 79   |Cloudy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |Sultry.
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |6 73   |       |2 83½  |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |6 69   |       |2 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |6 70½  |       |2 82½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |6 69   |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |6 70½  |       |2 82½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |6 72   |       |2 82½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |6 72½  |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |6 70½  |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |6 72½  |       |2 83½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 72   |       |2 83   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |6 75   |       |2 82   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |       |       |6 72   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 71   |       |2 83   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |6 73   |       |       |Slight showers.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |6 70   |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |6 78   |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |6 78½  |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Dec. 1       |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 77½  |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 68½  |       |2 79   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |Fair.
+               |       |       |       |
+  4            |6 67   |       |2 81   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  5            |6 68   |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  6            |6 65   |       |2 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  7            |6 63   |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  8            |6 70   |       |2 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  9            |6 63   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |6 71   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |6 73   |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |6 74   |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |6 74½  |       |2 79½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |6 72   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |6 73¼  |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |6 74   |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |6 73½  |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |       |       |6 71½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 79   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |6 68   |       |2 79½  |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |6 64½  |       |2 79   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |6 75   |       |2 80   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 76   |       |2 81   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |6 76½  |       |2 83½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |6 79   |       |2 84   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |4 82   |Thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |7 80   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |6 78   |       |       |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 69   |       |2 81   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |6 80   |Tornado.
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |6 70   |       |2 82   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |6 74   |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |6 73   |       |2 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |6 74   |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  31           |6 72   |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Jan. 1 1818. |6 70½  |       |2 81   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 72   |       |       |
+               |       |       |       |
+  3            |6 72   |       |2 85   |Thunder.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |Rain.
+               |       |       |       |
+  From sickness, the Thermometer was not attended to till the 10th,
+  during the interval the weather was excessive cold, and the fogs
+  very dense.
+               |       |       |       |
+  10           |       |       |2 74   |Foggy.
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 68   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  11           |6 62½  |       |2 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 70½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  12           |6 60   |       |2 77   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 70   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  13           |6 61½  |       |2 74½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 68   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  14           |6 58   |       |2 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 66   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  15           |6 60   |       |2 75½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 70   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  16           |6 61½  |       |2 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 72½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  17           |6 62   |       |2 76½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 71   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  18           |6 60   |       |2 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 73   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  19           |6 62½  |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 75   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  20           |6 64   |       |2 78½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  21           |6 64½  |       |2 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  22           |6 66   |       |2 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  23           |6 64   |       |2 82   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 76   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  24           |6 62   |       |2 82½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 74   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  25           |6 64   |       |2 84   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  26           |6 68   |       |2 83½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 67½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  27           |6 68½  |       |2 84   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+  28           |6 72   |       |2 84¼  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 78   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  29           |6 72   |       |2 85   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  30           |6 74   |       |2 85   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  31           |6 76   |       |2 86   |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 80   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  Feb. 1       |6 74   |       |2 84½  |
+               |       |       |       |
+               |       |       |8 79   |
+               |       |       |       |
+  2            |6 73½  |       |2 86½  |
+
+
+
+
+                           APPENDIX. No. VI.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+
+I will now submit the numerals of 31 nations, which, with the exception
+of three, the Fantee, the Accra, and the Bornoo, (and those but
+imperfectly,) have never been reported before. I will arrange them
+according to their geographical approximation, remarking any apparent
+affinity which occurs to me, in notes. I shall place the Inta first,
+because it is the most remote, inland, which can be assimilated to the
+Fantee, Ahanta, Aöwin, and Amanaheä; and may, probably, from that
+circumstance, be the root of these languages; as it has been shewn, in
+the history, that the nations of the water side have been gradually
+pressed down, or have emigrated from the interior, and it is
+consequently to be expected that the etymology of the names of these
+countries are not to be found in the languages of the people who _now_
+inhabit them, but more probably in the languages of their southern
+neighbours. Thus,
+
+_Inta_ is likely to be derived from the _Booroom_ word _inta_, _water_,
+as it has been noticed as an alluvial country.
+
+_Yngwa_, a northern province of Dagwumba, from the Ashantee _anggwa_,
+_fat, rich_, or the Booroom, _yngia_, _a wood_.
+
+_Soko_ from _Soko_, _one_, in the Badaggry (below Dahomy) as _Yahndi_
+the capital of Dagwumba was so called from _yahndo_ the numeral _one_,
+to indicate its pre-eminence.
+
+_Assin_ from the Ashantee _Assoon_, an elephant. But this expectation is
+not further supported in the two or three other probable etymologies
+which occur to me, as _Takima_ from the Ashantee _takramma_, tongue.
+_Akim_ (formerly the greatest trading country,) from the Booroom
+_Akimmie_, cloth; _Booroom_ from _boora_, full, in that language.
+
+It is curious how nearly the _word_ for _God_ in the Malemba,
+_M’Poungoo_, approaches the native name, _Empoongwa_, of the country
+Europeans call _Gaboon_. _Wonga_ is fear in the Malemba, and _Woonga-
+woonga_ is the name of an uninhabited savannah of three days extent,
+between Empoöngwa and Adjoomba.
+
+          1. _Inta._    2.          3.           4. _Aöwin._ 5.
+                        _Booroom._  _Ashantee._              _Amanaheä._
+
+  One     Koko          Ekoo        Akoon        Aconë       Aconë
+  (_a_)
+
+  Two     Anyoe         Enoo        Anoo         Enyow       Enyow
+  (_b._)
+
+  Three   Assa          Essa        Mensa        Inza        Insa
+  (_c_)
+
+  Four    Anna          Enna        Ennung       Inna        Enna
+  (_d_)
+
+  Five    Annoo         Annoo       Ennoom       Noo         Enoo
+  (_e_)
+
+  Six     Assee         Esseä       Inseëä       Inzeah      Inseah
+  (_f_)
+
+  Seven   Assoonno      Assoono     Inshong      Inzoo       Insoon
+  (_g_)
+
+  Eight   Adoobrooa     Aquiay      Woquee       Motteä      Mottuay
+  (_h_)
+
+  Nine    Digrakoono    Akonno      Oonkonnong   Ongoona     Ongona
+
+  Ten     Koodoo        Edoo        Edoo         Boloo       Booloo
+  (_i_)
+
+          6. _Ahanta_   7. _Fantee_ 8.           9.          10.
+                                    _Affootoo_   _Inkran_    _Adampë_
+                                                 [159]
+
+  One     Akoon         Akoor       Achoomee     Ekkoo       Kakee
+
+  Two     Ayue          Abeeën      Ennuë        Ennuë
+
+  Three   Assan         Abiasseh    Assah        Ettayh
+
+  Four    Arra          Anan        Annah        Edjuë
+
+  Five    Aoonoo        Ennoom      Ennoo        Ennoomó
+
+  Six     Ayshing       Asseeä      Isshin       Eghpah
+
+  Seven   Assooa        Ashong      Isshennooh   Paghwooh
+
+  Eight   Awotchay      Awotwee     Ettchee      Paghnue
+
+  Nine    Awonna        Akoon       Assan        Nahoon
+
+  Ten     Boonoo        Edoo        Eddoo        Nongmah
+
+          11.           12.         13. _Yngwa_  14. _Hio_   15. _Mosee_
+          _Kerrapay_    _Dagwumba_
+
+  One     Eddee         Yahndo      Lakoo        Innee       Yimbo
+
+  Two     Effee         Ayee        Ayee         Eygee       Ayeeboo
+
+  Three   Eltong        Attah       Attah        Etta        Ataboo
+
+  Four    Ennay         Nasee       Anāhee       Ernee       Annasee
+
+  Five    Altong        Ennoon      Leerennoo    Aroon       Annoo
+
+  Six     Adday         Yohbee      Ayoboo       Effa        Ayobee
+
+  Seven   Adrinnee      Poice       Ayapaï       Eggay       Owhi
+
+  Eight   Ennee         Nehenoo     Annee        Eggo        Ennee
+
+  Nine    Indee         Wyhee       Awai         Essun       Aïhopoi
+
+  Ten     Owoo          Edoo        Peä          Eywaw       Peega
+
+          16.           17. _Gaman_ 18. _Kong_   19. _Fobee_ 20.
+          _Kumsallahoo_                                      _Callana_
+
+  One     Yumbo         Tah         Kiddee       Koroom      Kodoom
+
+  Two     Yeebo         Noo         Filla        Nalay       Naboolla
+
+  Three   Tabo          Sah         Sowa         Poompevarra Nawedazoo
+
+  Four    Nasee         Nah         Nanoo        Leetaynalee Nabonaza
+
+  Five    Annoo         Taw         Looroa       Kakwassee   Nabonoa
+
+  Six     Yobo          Torata      Wora         Mannassa    Lodoo
+
+  Seven   Poihee        Toorifeenoo Ooranfilla   Noottoosoo  Logwa
+
+  Eight   Nehee         Toorifeessa Leeaygee     Borafay     Littaïzoo
+
+  Nine    Wahee         Toorifeena  Konunto      Pirrifay    Nako
+
+  Ten     Pega          Noonoo      Tah          Nanooa      Yewoo
+
+          21.           22.         23.          24.         25.
+          _Bambarra_    _Garangi_   _Mallowa_    _Kallaghee_ _Bornoo_
+
+  One     Killi         Kerriminna  Daia         Gadee       Leskar
+
+  Two     Foolla        Ferriminna  Beeyoo       Silill      Ahndee
+
+  Three   Sabba         Sowaninna   Okoo         Quan        Yaskar
+
+  Four    Nani          Firrima     Odoo         Foolloo     Deegah
+
+  Five    Looroo        Fahtima     Beä          Vydee       Ooögoo
+
+  Six     Wora          Tata        Seddah       Zoodoo      Araskoo
+
+  Seven   Worroola      Mannima     Becquay      Etkassa     Tooloor
+
+  Eight   Sagi          Pirima      Tacquass     Shiddowka   Woskoo
+
+  Nine    Konunto       Missirima   Tarra        Woollaä     Likkar
+
+  Ten     Ta            Gwahee      Gwoma        Woma        Meeägoo
+
+          26. _Maïha_   _Quolla-    _Badaggry_   27.         28.
+                        liffa_      by Mr.       _Sheekan_   _Kaylee_
+                        by Mr.      Hutchison.
+                        Hutchison.
+
+  One     Lagen         Da          Soko         Ilwawtoe    Woto
+
+  Two     Indë          Bue         Auwee        Ibba        Ibba
+
+  Three   Eäska         Okoo        Atong        Bittach     Battach
+
+  Four    Daäger        Hodoo       Inna         Binnay      Binnay
+
+  Five    Ohoo          Bakwee      Ato          Bitta       Bittan
+
+  Six     Araska        Shida       Trukoo
+
+  Seven   Tooloor       Bockwa      Chauto
+
+  Eight   Weska         Sidda       Quouie
+
+  Nine    Lekar         Tarra       Kennee
+
+  Ten     Inagoon       Goman       Owoo         Duëoom      Duëoom
+
+  Twenty                                         Emboomebba
+
+  Hundred                                        Kama
+
+          29.           30.         31.
+          _Oongoomo_    _Oongobaï_  _Empoöngwa._
+                                    See p.
+                                    439 for
+                                    character.
+
+  One     Wootta        Rappeek     Hemoödee
+
+  Two     Beeba         Ramboise    Mban
+
+  Three   Bittach       Mittasee    Ntcharoo
+
+  Four    Binnay        Binnay      Nahee
+
+  Five    Bitten        Bittan      Nehanee
+
+  Six                   Sambal      Oroöba
+
+  Seven                 Bittooba    Ragginnoömoo
+
+  Eight                 Bissamen    Ennanahee
+
+  Nine                  Bwoi        Eno go öm
+
+  Ten                   Deëoom      Hegoöm
+
+(_a_) The words for the numeral one assimilate in the specimens 1, 2, 3,
+4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: again, but distinctly, in 14, 12, 15, 16: also in 26,
+25, 13: in 21, 18, 20, 19: in 27, 28, 29, (making apparently five
+roots), but they remain solitary in 11, 17, 22, 23, 24 30 and 31. The
+numeral one in 14 is not unlike the two in 8, 9, 2, 3, and the one in
+12, would, with the prefix of y, be precisely the same as the two of 25.
+Excepting _Kakee_, _one_, the Inkran numerals seem to have been adopted
+as those of Adampë, for the convenience of trade and intercourse, but I
+will add a few words, to show that the languages are radically
+different:
+
+             _Adampë._     _Inkran._
+
+  House       Aoosoo       Wheay.
+
+  Fire        [160]Odja    Lla.
+
+  Man         Ossa         Noon.
+
+  Woman       Ossĕ         Yeo.
+
+  Victuals    Odë          Neeaynee.
+
+  Father      Attay        Tchay.
+
+  Mother      Awoo         Nneay.
+
+(_b_) The numeral _two_ is the most general word, and may be assimilated
+in 2, 3, 8, 9, 4, 5, 1, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. There is little
+difference between the numerals _two_ and _five_ in most of these, and
+_five_ in 15 and 16, precisely answers to _two_ in 1 and 2.
+
+(_c_) _Three_ may be assimilated in 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15,
+16, 17. In 12, 13, 14, 16, it approaches to the Congo and Mozambique
+_tatoo_ and _atatoo_.
+
+(_d_) I have observed that in most African languages there is less
+distinction in the words for four and five, than between any other of
+the numerals and that frequently the word for _five_ in one language, is
+identical with that for _four_ in another, geographically remote. _Four_
+may be assimilated in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 6, 14, for the two latter
+deviate only in the substitution of one liquid for another, which is as
+common in the languages of Africa as in those of America. The words for
+four in the above suite do not seem of a different root from those in
+12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 21, from which it only varies in 20 by the
+prefix of _nabo_. With the difference of a single letter, the same word
+for _four_ is found in the Yngwa (13) and the Empoöngwa (31) which are
+1000 miles distant. Four in Congo is _m’na_, in Empoöngwa, _nahee_.
+_Sanu_, the Kaffer _four_, is approached in 18.
+
+(_e_) Five may be assimilated from 1 to 17, (11 excepted) one liquid
+being substituted for another in 14, an _leer_ being prefixed in 13. It
+is remarkable too that we again identify this numeral in the Malemba,
+Embomma, and Empoöngwa languages, by removing the prefixes _t_, _to_,
+and _neh_, from the words _tanoo_, _toanoo_, and _nehanee_. Below five,
+the numerals in the Inkran lose all identity with those of the languages
+with which it has been hitherto assimilated.
+
+(_f_) _Six_ assimilates from 1 to 9, in 12 to 17 (14 excepted) in 20,
+23, 24, in 17 and 22; but remains distinct in all the others. The Sanbal
+of Oöngobai (30) approaches the Sambanoo of the Embomma.
+
+(_g_) _Seven_ assimilates in 1 to 9; in 12, 13, 16, but in no others.
+
+(_h_) _Eight_ assimilates in 2, 3, 6, 7; in 11 to 17, (14 excepted) all
+of which, with 31, approximate to E’nana, the word for eight in the
+Malemba.
+
+(_i_) _Ten_ assimilates in 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 12, in 4, 5, 6, in 17, 19, 25,
+26, 29, in 13, 15, and in 14, 20, 22, 23, 24.
+
+                               * * * * *
+
+The following is the skeleton of a _Vocabulary_, of which the enlarged
+or perfect copy was blown out of the cabin-window, in a sudden squall,
+(with some specimens of music), during my voyage home.
+
+ |_English._| _Ashantee._ |_Fantee_[161].| _Booroom._   |  _Various._
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Above     |wattefee     |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Advice    |matoorh      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Afraid    |osooroh      |              |efweedammee   |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Afternoon |inumirree    |ingubirh      |ennie         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Again     |impray       |              |meära         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Alike     |oninnisie    |              |minnamata     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Alive     |nannuwomie   |uannekan      |issaboobwaw   |n’chema
+ |          |             |              |              |Malemba
+ |          |             |              |              |Inchema a
+ |          |             |              |              |fruit in
+ |          |             |              |              |Empoöngwa.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |All       |nenarra      |              |inkaken       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Alone     |waunkoo      |              |ohwoorie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Angry     |mōbwaf       |moboäf        |moobiaf       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Another   |ebissoo      |              |ekoo          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Arm       |wabow        |              |serrekoonkoo  |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Ashamed   |wennatoo     |              |woifarrie     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Asleep    |werda        |wadda         |awdirrie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Awake     |waihen       |              |otinnie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Back      |wakee        |              |atterra       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bad       |omoo         |              |ohmara        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bead      |aoonee       |              |aboroo[162]   |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Beard     |aboidwee     |              |annoque       |the same
+ |          |             |              |              |as _chin_,
+ |          |             |              |              |a frequent
+ |          |             |              |              |surname.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Beat      |whaoonoo     |wabomë        |babeëm        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bed       |empa         |              |kerray        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Before    |wawquoorasoo |waw_quan_     |oïyo          |ovetide
+ |          |             |              |              |_quande_.
+ |          |             |              |              |Malemba.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Beg       |ekkaydie     |_empoikeöw_   |dibbim        |_mpanou_.
+ |          |             |              |              |Malemba.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Behind    |owakee       |              |odioterra     |the noun
+ |          |             |              |              |_back_ with
+ |          |             |              |              |_o_ & _odia_
+ |          |             |              |              |prefixed
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Below     |asnadie      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Big       |kookrookoo   |              |otchwaw       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bird      |anima        |              |abooree       |for names of
+ |          |             |              |              |animals, see
+ |          |             |              |              |p. 328.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bite      |whakum       |              |inkadooa      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Black     |tintoom      |              |oboobie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Blind     |frafoo       |              |atenna        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Blood     |mugga        |              |moogga        |menga. Mal.
+ |          |             |              |              |Emb.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Boil      |woaroo       |wooworh       |ohfoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Bone      |ebiou        |              |ebou          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Boy       |afra         |              |ayebee        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Burn      |whahim       |              |ohwho         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Buy       |mekoto       |              |meashoor      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Call      |aferen       |afren         |ateëm         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Carry     |atooron      |              |dumta         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Catch     |makin        |              |mekeeram      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Change    |wahseesun    |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Cheeks    |wafoon       |              |afeehe        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Child     |ebbah        |              |obee          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Clean     |wafie        |              |aulay         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Cloth     |ettum        |entama        |_akim_mie     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Cold      |oiwoo        |              |afoo          |differs
+ |          |             |              |              |little from
+ |          |             |              |              |_boil_
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Come      |rraba        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Cry       |oroosoor     |              |orissoo       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Cut       |witwa        |              |wawtung       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Dance     |saw          |              |attcha        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Dark      |oiheesoom    |              |mayoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Daughter  |mebăbā       |              |mebee         |_coomba_. Em.
+ |          |             |              |              |which is a
+ |          |             |              |              |common female
+ |          |             |              |              |name in Fantee
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Day[163]  |             |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Dead      |wow          |              |ohoo          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Deaf      |nasheeasie   |teetĭfoo      |sinteelaboo   |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Deep      |eboonie      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Devil     |ayen[164]    |              |              |Amoonie a
+ |          |             |              |              |proper name
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Dig       |amoonna      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Door      |aboo         |              |ebunabooná    |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Drink     |noom         |              |noo           |_noa_. Mal.
+ |          |             |              |              |_noi_. Em.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Drop      |wawto        |awtarradi     |otore         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Drown     |eboon        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Drunk     |wassoo       |wawboo        |hassoo        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Ear       |assoor       |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Eat       |edee         |              |              |_dea_. Mal.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Egg       |kessua       |kirrifooa     |akaddie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Empty     |eppun        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Enough    |ojëay        |              |obahrìe       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Eye       |wunnie       |ennua         |ennyass       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Eyebrow   |wunnĕwee     |entun         |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Face      |wynim        |              |anyasirra     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Far       |akirh’       |              |aterh’        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fat       |anggwa       |              |oomfoä        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Father    |aggáh        |              |missee        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fear      |sooroo       |              |efweedam      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Feather   |takirrie     |              |eetta         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Feel      |_soom_whay   |              |kirrada       |_seem_bede.
+ |          |             |              |              |Mal.
+ |          |             |              |              |Kirradee,
+ |          |             |              |              |a river of
+ |          |             |              |              |Booroom.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fetch     |ekkoon       |              |becquaw       |a town in
+ |          |             |              |              |Booroom
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fifty     |edoonoom     |              |              |10. 5.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fight     |orrokoo      |              |obuquooa      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fill      |eënnama      |              |boorra        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Find      |maoo         |maoon         |maioom        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Finger    |insa         |              |eserrĭbee     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fire      |ogiäh        |egah          |ogha          |boogoom. Mosee
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fish      |enum         |              |eyay          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Flower    |nadjua       |              |ewooda        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fly       |watoo        |              |oqueshoo      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fool      |woigimmie    |_abooa_       |woigimmie     |booba. Mal.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Foot      |wannunsa     |              |aīah          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Forget    |moorafie     |              |sessĕro       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Forgive   |edimămoo     |              |inkawffinsow  |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fowl      |akoo         |              |karrabee      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Friend    |ankoo        |              |oonkoosĭba    |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Fruit     |quadiäteä    |impooa        |quadiateä     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Girl      |bisēä        |              |otchay        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Give      |fummum       |              |tāsămi        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Glad      |yam          |yamma         |amirra        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Go        |kaw          |              |narry         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |God       |yankoompon   |              |oodoobwarrie  |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Gold      |sikkă        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Good      |oëyay        |              |obwārie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Green     |boioöma      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Grow      |owynee       |oeen          |ohodan        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hair      |hewhee       |              |hemoonie      |Amoonie, a
+ |          |             |              |              |proper name.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Half      |effeh        |              |baggah        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hand      |mensa        |              |assaddie      |Mensa, a
+ |          |             |              |              |proper name.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Handsome  |oia          |              |obweefay      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hang      |osesan       |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hard      |oiătin       |              |oöqua         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Head      |tirrie       |              |egnoon        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hear      |matr’        |              |maynoon       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Heart     |akoomo       |              |akirrăbie     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Heavy     |oiadoor      |              |obodoor       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Here      |hah          |              |oomboh        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hide      |mōhoo        |              |manghoo       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |High      |essoor       |              |oskasoor      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hill      |cooqua       |              |iffoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hit       |aboor        |              |odum          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hold      |soom         |              |karrara       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hole      |watchoo      |              |osarrie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Horn      |aben         |              |abay          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Horse     |panquaw      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hot       |oiayue       |              |owuegua       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |House     |efee         |odan          |eban          |paseebah,
+ |          |             |              |              |Kumsallahoo.
+ |          |             |              |              |deeo,
+ |          |             |              |              |Dagwumba.
+ |          |             |              |              |gidda,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mallowa.
+ |          |             |              |              |koopella,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mosee.
+ |          |             |              |              |Kokoopella,
+ |          |             |              |              |capital of
+ |          |             |              |              |ditto.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hundred   |ehha         |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Hungry    |oquandummie  |comagin       |aquandum      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Husband   |mookoon      |              |mookooddie    |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Idle      |nehuff       |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Iron      |dadee        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Jump      |oroo         |              |fay           |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Keep      |intamaseea   |ysee          |afeeërra      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Kick      |chayche      |              |orraychum     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Kill      |coom         |              |bamoem        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |King      |ohennie      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Knot      |eppo         |              |ippo          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Know      |innim        |              |nayoom        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Lame      |opakkie      |              |ebbeä         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Land      |fum          |dadi          |sebooroo      |tenga. Mosee
+ |          |             |              |              |kaisa Mallo.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Last      |naddou       |              |afoorinay     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Laugh     |sicroo       |sroo          |orroomuss     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Law       |widdooffoo   |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Lead      |soomwie      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Learn     |akirren      |              |ekērow        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Leg       |asirrie      |              |inwoonnie     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Lie (down)|daoo         |              |oyadee        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Lie       |etwapō       |              |afoorenie     |
+ |(falsity) |             |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Little    |kakra        |kakrabi       |bahttee       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Long      |ohwar’       |              |ohbissay      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Look      |fway         |              |kaye          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Love      |poopa        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Mad       |same as      |              |              |
+ |          |‘fool’       |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Man       |binin        |              |oninnie       |pagga, Kums.
+ |          |             |              |              |boodasa, Dag.
+ |          |             |              |              |noon, Accra.
+ |          |             |              |              |nedda, Mosee.
+ |          |             |              |              |moottanee,
+ |          |             |              |              |M. moontau,
+ |          |             |              |              |Male. muntu,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mozam.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Many      |peenarra     |              |otuä          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Market    |egwass       |egoom         |ebiass        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Mat       |keraw        |empa          |kerray        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Mend      |pam          |              |bărā          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Moon      |serrānee     |boossoom      |ofoorie       |wattacha,
+ |          |             |              |              |Ku. marraga,
+ |          |             |              |              |Dag. oöota
+ |          |             |              |              |Mallowa.
+ |          |             |              |              |choogoo, Mos.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |More      |mambissoo    |              |samoko        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Mother    |mna          |minna         |minnee        |nneay, Accra.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Mouth     |wannoom      |ennoom        |annoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Much      |dooroo       |              |otchoo        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Nails     |oomboiray    |              |ungwarrie     |‘_unguis_’
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Name      |             |dgin          |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Neck      |ekkone       |              |ekkoona       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Nest      |anĭmaboo     |              |              |anĭma,
+ |          |             |              |              |a bird.
+ |          |             |              |              |Annămāboo, a
+ |          |             |              |              |Fantee town.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Net       |ebbwau       |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Never     |dabbiada     |              |as _no!_      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |New       |fofoor       |              |ofroofoo      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |No        |dabbi        |              |an            |
+ |          |             |              |inarticulate  |
+ |          |             |              |noise with    |
+ |          |             |              |the lips      |
+ |          |             |              |closed        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Noise     |deddie       |              |boolāo        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Nose      |ewhin        |              |ewhoonie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Oil       |engoo        |              |oomfwaie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Old       |quodda       |              |aquŏdā        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Open      |boi          |              |booë          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Owe       |mintēka      |dinnekow      |indāqua       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Pay       |tchamkou     |              |kamëquow      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Play      |agoor’       |              |feearee       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Poison    |otoowādoo    |              |otoowādoo     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Poor      |haynil       |              |ohēä          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Pot       |quonsun      |              |adinna        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Pregnant  |orrŏhoo      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Present   |wahoo        |              |okōë          |
+ |(gift)    |             |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Pull      |twin         |              |sheeay        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Quarrel   |irriquaw     |orriyow       |batōë         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Quick     |tetimrĭka    |              |serrie        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Quiet     |gyaë         |yafoo         |yaië          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Rain      |osoorăba     |yankoom       |bwārie        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Rat       |quissie      |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Red       |memmia       |betcheä       |okooquaw      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Ring      |inkaä        |              |apateä        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |River     |bāk          |              |oboom         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Rob       |odomādi      |              |odoiyā        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Round     |kandinginnŭma|              |koorookooddie |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Run       |gwan         |              |serrie        |as ‘_quick_,’
+ |          |             |              |              |B. sirr, run,
+ |          |             |              |              |Arabic.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Salt      |inkkim       |              |imfoorie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sand      |aghweä       |              |issay         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Say       |assie        |ass           |aberrie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sea       |eppoo        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |See       |aweeh        |              |akayh         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sell      |tum          |              |fah           |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Send      |wahsmum      |              |ocheow        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Shake     |wosoo        |              |ediddie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Shell     |oorabba      |              |owoora        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Short     |takoteä      |tchaba        |akoteä        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Shut      |toom         |              |toroo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sick      |yirrie       |yarrie        |mimmielal     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Silver    |gwettay      |              |odume         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sing      |enyoom       |              |ennum         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sister    |akirrawa     |akirrăba      |moofwa        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sit       |tinnahoe     |kooaugh       |tchinna       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sleep     |waughda      |              |oädie         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Smell     |gwooa        |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Smoke     |wishshue     |              |djessie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Soft      |mirrou       |              |omooqua       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Son       |ebba         |              |ebee          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sorry     |oimiyow      |              |boomega       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Speak     |akas         |              |osasin        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Stand     |ginnaoh      |ginnah        |yerrie        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Steal     |wawwoo       |weyweädie     |oëwee         |windega, Kum.
+ |          |             |              |              |wintanga,
+ |          |             |              |              |Dag. lana,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mallowa.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Strong    |waginna      |ohwidein      |oshoneyöo     |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sun       |ayowea       |              |oöe           |As an
+ |          |             |              |              |exclamation
+ |          |             |              |              |of wonder.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Swear     |shua         |              |              |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Sweet     |oiaday       |oiadow        |obooding      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Swim      |abhoorh      |              |abboor        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Soil      |afoonna      |              |affung        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tail      |dooah        |              |odoo          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Take      |afwa         |              |maytah        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tell      |abim         |              |aiyow         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Thief     |krumfoe      |aiwee         |ohwie         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Throat    |komen        |              |ekoonnie      |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Throw     |too          |              |ohtoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tie       |tittieh      |kikhieh       |keay          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |To-morrow |otchinna     |akinna        |otchay        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tongue    |takramma     |              |dannoo        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tooth     |essie        |              |engyie        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Touch     |kah          |              |tah           |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Town      |croom        |              |eban          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Tree      |dooa         |              |assah         |dawgo, Kums.
+ |          |             |              |              |dawro, Dagw.
+ |          |             |              |              |rahoo, Mosee.
+ |          |             |              |              |ittachee,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mall. chee,
+ |          |             |              |              |Embom.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |True      |umpa         |              |kerram        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Turn      |dahen        |              |darie         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Twenty    |eddooän      |              |edooh         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wake      |wyen         |              |otinnie       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |[165]Walk |nanchoo      |              |narree        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Warm      |oyahue       |              |obiguh        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wash      |gwarr        |              |orrohooroo    |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Water     |inshoo       |insoo         |inta          |kome, Kumsal.
+ |          |             |              |              |looa,
+ |          |             |              |              |Mallowa.
+ |          |             |              |              |quom, Mosee.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Weep      |oroosoo      |oroosoo       |oreesh        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |White     |foofoo       |              |intoofoofoorie|Intiffa, a
+ |          |             |              |              |proper name.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wife      |ayerh        |              |mekkah        |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wild      |wadoohem     |wadoohem      |dooafay       |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wind      |ooframma     |              |affoo         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Wing      |ataban       |              |ittay         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Woman     |bisea        |              |tchee         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Work      |adjooma      |              |orilaloo      |adawwah, Ku.
+ |          |             |              |              |matah, Mallow.
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Year      |affrieyay    |              |otee          |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Yes       |yeö          |              |matee         |
+ |          |             |              |              |
+ |Yesterday |endodra      |ennida        |indeay        |
+
+
+              * * * * *
+  London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co.
+     Cleveland-row, St. James’s.
+
+
+[Footnote 159: _Inkran_, an _ant_, is the native name of the country
+Europeans call _Accra_, which name was probably given by the Portuguese
+to their settlement there (the earliest they made according to the
+traditions of the natives) to commemorate the voyage of Hanno; Accra
+being one of the five cities raised by him between the Soloe Promontory,
+or Cape Bojador, and the River Lixus or Ouro.]
+
+[Footnote 160: This word approximates to _ogha_, _ogiah_, and _egah_,
+the words for _fire_ in the Booroom, Ashantee, and Fantee: but all the
+other Adampë words I have ever heard, cannot be assimilated to those
+which denote the same objects in any other African language.]
+
+[Footnote 161: Where there is no word in the Fantee column, it is the
+same as the Ashantee.]
+
+[Footnote 162: I have before stated (Superstitions, p. 270.) that
+_aggry_ is a generic name, probably exotic, of the derivation of which
+the Negroes are wholly ignorant. It is remarkable that the Boorooms call
+these beads _sikka koonkoorie_, and never use the common word for _bead_
+(aboroo,) when they speak of them: this name imports their value
+(_sikka_ being _gold_) and one would fancy something connected with
+their locality, _Koonkoorie_ being a range of hills seven days northward
+of Kong, (see p. 182.) but I never could obtain the least explanation on
+this subject from the natives.]
+
+[Footnote 163: They distinguish different times of the day, thus
+
+  Morning, or before 12.    napa.
+
+  Mid-day, or 12.           aweeabillee    aweeabil    emfass.
+
+  Afternoon, 4.             ingubee                    noobwawss.
+
+  Evening, 6.               adiasa         adjasa      eybeen.
+
+  Night                     noofa                      aniaberra.
+]
+
+[Footnote 164: This reminds me that I ought to have noticed, in the
+Superstitions of Ashantee, that they believe the devil to be a wandering
+evil spirit, occasionally entering into a human being, immediately to be
+destroyed for the safety of mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 165: It is curious that in both these radically distinct
+languages, the verb _walk_ should assimilate so closely to the noun
+_cow_.]
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+
+  The changes in the ERRATA regarding the text have been made.
+
+  Inconsistent chapter numbering between Contents and Part I of the text
+  has been left as is.
+
+  pg 19, Changed: "place 1° 46′ 30′ W. and" to: "30″"
+
+  pg 22, Changed: "The courses N. ½ N. N. W. ¼ N. b W. ⅛." to: "N.½,
+  N.N.W.¼, N.bW.⅛."
+
+  pg 23, Changed: "the courses N. ⅓ N. b W. ⅕." to: "N.⅓, N.bW.⅕."
+
+  pg 36, Changed: "their long Danish mukets" to: "muskets"
+
+  pg 40, Changed: "minors, or young caboceeers" to: "caboceers"
+
+  pg 45, Changed: "and again,) “that he thanked" to: "and again,) that
+  he thanked"
+
+  pg 49, Changed: "my captains. “The Dutch" to: "my captains. The Dutch"
+
+  pg 63, Changed: "an ouline of the Fantee war" to: "outline"
+
+  pg 94, Changed: "inauspicious circumstance has been unvoidable" to:
+  "unavoidable"
+
+  pg 98, Added ” after: "he will do you good:"
+
+  pg 108, Changed: "I sent a cane to Adooçee" to: "Adocee"
+
+  pg 110, Changed: "promised that I shoul hear from him" to: "should"
+
+  pg 132, Changed: "into every trivial occurrrence" to: "occurrence"
+
+  pg 145, Changed: "have more to-morrow ”" to: "have more to-morrow;”"
+
+  pg 151, Changed: "I had exeprienced whilst" to: "experienced"
+
+  pg 196, footnote 37, Added “ before "The Chaymas"
+
+  pg 204, footnote 47, Changed: "of Arabs) “Wadie." to: "of Arabs)
+  Wadie."
+
+  pg 253, Changed: "exercising his judical authority" to: "judicial"
+
+  pg 256, Changed: "accused against arbitary judgment" to: "arbitrary"
+
+  pg 268 (270), footnote 83, Changed: "inlaid, at it were, in the body"
+  to: "as it were"
+
+  pg 268 (271), footnote 83, Added ” after "ignorant of their origin."
+
+  pg 279, Changed: "the tribatary chiefs who pay but" to: "tributary"
+
+  pg 288, Changed: "discharge of muketry, proportionate" to: "musketry"
+
+  pg 322, Changed: "with 1000 mukets you could not" to: "muskets"
+
+  pg 333, Changed: "as a corrective to the unplatable" to: "unpalatable"
+
+  pg 345 (346), footnote 112, Changed: "we are asily mistaken" to:
+  "easily"
+
+  pg 348, footnote 113, Added “ at the start.
+
+  pg 352, Changed: "corsespond exactly in meaning" to: "correspond"
+
+  pg 419, Changed: "wow!” “death! “death" to: "wow!” “death! death"
+
+  pg 433, footnote 132, Changed: "spoke to agreeing tha after" to:
+  "that"
+
+  pg 451, Changed: "and phrenzy of the perfomer" to: "performer"
+
+  pg 469, Changed: "clompletely blockaded on the land-side" to:
+  "completely"
+
+  pg 473, Changed: "bring future good conse-sequences" to:
+  "consequences"
+
+  pg 479, footnote 149, Changed: "or ship, “adding, that" to: "or ship,
+  adding, that"
+
+  pg 479-480, The footnote 152 referred to in the text is missing.
+
+  pg 484, footnote 157, Changed: "had the advanage of correcting" to:
+  "advantage"
+
+  pg 487, Changed: "Shagho — شَيْعُ" to: "شَيْغُ"
+
+  pg 487, Changed: "Rakka — رَافَا" to: "رَاقَا"
+
+  pg 491, Changed: "Yajoury (doubtlels Yawoorie)" to: "doubtless"
+
+  pg 492, Changed: "Massir — سصر" to: "مصر"
+
+  Minor changes in punctuation have been done silently.
+
+  Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77375 ***