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* B
sor
DEDICATION.
TO
THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY,
GEORGE THE FOURTH,
&c. &c. &c.
SIRE,
In confonnity with the permission which I have received, I now place under the patronage of your Majesty's august name, a volume exhibiting the intimate and political feelings of the Sovereig-n of Ashantee, demonstrative of a friendly regard, as well towards your Royal person as to the commercial prosperity of the British Colonies on the Gold Coast : the contents of which I stood pledged to make known to your Majesty.
With sentiments of the purest attachment to your Majesty's service, and to the honour and interest of the crown,
I remain, A\ ith the profoundest veneration, Sire, Your Majesty's most faithful Subject, and dutiful Servant,
JOSEPH DUPUIS.
•1C7MR7
CONTENTS.
PART I.
Page Introduction - - - - - - i
CHAPTER I.
JOURNEY TO COOMASSY.
Departure from Cape Coast Castle — Mouree — Dutch Castle of Nassau — Beetles — Ashantee Travellers — Ruins of Fantee Grooms — Emperou — Defeat of the Fantees at that Place — Formidable Serpent — Second Party of Ashantee Traders ; Terror of the Females — Moslem from Coomassy — Red and Black Ants — Description of Doonqua — The Forests — Remains of Mansue — Provisions Plundered by the Fantees — Courses of Rivers — Abandou — Crooms or Towns of Fooso, Yancomady, and Akomfody — Annoyance from Rats — The Youne, a kind of Sloth — Dansansoo — Mekaren — Passage of the Praa — Prasso — Kikiwhary — Enmity of the Inhabitants towards the Fantees ; Seductive Arts of the Females — Site of Miassa — Defeat of the Assins under Cheboo — Remains of Saporgah, Tibiassah, Bequama, and Ensamah — Arrival at Ansah . . . . -
CHAPTER II.
Public Reception at Ansah — Description of an Assin House — Effects of Negro War- fare—State of Health of the Pai-ty —Akrofroom— Superstition of the Inhabitants with regard to White Travellers — Beasts of Prey — Elephants— Moisy — Frontier of Ashantee— The River Bohmen— Sable Naiads — Chusah — Fomanah— Doompassy — Offering to a Household God— Datchasoo— ^lessage from the King of Ashantee —
iv CONTENTS.
Page Adadwasy — Amoafo — Visits from the King's Son and Daughter — Bequa — Assiminia — Boposso — Agemum — Sarasoo— Process of Clearing Land for Cultivation in Fantee and Barbary — First Sight of Coomassy — Public Reception by the King— Speech of the King of Banna— Ceremonies — Observations on the Journey and Chmate - 41
CHAPTER III.
COMMENCEMENT OF NEGOTIATIONS.
Audience of the King— Objects of the Mission— Delivery of Presents— The Oath of Friendship and Alliance, taken by the King and Principal Chiefs and Officers — In- spection of the Presents, and Effect produced — Visits from the Ashantee Moslems — Violation of Mohammedan Law — State of Religion in Ashantee— Characters of the Caboceers — Second Audience of the King — His Ideas of Europe — His Presents — Visits from Mandingo Moslems — Interruption by Ado Quamina— Dispute and Reconciliation with Him — Misconduct of the Fantees— Third Audience — Prospect of an Amicable Conclusion of the Nogotiations — Presents to the Great Men - 86
CHAPTER IV.
NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUED.
Arrival of the Interpreter Abroah — Prejudices of the King against Him — The King's Sister — Account of her Promotion to the Rank of Governess of the Empire — Magical Rites and Superstitions — Barbarity of the King towards his Wives-fCommencement of a History of the King's Wars for the Information of the Kingof England— Suspicions entertained against the Interpreters — The King's Notes for Cape Coast Castle and Anna- maboe — Remarks on the Conduct and Statements of Mr. Bowdich respecting these Notes — The King's Arguments and Declarations— Qualities and Prices of Goods supplied from Cape Coast— Human Sacrifices — Attempt of the Caboceers to Sound the British Agent— Conference on the Sketch of a Treaty-^Message to the King from Cape Coast Castle — Disputes respecting a Penalty alleged to have been Represented as Inserted in the Former Convention — Return of Mr. Hutton to Cape Coast — Erection of a Fort by the King — Misunderstanding respecting the King of Juabin (Dwabin) — Continuation of the Palaver— Little Adai Custom — Human Sacrifices — Audience of Ceremony — Presents from the King — Instructions from Cape Coast— Indignation of the King — Exhibition of the Magic Lanthorn — Appointment of a Day for the Authors Return, on his solemn Requisition - - ISl
CONTENTS. V
Page
CHAPTER V.
RETURN OF THE MISSION.
Presents from the Moslems — Diplomatic Advice — Farewell Visits — Fort George— Pro- posed Embassy from the King of Ashantee — Examinatiori of Plate of various European Manufactures— Merchandize suitable for African Markets — Visit from the King to the Quarters of the Mission — Jealousy of the Ashantee Chiefs— Discussions on the Cape Coast Prices-v-On the Slave Trade — The King's Wars — Bardic Recita^ tions — Exposure and Harsh Treatment of a Captive Prince — Signature of a Treaty — The King's Commercial and Financial Plans— Peculiarities of African Commerce — Audience of Leave — Troops of Slaves intended for the King of England — Instruc- , tions to the Ashantee Ambassadors — Presents to the King of England — To the Envoy — Ceremonies of naming the Ashantee Fort — Extraordinary Condescension of his Majesty on taking Leave — Mortification of the Moslems at the Author's rejection of the Koran — Departure — Heavy Rains — Liberation of a Slave — Journey to Cape Coast — Disavowal of the Treaty by the Governor and Council — Preparations for War — Fantee Conspiracy — Protest — Sir George Collier refuses to convey the Ambassadors to England — Correspondence — Observations — Return of the Author to Europe - 151
CHAPTER VI. OCCURRENCES SUBSEQUENT TO THE AUTHORS RETURN.
Correspondence of Messrs. Gordon, Robertson, Dawson and Collins — Inactivity of the Ashantees — Stoppage of Trade — Conduct of Mr. Smith — Government take Posses- sion of the Forts — Effective Force there — Commencement of Hostilities — Attack of Mouree by the British — Observations — Vindication of the Dutch from the Charge of exciting Hostilities — Appointment of Sir Charles M'Carthy as Governor of the British Settlements on the Western Coast of Africa — His Ideas of the Power of Ashantee — State of tiie Gold Coast on his Arrival — Blockade by the Ashantees — Their Military Tactics— Murder of a Serjeant — The British Force takes the Field- Defeat and Death of Sir Charles M'Carthy— Correspondence— Observations - 194
CHAPTER VII. HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF ASHANTEE.
Antiquity and Power of the Monarchy of Ashantee — National Character— War of Dinkira — Reign of Sai Tooto — Massacre at Acromantee— Sai Apoko — Civil War —
VI CONTENTS.
Page Sai Akwasy — Sai Kodjoh — War of Gaman — Sai Quamina — Embassy from Dahomy Sai Apoko II. — Sai Tooto Quamina — War of Ghofan — First Bontoko War — War of Assin — Murder of the King's Messengers by the Fantees — Fantee War — Attack of
Annamaboe — Death of Cheboo — Ratification of the Truce — Exchange of Presents
Prisoners of War awarded to the Governor, and their Disposal - . 224
PART II.
CHAPTER VIII.
ON THE GEOGRAPHY OF W^ESTERN AFRICA. WANGARA.
Credibility of Information obtained from the Moslems of Guinea — Character of the Religion of Islam— Anecdote of the Khalifa Omar— Anecdote of Mulai Soliman, Emperor of Morocco — Vindication of the Character of the Moslems of Ashantee — Their Correspondence witii the Author — Remarks on the Mission from Cape Coast Castle, in 1817 — Travels of the Moslems — Authorities, and Explanation of the Map of Wangara — Remarks on the Geographical Statements published by Mr. Bowdich, relating to the Courses of the Niger — On the Various Distances denominated a Day's Journey — Enumeration of Errors in Mr. Bowdich's System of the Geography of Africa— Geographical Description of Ashantee ; its Roads, Paths, Towns, Rivers, Lakes, &c — Wangara— Course of the Niger— The Aswada— The Logos— Great Lake of Ayoh— River of Benin— Empire of Zogho — Yarraba— Rapid Changes in the Pohtical Divisions of Africa— Haoussa— Relative Situation of the Moslems and Heathens — Protection necessary for Travelling in the Interior — Great Divisions of Wangara— Enkasy— Ghofan— Yandy— A bomey— Eastern Districts of Wangara— Horses, Weapons, &c.— Benin— Gaman— Rock Gold and Gold Dust— Manufactures in Gold— Moslem Population in Ashantee— Character of the Fantees
CONTENTS. VU
CHAPTER IX.
SOUDAN.
Page
Ancient Africa— Derivation of the Name — The Gharb — Soudan— Traditions— Inroads of the Ocean— Names given by the Arabs — Ancient Population— Ignorance and Indifference of the Pagans— Great Divisions of Africa, South of the Desert— Ghunja — Sarem — Dagomba— Ganowa — Bambara — Fillany — INIarroa— Killinga — Haoussa — Yarraba — The Niger — Shary — Ghulby — Captain Laing's Observations — Description of Routes Marked on the Map— Jews of Soudan— Travels of the Ashantees— Privi- leges of Moslem Travellers— Current Coin — Weights and Measures - lxxvi
APPENDIX.
No. I. Appointment of the Author as Consul at Coomassy '- cxvii
No. II. Treaty made with the King of Ashantee, by Mr. Bowdich, in the Name of the Governor and Council . . - cxix
No. III. Treaty made with the King of Ashantee, by the Author on behalf of his Majesty - - ... - - cxx
GEOGRAPHICAL DOCUMENTS.
No. IV. An Arabic Manuscript and Translation, shewing the route from Salgha in
Ghunja, to Youry in Haoussa, &c. - - - - cxxiv
No. V. An Arabic Manuscript and Translation, shewing the route from Coomassy
to Salgha ... . . cxxvii
No. VI. An Arabic INIanuscript and Translation, shewing the route between Salgha
and Kassina by the river Ghulby - - - cxxvni
No. VII. An Arabic Manuscript and Translation, descriptive of distance, &c. - cxxx No. VIII. An Arabic Manuscript descriptive of the journey between Coomassy and
the Jolliba, at Sego and Jenny, distance, &c. - - - cxxxl
No. IX. An Arabic Manuscript and Translation, descriptive of the route between
Jenny and Bornou - - - - cxxxiii
No. X. An Arabic Manuscript and Translation, descriptive of the journey from
Coomassy to Kassina, by the route of Magho and the Ghulby, written by a native of
Haoussa - - - - ib. .
No. XI. An Arabic Manuscript, describing distance, &c. from a travelling chart of the
Sherlffe Brahim or Ibrahim . - - • cxxxiv.
LIST OF PLATES.
Page
1 . Representation of the Court of Select Audience Costume, and the Ceremony of
Swearing Fidelity to the British Government - to face the Title.
2. South Prospect of the River Praa and the Forest of Assin - S3
3. A Woman and Youth of Banna, and & Marroa Slave - - 40
4. Moslems of Dagomba and Salagah, in the Costumes of their Countries - 72
5. Priests or Magicians of Ashantee invoking the National Deities - 75
6. The Palace of Ouso Adoom, the King's Nephew ; the Author's temporary Residence
at Coomassy - - - 88
7. Specimen of Ashantee Sculpture - - - 85
8. A Street in Coomassy leading to the Palace - - 112
9. The Close of the Adai Customs - - -142
10. An Ashantee Soldier - - - - 193
11. A Caboceer of Ashantee equipped for War - - 223
12. Military Weapons of the Ashantees - - - 264
13. Map of Wangara and Soudan - - to face Part II. Page i ] 4. A Moslem of Kong, in Military Costume - - xxxvii
15. A Man and Woman of Gaman - - - i-vi
16. A Man and Woman of Banna - - - lxxv
JOURNAL
RESIDENCE IN ASHANTEE.
INTRODUCTION.
The British trade with the Gold Coast of Africa was placed by charter, in the reisfn of Charles II. under the controul of the Roval African Company, whose governor-general (the Govenor of Cape Coast Castle) and council (consisting principally of the commandants of the subordinate forts) had the direction of matters on the African shore, acting, of late years, under instructions sent from England by a body of men chosen for that employ, called the African Committee. This committee was latterly allowed by parliament XSO.OOO per annum, for the maintenance of their forts in Africa, the protection of the trade, &c. The system was highly injurious to the public, for the trade was onlv nominally free — in fact it was monopolized by the governor and council themselves, and so much of the public grant as was actually laid out in the maintenance of the forts and establishments, served only to keep the public out of the African market ; the appli- cation of the remainder it is not difficult to conjecture.
The forts were held at certain rents secured to the native chiefs by notes, which will be more particularly mentioned in the following pages. On the conquest of Fantee by the King of Ashantee, the notes came into his possession, and the rent was paid to him for a
a
ii INTRODUCTION.
time. He several times ravaged the Fantee and other maritime countries, and the English having interfered to protect the natives, he blockaded Cape Coast itself in 1816, but was induced by presents to withdraw his forces.
In 1817, Mr. John Hope Smith being Governor of Cape Coast Castle, and president, and the council consisting of the Governors of Accra, Tantum, Annamaboe, and Dixcove, th€ African committee on the suggestion of the council, sent instructions to forward what they termed both an embassy and an exploratory jnission to Coomassy the capital of Ashantee. Mr. Smith furnished a sketch of a treaty to be concluded between the governor and council, and the King of Ashantee. Mr. James was appointed to head the mission, from his rank as senior member of council, and governor of Accra fort, and Messrs. Bowdich, Hutchison, and Ted lie were selected as his asso- ciates ; the two former gentlemen writers, the last named an assistant- surgeon in the company's employ. At Coomassy Mr. Bowdich, of his own authority, assumed the chief command, superseded his superior officer Mr. James, and concluded with the king the conven- tion which will be found in the appendix, No. 2, where it is inserted ' from the original in my possession, which differs materially from that published by Mr. Bowdich as the treaty in question.
Such was the state of our relations with Ashantee, when, by the advice of a friend, I forwarded a memorial to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, tendering my services as resident consul in that country.
In due time I received letters * from the Treasury and Downing-
Doivning-street, 3d January, 1818.
• I have laid before Lord Bathurst your letter of the 26th ult. with its enclosure from Mr. Joseph
Dupuis, tendering his services as resident at Coomassy in Africa ; and I am directed to acquaint you, for
the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, that Lord Bathurst entirely concurs in their
recommendation of appointing a consul at Ashantee, and will have much pleasure in submitting to the
Prince Regent the name of Mr, Dupuis, as qualified to fill the appointment.
Signed HENRY GOULBURN. To G.Harrison, Esq.
INTRODUCTION, HI
street, intimating that my offer had been accepted, and ordering me to make tlie necessary preparations for proceeding to my destina- tion.
It was explained to me, in England, that my appointment origi- nated in an earnest desire on the part of His Majesty's government, to cultivate the existing harmony with the king of Ashantee, and, upon the basis of a mutual confidence, to nurture the seeds of an accidental friendship as an essential preliminary step to the advancement of certain hopeful expectations connected with the manufacturing and commercial interests of Great Britain ; whereby government, it would seem, had built upon the probability, through the auspices of the king, not only of enticing all, or the greater part of Ashantee commerce, to the several British settlements on the Gold Coast ; but also of inducing that monarch to suffer the traders from the more inland districts to visit the British markets in common with the Ashantees them- selves. In elucidation of these sentiments, I beg to refer the reader to the following extracts taken from my instructions.
" It must be almost superfluous to point out to you, that the most important object to attain, is, to establish mutual confidence; since upon this basis alone can mutual interest be raised. And with this view, it may be good policy to defer the prosecution of any plans for immediate profit that may have a tendency to excite the suspicion or jealousy of the natives. For though the promotion of our commercial
The other letter addressed to me was as follows : —
The Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, having been pleased to communicate to Earl Bathurst your letter of the 28th ult. offering your services as resident at Ashantee, I have it in command from their lordships, to transmit for your information a copy of his lordship's answer thereto, in order that you may make the necessary preparations for proceeding to your destination.
Signed GEO. HARRISON.
Treasury Chambers, \ith January, 1818.
See also Commission, Appendix No. I.
a2
iv INTRODUCTION.
relations with the interior is, undoubtedly, a consideration of the Jirst importance, yet in a country with which we have had so little inter- course, that should bebut a secondary object. Your particular care should be to satisfy the minds of the king and his ministers, that our professions oi friendship and good-will are sincere, before you allow it to be under- stood that the intention is to pursue our enquiries, and to extend the trade beyond the boundaries of his dominions.
" The duties of a British consul at Coomassy must necessarily be of a peculiar nature: He must therefore, for a time, be almost wholly guided by circumstances as they arise, bearing however always in mind as the general rule of his conduct, his duty and allegiance to his sovereign and country, the promotion of the Christian religion, and the interest of British commerce.
" Your acquaintance with the characters of the Moors or Arabs (obtained during your long residence in Barbary,) renders any sug- gestions for your government, with respect to them, wholly unneces- sary ; further than it will be deserving of much consideration, how far it may be politic to place confidence in any of those who are resident at Coomassy, by making use of them as interpreters or otherwise, as they m,ust, both from their religious principles and self-interest, be rather disposed to prejudice, than to promote our interests. You may, how- ever, find them to be less bigoted than self-interested, and by prudent measures may be able to turn their influence with the government very much to the advantage of this country.
" One object most desirable to obtain, as it would essentially assist in the realization of the views of government, might perhaps be a grant from the king of Ashantee, of a district, about twenty-Jive miles from the coast, subject to a perpetual annual rent, with full liberty to clear and cultivate the same, and to erect houses, &c. Such a spot, if judiciously chosen, might open an extensive field for the employment of the youth educated at the Company's schools, and be the beginning of a system
INTRODUCTION. Y
which might eventually extend to the cultivation and civilization of the whole coast. You will, therefore, keep this object constantly in view, and seize every favourable opportunity of impressing upon the mind of th e king, the signal advantages that would result to the Ashantees as a people, and the immense accession of riches and strength which would be acquired by the sovereign, from the country being brought into such an improved state. It hardly need be observed to you, that this is a matter which will require to be treated with the greatest delicacy, and that no opinion upon it should ever be hazarded by any other person attached to the mission.
" The enclosed are copies of the treaties entered into with the kings of Ashantee and Dzcabin : upon reference to which, you will see that thei/ pledge themselves to continue on terms of friendship with the British. To permit a British officer constantly to reside at Coomassy; to encourage trade with Cape Coast Castle, and its dependeticies, and to commit fhcir children to the care of the govei'nor in chief (of the Company's establishments) for education at Cape Coast Castle, &c. &c.
" You will be sensible how necessary it is to get geographical infor- mation, and therefore you will carefully treasure up every thing you can learn, without showing that you attach any importance to the obtaining of it." &c.
I was detained in England about nine months, reckoning from the date of my appointment ; for I did not sail for the coast of Africa until the month of November following. The voyage itself was as favourable as could have been desired : we left the Downs with the wind at north-east, which increasing to a gale, conveyed us to Madeira in six days. After a detention at Funchal short of a week, we finally weighed anchor for Cape Coast Castle. More than this outline, it is presumed, would not afford the reader any real interest.
From January, the month I landed on the Gold Coast, to the fol- lowing June, my health was imimpaired by the eftect of climate, while many sunk under the mortal influence of tropical diseases ; yet I courted
vi INTRODUCTION.
rather than shunned exposure to the air by night as well as day.* It was the opinion of my friends that the seven or eight years of " sea- sonino- " I had undergone in Mauritania rendered me less susceptible of danger ; but in this sentiment I never could agree with t^em ; and I was the more prejudiced in favour of my own way of reasoning when the periodical rains set in, for I was instantly assailed by a fever, which for severity and duration, was of the most dangerous character. When from this attack I emerged to a state of convalescence, which I did only under symptons of extreme debility after the lapse of nearly two months, I retired from the castle to a little cottage in the " bush," where for six ensuing weeks I gradually improved in health. But the season of fog-s, mists, and exhalations succeeding the first fall, as it does upon this parallel of latitude, I ag-ain relapsed under the malignant influence of the period. The fever at this time attached itself locally f to the liver, spleen, &c., and although the danger was more remote than heretofore, yet as I laboured long under it, and grew gradually worse, I had no hopes of gaining strength sufficient for ray contemplated jouraey to the interior, unless by a change of air. Thus prepossessed, during the height of the ulterior rains which usually, set in in the month of September, I embarked on a cruise in his Majesty's ship Pheasant, commanded by Captain Kelly, an officer every way conspicuous for his gentleman- like conduct.
The rains chased us from the coast to the bight of Benin, whither we were bound, and for five ensuing weeks the strides of death among the crew were considerable. My health continued to be seriously bad, and the cruise becoming irksome, 1 availed myself of an
* I am satisfied, from the result of my own experience in Africa, that many fall victims to the climate from the adoption of a course of training improperly termed prudential ; viz. a sudden change of diet, from ship's fare to a scanty sustenance of vegetable matter, (rejecting even a moderate proportion of wine) and seclusion in their apartments from the sun and atmosphere. Habits of this kind have, at least, a natural tendency to stagnate the flow of healthy juices, and render the body unfit for exertion. Many there are, howevef, who fall victims to intemperate habits.
■f This is a very common symptom of the progress of disease upon the constitution of Europeans between the tropics.
INTRODUCTION. Vll
opportunity that offered to transship myself to the Snapper gun-brig, (commanded by a late lamented friend) then on her passage back to Cape Coast. A tornado which we experienced,, and the set of the cur- rent together, carried us to our destination in two or three days, and when I set foot again on shore at the close of November, I was little improved in health. The rains, however, had ceased, and in less than a week my disorder wholly subsided. I recovered, seemingly, to the most perfect state of health, and my anxiety to take upon myself the duties for which I was sent out to Africa, was proportionate to the now alarming state of public affairs in relation to our connexions with Ashantee ; for this was the period when the king, exasperated to the highest pitch of indignation against the servants of the Company as well as the native population of Cape Coast, demanded satisfaction of both in sums of money equivalent to ^12,800., the half of which was, as he termed it, the assessed penalty for a violation of the treaty made by Mr. Bowdich.
During my absence on the cruise, a Mr. Wm. Hutton, a writer in the service of the company, landed at Cape Coast. I had once before accidentally seen him at Gravesend, when, it seems, he contemplated returning to Africa, this I knew at the time I sailed myself, and this was the limit of my knowledge of this gentleman. When I returned from the cruize, he shewed me the respect of a common place visit of congratulation or condolence, (for I had un- happily lost an infant member of my family during my absence) and this was succeeded by a letter, which I received the next day, from my- friend Mr. Joseph Dawson, (ex-governor of Cape Coast) a merchant in town of the first class of respectability, both in property and character. It ran as follows :—
" The gentleman I sent to the Castle is Mr. Hutton, whose name you have frequently heard me mention. I now introduce him to you as a particular friend whom I wish well to. He accompanied the expe- dition of Major Peddy, and is well-seasoned to the climate. I think he would be useful to you, if you go to Aquamassy, (Coomassy), in case
viii INTRODUCTION.
of sickness, for he knows the nature of busmess here, and can act under your direction. He has begged of me to see you and offer his services v^ohmtarily to go up with you ; so I may recommend him to you as a young man who has talent, and for his integrity I will answer," &c.
Pleased with a voluntary tender of service for such duty, as it was a solitary instance of the kind, and gratified with the idea of obliging a friend, I accepted of the offer, although I was already pro- vided with a vice-consul,* a youth inexperienced indeed, but whose qualifications of the heart were of the first distinction.
Mr. Hutton being more competent to take an active part, I employed him on many occasions, and indeed I may not omit my public acknowledgments of his industry and zeal on many early occasions, and which I stamped with my approbation in a memorial submitted to me to obtain my sanction ere I forwarded it to the lords commissioners of the treasury, the result of which procured both him and Mr. Collins the rewards they petitioned for.
During my third illness, a few days antecedent to the journey to Coomassy, I gave Mr. Hutton a temporary power to act for me, mainly because I was apprehensive that measures would be taken to supersede me in my command upon the score of ill health — a step which might be imputed to motives of humanity. I therefore authorised Mr. Hutton to proceed to Doonqua, with the presents under his charge. Finding subsequently, however, that the influence of the governor and council still endangered my possession of the charge, and as my indisposition for several days continued obstinate, rather than allow any authority in that country to interfere with the powers which had been granted to me, I increased that which I had granted to Mr. Hutton, authorising him now to jog forward at a gentle pace, if my illness should still increase in severity, to relieve me from the uneasy thoughts arising from the daily and hourly interference of the castle with duties which belonged to me alone.
* Mr. Collins, son of the reverend gentleman of that name, who was sent out by the late Bishop of Chichester.
INTRODUCTION. IX
My recovery, two or three days afterwards, rendered this pre- caution unnecessary, and I had the satisfaction to assume the com- mand at Doonqua.
Looking back to the period of my arrival in Africa — the month of January, 1819, — I found Mr. Hutchison, who had been left at Coomassy by his coadjutors, Messrs. Bowdich and Tedlie, in quality of resident, upon the coast, having been recalled by Mr. Smith, the governor of Cape Coast Castle, to fill the office of salesman in his warehouse, at that interesting period when the king of Ashantee was occupied with his military preparations for the approaching war with Dinkera, king of Gaman.
During Mr. Hutchison's stay at the court, the king, on various occasions, acknowledged the satisfaction he enjoyed from his connexions with the whites, and particularly the British. The fervor of the king's attachment indeed, had developed itself in many little conciliatory acts, and in tokens genuine or politic of his personal esteem for Messrs. Mollan, Smith, and Hutchison*; nor was the primary con- sideration forgotten, for that monarch employed every means in his power to promote trade with the British, which for a time flourished, although chiefly, it must be admitted, in the governor's warehouses ; for when the tributary sovereigns and caboceers assembled their retainers, preparatory to the meditated invasion of Gaman, they were all directed to procure supplies from Cape Coast, so that, according to the most authentic accounts, Mr. Smith's stock of rum, powder, and cloth, was metamorphosed into gold dust in the lapse of a few days only.
These were benefits conferred by the court alone. In regard to the inferior classes of traders, they, not being bound by the royal restrictions, speculated freely and sought their own markets, either with the officers of the castle, or among the free mer-
* These gentlemen were presented by the king with slaves and gold. .Mr. Mollan was gover- nor of Annamaboe, and Vice President of the Council.
b
X INTRODUCTION.
chants in town. Thus all participated, more or less, in the temporar}'^ influx of commerce ; although it was stated by some to have been of no solid advantage, except in bulk, as the business was chiefly trans- acted by Mr. Smith, and a favoured few\ This correspondence is supposed to have received a slight check, from an omission, on the part of Mr. Smith, to acknowledge the king's benefits according to negro courtesy, by reciprocal donations, courtly messages, &c. This neglect, however, made no impression on the political attachment of the king, whose conception of the treaty of 1817 favoured an implicit confi- dence in the good faith of those who had courted the union ; and this belief was encouraged by a persuasion that the smiles of the British government, or rather the British sovereign, irradiated his throne with a refulgence that dazzled the multitude, excited the envy of cotemporary powers, and rendered his political existence more secure from foreign enemies, or the ambitious schemes of the tributaries and nobles of his empire.
Mr. Hutchison's occupation, as warehouseman, was found pro- fitable to his employer, as it attracted a private connexion from Coomassy, who chose that gentleman for their broker in preference to one they did not know. This preference excited much dissatisfaction among the merchants and inferior traders. Without the castle walls the treaty itself was bewailed in serious lamentations, reproachful to its authors, although, in truth, a few of the complainants had no cause to be dissatisfied, unless by comparison with the channel that absorbed so much gold in mass. Be this as it may, the evil, real or imaginary, vibrated in my hearing, shortly after I landed on the coast, and the treaty was unreservedly condemned as the cause of the public grievance. The mission which gave existence to that treaty was represented to have been conceived in mercantile enterprize and intrigue ; the expence of which was cast upon the government, while the profit was almost exclusively pocketed by the few leading servants of the African Committee. It was boldly affirmed that the document dignified with
INTRODUCTION. XI
the name of treaty, was in reality a shadow, although not an innoxious one; and although it could deceive no one versed in the tortuous politics of the country, yet it was reasonably calculated to stand the test of criticism in the meridian of London ; where the organs of its supporters (who were liable to the same imposition) afforded the only channel from which information could be elicited : that to effect the sinister purposes of a plot deeply laid, a meritorious officer, such as the late Sir James Yeo described Mr. James to be, was recalled with censure, at the instance of his young aspiring associates, the companions of his dangers and fatigues.
The king was at the head of his army on the Gaman frontier at the time I landed, and a battle was shortly expected to take place between the " rival powers," as they were improperly called by the governor. The natives of the town of Cape Coast, elated by reports which some affirmed came from the windward towns, whilst others maintained that they were fabricated in the castle, entertained hopes that the Ashantee monarchy might be annihilated in the approaching conflict. These wishes they were imprudent enough to promulgate, thereby aftbrding the king's friends and his captain resident, who lived in the town, an opportunity to represent the disaffection that prevailed. In due time the court noticed it, and politically restricted the inter- course between the inland and maritime traders, until the termination of the campaign. This restriction, however, is to be understood in a limited sense, for still the sovereign's confidential servants and traders visited the castle, and purchased, as usual, what was wantedfor the court or camp.
The Ashantee captain resident had been stationed by the king at Cape Coast, and was considered there as the organ of his government. While the king remained in his capital, the maritime states were cautious of giving offence ; but when the southern pro\qnces were no longer overawed by the presence of the monarch on his throne, the natives of Cape Coast, encouraged, it must be admitted, by the
b 2
xii INTRODUCTION.
gossips of the castle, thought proper to take a sudden umbrage at the resident, whom they looked upon as a spy or inspector over their actions. Reports were circulated from some unknown source, that the king's army had suffered a defeat of magnitude, and that Dinkera was pushing over the Tando river with intent to repay the hostile visit of the king. The resident protested against the falsity of the account, as did the chiefs of Elmina town, but the interest they took in the business was supposed to proceed from other motives than those sincerity might inspire.
Traders now but rarely visited the settlements ; and when they did come, it was found impracticable to elicit from them what alone would have passed current for authentic information, namely, an admission that the king had been defeated !
At this crisis two royal messengers came to Cape Coast to vent a complaint against the conduct of the people of Commenda, whither they had been sent by their sovereign to convey a jaw-bone or two, as trophies of the success of the Ashantee arms. They claimed the pi'o- tection of the British, by virtue of the treaty. It was confirmed beyond disputation that these messengers had been used with some violence, and turned out of the town in contemptuous defiance and ridicule. At Cape Coast they were secure from molestation, but could get no redress ; for Mr. Smith, without the aid of the council, and without regard to my particular interest and responsibility in the concerns of Ashantee, refused to administer justice between the parties until, after the lapse of many months, the threat of hostility became ^o alarming to the interests of the settlements, that the council assumed the power of acting independently of the views entertained by its president, and determined to forward the mission.
As far as policy may be allowed to palliate those errors of admi- nistration, which are connected with a violation of public and private faith, so far only it was justifiable to abjure this treaty of INlr. Bowdich. Let it be assumed that the early reports of the king's defeat were
INTRODUCTION. Xlli
actually credited in the castle to the extent that the military power of Ashantee had been vitally shaken in the conflict with its western ene- mies, still it was the honour of England, and, as it was imagined by the king, the faith of her monarch, which had been pledged to him in the treaty of 1817. upon what authority 1.. leave to the judgment of the reader.
I believe, upon no slight grounds, that my consular appointment to the court mainly contributed to inspire Mr. Bowdich's uncle with the temerity to induce a rupture with the king ; for in opposition to my solicitations that my arrival in the country should be communicated at the capital by a public messenger, it was explained to me that tbe time was not suitable, and I must wait until after the rains, as it would be dangerous to travel before I was seasoned to the climate. Many whisperings were circulated in augmentation of the difficulties, and my hopes, although buoyed up in favourable expectancy, did not wholly subdue my fears of disappointment ; for the impracticability of visiting the metropolis became a common topic of conversation, and every discouraging prognostication was echoed about without reserve, but certainly not without a motive. The sentiments of the parties in town united in a rooted belief that every measure short of actual hostility would be resorted to, to prevent the execution of those plans which were contemplated in my appointment ; and that Mr. Smith was, moreover, personally interested in suppressing my visit to court, from the feelings he had for his nephew, whose exaggerated represen- tations of the opulence and grandeur of the Ashantee monarchy, he was no stranger to. Doubtful as the sequel might prove, my hopes and fears alternately fluctuated as I anxiously looked forward for the king's return to his capital, upon which I was now inclined to concen- trate all my expectations.
The Captain resident, who was a young athletic man, was taken |, suddenly ill in the month of March, while this misunderstanding existed, and his death speedily ensued, not without a strong suspicion
xiv INTRODUCTION.
of poison, which, it was whispered, had been administered by a slave of tlie caboceer Aggry, a man who received pay from the company, and who was upheld as a superior chief, and dignified with the title of King of the town. Whether this was true or not I cannot affirm, but no successor was ever appointed to the vacant situation, and yet it was more than ever incumbent on the government to watch the idle rumours that gave so much uneasiness to the king.
In the same month a silly tale was circulated at Cape Coast that a most decisive battle had been fought between the belligerents ; that the king of Ashantee had fallen in the conflict, that his army was scattered over the face of the country, and that his enemies, headed by the victorious Dinkera, were within a few days' march of Coo- massy, where the advanced guard had already arrived. Yet no clue could be discovered for tracing this rumour to a source that might imprint upon it a semblance of authenticity : notwithstanding which it was seemingly credited implicitly by Mr. Smith, who assured j me he had no doiibt of its truth : hence the same opinion predominated 1 throughout the town, as well as in the castle. I know no reason why it should have taken so deep a root, except that it was what chimed with the anxious wishes of the natives, and, as it would seem, co-operated with the views of some of the superior authorities in the castle.
As my hopes and fears now centred in the truth or falsehood of the statement, I hired a canoe and went to El Mina with a letter of in- troduction to His Excellency the late Governor Oldenburgh, by whom I was assured that there was not a word in the report deserving of credit, although he doubted not there had been a general engagement. .The Ashantee traders who were in the town, amounting to near one . hundred, including their slaves, laughed outright at the tale, which they treated as a malicious libel that would be attended with evil con- sequences in the sequel. It was added, moreover, that these artful reports were coined at Cape Coast exclusively, for every other town knew them to be false ; and even the people of Commenda were then
INTRODUCTION. XV
sensible that they had been betrayed into their late excesses by the influence of Cape Coast.
Towards the end of March, a messenger, bearing the gold-hilted sword, came to the castle from the camp, stating that he had been deputed by his sovereign to acquaint the governor that an outrage had been committed at Commenda upon two men of office, who had repre- sented to him their inability to procure redress ; but that the king ex- pected, upon the faith of the treaty, and the friendship that existed between them, that justice would be done. However, if the governor declined taking that trouble, he should send some troops for that purpose.
The king, it was added, had also heard with anger and regret, that the natives of Cape Coast wei-e not disposed to be friends ; that they talked foolish things, as if they wanted him to come down again to the water side ; but he trusted the governor would look to it for him, because he was then enoao-ed in war.
This was substantially the message which was laid hold of as a palli- ative argument for having bidden defiance to the king in language which that monarch deemed insulting, and a farewell adieu to the treaty '"of Mr. Bowdich : for Mr, Smith, Avithout listening to the main argument, or attending to the justice of the king's complaint, interrupted the man, by desiring him to return to his master and acquaint him that he might come down " in forty days, or in twenty, or as soon as he thought proper. "
This messenger, whose name was Accra Dehe, lingered about the town for some time, and vainly intimated that he durst not carry such a message back : that it would be an insult to the king, and perhaps cost him his head. But at length he was compelled to depart.
In order to elucidate these rash councils, so abruptly resorted to, without the concurrence of any other individual associated in the commission for the administration of public affairs ; it is requisite to say something of a finesse that was employed to give sanction to
XVI INTRODUCTION.
hostility at such a crisis, when so many interests and expectations were thrown away. Will it be credited that the message itself was per- verted, through the medium of the interpreter, who was instructed so to do, that a plausible opportunity might be afforded for breaking off the friendly connexion that existed with Ashantee ? This was roundly asserted by many who were not known as friends to the king, and who freely declared that De Graaf, the castle linguist, interpreted the king's message to the governor with exaggerations, and even falsehood, in the course of which he said (or as it was suspected was urged to say), " The king would certainly come down to Cape Coast in forty days and punish those who had abused him." In order to obtain, as it were, a tacit sanction, Mr. Smith invited me to meet the messenger in the hall, in company with captain Kelly of H. M. S. Pheasant. We caught the words as they fell from the lips of De Graaf, and I confess, for my own part, the colouring was so artfully contrived, that I saw no other alternative than waiting patiently where I was. Indeed, for some time after, I was a dupe to the prejudice that the king actually designed war ; notwithstanding that Accra Dehe, before he quitted the Cape, declared that De Graaf had perverted the king's message.*
The elders and chiefs of the town were then privately instructed to arm their people, and defend themselves in case of necessity. A wall of circumvallation, extending across the hills, and entrenching the town and castle, was hastily erected with mud and swish, loop- holed for defensive warfare, as if it were actually believed that the Ashantees would come down ; and if so, that the people would find security behind these frail bulwarks, against an enemy so terrible to their remembrances.
Accra Dehe returned to the camp, and, as I learned at Coomassy,
* The king denied the message to me, in terms the most positive and convincing, and alleged that he had punished Accra Dehe in the first of his anger, wrongfully ; for De Graaf was the man who, he believed, had perverted bis words. Mr. Smith, however, understood the native language ! ! !
INTRODUCTION. XVU
truly reported what had occurred, together with his owu suspicions regarding the imposition. The king, however, was enraged to a great degree of anger against his officer, whom he accused of false- hood, put him to the torture of the bastonade to extort confession, and finally threw him into prison with the intention of putting him to a cruel death, in case he discovered equivocation or deceit.
In the meantime the farce was conducted at 'Cape Coast, with every ostensible show of promptitude, although in reality it all ended in the erection of the wall ; for Aggry, who had boasted of his ability to procure five thousand auxiliaries from the bush (country), found it impossible to obtain a single man : every town and every village, being either overawed by a dread of the vengeance of Ashantee, or in strict alliance with that powerful nation.
These reports, reaching the capital, annihilated what little re- mained of the trade, at a single blow ; the traders either not caring to trust themselves and their property at Cape Coast, or being laid under prohibitions, which restricted the intercourse to El Mina, and the windward settlements, where, for twelve months after, they deposited their gold and merchandize. The Dutch, consequently, en- joyed all those benefits which the treat}* was supposed to have con- ferred upon the British, who in truth Avere indebted to the agency of their European brethren in the few commercial transactions they had with the Ashantees ; and these contracts were sometimes attended with loss upon the property, varying from twenty to thirty per cent, (without including interest of money and risk of payment) which fell to the share of the Dutch as the intermediate parties.
The prospect of surmounting those obstacles which impeded my visit to the court, was now but a faint one at best, and only to be discerned through a cloud of trouble and vexation. By this time I was sufficiently initiated in the sinister mysteries of African politics to know that, although I might ultimately succeed in my endeavours to reach the metropolis, yet it would not be until every hostile feeling
Xviii INTRODUCTION.
had been roused into action, thereby to give full employment to my time, and excite general distrust and suspicion. These sentiments imperceptibly stole in upon my secret thoughts, harassing my mind with tantalizing reflections ; nor were any of my friends able to console me at this time with a solitary hope of what I so ardently desired. But one opinion existed, and anxious as the majority were for my success, they did not hesitate to suggest to me the propriety of returning to England, there to submit a just statement of the obstacles I had to encounter.
This advice, it is almost needless to say, did not accord with my own sentiments. Limited as my hopes were, I still enjoyed the mental satisfaction of knowing that things were at least in a train to be brought to issue, however unfavourable that issue might prove ; and I had previously resolved to abide the test, before I sought new instruc- tions or resigned my commission.
The rains set in with more than usual violence before the close of April, and although I had hitherto enjoyed as good health as in England or Barbary, I was early attacked with fever, which for six weeks held me in suspense between life and death, nor did I recover without symptoms of extreme debility, increased by the nature of the climate and the anxiety which preyed continually upon my mind.
Another messenger came down in June, desiring, in the name of the king, simply to know whether Accra Dehe had deceived him, or whether Mr. Smith had actually sent him up a defiance.
I was too ill at this period to attend the hall, but I learned after- wards that the reply retorted the charge of defiance upon the king or his messenger, for having first used the language of threat.
Whilst all this was transacting, news reached the Ashantee army that Cape Coast had been entrenched with a wall, and that the town's- people were in arms against the king's authority (for this, indeed, was a truth too palpable for concealment). When it was reported to the king, at Houraboh in Gaman, as that monarch told me himself, his
INTRODUCTION. xix
captains simultaneously unsheathed their sabres and solicited him to allow a detachment of troops to march down to the coast. " We will kill them," said the captains, " or hring them before you, for this insult is insufferable." However, enraged as the king was, he suppressed his feelings, telling his captains that he held a " book "" \' with the white men, and could not acquiesce in the general wish, but that he would nevertheless swear to seek satisfaction, for he believed the governor was imposed upon.
Notwithstanding the royal messengers continued coming to and fro, between the camp and the castle, the report of the king's death did lose ground. In the castle the most favourable supposition supported an opinion that the Ashantees had sustained a defeat of such magni- tude as to have produced the election of another king, who, from state policy, negotiated in the name of his predecessor. Some were ' bold enough to affirm that Ashantee no longer existed, but as a depart- ment of the Gaman empire, and was then governed by a son of Dinkera.
In conformity with the king's promise to his army, another messenger, of high rank, and with a large retinue, made his entry in\ September. I was at this time sufficiently recovered from a second attack of illness to attend the interview. The man, in an able speech, recapitulated all those grievances of which his master complained, beginning at the Comraenda "palaver," and ending with the fortification or line of defence. The mutinous conduct of the people was touched upon with deUcacy, yet the odium Avas cast upon Mr. Smith, who was indirectly accused of having invited them to insubordination, on a belief that the king had been defeated by his enemies. In conclusion, the vmessenger declared, in the name of his master, that the treaty was of no use if insincerity was attached to British councils ; — that the king looked upon that treaty as " Fetische," (sacred) and therefore had sent it down to the castle, in order that Mr. Smith should read its contents, j . and determine whether or no he was bound to give satisfaction for the injuries that had been clone : and moreover, if it should be
6-2
XX INTRODUCTION.
answered negatively, that gentleman was desired to retain possession of the treaty, in order that the king might apply to his own resources without scruple, as it was contrary to his principles, or his notions of honour and good faith, to keep that deed in his hands and make ' ' war ; or, as it was more figuratively described to me at Coomassy by Apoko, to march against the town with the musquet in hand and the ' " book" in the box.
As this was uttered, the messeiiger drew from under his garment a little morocco trunk, out of which he took the treaty, and presented it to Mr. Smith, who evinced something like perturbation or confusion, as he declared " he had nothing to do with it." The linguist, De Graaf, interposed a whisper, and it was then read over as far as the fourth article,* when the messenger again rose and demanded satisfaction in the name of his sovereign, upon the faith of that article, which, if not complied with, he affirmed, would call down the vengeance of Ashantee upon the natives of the town. In respect to the Castle, he added, the king did not wish for war with white men, but his own people must be obedient ; he would not, however, hold the book or treaty if he made war.
The hall now resounded with vociferous arguments from the partisans of Ashantee and others connected with the messenger's suite. Some of the town chiefs, awakened at last from the stupefaction of idle dreams, joined earnestly in the debate, hoping, as it appeared, to mitio-ate the wrath of the monarch, or exonerate themselves from censure, by declaring that as they were under the government of the whites, they could not help what had been done. In fact the audience for a time resembled the upper gallery of a playhouse between the acts, so general was the confusion ; when order was restored, the messenger
* The fourth article was as follows : — " 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 king shall complain thereof to the Governor-in-chief, to obtain redress, and that he will in no case resort to hostilityj without endeavouring as much as possible to effect an amicable arrangement."
INTRODUCTION. XX
desired he might hear more of the treaty, which Mr. Smith read, as far as the seventh article, where he was interrupted, a second time, by a demand of satisfaction upon the faith of it.* Nor would he listen to the palliative argnments which were obtruded by Aggry and a chief of the name of Binie. He declared that his orders were peremptory and his duty imperative ; and, therefore, he should leave the treaty in the castle, unless Mr. Smith would promise to do the king justice.
At this juncture I requested the governor would make known to the messenger the object of my mission, and the desire I had to see the king ; for, incredible as it may appear, that monarch was in total ignorance of any thing concerning me, unless from report. My request was complied wuth. The messenger again rose, bowed to me. and took me by the hand in token of respect and good will. This circumstance appeared to stagger the resolution he had formed ; and he was, for some time pensive and doubtful, as if he knew not what course to pursue ; his inflexibility, however, was overcome, as he testified by enquiring whether he was to leave the treaty, or whether I would talk the palaver with the king. The reply was, that he must be guided by his own discretion, and accordingly he retired with the treaty to his quarters in town.
The town chiefs and their retainers were now, for the first time, warned of the danger tliey had incurred in giving an unbridled licence to their tongues.~f Indeed the advice was scarcely needful at
* This article was worded as follows : — " The governors of the respective forts shall at all times afford every protection in their power to the persons and property of tlie people of Ashantee, who may resort to the water-side."
t Yes, it is a notorious fact, that the people were first encouraged to resort to arms, then censured for having done so. Wy confidence, during the erection of the wall of circumvalJation, was rooted impli- citly in the honor and integrity of Mr. Smith ; and so I described my sentiments in my public letters to England. So much did I deludedly conceive myself a partisan in the policy he had adopted, that I daily visited the progressive advancement of the works of defence, and often in his society, although I knew, at the same time, they were calculated to ruin my best hopes. But these, while I felt their force, I set in no sort of competition with what I imagined to be a national cause, — the insult offered to the flag of my sovereign, and the indignity offered to a man whom I looked upon as a friend.
XXii INTRODUCTION.
this time, for their minds were riveted upon the impending peril ; and the scenes of former years were revived in imagination, as they contemplated the daring spirit of their enemies, and the power of the king. In the town, tranquillity predominated for a time, among all orders of men ; not a whisper, or the rumour of one, was to be heard prejudicial to the character or interests of the offended monarch, and the reports of a Gaman invasion were now woefully discredited or silenced. Yet, in the castle, the same idle speculations were indulged in, but ^vhether their propagators actually believed in such trash, although they affirmed it, is very doubtful.
Mr. Smith was, it seems, still of opinion that the Ashantees had been totally defeated, and accounts were again written to England to this effect, but in order somewhat to qualify the tone of his former sentiments, he affected to imagine that the government had recovered the blow, still however doubting that the same monarch ruled the empire.
Trade was entirely at a stand, for the Ashantees had long since deserted the Cape. The Dutch settlements, particularly El Mina town and castle, were stored with the inland merchants ; and British com- modities gained vent through that channel alone, whilst the Dutch, as heretofore, continued to reap all the advantage.
The messenger, whose hesitation proceeded from doubts con- nected with the importance of my mission, and my rank as coming from England direct to the king, came to the resolution of remaining on the spot vnitil he should be furnished with other insti*uctions from the king.
During the suspense, I was again so severely attacked with fever, that by the advice of my medical attendant I was prevailed upon to take a cruize in the Gulf, and accordingly I embarked on board His IMajesty's ship Pheasant. The rains were still excessive, sickness tracked our flight, and mortality made some havock among the .officers and crew. At the expiration of five weeks (it being then
INTRODUCTION. Xxiii
November) my health having- improved, I returned to the coast in the Snapper gun-brig. For some time after I enjoyed indifferent good health, under a tardy convalescence.
The season of health and re-animation was, however, now in rapid advance, and I believe the revived prospect of visiting the capital con- tributed more than any <hing else to my recovery.
Public affairs were precisely on the same footing as when I letl the Cape. The same messenger was still in town, but it was reported that a man of high rank was coming down to the coast in quality of ambassador ; with a train of armed followers.
The town's-people were more than ever sensible of their folly, and a few vented their murmurs against the whites, under the impression that they had encouraged them to resist a power which they could not unitedly contend against. The wall of defence was, therefore, suffered to moulder away in neglect, notwithstanding INIr. Smith continued still to give it as a sort of private opinion, that both policy and necessity required our entering upon defensive warfare at least, and offensive as regarded the protection of the town, if needful, from the ravages threatened by the Ashantees. The impossibility of affording thereby, protection to the lives and property of the people, formed no part of the argument.
Many were the anxious hopes and fears in circulation, and no one could form even a conjecture as regarded the future. On the one band it was feared that the accumulated provocations would weigh heavily in the scale of Ashantee politics^ and perhaps influence the king to carry fire and sword through the town ; for it was no secret that an enemy so powerful as the sovereign of Ashantee might per- form this with comparative ease, and without incurring any particular hazard even from the fire of the castle guns, should that course of pro- ceeding be resorted to. On the other hand it was admitted, that although the king was exceedingly exasperated, yet he would be influenced to listen to any reasonable terms, provided they were associated with the
XXIV INTRODUCTIOX.
ong agitated mission. In one point of view there was an unity of sentiment outside of the castle, namely, that any attempt at negotiation short of my visit to court, would be fruitless.
This was the time when ad\ices were expected from the committee, and many sanguine hopes of relief were centred in that quarter. But when the dispatches arrived, they were found to contain nothing important as reg-arded the political aspect of affairs in Africa. The information, in substance, was a reiteration of former strictures upon the conduct of Messrs. Mollan, Smith, and Adamson *, on the score of exorbitant charges in their accounts ; but more particulai'ly as they concerned the pecuniary affairs of the two former gentlemen ; and the threat of recall or dismissal was again fulminated at them with revived censure, in consequence of their having defended their accounts with scornful acrimony. Under these circumstances I was confirmed in the opinion that the committee themselves had been misled by the interested reports of their servants in regard to the affairs of Ashantee.
Mr. Smith now unequivocally gave it as his opinion, without how- ever specifjdng reasons, that to forward the mission would be the " height of imprudence and madness." f
Again, therefore, my hopes were blighted, and no other consola- tion presented itself than the anticipation of the interview with the ambassador, whose arrival was looked for within the month, and to whom report g-ave the credit of extensive, if not ample powers. Indeed it was affirmed that this great captain had been dignified by
* Mr. Adamson was governor of Tantum.
f These are his own words, extracted from letters which he wrote to me on the subject, and which I have still in my possession. It was clear to me, that either pride, and the anxiety of preserving a reputation for consistency, predominated over every other feeling, whether as regarded his own interests or tliose of the public ; or that he was inflexibly bent upon the original maxim of risking every thing rather than promote a mission whose tendency he seemed to think inimical to his own and his nephew's interests and reputations.
INTRODUCTION. XXV
his sovereign, with a commission that quahfied him to decide for peace or war upon the spot, and to act accordingly.
From this period, then, I no longer looked upon the councils of the Cape (that term will imply the individual acts of Mr. Smith) but as a barrier, or a chain of mountains on the march: and I availed myself of an opportunity that offered, to make known to Lord Bathurst, in the fullest extent, my situation and the predicament in which I w as so accidentally placed.
Another month elapsed, and still every measure of policy was con- templated in secret hostility, whilst a semblance of inflexibility, devoid however of the dignity of resolution, or the generosity of fellowship and good faith in politics, tended to support the natives in a belief that their " palaver" with the king was of consideration sufficient to war- rant unqualified hostility on the part of the castle. Certainly the town had been made the dupe of this conceit at an earlier stage of the quarrel, and doubtless it inspired them with that symptom of courage, or folly, from whence emanated many offences which, unhappily for themselves, called down upon their heads the vengeance of the sovereign, and that not a slight one ; for already I was sufficiently inform-, ed to know that the united power of the British and all Fantee besides: in the field, was inadequate to contend against that of the king, who, \ if he chose it, might destroy the town of Cape Coast without risking the loss of a man from our fire ; and if he knew how to attack the castle itself, it was not defensible. But the original infatuation was nearly at an end, and perhaps had wholly subsided ; for the people, as if sensible last that they had overstepped the boundary of prudence, were armed with caution : they were now seriously alarmed, and their efforts of courage were paralyzed in embryo ; they therefore endeavoured to screen themselves under a semblance of neutrality, as if they were either unconcerned in the difterences now existing between the king and Mr. Smith, or as if the British government would rescue them from
d
Xxvi INTRODUCTION.
their perils by negotiation or force of arms : and that too without employing any efforts on their own parts. Indeed they had buoyed themselves up with the hopes of a xvhite army coming to their relief.
The year was fast approaching to a close : I had already been held in this state of anxiety and suspense upwards of eleven months, and for ten of those weary months, or thereabouts, I had supported my lot with as much fortitude and resolution as I could.
The messenger, whose approach had been so long the theme of conversation, was now announced to be on his journey to the Coast, and at no great distance. Various reports gained credit, also, that a large body of troops would be quartered upon the town, until the negotia- tion should determine between peace or war.
In this interval of suspense, Mr. Swanzy arrived upon the coast, bringing under his charge despatches from the Committee, which war- ranted his hopes of assuming to himself the direction of public affairs in place of Mr. Smith, upon whom, together with his coadjutoi*s, Mollan and Adamson, a final act of censure was registered, on the score of unjus- tifiable charges in the public accounts, and insolence in their vindication.
Mr, Swanzy had the candour to admit that obstinacy and pri- vate resentment alone had reduced the settlements to a situation so truly alarming.
Hitherto, novel as it may seem in the system of government, no council had ever been assembled for taking the sense of that body upon the subject of Ashantee, as it has already been related. But now Mr. Swanzy, in virtue of his own powers, took an active part in public, compelling Messrs. Smith and Mollan to curtail their charges by a reduction of some hundreds of pounds, and to recant certain injurious expressions which they had applied to the committee.
Mr. Smith still adhered to his sentiments of defying the power of the king ; Mr, Mollan, with that obmutescence for which he is remark- able, gave no opinion at all, and Mr, Swanzy, who it will be remem-
INTRODUCTION. XXVll
bered, had a political game to play more intimately associated with his private interests, avoided saying more at this time than what might be qualified affirmatively or negatively.
This semblance of re-animation, however, once more removed the cloud of despondency that covered the minds of many of the chiefs in town, and it was now imagined that Mr. Swanzy had ability and inclination sufficient to avert the threatened calamities. That his inclinations would suggest pacific measures, no one could reasonably doubt, as his mercantile hopes naturally beat in unison with the feelings of those who had been such long sufferers.
Ag-ain at the close of the month of December, I paid another visit to his excellency governor Oldenburg, Trade was still brisk at El Mina, and the Dutch were still profitting by our own evil policy. The Ashantees, I had the mortification to learn, spoke in very loose terms of British faith, nor did they seem to think that we were over- burthened with common sense. The information I derived from the governor gave me to understand, most unequivocally, that, instead of having suffered reverses, the king had been completely successful in the Gaman campaign, and that there no longer existed a doubt of the death of Dinkera, and the final submission of his subjects to the conqueror's yoke.
During my stay under the hospitable roof of this worthy governor, I received information from Cape Coast that the long looked- for ambassador had arrived at Doonqua, and would shortly reach the place of his destination. Thus informed, I returned to the Cape without loss of time, where I found the popular rumours to be again very unfavourable. The anxiety of all classes was extreme, from a pre- sentiment of hostility ; for the ambassador's train, according to report, was an army, and his demands upon the castle and the town were stated to be exorbitant.
d2
XXViii INTRODUCTION.
From this period it was a sort of breathless suspense for a day or two, until the advanced guard, as it was termed, was seen travers- ing the beach.
The ambassador entered the place with a degree of military splendour unknown there since the conquest of Fantee by the king, and according to prevailing courtesy, the town chiefs, headed by Aggry, were drawn up to receive their unwelcome visitors.
Let the imagination trace the routine of etiquette, and let it be believed, as there is no doubt of the fact, that the number of people in the ambassador's train, at the lowest estimate, was about twelve hundred, of whom about half were either Ashantees or Assins (some of them women and boys) and the remaining half Fantees of Doonqua and Mouree, joined by some El Mina people, who all professed allegiance in common to the king.
The ambassador, "\vho was a man apparently between the ages of thirty and thirty-five, stood in the relationship of nephew to the king : it will be unnecessary, therefore, to say more of his rank and influence at court.
On the day of audience, he delivered a speech in the Hall, which De Graaf interpreted briefly as folio w^s : —
" The king says, you (the governor) sent white men to Coomassy, and they told him it was because the whites wished for peace and a good trade ; on hearing which he rejoiced to think that he should gratify the great king and his captains. These white men saw the king's face, and they knew he was a good king and wished well to the governor and white men who lived in the country ; therefore they made a treaty of strict friendship. Then the king sent down all the trade to the governor, thinking he loved him as a true friend.
" The king was afterwards obliged to make war against Dinkera, who had defied him, and refused to pay him gold as before. He ordered his captains to bring all the people together, and clean the
INTKODUCTIOX. XXXI
g-uns. And when the white man,* who lived with him heard that, he said, now I must go back to the water side ; and the king, considering that to be right, let him go.
" The trade went down as before, and the king was happy, because he thought, as the white men were friends, they would not allow Fantees to do foolish things and shame him before his captains.
" When the messengers went to Commenda, it was because he loved the people ; he, therefore, sent a jaw-bonef of Dinkera's captain, that they might know the king's enemies were dead, and rejoice at it. Now the governor knows that these messengers were robbed and beaten, and the people laughed at the king ; therefore, the messengers went to complain to the governor of Cape Coast, but he would not hear them.
" When the king heard that he was much grieved, and he sent Accra Dehe to make his compliments and tell the governor to examine that affair, and do what was right. When Accra Dehe returned to the camp, and told the king that the governor did not care for him, and said that he might come down in twenty days, it broke his heart, because it shamed him before his captains, and all the kings and great caboceers who fought for him. He could not think the governor would use him in that manner, because he never sent an offensive
* Mr. Hutchison.
t I think I have observed, elsewhere, that this description of present is deemed courteous and highly complimentary by the negroes, particularly when conferred by a chief or crowned head. This character, however, was attempted to be disputed when the palaver had gained its greatest ascendancy, and not before, for no other reason that I know of than that government and the committee would readily credit the belief that it might be interpreted into threatened hostility and insult. Let us put the question fairly to the issue, by referring to what Bosman relates of the war between " the Com- manians" (Commenda itself) and the natfves of Saboe, Acany, and Cabes Terra, page 33: —
" Notwithstanding we (the garrison of Elmina castle) had been hitherto perfectly neuter, the negro-general sent a civil message to our governor, with several sculls of his vanquished enemies, in token that he had resolved to live and die in the service of the Hollanders ; his message was ciiillii received, and after thanks and presents to the general, dismissed."
XXX INTRODUCTION.
message to the castle. The king then punished the messenger, but the captains said it was wrong, and that the people of Cape Coast were insolent; and they took their swords to march against the Fantees. But the king forbade them, saying he must do what was right according to the book, and he should have satisfaction. Then the king sent more messengers to the governor ; but they tell him the governor will not give satisfaction according to the book, and the captains believe that it was true he sent a defiance, saying if the king chose to come and fight he was ready. Then the king called all the chiefs and the old men together, and told them the tmth ; and they said, ' This dis- honours you, king ; we cannot hear this and sit upon our stools, for the people will laugh at you and us ; it is a very bad thing : you must have satisfaction.' Then the king sent down another messenger and gave him the book, that the governor might see what was true with his own eyes ; and say whether he wanted peace or war. But still the governor refuses satisfaction ; and yet he says the book is right.
" The king is sorry for the sake of the old men, and women, and children, but then he cannot help it, if the govenor will have war ; the king has nothing to do with white men ; but if they choose to make palavers with him, it is not his fault. He knows that they come to trade in his country, and they have a great king of their !Own in the land of the white men. This is all true ; but then the king (of Ashantee) is a great king too, for all the black countries, and the people must serve him ; and if they will not serve him, but are foolish, and do evil, they must die. Now the governor knows that Cape Coast is very insolent, and when the king complained to the castle, the people were told to build a wall and fight him. Is that like good friends, as the book says ? The other towns of Fantee do what is right, and the king has no palaver with them, and he is unwilling to make war for one town only. And now he sends to the governor to ask, if he will settle that palaver or not ? because, otherwise, the army will certainly go down and destroy the place ; for it is a great palaver, and
INTRODUCTION. XXXI
the king and all his captains are very angry, because they believe that Aggry and De Graaf cheat them, and tell the governor lies ; therefore, the king says they had better look to it, and take care what they do, for he is not a king to play the fool with." '
Here the ambassador paused, or was interi-upted by Aggry, De Graaf, and others, who felt interested in the censure. Some confusion ensued, and when order was again restored, the linguist declared that there was something more important " in the budget." This was signified to the ambassador, and he proceeded to say, that in con- sequence of the provocation that had been given to the king by the town of Cape Coast, he, as ambassador, was authorized to demand from the inhabitants a fine of * I6OO ounces of gold. And as regarded the conduct of the governor, he was desired to make the same demand of 1600 ounces from him — making collectively 3200 ounces, and unless these payments were complied mth, he was instructed to say the king would grant no peace ; nor would he desist until he had taken ample satisfaction.
Confusion and discord again predominated, every tongue was put in m.otion, coupled with such gesticulation and contortion of the muscles as a subject of that interest may be supposed to have created. The anxiety of the town chiefs was extreme in proportion to their fears.
It was some time before the tumult subsided, and in the interval Mr. Smith collected the sentiments of Mr. Swanzy and my self f It is perhaps needless to say they were in unison upon the item relating to the king's demand made upon a British castle or a British governor, and it was resolved unanimously to reject the terms with indignation, unless that clause was rescinded which concerned the governor publicly, for in no other character could I know him in a transaction which involved
* Equivalent to £6,400 currency, the two demands making £1 2,800 together.
t This was the only compliment of the kind that gentleman ever voluntarily offered to my political opinion^ my rank, or interests, in the affairs of Ashantee.
XXXn INTRODUCTION.
the national dignity. This resolution being announced to the ambas- sador, it was then somewhat qualified by an offer to negotiate, upon terms of equity, the differences that existed betioeen the king and the natives of the town. To this amendment Mr. Smith did not object at the time ; but subsequently he endeavoured still to give the colouring of consistency to what he termed his former policy, by declaring his conviction that no good could be done by temporizing measures, even at so critical a juncture.
Here then I will say, (and in truth it deserves recording as a solitary instance of the kind) the councils of the Cape exhibited a moderate share of dignity and temper, however late and unseasonable. Had this moderation been adopted earlier, all differences would have been adjusted many months sooner : in fact, they never would have had existence to any serious extent.
The ambassador, in reply to our proposition that he should re- nounce the demand made upon the governor, declared it was impossible for him to abrogate what the king had decreed ; upon which Mr. Smith retired from a debate which was at first partially, and then exclusively engrossed by the town chiefs. These men admitted, in a qualified sense, that they were bound to the sovereign of Ashantee in bonds of fealty and allegiance ; and when taxed by the ambassador with insub- ordination and insolence, in having built up the wall, &c., they claimed certain privileges from local situation within the precinct of a British fort, which they affirmed had been stipulated for by the treaty of Mr. Bowdich. Some exonerated themselves at the expence of their pro- tectors, by attributing every thing that had been done to the orders of the governor, whose authority, they said, they were bound to respect.
In conclusion, it was stated they could not attempt to negotiate even on their own accounts, while the king demanded money of the castle, but if that edict were repealed they would pay what they were able. Here the audience broke up in dissatisfaction. This was the 7th of January.
INTRODUCTION. XXxiii
Having- on a former occasion had reason to doubt the veracity* of the linguist's interpretation, I took the pi-ecaution, this time, to station a linguist of my own choosing in the hall, and this man assured me that the king's speech did not exactly tally with what he had just heard from the lips of the public interpreter, who had omitted certain com- plimentary parts, and in particular one which regarded me, personally .or publicly. Upon making further enquiry I was fvdly satisfied of the truth. My indignation may be imagined ; I instantly resolved either to proceed to Coomassy at all hazards, or to quit the coast and lay my complaints before government. My letter to the Governor and Council of the 8th of January, of which the following is an extract, will bear testimony to what I affirm.
" Having learned, after leaving the hall yesterday, that the linguist had not made a just interpretation of the message sent down by the King of Ashantee, particularly as regarded that part of the message wherein he sends ' his best compliments to me,' I was induced this morning to send the messenger a present, coupled with a request that he would pay me a visit, &c. What he declared was as follows : — The king desired his best compliments, and would be very glad to see me in the capital, and accordingly a person appointed by the king accompanied him for the purpose of conducting me to court imme- diately, and without regard to existing disputes, which he, on the part of the king, would remain here to settle. The king says, moreover, he is very much hurt to hear I have been so long detained at Cape Coast.
"From the impression made upon my mind by this conversation as now stated to you, and particularly as my belief is that the demand on the Fort will be abandoned, it is my earnest desire to lose no further
• Whether the linguist on this occasion was instructed to deceive me, whether he acted from design or inadvertency, I cannot say ; — but I may say, I believe his intention was to support Jlr. Smith in his endeavours to oppose the mission.
e-
XXxiv INTRODUCTION.
time in proceeding to the discharge of my duties at Coomassy, and as the king's messenger with his retinue are to remain here, you can, if you think proper, (although it is by no means my wish) detain them as hostages," &c.
" Under all circumstances, and as I am firmly persuaded the king has no hostile intention, &c, I must entreat you, in the name of his majesty, to fix upon an early day for my departure to the Ashantee capital, being determined to proceed thither alone, if the other gentle- men are not disposed to accompany me."
My letters to the Colonial Office set forth the obstacles I had so long contended against, and the ultimate resolution I had taken, con- formably to what 1 have stated. In council I protested, that unless the presents designed for the king were restored to my charge, and due preparations made for the mission, I w^ould leave the coast by the first opportunity,* and should hold them responsible for what consequences might ensue in the sequel. No direct reply was given. Mr. Smith and Mr. Mollan still pertinaciously adhered to their former resolutions, and Mr. Swanzy neither countenanced nor opposed them, for he w^as at this time interested in affairs of pecuniary moment, in which the council were called upon to enforce the resolutions of the committee against the governor and vice-president.
Some private discussions took place the following morning in town, upon a question between Akassy, a caboceer of Assin belonging to the ambassador's suite, and some of the town chiefs, who were accused of being accessaries to the robbery of certain Assin traders and others, who had ventured to the coast upon the faith of the treaty.
The ambassador again demanded an audience in the Hall, in the course of which he reiterated the demand he was authorized to make
* I have been thus explicit only from the circumstance that the governing faction, in lack of a more equitable charge against me, had the effrontery to write in a clandestine manner to the committee of African merchants, setting forth a disinclination or a dread on my part to perform the duties for which I was sent out.
INTRODUCTION. XXXV
upon the castle and the town, adding- it was the king's fixed deter- mination not to allow the aggression of the natives to pass unpunished, and unless the most ample satisfaction were made, nothing less than war was to be expected, although the king wished to live in frienship with the whites.
At a meeting of the council, it was at last resolved to adopt con- ciliatory measures, and accordingly this resolution was notified to me by way of reply to my letter of the eighth, as before quoted. As a peace offering, I presume, on the part of Mr. Smith, it was notified also to me, that the governor and council, in consideration of the critical situation of public affairs, had deemed it essential to increase the present originally designed for the king, by the addition of one hundred kegs of gunpowder, one hundred musquets, and one hundred ankers of rum, over and above what I brought out from England, and that these articles were to be selected from the best in quality. Some cloths were moreover appropriated for distributing among the ministers and courtiers.
Here then, after seven or eight months loss of time in England, and upwards of a year's forcible detention at Cape Coast Castle, the prospect of reaching my journey's end dawned on the horizon. Yet there existed many preliminary points to adjust : the presents to pack ; relays of hammock men to procure ; meetings of council upon the affairs of Messrs. Smith and Mollan, upon private affairs, &c. KW. these matters required time, it must be admitted, but they needed not to have taken up so much as three weeks, viz. from the ] 1th or 12th of January, to the 2d of February. But it is well known that many hopeful humane expectations were raised upon driving the mission into the depth of the rains ; the policy adopted was evident, but disap- pointment crowned the sequel, as every man lived to return, although death made some havoc in after days.
The comparatively few days remaining on my hands were devoted to the society of friends, who, as usual, on such occasions
e 2
XXXvi INTRODUCTION.
consult nothing but hospitality and good fellowship. The convivial character of our tropical colonies is proverbially known ; I need only observe that Cape Coast does not lag in the rear. Good cheer greeted me in various quarters, and a parting glass at the social board never could do harm in the salubrious climate of the Gold Coast; so, unfortunately my friends thought, in defiance of my own philosophy.
On the 26th of January, as I was coming from a friend's house at a late hour in the evening, a sudden paroxysm of fever arrested me ; and for several subsequent days it raged with violence, and as it is frequently the case in this zone, attached itself to the liver. The best medical advice tendered by Mr. Banks, formerly a surgeon in the service, and then a trader in town, availed but little, although the fever occasionally remitted. February set in, and con- valescence was yet remote.
The presents were ready at the beginning of the month, and soon after I received documents of possession ; but how shall I describe my astonishment, when I found that these simple projectors had intruded upon me a volume of instructions, which they chose to consider proper for my government ; adding, at the same time, by message, that unless I would accept of the same upon the prescribed terms, they would take upon themselves to withhold the presents, and appoint one of their own body to attend the court. Thus decorously were my actual instructions authorised by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury treated, and thus respectfully was it presumed to treat a commission bearing the signatures of His Majesty and the Colonial Minister.
My feelings may be well conceived. As the insincerity of my opponents* became more evident, and as sad experience had taught me that if I should now resign myself to their controul, they would not hesitate attempting to pursue measures to an extreme which might
• Mr. Swanzy had publicly declared, both in council and out, that the Board had no power to assume dictation to me, or to interfere in the remotest degree, with those functions which His Majesty's Govern- ment had confided to me.
INTRODUCTION. XXXvii
arm them with the power of effecting my political ruin, I was resolved to anticipate the project without even consulting the honourable grounds of resistance my commission afforded. I chose, therefore, to enter the lists armed with precautionary language. I pro- tested against the right claimed by the company's servants to intrude instructions on me. I delivered them over to the possession of a friend, authorizing him to send them to the castle after my departure, and I gave my reasons for so doing in letters from which I shall select the following extracts, the former of which I wrote instantly upon receipt of the instructions.
Cape Coast Castle, 2d February, 1820. " As regards your instructions to me, it was my intention at first to return them to you without a comment, conceiving, as I do, that I am not bound in any shape to receive instructions from you. But when I reflect, that by taking this step it might lead to an open rupture between us, and prevent those objects for the public good pro- ceeding in a fair train, &c. I sacrifice my own feelings to the ser\ace in which I am engaged, and shall only, for the present, enter my pro- test against such instructions ybr reasons xchich xcill appear in due time."
Doonqua, lltli February, 1820.
" For reasons which will recur to you, and which appear more fully in my protest, I have thought proper to return you those instructions which you took upon yourselves to frame for my govern- ment, not conceiving myself justified as a government officer in recog- nizing any instructions from you as the servants of a mercantile board. At the same time, and as I before stated, I shall not object to receive any suggestions from you, &c."
To the Governor and Council.
But resuming the clue of the narrative, my distemper, which changed to a fever of the intermittent order, continued obstinate, and
xxxyiii introduction.
the state of my feelings by no means contributed to assist nature. In short, I was unable to rise effectually from my couch for a week after the presents had been consigned to my charge, namely, from the 1st to the 7th of February, and even then I could but stagger.
During this suspense it was consulted in private how it would be feasible to supersede me in my command, on the score of ill health. This scheme I counteracted by ordering the party to hold themselves in readiness for the march at the instant, and authorizing Mr. Hutton and Mr. Collins to proceed as far as the village of Doonqua, there to attend my coming, should my recovery speedily ensue. The presents, securely packed, and covered with skins to preserve them from the wet, were thus conveyed to the village before-named.
As I did not quit my apartment on the following morning, my opponents sought another mode of annoyance ; but now it degenerated to what was really contemptible, for reports were circulated that my illness was feigned. My physician, who was in some shape in the interest of the company, had honour enough, however, to refute the calumny by letter.
On the seventh, I made an attempt to follow my charge, but failed under it; for I could not walk ten paces without support. That night, however, I gained repose ; on the eighth, I ^vas better, and on the ninth I left the Cape.
JOURNEY TO COOMASSY.
JOURNAL
OP A
RESIDENCE IN ASHANTEE,
CHAPTER I. JOURNEY TO COOMASSY.
DEPARTURE FROM CAPE COAST CASTLE— MOUREE— DUTCH CASTLE OF NASSAU— BEETLES— ASHANTEE TRAVELLERS— RUINS OF FANTEE CROOMS—EMPEROU— DEFEAT OF THE FANTEES AT THAT PLACE— FOR.MIDABLE SERPENT— SECOND PARTY OF ASHANTEE TRADERS; TERROR OP THE FEMALES— MOSLEM FROM COOMASSY-RED AND BLACK ANTS— DESCRIPTION OF DOONQUA- THE FORESTS— REMAINS OF MANSUE— PROVISIONS PLUNDERED BY THE FANTEES— COURSES OF RIVERS— ABANDOU—CROOMS OR TOWNS OF FOOSO, YANCOMADY, AND AKOMFODY— ANNOY- ANCE FROM RATS— THE YOUNE, A KIND OF SLOTH— DANSANSOO—MEKAREN— PASSAGE OF THE PRAA— PRASSO— KIKIWHARY-ENMITYOFTHE INHABITANTS TOWARDS THE FANTEES; SEDUCTIVE ARTS OF THE FEMALES— SITE OF MIASSA— DEFEAT OF THE ASSINS UNDER CHEBOO— REMAINS OF SAPORGAH, TIBIASSAH, BEQUAMi, AND ENSAMAH— ARRIVAL AT ANSAH.
On the 9tli of February, at an early hour in the morning, I mounted my palanquin and bade adieu to the castle. As the customary salute was fired, a party of the town's-people assembled, and tracked my steps along the eastern beach as far as the outskirting houses. Here the crowd of spectators was augmented by another group of men, women, and children, who fiocked from the different avexmes. The spectacle was indeed calculated to impose an idea of splendour upon the imagina- tion of a negro ; and the novelty of a palanquin with lour bearers was a refinement in the luxury of African travelling, that excited additional
2 DEPARTURE FROM CAPE COAST.
attraction. The women, in particular, who surrounded me, and for a time impeded my progress, were profuse in courtesy.
At the distance of a short quarter of a mile, my friendly retinue bade a final farewell, and returned to their homes. About this time I was compelled to alight, on approaching some rugged cliffs which intersect the beach, jutting out into the sea. The crags which here and there overhung the water, under the semblance of little capes, formed of shelving pointed rock, created serious impediments.
The surface was now totally changed from a bed of sand to one of granite rock, which at intervals stood erect in small spiral points, as if chiseled by the hand of art into the fanciful forms it exhibited. The jutting cliffs appeared to increase in number as we advanced ; their acclivities were also of some elevation, and sloped off in angles. In some instances the surface exhibited solid ramparts of stone shooting upwards into ridges little short of perpendicular elevation, and these barriers it became necessary to scale by the combined assistance of hands and feet.
The sun had by this time attained an elevation that rendered the effect of his beams oppressive ; the absence of the sea breeze, which seldom sets in before ten o'clock, contributed to increase the languor I felt. The exhaustion occasioned by premature exertion wanted but little of producing a fit of fainting ; and at last it totally prevented my de- scending from the vehicle, notwithstanding the embarrassment and detention it occasioned. In this helpless state, my attendants were com- pelled to lift me over the obstructions as they occurred. At last we emerged from our difficulties, and as we quitted the sea coast, in approaching the Dutch fort of Mouree, the path presented a fine surface of sand skirted by a few stunted bushes.
The road between Cape Coast Castle and INIouree, and from Mouree to Annamaboe, is at all times disagreeable, and perhaps the most precipi- tous on the line of coast, but the state of the tide during this journey rendered it particularly so.
DUTCH FORT AT MOUREE. 3
On entering the town the Dutch colours were hoisted in com- pliment to my arrival, by the corporal who had charg-e of the fort ; for it is at present ung-arrisoned, although not considered as abandoned by his Majesty of the Netherlands.
When I alighted, I felt a degree of exhaustion and indisposition, occasioned by a slight attack of fever, that rendered it extremely dubious if I could proceed further that day. The crowd which had assembled obstructed the current of air, small as it was, and increased the languid symptoms until, for a few seconds, the heat was insupportable ; but a draught of the cold infusion of bark, added to the refreshing application of vinegar, quickly restored me. The Caboceer of the town and the Dutch corporal shortly after waited upon me to exchange compliments.
Some trivial disputes ensued among the Fantees on the distribution of equal loads, and before the misunderstanding could be enquired into, it appeared that the good sense of those, to whom the least cumbersome and weighty burthens were assigned, had suggested the propriety of decamping during the confusion. To appease these discontents it was requisite to supply the deficiency, by taking on a few more carriers ; and as nothing more remained to do, but prosecute the journey, I embraced this opportunity to disencumber myself from the burthen of military accoutrements. The travelling dress which I now substituted for my former apparel, consisted of a jacket and trousers of linen ; it was commodious and light, and contributed, in no small degree, to alle^'iate the oppression from intense heat. The hour of ten flattered us with expectation of a sea-breeze, and a zephyr, announcing its approach, soon afterwards agitated the torpid atmosphere.
The Dutch castle at Mouree is called Nassau ; and, when the slave trade was in its vigour, was deemed a station of great importance. The edifice, although small, is compact, and regularly flanked with bastions at each angle; this, added to its elevated situation, would entitle the place to some respect as a fortification, provided it still maintained a gar-
b2
BEETLES.
rison. The landing-place is tolerably commodious for canoes, and differs little from that of Cape Coast. The town of Mouree, like all the towns in the vicinity of European forts, is built immediately under the walls, and is a compact mass of stone and clay-constructed houses, with- out any other order than a division of the whole into irregular open- ings or avenues, forming narrow lanes, of intricate, and in some places, from the obstructions of dirt and rubbish, of difficult access. The whole population is supposed not to exceed eight thousand souls. Its distance from Cape Coast is nearly four miles.
Our route from Mouree was rather to the eastward of north. The path in the vicinity of the town was open for the distance of more than half a mile, except at intervals, where a few projecting boughs of the loftier kinds of shrubs intersected each other ; but as we proceeded the road gradually contracted, and the bushes which were stunted before, now exhibited a more mature and luxurious growth ; added to which, a number of lofty trees grew spontaneously over the surface of the country.
The soil on the line of march was a reddish clay, covered with a scanty surface of wiiite sand, interspersed with broken pieces of quartz : the sand, however, appeared attached exclusively to the path, and was probably the effect of constant friction upon the quartz pebble, which, from its brittle quality, pulverized to a glittering dust.
The discordant voices of the larger species of birds now vibrated through the woods; but the luxuriancy of the foliage obstructed the view. The notes of parrots, crown birds, and toucans, were, however, easily recognized amidst a vociferous medley of warblers, who, as we advanced, retreated, sportively singing and hopping from spray to spray.
Various large beetles, but more particularly one of the cricket kind, swelled out a lengthened note of an indescribable sound, exceedingly shrill and inharmonious. These little inhabitants of the forest climb the loftiest boughs, where they sustain life by perforating the bark, and
ASHAXTEE TRAVELLERS. 5
sucking- out the glutinous sap of the ganian and other mucilaginous trees ; they are extremely numerous, and as their notes commence with the rising sun, and last throughout the day, they keep up an uninterrupted uniform dizzy chirping.
At three miles and a half from IMouree, we passed the site where a small Fantee croom was said to have existed, but of which not a vestio-e remained. The plantations of cassada, banana, guava, &c. neverthe- less still flourished in unnurtured growth, blended with the wild produc- tions of the forest. The path suddenly contracted as we ascended an acclivaty, and the foot-way, which appeared to have been formed by the passage of a current of water, was scarcely wider than the breadth of a foot. The impediment occasioned by this gully was increased by the fall of several large trees, which intersected the path at right angles, forming, as it were, a breast work which it was necessary to scale or to scramble under.
The distant tinkling of an iron castanet now attracted our notice, as it announced the approach of strangers ; another instant presented to our view a party of five Ashantees, who informed us that they were journeying to Elmina for gunpowder. They had left Coomassy, they said, twenty-one days before. One of these travellers was decorated with a very large necklace of human teeth, interwoven with charms. The teeth had the appearance of recent extraction, an opinion that was afterwards strengthened by the sight of a little ivory blowing horn, to which he was then in the operation of fastening a human jawbone. To my inquiries how he became possessed of these trophies I could not obtain a satisfactory answer ; a smile of brutal insensibility, however, con\Tinced me the question was of a gi-atifying- nature, inasmuch as it was interpreted into a compliment to his military prowess. This feeling was displayed by various contortions of mockery and exultation, as he directed a sort of con versation to the relic, in a chaunting tone.
A little beyond this, we entered another plantation in a kind of valley, containing the site where also a Fantee croom had stood in
6 RUINS OF VILLAGES.
former times. We passed two other spots of this description, before we entered an opening covered with palms, plantains, and papas. Here I sought the shelter of a tree, under which I alighted to obtain a little rest, and allow my attendants leisure for refreshment. On descending from my hammock (for the palanquin I had already been compelled to lay aside) the sensation of languor was so oppressive, that I could not pre- serve my footing without grasping the boughs for support.
The surface beyond this was every where covered with the same dwarf shrubs and forest trees, blended together. The stems of some were concealed by a species of parasitical plants, covering in some places the loftiest boughs. This produced a lively and novel contrast to the barren stems of others by which they were surrounded. Detached patches of bamboo and dwarf palm became also more frequent, and added to the variety of the landscape.
The next opening exhibited some relics that denoted a field of battle ; it is now rem arkable for a few straggling hovels built among the ruins of an extensive village, and inhabited by a remnant of Fantees, who had the good fortune to escape during the invasion of their country by the Ashantees.
This croom is called Yanbrassa : the number of its inhabitants did not appear to exceed two hundred ; notwithstanding the numerous plan- tations by which it was surrounded afforded invitation to settlers. No corn was seen, but yams, bananas, plantains and papas flourished without culture. At a little distance to the North and East, on the slope of a hill, stands another village, called by the natives Tom Coffee, after the name of a particular kind of cloth, of which the Fantees are very fond. Here also the plantations were in a state of high natural perfection.
At the distance of half a mile, we passed the ruins of a small croom, called Berim : another spot of desolation bore the name of Eydro. We then entered a plantation that covered a greater extent of ground than any we had before passed. The diameter of this space probably exceeded a furlong, and in the midst of a jungle stood a few hovels
EMPEROU. 7
squeezed within a mass of crumbling- walls. The name of this croom was Emperou. Its inhabitants during the first invasion of Fantee by the King of Ashantee, had observed an unfortunate neutrality, until the great battle which preceded the destruction of Abrah, and the extermination of the Braffo chieftains. To this unhappy policy they had been inclined from jealousy of the Braffo influence. Convinced of their error when it was too late, and smarting under the recent blow their country had sustained by the loss of its capital, they rashly formed the resolution of defending themselves against a sovereign already flushed with conquest. A Caboceer named Quassy Beni, who had escaped from the general slaughter at Abrah, presented himself before Emperou with the shattered remnant of his divi- sion, and invited the inhabitants to form a junction with his forces for the defence of their town. The proposal was embraced by the Emperous who had already collected another body of auxiliaries. This little army was, besides, augmented by the junction of some straggling parties who were necessarily falling back as the enemy advanced. The king, however, was acquainted with what was transacting ; his object, after the destruction of the Fantee government, was, perhaps, confined to the temporary occupa- tion of Fantee, and the imposition of contributions ; but the obstinacy of the people, it is said, forced that monarch to secure his conquests by the exterminating use of fire and sword, until he drove his enemies into the sea. Be this as it may, it was admitted by Fantees as well as Ashantees, that before another blow was struck, after the affair at Abrah, the king sent messengers to several of the Fantee towns, calling the people to submission, upon the promise of protection in life and pro- perty : thus pacifically inclined, he sent two of his sword-bearers to Emperou, to proclaim his sentiments to the chiefs; but, whether from distrust, or a too implicit reliance upon their own strength, these proposals were not only treated with contempt, but the royal messengers were used with indignity, and then put to death. When this impolitic step became known to the king, it naturally rekindled his wrath, and he then vowed the overthrow of Cheboo's government.
8 DEFEAT OF THE FANTEES
The order was now given to exterminate the population of every . .town, and raze the houses to their foundations ; and in conformity with >)this resolution a body of troops was detached against Emperou, with orders not to spare an inhabitant of either sex. In the meantime the Fantee troops, assisted by the inhabitants and their auxiliaries, assem- bled to the number of many thousands, and by vigilance succeeded in cutting off some reconnoitring parties of the enemy. Too much elated by this success, they at length determined upon the plan of endeavour- ing to intercept the communication between the detachment and the king's head quarters. They separated their men into two bodies, one of which being left to guard the town, the other made a circuitous march to the westward, and fell unexpectedly upon the flank and rear of their adversaries. No happy consequences attended the action ; it would ap- pear, from accounts of the survivors, that neither party was prepared for the rencontre. The Ashantees, however, lost no time in sounding the alarm, rallying their forces, and recalling the advanced guard to their assistance, while the Fantees, even before the onset, were appalled. In this state of eventful inactivity, it is said, the main body of the Fantees remained passive spectators during a distant skirmish between their own vanguard and a detachment of the enemy. At last the Ash- antees advanced with a shout, which struck a decided panic in their favour ; the Fantees soon fled outright, and, with some loss, rejoined their comrades at Emperou. Notwithstanding this check, the inhabi- tants, as the Ashantees approached, sufl^ered themselves to be led out to battle. The united force of the Fantees is stated to have greatly out- numbered their enemies, and a battle of the most sanguinary com- plexion ensued, at the distance of a mile from the town. The first charge of the Ashantees was severely checked, and they were driven back upon the main body with slaughter. The enemy, however, was too well disciplined to allow the Fantees to improve upon their advantage, and a murderous firing succeeded the onset, in which the Ashantees, from superior celerity, had the advantage. Still, however, the Fantees
AT EMPEROU. 9
maintained their ground, with a degree of intrepidity not undeserving of record, as it is perhaps a soHtary instance during this war of their valour and resohition. On a sudden, volHes of musquetry announced an at- tack on their flank and rear, supported by the king in person. This unexpected charge decided the fortune of the day, for the Fantees now retreated with pi-ecipitation, while their enemies rushed on, and strewed the forest with indiscriminate carnage. Before the retreating army could regain the town, it was doomed to cut a passage through an opposing body of the enemy, who were at that critical period in possession of many of the houses ; despair assisted their efforts, and their enemies were either cut to pieces or trampled under foot. The town itself, which was already in flames, afforded no protection against the murderous assaults of their pursuers. In this hopeless state, several of the Caboceers, after destroying their property, their wives, and chil- dren, put an end to their own existence ; whilst the people, endeavouring to fly from the scene of carnage, were intercepted and butchered, or cast headlong amidst the burning houses. To sum up the horrors of this barbarous scene, every house was entered with fire and sword, and the inhabitants of both sexes destroyed. It is said that, with the excep- tion only of about one hundred people, who fled before the town was assaulted, not a soul escaped from the calamity. These particulars were narrated by my two guides who were in that conflict.
The walls stood in many places erect, exhibiting the action of fire which, by viti'ifying the clayey composition, had preserved the ruins from dissolution. The surface of the earth was whitened, in particular spots, with ashes, and bleached human bones and sculls, forming a distressing portrait of African warfare. In crossing the opening, some of the Fantees, by way of diversion, pointed to the relics, saying jocosely, they were Ashantee trophies : the Ashantees retorted the jest upon their fellow travellers with equal good-humour, and all parties were indifferent at a retrospection so paralyzing to humanity,
A small brook crossed the path at a little distance from Emperou,
c
]0 SERPENT.
tracking- a course south-east to the Amissa River, which flows into the sea at the back of Tantum. During- the operation of fiUing some water bottles, a discovery was accidentally made of a large snake coiled upon a pile of stones. The reptile appeared to be in a state of torpor, or sleep ; and judging from the mass of folds, could scarcely be less than four- teen feet in length, by nine inches diameter, in the thickest part of the body. The scales on its back were large, and beautifully variegated with red and bright yellow. I was anxious to obtain the skin, but it was not deemed prudent by my guides to make the attack, as they affirmed that its bite was mortally venomous. In this particular it may therefore be supposed to differ from the boa-constrictor.
We met, shortly afterwards, with a large party of Assins and Ashan- tees, who stationed themselves on each side of the road, and saluted me with many courteous bows. They were armed in the fashion of their country with musquets and knives, and were conveying some bulky loads of ivory, and a valuable kind of grease used by the natives for anointing their bodies. A number of women and girls, whose employ- ment consisted in attending upon their husbands, or masters, closed the order of the march, which from the nature of the path was necessarily in Indian file. The elderly females were under some consternation as I approached, yet they were not behind the men in good manners ; but the young women, who perhaps had never seen a Avhite man before, were wholly unable to controiil their fears. The panic was excited by a very interesting girl who, at first sight, plunged screaming amidst the bushes, after resigning her hold of a bundle which she was carry- ing on her head. This movement was instantaneously adopted by the rest of her companions, to the great diversion of the men, who added to the general amusement by raising a shout, which increased the apprehensions of the fair fugitives.
We had not proceeded twenty paces from the spot, before we again fell in company with a party consisting of three men, two of whom were slaves, carrying a few elephant's teeth to the coast. The dress of the
MOSLEM FROM COOMASSY. 11
proprietor, which consisted of a long shirt, a pair of ragged trousers, and a loose cap resembling a turban, convinced me that he was a Mos- lem. He saluted me with the customary inclination of the body, which I acknowledged with the Salam. For some moments he appeared in doubt, but recovering from his surprise he pursued my steps, and taking me by the hand, repeated with great emphasis, " Alika Salam ya khai," " Peace be upon you brother." I endeavoured to converse with the man ; but we were wholy unintelligible to each other, except in the few scripture phrases which comprised his stock of Arabic know- ledge. By means of an interpreter, I found he was from Coomassy, where he had left the King in anxious expectation of my arrival. He had just quitted Doonqua, he said, where all the white men were well. Pursuing the journey, we came to an opening where a few huts stood detached from the ruins of another large croom, whose fragments were half concealed in high Guinea grass, and jungle, interspersed with plantain, guava and papa trees. I was by this time so extremely ex- hausted with fatigue and' indisposition, that it v/as doubtful if I could even reach my destination that night. Somewhat refreshed, however, by a short repose I indulged in at this place, and by another applica- tion to my restorative draught, I again resumed the march, and before four o'clock was gratified with the prospect of Doonqua. The day had been excessively warm, and the thermometer in town stood at 90 de- grees in the shade.
The horizontal distance from Mouree to Doonqua, I estimate at fourteen miles and a half, although from the sinuosities of the path there can be no doubt that the whole journey exceeds twenty. The average course from Cape Coast is N. NE. The surface of this space is covered with a mixture of tall tress, stunted shrubs and bushes. The species which I recognised, amidst a vast amphitheatre of unknown pro- ductions, were bombax or silk cotton, tamarind, low palm, ganyan, wild orange, wild cedar, monkey apple, doom trees, a sort of wild fig, erasma, mahogany, and a lofty tree that yielded a light apple like the
c 2
12 VEGETATION.
coloquintida. Among the dwarf trees were several kinds of dying woods, of which I saw samples varying in tint from a deep to a bright yellow and orange, and others of a crimson red. Besides these, were numerous trees of lignum vitse, iron wood, g-uava bush and laurel. I discovered also, several species of fine cane, of which the rattan and small Bamboo were the most conspicuous, growing in clumps or patches. The anana, or pine apple plant, flourished along the sides of the path, and even under the more sheltered parts of the forest, exhibiting, equal luxuriance in spots where it was not possible for the rays of the sun to penetrate. Several sorts of aloes were seen embedded with creeping shrubs : that called aloe succotrina was distinguished by its thorny leaves and spiral growth ; but others of this class towered into trees of a beautiful ap- pearance, the aloe arborescens Africana. Chains of fibrous stems shoot- ing forward in longitudinal projections, completed the wild beauties of the surrounding scenery. Many of the fibrous species varied in dimensions, from the size of ordinary packthread, to the thickness of a large cable rope, which in some instances they represented by a natural twist. These vegetable chains, wholly destitute of leaves, appeared to bind the entire forest in solid concatenation. In some spots they rose to an elevation of fifty feet perpendicular height, sustaining their weight by an endless variety of folds and embraces, amidst the thickest boughs, and descending again in an opposite direction only to seek another com- modious supporter.
The soil between Mouree and Doonqua, is a rich brown mould, occa- sionally encrusted by white sand and quartz pebble. The mould, however, did not appear to be of sufficient depth to afford much nourish- ment to the larger growth of the vegetable kingdom. On examining several fallen trees, I particularly noticed that the roots grew almost exclusively in horizontal shoots. This may be attributed as much to the sterility of the strata below the mould, as to nature itself, because this remarkable character was not confined to a particular class of vegetation. In the ravines and gullies were large pieces of quartz scattered over deep
RED AND BLACK ANTS. 13
sandy beds. One remarkable patch of solid granite rose in pyramidal masses to the altitude of twenty or more feet ; these blocks of stone were at a short distance from the ruins of Emperou. No smooth pebbles were seen.
The habitations of the red ants form a striking feature, as they convey the idea of little towns established in the wilderness by another order of the creation These erections are spiral, and of the elevation of ten or more feet. Another class of these insects, the small black ant, build nests on the boughs of trees, which in appear- ance resemble a globular or cylindrical mass of black clay, unlike that of the red ant, which is of a gravelly yellow tint. The weight of these masses of earth, and the glutinous matter which cements the parts, causes the boughs to droop and bend, in some cases, till they sweep the ground ; and in others these nests are cemented to the ramifications of several trees, which encrust the whole in a solid mass of drip- ping mucilaginous matter. The most voracious and formidable insect of this genus is the large black ant, which burrows under the roots of trees, and erects a sort of nest upon the surface, resembling in form the mushroom.
The village of Doonqua is indebted for the importance it now enjoys, | to the invasion of Fantee, and the desolation of its towns and cities, I particularly that of Abrah. Formerly the spot on which it stands exhibited only a few humble sheds, the residence of foresters, and people whose occupations, as wood-cutters, and canoe builders, induced them to settle there. The ground on which it stands has been evidently gained from the forest. The inhabitants are said to exceed two thousand, and out of that number, in cases of emergency, they can equip 300 men for war.
The plantations that surround the croom are extensive, and yield more than sufficient for internal consumption. The houses of the inhabi- tants are built in the style of those of the Ashantees. A piece of ground is first cleared, and a frame-work, according to the plan and dimensions
14 DESCRIPTION OF DOONQUA.
of the intended edifice, is erected, with some regard to regularity. This frame consists of long poles, sunk below the surface at each angle. To these poles they attach hurdles by means of a strong lashing of fibrous twigs collected from the forest, the interstices being afterwards closely filled up with clay, which is smoothed over with rubbing stones ; this gives it solidity and uniformity. Bamboo and palm boughs are employed for the thatch, which from its regular structure has a much more pleasing effect than the rude boughs and grass used by the natives on the coast.
The house of the Caboceer consisted of an assemblage of apart- ments quadrangularly enclosed in the form of three squares ; linked together by avenues, barely sufficient in width to admit free ingress. Upon enquiring the reason of this singular style I was satisfied with the reply, that it was advantageous for defence or escape, in case of an attack. I could not avoid remarking that the plan upon which the more wealthy part of the community built their houses, resem- bled, although rudely, that of the Moors of Barbary ; the only strik- ing difference was between the thatched roofs of the former, and the terraced covering of the latter.
A small stream of nmning water, in the vicinity of the croom, supplies the inhabitants with that element in a state of purity, and thereby exempts them from that excruciating malady the Guinea-worm, a disorder with which the natives of the sea coast, who use the stag- nant water of pools, are cruelly afflicted.
The Caboceer who governs Doonqua under the king is called Paintiy, and the village is also known as Paintry's croom. The course of policy
1 pursued by this chieftain during the invasion, entitled him to the clemency of the conquerors. After the destruction of the Fantee armies, he was permitted to retire from Abrah with all his property, and this was the spot he selected for his residence, to which he invited other settlers to establish themselves under his protection. The king after-
! wards conferred upon him the dignity of Caboceer ; although the only
DOON'QUA. 15
benefit he reaps from that title is an honourable seclusion from the court, whose policy interdicts all confidence in the Fantees.
Towards the close of the day, the Ashantees, headed by their two captains. Ado and Quako, assembled to wish me joy on my arrival, and to learn my intentions regarding the morrow. As the fatigue I had undergone suggested the propriety of rest, I retired at an early hour, but passed a sleepless night, for I was attacked with a smart paroxysm of fever, attended with acute pains in the side.
The tenth of February was spent in quarters. Mr. Collins, during the day, had an attack of ague, and was confined to his bed ; the other officers, however, enjoyed good health. The thermometer at twelve o'clock stood again at ninety degrees in my apartment ; but as the evening approached it fell, and during a tornado, which ushered in a heavy fall of rain, the quicksilver was for a few seconds con- siderably agitated : it afterwards sunk gradually during the storm to eighty-one degrees. Towards evening it fell as low as seventy-six degrees, and the transition from heat to cold was acutely felt. My health still continued below mediocrity until the evening of this day, when I was overpowered for the first time with a soothing- sleep ; from this period my bodily ailments subsided with a rapidity that has ever since made the retrospection wonderful. At the dawn of day I ai'ose much refreshed, and already I enjoyed the certain cri- terion of returning health, a wholesome craving for food. From this period, the eleventh day of the month, symptoms of convalescence advanced rapidly. Mr. Collins was also improving; and as circum- stances were thus propitious, I gave orders for the march on the following day. Unfortunately at this crisis the chief linguist was severely afflicted with Guinea-worms ; and without giving notice of his intention, he returned to the Cape.
At eight o'clock in the morning of the 12th, we left Doonqua. After penetrating through a thicket of five or six hundred paces, we sud- denly found ourselves in a forest as magnificent as it was dense and
1 6 THE FORESTS.
intricate. Numerous plants and creepers of all dimensions chained tree to tree, and branch to branch, clustering- the whole in entanglement, so that it sometimes became necessary to cut an opening as we pro- ceeded. In this operation we were considerably retarded, and our clothing suffered much from the rude assaults we sustained from the trunks of trees, and impending boughs. Nor was this the only in- convenience ; for notwithstanding we were continually on the alert in watching these formidable obstructions, we could not avoid receiving some slight contusions, and scratches. The opacity of this forest com- municated to the atmosphere and the surrounding scenery a semblance of twilight ; no ray of sunshine penetrated the cheerless gloom, and we were in idea entombed in foliage of a character novel and fanciful. The death-like stillness that prevailed was soon interrupted by the occasional shouting of the negroes, to put to flight, as they termed it, the evil spirits of the forest. Now and then a flight of parrots and other gregarious birds interrupted the intervals of silence ; but the richness of this vegetable canopy prevented the possibility of gaining even the most imperfect view of these feathered screechers, or indeed of anything but those objects by which we were immediately surrounded. Even on the line of path, so frequent were the turnings, and so greatly did the angles incline to the eastward and westward of north, that I have no hesi- tation in aftirming that the precision with which Mr. Bowdich has described his route by compass, from what he has termed a calculation of its mmierous angles, is, at best, but a conjectural estimate.
In some spots the land was elevated in slopes and ridges, yet it was notupon the whole deserving the name of hilly . On descending one of these slopes, a partial opening in the forest aflTorded a limited prospect, and the blaze of light that burst through this gap animated the scene with some tints of lively green. Clumps of plantain trees were seen sprouting out of a rich bed of grass and cane, and the whole plat was studded with low palm and patches of jungle. We were now in the enjoyment of what was comparatively a distant prospect ; it was the summit of a little hill.
REMAINS OF MANSUE. 17
at a short musket-shot distance from the path, covered with vegetation. A few wretched hovels stood in the midst of silence and desolation. In former days, however, this gap contained a very populous town.
Again we plunged into the recesses of a forest whose obstructions were as formidable as the preceding, and we shortly after came to a piece of swampy land, on the margin of which we alighted for refreshment. Having expeditiously satisfied the cravings of hunger, we resumed the journey over two small water courses flowing to the south-east, but they were nameless. After crossing another little stream, we were con- soled with intelligence that our resting-place for the night was close at hand. An opening that admitted the fading rays of daylight, now pre- sented a capacious surface, fledged with exuberant patches of grass and jungle, in the midst of which stood some tattered sheds. This was Mansue, where formerly stood a large opulent town called by the same I name, and considered the frontier of the kingdom of Fantee. Mansue originally owed all its importance to the traffic in slaves. When Fantee and Assin were two distinct sovereignties, it was customary to permit the latter to bring slaves and merchandize to this mart, where they were regularly met by the Coast traders. In those days I was i assured the whole space was occasionally surcharged by assembled crowds, 1 whose interests were connected with the traffic in slaves.
The Ashantees had arrived before us, and already were their fires blazing in all directions ; it therefore became necessary to use precautions against any accident that might endanger a communication with the gunpowder, which the careless insensibility of these people would have consigned to one of the sheds. A small chasm resembling a cave, which stood at the distance of about a hundred paces to the westward, was pointed out as a secure receptacle, and thither it was conveyed.
The path over which we this day travelled differed materially from the preceding journey. The forest between Doonqua and Mouree, however imposing, is not to be classed wdth the one that now falls under description ; for, indeed, every advancing pace seems to confirm
D
18 PATAGONIAN TAMARIND.
the knowledge that the traveller is no longer on the confines, but in the heart of a great continental wilderness, where nature governs on a scale of proportionate magnitude. The bamboo and dwarf palm occupied intervals where they covered the space of many acres, presenting thorny impenetrable barriers ; and where they bordered the path were amongst our most formidable enemies. A tree of the mimosa species also, of large dimensions, was occasionally discovered by an aromatic fragrance emitted from its pods. These pods, which exhibited a firm woody texture, were eagerly sought after by the Fantees, for the purpose of extracting their odour. The Ashantees named the tree cotamriia. Wild fig trees were numerous, and the fruit lay thickly spread upon the ground. The leaf of this tree bore, however, no resemblance to the true fig leaf; but rather resembled the maple, in its formation and glossy surface. The fruit itself, notwitlistanding it could not visibly be dis- tinguished fi'om the fig, resembled it neither in smell nor taste, for it waS exceedingly oftensive, whilst its external construction promised all the delicacy of that luscious fruit in a state of culture. The Mimosa Scan- driensis, or Patagonian tamarind, every whore abounded. This is a majestic tree, yet it by no means deserves to be ranked with the first class of African growth. The pod, as its name indicates, is a tamarind exter- nally and internally, but its dimensions are from one to two feet in length, and in breadth about four inches, yielding a number of stones proportionate to the size of the outer rind.* Besides these, the forest was strewed with several kinds of fruit resembling the pomegranate, and a very large growth of guava ; but the odour they diffused was most repugnant to the smell, notwithstanding their inviting looks. Bombax and wild tamarind were the most conspiciious objects, as well from numbers, as their remarkable forms and bulk. In certain spots some monstrous trees had fallen to the earth from decay, exhibiting in that
* Some of the seed I brought to England and consigned to Mr. Lee, of Kensington, in whose Nurserj' it was sown.
PLUNDER OF PROVISIONS. 19
state, every stage between maturity and decomposition. Here and there were scattered solid mahogany logs, as if torn from their roots by tempests. Others under rapid stages of decay, showed a gangrenous disease at the root. Many also, which had the semblance of having fallen long since, yielded to external pressure, and occasionally the foot would sink through moistened dust to the depth of several inches. A few were cankered through the centre, leaving an open passage between the separated stem over huge heaps of rotten wood-dust. Some of the fibrous kinds were covered with knots and sharp-pointed thorns of a fearful growth, the punctures of which were considered by the Ashantees as painful and poisonous ; they were on this account avoided with caution.
Some hollows and slopes, where the rain had collected, exhibited sheets of clay-coloured water through which we waded at uncertain depths ; but generally between the knee and ancle. The sides and bottoms of these cavities were of a spongy slime, which absorbed the feet with the slightest pressure, and rendered the passage exceedingly laborious.
We were seldom disturbed by the howling or appearance of wild beasts, yet the spots which were supposed to have been visited by hyenas, were, on approaching them, easily recognised by the emission of a fetid effluvia which, it would seem, the earth had imbibed from the exhalations of the hide of that animal. Indeed these rancid smells were frequent on the route, although we never could discover their authors.
As the night closed in, we endeavoured, by means of the luggage, to form a fence round our tattered habitation ; and having erected a sort of breast work, we retired to rest as composedly as our limited comforts would permit: for at Mansue we could procure nothing, save two or three unripe plantains. These privations had been anticipated at Doon- qua by a stock of provision, more than reasonably enough to last two or three days ; but our good friends the Fantees, imagining they could carry the burthen in a more commodious manner than on their heads, had thought it advisable to distribute the weight internally. Besides
d2
20 THE SANARY, OKEE,
committing so great a deprfedation on our suppers, they had made a serious attack upon the rum kegs and wine l)ottles. The excessive fatigue of the march, had indeed overpowered the acute sensation of hunger; but I awoke at an early hour in the morning, indiiferently refreshed, and exceedingly stiff from the bruises and excoriations of the preceding day. The route to Mansue is about N. half E. distance seventeen miles horizontal, twenty-two by the path, which is one of the most tortuous on the journey.
At seven o'clock in the morning of the thirteenth we left Mansue, and with it the prospect of the heavens, as we entered a forest exactly similar to the former. The limits of the foot-way could scarcely be said to exceed the width of twelve inches, over which the shrubbery projected on all sides. Another fall of rain during the night, had sod- dened the earth, and all the vegetable world was dripping with a moisture which showered upon our bodies in plentiful discharges, while the foliage nearer to the surface, with equal liberality, shed its moisture on our clothes, to a degree that very speedily drenched us through to the skin. The etiquette of Africa, which imposed on me the head of the file, was little to be envied in this place, as it naturally ex- posed me to more than a single share of soaking.
A little running stream, such as might be termed a brook, flowed with a sluooish motion rather to the eastward of south. The Ashantees called it Sanary. The gap it occasioned was equal to twelve or four- teen feet, yet the junction of the boughs above the stream, entirely excluded the sun's rays. The water was limpid, although sensibly impregnated with decomposed vegetable matter, and when disturbed by pressure, the soil raised a turbid cloud from its bed, like the grounds of coftee
About eleven A. M. we arrived at the Okee; a little river that holds its course here to the S.SE. over a bed of granite rock and white sand, with a gentle rippling current. This stream was the most impor- tant of any we had yet seen, although its surface at the ford did not
IBANI, AND AGOYA RIVERS. 21
exceed four fathoms. The depth was indeed too inconsiderable to de- serve notice, except in certain spots, where the water had collected in pools, formed by the embankment and some stony obstructions. Here alone, the sun had a partial action upon the shrubbery. The Okee empties itself into the sea near Tantuni, and is there known as the Amissa river. On leaving its embankments, we again left behind us the cheerful light of day.
A party of Ashantees who were journeying south, suddenly ap- proached, and saluted by a respectful inclination of the body. They were from Coomassy, they said, and had been deputed by Agampong to sell their loads of ivory at El Mina, whither they were going. The information obtained from these people corroborated former accounts of the anxiety of the king to see me in his capital.
We arrived next at an extensive cluster of ground palms, where a little stream called Ibani flowed to the west of south, and was said to unite with a larger branch, in its track to the Okee. The river named Agoya or Gaya, next arrested the attention, its course was south. The width of this stream in the broadest part might have e(|[ualled eighteen feet, its bed, however, was compact, and the em- bankment steep ; but at the ford the water scarcely covered the ancle. This is a stream tributary to the Okee. About half a mile beyond the Agoya we fell in with a small clear watercourse that terminated in an extensive swamp, spreading around as far as . our limited prospect afforded observation ; in the midst stood many of the largest forest trees.
On leaving the swamp, we caught the distant tinkling of the Castanet, and at the turning of an angle fell in with six Ashantees who had left Abandou, as they asserted, within the compass of an easy run. We had not long separated from these people, before we met two others in company with many women and slaves, among whom was a girl about fourteen years old, of the most jetty blackness, and in features more than ordinarily interesting. Whether these travellers belonged to
22 ABANDOU.
the preceding party or not I had no opportunity of inquiring, for they fled abruptly into the recesses of the forest.
Exactly at night-fall a little opening which discovered a mass of jungle and cane, denoted our arrival at Abandon ; the croom at which it was proposed to rest that night. A few bamboo huts thatched with palm, and lined with cane matting, marked the spot where formerly a more extensive town existed. In the vicinity of the houses was a small plantation which barely sufficed for the refreshment of travellers ; for we were again constrained to resort to our fragments.
The occupiers of two or three of these huts, were by the orders of the Ashantees turned out of their habitations, for our accommodation ; much against their will indeed, for the weather indicated rain. The fissures were therefore carefully closed, by which the apartments were rendered tolerably comfortable.
The horizontal distance from Mansue to this place is eighteen and a half miles, and by the path about twenty-three. The average of the courses gave N. half E.
During the reign of King Cheboo, who governed in Assin prior to the Ashantee invasion, Abandon was a populous village ; but it now gives shelter to a few foresters only.
The features of the country between Mansue and Abandon are almost the same as on the preceding march. Many of the climbing plants, and some of a migratory character, were observed to strike across the rivulets, from bank to bank, by twisting their stems for support amidst the lower limbs of lofty trees, and adhering in their progress to whatever object stood in the way, until the opposite shore again afforded a permanent resting place. The large parasitical plants were more frequently seen as we advanced to the north. The mimosa classes were numerous, as also clusters of the ground palm, and wild aloe ; ebony, various species of mahogany, iron-wood, wild tamarind, &c. were among the most conspicuous, and may be added to those already described as inhabitants of this forest.
ABANDOU. 23
The banks of several streams exhibited strata of red and dark grey coloured clays, surmounted with light and sandy mould. Decaying wood and vegetable matter presented solid masses of corruption in all its various stages. The thermometer in the woods at eight o'clock A, M. stood at eighty degrees, and at noon at eighty-two.
Notwithstanding the combination of evils such as have been de- scribed, and which are unavoidable in travelling through the forests of this kingdom, the fatigue they occasion is perhaps more than counter- balanced by the friendly shade they afford the European traveller. The contrast in temperature, when we emerged to one of those insulated spots where the sun has a partial action, was equal to an increase of eight or nine degrees on Fahrenheit's scale.
A light rustling breeze from the east, shortly after ovir arrival at Abandon, indicated an approaching tornado. The thunder was heard in the distance, but no rain fell near our quarters. As the heavens were now partially open to observation, we were for some time amused with the flight of parrots, crown birds, toucans, cranes, vultures, hawks, and a variety of smaller birds, retreating before the expected blast, and seeking security from the torrents of rain which accompany this species of storm. Some of the latter were clothed in plumage beyond conception beautiful ; about the same time, a troop of monkeys of the marmozet and large black species, were sportingly skipping from tree to tree, with astonishing dexterity.
The fatigue we had endured, and the limited rest we enjoyed in our quarters at Mansue, induced an early retirement to repose. For my own part, I revelled until morning, in what then seemed to me the most luxurious repose I had ever enjoyed.
On the 14th, at eight o'clock in the morning, we left Abandon : the path for the first two miles was particularly intricate, and the ground more than usually covered by entangled thickets of bamboo, palm, briars, and other thorny ligaments.
At three miles distance from Abandou, we fell in with a pretty little
24 CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS.
rivulet called Katoa, its course was to the south-east, over a bed of rock and sand. This also is tributary to the Amissa. At half a mile beyond this, we crossed another stream of less magnitude, running' to the southward of west, into the Katoa : it was called by the Ashantees Abonou. In half an hour more, we fell in with the Okee, its com- puted distance from Abandou being short of five miles and a half. The course of the river this time, was westward, inclining a little to the south, which was the reverse of its course on the south side of Abandou. The ford at this place was intersected by a chain of rocks forming a sort of bridge. We shortly after crossed the Adanso numing south-west into the Okee, at no great distance from the ford. Here we perceived a number of Assin women and children, who were washing in the stream.
Lions and panthers were said to be found here occasionally only, for they usually occupy the thickets in the vicinity of villages, where they enjoy more opportunities of satisfying the cravings of hunger on the cattle of the inhabitants than in the solitary regions of the wilderness : an observation which appeared to me of a reasonable texture, as it coincided with the opinion I had previously formed on the nature of those voracious quadrupeds. The lion, the tyger, the panther, the leopard, say the Ashantees as well as the Arabs, are delicate in the selection of their victims. They must destroy the carcase themselves, or they loathe the food ; and the blood alone suffices their wants, unless indeed the rage of hunger be very great, in which case they will devour a small portion of the flesh, leaving the remains of their prey to the hyenas and other carnivorous animals. The reason they alledge why hyenas, jackalls, &c. make more extensive excursions, is that these animals will take up with any kind of food, whether in a state of putrefaction or not. The superior beasts of prey seldom remove to any great distance from the place which g-ave them birth, provided there be opportunities of sustaining life, even at any risk from the wiles of mankind. Throughout the whole extent of land from Doonqua to the
Fooso. 25
banks of the Praa river there are neitlier towns nor hamlets, con- sequently there is no cattle for the sustenance of these animals, except the chance range of a few deer.
We next arrived at a small stream that flowed to the south- west, but its insignificance was such that it had no name. A mile beyond this stream is the Atonsou, a little rivulet flowing S.SW. into the Praa. Here an opening presented itself to our view, in which the scene was animated by the reflection of the sun upon a rich foliage that surrounded a sort of dam, where a body of water had stagnated. Having left the Atonsou a mile in the rear, we came to a few bamboo huts like those at Abandon. The area, which was free from forest trees, was about three hundred paces in diameter. The sugar-cane, and a few banana and plantain trees, grew hereabouts in hixuriant clusters, besides which there were both high and low palm, bamboo, cocoa trees, and erasma. The name of this place is Fooso. Prior to the invasion it was a town of some little consequence, chiefly from its central position : it was then well iiihabited, whereas at present it exhibits no better aspect than Abandon, and neither place admits of more than a temporary sojournment. During the retreat of Cheebo, when he fell back upon Fantee, a skirmish took place between the Ashantees and Assins in the neighbourhood of these huts ; the former gained the advantage, and the destruction of the town was the natural consequence of that action. The Ashantee army then pursued the fugitive monarch soiithward. The distance from Abandou to Fooso is eleven miles.
Our route still lay through forest, but to the north of Fooso the ground was clear of thicket, and the eye was permitted to wander amidst its recesses to the distance occasionally of forty or fifty yards. An horizontal glance exhibited pillars of wood of mighty dimensions, rivetted as it were to pedestals, such as Mr. Bowdich has not inappro- priately termed flying buttresses ; trees proportionately smaller filled up the interstices of this woody landscape. The prospect above dis-
E
26 YANCOMADY.
played all the verdure cemented in a rich entangled web, impervious to a single ray of the noonday sun. This grand awning was still enwreathed in folds by various plants of a migratory kind, and parti- cularly by that sort of fibrous stem which resembles cable ropes. Ground palm, bamboo, and rattan, were now become very common.
A morass intersected the path at no great distance from Fooso, in which mud predominated more than water, and beyond this, at an hour's march, we crossed a little current of water flowing westward, and entered Yancomady. All that now remains of this village is a few Bamboo huts, the abodes of foresters ; some palm and plantain trees choked up with the rank growth of cane and jungle were the only relics left of its plantations, or rather, in despite of the exterminating hand of war, they had again reared their heads above a surface of utter devastation. Some spots appeared in the neighbourhood where clusters of the largest trees had been subverted by the violence of tempests, thereby dragging in their descent a whole army of surrounding objects, or crushing into splinters those limbs which were incapable of sustaining the accumulated pressure until a sufficient bearing was gained on the barren wrecks of many trunks. Not unfrequently these threatening avalanches were suspended in various angular posi- tions, supported only by numerous bands and links of forest cordage, entwined in friendly embraces amidst the branches, and round the trunks. The thermometer here stood at eighty-eight degrees in the shade.
Our path lay amidst clusters of ground palm, which grew on the brink of a romantic slope terminating on our right in a deep chasm. A few hundred paces from this we alighted at the Potessin, a rivulet whose current flowed to the W. NW. in a stream of ten or twelve feet broad, and united with the Soubin, tracking their course jointly to the Praa In half an hour more we arrived on the margin of a little rivulet called Ambama, and from this stream we came to the Soubin, flowing to the northward of west. As the evening approached
AKOMFODY, ' 27
we crossed a little brook called Aniya, and from thence travelled by an agreeable path to Akomfody, where I had resolved to pass the night.
This also was a long journey, for the march was of nine hours duration in the whole ; and in the course of that time, we traversed twenty-three miles of ground, although the true distance is no more than seventeen. The average course about N. NE.
The surface between Abandon and Akomfody is level, with the exception of a few slopes, and the chasm between Yancomady and the Potessin. A rich black loam frequently bordered the streams, and was occasionally found in a few marshy spots. Sometimes a fat unctuous marl was met with in extensive sheets : sand however predominated ; and in place of the quartz, which abounds so greatly in the southern districts, nothing in the shape of a stone was discovered except a few small angular pieces of mica and granite. Certain spots emitted a corrupt effluvia blended more or less with the odour of decomposed vegetation and aromatic shrubs.
The hillocks formed by red ants were now rarely discovered ; but the black ants were numerous and troublesome, the bite they inflicted occasioned a sharp burning heat. Nor are they less dreaded in the cultivated parts and even in the towns. The voracity with which they surprise their prey and assail him at all vulnerable points exceeds that of locusts, when they alight in a field of corn ; for when once the attack is commenced, no bodily effort of the victim will avail him. Flight is generally impotent, unless it should lead him to a pool, when a natural instinct occasioned by the burning pain, induces him to plunge into the water. This kind of ant, say the Ashantees, is not only the plague of all other animals, but also of every class of their own species, and of the red ant in particular. If I may be indulged in a whimsical comparison, I will suggest a resemblance between these diminutive freebooters and the Arabs, who alike migratory, rove over the surface of the country, and establish a temporary residence where
E 2
28 ANT-HILLS.
it meets their views, often to the terror and in defiance of neioh- bouring towns. Thus the black ants in myriads will trace a particular course, and pursue that track in exact and thick embodied file, over an extent, perhaps of miles, until they fix upon a spot to their liking, where they erect little conical habitations, which may be said fig-uratively to bear a similitude to the Arabian tent, both in colour and form. The red ants, on the contrary, raise solid mounds of clay, which are cemented with a mucilaginous substance that binds the parts together in an indissoluble encrustation, and bids defiance to any violence short of the pick axe. The intrusion of the black aats is thus effectually prevented ; but whenever their entrenched prey venture abroad, or are observed in repairing and augmenting their habitations, which they frequently do, a chase ensues, and thousands become the victims of their opponents, who sometimes force an entrance even into the nest itself. I was present once when a hillock was perforated in order to obtain what is commonly termed the queen, or mother ant, which is an unwieldv insect, two inches in leno'th and one in circumference, formed in head and shoulders like the common ant, with a white body like that of a maggot. This insect resides in a separate cell, at the very foundation of the hillock, and is said to be gifted with such inexhaustible fecundity as to bring forth its myriads in daily and unceasing repetition. The act of cutting through the surface was laborious ; but that effected, the earth crumbled as it usually does. The cells resembled those of the hornet, and were generally in diagonal rows, but without order or regularity. The labour was ultimately attended with success, in the discovery of the " queen mother." During the process the red ants fled in all directions, and vainly endeavoured to recover their cells, while they were assaulted by a troop of black ants, who in despite of a vigorous resistance devoured their prey on the spot, or carried it off between their nippers. The black ant, it is said, will fearlessly attack any animal, not exempting mankind ; but particularly infants, whom they frequently
ATTACKS OF RATS. 29
destroy and devour. The panther is not too strong for them to cope with, the rat is not too subtile, nor is the squirrel too active ; vigilance and force are equally unavailing. They w^ill even, as the Ashantees report, seek the abodes of serpents, and entering their holes, allow the reptile no chance of escaping. The hanging nests of small black ants were also very numerous in the trees, where, it would appear, they choose their abode as a security against attacks of the universal enemy.
Acomfody, formerly a village of moderate dimensions, now lies ' desolate like the rest, and is only remarkable for the few huts it con- tains. Its plantations are equally insignificant, so that all the refresh- ments we were able to procure amounted to a few unripe plantains. The huts were already occupied by a party of travellers ; but this, as usual, produced no inconvenience to us, for they were speedily dislodged.
The fatigue of these marches had jaded even the negroes, several of whom were lame ; and notwithstanding the general anxiety to keep pace with the mission, there were fifteen absentees as late in the even- ing as ten o'clock, That we suffered in an equal proportion may safely be concluded. We therefore sought our apartments, anticipating the benefit of repose ; but in vain ; for after I had retired to rest, and had just fallen into a profound slumber, I was roused by a confused noise, and a sensation resembling that of the pressure of a man's hand upon my face, and on the bed-clothes, as though some persons were about to attack me in that defenceless posture. Thus prepossessed I started out of bed, and immediately recognised screechings resembling those of the rat. This indeed confused, but did not satisfy me, so strongly did I imagine that an iiitruder had gained access in the dark. By the aid of lights which my attendants procured, I searched, but to no purpose, and while I was prevailed upon to discredit the suspicion I had formed, I took the round of the quarters, where all was confusion and uproar, from the same cause. Mr. Collins was employed in defending
30 DANSANSOO.
himself with a stick against these vermin ; and at Mr. Salmon's hut it was the same. Satisfied, now, of the reality of the nuisance, I again retired to seek repose, but in so doing was compelled to resort to the same weapon in defence of my person against hundreds of rats, who, if I attempted to lie down, ran indiscriminately over my face and body, in their nocturnal gambols. Thus finding it impossible to sleep, I at last relinquished the attempt. Even the Fantees were distressed in this rat croom.
Towards the dawn of morning I heard the cries of some wild ani- mals, which the Ashantees described under the name of younc. They said it climbed the trees, and continued those cries throughout the night. From this description, I could not clearly discover to what genus it belonged ; but subsequently I was shewn one at Coomassy, which was of the sloth family.
We left Akomfody at the hour of nine, and at the distance of a short mile, crossed a little rivulet running west of the Praa, whose name was Shambany ; and, in two miles more, alighted near a little brook called Baraco, a branch, it is said, of the former. For three miles more, we travelled over an entangled thicket, that led to half-a- dozen deserted huts, surrounded by a moderate sized plantation : the name of this place is Dansansoo. Not a soul inhabited the spot, and except when occasionally tenanted by travellers and foresters, it is as desolate as the wilderness itself. The summits of some old vitrified walls were here and there perceptible, amidst a plat of withered jungle and cane. This village was also demolished by the Ashantees during the retreat of Cheebo and Apoutay.
From Dansansoo our route lay over the same mazy thicket. Many limbs and branches of trees lay scattered about, exhibiting another sce\ie of recent violence, as if a current of wind had passed over this tract; an opinion that was strengthened by the numerous little swamps, and the quantity of moisture hereabouts.
Short of one mile and a half from Dansansoo we arrived at Me-
PASSAGE OF THE PRAA. 31
karen. This, likewise, was a wretched spot, consisting only of two or three hovels, encompassed by a little plantation; yet this, too, had been a populous place. A little distance beyond this, was a ravine that had the appearance of a water course ; but its sandy bed was now dry. The surface was swampy, and overgrown with ground-palm, thicket, and small trees.
We were now in the neighbourhood of the Praa river. Here- abouts we fell in with a party of traders, and one of the king's sword- bearers. The slaves, to the number of twelve or fourteen, were loaded with many valuable teeth of ivory, also for the Dutch market. After a march of two miles and a half more we gained a glimpse of the water between the trees. A serpentine path, formed by a chasm, where the ridge was about forty feet perpendicular height, led down to the mar- gin of the river, and here, after our guides had tried the depth of the stream, we crossed in a slanting course, under the lee-side of a bed of shelving rock, which stood near the centre. The water, at the ford, came up as high as the arm-pits ; and on gaining the opposite shore, we climbed up a steep embankment, retracing the steps we had deviated from our true course. A little fetische house, which overlooks the river, invited our steps to the grateful shade of a eachou tree. Indeed, it is usual for the northern travellers to visit this spot, and make oblations to the river God, to whom the house is consecrated, before they presvmie to plunge into his stream. The house was built with upright poles, and wattled hurdles, lashed with twigs, and cemented together with clay ; the roof was of palm.
The prospect of the landscape from this commanding point was really magnificent, but it was nevertheless a wilderness, and the know- ledge of this limited the pleasures of imagination, in despite of its superb scenery, the fecundity of nature, and the fair bosom of a sheet of water that gave animation to the prospect. The gloomy forest to which we had been so long confined, presented itself to our view in a section, on the side from whence we came, whose northern limits were
32 PASSAGE OF THE PRAA.
laved by this beautiful stream meandering in a serpentine course from NE. to SW., until both extremes were lost in forest. The margin of the water was overgrown with a line of rank grass and flags, while the slope of the embankment was thickly covered by shrubbery, such as ground-palm, bamboo, rattan, sugar, and ground-cane, various species of the dwarf mimosas, besides a variety of unknown plants. The rays of a sun, now in his zenith, acting upon this mass of verdure, produced an animated tint in the different shades of green upon every shrub, and almost upon every leaf. The forest itself, frowning in awful majesty to the very verge of the embankment, formed a romantic back-ground, while the surface beneath was buried in darkness. To enumerate half the different species of vegetation is not in my power, for the greater part by far were unknown to me. Those which I recognised of the larger growth, were such as have been already mentioned. Ganyan, however, was a very conspicuous object on the opposite embankment. It is characteristic for this tree to shoot out fibrous tendrils from its branches, and these are prolongated in the growth, until they strike into the earth in various postures, although generally perpendicular.
The smaller trees and shrubs, besides bamboo, rattan, and com- mon cane, were Guava bush, in limited quantity, indigo, umbrella trees, dying woods, erasma, cocoa, male and female, migratory and sta- tionary vines, wild fig, aloe, tamarind, &c.
The surface here was a rich clay, free from pebble, and covered in the line of the ford with a bed of light sand. This river enters the sea at Chamah. It was at this time about the breadth of the Thames at Richmond, and the current, which varies, on account of the freshes that occasionally augment the stream, ran about four knots. The annexed plate is engraved from a sketch I took on the spot. Mr. Bowdich, in acknowledging his failure in an attempt at copying the natural beauties of the scene, perhaps with reason declares, that it would baffle the skill of any artist to depict " the life of its beauty,'' except a Claude, or a Wilson. Without questioning the truth of this, I hope my presump-
PRASSOO. 33
tion may meet witli indulgence, as I trust it will, when I declare that with a limited knowledge of the ai't, I attempted the sketch from private and not public motives. It may be considered, therefore, as the outlines of a landscape where the objects are represented as nature has stationed them, rather than as an attempt at pourtraying the animation of vegetable life.
Having indulged a sufficient time in the contemplation of these rural beauties, we resumed the journey over what now appeared to us a delightful path, and which, indeed, was open, and wide enough in some places to allow six or seven men to walk abreast. Tiie barbarism of the southern forest appeared every where to be softened into features of a milder aspect, and it seemed as though our toils were comparatively at an end.
At a short half mile from the river, we entered the town of Prassoo through a clean broad avenue, which separated the houses into two nearly equal sections. Decency now required me to conceal my tat- tered apparel (for deplorably torn it was) from public gaze. I there- fore wrapped myself in a cloak, and walked to the house of the Cabo- ceer. This chief, a little emaciated old man, whose name was Awado. received me with much ceremony ; but, as I then thought, little civility. In retiring I was, however, better satisfied with the good-natured coun- tenances of a few scores of spectators, who were Avaiting to obtain a glimpse of white men.
From the Praa southward, the progress of the sword down to the very margin of the sea may be traced by mouldering ruins, desolated plantations, and osseous relics : such are the traits of negro ferocity. The inhabitants, whether Assins or Fantees, whose youtli and beauty exempted them from slaughter on the spot, were oiily reserved ,to grace a triumph in the metropolis of their conquerors, where they were again subject to a scrutiny which finally awarded the destiny of sacrifice or bondage ; few or none were left behind to mourn over their slaughtered friends, or the catastrophe of their unhappy country.
F
34 PRASSOO.
Prassoo, or Praa Assou, is a name derived from the proximity of this town to the river Praa. In magnitude it cannot be compared with the superior class of towns, yet it covers a great extent of ground ; its main street being about two furlongs in length, broad, clean, and regularly formed. This street cuts through the village at right angles, and inter- sects a number of little lanes and passages formed by rows of houses, which are closely erected, although generally detached from each other by a space of several feet. Many of these vacancies were enclosed by hurdles and fences of bamboo, of an unsightly construction. The gene- rality of houses were rather superior to those we had seen at Doonqua. The habitations of some were washed on the outsides with a bluish clay, which, from exposure to the sun and atmosphere, had faded to a dirty white, recalling by an effort of the imagination what had been reported by Mr. Bowdich, of Ashantee, " architecture." But the far greater proportion of the houses were formed simply with hurdles, plastered over with clay, the common soil of the country, and some of hurdles and thatch only.
The population of Prassoo is stated to be about nine thousand souls. The town does not lay claim to any very great antiquity, and may be said still to enjoy the infancy of its growth. It is surrounded by luxurious plantations of plantain trees, and some detached spots for the cultivation of maize.
Leaving Prassoo, we entered an open path which we pursued for another short half mile, and entered Kikiwhary long before the sun had run his course. Our reception by the spectators was courteous and gratifying, for every countenance testified joy. I dispatched a complimentary message to the deputy Caboceer, and, as it was my intention to pass the night in the town, I alighted under a spreading tree, while the captain of the escort selected appropriate quarters. After a short absence, he returned and conducted us to a neat little house, containing four apartments of convenient size. Our first calls, it may be well supposed, were for food, particularly flesh, which we
KIKIWHARY. 35
had been so long deprived of. In the interim, I received a very acceptable present of a sheep, some bread, and plantains, from the Caboceer of Prassoo. The deputy Caboceer and some of the town's-people waited upon me with congratulations.
In the cool of the evening I walked over the town, and was every where greeted with the most cordial and respectful welcome. A number of children of both sexes, and some adults followed me at a reserved distance, gratifying their curiosity without intrusion, and flying, as I approached, when occasion required to retrace my steps. To me the scene conveyed infinite pleasure from a retrospective contrast with the more northern regions of this vast continent, where I have travelled among strangers, from whom I have, on similar occasions, experienced insult and hostility. The natives, however, were observed to scowl at the Fantees, with a malignancy, which, at first, I could not satisfactorily account for.
The town of Kikiwhary is considerably larger than that of Prassoo, and its inhabitants proportionately numerous. The population of the place is said to exceed fourteen thousand. The etymology of the word Kikiwhary is, take heart, or resolution, a name which is not uncommon to other towns of the kingdom. It is said, that the present town stands on the scite of a very extensive city, which was destroyed some ages back by an irruption of the tribes of Dagomba. Like Prassoo, it is cha- racterised by one main street, separating the houses into two sections, and intersecting at right angles a number of avenues. The houses, which resemble in construction those of Prassoo, consist of various classes, from the quadrangular building down to the common bamboo hut. The white clay washed walls generally distinguish the habitations of the wealthy ; but they are not numerous. As the apartments are all either upon the ground floor, or elevated only two or three feet above the na- tural surface, the roofs are necessarily the most conspicuous features in the coup d'oeil of an African town. The interior compartments of the best houses are furnished in a style corresponding with the simplicity of
F 2
36 WOMEN OF KIKIWHARV.
African wants ; two or three wooden stools, some earthen pots for culi- naiy purposes, cane mats, a water jar, and a lamp, constructed of brass or clay, comprize all the utensils of the far greater portion of the inha- bitants ; while many of the houses of officers high in rank, are adorned with large wooden drums, and horns decorated with sculls and jaw bones.
The government of Kikiwhary, like that of other towns, is vested in a Caboceer and Council of Elders. This cliief, whose name is Akassy, was at this time absent. He was formerly a captain of that part of Assin, governed by Amoo, and had, at the early part of the contest with Ashantee, espoused the politics of the king, Akassy was deputed to accompany the embassy to Cape Coast, as representative of Assin, to discuss individual claims and private losses.
The complaints of the inhabitants of this town were, indeed, serious ; for it appeared that some of their people, to the number of about sixty, had been panyard ; or, in other words, seized, together v.ith their trading property, and sold by the Fantees at diiferent stations on the coast to slaving ships, while the king was absent in Gaman. Report conveyed to me the murmurings of several families, who alleged their participa- tion in the injury ; and the execrations which were lavished upon the Fantees taught them, betimes, to limit their rambles.
This day's journey was nine miles and a half, horizontal distance, and the average of a long list of courses gave NW. and by N. On the banks of the Praa, the thermometer, at one o'clock, P. M. gave eighty- seven degrees in the shade, and again at three o'clock, it was as high as ninety degrees in my apartment, at Kikiwhary.
The quarters were continually surrounded by spectators, chiefly women and children, whose anxiety to gain a glimpse of our persons was occasionally checked by an impulse of terror when we approached them. The smiling countenances which graced these beauties, convinced me that their destiny was a happier one than the genei-ality of their sex enjoy in Fantee. Their lascivious glances, accompanied by signs, which could not be misconstrued, convinced me also that these ladies, however superior
MIASSA. 37
to the Fantees, participated with them in a certain faihng. I was, besides, assured that many of the wives and daughters of men in power, were employed in the w'ay of traffic, to practise the seductive charms of beauty, to inveigle the impassioned and unwary of the other sex, in order to create a palaver, which commonly terminated in fines or slavery. When the slave trade was legalized on the coast, it was a usual mode of entrapping youth, and those who w^ere incapable of redeeming their persons from bondage, suffered the severity of this pernicious la\v, and were in most cases sold in the public markets for exportation to the West Indies.
About ten o'clock on the seventeenth, I bade farewell to Kikiwhary, pursuing a path, which for the first two or three miles, inclined very much to the westward of north ; now and tlien it was inigged, and overgrown with briers and underwood. The Ading rivulet, an inconsiderable stream, whose current ran to the S. SE. at this distance, held on a course to the Praa, where it united near the ford. The water did not exceed a foot in depth, and twelve feet would have measured the breadth of the stream ; yet during the rains its tributary waters were said to inundate large forest ti-acts hereabouts. Another stream called Ano, of less importance, flowed easterly, and is said to connect itself with the Ading, from which it is separated by a small tract only. Hereabouts is also a clear open space of several acres in extent, surrounded by jungle and plantain trees. The name of this spot is Miassa, (not Animiaso, as Mr. Bowdich has spelt it, and which is an amalgamation of both river and town) it was distinguished formerly for its great population, and when Assin was a tributary sovereignty it belonged to the first rank of towns. A few miserable inhabitants now occupy the land, where they have erected some habitations of bamboo and thatch. Their existence chiefly depends upon the traffic with Kikiwhary. Miassa was at one time deemed the capital city of Assin, but it owed its importance more to the seat of government, which was established here by Cheboo, than to any local i
38 DEFEAT OF CHEBOO.
influence of its own. During- the wars between Amoo and Cheboo, when the latter had suffered two defeats from his adversary ; a third sangninarj- conflict took place near this spot, which terminated in favour of the latter, and the utter destruction of Amoo's army followed the action. Amoo, however, escaped, and again fled to Coomassy to lay his complaint before the sovereign king. That monarch had employed many months in a fruitless negociation prior to the engagement, and having about this time received a cruel indignity in the person of an ambassador, he first formed the design of compelling the Assins to a state of unlimited submission.* Cheboo and Apoutay, however, assembled their forces in the vicinity of Miassa, with the resolution of giving battle to the Ashantees ; but some disaffection among the Assin chiefs dispirited the troops, and treachery was supposed to have stirred up a powerftil interest in favour of the enemy. The crisis approached which admitted the choice of only two alternatives, either to risk a battle on the spot, or resign that extensive tract of country north of the Praa, and retire to the left bank of the river. In this dilemma Cheboo chose the former, but in the hour of trial his courage was not competent to the task of meeting an enemy so proverbially terrific as the king of Ashantee. A few shots were exchanged at the onset, while Cheboo and a party of followers fled to the river. This decisive panic in the chief is said to have been occasioned by the desertion of several Caboceers, on the field of battle. Be this as it may, it is admitted on all hands, that here the Assins fled before an army which numerically did not amount to half its own force ; although it was confessedly superior in organization, equipment, and resources. Slaughter followed in the rear, down to the margin of the river, where Cheboo and his friends learning the extent of their misfortunes, fled across the stream, and whither the Ashantees had no inclination to pursue them, at that time. Miassa was razed to the foundation,
* Vide also Meredith's History of the Gold Coast.
SAPORGAH — TIBIASSA. 39
thousands were put to the sword, and thousands sent into slavery in the more northern provinces of the empire. This event is celebrated by the Ashantee bards in an appropriate song, wherein it is recorded tliat a river of perjured blood Jioi£ed from Miassa to the Praa, and propitiated the wrath of the river god. Thousands of human victims were afterwards sacrificed in daily and nightly troops, at the little fetische house were we alighted ; and the carcasses were cast into the river, in order, as the Ashantees affirm, that the glory and militaiy prowess of their sovereign might be known tliroughout the land, as the current swept the bodies to the sea. Akassy, the Caboceer who now governs Kikiwhary, and a man named Quamina Abindou, both incurred the stigma of treachery ; the latter was subsequently put to death for some embezzlement of the spoil.
The forest beyond Miassa relapses into its usual solitude, exhibiting also most of those stern beauties which are characteristic of the land south of the Praa. At a little distance beyond Miassa to the eastward, are several ruined villages, in particular one named Soubel between the Ano and Ading ; other desolate spots of the same kind are scat- tered over the surrounding country, between the points of north and east, of which Oncro, Intoba, and Injany are the principal.
The patlis leading to the plantations were still open, and occa- sionally frequented. Two miles more brought us to another open space, the relic of a large Assin croom called Saporgah ; which is little better than a heap of ruins. Some solitary sheds occupied by foresters and palm wine collectors were the only objects that could interest the eye. The path was exceedingly obstiaicted by thicket and decayed logs, from this place until we arrived at the ruins of Tibiassa, another haliitation, as the Ashantees affirmed, of the spirits who roam at night. Nothing but a few straggling ruins, embedded in jungle, remained ; yet it was said to have been a place of importance. The little stream called Prensa crossed the path, at a very inconsiderable distance from Tibiassa, as it traced an easterly course to the Ano. The next
40 ARRIVAL AT ANSAH.
opening at the distance of a mile and a half more, was a moderate sized space occupied by some detached ruins, the relics of a town called Bequama, and near this spot the little rivulet called Prapong (or arm of the Praa) about seven yards in width and two or three feet in depth, pursued its southerly course to the Praa. We shaped a course along the bed of this stream to the distance of a hundred yards or more, and then quitted it at an angle formed by its westerly inclination. The path as we advanced rather improved, although the natural obstruc- tions were still so great as to create delay. Four miles beyond the Prapong are the ruins of a town called Eshamah. A little village of modern construction, bearing the same name, stands on a slope which commands the ruins. The inhabitants, probably about fifty in number, obtain a precarious subsistence from their labours in the forest. These poor people were at this time absent, at their respective occupations, in hewing timber, and tapping palm trees for wine, with which they trade to Ansah. A few traders from Ashantee were reposing under the shade of some trees, in what might be called the niarket place.
Eshamah formerly enjoyed a moderate rank in Assin, and its ' population is said to have rivalled in numbers the inhabitants of Prassoo. It is remarkable for a sanguinary battle fought in its vicinity between Cheeboo and Amoo. Leaving the ruins of this place, we again penetrated the forest, and in the lapse of an hour entered Ansah about four P. M.
PUBLIC RECEPTION. 41
CHAPTER 11.
PUBLIC RECEPTION AT ASSAH— DESCRIPTION OF AN ASSIN HOUSE— EFFECTS OF NEGRO WARFARE— STATE OF HEALTH OF THE PARTY— AKROFROOM— SUPERSTITION OF THE INHABI- TANTS WITH REGARD TO WHITE TRAVELLERS— BEASTS OF PREY— ELEPHANTS — JIOISY— FRONTIER OF ASHANTEE— THE RIVER BOH.MEN— SABLE NAIADS— CHISAH—FOMANAH— DOOM- PASSY— OFFERING TO A HOUSEHOLD GOD— DATCHASOO— MESSAGE FROM THE KING OF ASHAN- TEE—ADADWASY—AMOAFO— VISITS FROM THE KIxVG'S SON AND DAUGHTER — BEQUA—ASSI- MINIA—BOPOSSO — AGEMUM—SARASOO— PROCESS OF CLEARING LAND FOR CULTIVATION IN FANTEE AND BARBARY— FIRST SIGHT OF COOMASSY— PUBLIC RECEPTION BY THE KING— SPEECH OF THE KING OF BANNA— CEREMONIES— OBSERVATIONS ON THE JOURNEY AND CLIMATE.
Desolate as the land is on both sides of the Praa, with the ex- ception only of Prassoo, Kikiwhary, and Ansah, I had, nevertheless, deemed it expedient, in support of my public character, to announce the approach of the mission with all becoming- solemnity. A descrip- tion of the ceremonies practised at Ansah, as they bear a relation to the usag-es elsewhere observed, may not be displeasing to the reader. The road-flag with which I travelled through the woods, and which was simply a small union-jack, was, on our approach to the town, dis- missed to the rear, its place being supplied by a more brilliant suit of colours. Such of the escort as were in attendance joined in embodied ranks equal to the limits of the path, while one of my soldiers who had practised the bugle, blew a blast or two on that instrument, which, coupled with the shouts and songs of my attendants, never failed to
G
42 PUBLIC RECEPTION
collect from the houses a numerous concourse of spectators, who, it may be said, strove in emulation to pay that respect to the British flag, and to white men, and Englishmen, which it was my pride to witness. At Ansah, every countenance was stamped with those genuine feelings of respectful admiration which it was my object to excite. Crowds followed us to our quarters, bestowing occasionally some flattering commendations upon the objects that interested their attention.
As the day declined, drums were beat and horns sounded through- out the town, to give notice to the chief and elders to assemble with their retainers, in the market-place, to receive the public visit they anticipated. On our side, I gave instructions to the officers to equip themselves in uniform, and the people to dress in clean apparel, &c. Thus arrayed, we sallied forth, at a sort of funeral pace, preceded by the colours. On turning an angle leading to the market-place, we were suddenly saluted by the beating of drums, but after awhile the discord ceased. The Caboceer, whose name was Coinin Akim, (deputy Viceroy of Assin under Anion Koitea) was encompassed by all the principal male inhabitants of the town, headed by their respective chieftains. An avenue between this mass of human beings was left sufficiently wide to permit us to approach in the order of single file ; and through this space I advanced, touching hands with the Caboceer and the other chiefs, while a number of boys waved short scimeters, chopping bills, and swords, over my head, as they yelled out the " stroJig fiames" of their patron, descriptive of his rank, heroic achievements, &c.
At the conclusion of this ceremony our party retired to the shade of a tree, where, when we had taken our seats, the Assin chief and his party advanced in turn, preceded by the band of performers, whose overture was of a character still more inharmonious. Indeed the flutes and some of the smaller horns only, when they could be distinguished in the medley of sounds, softened to a degree of tolerance the harsh barbaric clamour. One instrument, resembling the horn of an
AT ANSAH. 43
enormous buffalo, which was decorated with a profusion of human jaw-bones, uttered abrupt and incessant blasts of the most dismal howling that can be imagined. Others of similar dimensions orna- mented with the like brutal trophies, produced a lengthened distressing tone, something resembling the moderate cry of hyenas. Some small elephants' teeth, hollowed into form, were rather more melodious, excepting when they chimed with the concert. The large drums were carried on the heads of men, and beaten in that posture ; but the small ones were slung as kettle drums. These added to calabashes and gourds filled with shot or small stones, concave bits of iron, and strik- ing sticks, will give an idea of the national taste in harmonic matters. As the chieftain advanced to take my hand, a number of parasites rushed before him holding their noses, as the custom is, and recapitu- lating his " strong names" with vociferous, and, as it would appear to a stranger, offensive intinasion ; for these flatterers, notwithstanding they were gently pushed aside, returned to the charge as boisterously as before. On a sudden he burst from the crowd, and as he took me by the hand, perfect order and silence ensued.
The Caboceer was followed successively by the captains, elders, and ordinary class of inhabitants ; but the latter did not presume to offer their hands for acceptance, a compliment which was expected by the Caboceer and chief officers only ; all others were happy in being permitted to pass in the pompous line, to wave their hands, and pay the compliment of a welcome.
I had scarcely returned to the quarters when a file of men entered profusely laden with provisions. The present consisted of a sheep, a goat, a quantity of yams, eggs, fowls, plantains, and palm wine, besides fire-wood, cankey bread, sugar cane, and some honey in the comb. In- deed I never before witnessed hospitality, even among Mussulmen, who are religiously scrupulous of that virtue, equal to this, which in fact was a private present. My acknowledgments were accompanied by a trifling return of nmi, and a piece of British manufactured cotton.
g2
44 ASSIN ARCHITECTURE.
The plantations of plantains, yams, and cassada, are very extensive in the vicinity of Ansah, and large tracts of land were then in a state of preparation for the reception of grain. This, which is now the metropolis of Assin, is a large compact town full of houses and hovels of all classes, from the quadrangular inclosure of four, six, or eight apartments, to the small bamboo hut. The quarters assigned for the reception of the Mission belonged to a wealthy inhabitant, who, to ac- commodate us, was unceremoniously compelled to turn out, with his wives and children. As the house I occupied at Ansah is at least equal to some of the best in Coomassy and elsewhere, I shall digress a little in particularizing its " architecture" and conveniences. It was a square enclosure with a recess behind, forming two apartments, besides the four contained in the quadrangle itself. Opposite the door was a narrow passage, leading to the retired part of the building, and which the natives appropriate to the use of the women and juvenile branches of the family. The rooms were elevated two or three feet from the ground, and the ascent was marked by two steps, which, as well as the lower walls, were simply plastered with red clay, rudely sculptured indeed, but still with some regard to order. Little buttresses here and there surmounted with ornamental carving in ''alto relievo" decorated the sides of the rooms, the dimensions of which were about nine feet by six or seven, and roofed with a sloping thatch of palm.
Ansah has also one broad street only, leading north and south through its centre. The avenues, or lanes, right and left, besides being of extreme narrow limits, exhibit a variety of unsightly obstructions. This place, having formerly been the seat of government of Amoo and the party attached to Ashantee interest, was respected during the war by the forces of the empire. Its population is estimated at twenty-four thousand souls.
Coinin Akim, it may be observed, besides his deputy viceroyalty of Assin, is also Caboceer over the desolate forests of Fantee ; his juris- diction extends from Moisy in the north, down to the sea-coast, and east-
EFFECTS OF NEGRO WARFARE. 45
ward from the province of Akim to the limits of Denkera. Akassy, the Caboceer of Kikiwhary, who supports a secondary dignity in Assin, governs all the adjacent towns and villages, as the representative of Coiniu Akim, to whom he is immediately answerable.
It will not be deemed extraordinary, by those who are acquainted with African maxims and prejudices, that all Fantee, excepting the few towns on the coast, and the far greater portion of Assin should be found in the state I have described ; the population extinct, the plantations more or less destroyed, and the forest relapsing to its original growth. In the wars of the negroes, a few of the subjugated are reserved to grace the victor's triumph ; but slavery, or death, is most frequently their final doom. Little kingdoms have been thus annihilated, as in the case of Denkera, Akim, Warsaw, and many others, whose names have almost become obsolete. The importance of these dreary regions is, therefore, trifling, when compared with a surface of such extent ; and particularly so, when it is considered that where a population amounting, it is supposed, to something between three and four millions occupied the districts of Fantee and Assin, the inhabitants now scarcely amount to as many hundred thousands, after the most liberal calculation, including even the Fantee towns on the sea side.
The march from Kikiwhaiy to Ansah was comparatively the most moderate and least fatiguing of any of our journeys. The Anana still flourished luxuriantly in the woods, and the bamboo and ground palm covered many acres, with a most impenetrable thicket. The high palm which towered here to an elevation rivalling the more gigantic productions of the earth, increased the wild beauty of the sur- rounding scenery, for this class had been rarely met with on the road.
The thermometer in the forest varied between the hours of ten and two, from eighty-one degrees to eighty-three. In our quarters at Ansah, at one o'clock, the quicksilver stood at eighty -seven, and two hours after sunset, sunk as low as seventy-seven.
46 JOURNEY RESUMED.
From Kikiwhary to Ansah it is ten miles, horizontal distance, and the average of a long list of courses gave N. half W.
The health of the officers at this time was good, excepting that of Mr. Collins. In justice to the gentlemen who accompanied me, I ought to acknowledge the fortitude which marked their characters, and stifled every complaint, during a laborious course of service, and under cir- cumstances not far removed from severe hardship.
The Ashantee guides or captains, belonging to my retinue, wished me to remain at Ansah, until the king should be apprised of my arrival ; but, as I preferred a station nearer to the capital, I again issued orders to resume the journey in the morning.
Accordingly, on the 18th, I quitted this town, attended by a group of spectators, who, on the verge of the forest, exchanged a parting farewell, and returned to their homes. The umbrageous covering of the trees was again a grateful relief from the sensation of extreme heat. Within the compass of an hour's walk from Ansah, we crossed the bed of the Foum, a fine little rivulet running easterly, and uniting, it is said, with the Prapongand the Praa. The margin of this stream is profusely covered with a shrubbery of a beautiful character. The water, at this time, was knee deep, altliough the width of the channel could scarcely be more than three fathoms. At the distance of a luile and a quarter more, we came to the Parakom, another little rivulet, proportionate in dimensions to the Foum, of which it is a branch, and flowing at this part of its course in the same direction as the former. Another little stream intersected the path about half a mile beyond the Parakom, but was too unimportant to have a name,
The rustling of the branches above our heads, and a deeper gloom, combined with the distant sound of thunder, announced, about this time,an approaching tornado ; but no rain fell. The thermometer sunk from eighty to seventy-six. At an early hour in the day, we arrived in the neighbourhood of Akrofroom, where a concourse of spectators had.
.\KROFROOM. 47
as usual, assembled, in the main avenue, to greet our entrance. At my request, the Caboceer, who had already set the gong-gongs at work, de- ferred the ceremonies of an interview, until the sun had sunk below the visible horizon (the tops of the adjacent trees.) The rights of hospita- lity were, in the meantime, lavished upoil us with liberality, equal to what we had before experienced ; and our quarters were stored with yams, cankey bread, cassada, eggs, oil, fuel, and a sheep. The distress I felt for the females, who resigned their apartments for our use, (some of whom had infants at their backs) was quickly removed liy the cordial welcome that animated their looks. A superstitious belief was enter- tained by those to whom the lot of sheltering white men had fallen, that their lives in future would be prosperous. The house itself was pass- ably well built in the form of one we occupied at Ansah, but superior in size and sculptural ornaments, both of red clay and grey.
The Caboceer, of this town, whose name was Tako Dooney, hap- pened to be at Ansah, when we made a public entry there ; after the ceremony there, he was dispatched, by Coinin Akim, to repeat the honours at his own government. As the sun declined, the jarring discord of drums, gong-gongs, &c. announced the assemblage in the market- place. It will be unnecessary, however, to relate a ceremony, which did not materially diifer from what has been described at Ansah. The parasites of this chief, it may, however, be told, desisted sooner, and were not quite so outrageously indecorous as those of Coinin Akim.
My people now fared sumptuously, yet there were ten men on the sick list, besides as many more lame or bruised ; several of whom were in a state requiring rest, as well as wholesome food ; but as our journies henceforward were likely to be short ones, I did not think proper to detain the mission ; although my own servants were both incapable of exertion, one from the Guinea worm and fever, and the other from severe lameness.
Akrofroom covers a large tract of land, and is built in a straggling manner. It is not so large as Ansah, and its population is numerically
48 AKROFROOM.
inferior. The avenues intersecting the main street east and west, like all others of the class, are either exceedingly confined, or, where the space is more than sufficient to accommodate one or two passengers abreast, the waste ground is generally appropriated to the reception of offal, dirt, and rubbish ; which, as in that part of the city of Morocco inhabited by the Israelites, accumulates from time to time into little mounds, or hillocks, sufficiently elevated to afford a prospect over the walls and even the roofs of low built houses. The main street, how- ever, is exempt from these nuisances, and the market places, both here and elsewhere, are never polluted by dirt or litter of any description. The favourable impression of Ashantee cleanliness, was checked by the exposure of imisances in bye streets, in the environs of the town, and the backs of the houses, where it became difficult to select a foot way free from excrement and filth. Yet decency in compliance with natural calls was not by any means unobserved by the inhabitants, who erect sylvan temples in retired spots, at the outer boundary of the plantations, by excavating the earth, and erecting a platform on the upper surface, or by placing a number of fallen trees in parallel positions.
The number of small ill-constructed hovels at Akrofroom probably exceeded the more commodious buildings as fifty to one ; and the grey clay plaster, or wash, here, indicated no distinction between rich or poor, master or slave. The plantations, however, are extensive, and yield more than sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants ; yet those of corn are very limited even here, although the popu- lation is estimated at eighteen thousand souls.
At the distance of one day's journey and a half westward, are the ruins of a large town called Boyabo, formerly the seat of Apoutey's government. The average course from Ansah to Akrofroom was N. NW. the distance amounted to eight miles and a quarter, horizontally computed.
We quitted this place on the following day, the nineteenth. The
ELEPHANTS. 49
path in its vicinity is broad and open, but this is characteristic only of the first half furlong, beyond which the forest relapses to its usual form and aspect.
This tract is said to be occasionally infested by the superior beasts of prey, such as lions, panthers and leopards ; but none of these animals met our sight, nor had we ever distinguished their cries, although we were frequently disturbed by the plaintive screechings of the sloth, and the howling of hyenas, jackalls, &c. Amidst the boughs of a kind of cedar, I noticed several grey squirrels, who regarded my approach with great indifference. Here also, some of the party picked up a good number of quills that seemed to have belonged to a porcupine of the largest size.
At no great distance from Akrofroom we again fell in with the Prakoom rivulet, as at this time it swept to the west of south. On the opposite bank the path was open, leading over a thick bed of loose sand that covered the surrounding surface. Many lofty trees, and some of the smaller sorts of shrubs, were sapless and barren, with naked limbs and blighted foliage.
In the midst of a thicket, at the distance of four miles from Ansah, an elephant's tooth of moderate size was discovered ; but the enamel being cracked into g"ashes, it was deemed of little or no value. It is affirmed by the Ashantees that elephants never herd in these forests, although very frequently stragglers are shot on this parallel as also on the confines, two journies north of Coomassy. Yet these wanderers are young, and as my informer described it, " foolish." The old elephants herd in Banna, Coransah, and some in Bouromy ; they are numerous only in Sarem.
We shortly arrived at a little stream shaping a course to the S.SW. ; another of the same size, and nmning in the same direction, intersected the path a quarter of a mile beyond this ; but they were both unimpor- tant and nameless. At the end of ten miles (by the path) Ave discovered a gap that admitted the cheerful light of day, the surface of
H
50 MOISY.
which was, as usual, covered with jungle and rank weeds. We were now in the vicinity of Moisy, a small croom on the frontier of Assin, and which we entered about noon, but made no stay there.
This village, like other places of greater importance, can claim but one avenue deserving the name of a street, although it has several leading to the huts in the back ground. It is inhabited principally by mechanics, as weavers, potters, smiths, &c. and may be called a place of wretchedness ; yet it is notorious for excellent palm wine, and a superior growth of cotton. The habitations, even in the main street, are mean, notwithstanding the grey clay wash and plaster are more commonly in use here than elsewhere. The main avenue terminated in a pretty shrubbery, whose limits stretched away to the neio-hbouring plantations. Through this we journied some hundred paces until the little rivulet Bohmen, which sparkled in the front, gave notice of our approach to the hilly barrier that separates Ashantee, properly so called, from the province of Assin. The stragglers being numerous at this time, I thought fit to alight on the margin of the stream. My guides, (the Ashantee captains Ado and Quako,) were the first who approached, and Avith anger in their countenances, reprobated the conduct of the Caboceer, at Moisy, in not having prepared the honours due to a public reception. " He will lose his head for this neglect," added they, uniting their voices, " for we must tell the king the truth." I vindicated the unfortunate chief, by alledging my disinclination to alight. It mattered not, was the reply, the Caboceer alone was to blame, because the most positive orders had been given by Coinin Akim, that he should assemble the townsmen to greet me in passing.
We stood in need of rest, and as the hills lay exactly on the opposite bank of the stream, I delayed prosecuting the journey to give time for the people to recruit their strength. Our weariness was, indeed, universal, and we reposed in sullen lassitude on the margin of the romantic Bohmen ; the river, according to Mr. Bowdich's informa-
WATER OF ELOQUENCE, 51
tion, so gifted by Providence, as to deserve the name of the " IVafer of Eloquence." The fairy virtue of this stream recurring to my memory, I demanded a calabash of water. In short, its efficacy was put to the trial, by many who required to slake their thii-st, and be it recorded, failed in working its usual miracle. These symptoms of lassitude and silence were, however, quickly interrupted, by the arrival of a large pot of palm wine, and a message of exculpation from the Caboceer, who extenuated his neglect by alledging that he had expected me to have slept in town, rather thaia crossed the mountains that afternoon. The wine was of a growth recommended by the Ashantees as particu- larly nourishing and grateful to the palate, and was, they said, the best in the kingdom. But it did not need many encomiums, so acceptable was this description of beverage. Indeed, the far-famed excellence of the " Water of Eloquence" itself, would bear no competition with the wine. Its invigorating powers won it the palm of supremacy, without a single dissenting voice, for the faculty of speech which before was chained up within us, resumed its function with an effort powerful enough to banish the memory of past fatigue.
Upon making enquiries of the Ashantees, respecting the alledo-ed virtue of the water, I had some difficulty in persuading tiiem that it was a serious question. When assured of that fact, they declared they knew the water to be sweet, and, perhaps, it was good for sick people ; but they did not know that it was capable of prompting speech, nor did they ever hear that it was visited on that account by parties of their countrymen.
The Bohmen is a very inconsiderable upland stream, gliding in its descent, between the vallies of Moisy, and slanting in its course to the southward of west, until it connects its waters with those of the Prakoom. It is almost embowered in shrubbery, overtopped by high trees, whose branches locking together in each others embraces, give it, in imagina- tion, the semblance of a fairy grot ; for its bed is studded with brilliant little rocks, and shelving slabs of granite, iron stone, and mica, mixed
H 2
52 SABLE NAIADS.
with clear white sand, and yellow gravel, glittering, as it may be said, poetically, with a golden refulgence, where the meridian sun-beam here and there penetrated the vegetable arch.
Romantic as this may be pronounced, it was something heightened in effect as we crossed the rivulet, by the appearance of a party of women and young girls, skipping over the rocks, and laving their limbs inthe current ; but, for whose jetty complexions, the fancy might in reality have conceited them a group of Naiads. Nor were the nymphs of the African wilderness wanting to themselves in the decorum of the sex, for they modestly screened their persons amidst the foliage.
Immediately after this, we commenced ascending a lofty hill, at tirst by a gradual slope ; but on a sudden it became abrupt, rugged, and washed into gullies. Huge pieces of rock, in overhanging precipices, opposed our steps, and as we were early compelled to clamber with hands and feet, our progress was attended with difficulty, and great physical exertion. The path, near the summit of the hill, was bare of its leafy canopy, and here the rays of the sun darted fiercely down upon a sur- face already scorched beyond a moderate glowing heat. This, added to the increased action of the vital organs, rendered our distress complete, and it was with incredible difficulty we journied up the acclivity, nearly a mile to the summit. * A contracted gap, or aperture on the left hand, afforded an indistinct prospect to tlie westward, of the top of another hill connected with this chain. It was, in truth, the greatest scope our eyes had been permitted to range over throughout the whole journey ; and although the horizontal distance would barely have exceeded a mile and a half, its novelty was equally delightful and transitory.
Mr. Bowdich says, he observed several eminent points from this station, in the hope of being able to check his computed distance by paces. No such land marks were visible to me, or any eminence, ex-
* Our sufferings on this march were necessarily greater than what the former party endured, because we crossed this barrier at the time of the greatest daily heat, and after a moderate journey, whereas the others traversed it in the cool of the morning.
CHUSAH. 53
cepting the peak of the hill already described, the utility of which, for mathematical calculations, it was surely absurd to suggest ; for the visionary glance was so imperfect, and the uniformity of its clothing so characteristic of the land throughout, that had it been perceptible a second time, (which it was not) I am convinced it would not have been recognized with any certainty.
For some hundreds of yards beyond the summit, it was a sort of table hill, gently incurvated with slopes and ridges. The sound of a waterfall on our left hand indicated, however, that the path lay over a precipitous ridge, terminating below in a deep valley. Yet the forest was so opaque, that nothing was visible (except the stems of trees) beyond the circumference of a few yards.
This chain of hills, according to native authority, commences on the north-west side of Bequa, from thence inclining easterly to Datiasso and Doompassy, where it forks off in two branches, the one leading NE. to the Echouy Lake, the other inclining south of east, through Assin and Akim, to Aquamboe, and the neighbourhood of Accra, where it unites to the chain that may be seen at the distance of twenty miles from the British fort at that place. The height of Moisy Hill may be about sixteen hundred feet perpendicular elevation. The north side of the hill is less steep and rugged, so that the descent is not attended with much inconvenience. A small ravine gave a passage to a little stream, flowing westerly with a rippling noise ; but it was said to bear no name. The land beyond the hills is evidently much higher than that of Assin.
The sight of a patch of jungle indicated our approach to the first Ashantee village : this was a miserable place containing about thirty hovels, called Chusah, whose inhabitants lived by the trade in palm wine and nuts. The track over the hills is capricious, but the course, after having passed Chusah, inclines again north. We traversed the brink of a cliasm or pit of great depth, said to have been excavated for gold ; but latterly neglected, notwithstanding the mine was believed to be rich.
54 DOOMPASSY.
Three quarters of a mile beyond Chusah is Fomanah, another little village, containing about a hundred and fifty inhabitants. Mr. Bowdich's assertion, that Fomanah was once a very considerable town, is contradicted by the natives, who, while they admit that it was foi-merly more populous than at present, declare it always to have been a foresters' village, and a place of insignificance upon the frontiers. The Caboceer, who was seated in the main opening, very courteously tendered an offering of palm wine and eggs.
Beyond Fomanah for about half a mile, the path was good, exhibiting a clean swept surface, with burning stubble on each hand. Doompassy was now distant only an hour's march, and as we approached in sio-ht of the town, the greetings of the spectators, who were numerous, indicated the vitmost cordiality. The Caboceer, a middle ao-ed man, named Soabin, received me very courteously in the market place, and in due formality conducted me to the house designed for my reception. It was a sort of double house, neatly constructed, and ornamented with the rude sculpture of the country. The family (one of the first rank in the place) were all employed in removing their utensils. The landlord politely told me it gave him pleasure to shelter white men, as it would bring upon him a blessing from the gods. The distance from Akofroom to Doompassy is eleven miles and a half horizontal distance ; by the path it is nearly fifteen. The average course was north, inclining half a point to the west. Mr. Collins here suffered a relapse of fever.
Our journies, it may be seen, were comparatively rapid, and really so in such a country, for we generally travelled as long as the day -light lasted, excepting the two or three last stages. Our halt, however, at Doompassy was imperative, for many more were afflicted with lameness and inflammatory disorders, of which the Guinea-worm and boils were the most prevalent.
The tall and stunted palms form the most interesting, and the doom, mahogany, and silk cotton trees, the most majestic objects in the
CAMELEOPARD. 55
neighbourhood of the plantations hereabouts. These, blended with fibrous and thorny plants capriciously threading the branches in festoons, or entwining in snaky wreaths round the trunks of trees, give that singularly wild aspect to vegetation in the torrid zone which, perhaps, is only to be witnessed within the limits of the first and second parallels of climate in continental Africa. The Anana still skirted the path, and a few cocoas both male and female, increased the variety. Among the plantations I discovered a grovelling sort of palmeta or small ground palm, called by the Arabs asha, whose fibres they interweave with goats' hair in the manufacture of their tents. Among the trees and shrubs of small growth were cotton in abundance, some indigo, coftee, arrow-root, and the gooro or war nut, a species of betel, which the natives masticate as they do in India.
Hyenas, civet cats, baboons, monkeys, porcupines, ant-eaters, wild hogs, sloths, and squirrels, are said to abound greatly, besides deer, in this part of the forest. An animal Avhich, from description, answers to the cameleopard, it is affirmed, sometimes visits these regions, and there are many to be found both in Sarem and Ghunja ; but they are sacred quadrupeds, and although they herd with the elephants, they are never destroyed by the hunters.
At this elevation from the sea coast, much is left behind of the gloom and solitude of one of the greatest wildernesses south of the Niger; but this impression originated perhaps in the knowledge, that although it was still a waste, it now contained the cheerful habitations of men.
A serpent, agreeing with the constrictor of the class I met with on the road to Doonqua, but larger, was said to be occasionally seen here ; it was dreaded by the traveller more than either the lion or panther, and would attack men as well as the most powerful animals in the creation, the elephant only excepted.
Red ants were very rarely seen here or on the road ; but others
55 HOUSEHOLD GOD.
were as numerous and troublesome as ever, a fact of which they gave us many painful proofs.
My guides suggested to me the propriety of halting a few days at these quarters, adding that they durst not approach nigher the capital, for fear of giving offence to the king, by permitting me to travel like a common messenger, and by approaching the court before the necessary arrangements were completed for my reception. I was prepared to stop a day, to allow time for the return of an express messenger I had sent to the king from Kikiwhary.
I was roused from sleep at a very early hour on the following morning, (the 20th,) by the entrance of a man, whom I discovered to be tlie proprietor of the house, with an offering for his tutelary god, and which he was about fixing to the sacred tree, at the door of my apart- ment. The tribute, which consisted of the legs and head of a white speckled fowl and a small calabash containing a little corn and plantain, steeped in a fluid looking like blood, was placed on the ground at the root of the tree ; but afterward, the members were severed, and suspended by a piece of cotton-yarn upon one of the lower branches. Another calabash containing a blackish fluid, served to water the roots, by being poured upon the ground, as a libation, during the recital of certain mystical words in prayer. The ceremony concluded by washing the stem of the tree Avith a colouring, made from the white or grey clay. On the route, particularly in the vicinity of towns, these offerings were very common, and in some spots, on which superstition had stamped a particular veneration, a numerous collection of pots and pans, although commonly broken ones, were deposited with their tributes to the gods of the forests and highways. Like the Greeks and heathen tribes of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia, the Ashantees, (who may rival or even excel the ancients in the practice of their orgies and rituals) provide their iiima,, or highway suppers. Among the tribes of negroes hereabouts, they are, however, family offerings, and not public or national.
DETENTION AT DOOMPASSY. 5?
Doompassy, it is said, contains a population of fifteen thousand inhabitants. It has but one avenue deservins: the name of a street, for those which intersect it, right and left, are only a confused number of openings of width barely sufficient to allow free ingress. Near the market-place are many decent-looking houses, of which the Caboceer's is by far the best. The plantations, which are flourishing and extensive, it would seem, are adequate to the supply of a population infinitely greater. Several large corn plats were enclosed, with tolerable fences of bamboo, to preserve the grain from the incursions of wild animals, and of pigs, which are here permitted to rove at liberty about the suburbs.
In the forenoon, I sent out a hunter, who, in less tlian two hours, returned successful from the chase, bringing with him a deer, of the antelope kind, a civet cat. and several birds.
The detention at Doompassy was particularly salutary to Mr. Collins. Mr. Salmon complained of the return of former symptoms, augmented, perhaps, by the passage over the hills. For my own part, I rapidly gained strength every journey, so