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 FANTI AND ASHANTI
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI 
 
 THREE PAPERS READ ON BOARD THE S.S. AMBRIZ 
 ON THE VOYAGE TO THE GOLD COAST 
 
 BY 
 
 CAPT. H. BEACKENBUEY 
 
 ROYAL ARTILLERY 
 ASSISTANT MILITARY SECRETARY TO MAJOR-GENERAL SIR GARNET 
 
 WOLSELEY, C.B., K.C.M.G. 
 
 AND LATE PROFESSOR OF MILITARY HISTORY AT THE 
 ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY OF WOOLWICH 
 
 AND 
 
 CAPT. G. L. HUYSHE 
 
 RIFLE BRIGADE 
 
 DEPUTY -ASSISTANT QUARTERMASTER - GENERAL 
 AUTHOR OF 'THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION' 
 
 WITH A MAP BY CAPTAIN HUYSHE 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCLXXIII 
 
 All Rights reserved
 
 P.S. Since sending home the preface to this work, I 
 have seen a leading article in the ' Times ' of 24th October, 
 which, speaking of my papers, says : " Sir Garnet Wolse- 
 ley appears to have undertaken, among his other tasks, 
 the preparation of a paper on the causes which have led 
 to the present war with the Ashantees." Sir Garnet 
 Wolseley did not even offer a suggestion as to the con- 
 tents of these papers, and is not in the remotest degree 
 answerable for one word contained in them. H. B.
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 CAPE COAST CASTLE, 
 31** October 1873. 
 
 THE following papers have no pretension to 
 literary merit. They were written under the 
 following circumstances : 
 
 Major -General Sir Garnet Wolseley, with 
 thirty-six officers, volunteers for service in the 
 Ashanti expedition, was on board the S.S. 
 Ambriz, bound for Cape Coast Castle. An 
 order had been issued requesting officers to 
 make themselves acquainted as far as possible 
 with everything relating to the country and 
 the war. The will to obey the order was 
 there ; the means were wanting. The Head- 
 quarter Staff so monopolised the books of 
 
 1694828
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 reference that the rest of the party could sel- 
 dom get a chance of reading them. Then Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley asked us to put into shape 
 and read to our comrades the results of our 
 long daily studies. The time given us was 
 less than a week, and we had to work under 
 the most unfavourable conditions of tropical 
 heat, a rolling ship, and the sickening smell of 
 bilge-water. 
 
 "We had hoped to find time, on arrival at 
 Cape Coast, to improve our rough notes, and 
 make them more worthy of general perusal. 
 But the time has not been found. Here, and 
 in the bush, the work of the day has been as 
 much as could be done in the day. The papers 
 must go to the public as they were originally 
 written, or not go at all; and we think it 
 better to send them as they are, because the 
 English newspapers profess ignorance of the 
 causes of the war and of our relations with the 
 native tribes ; and it is evident that the topo- 
 graphical features of the country and the char-
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 acter of its inhabitants are but little known at 
 home. 
 
 We have done our best to be accurate. We 
 have weighed evidence, and stated no fact 
 without authority; for our opinions we are 
 individually and separately responsible, and 
 we are bound distinctly to disclaim for these 
 papers any " inspired " or official character. 
 
 H. B. 
 G. L. H.
 
 C ONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, THE 
 PROTECTED TRIBES, AND ASHANT1, WITH 
 THE CAUSES OP THE ASHANTI WAR, . . 1 
 
 II. THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, ETC. 
 
 continued, . . . . . .34 
 
 III. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI AND THE PRO- 
 TECTORATE OP THE GOLD COAST, . . 91
 
 AUTHOEITIES CONSULTED. 
 
 Blue-Books from 1841 to 1873. 
 
 BOWDICH : Mission to Ashantee. 
 
 HUTTON : Voyage to Africa. 
 
 DUPUIS : Journal of a Residence in Ashantee. 
 
 BICKETTS : Narrative of the Ashantee War. 
 
 BEECHAM : Account of Ashantee and the Gold Coast. 
 
 F.B.G.S. : Wanderings in West Africa. 
 
 WINWOOD READE : Savage Africa. 
 
 Notes by the Topographical Department of the War Office.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, THE 
 PROTECTED TRIBES, AND ASHANTI, WITH 
 THE CAUSES OF THE ASHANTI WAR. 
 
 IT is not necessary, for our present purpose, to 
 enter into the early history of the Gold Coast. 
 It is sufficient to say that in the years imme- 
 diately preceding 1821 the several British forts 
 on the Gold Coast were vested in the " African 
 Company," which was established under Royal 
 Charter for purposes of trade. 
 
 The territories extending inland from the 
 coast were divided into several independent 
 A
 
 2 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 States. Chief among these were the Fantis, 
 who had gradually brought into subjection a 
 number of smaller tribes ; and further inland, 
 the Ashantis, whose warlike prowess had en- 
 abled them to subdue and force into the posi- 
 tion of tributaries several of the tribes near 
 the coast, as Denkara, Assim, Akim, Aqua- 
 pirn. 
 
 The irruption of the Ashantis into the Fanti 
 territory in 1807 first brought them into colli- 
 sion with the British. The Fantis had given 
 assistance to the Assims against the Ashantis, 
 who pressed on to the walls of the British fort 
 of Annamaboe, and attacked the fort itself. 
 It was held only by a few men, but the 
 strength of the fort prevented its being taken ; 
 and a truce was concluded, which was broken 
 again in 1811, in consequence of the Fantis 
 having attempted to take revenge on Elmina 
 and Accra for refusing aid in the previous 
 invasion. On this occasion Akim and Aqua- 
 pirn rebelled unsuccessfully against Ashanti.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 3 
 
 Again, in 1817, the Ashantis invaded Fanti, 
 and carried misery, famine, and death into the 
 land. They advanced to Cape Coast Castle, 
 and blockaded it ; but withdrew on payment 
 by the Fantis of a sum of money advanced for 
 the purpose by the British. It was after this 
 invasion that the mission of which Mr Bowdich 
 was first a member and afterwards chief, was 
 sent to Coomassie to endeavour to negotiate 
 for a lasting peace and an extension of com- 
 merce. Trade had become impossible under 
 the perpetual dread of Ashanti invasion. 
 
 It appears that all the European companies 
 on the coast, Dutch and Danish as well as 
 English, had paid ground -rent to the coast 
 tribes for the land on which their forts were 
 built. The king of Ashanti now claimed these 
 rents, by reason of his having conquered these 
 tribes. Dupuis tells us that, after the" treaty 
 made in 1807, rent of this nature was paid to 
 the king for Cape Coast Castle and Anna- 
 maboe. Mr Bowdich recognised the claim,
 
 4 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 and affairs having been placed on a friendly 
 footing, a treaty was concluded in September 
 1817, and a British resident left at Coomassie. 
 It is not necessary to discuss the details of 
 this treaty, for it was soon abrogated by the 
 king of Ashanti again making war. One of 
 his tributary chiefs, the king of Denkara, had 
 thrown off his allegiance, and the British re- 
 sident returned to Cape Coast Castle on the 
 Ashantis crossing the frontier to make war. 
 The people of Commendah offering some in- 
 dignities at this time to the king of Ashanti's 
 messengers, he appealed to the British autho- 
 rities to interfere and punish them, and to 
 prevent the people of Cape Coast from show- 
 ing unfriendly dispositions to the people of 
 Ashanti. He claimed, at the same time, 1600 
 ounces of gold from the people of Cape Coast, 
 and a like sum from the British Governor of 
 the fort. The Governor refused to accede to 
 any such demand, saying that his paying any 
 tribute was out of the question ; but a Mr
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 5 
 
 Dupuis, who had arrived from England as an 
 envoy from the British Government, announced 
 his mission to the Ashanti messengers, and 
 proceeded to Coomassie under the friendly 
 auspices of the king. He started early in 
 1819, and was favourably received by the 
 king, who at length gave up his claim to a 
 fine, and concluded a treaty with Mr Dupuis. 
 In this treaty he promised fidelity to the 
 British Crown, acknowledged all his differences 
 adjusted, and bound himself to support com- 
 merce with the coast. On the other hand, Mr 
 Dupuis acknowledged the king's sovereignty 
 over the Fanti territory, reserving to the 
 Fantis, however, the right to enjoy the benefit 
 of British laws. 
 
 It will be observed that the Fantis them- 
 selves are not parties to this treaty, but are, 
 so to speak, disposed of by Mr Dupuis as he 
 pleases. 
 
 The local authorities refused to ratify this 
 treaty, on the plea that they could not acknow-
 
 6 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 ledge the transfer of the Fanti territory to the 
 king of Ashanti ; and they decided to discon- 
 tinue paying the rent to that king. 
 
 Here we have the decision not to recognise 
 the Ashanti rule over the Fantis plainly enough 
 declared. 
 
 In 1821, at which date we have now arrived, 
 Parliament passed a Bill to abolish the African 
 Company, and transfer its forts and possessions 
 to the Crown. At the same time Sir Charles 
 Macarthy was made Governor of the Gold 
 Coast. Sir Charles at once adopted the policy 
 of protecting the coast tribes against the 
 Ashantis. The king of Ashanti soon again 
 proceeded to hostilities. A sergeant of the 
 British service was carried off from Annam- 
 aboe, and executed, on the ground that he had 
 spoken disrespectfully of the king of Ashanti. 
 The king wrote to the Governor that he would 
 convert his head into an ornament of the royal 
 death-drum; negotiations through the Dutch 
 Governor of Elmina failed ; and the Ashantis
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 7 
 
 in 1823 invaded the territory of Wassaw, on 
 the right bank of the Prah, driving before them 
 the allied native forces. 
 
 Sir Charles at once decided on crossing the 
 Prah, and meeting the enemy ; and resolved to 
 push forward a small force from a camp which 
 he had formed at Jooquah. The troops which 
 he had under his own command were only 80 
 natives, recently enlisted for the Royal African 
 Corps, together with the band of that corps ; 
 170 native militia; and about 240 unorganised 
 native levies. With these he crossed the Prah, 
 on the 13th January 1824, and advanced to As- 
 samacow, without waiting for a force of nearly 
 2000 men, under command of Major Chisholm, 
 which he had sent to call in from its original 
 destination on the left bank of the Prah. On 
 the 19th he advanced to the banks of the small 
 river Adoomansoo, where with great difficulty 
 he had induced the retreating Wassaws and 
 Denkaras to halt. 
 
 About 2 P.M. on the 21st, the Ashantis, to
 
 8 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 the reported number of 10,000, advanced and 
 attacked. An action ensued, and lasted till 
 dark. Early in the action the Wassaws re- 
 treated. By 4 P.M. the twenty rounds of 
 ammunition all the troops were supplied with 
 were expended. No more was at hand. Mr 
 Brandon, the ordnance storekeeper, had only 
 one barrel of powder and some ball with him, 
 though ordered to have forty rounds per man, 
 in kegs ready for issue. Eicketts says the 
 carriers refused to advance with the ammuni- 
 tion, and most of them ran away. A rumour 
 says that the kegs were opened, and found to 
 contain vermicelli; but there is no authentic 
 evidence to that effect. At all events, ammu- 
 nition failed. Then the Ashantis crossed the 
 river, and sent large parties round the flanks, 
 through the bush. The king of Denkara 
 remained with his followers, bravely fighting; 
 and Sir Charles joined him, vainly trying to 
 summon the men of the African Corps to 
 retreat. The bush was too dense for orders to
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 9 
 
 be given in any way except by sound ; and no 
 bugles were at hand. A round of loose mus- 
 ket-balls was fired from a small brass gun, but 
 had no effect in checking the enemy, who sur- 
 rounded the small force. Sir Charles Mac- 
 arthy, trying to escape with Mr Buckle, Ensign 
 Wetherell, and Mr Williams, was shot down. 
 Wetherell, himself badly wounded, tried to 
 defend his chief ; but all, except Mr Williams, 
 were beheaded ; and Sir Charles Macarthy's 
 head is said now to adorn the royal palace at 
 Coomassie. Mr Williams was carried off as a 
 prisoner, and cruelly treated for two months. 
 Of twelve officers, nine were killed, and three 
 badly wounded none escaped unhurt. Major 
 Kicketts, one of the survivors, has written a 
 narrative of the expedition ; and his book, from 
 which these details are taken, bears unmistak- 
 able traces of the terror and alarm he under- 
 went, and the effect on his mind of his personal 
 sufferings. 
 
 After this victory, the Ashantis remained
 
 10 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 for some time inactive. Major Chisholm re- 
 tired with his troops to Cape Coast. The 
 Fantis, however, running short of supplies, 
 crossed the Prah to attack the Ashantis, but 
 their courage failed ; they fell back, and a 
 party of Koyal African troops, sent to make a 
 simultaneous flank attack, fell back on Cape 
 Coast. 
 
 On this the Ashantis advanced, and again, 
 on 25th April, attacked the allies. On this 
 occasion they employed the following tactics : 
 their centre fell back before the enemy, who 
 was thus induced to press forward between 
 their wings, when these fell on his flanks, 
 and the Fantis were demoralised and de- 
 feated. 
 
 On the 21st May, Major Chisholm, with some 
 6000 men, attacked an Ashanti force said to 
 be 10,000 strong near Cape Coast. They had 
 cleared a space in front of the wooded heights 
 which they held. Again flanking tactics were 
 tried; but this time they failed. Again the
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. II 
 
 Fantis ran away, and the earners also, leav- 
 ing the troops without water, and making it 
 impossible for them to take advantage of their 
 victory, if so it could be called. 
 
 On 23d June the Ashantis had advanced 
 so near to Cape Coast that the seamen and 
 marines were landed for its defence from the 
 ships in the roads. But no attack took place. 
 
 On llth July, a native force from Accra 
 and other auxiliaries having arrived, a general 
 engagement took place, but without decisive 
 results. The forces lay opposite each other 
 till the night of the 13th, when the Ashantis 
 retired, remaining, however, in the Fanti terri- 
 tory, and living upon it for many months un- 
 molested, till smallpox committed such ravages 
 in their camp that in the following year (1824) 
 they retired into the interior. 
 
 Nothing worthy of relation took place now 
 till the second half of 1826, when the Ashantis 
 again advanced coastwards, in number, it is 
 said, about 10,000. On the 19th September
 
 12 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 they were signally defeated at Dodowah, about 
 24 miles N.E. of Accra, by a force composed 
 of native allies led by English officers and 
 others, and the Koyal African Corps, in all 
 about 11,000. The allies took the offensive, 
 and their form of attack seems to have been 
 an advance from the centre. But the Dutch 
 and Danish native contingent on the left fall- 
 ing back, the flank of the centre became 
 exposed, and the centre had to retreat. A 
 strong reserve fortunately came up, and turned 
 the tide of action, while some rockets exercised 
 a powerful demoralising effect on the enemy. 
 On the left, where the enemy was advanc- 
 ing, and forcing back the Winnebahs, a few 
 rounds of grape drove him back in flight ; 
 while on our right the king of Akim scattered 
 all before him, and penetrated to the very 
 heart of the enemy's camp. 
 
 The Ashanti army was routed ; their whole 
 camp, baggage, and gold taken ; yet the num- 
 ber of men on our side armed with muskets
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 13 
 
 was only 380, and most of the fighting was 
 with the knife. 
 
 Then the country was, by this victory, 
 freed for many a long year from further in- 
 vasion. Fighting power, the one argument 
 that a savage understands, had been displayed. 
 The lesson was a signal one. It remained long 
 engrafted on the memory of the Ashantis. A 
 few disciplined troops with modern appliances 
 of war, and a few Englishmen leading the 
 native levies, had told with stunning effect. 
 On 1st September 1827, messengers arrived 
 from Coomassie, saying that "the king of 
 Ashanti found it was no use fighting against 
 white men, and wished to make peace, and 
 be in future subservient to them." 
 
 Envoys were sent to Coomassie, and nego- 
 tiations entered into ; a draft treaty was agreed 
 upon, and drawn up in December 1827, but 
 was not finally adopted ; and it was not till 
 1831 that a final peace was declared. 
 , Meanwhile, in 1828, the disasters attending
 
 14 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 the proceedings of Sir Charles Macarthy, and 
 the decline of commerce on the coast, induced 
 the Government to withdraw all the public 
 establishments from the coast, and to transfer 
 the government of them to a company of 
 African merchants. Captain Maclean, so well 
 known as the husband of L. E. L., went out as 
 Governor. 
 
 The treaty of 1831 was concluded by him. 
 The king of Ashanti sent his son and his 
 nephew as hostages to Cape Coast Castle, and 
 lodged 600 ounces of gold as security for 
 his future good conduct. 
 
 Here is an extract from that treaty, signed 
 by the kings of Ashanti, Cape Coast, Fanti, 
 Annamaboe, Denkara, Tufel, Wassaw, Assim, 
 and all other chiefs in alliance with the king 
 of Great Britain, on the one hand ; and on the 
 other hand, by Governor Maclean on behalf of 
 the king of England : 
 
 " The king of Ashanti having deposited in 
 Cape Coast Castle, in the presence of the above-
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 15 
 
 mentioned parties, the sum of 600 ounces of 
 gold, and having delivered into the hands of 
 the Governor two young men of the royal 
 family of Ashanti, named ' Ossor Ansah ' and 
 ' Ossoo In Quantamissah,' as security that he 
 will keep peace with the said parties in all 
 time coming, peace is hereby declared betwixt 
 the said king of Ashanti and all and each of 
 the parties aforesaid, to continue in all time 
 coming. 
 
 " As the king of Ashanti has renounced 
 all right or title to any tribute or homage from 
 the kings of Denkara, Assim, and others for- 
 merly his subjects, so, on the other hand, 
 these parties are strictly prohibited from in- 
 sulting, by improper speaking or in any other 
 way, their former master, such conduct being 
 calculated to produce quarrels and wars." 
 
 The points to which I would direct your 
 attention here are : (1.) The renunciation by 
 the king of Ashanti of all right or title to
 
 16 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 any tribute or homage from the kings formerly 
 his subjects. 
 
 (2.) The obligation on the Fantis not to 
 molest the people of Ashanti, or in any way 
 insult the king. There is a mutual obligation, 
 one which, it seems to me, should be en- 
 forced on both sides. 
 
 (3.) The manner in which palavers are to 
 be decided. They were to be settled in the 
 manner agreed upon in the draft treaty of 
 1827, thus : any dispute between the kings 
 was to be referred to the British Governor for 
 arbitration ; and on no account were the kings 
 to make war upon each other. 
 
 From the date of this treaty of 1831 there 
 was a long interval of peace. 
 
 Nothing farther of interest occurred till 
 1840, when Dr Madden was sent out by Lord 
 John Russell as Commissioner of Inquiry, to 
 report on questions connected with the slave- 
 trade, and how far the existing system of gov- 
 ernment in Western Africa favoured conniv- 
 ance with that trade. He reported in July
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 17 
 
 1841, and advised that the colonies of the 
 Gold Coast should be retained, but that they 
 should be governed very differently, as their 
 existing government favoured the slave-trade ; 
 and, in consequence of this report, a Select 
 Committee of the House of Commons was ap- 
 pointed to consider the state of the British 
 possessions on the West Coast of Africa. It 
 reported in 1842, and recommended the re- 
 sumption of the government by the Crown, 
 the occupation of all abandoned forts, and the 
 construction of some new ones. It recom- 
 mended that all jurisdiction over the native 
 tribes beyond the immediate radius of the forts 
 should be the subject of distinct agreement 
 with them, " not the allegiance of subjects, but 
 the deference of weaker powers to a stronger 
 and more enlightened neighbour." 
 
 Accordingly, in the year 1843, the Crown 
 reassumed the government of the forts on the 
 Gold Coast, and appointed a governor, taking 
 the forts into its maintenance. 
 
 B
 
 1 8 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 And in 1844, a treaty was signed between 
 Governor Hill and the Fanti kings and 
 chiefs of Denkara, Abrah, Assim, Donadie, 
 Donomassie, Annamaboe, and Cape Coast, by 
 which they acknowledged the power and 
 jurisdiction of her Majesty, and consented 
 to the customs of the country being moulded 
 according to the principles of British law. 
 Thus our right to govern and legislate for 
 them was established, and a judicial as- 
 sessor appointed to administer justice. Still 
 we find no definite promise on our part to 
 give protection in exchange for our rights 
 over them though it can scarcely be doubted 
 that some such obligation was morally in- 
 curred. 
 
 The next event of interest is the mission 
 in 1848 of Governor Winniett to Coomassie, 
 to negotiate for the abolition of human sacri- 
 fices. Starting on 28th September from Cape 
 Coast, he reached Coomassie on the 9th October, 
 and had a most friendly interview with the 
 king, who assured him he was reducing
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 19 
 
 the number of these sacrifices. Governor 
 Winniett's report of his journey is very 
 meagre, and the topographical information 
 contained in it of but little value. One 
 gathers that the heavy rains produced some 
 sickness in the party, though nothing of 
 serious moment. 
 
 The treaty of 1831, construed together 
 with the unsigned treaty of 1827 and the 
 bond of 1844, formed up to 1852 the only 
 documents which defined the position of the 
 British Government, Ashanti, and the Fanti 
 tribes. In the year 1852 a fresh engage- 
 ment was entered into by the Governor of 
 the Gold Coast at a general meeting of the 
 Chiefs of the Protectorate ; and it was re- 
 solved " that this meeting constitute itself a 
 Legislative Assembly, with power to enact 
 laws." Also, the Assembly, " having taken 
 into consideration the advantage of British 
 protection, consider it reasonable that the 
 natives should contribute to the support of 
 the Government," and a poll-tax was agreed
 
 20 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 to. This ordinance received the sanction of 
 the Home Government. 
 
 From this date, then, 1852, the claim of 
 the native tribes to our protection ceases to 
 be a matter of doubt ; a distinct moral obli- 
 gation is incurred by the British Government 
 to protect the tribes who pay a tax " in 
 consideration of the advantage of British pro- 
 tection." The unwritten obligation has be- 
 come a written one. 
 
 In this same year, 1852, commenced a new 
 difficulty. Cudjoe Chibbo, a chief of Assim, 
 having received bribes from the king of 
 Ashanti to bring his people under the au- 
 thority of that monarch, and having com- 
 mitted other offences, defying the authority 
 of Governor Hill, was apprehended and tried 
 before a Court of Chiefs presided over by the 
 Governor. Being convicted, he was sentenced 
 to imprisonment for life, and confined in Cape 
 Coast Castle. 
 
 We gain here from the Governor's despatch
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 21 
 
 an insight into the springs moving the Ashantis 
 at this time towards war. There was, he 
 says , " a strong war party in Ashanti ; " and 
 there was a general belief at Cape Coast that 
 " could the Ashantis induce the Assims, Akims, 
 Aquapims, and other nations who formerly 
 acknowledged their authority, but are now 
 under our flag, to return to them, it would be 
 impossible to preserve peace, as the Ashantis 
 like war, as leading to the capture of slaves 
 for sacrifice, with plunder, and cannot forget 
 their former sway over the whole of these set- 
 tlements, and the large revenue extorted, from 
 these unfortunate Fantis." The Governor be- 
 lieved it was only the peaceable disposition of 
 the reigning king that prevented a collision 
 between Ashanti and the Fanti states. 
 
 A few days after the trial Governor Hill 
 restored Cudjoe Chibbo, on the full admission 
 by himself and the other chiefs of his guilt, and 
 of the justice of the punishment ; and on their 
 urgent request that he should be restored.
 
 22 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 But the Governor exacted hostages from all 
 the chiefs of Assim, and required that all the 
 Assims still remaining on the Ashanti bank of 
 the river Prah should cross to the other bank, 
 and live under English * rule, and that the 
 Assims and Fantis should make a military 
 road from Cape Coast to the river Prah, a 
 distance of some ninety miles. Unfortunately 
 this last stipulation was never carried into 
 effect. 
 
 On 22d March 1853, Governor Hill learned 
 that the Ashantis had crossed the frontier 
 in force to take away Cudjoe Chibbo and 
 another chief, who had, by accepting bribes, 
 brought themselves, by native custom, under 
 Ashanti rule. At the same time the king of 
 Ashanti sent a letter alleging a most palp- 
 able excuse of an entirely different character 
 namely, that he wanted to make a " custom " 
 for another king, who had been dead for many 
 years, and had always fought against Ashanti. 
 But the Ashanti chief captain acknowledged
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 23 
 
 that the king's real design was to seize these 
 chiefs, who had accepted bribes. 
 
 Cudjoe Chibbo had been brought into Cape 
 Coast for safety, and a large Ashanti force was 
 crossing the Prah. But the very judicious 
 conduct of Ensign Brownell, who was sent with 
 a very small force, and orders not to fire a shot 
 except in self-defence, and to do all in his 
 power to induce the Ashantis to retire amica- 
 bly, were successful. They had brought 7000 
 men into Assim territory; yet, while the Gover- 
 nor was anticipating war, and applying for re- 
 inforcements, the king sent to Mr Brownell to 
 express his anxiety for peace with the English 
 Government, and desired his troops torecross the 
 Prah. This they did, and Mr Brownell and his 
 forces accompanied them across and returned. 
 
 Governor Hill at first feared the return of 
 the Ashantis, for he could place no reliance on 
 the king's promises. 
 
 The following are extracts from his de- 
 spatches :
 
 24 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 " Your Grace will perceive, on perusing Mr 
 Laing's communications, that although the king 
 of Ashanti denied any intentions of making 
 war, yet he positively sent his army direct from 
 his capital for that purpose, and I firmly be- 
 lieve, had we been unprepared, hostilities were 
 intended ; but as the Ashanti commanders 
 found so strong a force in their front and on 
 their flanks, with a rapid river in their rear, 
 and our allies, supported by Regular soldiers 
 and British officers, having with them rockets 
 and field-guns, and, as very fortunately hap- 
 pened, also a good military road up to their 
 camp, which I had been making some months, 
 foreseeing what has occurred, they no doubt 
 considered the result of a battle under such 
 circumstances might bring destruction on their 
 forces, and therefore they most reluctantly re- 
 tired. . . . 
 
 " I need not say that if it were not for the 
 expense and exposure of the few white officers 
 in this deadly climate, a contest with Ashanti
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 25 
 
 and the destruction of that power would not 
 only be a war of humanity and civilisation, but 
 it would open the interior of this country to 
 mercantile enterprise, and enable those now shut 
 out, and under the yoke of those bloodthirsty 
 people, to enjoy the blessings of a mild govern- 
 ment, and hear the Gospel truth preached to 
 them ; as when we look into the history of the 
 Ashantis, it is revolting to humanity to know 
 that, as a common average, at least 3000 per- 
 sons are sacrificed annually to their supersti- 
 tious rites, and on some occasions 3000 have 
 been slaughtered on one royal grave. I regret 
 to state that such are, and have ever been, the 
 customs of those people." 
 
 This proves once more the value of showing 
 a strong front to Ashanti aggression, the value 
 of the British assistance to the allies, and the 
 nature of the enemy with whom we have to 
 deal. 
 
 From 1853 to 1863 there was peace. But 
 in December 1862 the king of Ashanti de-
 
 26 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 manded from Governor Pine the restoration of 
 a runaway boy-slave, and the delivery of an old 
 chief accused of appropriating gold belonging 
 to the king. Governor Pine refused to deliver 
 up these persons ; the slave boy would have 
 been killed immediately; there was no evi- 
 dence offered against the chief. The Governor 
 told the king that if he would send evidence 
 of the old man's guilt, he would give him up, 
 but not otherwise. 
 
 This was, I need scarcely remind you, as 
 regards the old man, in accordance with the 
 usage of all civilised nations ; and as regards 
 the slave, the British policy is well known to 
 you all. The British flag can never float o'er 
 a slave, once under that flag, the slave be- 
 comes a free man. 
 
 What the Government of the day thought 
 of Governor Pine's conduct is shown by the 
 following extract from a despatch sent to him 
 by the Duke of Newcastle : 
 
 " I entirely approve of your having refused
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 2/ 
 
 to surrender to the king of Ashanti the old 
 man and boy who had been brought into 
 British territory. No person once brought 
 within the limits of a British possession can be 
 then seized and handed over to a foreign power, 
 except under sanction of the law of the colony. 
 And no law should authorise such delivery to 
 the authorities of a country in which justice is 
 not fairly administered, except in the case of 
 heinous crimes." 
 
 I am reminded also of the famous dictum 
 I cannot give you its exact words how, 
 when applied to for the reddition of a slave, 
 the judge ruled, "I know no law for such an 
 end ; and if there were such a law, there ought 
 not to be." 
 
 But the king of Ashanti, whose emissaries 
 at Cape Coast had shown a diplomatic power 
 worthy of Machiavelli, had been entering into 
 negotiations with the king of Elmina ; had pur- 
 chased large quantities of arms and ammuni- 
 tion ; and replied to Governor Pine, complain-
 
 28 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 ing of his " guiltiness " in this matter, and in 
 others purely fictitious. 
 
 Parties of Ashantis commenced to overrun 
 
 
 
 the Protectorate, and their commander sent a 
 messenger, making a new demand. He now 
 claimed the delivery up of a certain king, 
 Adjiman, " who had previously insulted and 
 wronged his father." If, he said, his request 
 were complied with, then the war would be 
 short. If not, he, the prince, would remain 
 in the territory for years. Already, when this 
 message was sent, the Ashantis had pillaged 
 and burnt thirty villages, and slain several 
 hundreds of Fantis. 
 
 On 22d August 1863, Governor Pine refused 
 to hold any further communication with the 
 king till he should withdraw and make redress 
 for these wrongs. Foreseeing the probability 
 of a serious and lingering war, he made this 
 proposal to the Home Government : 
 
 " It is with the deepest regret that I find 
 myself involved, in spite of all my precautions,
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 29 
 
 in a serious, and, I fear, lingering war ; but 
 such being the case, I will not conceal from 
 your Grace the earnest desire that I entertain 
 that a final blow shall be struck at Ashanti 
 power, and the question set at rest for ever, as 
 to whether an arbitrary, cruel, and sanguinary 
 monarch shall be for ever permitted to insult 
 the British flag, and outrage the laws of civi- 
 lisation. 
 
 " This desirable object can be attained only 
 by the possession of such a force as I fear the 
 Governor of these settlements can never hope 
 to command, unless your Grace should be 
 pleased to urge upon her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment the policy, the economy, and even the 
 mercy of transporting to the shores an army 
 of such strength as would, combined with the 
 allied native forces, enable us to march to 
 Coomassie, and there plant the British flag. 
 
 " To a stranger, the course I point out may 
 appear a visionary one, but I am convinced 
 that, even with all the disadvantages of climate,
 
 30 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 the expedition would not be so dangerous, so 
 fatal, or accompanied with such loss of life as 
 have attended expeditions in other and ap- 
 parently more genial climes; and with 2000 
 disciplined soldiers, followed by upwards of 
 50,000 native forces, who require only to be 
 led and inspired with confidence by the pre- 
 sence of organised troops, I would undertake 
 (driving the hordes of Ashanti before me) to 
 march to Coomassie. 
 
 "As the case now stands, the most I can hope 
 is, to drive the Ashantis from the Protector- 
 ate, without the chance of administering that 
 chastisement, or demanding that retribution, 
 which is so justly due to its inhabitants and 
 remain in constant dread of subsequent incur- 
 sions of a powerful enemy." 
 
 For such an expedition permission from 
 home was necessary ; and it was, to the Gov- 
 ernor's disappointment, withheld. He then 
 found it necessary to take some other steps, as 
 the protected tribes " had wellriigh lost their
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 31 
 
 confidence in British protection." He there- 
 fore, in December 1863, having previously 
 formed a camp at Mansue, decided that a 
 military party should advance towards the 
 Prah, there encamp, and form a depot, which 
 would, he hoped, induce the king of Ashanti 
 to make peace. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 29th December, he 
 marched some companies of West India troops 
 to Prahsue. The marches averaged fourteen 
 miles a-day, the roads having been previously 
 cleared and widened ; ten miles from the coast 
 the bush was entered, and the streams were 
 generally dried up, or else very small. On 
 the banks of the Prah they encamped, under 
 shelter- tents, on bad and wet ground. .At 
 first the novelty and interest kept the men up 
 under constant fatigue. They were reported 
 in good spirits and fair health, busily employ- 
 ed in erecting stockades, completing huts, and 
 constructing a bridge. This was even so late 
 as the beginning of March 1864. But the
 
 32 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 rains set in early ; work was impossible ; and 
 inaction, that deadly foe of man in hot cli- 
 mates, did its work. Depression set in, and 
 the men became ill. By 31st March there 
 were from 80 to 90 men in hospital out of a 
 force of 360. The hospital accommodation 
 was very bad, the men lying on the ground 
 with pools of water round them. 
 
 Under these circumstances three companies 
 Avere withdrawn to Cape Coast, taking six days 
 to get back. Two companies still remained at 
 Prahsue, and one at Swadroo. Early in June, 
 half of the entire detachment of 100 left at 
 Prahsue were sick, the camp flooded by rains. 
 Not till 13th June were they withdrawn to 
 Cape Coast. 
 
 For five months these men had been en- 
 camped on this river, three months during 
 the rainy season. 
 
 The troops employed, say the medical re- 
 ports, were bad subjects. These natives suffer 
 more from the effects of climate than white
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 33 
 
 men do. They had been attacked by fever 
 and dysentery immediately on their arrival at 
 Cape Coast in 1863, and were not wholly re- 
 covered when marched up country. They had 
 everything against them, heavy duties no 
 excitement of the presence of an enemy food 
 worse than they were usually accustomed to 
 excessively wet weather, which no troops can 
 bear to be encamped under in the middle of an 
 African forest. These also were black troops, 
 who have none of the hardihood and spirited 
 endurance of the white man. 
 
 Is it not wonderful that one man of them all 
 returned ? Surely it would have been far less 
 risk to have carried out that active aggressive 
 
 oo 
 
 movement which the Duke of Newcastle had 
 conditionally sanctioned, but which his suc- 
 cessor in office refused to approve.
 
 34 
 
 II. 
 
 THE RELATIONS BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN, THE 
 PROTECTED TRIBES, AND ASHANTI, WITH 
 THE CAUSES OF THE ASHANTI WAR COH- 
 
 tinued. 
 
 THE last paper closed with a sketch of the 
 abortive effort of 1864. Every failure, or, in 
 other words, every appearance of weakness 
 and inability to oppose or punish the king 
 of Ashanti, seems to have been followed by 
 insubordinate conduct on the part of one or 
 other of the tribes in the Protectorate. 
 
 Thus, in 1865, Aggery, the king of Cape 
 Coast, claimed jurisdiction upon ground actu- 
 ally within a few yards of our forts ; and upon
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 35 
 
 Governor Pine's resisting the claim, the king 
 became " insolent and offensive," and the Gov- 
 ernor refused to recognise him any longer as 
 king. Some months afterwards, Colonel Con- 
 ran, administering the Government in place 
 of Governor Pine, made a prisoner of King 
 Ortabil of Goomoah, who had made war on 
 another king in the Protectorate; and a few 
 weeks later arrested Aggery, and sent him off 
 at the end of 1866 to Sierra Leone. Colonel 
 Conran reported that Aggery evidently desired 
 " not only to make himself independent of the 
 administrator of the Gold Coast, but chief of 
 the whole Protectorate; in short, paramount 
 to the Queen's representative." 
 
 The Home Government approved of Agge- 
 ry 's deposition, and allowed him a pension of 
 100 for life. 
 
 In this, as in the later affairs of which I 
 shall presently have to speak, we find the 
 native lawyers exercising an evil influence 
 over the kings and chiefs. Colonel Conran
 
 36 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 writes in February 1866 of " the so-called 
 scholars " (those natives who can read and 
 write) and petty native lawyers, who cling 
 like leeches to the skirts of their more ignor- 
 ant kings and chiefs for the sake of gain, for 
 the mere writing of the commonest of letters 
 to the Government, and especially the Chief 
 Justice's Department, giving the greatest 
 trouble, and causing, what is much worse, the 
 greatest discontent. 
 
 We must now speak of another question, on 
 which grave subsequent events will be found 
 to hinge. 
 
 You are aware that the British were not 
 the only possessors of forts on the Gold Coast, 
 and that the Danes and the Dutch had seve- 
 ral forts dotted in between ours on the coast. 
 The Danish forts had been purchased by us in 
 1850. But the Dutch forts still remained 
 interspersed with ours. Some of the tribes 
 round these Dutch forts were under our pro- 
 tection, some under the Dutch ; and different
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 37 
 
 customs duties were levied by the Dutch and 
 ourselves. Broils constantly arose between 
 the Dutch and English protected tribes ; and 
 in March 1866 our Lieutenant - Governor 
 wrote : " I often heard that it was the inten- 
 tion of her Majesty's Government to come to 
 an understanding with the Dutch as regards 
 a fair division of this coast, allowing them to 
 take the control and protection of all lying 
 westward from the Sweet River, situated 
 between Cape Coast and Elmina, our Gov- 
 ernment taking the coast from the Sweet 
 River eastward to the Volta, with all territory 
 in the rear, from the sea as far as the Ashanti 
 and other foreign boundaries would admit of. 
 I see no other means but this of enabling us 
 to steer clear of trouble and broils constantly 
 arising amongst all parties. The Apollonia 
 and Wassaw districts are rich in gold, on the 
 west ; whilst Accra and the eastern districts 
 are also rich in trade in other respects." 
 
 On the 5th of March 1867, a convention
 
 38 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 was concluded between her Majesty the 
 Queen of England and the King of the 
 Netherlands, by which the Dutch ceded to us 
 all their possessions east of the Sweet Eiver, 
 and we to them all our possessions west of it. 
 The boundary was thus defined : 
 
 " The boundary between the possessions of 
 her Britannic Majesty and those of his Ma- 
 jesty the King of the Netherlands will be a 
 line drawn true north from the centre of the 
 mouth of the Sweet River, as far as the 
 boundary of the present Ashanti kingdom, 
 but with such deviations within three English 
 miles of the coast as shall be necessary to 
 retain within British territory any villages 
 which have been in habitual dependence on 
 the Netherland Government at St George 
 d'Elmina." 
 
 This definition is remarkable, because we here 
 actually assume as " possessions " the whole 
 territory east of the Sweet Eiver, up to the 
 boundary of the Ashanti kingdom.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 39 
 
 By this treaty, which came into effect on 
 1st January 1868, the British handed over 
 Apollonia, Dixcove, Secondee, and Com- 
 mendah ; and received Moree, Cormantyne, 
 Apam, and Dutch Accra. Her Majesty's 
 Government also relinquished to the Dutch 
 the Protectorate over Eastern and Western 
 Wassaw, Apollonia, and Denkara. 
 
 We have not on board our ship any books 
 relating to the correspondence preceding this 
 exchange of territory ; but many circumstances 
 lead me to believe that it was effected without 
 any consultation with the tribes affected by 
 the treaty. 
 
 Commendah refused to accept the Dutch 
 Protectorate, and attacked a boat's crew of the 
 Dutch navy sent to reconnoitre, killing seve- 
 ral of them, and capturing others, who were 
 subsequently, through British intervention, 
 released on payment of ransom. The Dutch 
 avenged this insult to their flag by destroying 
 Commendah. At Dixcove also there was a
 
 40 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 disturbance, the people objecting to their 
 transfer to the Dutch. 
 
 These difficulties, serious in their nature 
 adding to, as they did, rather than diminish- 
 ing the previous complications induced the 
 Dutch to enter willingly into negotiations with 
 the British Government for the transfer to 
 her Majesty of all the Dutch forts and settle- 
 ments on the Gold Coast, which they had used 
 chiefly as a recruiting-ground for sailors and 
 labourers for Java. From this measure our 
 Government anticipated great advantages : 
 
 One uniform system of customs duties could 
 be established along the whole coast. 
 
 All the tribes would be under the same 
 protection, and the same system could be 
 applied to them all. 
 
 The influence exerted by the British in the 
 direction of civilisation, and the abolition of 
 horrible customs, such as human sacrifice and 
 the worst forms of slavery, could be brought 
 to bear on those tribes among whom the Dutch
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 41 
 
 had hitherto tacitly sanctioned these barbar- 
 ous customs, by abstaining from even moral 
 interference. 
 
 But grave difficulties arose at the outset of 
 negotiations; and as these have much to do 
 with the expedition on which we are engaged, 
 we must endeavour to analyse them somewhat 
 carefully. 
 
 There has been for long two hundred years 
 or so a mutual hatred between the Fantis and 
 the Elminas. 
 
 The Fantis also, as we have seen, have re- 
 peatedly been at war with the Ashantis. 
 
 The Elminas, on the other hand, have 
 maintained most friendly relations with the 
 Ashantis. 
 
 Now, the Commendahs are Fantis, and the 
 Fantis, " regarding the Elminas as the insti- 
 gators and abettors of the destroyers of their 
 houses and homes," regarding, in fact, "the 
 Dutch and Elminas as one power " (I am quot- 
 ing Sir A. Kennedy), retaliated on Elmina.
 
 42 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 They had another cause of quarrel with 
 Elmina. 
 
 Atjempon or Akempon, an Ashanti chief, 
 had marched with some hundreds of followers 
 from Ashanti through Fanti, committing great 
 atrocities on the road, devastating the country, 
 killing some, and sending others off into 
 slavery; and he was now, at the end of 1869 
 and beginning of 1870, living quietly at 
 Elmina with his people, aiding the Elminas 
 against the Fantis, and drawing subsistence 
 from the Dutch Governor. 
 
 These causes led the Fantis to invade the 
 Elmina territory. Aided by the Denkaras, 
 they destroyed some sixty villages west of the 
 Sweet River, took the whole of the crops, and 
 blockaded the Dutch in their forts. 
 
 At this point you must distinctly understand 
 that there had never been any complete peace 
 or permanent cessation of hostilities between 
 the Ashantis and the British protected tribes 
 since the affair of 1863-64.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 43 
 
 You must also notice these two important 
 points : 
 
 First, The king of Ashanti was holding 
 captive at Coomassie some missionaries whom 
 his general, Adoo Boffoo, had, in 1869, in- 
 veigled into his power from their settlements 
 on the Volta, and carried off as prisoners. 
 There were two Germans, Messrs Kuehne and 
 Ramsey er, the latter having his wife and child 
 with him ; a Frenchman, M. Bonnat ; and a 
 native of Accra, Mr Palmer. These persons 
 had not been fighting ; they had committed no 
 act of hostility. The Ashantis found them in 
 their peaceable home at Anam, which is about 
 five miles distant from the Volta, on the other 
 side, and enticed them away, under the pre- 
 tence that Adoo Boffoo wished to see them, and 
 speak with them. As soon as they were on the 
 way, they were shamefully and cruelly treated 
 as enemies, and afterwards dragged to Coo- 
 massie. 
 
 Secondly, The British Government having
 
 44 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 endeavoured to put an end to the Fanti 
 invasion of Elmina, by stopping supplies of 
 arms and ammunition to the Fantis, a party of 
 small speculators and traders formed a so-called 
 " Fanti Confederation " of the various Fanti 
 tribes, and drew up a constitution known as 
 " the Mankessim constitution." A small native 
 trader proposed himself as President of the 
 Confederacy, and ordered a gold-laced suit of 
 uniform from England, in anticipation of his 
 election. But the acting administrator of the 
 Government, Mr Salmon, viewed the matter in 
 a very different light ; and when copies of the 
 " constitution " were brought down to Cape 
 Coast, he refused to receive them, and con- 
 signed to prison the three officials of the Con- 
 federation who brought them, on a charge of 
 conspiracy to subvert the rule of her Majesty 
 on the Gold Coast. 
 
 These speculations had a great share in the 
 continuance of the invasion of Elmina by the 
 Fantis. Their object in the so-called Confede-
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 45 
 
 ration seems to have been to get into Fanti 
 hands the moneys collected by way of customs 
 duties ; and one may fairly assume that the 
 motive was to make the money change hands 
 again as soon as possible. 
 
 Let me remined you, then, of the condition 
 of affairs at this time, the beginning of the 
 year 1870. 
 
 No peace with Ashanti since 1863. 
 
 Ashanti allied with and aiding Elmina, 
 while Atjempon is at work attaching the 
 Elminas more firmly to Ashanti. 
 
 Elmina invaded by Fantis, who are bitterly 
 hostile to Ashanti. 
 
 The Assims (a Fanti tribe) closing the 
 coast road against Ashanti. 
 
 The Fantis shaken in their loyal allegiance 
 to the British by the evil influence of a num- 
 ber of agitators working for their own pur- 
 poses. 
 
 While matters were thus seething, negotia- 
 tions were going on, as we have seen, for the
 
 46 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 transfer of all the Dutch possessions to the 
 English. 
 
 At this time Sir Arthur Kennedy was 
 Governor-in-Chief ; and his correspondence with 
 the Dutch Governor, and the orders he received 
 from home, show the most careful determina- 
 tion on the part of the Government of Great 
 Britain not to effect the transfer, if it was 
 likely to cause any trouble with the native 
 tribes. Sir Arthur Kennedy was led to be- 
 lieve that the Elminas would offer no opposi- 
 tion to the transfer, if they were subsidised ; 
 that they had no treaties with Ashanti ; and 
 that the king of Ashanti had no recognised 
 claim on the territory or people of Elmina. 
 The proofs of this exist under the hand of the 
 Dutch Governor, Colonel Nagtglas. 
 
 Towards the end of 1870 it was distinctly 
 notified to Colonel Nagtglas that this country 
 could not complete the transfer while an 
 Ashanti force remained in the territory to be 
 ceded ; and Mr Ussher, administrator, wrote
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 47 
 
 to the king of Ashanti, saying that he ought 
 to give up the missionaries, and remove At- 
 jempon from Elmina, and Adoo Boffoo from the 
 Volta, before any amicable solution of our 
 difficulties could be attained. 
 
 At the same time, Mr Ussher issued a pro- 
 clamation to the Elminas, promising, in the 
 event of the transfer taking place, to respect 
 their feelings as much as possible, to protect 
 them against their enemies, and to give even 
 justice to them. He offered them the protec- 
 tion of the British flag, and showed how help- 
 less they would be alone, should they refuse to 
 accept that protection. 
 
 Later he made a distinct statement to Col- 
 onel Nagtglas that the British Government 
 " could not and would not purchase forts from 
 the Netherland Government, which lay under 
 the suspicion of being feudatory to a powerful 
 native prince, the traditional enemy of its 
 protected tribes." This despatch was written 
 because the king of Ashanti had written on the
 
 48 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 24th November 1870 that Elmina had from 
 time immemorial paid annual tribute to his 
 ancestors. 
 
 " I beg to bring before your Excellency's 
 kind consideration regarding the Elmina, if it 
 is included in the change. The fort of that 
 place have from time immemorial paid annual 
 tribute to my ancestors to the present time 
 by right of arms, when we conquered Tutim 
 Gackidi, king of Denkara. Tutim Gackidi 
 having purchased goods to the amount of 
 nine thousand pounds (9000) from the Dutch, 
 and not paying for them before we conquered 
 Tutim Gackidi, the Dutch demanded of my 
 father, Osai Tutu I., for the payment, who 
 (Osai Tutu) paid it full the nine thousand 
 pounds (9000), and the Dutch delivered the 
 Elmina to him as his own, and from that time 
 tribute has been paid to us to this present 
 time. I hope, therefore, your Excellency will 
 not include Elmina in the change, for it is 
 mine by right."
 
 FANT1 AND ASHANTI. 49 
 
 To this claim the Dutch Governor gave 
 a distinct denial. He said, and apparently 
 proved his case, that the 80 yearly was paid 
 not as a tribute, but more as a present, to keep 
 on friendly relations of trade. He said he 
 had taken much trouble to search records, and 
 never found the slightest proof that the king 
 of Ashanti has a claim of sovereignty on the 
 Dutch ports ; but the money had always been 
 paid under the name of subsistence. 
 
 Still the British would not treat till the 
 Dutch placed their title " beyond a doubt," a 
 first step to be Atjempon's expulsion from 
 Elmina. No treaty would be made while 
 such a claim was in force, backed apparently 
 by the presence of Atjempon and Ashanti 
 troops. 
 
 So the Dutch arrested Atjempon, and re- 
 fused to pay further stipend to the king of 
 Ashanti till he withdrew his claim to Elmina. 
 
 But again, on the 20th May 1871, the king 
 of Ashanti writes : 
 
 D
 
 50 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 " From the ancient up to this time Elmina 
 Castle is mine, and living with them as friends, 
 and they also paid yearly tribute to me ; but 
 as having understood that it is going in ex- 
 change to be under your Excellency's protec- 
 tion, I do not understand." 
 
 The Dutch Government now sent a Mr 
 Flange to Coomassie to bring round the king 
 of Ashanti, and the result was the transmission 
 of the following document to Mr Ussher :- 
 
 " 1. These are to certify that the letter 
 addressed to his Excellency H. T. Ussher, the 
 Administrator of her Britannic Majesty's 
 Settlements on the Gold Coast, dated Coo- 
 massie, 24th November 1870, by me, Coffie 
 Calcalli, King of Ashanti, residing at Coo- 
 massie kingdom, was totally misrepresented 
 on the part of the parties intrusted with the 
 writing and dictating. 
 
 " 2. I therefore do solemnly declare, in the 
 presence of your Excellency's ambassador, Mr
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 51 
 
 H. Flange, profession writer of the Govern- 
 ment Office at St George d'Elmina, and my 
 chiefs, that I only meant board wages or salary, 
 and not tribute by right of arms from the 
 Dutch Government. 
 
 " 3. On account of circumstances relative 
 to my ancestor, Osai Tutu the First, having 
 conquered Tutim Gackidi the then king of 
 Denakra, a friend or kind of commission 
 agent of some transactions for his Netherland 
 Majesty's Government on the Gold Coast, to 
 the amount of 9000, my said ancestor was 
 caused to make it good by the said Dutch 
 Government; and in virtue of which the 
 custom pay-note of the said Tutim Gackidi 
 was transferred to my said ancestor, who 
 enjoyed it in times immemorial, and became 
 heritable to his heirs the kings of Ashanti, 
 who now hold the said custom pay-note in 
 possession to this present moment. 
 
 " 4. The said 9000 was paid to insure friend- 
 ship and good will or feeling towards the
 
 52 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 Dutch Government on the Gold Coast Settle- 
 ment in Elmina Fort, castle or fort. 
 
 " 5. Tradition tells us that Ashanti and 
 Elmina are relatives ; offspring of one mother ; 
 they are brethren ; also they are not to have 
 hostilities against each other by oath of alle- 
 giance. 
 
 " 6. In conclusion, I must acknowledge 
 that the aforementioned letter, dated Coo- 
 massie, 24th November 1870, about my com- 
 munication to his Excellency H. T. Ussher, 
 concerning Elmina Fort, is a vague, formal, or 
 nominal expression, the sentiments of which I 
 therefore must now write that the whole is a 
 mistake. 
 
 " Signed in the presence of the ambassadors 
 and the chiefs." 
 
 This letter was openly and solemnly affirmed 
 by the king's two ambassadors before the 
 Dutch Governor, they renouncing all rights to 
 the Dutch forts on the coast ; and the Dutch 
 Governor now released Atjempon.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 53 
 
 On the strength of this document the transfer 
 was effected. Lord Kimberley wrote that the 
 Elminas were to be informed that after the 
 departure of the Dutch, British protection 
 would be extended to them, and the Fantis 
 would be required to desist from making any 
 attacks upon them. 
 
 Time quite forbids my entering into further 
 details of these negotiations. 
 
 The English were quite willing to pay even 
 a higher sum to the king of Ashanti than had 
 been paid by the Dutch, but not as tribute. 
 Lord Kimberley writes that "it is to be paid 
 as an inducement to him to maintain peace, 
 and to encourage trade, under such conditions 
 as might be required for the security of the 
 inhabitants of the coast." It was to be con- 
 tinued as " an annual gift which would be kept 
 up so long as his conduct is peaceful and other- 
 wise satisfactory to her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment." 
 
 On the 12th January 1872, the king of
 
 54 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 Elmina protested to the Netherlands Govern- 
 ment against the transfer, professing his desire 
 to remain faithful to the Dutch flag. But the 
 Dutch had decided to withdraw. The con- 
 vention for the transfer had been signed at the 
 Hague on the 25th February 1871, and rati- 
 fications were exchanged on the 1 7th February 
 1872. The Dutch ceded their whole forts, &c., 
 their stores being purchased for a sum which 
 was afterwards fixed at 3790, Is. 9^d. 
 
 There was, however, no desire on the part of 
 our Government to force the king of Elmina 
 under our protection ; only his position, should 
 he not come into it, had been pointed out to 
 him. 
 
 " It is true," Mr Ussher had said, " that we 
 do not wish to force our protection upon you, 
 and therefore you can remain, doubtless, under 
 no protection. But assuming that you refuse 
 our protection, and that the Netherlands Gov- 
 ernment, in pursuance of its own rights, shall 
 have abandoned its possessions, and ceded these
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 55 
 
 forts to us, have you considered your position ? 
 Are you in a position to protect yourselves 
 against the numerous tribes around you, with 
 whom you are already at war, supposing that, 
 by refusing the protection of her Majesty's 
 Government, you force that Government to 
 remain neutral after the departure of your 
 hitherto protecting power? 
 
 "These are grave questions for your con- 
 sideration, and I trust you will weigh them 
 well." 
 
 " In conclusion, I again desire to assure 
 you of a just and moderate rule from her Ma- 
 jesty's Government, and of impartial protec- 
 tion in every way, consistently with sense 
 and reason, should the proposed transfer be 
 concluded." 
 
 Mr Pope Hennessy was now sent out 
 (in February 1872) by the Home Govern- 
 ment, to effect the transfer of the Dutch forts. 
 He was instructed that the transfer was 
 agreed to "in reliance on the Dutch power
 
 56 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 to transfer them peaceably, and without 
 giving rise to any acts such as had taken 
 place in 1868." 
 
 Her Majesty's Government had no inten- 
 tion of assuming a British protectorate over 
 those native tribes without their consent, 
 and the case of the Elminas was specially 
 brought to his notice; they were to be dis- 
 tinctly told that they would not be required 
 to place themselves under British protection 
 against their will. 
 
 " The objects," say his instructions, " which 
 her Majesty's Government have throughout 
 had in view in negotiating this treaty, are 
 not the acquisition of territory, or the exten- 
 sion of British power, but the maintenance 
 of tranquillity, and the promotion of peaceful 
 commerce on the coast ; and nothing could 
 be farther from their wish than that a treaty 
 made with these objects should be carried 
 into effect by violent measures. At the 
 same time, they trust that by judicious and
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 57 
 
 cautious management, the excitement which 
 may possibly arise upon an event of so much 
 importance as the retirement of the Dutch 
 from the coast, may not lead to any serious 
 difficulties ; and I need not say that they 
 would greatly regret that arrangements which 
 they believe are calculated to be of much 
 benefit to the whole population, by putting 
 an end to old feuds and difficulties, insepar- 
 able from the division of authority which 
 has hitherto prevailed on the coast, should be 
 frustrated by the jealousies of the native tribes. 
 " But you will on no account employ force 
 to compel the natives to acquiesce in the 
 transfer of the forts; and if you find that 
 the attempt to assume possession of the forts 
 on the part of the British authorities would 
 probably be followed by resistance on the 
 part of the surrounding native tribes, you 
 will not accept the transfer of the forts, but 
 will report the circumstances to her Majesty's 
 Government, and await further instructions."
 
 58 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 Mr Pope Hennessy arrived at the Gold 
 Coast on 2d April 1872 ; and on the 4th held a 
 conference at Elmina with the native chiefs, 
 intimated to them that he would extend her 
 Majesty's protection to the Elminas as fully as 
 to the Fantis, and assured them he "would 
 make no change in the Dutch system " as re- 
 garded the municipal and sanitary regulations. 
 On the 6th April the transfer took place with- 
 out disturbance. The king of Elmina was 
 present, and the other chiefs who had opposed 
 the transfer in January. Each tribe, separate- 
 ly, was called upon to state if there was any 
 objection to the transfer ; and each chief arose 
 and publicly announced the agreement of his 
 people to the transfer. A detachment of the 
 West India Regiment was then landed, and 
 relieved the Dutch troops. Axim, Dixcove, 
 and Secondee were all garrisoned by the 10th 
 April. 
 
 Let us now turn to our relations with the 
 Ashantis.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 59 
 
 On the 1st September 1871, only a few 
 days after his positive renunciation of the 
 claim to rights over Elmina, as already stated, 
 the king of Ashanti had written making 
 several complaints to Mr Salmon, who was 
 now administering the Gold Coast Govern- 
 ment, and urged certain claims of the Elminas 
 on the Fantis. 
 
 A reply was sent in December, that the 
 king must not meddle with the chiefs of the 
 Protectorate, and that the affair as regards the 
 Elminas is a Dutch affair; and further, that 
 till peace is made, the king cannot be allowed 
 access to Elmina through the Protectorate. 
 
 Mr Salmon proposes peace an arbitration. 
 But the German and French captives must, as 
 a preliminary, be sent back. The king had 
 promised to liberate them on the return of Adoo 
 Boffoo, but had not done so, and this breach of 
 his word inspired general distrust. 
 
 And now the king writes that he wishes for 
 peace ; he has heard the passage of munitions
 
 60 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 of war to his kingdom has been stopped ; and 
 he desires to give explanation upon sundry 
 minor points, &c. &c. 
 
 Mr Salmon replies that the only obstacle to 
 peace is the king's detention of the captives. 
 Mr Salmon will prevent the Akims annoying 
 the king ; but till there is a lasting peace he 
 must stop the transport of munitions of war. 
 "As soon as peace is concluded, then unfettered 
 trade may commence." 
 
 Before receiving any reply to this letter, Mr 
 Salmon took the somewhat strong step of clos- 
 ing the road to traders from Ashanti. His 
 fear was, as shown in a despatch to the Gover- 
 nor-in-Chief, that the Fantis would, " out of 
 their covert hostility to the efforts to effect 
 peace with the Ashanti s, and their jealousy 
 at seeing Ashanti traders pass to Cape Coast, 
 cause Ashanti traders to be molested." He adds 
 that the Cape Coast chiefs advised him to take 
 this step. 
 
 Let me read you part of Mr Salmon's letter 
 to the king :
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 6l 
 
 " I have had no opportunity before this of 
 sending your majesty word that, for the pre- 
 sent, until your majesty had finally decided 
 upon making a lasting peace with us, it was 
 necessary for me to close the frontier to your 
 majesty's traders. 
 
 " The reasons for my doing this will be 
 obvious to your majesty, and will at the same 
 time give your majesty another proof of my 
 friendship, and my confidence in your ma- 
 jesty's good and peaceful intentions to this 
 Government and the people under it. 
 
 " When the trade was at first opened, it was 
 the general belief of the people that peace 
 would speedily be made. Nine months have 
 elapsed since that time, and we are not much 
 farther advanced. Under these circumstances, 
 doubts have arisen in many people's minds. 
 
 " Your majesty will be assured that, from the 
 commencement, the Government here have 
 believed that your majesty intends peace. 
 We have also often heard that your majesty 
 wishes, above all, the good of your people, and
 
 62 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 we know that peace is the best way to obtain 
 that good. 
 
 " The Government have had some little 
 troubles here, now happily settled. On account 
 of these troubles, I could not be quite assured 
 of the safety of your people travelling. They 
 might have been annoyed on the road, and I 
 should have been responsible for the wrong 
 done them. 
 
 " Under these circumstances, I decided to 
 stop the traders coming until peace was de- 
 clared by your majesty, and the white captives 
 sent to me, as I have already asked your ma- 
 jesty. This being done, I shall be justified in 
 opening the road to all ; and if any harm be 
 then done to any of your people, I shall be 
 able to punish the guilty according to our 
 laws." 
 
 I fear it cannot be doubted that this step, 
 however righteous the motive which prompted 
 it, would scarcely be viewed by the king of 
 Ashanti as another proof of friendship.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 63 
 
 The king at first simply acknowledged the 
 receipt of this letter, and said he would de- 
 liberate with the chiefs on the answer; but 
 three weeks later (20th February 1872), he 
 says that he has requested his general Adoo 
 BofFoo to hand over the prisoners for transfer 
 to the Governor, his friend. 
 
 " Respecting the release of the Europeans, I 
 requested Adoo BofFoo (through my linguists) 
 to hand them over to me to send them to the 
 Governor, my friend. Adoo BofFoo refused to 
 give them to me, and said he has fought with 
 his powder and guns, and has made great war 
 expense and caught them : therefore I (Adoo 
 BofFoo) will not give them to you without 
 selling or asking a ransom for them. The 
 prince (your messenger) asked what will be 
 the ransom, that he may have something to 
 inform your Excellency; Adoo BofFo said, 
 he will take 800 peregens (1800 oz.) for the 
 ransom of the Europeans. 
 
 " Your Excellency's messenger asked to know
 
 64 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 from me concerning other matters of the peace, 
 and when peace shall be finally settled ; my 
 answer to him is, ' Tell the Governor that I and 
 my great chiefs have decided this : after the 
 ransom is paid to Adoo Boifoo, then peace 
 between us shall be finally settled, and not 
 before/" 
 
 No further correspondence passed till after 
 the transfer of Elmina and the other Dutch 
 forts to the English. 
 
 So you know the ultimatums of Mr Salmon 
 and the king of Ashanti respectively at that 
 date, 6th April 1872. 
 
 On the 20th April, the Dutch Commodore 
 sent some presents and a letter to the king, 
 asking him to give up the prisoners. 
 
 At the same time Mr Hennessy wrote send- 
 ing a present of gold-embroidered silks, an- 
 nouncing the transfer, and telling the king 
 that, " to show his friendship for his majesty 
 and the Ashanti nation, he had ordered all 
 the trading communications along the British
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 65 
 
 frontier with Ashanti to be reopened, offering 
 to pay the king double the sum paid yearly by 
 the Dutch." In this letter he did not touch 
 on any of the causes of dispute. The presents, 
 &c., were sent by the same Mr Flange who 
 had previously been the Dutch envoy. 
 
 But, on the 22d, he wrote saying, " It would 
 be a good omen of their future friendship if 
 the king would send the captive missionaries 
 safely to Elmina." 
 
 The king does not answer this letter directly; 
 and immediately after writing it Mr Hennessy 
 sailed for Lagos. 
 
 In his absence there was a riot at Elmina, 
 and a Dutch lieutenant (Joost) was murdered. 
 The cause of the murder proved on investiga- 
 tion to be purely personal to the lieutenant, 
 and the murderers were convicted and ex- 
 ecuted. 
 
 But at the time, owing chiefly, it seems, to 
 the exaggerated fears for his personal safety of 
 the civil commandant of Elmina, there was 
 
 E
 
 66 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 immense excitement, and the riot was supposed 
 to be connected with the transfer. 
 
 Mr Hennessy having returned from Lagos, 
 received a letter from Prince Ansah, an Ashanti 
 chief, nephew of the king, to the effect that 
 the only question now to be settled for a 
 complete peace is the ransom of the captive 
 Europeans. He says former British envoys 
 had promised a ransom, and the king expects 
 the promise to be fulfilled. 
 
 Mr Hennessy replies to the king on the 
 4th June. He cannot even speak of exchang- 
 ing Europeans or men for money. He wants 
 the king to send the prisoners, and will con- 
 sider if the German Missionary Society, to 
 which Eamseyer and Kuehne belong, might 
 properly send to Coomassie the actual expen- 
 ses incurred by Adoo Boffoo. At the same 
 time he actually releases Opoku, Adoo Bof- 
 foo's son, who had been taken prisoner, and 
 brought in to Cape Coast, and pays all his ex- 
 penses back to Coomassie.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 67 
 
 I must draw your attention to this, and ask 
 whether you think that such conduct was 
 not over generous towards the Ashantis, and 
 whether the superintendent of the Basle Mis- 
 sion was not right when he complained that it 
 was unjust for our Government to call on him 
 to pay ransom for the captive missionaries, 
 while releasing Ashanti prisoners free. 
 
 Mr Hennessy now writes that the Mission 
 would pay any sum not exceeding 1000 to 
 cover Adoo Boffoo's expenses, and that it 
 shall be paid if his majesty will send the cap- 
 tives down to the Prah. 
 
 Now, if these Ashantis are to be viewed as 
 a savage race, and if they understand as their 
 sole idea of strength fighting power, and see in 
 all concessions to them only signs of weakness, 
 can any course be imagined more likely to give 
 them an idea of our weakness than this which 
 was now taken ? 
 
 But look at it in another light : treat them, 
 as Mr Hennessy would, as civilised people ;
 
 68 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 can any course have been more conciliating, 
 and can any course less justify their subsequent 
 conduct ? 
 
 Mr Hennessy was sanguine as to the result 
 of his diplomacy, and, on the 8th of June 1872, 
 wrote : " The anticipation of hostilities with 
 Ashantis no longer exists." 
 
 The king does not reply till the 24th Sep- 
 tember. He then says : " His chiefs, in con- 
 sultation with him, had decided that the 
 1000 should be accepted, and asks for it to 
 be sent to Coomassie, when he will send the 
 men down." 
 
 This letter is sent through Mr Flange, and 
 cancels one previously written standing out 
 for 2000. 
 
 On the 29th October, Mr Salmon, who, 
 on the 4th September, had expressed similar 
 confidence to Mr Hennessy, tells the king the 
 money has been lodged in the hands of Mr 
 Grant, a coloured merchant of Cape Coast, as 
 agent for the king, to be paid over to his
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 69 
 
 envoys on the prisoners arriving at Cape 
 Coast. 
 
 All this time the king is detaining Mr 
 Flange, as well as the previous captives. 
 
 A remarkable letter accompanied the king's 
 acceptance of the money offered. It was 
 written by the missionaries, and shows the 
 king to be in the hands of his chiefs. It 
 shows also a remarkable distinction in the 
 king's mind as to the various causes of 
 dispute. 
 
 " The king has so often declared again and 
 again that he is the friend of your Excellency, 
 that he truly wants peace, and as for his part 
 he would send the white prisoners; but he 
 seems to be, in this nasty money matter, 
 entirely in the hands of his avaricious chiefs ; 
 he says they want the money, and it is to be 
 seen clearly that he has not power enough to 
 resist them. We believe surely that ^they, on 
 the pitch of their excitement, and in their 
 blindness, would force the king, by his great
 
 70 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 oath, to begin a new war, so doubtful their 
 last Kreepee expedition may have been about 
 their success and strength, and so doubtful 
 the next may turn out for them. The king 
 is a young monarch in years and reign, and 
 has not power enough. 
 
 " The shutting of the roads they consider, 
 as we yesterday could understand, as a decla- 
 ration of war ; whilst the ransom matter they 
 consider as a sort of business, so as they bar- 
 gain about a slave. In this view they de- 
 tained Mr Flange here." 
 
 It ought not to be forgot, in weighing this 
 latter statement of the missionaries, that these 
 roads had been reopened in April ; and the 
 king had since written to the Governor as 
 his friend. On the 9th November the king 
 acknowledges this letter, and sends down the 
 prisoners to the Prah, whence they will be 
 sent on, if the money has been paid to his 
 envoys at Cape Coast. 
 
 Colonel Harley has now arrived and re-
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 71 
 
 licved Mr Salmon ; a legislative council was 
 held on the 28th November, and it was agreed 
 not to pay the money till the captives arrived 
 at Cape Coast, and the king, is informed of 
 this decision. But at the same it was decided 
 to send back Atjempon to Coomassie, paying 
 his expenses, and giving him safe conduct. 
 
 These peaceful negotiations were in pro- 
 gress. Atjempon was brought to Cape 
 Coast Castle, and thence, with all his fol- 
 lowers, now numbering some 700, sent by 
 land to Coomassie in a manner becoming his 
 rank, and Colonel Harley was awaiting the 
 reply of the king of Ashanti. There had 
 been a riot at Cape Coast in connection with 
 some trade disputes between the natives and 
 the traders, and another riot at Secondee 
 between English and Dutch parties ; the kings 
 were made prisoners, and were sent to Elmina. 
 A grave misunderstanding had arisen with 
 the king of Elmina, on grounds which seem 
 very slight when suddenly, without warning
 
 72 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 given, or cause alleged, the Ashanti army 
 crossed the Prah, in numbers reported to be 
 some 1200, occupying five days in the boat 
 passage, and attacked and invaded the Assim 
 territory, burning and destroying nine vil- 
 lages. The crossing commenced on the 22d 
 January of this present year, 1873. 
 
 The kings of Assim, Abrah, Annamaboe, 
 and Mankessim, now apply to Colonel Harley 
 for aid. 
 
 He estimates that from 60,000 to 70,000 
 men can be raised, and sends Dr Rowe, the 
 colonial surgeon, as a commissioner to raise 
 the tribes. 
 
 Fifty Houssas are sent to Dunquah, as a de- 
 monstration only, under Lieutenant Hopkins. 
 
 Mr Hennessy does not believe this is really 
 an Ashanti invasion ; he is too confident of 
 the success of his diplomacy. Commodore 
 Commerell was of the same opinion. 
 
 And now, early in February, Mr Keate 
 arrives, and relieves Mr Hennessy ; he reports
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 73 
 
 his opinion that the British can only hold 
 their forts on the defensive, and that the na- 
 tives must defend themselves in the field ; and 
 draws attention to a letter from the Govern- 
 ment in 1 869, saying, " the wars are their wars." 
 
 The Assims retreat to Accrofal before the 
 Ashantis. The sale of arms is prohibited by 
 proclamation. 
 
 The king of Abrah (Anfor Otoo) reports on 
 the causes of the invasion as follows : 
 
 " I respectfully beg leave to bring to your 
 notice that the causes and purposes of these 
 inroads of the Ashantis are the cession of the 
 Elmina fort, and the Elminas having become 
 the British subjects; because (from what we 
 have repeatedly heard) the king of Ashanti 
 says, that from the time immemorial his 
 ancestors ate and drank at Elmina i. e., he 
 gets all his wants from there and that the 
 fort is theirs ; therefore he will come and take 
 it by force of arms. The chiefs of Annamaboe 
 also agreed with me in this statement."
 
 74 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 The Ashantis apparently advanced in three 
 divisions, one on Akim, one on Denkara, and 
 the main division, through Assim and Abrah, to 
 Cape Coast. 
 
 About this time one Mr Bentill offers to 
 raise 20,000 men from various eastern small 
 tribes, and to camp at Essiccomah, the fork 
 of the two main roads to Assim and Akim. 
 Colonel Harley offers arms and ammunition. 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins arrives at Dunquah on 
 the 20th March, arranges to protect the roads 
 to Annamaboe and Cape Coast, to make a direct 
 road along his camp, and clear the bush away 
 in front. He reports about 30,000 to 40,000 
 Ashantis in front, and 15,000 Fantis with 
 him. 
 
 On the 1st March the Ashantis were 
 reported at Yancoomassie, also in Western 
 Wassaw. Ammunition was sent to the kings 
 of Tufel and Amantine. 
 
 Mr Thompson, the Government interpreter, 
 was sent to rouse the Fantis to action ; he
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 75 
 
 found them hopelessly dilatory and inert ; and 
 on the 6th March the Ashantis are at Mansue. 
 
 A deserter reported that the Ashantis were 
 coming to Cape Coast and elsewhere to get 
 money, cotton goods, rum, powder, guns, and 
 cutlery, and they were to carry on war for 
 three years. 
 
 At this date there were only 167 West India 
 troops on the Gold Coast, divided between five 
 forts. 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins had about 200 Houssa 
 police with him, and about the same number 
 of Cape Coast Volunteers. 
 
 On the 15th March, Colonel Harley reports 
 that, on the 10th, part of the Fanti army had 
 advanced to attack the Ashantis before Yan- 
 coomassie ; had failed to find them ; had re- 
 turned, and begun to eat, when they were 
 attacked in force from various directions. The 
 Mankessim detachment fell back at once. 
 This king of Mankessim was the head of the 
 so-called Fanti Confederation, the only chief
 
 76 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 in the Protectorate who had not asked for 
 arms for his defence. The Cape Coast people 
 were thus taken flank and rear, and only 
 escaped with heavy loss. Lieutenant Hopkins 
 retired to Cape Coast Castle with his Houssas, 
 his main duty being to protect that place. 
 
 At this date the king of Elmina had shown 
 such signs of insubordination and intention to 
 join the Ashantis to invade Cape Coast Castle, 
 that the oath of allegiance was tendered to 
 him, and on his refusing to take it he was 
 arrested. He is now a prisoner at Sierra 
 Leone. In a statement made by him, he said 
 he and others had taken a fetish oath to 
 oppose the English Government coming to 
 Elmina. 
 
 On the 16th March, five Ashantis residing 
 in the house of Prince Ansah, an Ashanti 
 prince at Cape Coast, were murdered by the 
 Fantis. Prince Ansah's house was wrecked, 
 and he had to be sent to Sierra Leone to pro- 
 tect him from the fury of the people, who
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 77 
 
 believed him guilty of giving information to 
 the Ashantis. 
 
 The various kings were at this time making 
 false statements in order to get more arms and 
 ammunition. The king of Assim falsely re- 
 ported that he had made an attack on the 
 Ashantis, and had captured 2000 prisoners. 
 
 In spite of all Colonel Harley's urgent de- 
 mands on the Fantis to form up and attack 
 at once, and the supply of ammunition to 
 them, they said, " It was not wise to do so till 
 the gaps on the right were properly filled 
 up." 
 
 Mr Bentill appears to have been as dilatory 
 as any of the other chiefs. Lieutenant Hop- 
 kins speaks of " shaming him and them into 
 co-operation." 
 
 On the 8th April, Colonel Harley reports the 
 same wretched delay. He says all may be 
 summed up in the Spanish word " manana " 
 "to-morrow." 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins had been meanwhile at
 
 78 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 Dunquah, the bush in front was being cleared, 
 war-paths cut, and scouts sent out. 
 
 But on the very day Colonel Harley wrote, 
 the Ashantis attacked the Fanti camp along 
 six miles of front. The fight began at 7 A.M., 
 and lasted till 4 P.M. The Ashantis were re- 
 pulsed. The Houssas lost 2 killed, and 15 
 wounded : the Volunteers 1 killed, and 2 
 wounded. Though supplied with sixty rounds 
 of ammunition per man, and a reserve, it was 
 all expended. 
 
 On the 14th the Fantis were induced to 
 attack the Ashantis. Again all the am- 
 munition was soon expended. Dr Eowe 
 writes : 
 
 "This statement of theirs permits me to 
 draw your Excellency's attention specially to 
 the requests made by all the chiefs for further 
 supplies of ammunition to continue the fight. 
 
 " Notwithstanding that your Excellency has 
 already issued large supplies to the native 
 forces, from the peculiar character of their war-
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 79 
 
 fare, I believe it to be a perfectly true state- 
 ment that their supplies are expended. 
 
 " I believe also that it is quite impossible to 
 change their mode of warfare ; and that if it 
 be your Excellency's desire to profit by the 
 hard fighting of to-day, in the sense of wishing 
 the Fantis to take up an advanced position, 
 they can only be induced to do so by giving 
 them very large supplies of powder and lead. 
 
 " It is not, perhaps, that they are unwilling 
 to fight in their own fashion, but that their 
 fashion expends ammunition to an extent un- 
 known in civilised warfare. 
 
 " Had I not been personally an eyewitness 
 of the scene, I could not have believed that the 
 expenditure was possible." 
 
 Lieutenant Hopkins says the ammunition of 
 his Houssas ran short in half an hour. 
 
 Mr Loggie (formerly an artillery sergeant) 
 did excellent work with his rockets in the 
 bush, but writes thus of them : 
 
 " I am afraid the moral effect of our rockets
 
 80 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 will be to make thousands of these people de- 
 pend too much on the rockets, and expect too 
 much from their use in the forest of bush and 
 high trees, in which the fighting here has to 
 be done." 
 
 The Cape Coast Fantis appear to have be- 
 haved wretchedly. 
 
 " I cannot," says Mr Loggie, " pass over 
 without bringing to notice that I was asked to 
 send police to urge up some of the Cape Coast 
 Fantis to their work. Dr M'Kellar and my- 
 self had to act as drivers to several hundreds 
 of these people, and at times gentle means 
 were not used to make them return towards 
 the front. I regret to say it was the most 
 fatiguing part of this day's work acting as 
 whippers-in to these people." 
 
 But, although the action was not unsuc- 
 cessful, the Fantis next day began to retreat. 
 The movement commenced with the Goomoah 
 (Mr Bentill's) people, and soon became general ; 
 and Lieutenant Hopkins, abandoned by the
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 8l 
 
 native levies, was forced to retrea.t on Cape 
 Coast, where he arrived on the evening of the 
 16th. The Houssas and Volunteers behaved 
 excellently. In a later report, Colonel Harley 
 says of the Houssas : " With officers they 
 are tractable and obedient ; without them, 
 they scatter like sheep." 
 
 As excuse for this pitiful cowardice of the 
 Fantis, who are reported by Dr Eowe as 
 nearly 6000 strong, they alleged that Mr 
 George Blankson, a member of Council, had 
 betrayed them to the Ashantis, and given full 
 information to the enemy. Mr Blankson was 
 arraigned at the camp, charged with treachery 
 and treason, and his life would have paid the 
 forfeit, had he not been claimed by Dr Eowe, 
 and sent as a prisoner to Cape Coast Castle. 
 
 In consequence of this retreat, the roads to 
 Elmina and Cape Coast were opened to the 
 Ashantis; and considering the serious nature 
 of affairs, a detachment of 110 marines and 
 marine artillery was sent out from England, 
 
 F
 
 82 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 with two mountain guns, and 200 rockets, and 
 a quantity of ammunition. Lieut. -Col. Fest- 
 ing, E.M.A., was selected to command the 
 detachment. They were sent out in H.M.'s 
 ship Barracouta, Captain Fremantle. Four 
 additional companies of the 2d West India 
 Eegiment were ordered to the Gold Coast, 
 and Colonel Harley was directed to enlist 
 additional Houssas. 
 
 On the 21st April, Colonel Harley reported 
 the Fantis dispersed to their homes, sadly 
 demoralised. Mr Loggie and 60 Houssas had 
 been sent to Annamaboe. The Assims, Abrahs, 
 and Akims, in very small numbers only, were 
 still on the main road to Dunquah, which the 
 Ashantis now occupied; and around Elmina 
 a cordon of lesser chiefs, professing readiness 
 to fight. 
 
 Colonel Harley thus writes of the condition 
 of affairs : 
 
 "I concur with Dr Eowe in thinking that 
 the sad spectacle of the people being driven
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 83 
 
 by thousands into slavery by a savage and 
 relentless foe such as the Ashanti, while the 
 weak and sickly would be mercilessly butchered, 
 is a thought too horrible to dwell upon, and 
 which I can assure your lordship no effort of 
 mine shall be wanting to avert, with all the 
 resources I have at my disposal. 
 
 " I may, however, inform your lordship that 
 I have no apprehension whatever for the safety 
 of Cape Coast and Elmina, the two points of 
 immediate possible attack ; but it is in districts 
 more remote where the Ashantis will make 
 their cruelties felt, and where a country over- 
 run and depopulated will leave traces of suffer- 
 ing and misery for years to come/' 
 
 About this date Atjempon, whom we last 
 remember sent back with all the honours due 
 to his rank, starts from Coomassie with 3000 
 men to assist the king of Apollonia in invad- 
 ing the Western Protectorate. 
 
 Colonel Harley also received information 
 that the Ashantis were suffering from small-
 
 84 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 pox and dysentery, and would probably have 
 retired had the Fantis made another stand : 
 that even now they would retire, but for their 
 fear of being attacked in rear ; and also because, 
 the rains having set in, they would be drowned 
 in swimming the Prah. 
 
 These reports require to be received with 
 caution. Here is one of them : 
 
 " The Ashanti General had orders not 
 to attack until the king had received a 
 reply from Colonel Harley ; but that if 
 attacked they were to defend themselves, 
 which is what they did on the 8th and 14th 
 April. That in those two engagements they 
 suffered most severely, and especially from the 
 Hales rockets served by the Houssas. 
 
 " That they are now in possession of the late 
 Fanti camp, but not finding an enemy, they 
 imagine the Fantis have gone round them. 
 They are now afraid either to advance or retire, 
 not knowing in the bush when they may meet 
 the Fantis.
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTJ. 85 
 
 " That the Ashanti camp is in a most 
 wretched condition, a large quantity of them 
 suffering from wounds and fractures. 
 
 " Small - pox has broken out dreadfully 
 amongst them. They are starving, a plan- 
 tain, the price of which is usually about 2d. 
 a dozen, now selling for the same sum each 
 plantain ; and besides, there is an abominable 
 stench from dead bodies scattered through the 
 bush in all stages of decomposition." 
 
 In May the Ashantis appear to have left 
 Dunquah, after having received reinforcements 
 there. It was reported that they had moved 
 into the Denkara country. 
 
 Colonel Harley was still unable to induce 
 the coast people to stir : he reports them as 
 "absolutely like children, looking up for pro- 
 tection and guidance, and yet when they are 
 afforded both, flying from their own respon- 
 sibility and self-defence." 
 
 After the departure of the Ashantis, a short 
 fit of bravery seems to have come over some
 
 86 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 of the chiefs ; a force began to assemble u 
 very small force again at Dunquah. But 
 the Cape Coast people would do nothing. 
 
 On the 30th May the Ashantis had evi- 
 dently moved to their right, towards Elmina, 
 their original object. 
 
 The Marines in the Barracouta arrived off 
 Cape Coast on the 7th June, and on the 10th 
 Colonel Festing and Captain Fremantle in- 
 spected Elmina. A large body of Ashantis 
 were reported near at hand in the bush, and 
 the unfriendly portion of Elmina was openly 
 assisting them with arms and ammunition. 
 
 Whereupon, at a Council on the 12th, it was 
 decided to proclaim martial law, and disarm 
 the disaffected Elminas. The town is thus 
 situated : Fort George closes the east, the sea 
 the south, and the river the north side. At 
 daylight on the 13th, the boats blockaded the 
 river, and prevented escape through the surf 
 on the sea side ; while Colonel Festing marched 
 his marines from Cape Coast, and guarded the
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 87 
 
 west exit from the village with them and the 
 Houssas and West India troops. 
 
 Martial law was proclaimed, and arms were 
 demanded. No arms were given up. Then 
 Elmina was bombarded and set on fire. Many 
 men escaped through the prickly-pear bush, 
 where they could not well be followed. But 
 the Houssas pursued, and a skirmish ensued. 
 
 Then 2000 Ashantis came through the 
 bush, extending their right to the sea; and 
 Colonel Festing, with the Marines and Naval 
 Brigade, attacked and drove them back, aided 
 by rockets from boats beyond Ampenee some 
 three miles. 
 
 A halt was sounded, and the troops retired 
 to the fort. 
 
 About 5 P.M. large bodies of Ashantis 
 were reported advancing on the eastern side of 
 Elmina. The troops were assembled, and met 
 the enemy. But the Ashantis were out- 
 flanking our right, when Lieutenant Wells, 
 R.N., came up with the Barracouta's men, took
 
 88 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 the outflanking Ashantis in flank, and drove 
 them back. Then a general advance ensued, 
 and the retiring enemy were pursued till they 
 were completely defeated. 
 
 Their loss is reported to have been about 
 200 out of 3000, and 4 chiefs out of 6. 
 
 No guns or rockets were used. The destruc- 
 tion was due to the Snider. 
 
 So far as we know, there has been no further 
 fighting on any large scale since this action. 
 Unfortunately it was the rainy season. The 
 rains were excessively and unusually heavy, 
 sickness attacked the Marines, and they were 
 sent home to England. 
 
 There is now at the Gold Coast a force of 
 Marines and the 2d West India Regiment, 720 
 of all ranks. 
 
 Captain Glover has been sent out to the River 
 Volta to raise the friendly native tribes, and 
 move towards Ashanti from the eastward. 
 
 Major-General Sir G. Wolseley has been sent 
 out, to combine in his hands the civil and
 
 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 89 
 
 military power. He comes out as Governor 
 of the Gold Coast, and Commander-in-Chief 
 of her Majesty's troops in the West African 
 Settlement. 
 
 Let us hope that in his hands this plague 
 of Ashanti invasion may be rooted out ; that 
 such a lesson may be taught to the enemy as 
 shall insure peace during at least the memory 
 of the present generation. 
 
 I have heard often in England, and more 
 than once on board this ship, the expression 
 that this is an unjust war. I ask you to say 
 where is the injustice. Is it in our accepting 
 the Dutch forts, with the full consent, as far as 
 we knew, honestly and freely given, of the kings 
 of Elmina and Ashanti 1 Did we not offer even 
 a double stipend to that paid by the Dutch? 
 
 Is it in our dealings as regards the Ashanti 
 people or the missionaries 1 Surely there we 
 dealt only far too generously. 
 
 No this war is not of our provoking, not 
 of our seeking.
 
 90 FANTI AND ASHANTI. 
 
 In direct violation of treaty engagements 
 in the midst of peaceful negotiations the king, 
 having for months prepared war, has deliber- 
 ately made it upon us. 
 
 He has made it with every circumstance of 
 brutality and savage horror. He has destroyed 
 villages, carried off and murdered women, and 
 children, and men, to swell the list of his 
 hideous human sacrifices to the foul fetishes 
 of his priests. 
 
 Let me end in the words of our greatest 
 English writer : 
 
 " If these be motives weak, break off betimes, 
 And every man hence to his idle bed ; 
 So let high-sighted tyranny range on, 
 Till each man drop by lottery. But if these, 
 As I am sure they do, bear fire enough 
 To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour 
 The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, 
 What need we any spur, but our own cause, 
 To prick us to redress ? "
 
 III. 
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI AND THE PRO- 
 TECTORATE OF THE GOLD COAST. 
 
 THE subject of the paper I have prepared for 
 to-day is the " Geography of the Gold Coast." 
 It is intended to supplement the two papers 
 which you have heard read by Captain Brack- 
 enbury, on the earlier history of the British 
 Protectorate, and the relations subsisting be- 
 tween the British, the Ashantis, and the 
 native protected tribes. I shall try to describe 
 the topographical features of this land we are 
 about to visit ; but in venturing on a descrip- 
 tion of a country I have never yet seen, and of 
 the existence of which I, in common with the 
 majority of my countrymen, had a few months
 
 92 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 or weeks ago the vaguest conceptions, I must 
 premise that I am doing so at the request of 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley. 
 
 The sources of our information of the interior 
 are very meagre, and resolve themselves into 
 five or six visits to Coomassie; the best known 
 and best written (those of Bowdich, Dupuis, 
 and Button) having been made fifty years ago ! 
 One of the latest, Lieutenant-Governor Win- 
 niett's, made in 1848, added very little to our 
 previous knowledge. It is in many cases very 
 hard to reconcile conflicting statements ; and if 
 our future experience should prove that some 
 or many of my statements to-day are inaccu- 
 rate, I hope you will remember that I have only 
 compared the assertions of others, and adopted 
 those which have appeared to me the most 
 likely to be correct. As an instance of the 
 difficulty of fixing distances, -I may mention 
 that the village of Paintree or Dunquah, where 
 the Fantis were encamped last April, is vari- 
 ously estimated at 15, 19, 20, and 25 miles
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 93 
 
 from Cape Coast Castle. Native names are 
 also often difficult to recognise under the very 
 various and peculiar spelling they undergo, the 
 "taste and fancy" of the speller being the sole 
 guide. This is not to be wondered at, as none 
 of these negro tribes appear to possess any 
 written characters or alphabet, if we except the 
 Arabic in use amongst the Mohammedans of 
 the interior. 
 
 For the sake of clearness I have divided 
 this paper into the following heads : 
 
 1. The Coast-line and its Fortified Posts. 
 
 2. The British Protectorate. 
 
 3. The Topographical Features of the 
 Country, with a few words on the principal 
 Eivers and Hills. 
 
 4. The Kingdom of Ashanti, and its Capital, 
 Coomassie. Lastly, 
 
 5. A few remarks on the Climate, Tempera- 
 ture, &c. 
 
 1. The Gold Coast extends from the French
 
 94 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 possessions on the Assinee Eiver, in 3 25' 
 The coast- W - longitude, to the mouth of 
 line - the Volta Eiver, in 4 1 7 2" E. lon- 
 
 gitude, thus possessing a seaboard of, roughly, 
 250 miles. It has an approximate area of 
 20,000 square miles, and a population of about 
 half a million. This coast-line is usually 
 divided into the " Windward " and " Lee- 
 ward" somewhat ambiguous terms, which 
 require explanation. What is called the 
 Windward extends from Cape Apol Ionia to 
 the mouth of the Secoom river, near the old 
 Dutch port of Barracoe ; the Leeward, from 
 this point to the Volta. This is in contradis- 
 tinction to the custom on the east coast of 
 Africa, where windward means to the east- 
 ward, and leeward to the westward.* Along 
 this line of 250 miles the flags of England, 
 Holland, Portugal, and Denmark once waved ; 
 
 * On the Guinea coast the name has evidently arisen from 
 the fact that the prevailing Avind is from the south-Avest, and 
 therefore every place lying to the west of Cape Coast or 
 Elmina Avould naturally be " to windward."
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 95 
 
 the English possessing 12 posts, the Danes 5, 
 and the Dutch 17, including those of which 
 they had dispossessed the Portuguese. 
 
 These forts or posts were intermingled one 
 with another in a very complicated manner : 
 thus, beginning on the west, Apollonia was 
 British; Axim was Dutch; Dixcove, British; 
 Tacorady, Chamah, and Elmina, Dutch; Cape 
 Coast and Annamaboe, British ; and so on as 
 far as Accra, where the Danish settlements 
 commenced, reaching to Quittah, on the other 
 side of the Volta. The Danish forts were 
 purchased by the English in 1850 for 10,000; 
 and in 1867 an equitable division of the whole 
 line of coast was made with the Dutch, the 
 Sweet Eiver (half-way between Cape Coast 
 Castle and Elmina) forming the boundary 
 between the two nations all to the westward 
 being Dutch, all to the eastward British. 
 
 In 1872 the Dutch transferred, not sold, as 
 is sometimes erroneously stated, the whole of 
 their forts and settlements to the British, who
 
 96 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 now remain sole masters of this portion of the 
 West African coast. 
 
 The principal forts now kept up are Accra, 
 Cape Coast Castle, Elmina, and Dixcove. 
 
 James Fort, British Accra, was the first 
 English fort ever built on the Gold 
 
 Accra. 
 
 Coast. It was the work of the 
 first African Company, called " The Com- 
 pany of Adventurers of England trading to 
 Africa." It is built on the summit of cliffs 
 of red clay and sandstone, and is situated at 
 the edge of an open plain covered with grass, 
 studded here and there with clumps of trees, 
 having little or no underwood, and extending 
 for some 12 miles into the interior, towards 
 the Aquapim Mountains. Horses will thrive 
 here for years, if not taken into the bush, 
 where the tetse fly prevails; while at the other 
 forts it is barely possible to keep them alive 
 for more than a few weeks or months. Alto- 
 gether, the climate is considered favourable to 
 European constitutions. From Accra there is
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 97 
 
 a good road to a German missionary station at 
 Accropong, 40 miles from the coast. This 
 road was made by the missionaries at a very 
 trifling cost about 500 and is fit for wheeled 
 vehicles. There is said to be a bush-road from 
 Accropong direct to Coomassie. 
 
 Cape Coast Castle is in 5 7' N. latitude, and 
 Cape Coast 1 9/ W. longitude. It was built 
 in the seventeenth century on a 
 spot of land taken originally at an annual rent 
 from the Fetus, a tribe now under Fanti sway. 
 It stands on a rock overhanging the sea, of a 
 black-looking gneiss with granite and quartz 
 interspersed. The coast trends away on either 
 side in lines of red cliff, the country inland 
 rising in wooded knolls with intervening basins. 
 Cape Coast Castle is the headquarters of the 
 Government of the Gold Coast, which is ad- 
 ministered by the Governor, aided in local 
 matters by a Legislative Council, consisting of 
 three official and two or more non-official 
 
 G
 
 98 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 members. At eight miles' distance from Cape 
 Coast Castle is 
 
 Elmina. The Fort of St George della Mina, 
 so called from the gold-mines in 
 
 Elmina. 
 
 the neighbourhood, was originally 
 built in 1383 by a company of French mer- 
 chants of Dieppe and Rouen. This is disputed 
 by the Portuguese, who claim the honour of 
 having built this, the first European fort on 
 the Gold Coast, in the year 1481. However 
 this may be, it was captured by the Dutch in 
 1637, and held by them until its transfer to 
 the British in 1872. 
 
 Fort St George stands obliquely fronting the 
 sea, on a black rock a little above high-water 
 level. Above it, on a hill 100 feet in height, 
 and commanding both the fortress and the 
 town, stands Fort St Jago. The little river 
 Beyah divides the native town into two parts 
 the western half being the one so recently de- 
 stroyed by the English and makes Elmina the
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 99 
 
 only place on the Gold Coast deserving the 
 name of a harbour. 
 
 . Elmina is in almost the same longitude as 
 Coomassie, and there is said to be a road lead- 
 ing from it to the capital of Ashanti, through 
 the Wassaw and Denkara country, which is a, 
 day's journey shorter than the road through 
 Assim vid Mansue and Prahsue. 
 
 Dixcove, originally Dick's Cove, was built 
 in 1681 by the English, as its' 
 
 Dixcove. 
 
 name imports, and was at one 
 time the strongest outpost on the coast. It 
 has a territory of its own, independent of the 
 Ahontas (Ahantas), of about five miles of sea- 
 board and twenty miles inland. It is a place 
 of secondary importance, having only a small 
 garrison, resembling also in this respect Secpn- 
 dee and Axim. The other posts, as Moree, 
 Chamah, Barracoe, and many others, are no 
 longer garrisoned, and are gradually falling 
 into decay.
 
 100 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 2. THE BRITISH PROTECTORATE 
 
 Includes six large independent tribes viz., 
 the Fantis, Assims, Akims, Aquapims, Wassaws, 
 and Denkaras, besides several smaller tribes, 
 more or less independent, as the Apollonias, 
 Ahantas, Tufels, Elminas, Accras, and Kroboes. 
 
 The Fantis appear to occupy and hold sway 
 over the tract of country included nearly 
 within the curvature of the Kiver Prah, and 
 touch the Wassaws on the west, the Assims on 
 the north, the Aquapims on the east, and on 
 the south the sea-coast. I imagine that the 
 boundaries of the various tribes are never dis- 
 tinctly fixed, and possibly vary from time to 
 time. As marked on this map, they are only 
 approximate, as accurate as the imperfect 
 data at my command will allow. 
 
 The Fanti territory is divided into three 
 principal districts, called Fetu, Braifo, and 
 Goomoah, each with its own king ; in addition 
 to which, each large town or collection of
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. IOI 
 
 villages in each district appears to have its 
 own chief, dignified with the high-sounding 
 title of "king" This applies equally to all 
 the native tribes, so that the number of kings 
 is very great, and their relative importance 
 much the same probably as that of the kings 
 in the land of Canaan, when the Israelites 
 under Joshua overran that country, and razed 
 its cities to the ground. Here are the names 
 of some of the principal Fanti kings : 
 
 Amfoo Ottoo, king of Abrah. 
 
 Coffee Ackinney, Acoomfie. 
 
 Quassi Tando, Goomoah. 
 
 Amoanoe IV., ,, Annamaboe. 
 
 Quassi Fram Denkara 
 
 (in Fanti). 
 
 Moqua, Adjumacoo. 
 
 Quassi Asando Inkoosookoom. 
 
 Besides, there are two principal kings of 
 Assim, Eastern and Western viz., King Irkey 
 and King Chibboo ; and two of Akim, names 
 unknown.
 
 102 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The Fetu district surrounds Cape Coast, 
 and its king is called Quassie Attah. The 
 Braffo and Goomoah districts lie to the 
 eastward. Altogether, the Fanti tribe occupy 
 a seaboard of about 90 miles, and extend 
 inland at one point as much as 40 miles to 
 the northward. 
 
 The population of the different tribes varies 
 so much that it is impossible to fix that of any 
 one, but the whole Protectorate has been 
 estimated to contain half a million of in- 
 habitants, much less than in former years. 
 Each successive irruption of the Ashantis 
 depopulates whole districts ; the track of the 
 invading army is marked by burning towns 
 and villages ; the inhabitants are put to the 
 sword or carried away captive to Coomassie, 
 to furnish victims for their hideous "cus- 
 toms :" in process of time, the wretched 
 villagers who have managed to make their 
 escape in time return to their desolated 
 homes, and build other towns and villages
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 103 
 
 never, however, on the same spot ; so that we 
 may possibly find that many of the villages 
 marked on our map have disappeared, and 
 others have sprung up, since the accounts were 
 written from which our map has been compiled. 
 
 Colonel Winniett in 1848 speaks of an ex- 
 tensive village of a thousand inhabitants on a 
 spot which in 1839 was covered with forest, 
 and says that many villages of considerable 
 extent were pointed out to him as having been 
 built by the Assim refugees, whom the king of 
 Ashanti had driven out of that part of Assim 
 which lies on the right bank of the Prah. 
 
 There is no doubt that the Fantis and 
 Ashantis are cognate races, as is proved by 
 their both speaking the same language, the 
 Oji or Otyi. This is the tradition of their 
 separation : There was a great famine in the 
 land, and a portion of the people wandered 
 away to the south, feeding themselves on 
 " Fan," or herbs and cabbage ; hence they were 
 called Fan-tis, from Fan, and "didi," to eat.
 
 104 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The others subsisted on Indian corn, yams &c., 
 "San/' hence called San-tis or Siantis, 
 A nglice, "Ash antis. " 
 
 The same language, the Oji, is also spoken 
 by the Assims, Akims, and Aquapims, and 
 most probably, too, by the Wassaws and Den- 
 karas ; but the Akims are the only tribe that 
 can speak Ashanti without betraying them- 
 selves by their provincial accent, much in the 
 same way as a native of Brittany or Lan- 
 guedoc would be instantly detected by a 
 Parisian. The Accras, on the other hand, 
 speak an entirely different language, called 
 the Ga tongue. 
 
 Of religion they have very vague ideas. 
 They believe in One Supreme Being, called 
 Nyankuponfi, or " The Most High," who, how- 
 ever, is too far removed from earth to trouble 
 himself with human affairs, which are com- 
 mitted to the "Bossoms" or Spirits. These 
 Bossoms enter into and inhabit all sorts of 
 curious things, animate or inanimate. Thus
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 105 
 
 each person has his private Samari or fetish 
 (literally a goblin, skeleton), an idol, a fowl, a 
 bit of rag, a bunch of grass, or what not, into 
 which the Bossom has entered, and to which, 
 therefore, he pays the greatest deference. 
 
 In affairs matrimonial they adhere to the 
 old Biblical system of polygamy, which seems 
 to be an instinctive feature of the social life of 
 all wild races inhabiting the tropical regions 
 of Asia and Africa. The number of wives or 
 concubines is unlimited, and, as amongst the 
 Mormons, only bounded by the wealth of the 
 husband, and his power of feeding additional 
 mouths. The king of Ashanti has 3333 wives, 
 a mystical number which is always kept up. 
 Among the Ashantis, as among the Fantis, the 
 sister's son inherits, to the prejudice of direct 
 descendants. By this means they say they are 
 sure that the heir has some at least of the 
 true blood in his veins ! This custom tells 
 with fatal significance that " it is a wise child 
 that knows his own father."
 
 106 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 According to Bosman, there are five classes 
 or ranks of society viz., 1. The kings; 2. 
 The Cabooceers, captains or headmen ; 3. 
 The Pynims or sub-chiefs ; 4. The peasants or 
 mechanics ; 5. The slaves. The latter are 
 usually captives taken in war, or men sold by 
 their relations, or occasionally men who have 
 become slaves through extreme poverty. The 
 relation of master and slave, especially in the 
 case of the home-born, is much the same as in 
 the days of Abraham. But though the slave 
 may accumulate wealth, all that he makes is 
 his master's. 
 
 Among many curious customs, too long to 
 be touched upon in the limits of this paper, I 
 may mention that of intermural sepulture, 
 which on the Gold Coast seems to have reached 
 its climax. Corpses are buried in the base- 
 ments of dwelling-houses, -a most pernicious 
 custom, fatal to health. With the dead body, 
 which is sprinkled with gold-dust, are interred 
 pearls, precious metals, ornaments, Aggri beads,
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. IO/ 
 
 and clothes of the greatest value. Hence it 
 comes about that the tombs of the kings of 
 Ashanti in Coomassie are supposed to be the 
 despositories of fabulous amounts of gold and 
 jewels. This idea of burying treasures with 
 the dead dates from the earliest history the 
 Jews, whose rites and ceremonies show distinct 
 traces of African fetishism, having long pre- 
 served the custom. 
 
 The native houses are usually but one story 
 high, though occasionally the chiefs have two 
 stories to their houses. They are built of swish, 
 clay puddled with water ; the floors are of mud, 
 daubed over strong lathing ; and the roofs of a 
 substantial thatch made of palm-leaves. If 
 not protected by deep overhanging eaves, these 
 swish walls are apt to crumble and fall away 
 during heavy rains, as happened lately in Cape 
 Coast and Elmina.
 
 108 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 3. THE TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF THE 
 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 A long green-grown tongue of reddish land, 
 Topographical broken with dwarf cliffs and scaurs, 
 features. an( j ij ne( j below w ith clean sand ; 
 
 on the outline three projections, two of which 
 are martello-like towers, the third a castle with 
 a mass of native huts clustering at the back, 
 this is the voyager's first sight of Cape Coast 
 Castle. To the westward the long batteries and 
 rectangular towers of St George della Mina, 
 commanded by the single central tower of 
 Fort St Jago the background a wavy mass 
 of little hills, paps, and hummocks, all bushy, 
 some with rounded tops, others with little 
 table-lands, and prolonged in crescent shape 
 towards the Atlantic. This is the coast of 
 Guinea, the land which gave its name to the 
 British coin, the land where 
 
 " Afric's sunny fountains 
 
 Boll down their golden sands." 
 
 
 
 Around Cape Coast the soil is sandy and
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 109 
 
 highly ferruginous, with a stunted vegetation, 
 the country rocky and undulating, the most 
 noticeable feature being the round-topped hills 
 of disintegrated granite, showing unmistakably 
 that they belong to the primary geological 
 period. After the first ten or fifteen miles 
 along the road to the Prah, the stunted vege- 
 tation gives way to an entanglement of high 
 bush, blended with tall trees ; and this forest 
 gradually becomes denser and denser until at 
 last the traveller enters what Dupuis calls " a 
 solid rampart of vegetation, extending east 
 and west from Aquapim to Ahanta, in the 
 form of one compact forest of the most stupen- 
 dous character." This forest extends north- 
 ward to some forty or fifty miles on the other 
 side of Coomassie, where it gives place to vast 
 plains reaching to the foot of the Kong Moun- 
 
 Theroadto tains. The total distance from 
 Coomassie. Cape Coasfc Castle to Coomassie, 
 
 by the windings of the path, is 160 to 180 
 miles in a direct line, not more than 125.
 
 1 10 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The River Prali is about half-way, and up to 
 this point the road may be described as being 
 what would be considered in England an 
 indifferent path : this portion of the route was 
 cleared and widened during the last Ashanti 
 war in 1863-64; and though doubtless the bush 
 has again grown over, leaving only a narrow 
 pathway wide enough for one man, yet the 
 labour of reclearing it will not be so great. 
 The route winds amongst the trees, crossing 
 many small streams, which at first flow to the 
 east and south-east to the Amissa or Okee 
 River ; but on approaching the Prah, the 
 streams flow west and south-west to join that 
 river. Dupuis says that the waters of the 
 rivers, with few exceptions, were "limpid and 
 sweet-flavoured;" and Hutton speaks of them as 
 "clear and murmuring streams, delightful to 
 the traveller in this country, where the exces- 
 sive heat and fatigue almost constantly occa- 
 sion thirst." 
 
 On the other side of the Prah the route is
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. Ill 
 
 spoken of by an eyewitness who has only lately 
 travelled over it, as a mere track, here and 
 there scarcely any sign of a path to be seen, 
 though the natives know the true direction to 
 follow by conspicuous trees and other signs, 
 and tokens peculiar to woodcraft. How this 
 description is to be reconciled with the fact 
 that the whole Ashanti army of invasion lately 
 passed over this track, and that provisions and 
 ammunition have been in all probability fre- 
 quently sent down it, it is hard to say. I 
 daresay we shall know more about it by-and- 
 by. From the Elver Prah to the Adansi 
 Hills, about forty miles, the forest is more 
 open, and has less undergrowth ; the country 
 is thinly peopled, the crooms being small and 
 scattered, seldom containing more than 500 
 inhabitants. It formerly belonged to the 
 Assims ; and it is not until we cross the Adansi 
 range that we get into Ashanti proper, from 
 which point to Coomassie the villages are more 
 populous and more frequent.
 
 112 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The soil generally may be described as being, 
 on the higher hills, a reddish earth, 
 
 Soil. 
 
 with gravel and large masses of iron- 
 stone and granite ; and on the lesser hills, 
 white flint and whinstone. The earth is black, 
 strong, and rich, producing grass 4 to 10 
 feet in height, and in the plantations a great 
 variety of tropical plants, such as cotton, in- 
 digo, coffee, rice, sugar-cane, maize, yams, 
 plantains, bananas, casavas, guavas, and pine- 
 apples. The principal trees are the cotton, 
 ironwood, doom palm, bamboo, and papaw. 
 The cotton trees form the most distinguishable 
 feature in the landscape, attaining an enor- 
 mous height and size 150 feet high and 50 
 feet in circumference at the base being spoken 
 of as not uncommon : they are used by the 
 natives for making canoes, as the wood is light 
 and porous. Flowering shrubs, convolvuli, 
 and exquisite parasitical plants, abound in 
 tropical profusion. 
 
 Briefly, the whole country is one mass of
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 113 
 
 dense forest, impenetrable to man, and forming 
 the chief physical obstacle to the advance of an 
 army ; but in addition to this " bush," the two 
 rivers, Prah and Dah, and the Adansi Hills, 
 must be noticed. 
 
 The Prah River rises in a mountain between 
 The Prah Akeya and Quahoo (two provinces 
 River. lying N> and NK of Coomassie), 
 
 near a little croom called Sumtassoo. It is 
 looked upon as a tutelary god, or fetish, and is 
 generally called " Bossom Prah," or the Sacred 
 Prah. Human sacrifices are made to it at its 
 spring-head, said to be a large gaping rock half- 
 way up the mountain. Its course is first south- 
 erly, then south-west, until a few miles beyond 
 the town of Prahsue, where it bends again to 
 the south, and falls into the sea at Chamah, 25 
 miles west of Cape Coast Castle. 
 
 At the mouth there is a somewhat dangerous 
 bar, with a depth of water varying according 
 to the season from three to five feet. In the 
 rainy season the current is constantly running 
 
 H
 
 114 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 out ; in the dry season there is a three hours' 
 flood and nine hours' ebb. The river is navi- 
 gable for small craft for some distance about 
 two days' journey when navigation is stopped 
 by rapids and waterfalls, occasioned by a tract 
 of hilly country. For about 60 miles of its 
 course, counting from its bend at Prahsue up- 
 stream in an N.E. direction, it forms the 
 boundary between Ashanti and the British 
 Protectorate. 
 
 Opposite Prahsue the Eiver Prah flows be- 
 tween steep banks 40 to 60 feet high, with 
 a strong current of three or four miles per 
 hour; and is estimated to be from 4 to 7 
 feet deep, and 40, 80, and 100 yards broad 
 a discrepancy doubtless owing to the season of 
 the year, and the amount of the previous rain- 
 fall. The ford is below some shelving rocks in 
 the centre of the river, and crosses in a slant- 
 ing direction up-stream : the bottom is a rich 
 clay, free from pebble, and covered with a bed 
 of light sand. At this point it is described as
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 11$ 
 
 being a " noble " river, flowing through a richly- 
 wooded country, with beautiful scenery resem- 
 bling the Thames at Richmond ! 
 
 When the first detachment of the Ashanti 
 army, 12,000 strong, crossed this river in three 
 divisions last February, it was apparently 
 unfordable, as the men are reported to have 
 been ferried over in two canoes, each of which 
 held 30 men, and made four trips an hour. 
 The passage was unopposed, and occupied five 
 days. 
 
 The Dah River rises in Akeya near the 
 The River village of Jacomasi, passes the 
 large town of Juabim, and crosses 
 the Cape Coast road at Sarassoo, about seven 
 miles from Coomassie. Its course is south- 
 westerly, and it falls into the Ofim River, a 
 tributary of the Prah, about two days' journey 
 west of Prahsue. Where the road crosses it, 
 it is about three feet deep and forty feet wide, 
 with a bed of coarse and very white sand ex- 
 tending many hundred paces from the river.
 
 Il6 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The Adansi or Moinsey range of bills con- 
 The Adansi stitute by far the most serious 
 Hills. physical obstruction between Cape 
 
 Coast Castle and Coomassie ; indeed they are 
 the only hills worthy of the name. Very 
 little is known as to their extent; but they 
 are believed to commence on the N.W. side 
 of Bequa, from thence inclining easterly to 
 Datiassoo and Doompassi, where they divide 
 into two branches, one running N.E. to the 
 Echony Lake, the other S. of east, through 
 Assim and Akim to Aquamboe, and the 
 neighbourhood of Accra, where it unites with 
 the chain that may be seen at the distance 
 of twenty miles from that place. The Adansi 
 Hills cross the Coomassie road at about thirty- 
 nine miles N. of the Prah, the ascent on the 
 south side being abrupt, rugged, and broken 
 into deep gullies. On the summit, 1600 feet 
 above the sea -level, is a small undulating 
 table -land of only a few hundred yards in 
 extent, and there the path leads down the
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 117 
 
 north slope at a much more favourable in- 
 cline, the country on that side being at a 
 higher elevation than that on the south 
 side. 
 
 There are said to be two other paths across 
 this range besides the main route : one, called 
 the King's Road, (because it is usually fol- 
 lowed by the king of Ashanti) leaves the 
 main path near the village and stream of 
 Ansah, and passing round to the eastward, 
 rejoins the path at Fomanah ; the other leaves 
 the main path at the foot of the ascent, and 
 passes round to the westward. It therefore 
 appears probable that the point at which the 
 main path crosses the hills is the steepest 
 and worst, though perhaps the most direct ; 
 and that a more feasible road might be found 
 on one side or the other illustrating the old 
 proverb, that "the longest way round is the 
 shortest way home."
 
 Il8 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 4. THE KINGDOM OF ASHANTI. 
 
 The kingdom of Ashanti (pronounced 
 Sianti) from W. to E. embraces 
 
 Ashanti. 
 
 about 4 longitude, and from N. 
 to S. about 4 latitude ; consequently it has 
 an area of some 70,000 English square miles. 
 Over this tract the king rules with undis- 
 puted and despotic sway, every king, chief, 
 viceroy, or cabooceer, being his unconditional 
 and absolute vassal and slave. 
 
 Coomassie (or Kumassi), the capital, situ- 
 ated according to Dupuis in lat. 6 51' N., 
 long. 2 16' W., is a large and well-built 
 city, containing a population which has been 
 variously estimated at 25,000 and 200,000 
 inhabitants, rather a wide discrepancy ! 
 Lieut. - Governor Winniett says it is very 
 different in appearance from the other native 
 towns of this part of Africa. The streets 
 are generally very broad and clean, and or- 
 namented with many beautiful banyan-trees,
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 119 
 
 affording a grateful shade from the powerful 
 rays of the sun. The houses looking into 
 the streets are all public rooms on the ground- 
 floor, varying in dimensions from 24 feet by 
 12 to 15 feet by 9 ; they are entirely open 
 to the street in front, but raised above its 
 level from one to six feet by an elevated floor 
 consisting of clay polished with red ochre. 
 They are entered from the street by steps 
 made of clay and polished like the floor. 
 
 The walls consist of wattle-work plastered 
 with clay, and washed with white clay ; the 
 roofs are made of palm -leaves, and as the 
 eaves extend far over the walls, the front base- 
 ments of the raised floors (which are generally 
 covered with rude carvings of various forms) 
 have their beautiful polish preserved from the 
 effects of both sun and rain. This mode of 
 building gives to the streets a peculiar aspect 
 of cheerfulness. Each of these open rooms is 
 connected with a number of rooms behind it, 
 quite concealed from public view, which consti-
 
 120 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 tute the dwellings of the people ; and there may 
 be connected with each public room, in the 
 manner above described, from 50 to 250 
 inmates. 
 
 The city is built upon the side of a large hill 
 of ironstone, embosomed in an immense forest, 
 and may be described as an oblong of nearly 
 four miles in circumference, without including 
 the populous suburbs of Assafoo on the south, 
 and the Bantammah on the north, which are 
 respectively a half-mile and a quarter-mile 
 distant, and were formerly connected with the 
 city by streets. Coomassie would be a com- 
 paratively healthy town, were it not that it is 
 surrounded by an extensive tract of swampy 
 land, varying in width from 20 to 100 yards, 
 and in depth from 2 to 5 feet, according to the 
 season. 
 
 This swamp is caused by the overflow of the 
 little river Soubin, which flows nearly all 
 round the town ; and the exhalations from it 
 cover the city morning and evening with a
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 121 
 
 dense fog, engendering dysentery, to which 
 natives coming from the coast are especially 
 liable. It has, however, the redeeming feature 
 of affording a good supply of water to the 
 town, and it would doubtless play a most 
 important part in any military operations. 
 
 The principal buildings are "the King's 
 Palace," the Bantammah, and the Iminihiah. 
 The king's palace is built of quarried stone, 
 and is a large and spacious edifice, two stories 
 high, with large and lofty rooms. It covers a 
 space of five acres. 
 
 The Bantammah is described as a " fortified 
 The Bantam- building ; " in what manner " for- 
 ma ^- tified" I cannot ascertain. In it 
 
 are deposited the tombs of the kings of 
 Ashanti, the crown jewels, and the most valu- 
 able treasures ; it is also one of the principal 
 magazines for military munitions in the king- 
 dom, thus answering the double purpose of our 
 Tower of London and Woolwich Arsenal. 
 The charge of this important building is
 
 122 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 always intrusted to one of the greatest of the 
 Ashanti nobles, who is called Governor or 
 Keeper of the Bantammah. This post is now 
 held by Amon Quartier, the general in com- 
 mand of the Ashanti army. 
 
 The Iminihiah, or king's summer palace, is 
 The situated about two miles N.E. of 
 
 Iminihiah. ^ town< j t ig not ment i one( i by 
 
 Bowdich or Dupuis, from which it may be in- 
 ferred that it is of modern construction. The 
 king constantly retires to it for a few days' 
 relaxation and change of air, and it appears to 
 be his favourite residence. It is not nearly so 
 large as the palace in Coomassie, and this is all 
 I have been able to ascertain about it. May 
 we hope that it rivals in beauty and barbaric 
 magnificence the far-famed summer palace at 
 Pekin ! 
 
 Coomassie has eight principal roads, bear- 
 Roads * n & * ne name f * ne king in whose 
 reign they were cut, or of the 
 country they lead to. Four of these connect
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 123 
 
 the capital with the sea-coast, the other four 
 with large towns in the interior. Of the four 
 maritime roads, the most westerly is one lead- 
 ing to Assinee and Apollonia, along which the 
 Ashantis now obtain their principal supplies 
 of powder and lead ; the next westerly is the 
 Wassaw road, leading through Denkara, and 
 thence branching off to Cape Three Points, 
 Chamah, and Elmina ; the third road is the 
 main route through Assim and Fanti, vid 
 Prahsue and Mansue ; the fourth runs S.E. 
 through the large town of Juabim, and parts 
 of Akim and Aquapim to Accra. This last 
 road is said to be 160 miles as the crow flies, 
 and 240 by the windings of the path ; which 
 little fact will give a good idea of the serpentine 
 windings caused by the denseness of the forest. 
 The four inland roads run in directions from 
 N.W. to N.E., and connect Coomassie with 
 large cities in the interior; for instance, one 
 leads to Salgha, a large town on the upper 
 Volta, supposed to be twice the size of Coo-
 
 124 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 massie, and to contain 400,000 inhabitants. 
 This road passes through a beautiful country, 
 in which the crooms are environed by exten- 
 sive plantations : there is much traffic on it, 
 and caravans pass regularly to and fro. The 
 inland roads are infinitely superior to the mari- 
 time roads. .There is much more traffic on 
 them; and as they emerge on the fourth or 
 fifth day from the great forest which surrounds 
 Coomassie, they then extend over vast plains, 
 where there is no impediment to the traveller. 
 
 Not so, however, with the coast or maritime 
 roads. These are but paths cut in the forest, 
 and as the natives invariably travel in single 
 file, these paths are only wide enough for one 
 man at a time : no beast of burden could pass 
 unless the path were widened. They are also, 
 unavoidably, most capricious and serpentine, 
 since the labour of cutting them straight, ac- 
 cording to our European notions, would be 
 immense. 
 
 It is fair to infer that in the immediate
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 12$ 
 
 vicinity of the capital the roads are in good 
 order. Lieutenant -Governor Winniett, writ- 
 ing in 1848, mentions a visit paid to him at 
 the Wesleyan Mission-house in Coomassie by 
 the king, who came "in the beautiful little 
 phaeton presented to him in 1841 by the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society." As no beasts 
 of burden are mentioned, this phaeton was 
 probably drawn as a four-in-hand by slaves 
 harnessed two -and -two between the shafts, 
 with a kind of yoke or cross-bar resting on 
 the head. 
 
 The district in the immediate vicinity of 
 the capital is well peopled, particularly on the 
 north side. The largest town within a radius 
 of thirty miles is Juabim, bearing S.E. from 
 Coomassie one day's journey, or about fifteen 
 English miles. This town is said to contain 
 70,000 inhabitants, and to be one-third the 
 size of the capital. The eight principal roads 
 above mentioned have many towns situated on 
 their lines, which are totally unknown to Euro-
 
 126 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 peans : it has been ascertained that many 
 others, more or less populous, are situated on 
 cross - paths intersecting the main roads. 
 Beecham says that sixteen towns are acces- 
 sible by the pathway leading northwards, and 
 fourteen on the pathway to Salgha. 
 
 It must not, however, be supposed that 
 these eight roads form the only means of 
 native intercommunication : there are small 
 towns and villages scattered about all over 
 Fanti and Ashanti land, hidden away in the 
 bush, never visited by Europeans. Each little 
 village has its bush-paths to the neighbouring 
 villages, which paths are more or less acces- 
 sible, according to the size of the villages and 
 the consequent traffic over them. 
 
 The Ashantis, like the Fantis, have their 
 lucky and unlucky days, depending on the day 
 of the week that the king's Adai custom 
 begins, which occurs every twenty days. If it 
 begins on a Wednesday, then Wednesday is a 
 most unlucky day, also the following Friday
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 127 
 
 week. Monday is a favourite day with them 
 for an attack ; but they never attempt night 
 surprises all their movements are conducted 
 with the utmost deliberation ; they remain for 
 days and weeks in the same spot, building for 
 themselves neat and comfortable lean-to huts 
 made of bamboos thatched over with palm- 
 leaves. When they intend attacking a town, 
 they commence by cutting numerous war-paths 
 from the bush where they are encamped, so as 
 to surround the town. They love the bush, 
 and dislike fighting in the open. Their tactics 
 are invariably the same an attempt to out- 
 flank their enemy on both flanks, withdrawing 
 or refusing their centre; and these simple 
 tactics have never failed to win them success 
 in their wars against the neighbouring negro 
 tribes. The king's great oath, when he is 
 really in earnest, is by " Meminda Carmanti " 
 or Cormanti Saturday, when their great king, 
 Osai Tootoo Quamina, was slain by the Akims. 
 It is said that the present king of Ashanti,
 
 128 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 Coffie Calcalli, has sworn by Meminda Cor- 
 manti'that he will drive the white men into 
 the sea, and that his army shall remain in 
 Fanti-land until this is accomplished. 
 
 Similar to this Ashanti oath is that of the 
 people of Cape Coast, who swear by " Karte 
 Ukuda " or " Macarthy's Wednesday," the day 
 of the week on which Sir Charles Macarthy 
 was killed. 
 
 5. CLIMATE, TEMPERATURE. 
 
 The climate of the Gold Coast differs con- 
 siderably from that of the other 
 
 Climate. J 
 
 British settlements in West Africa. 
 The thermometer is actually lower ; but the 
 air, particularly on the coast, is heavily charged 
 with moisture, giving out a kind of damp heat, 
 which makes one feel as if constantly in a 
 vapour-bath, and making everything rust that 
 can rust ; even gold and silver getting rapidly 
 tarnished. The hot weather, or dry season,
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 129 
 
 when the thermometer ranges from 72 to 88 
 F., lasts from the middle of December to the 
 middle of April, when rain may be expected 
 until the end of August or beginning of Sep- 
 tember the heaviest in May and June. At 
 Coomassie the rainy season begins a month 
 earlier. September and October are tolerably 
 free from rain until the " little rains " (or " tor- 
 nado season "), which last about six weeks from 
 the middle of October. In December, January, 
 and February, a dry wind from the Great Des- 
 ert, called the Harmattan, sets in, and dries up 
 everything, making woodwork warp, and pens 
 and paper crack and split. This wind is con- 
 sidered healthy, and sometimes goes by the 
 name of " the Doctor." It is very little felt on 
 the coast, not having strength enough to over- 
 come the strong sea-breeze which sets in every 
 morning about 9 or 10 o'clock. 
 
 As the country rises gradually from the coast, 
 its salubrity increases, although the actual range 
 of the thermometer is higher 96 F. in the 
 
 I
 
 130 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 
 
 open spots ; and after passing the Adansi Hills 
 there is a marked improvement, the whole range 
 of the land being higher. 
 
 With regard to the amount of rain we ma}' 
 expect in the next few months, the following 
 table, taken from Dr Madden's Eeport for the 
 year 1840, may prove interesting ; but the rain- 
 fall in the interior is greater than that on the 
 coast : 
 
 In October it rained on 8 days. Amount, 3.5 inches. 
 
 November 
 
 8 
 
 
 3.13 , 
 
 December 
 
 5 
 
 
 .803 , 
 
 January 
 
 2 
 
 
 1.56 , 
 
 February 
 
 4 
 
 
 .214 , 
 
 April 
 
 8 
 
 
 5.68 , 
 
 May 
 
 20 
 
 
 19.5 , 
 
 June 
 
 21 
 
 
 7.69 , 
 
 As regards the mode of living, and preserva- 
 tion of health, so much has been dinned into 
 our ears of late on this subject, that it has 
 become wearisome in the extreme. There is 
 scarcely a single article of diet which somebody 
 has not written to the newspapers to warn us
 
 THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ASHANTI. 131 
 
 against. Every one who has been out to the 
 Gold Coast for ever so short a time has his 
 own peculiar nostrum, his infallible recipe for 
 the preservation of health. 
 
 I need only say that flannels should be worn 
 day and night, and that cold tea is unanimously 
 allowed to be the best thing to work on. 
 Healthy exercise, moderation in all things, 
 avoidance of unnecessary exposure to the mid- 
 day sun, and constant occupation, will, I firmly 
 believe, dissipate this bugbear, and rob this 
 so-called dangerous climate of more than half 
 its- risk. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 FEINTED BV WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
 
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