- Contains a short essay,
Kumasi in Historical Perspective, by Kwame Arhin, which includes a copy
of T. E. Bowdich's 1817 Map of Kumasi "with a few of the buildings
existing in 1942 superimposed in approximate positions.
5 In 1699-1700 Nana Osei Tutu, with the advice of the Priest-Counsellor, Okomfo Anokye, and the consent of the other constituent states - Asumegya, Kumawu, Mampon, Offinso, Nsuta, Kokofu and Bekwai - established the Asante Union, Asanteman. The Asante Union was principally a defensive organization against Denkyera, the erstwhile overlord of the Asante chiefdoms. The ruler of the Kumasi state also became the ruler of the Asante Union, or kingdom, and consequently Kumasi became the capital of both the Kumasi state and the Asante kingdom.
In the eighteenth century, the Asante Union embarked on a series of wars which, by the end of the century, resulted in the establishment of the Asantehene's political supremacy over the territories that comprise most of modern Ghana and east-central and southeastern Cote d'Ivoire.
11 . . . the Asante court engaged in a regular cycle of rites corresponding to set days in the Asante calendar. These rites culminated first in those of the Wednesday Adae, Wukudae, and Sunday Adae, Akwasidae, and second, in the annual Odwira. The Adae occurred every sixth week, and it was a day for offering food and drink to the ancestral spirits in the stool chapels. . .
The rites of the Adae were repeated on a much larger scale at the Odwira events. The secular aspects of the Odwira were more pronounced than those of the Adae. They included open processions of the court to the major landmarks in Kumasi, including the mausolea and the houses of principal officeholders, and the display of the Golden Stool, the Sika Dwa, the eternal symbol of Asante nationhood. The Asantehene's gifts were much larger and more widely distributed . Asante's wealth, the material basis of Asante power, portrayed in the Asantehene's personal wear, ornaments and other regalia and displayed in his procession through the principal streets of Kumasi, was exhibited for the crowds to see. All the rulers of Asante assembled in Kumasi. They reaffirmed their loyalty to the Golden Stool and its occupant, and their dedication to the Asante Union. They settled disputes among themselves. The Asantehene distributed honours and the national council disciplined members, sometimes by destoolment.
13 By the nineteenth century, the expansionist and open-door outlook of he Asante kings, expressed in the law forbidding public statements about other peoples' non-Asante origins, "obi nkere obi ase," had resulted in a population remarkably mixed for that period. Kumasi's population consisted of Asante; other Akan; non-Akan inhabitants of the territories that constitute modern Ghana; representatives of the trading peoples of West Africa, including the Hausa, the Mande and the Mossi; Muslim scholars or mallams from the middle Niger and Northern Africa; and, for varying periods of time, emissaries of European governments and trading groups, and European war-captives.
14 Within lineages there were distinctions of freeborn and descendants of slaves, war-captives, nnomum; and bought nnonkofoo and of pawns nnwowa. But, before colonial rule, it was strictly forbidden, with severe sanctions, for outsiders to point to the unfree origins of the Asantehene's subjects . . . A man of slave origin could be made counsellor to a ruler, okyeame, or a councillor, opanyin, if he combined enterprise with honesty and good conduct.. . . The state took measures for ensuring that the acquisition of wealth was controlled, because wealth was perceived as the material basis of power and authority; and it was consequently believed that its concentration in the state was the guarantee of the maintenance of its integrity.
- 119
. . . (R. S. Rattray and A. Norman Klein)
have emphasized the accumulation of wealth, most of all in people and
gold, as a central purpose of individual and state activity throughout
the precolonial Akan history. This applies to the story of the abirempon
("big men") using gold to buy slaves to assist in their
founding of pre-Asante Akan farming communities and states from the
fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, to the new Asante confederacy's
imperial expansion in the eighteenth century, capturing mines, trade
routes and marketable slaves, to Ivor Wilks' emerging "middle
class" of the nineteenth century; to his depiction of the upward
flow of wealth to the Asantehene; to T. C. McCaskie's presentation of
the state as the institution through which individual fortunes were
accumulated before colonial rule, and his exploration of the ideologies
of wealth; and to Kwame Arhin and Larry Yarak's insistence of
patrimonialism as the central form of legitimate political authority
throughout the independent existence of the Asante state.
120 The scholarly neglect of pawning in Asante may be in part a result of a greater scarcity of sources on pawning compared to those on slavery. The existence of pawning since at least the early nineteenth century is acknowledged in contemporary sources . . .
122 The pawning of people seems to have been common in Akan society since before the emergence of Asante at the turn of the seventeenth century.
In the Akan language, the word awowa (plural nwowa) means a security given by a debtor to a creditor, to be returned upon repayment of the debt. The awowa might be a person, a set of rights, a person, or a thing.
123 A father who was unable or unwilling to provide his inlaws with a loan they required had no right to prevent them from pawning his children to others, nor was he expected to try to dissuade them.
126 Pawns were . . . used as workers in farming, trading, gold mining, and harvesting kola nuts.
128 . . . pawns could be redeemed at any time, whereas a master had relatively secure legal control over his slave as long as they both lived.
130 . . . although slaves could be pawned, both borrowers and lenders apparently preferred to pawn their kinsfolk rather than slaves.
131 . . . the chiefs and headmen of Asante depended on the labor of slaves and the descendants of slaves "as we have no money like Europeans to hire men to do necessaries for us."
133 Asante was a polity which honored (as well as taxed) self-enrichment, notably with the award of titles and even authority.
. . . there is no dispute that the overwhelming majority of slaves in Asante were foreigners, specifically people originally captured from the savanna societies of the north, the nnonkofo.
134 In Asante pawning was . . . different from slavery as a form of exploitation, in that whereas most slaves were foreign, the majority of pawns were born in Asante, and the majority were recruited apparently from the "free" subjects of the Asantehene.
136 . . . by the nature of the institution, the pawns were poor (otherwise they could have redeemed themselves) and dependent on elders or masters.
. . . if a pawn's abusua fell into deeper debt, the pawn might find her or himself sold out of the matrilineage altogether, as a slave.
- . . . to weave them in all
the varieties of colour as well as of pattern. They were of an
incredible size and weight and threw them over the shoulder exactly like
a Roman toga. A small silk fillet generally encircled their
temples and massy gold necklaces, intricately wrought, suspended Moorish
charms, dearly purchased and enclosed in small square cases of gold,
silver and curious embroidery. Some wore necklaces reaching to the
navel entirely of aggry beads. A band of gold and beads encircled the
knee, from which several strings of the same depended. Small
circles of gold like guineas, rings and casts of animals were strung
round their ancles, their sandles were of green, red and delicate white
leather; manillas and rude lumps of rock gold, hung from their left
wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be supported on the head of
one of their handsomest boys. Gold and silver pipes and canes
dazzled the eye in every direction. Wolves and rams heads as large
as life, cast in gold, were suspended from their gold handled swords,
the blades shaped like round bill and rusted in blood. The sheaths
were of leopard skin or the skin of a fish like shagreen.
36 The large drums, supported on the head of one man and beaten by three others, were braced around with the thigh bones of their enemies and ornamented with their skulls. The kettle drums, resting on the ground, were scraped with wet fingers and covered with leopard skin. The horns (teeth of young elephants) were ornamented at the mouth piece with gold and the jaw bones of human victims. Large fans of ostrich feathers, played around the dignitaries. Immediately behind their chairs, which were of a black wood almost covered by inlays of ivory and gold embossment stood the handsomest youths with corslets of leopards skin covered with gold cockle shells, stuck full of small knives, sheathed in gold and silver and the handles of blue agate. Cartouche boxes of elephants hide hung below, ornameneted in the same manner. A large gold handled sword was fixed behind the left shoulder. Silk scarves and horses tails (generally white) streamed from the arms and waist cloth. Their long Danish muskets had broad rims of gold at small distances and the stocks were ornamented with shells.
Finely grown girls stood behind the chairs of some with silver basins. Crowds of small boys were seated around, flourishing elephants tails. Warriors sat tightly packed on the ground. Their caps were of the skin of the pangolin and leopard etc etc. The sides of their faces were curiously painted in long white streaks, and their arms also striped, having the appearance of armour.
37 We were suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors - 17 superiors, arranged in large cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled embroidery. Shirts and trousers of silk, large turbans of white muslin studded with a border of different coloured stones. They slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we passed and with a most malignant scowl.
The officers of the king's household: the chamberlain, the gold horn blower, captain of the messengers, captain for royal executions, captain of the market, keeper of the royal burial ground, master of the bands, sat surrounded by a retinue and splendour which bespoke the dignity of their offices. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his breast; the execution stool was held before him clotted in blood and covered with a cawl of fat.
The king's four linguists were encircled in a splendour second to none and their peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like fasces. The keeper of the treasury added to his own magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service, the blow pan, boxes, scales and weights were of solid gold.
38 King's manner majestic, yet courteous, inclined to corpulence, about 38, benevolent appearance, wore a fillet of aggry beads around his temple, necklace of gold cockspur shells strung by their largest ends, over his right shoulder a silk cord, suspending 3 saphies cased in gold; his bracelets were the richest mixture of beads and gold and his fingers covered with rings, his cloth was of a dark green silk, a pointed diadem was elegantly painted in white on his forehead, also a pattern resembling an epaulette on each shoulder and an ornament like a full blown rose, one leaf rising above the other until it covered his whole breast; his knee bands were of aggry beads, his ancle strings of gold ornaments of the most delicate workmanship, small drums, sankos, stools, swords, guns and birds, clustered together. His sandals of a soft white leather were embossed across the instep band with small gold and silver cases of saphies.
39 He was seated on a low chair, richly ornamented with gold, he wore a pair of gold castanetts on his finger and thumb, which he clapped to enforce silence. The belts of the guards behind his chair, were cased in gold and covered wiith small jaw bones of the same metal. The elephants tails waving like a small cloud before him were spangled with gold and large plumes of feathers were flourished amid them. The royal stool, entirely covered in gold was displayed under a splendid umbrella
40 A band of fetish men or priests wheeled round and round as they passed with surprising velocity. Some danced by with an irresistible buffoonery, some with a gesture of defiance, the greatest number in order and dignity.
It was nearly 8 o'clock before the king approached (to greet them in return) It was a beautiful star light night and the torches which preceded him displayed the splendour of his regalia with a chastened lustre ....the vessels in which the boys dipped their torches were of gold. He stopped to enquire our names a second time ande to wish us good night. His address was mild and deliberate; he was followed by his aunts, sisters and others of his family, with rows of find gold chains around their necks. 30000 warriors in attendance.
43 The next morning the king sent ot us to come and speak our palaver in the market place. We found him encircled by the most splendid insignia and surrounded by his caboceers. Kings linguists alone are allowed to speak to him in public.
45 The kings sisters (one the caboceer of the largest Ashantee town near the frontier) paid us a visit of ceremony and retired to receive ours in return. Their women were courteous and dignified and they were handed with a surprising politelness by the captains in attendance.
47 The king: "The English know, by my own powder, with my own shot, I drove the Fantees under their forts; I spread my sword over them, they were all killed and their books from the fort are mine. I can do as much for the English as for the Fantees."
114 Proceeding in a NE direction crossed the marsh close to the town, where it was about 2ft. deep and 150yds. broad. We travelled the path to Sallagha, through a beautiful country, abounding in neat crooms (of which we passed through several), the sites spacious and environed by extensive plantations. The path was wide and so nearly direct, that the eye was always in advance through beautiful vistas varied by gentle risings.
Soups stews, plantains, yams, rice (all excellently cooked) wine, sprits, oranges and every fruit. Played draughts with the Moors who were reclining under trees. We were conducted to the eastern side of the croom, to a door of green reeds, which excluded the crowd, and admitted us through a short avenue to the Kings garden, an area equal to one of the large squares in London. In the centre four large umbrellas of new scarlet cloth were fixed under which was the kings dining table (heightened for the occasion) and covered in the most imposing manner. His massy plate was well disposed and silver forks knives and spoons (Col. Tarranies) were plentifully laid. The large silver waiter supporting a roasting pig in the centre. The other dishes on the table were roasted ducks, fowls, stews, pease puddings etc. etc. On the ground on one side were various soups and every sort of vegetable and elevated parallel with the other side were oranges, pines and other fruits sugar candy, port and Madeira wines spirits Dutch cordials with glasses. We never saw a dinner more handsomely served nor ate a better.
122 One captain told us that he had heard that the English were so constantly in palavers, one with another, that their houses, which he understood to be made of wood, the same as their ships, were always fixed on wheels; so that when a man had quarrelled with his neighbour, he moved to another part of the bush. Another considered that the monkeys, whom the Moors said sprang from the Israelites who disobeyed Moses, could talk as well as men, but they were not such fools, for if they did, they knew men would make them work.
125 The King meeting us in the outer square, where about 300 females were seated, in all magnificence which a profusion of gold and silk could furnish. . . all the women holding up two fingers, as their mark of approbation.
161 The children of the African Negroes, early accustomed to travel with their parents for their convenience or their assistance, and unoccupied by the difficulties of incipient education, observe nature more attentively than European children of the same age would for they have nothing else to think of. . .
- 34 .
. . the King of YENDI . . . jealous of the power of ASHANTI, boasted
that he could overwhelm that country, and moved an army south with this
object. The Ashanti King, hearing of this, commissioned the Adentinhene,
KWAMIN PETE, to meet and conquer these northerners.
The ASHANTIS crossed the VOLTA River and, owing to their superior armament, gained an easy victory over the enemy. Where the forces met is not known. An annual tribute of 1,000 slaves, 1,000 cattle, 1,000 sheep, and 1,000 fowls was imposed on YENDI, one-tenth of which was given to KWAMIN PETE as a reward for his services.
OSEI KOJO was next called upon to give the AKIMS and AKWAPIMS another taste of the Ashanti power. He invaded their territory and drove them before him, although the FANTIS, who had been bribed by him not to assist the rebels, treacherously did so.
To quote Claridge
"According
". . . it was during Kudjo's reign that the first mention of
Ashanti occurred in the reports of Cape Coast Castle - on the 10th of
July,1765, and again in 1767 and 1772. The Council took into
consideration the probability of hostilities arising between the Ashanti
and Fantis, and in 1767 asked for men-of-war to be stationed on the
coast until affairs became more settled. They feared that if the
Ashantis proved victorious their settlements might be endangered, while,
should the Fantis conquer, it was expected that the Company's trade
would be ruined."
OSEI KOJO was now old and infirm. He was anxious to revenge himself against the FANTIS, but before the Ashanti army could take the field OSEI died in 1781, after a reign of twenty-nine years. He is supposed to have instituted the "Koromantin Oath" on the death of two of his nieces from smallpox when they were at KOROMANTIN.
The ABREMPON selected a boy named OSEI KWAMINA, grand-nephew of the deceased King, to succeed him. But he was not enstooled for several years, probably ten or twelve, during which time the head of the ADENTIN, KWAMIN PETE, acted as Regent.
There was no campaign during these years of tutelage. The oath supposed to have been sworn by the boy on his accession, "that he would neither enter his palace nor see his wives until he had avenged the insult offered to his predecessor by the Assins," is pronounced by the ASHANTIS to be a pure myth, for it would have been impossible for a mere child to exercise any influence whatever over public affairs. Although the ASSINS, who lived immediately south of ASHANTI, may have been brought to book for their defection, viewed in the light of those turbulent days, fighting was on a small scale during this reign.
In fact, the only expedition that tradition asserts as having occurred in OSEI KWAMINA'S time was that against the DENKERAS, who, rather than face the danger, bought off the Ashanti army by yielding up the head of their King and 1,000 pereguns (£8,000).
OSEI KWAMINA was enstooled on reaching years of puberty. He had evidently suffered restraint under KWAMIN PETE, for no sooner was he in power than he turned on his tutor and counsellor and demanded an account of the expenditure of the Royal treasure; nor was he satisfied until KWAMIN PETE had handed over to him four villages . . .
The King's leanings towards the Mahommedan religion were perceived by his chiefs with anxiety, and when they realized that OSEI, who had proceeded to JUABEN for AKUAMOA'S funeral custom, had become infatuated with a Juaben Princess (named EJEI BEDU), that he remained on at JUABEN indefinitely, and that he neglected all affairs of state, their patience gave way. In 1799 they deposed him in favour of a younger brother, OPOKU FOFIE, who only reigned for forty to sixty days.
OSEI KWAMINA is supposed to have committed suicide shortly after his deposition, and OPOKU FOFIE'S sudden death is ascribed to a visitation of his brother's ghost.
Yet another brother succeeded to the throne, the youngest of the three, OSEI ASIBI KWAMINA, surnamed BONSU (a whale), who was destined to become one of the greatest Kings of ASHANTI. With his advent direct political relations between Great Britain and ASHANTI may be said to have commenced. Written records now become available . . .
- 2
We know that the
ancestors of the Dagomba met a people akin to the Kokomba already living
in northern Ghana
5 . . . trade route ran to the north east through eastern Gonja and Dagomba, across the river Niger to Hausaland. This route made contact with the trans-Saharan caravan trade in commercial emporia in Hausaland. Merchants from such Hausa cities as Kano and Katsina travelled along this route to Salaga in Eastern Gonja and there exchanged their cotton cloths, leather goods and slaves for gold, cowries, and other products. . . kola nuts and salt
8? Wassa path Kumasi, Denkyera, Wassa, trans Pra, Elmina
9 blue beads called coris from Benin (blue, green and black stones) Quaqua cloth "pretty sort of cotton stuff from Ivory Coast used for clothing the common people"
10 1629 people of Elmina already polishing beads from Portugal. Aggrey beads
11 Benin cloth. Each band 2.5-2.75 ells long and 2 ells broad. Four bands = Moupononqua. Three bands = Ambassis. Blue or blue with white stripes.
12. Dutch bought Benin cloth under duress (1719) or blue with white stripes. 1752 London instructs Cape Coast to send patterns of Ashantee and Whydah cloth for copying
15? Brazilian slave trade. Rio de Janiero, Bahia, Pernambuco (Recife) with lower Guinea Prices c 1700 male slave 5 oz old (£10) Female 4 oz.
92 1758 trading paths to the coast still closed.
99 Osei Kwadwo 1764-1777
100 May 1765 Asante army moves south. J. P. T. Huydecooper, Director General Elmina 1765. Prewar prices for slaves 10 oz/male 6 oz /female postwar 6/4.
101 June 1765 Asante Fante battles
102 Mediation Director General at Elmina heir to long tradition of Asante Dutch cooperation
103 In July 1765 it was reported that the queen mother of Asante was urging Osei Kwadwo 'with all the forces of female vehemence to war declaring that she herself would call the Asante to arms and lead an attack upon the Fante if the king failed to do so.
106 Dutch secured service of Agyeakwa, Asante prince, who became chief link Kumasi-Elmina
111 1767 Fante close paths to the coast and bar import of firearms by Asante
113 1772 Dutch Director General Pieter Woortman
115 It will be recalled that between 1744 and 1745, Opoku Ware led a large Asante army to invade Gonja and Kong. But this early thrust to the north probably amounted to no more than acquisition of trading rights in these areas. This was largely because the civil wars which riddled Asante from 1746 onwards made it impossible for Opoku Ware and his successor to consolidate Asante gains in the northern territories. But the evidence indicates that Asante wanted to pacify the north.
1770 Asante army conquers Dagomba. What month? When was first tribute paid? Asante disliked intensely the forms of control which the Northern people exercised over the trade routes and markets in the area. The Asante thrust to the north must also have been intended as a preliminary to an intensive exploitation of the human resources in that area. The Asante needed able-bodied men and women both to sell as slaves and to work the numerous gold pits in the kingdom. The immediate cause of Asante intervention, however, was internal dissension in Dagomba as a result of succession disputes
116 King of Dagomba was Gariba. His nephew was Na Saa Ziblim of Kpatina. Na Saa was defeated. He appealed to Asante for help. Kwame Pete, Adontehene of Kumasi, invaded Dagomba. Asante won in spite of inferior numbers. As a result of this defeat Dagomba and its dependencies became tribute paying vassals of Asante.
In early 19th Cent. Bowditch noted that the capital and large towns of Inta and Dagomba supplied Asante with 500 slaves, 200 cows, 400 sheep, 400 cotton cloths and 200 silk cloths during this period of vassalage. Adontehene of Kumasi was given overall charge of the administration of Dagomba. Effective government was left in the hands of traditional rulers.
Kambonse is the Dagomba word for Asante. Also refers to Dagomba musketeers who were equipped and trained by the Asante and who have Asante day names. Dagomba Kambonse probably founded in or about 1770.
116 After 1770 Asante and Fante traders met freely for trade in markets on Northern frontier of Fante. Far greater number of slaves were exported in 1774 than in any one year. 1776: peace in the Gold Coast and slaves are very plentiful.
Slaves brought down by Asante were known as Duncoes, Donce, Dynkos. Considered industrious and faithful. Asante donko (pl. Nnonko or nnokofo) applied strictly to a man or woman, other than an Ashanti, who has been purchased with the express purpose of making him or her a slave. Main physical attribute of an Odonko in the Asante mind: bearing tribal marks. Bush or country people of the Dagomba have three light cuts on each cheekbone and three below with one horizontal under the eye. Many of the slaves sold by Asante to the Europeans were from Dagomba. Bowditch: "Most of the slaves in Kumasi were sent as part of the annual tribute of Inta, Dagwumba and their neighbours, to Asante, very many were kidnapped and for the few who were bought, I was assured by several respectable Ashantee 2000 cowries or one basket of kola nuts was the greatest price given - so full were the markets of the interior."
Asante trade in gold, ivory kola nuts, slaves was very well organized. Private individuals were not encouraged to indulge in large scale trading activities because of the risks involved. The Asante trade, in general, was a state enterprise under the management of the Gyasewahene, who was overseer of the King's trade and was at liberty to send the trade where he pleased. Asokwahene (or Batahene) was responsible for trading on behalf of the Asantehene. At the request of the king or Gyasewahene, he would be sent to the coast to purchase salt, spirits, textiles, guns, powder, pewter, lead, etc. Asokwahene was assisted by several fekuo (administrative departments) generally subjects of the Gyasewahene, including akyeremodefo (drummers) asokuafo (hornblowers) asoafo (hammock carriers) agwarefo (bathroom attendants) - see Rattray for details.
120 Asante officials - akwansrafo - road wardens - were established at many points on all main highways. Ejura, Atebubu (control of traffic on NE road to Salaga). They detained all traders until enquiries had been made about them, when they were allowed to pass, on payment of 3 to 4 shillings worth of gold dust. Their main concern was to prevent guns and powder from being sold beyond metropolitan Asante. The purpose of this embargo was to ensure continued Asante superiority in muskets over the bow and arrow wielding peoples of N. Ghana.
121 Subversion of power of hereditary nobility. New bureaucracy headed by Gyasehene (controlling ministries) Sanaa (treasury) bata (state traders) and regional representative. Resident commissioner responsible for ensuring local collection of tributes fixed by Gyasewahene's exchequer court in Kumasi. Tributes conveyed to Kumasi by the Sanahene's tax collectors.
137 Rulers of Dagomba - Moslem by early 19th century
140 1780 Fante close the trade routes.
Bowdich visited Kumase in 1819, Dupuis in 1824
- 28 Politics
and trade . . . served to bring into closer contact the cultures of
forest and savannah. Several travellers noticed the presence of northern
MusIims among the Akan. When Bowdich entered Kumasi in 1817 he was
suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors, who afforded the first general
diversity of dress; there were seventeen superiors, arrayed in large
cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled embroidery. Their
shirts and trowsers were of silk, and a very large turban of white
muslin was studded with a border of different coloured stones. They
slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we passed, and with a most
malignant scowl.
A Dane who lived on the coast from 1805 to 1809 noticed that the northern Muslims came fairly often to Accra:
They use turbans and are dressed in the same way as the Turks. Sometimes they take the Moorish writings with them, of which I possess some sheets which such a Moor has presented to me. This writing is either bound in small books or at least wrapped in paper . . . Nearly all these Moors speak the Asante language.
Although the Asante placed restrictions on Muslim trade in the mid-nineteenth century, the northern contacts were not lost. Brandon Kirby, who visited the town of Kintampo near Tekyiman a century ago, noted that during the time I was in Quantampoh, caravans arrived from Timbuctu via the Moshi country and also Mandingos from the back of Sierra Leone.
. . . In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the Asantehene, through the Muslim scribes at his court, occasionally corresponded with the chiefs in Gonja, Dagomba and elsewhere. The northern chiefs and elders also sent Arabic letters to Kumasi. Usually they offered advice and prayers for the Asantehene's good health and prosperity, in return for which they sought customary gifts.
In one letter a Muslim elder of the Ya Na, paramount chief of Dagomba, wrote to Muhammad al-Ghamba, who was resident at the Asante court:
From Abu Bakr, Sultan Kamshegu to Baba, son of Imam Gambaga. Extend our greeings to the Sultan of Asante . . . Tell the Sultan that I pray to Allah, but he has to give as a present a male slave, dressed in a red gown with a mithqal in his pocket, three guns, seven golden riyals and a new white gown. Let him collect all these and send it on the head of a red slave, for the good of his body.
63 By 1701 . . . Osei Tutu and his allies had succeeded in crushing not only the pre-Asante states in the vicinity of Kumasi but also the Denkyira kingdom. One of the motives underlying these campaigns was clearly to gain control of gold-producing lands and the two major trade routes running through the region, one going north-west to Tekyiman and Begho, and the other north-east to Kafaba (the predecessor of Salaga), a large Gonja market to which Hausa traders were being attracted by the fifteenth century. Osei Tutu was evidently anxious to enter the gold trade, and it is said that even before the Denkyira war he had introduced the gold-dust currency into Asante and appointed the first treasurer or Sannaahene of Kumasi, Amoa Pagya. . .
64 Under its second Asantehene, Opoku Ware (172050), Asante was transformed into a far-flung empire. It now had great wealth. The Asante purchased wines, spirits and luxury articles on the coast for the Asantehene's court, and Opoku Ware asked to be given a glass-panelled Dutch coffin for his funeral. He also requested the Dutch to send twelve young Asante men and two girls to the Netherlands for education, but the amount offered to cover the expenses - ten elephant tusks - was felt to be inadequate and the students were placed in the castle school at Elmina. On another occasion this remarkable and farsighted man tried 'to get factories in his country' by persuading four Dutch soldiers to teach his people how to distil spirits. The Dutch governor at Elmina realised the disastrous effect this might have on trading profits; the soldiers were hastily recalled to Elmina 'where they hanged them at once'.
The Dane Roemer, who lived on the coast between 1735 and 1743, was told that the Asante were referring to themselves as 'Assiante kottoko' (Asante kotoko), the Asante porcupine, in tribute to their valour. His servants told him that Opoku Ware held audience under a big tree made of gold (perhaps a canopy or umbrella) with his feet in a gold basin; his body was greased and sprinkled with gold dust twice a day by his attendants.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the gold production of a vast area was channelled back to Kumasi and carefully conserved. The Asante were known to buy up whole shiploads of European goods on the coast, but they preferred to pay in slaves rather than gold. Other arrangements ensured a substantial flow of revenue to the Kumasi treasury. The conquered states paid annual tributes, often in gold. Asante officials were stationed at the more important markets and crossroads to collect tolls from traders; those from the north were not allowed to travel to the coast without passing through Kumasi and traders from the south were obliged to pass through Kumasi on their way to northern Ghana.
- 204 So much for the
Ashantee laws, mentioned by Mr. Bowdich as promulgated during his
residence at Coomassie in 1818: All persons sent on the king's business
shall no longer seize provisions in any country, whether tributary or
otherwise, in his name, but, requiring food, shall offer a fair price
for the first they meet with; if this be refused, they shall then demand
one meal and one meal only, in the king's name, and proceed.
205 . . .we amused ourselves in looking over the farmer's plantation, and about his house. In the former were paupaus, plantains, Indian corn, &c. and in the latter was his gun and accoutrements (no man in this or the Fantee country being without his musket in case of war). We also observed some implements of husbandry, such as hoes, &c. and a peculiar sort of adze, with which the Ashantees cut down the largest trees; there were several which appeared to have been just manufactured . . .
206 After relish we all dressed in full uniform, and each of us displaying our best silks upon the occasion for our hammock cloths, and Mr. Dupuis covering a sort of palanquin with the richest taffetas, we set out from Sirre, and immediately crossing the marsh which insulates the capital, we made our entry into Coomassie (six miles N.N.W. from Sirassou) at a few minutes past three o'clock in the following order.
First; Mr. Dupuis, in a palanquin, carried on men's shoulders, with a man carrying a silk union before him, attended by two sword bearers, and preceded by the linguist and bugleman, two soldiers, the Ashantee captain, (in uniform,) with an inferior captain beside him, both carrying gold handled swords, and one of his attendants following, in his wardress, with two attendants behind. I followed Mr. Dupuis in my hammock, and was preceded by a man carrying a silk union, and attended by two sword bearers; Messieurs Salmon, Collins, and Graves followed in succession in their hammocks, Several of the king's sons, who had come out in the morning as far as Sirre, returned with the embassy to the capital, and were carried on men's shoulders attended by their slaves, who were behind them carrying their stools. These stools are made of one solid piece of wood (called zesso), and are carved and polished in a superior manner. I brought home one of them; but they are now no great curiosity (although the workmanship is curious enough), as a great number have been carried to England by captains of vessels and gentlemen who have visited the coast for many years past.
The king's sons were fine handsome boys, about ten or twelve years of age, their heads shaved all over, excepting in two or three places behind, where little tufts of hair were left for the purpose of fastening some small square pieces of gold and silver of curious workmanship, very much resembling a silver or gilt scent box. The cloths they wore were large and handsome, of Ashantee manufacture, from cotton and foreign silks, which had been unravelled to weave them. Their skins were a beautiful black, and, as well as their heads, were highly polished, being rubbed with the grease or vegetable butter already explained.
On entering the capital we were met by thousands of people, men, women, and children, crowding in all directions to see us. The concourse of people was immense, I should suppose not less than 50,000, besides warriors. The principal streets, and the avenues leading from them were completely crammed with all descriptions. The porticos of the houses were crowded, with the ladies of Coomassie, who were genteel, handsome women, and courteously waved their hands to us as we passed. Fine young girls, not more than thirteen or fourteen years of age, and dressed in their best clothes, followed us from our entry into the capital, and kept close to our hammocks, smiling, and appearing, by their looks and gestures, to invite us to notice them. The shouts of the multitude, and the noise of the drums, horns, and flutes, made it impossible to hear the sound of our own bugle, which our bugleman kept almost constantly blowing before us. Many thousands had flocked from various parts of the country, for at least thirty miles round the capital, to witness our entry. In the first place, we were conducted by our Ashantee guide to the palace. Here we halted under some trees, near which the presents were deposited; and were almost immediately attended by a party of the king's body guard in uniform, the same as is worn by our own soldiers at the Cape. They were drawn up in a line on our right to keep the crowd off, which we much required, as the heat was very oppressive. The spirit and firmness which these men manifested on one or two occasions, in driving back the mob that pressed upon us too closely, convinced me of their good discipline. While we were thus amused in reflecting on the novelty and variety of objects which surrounded us, one of the Ashantee captains (Adoo Quamina) rode past on a fine white horse, but did not appear to notice us. After waiting about half an hour, we received a message from the king that his majesty was ready to receive us. This message was conveyed by the executioner, who was loaded with massy gold ornaments, and had a solid gold hatchet upon his breast. He was an amazing strong and powerful man, and wore a war-cap, with eagle's feathers, having his face painted, was altogether a terrific figure.
Proceeding a short distance, we were once more desired to halt, which we did for about ten minutes, when we again moved on slowly to the assembly of cabboceers and captains, who, with their warriors and attendants, were drawn up in a circle, leaving room sufficient for us to walk round and shake hands with every person of consequence.
We entered this circle a few minutes after four o'clock. Here a splendid spectacle presented itself: at least 20,000 warriors, with bright muskets and long Danish guns, now appeared in view, and a hundred bands of music began to play at the same moment. The king and his captains, many of whom had been summoned to the capital upon this occasion from distant parts of the kingdom, were all dressed in cloth of the richest manufacture, and decorated with ornaments of the purest gold and aggry beads. Their banners and flags, of different nations, English, Dutch, and Danish, and at least a hundred large umbrellas were seen in every direction. The majestic appearance of the cabboceers and captains, the richness of their dresses, the glittering and costly gold ornaments which were seen every where, is far as the eye could reach, had a most imposing effect, and left us for a moment in doubt whether we were not then in the presence of the king; but . . . the chiefs we then saw were only some of the king's captains . . .
216 . . . We passed nearly the whole assembly of cabboceers before we reached the king. His majesty was seated in a low chair, the back of which was profusely studded with gold nails, and ornamented with small pieces of gold. His chair was elevated a little, and placed about a yard in the background; a small avenue was formed by his attendants in front of him, so that we had to step out of the circle to approach the throne. His majesty and all his captains were screened from the sun, by large umbrellas, or canopies, made of scarlet and other cloth, capable of covering thirty or forty people, crowned on top with elephants, crescents, &c. of gold. The king appeared about forty-five years of age, and rather corpulent; his cloth was a rich green silk, and he wore a necklace of aggry beads and small pieces of gold. Saphies, cased in gold, were suspended over his shoulder, and he had a number of gold rings upon his fingers, and gold castanets on his finger and thumb. His wrists, knees, and ancles were richly adorned with bracelets and kneebands of the finest gold and aggry beads; and his sandals were of white leather, curiously worked and neatly ornamented. His features were remarkably handsome, his head was entirely shaved, with the exception, of a small part on the left of the crown, about the size of a guinea, and his beard, (of which he is extremely proud,) was at least three inches long.
On appearing in the royal presence, we all took off our hats, and each of us, in regular succession, advanced and shook hands with his majesty. We were received in the most condescending and affable manner, and his majestic and dignified deportment surprised and delighted us. He was evidently much pleased at the mark of distinction which we paid him in taking off our hats, although he did not appear in the least surprised.
230 The following account of the Adai custom, is given by Mr. Hutchison, who was the British resident at Coomassie for some months after the departure of Mr. Bowdich; and as, I am happy to say, I have none of these cruelties to relate from my own observation at Ashantee, I shall be excused quoting others upon this subject.
"When any public execution or sacrifice is to take place, the ivory horns of the king proclaim at the palace door, "wow! wow! wow!" "death! death! death" and as they cut off their heads the bands play a peculiar strain till the operation is finished. The greatest human sacrifice that has been made in Coomassie during my residence, took place on the eve of the Adai custom, early in January . . . This sacrifice was in consequence of the king imagining, that if he washed the bones of his mother and sisters who died while he was on the throne, it would propitiate the fetish and make the war successful. Their bones were, therefore, taken from their coffins, and bathed in rum and water with great ceremony; after being wiped with silks, they were rolled in gold-dust, and wrapped in strings of rock gold, aggry beads, and other things of the most costly nature. Those who had done any thing to displease the king, were then sent for in succession, and immolated as they entered, "that their blood might water the graves." The whole of the night the king's executioners traversed the streets, and dragged every one they found to the palace, where they were put in irons. Next morning being Adai custom, every place was silent and forlorn, and his majesty proceeded to the morning sacrifice of sheep, &c., attended only by his confidents and the members of his own family. He appeared agitated and fatigued.
"As soon as it was dark, the human sacrifices were renewed. The victims, with their hands tied behind them and in chains, preceded the bones of the deceased, which were removed to the sacred tomb of Bantama. The procession returned about three P. M. on Monday, when the king took his seat in the marketplace with his, small band, and "Death! death! death!" was echoed by his horns. He sat with a silver goblet of palm wine in his hand, and when they cut off any head, imitated a dancing motion in his chair, and a little before dark he, finished his terrors for that day. I dared not send out my people, lest they should be murdered. The sacrifice was continued till the next Adai custom, seventeen days!"
236 I shall now state my impressions on entering Coomassie.
The town, at the first glimpse we had of it, appeared, at a short distance, much the same as other towns on the coast; the roofs of the houses being of a conical shape resembling beehives. This last observation, however does not apply to the principal houses, some of which are very superior, and upon a larger scale than any we observed on our journey. But I must confess, that, on entering the capital, and passing through the principal streets, I felt disappointed from the impression Mr. Bowdich's drawings had made upon my mind; and the same feeling, I believe, extended to my companions. These drawings, to say the least of them., are too highly coloured. Many of the Ashantees, to whom I shewed them, could not perceive a resemblance sufficient to strike them at first sight. The houses generally were in a ruinous condition . . . I have observed only a few houses in good order, and these were built upon a large scale, with open porches in front, and kept extremely clean.
Mr. Bowdich's observations, regarding the houses being provided with cloacoes, and the general cleanliness of the Ashantees, are correct; and there can be no doubt, that, in the arrangement of their dwellings, they are superior to many of their neighbours . . . it is proper to observe that the ruinous state of the houses may, in some measure, be accounted for, by the king and his Captains having only lately returned from the war with the Buntakoos, which his majesty, as well as the inhabitants, pleaded as an apology for the town not being more handsome.
241 . . . On our arrival at the palace we were admitted into an inner court-yard or anti-room. In this courtyard, I observed two small window-frames, the one cased in gold, and the other in silver; but they were not larger than a pane of glass in our shop-windows in England. These window-frames belong to the king's bed-room, of which Mr. Bowdich has given a drawing; but so superior to what it represents, that I should not have known it, but for the round chequered doors. . .
After waiting about half an hour in the inner court-yard, or area, we were ushered into the king's presence. We now entered a large square open courtyard, with an apartment on the right hand side, which was covered with a roof composed of bamboo-cane for rafters, and thatched with grass and palmleaves. The roof is about twenty feet high; and supported in front by square pillars; so that the apartment is quite open, and forms a sort of piazza. The floor is raised about two feet from the ground, with "steps made of swish, which is covered with a layer of red earth, called inchuma, very much resembling ochre. These floors are washed every morning early with a mixture of this sort of ochre and water. The council-chamber, (if I may be allowed the expression,) was about thirty feet long and eight feet wide. In this council-chamber we found his majesty, surrounded only by a select number of his principal advisers, consisting of Quatchie Quofie, Odumata, Apokoo, and Amanquatea, who compose the aristocracy; and the linguists, Adoosey, Cancum, and Otee, (Agay being absent.) These, with Adoo Quamina (one of the captains), the eunuch, a few of the king's domestic slaves, and some of his favourite girls (not more than ten or twelve years of age), were the only persons allowed to be present. These girls generally attend his majesty, and were very handsome. Each of them had a large piece of solid rock-gold suspended round the neck, at least ten or twelve ounces, value forty or fifty pounds .
247 . . . In the evening, we walked out for an hour opposite the house we occupied, where there was a fine open street, or parade. It was a beautiful star-light night, and we enjoyed our walk, without the least interruption from the natives, who took no more notice of us, than if we had been constantly residing at the capital . . .
313 The language of the Ashantees and Fantees is nearly the same, which leaves room for the hypothesis, that they were originally one and the same nation, although in one particular, they have not the most distant resemblance to each other; and that is, in warlike skill and determined courage, for which the Ashantees are remarkable; while the opposite traits are wellknown characteristics of the Fantees.
317 . . . The manners of the superior captains are polite and hospitable in private, though haughty and abrupt in public. They think that war only affords fit display for ability. The lower order of people are insolent and licentious.
The Ashantee constitution is composed of the king, the aristocracy, (consisting of four) and the assembly of captains. It admits of the interference of the aristocracy in all foreign politics, extending even to veto on the king's decision; but they watch rather than share the domestic administration, influencing it by their opinion, but never control it by authority; and their opinions on civil questions, are submitted with deference, directly contrary to their bold declarations on subjects of war or tribute, which amount to injunction.
The general assembly of the cabboceers and captains is summoned to give publicity to the will of the king, and the aristocracy, and to provide for its observance. The king is heir to the gold of every subject, from the highest to the lowest. This law, however, is sometimes rendered of little or no effect, by the father presenting his children with most of his gold just before his death.
It being the practice to bury a considerable quantity of gold with the corpse of any rich person, that which is buried with members of the family is sacred, and cannot be used but to redeem the capital from the hands of an enemy, or in extreme national distress. The blood of the royal family is held sacred, and cannot be shed; but when guilty of a crime deserving death, they are drowned in the river Dah by a particular captain named Cudjo Samfani. Interest of money is 33 per cent for every forty days. To be convicted of cowardice is death. If any subject picks up gold dropt in the marketplace, it is also death, it being collected only by order of the government on state emergencies. Riding out with Dupuis one day, he lost a valuable gold-seal of which he immediately acquainted the king, who returned for answer that it should be sent to him in the course of the morning. Accordingly the gong-gong was beat, and in less than an hour the seal restored to its owner. I very much doubt if it would have been so easily recovered in England.
To rob the king, or intrigue with the female attendants of the royal family, is punished by emasculation; but crim. con. with the wife of a man who has been so punished, is death. No man is punished for killing his own slave, but he is for the murder of his wife or child. If a great man kills his equal in rank, he is generally allowed to die by his own hands. If a person brings a frivolous palaver against another, he must give an entertainment to the family, and friends of the acquitted. If an Aggry bead is broken in a scuffle,. seven slaves are to he paid to the owner. No man is allowed to praise the beauty of another man's wife. None but a captain can sell his wife, or put her to death for infidelity. When the family of a wife is too powerful for the husband to venture to put her to death for intrigue, he takes off her nose, and makes her the wife of one of his slaves. A wife who betrays a secret, loses her upper lip; and if discovered listening to a private conversation of her husband's, an ear. Those accused of witchcraft, are tortured to death. Slaves have the liberty of dashing themselves to a freeman or to the fetish, which in some measure prevents their masters from treating them ill.
There is a tradition among the Ashantees, that in the beginning of the world God created three white and three black men with an equal number of women; and that they might not have reason after-wards to complain, be gave them their choice of goodand evil. A large box or calabash was set on the ground, together with a piece of paper, sealed up on one side of it; God gave the black men the first choice, who took the box, expecting it to contain every thing good but on opening it, there appeared only a piece of gold, a piece of iron, and several other metals, for which they did not know any use. The white men opening the paper were told every thing. God left the blacks in the bush, but conducted the whites to the water-side, communicated with them every night, and taught them to build a small ship, which carried them away to another country, (for all this happened in Africa,) whence they returned after a long period. With this imaginary alienation from God, no despondency is associated; they consider, indeed, that it diminishes their earthly gifts and comforts, but that futurity is a state of torpitude to the majority of mankind. The king's cabboceers and the higher class are believed to dwell with the superior deity, after death; and under this idea, arises the barbarous custom of sacrificing a certain number of both sexes at funerals, to accompany the deceased and attend him in the next world. The spirits of the inferior class are thought to inhabit the houses of the fetish in a state of indolence. Those of superior wisdom are said to be appointed guardians to those who acknowledge the fetish; but they have their bad spirits as well as their good ones., Persons neglecting the funeral rites of their family, are haunted by the ghosts of those whose crimes have nullified, or whose circumstances have deprived them of the mediation of the funeral solemnity. There are two orders of fetish men; the first dwell with the fetish, who have a small round house generally built at a distance from the town The other class mix with the people, and are treated much like fortune-tellers or conjurers, in Europe. The occult science of these, men consists in knotting and dividing behind the back, several strings and shreds of leather. Half the offerings to the fetish are thrown into the river; the other half belongs to the priests. The Ashantees, as well as the Fantees, always spill a little liquor upon the ground before they drink, as an offering to the fetish; and when they rise from their seats, their servants instantly lay them on their sides, to prevent the devil, (whom they say, is white,) from slipping into their masters' places. Suicides are frequently committed among the Ashantees; a remarkable instance occurred when I was at Cape Coast. An Ashantee having struck the sentry at the castle gate, he was confined in the slave hole, where he bung himself in the night. An alarm was given, and I was one who accompanied the captain of the guard to the place of his confinement; when we found the poor fellow upon his knees, hung to a sort of manger by his cloth, which he had taken off his body to accomplish his purpose.
The Moors have hitherto exercised the greatest influence at Ashantee, and a few lines written by Baba, the chief of the Moors at Coomassie, is believed to possess the power of turning aside the balls of the enemy in battle, and is purchased at an enormous price; writing paper is consequently very valuable at Ashantee. Mr. Dupuis gave Baba several quires, which highly pleased him. I have said that the Moors have hitherto possessed the greatest influence; it is therefore proper I should explain why they do not still possess this influence to so great an extent as they formerly did. In the late battle between the Ashantees and Buntakoos, when the balls were flying about rather briskly, Baba skulked out of the battle, and was not to be found until it was over; when, it is said, the king reproached him thus: "How can you expect that I can have faith in your fetish, if you are afraid of the balls yourself?" Since that period Baba and his companions have lost much of their influence, and it was a long time before the king would be friends with him. Indeed, during my stay at Coomassie, I could not perceive they had half the influence which I should have supposed they had, from reading Mr. Bowdich's work. Doubtless, however, they still possess influence to a certain extent but I never observed them present at any of our meetings, except on public occasions, when they attended with the rest of the people. Time, and a more intimate acquaintance with Europeans, will, no doubt, convince the Ashantees of their folly in believing the mystical absurdities of the Moors . . .
325 The death of a person of consequence is announced by a discharge of muskets. In an instant all the slaves rush from the house, hoping, to escape; but one or more are always sacrificed at the door of the house. On the death of a king his brother's sons and nephews, affecting insanity, fire among the crowd: no rank is safe. The law allows the king 3333 wives; a number which is carefully kept up, although his majesty does not keep more than six at the palace. They live quite secluded, and are never approached but by the king's messengers or their female relatives, who only communicate with them at the entrances, where there is always a guard. None but the chief eunuch is allowed to bear a message to the king when in the seraglio. The king has a small troop of boys, who carry the fetish bows and arrows, and are licensed plunderers. Whatever they can steal is deemed fair game. The king's weights are one-third heavier than the current weights of the country, which is a source of emolument to the household. When the king sends an ambassador he enriches the splendour of his suite and attire as much as possible; but there is also attached to the embassy a mean-looking, but shrewd boy, as a kind of spy on the whole proceeding. It is a practice of the king to consign sums of gold to the care of rising captains, without requiring payment for two or three years, at the end of which time the king expects it to be returned. If no advantage has been made of it, the person is thought unworthy of further assistance.
Apokoo (keeper of the treasury,) holds a kind of exchequer court at his house daily, to decide all cases relative to the revenue. In all public trials, the charges are preferred against the criminal by the king's linguists; the accused is always heard fully and is obliged either to commit or exculpate himself upon every point. The oaths are various; that by the king's foot is not considered decisive, as perjury to this oath is commutable by fine; those by the king's father are held binding; and still more so are those made by Cormantee and Saturday.
I will describe two modes of taking, fetish: one, licking a white fowl twice or thrice, and drinking a nauseous vegetable juice without coughing; it is administered by the linguist out of a brass pan in a folded leaf of the plant. If the accused is cleared, he comes forward, and is marked with white chalk by the linguist. The second is taking doom, which is the infallible test, when they consider the case to be too doubtful for human decision. The bark of that tree is put into a calabash with water, so as to make a strong infusion; it is stirred up whilst the suspected parties sip in turn; those who sip first may recover, and the dregs are frequently left designedly for the obnoxious.
The Ashantee loom is precisely the same as English: their cloths are very fine and showy; their patterns are printed with a fowl's feather, with much taste and regularity: they excel in pottery; the clay is very fine, and after baking is polished by friction, and the grooves of the patterns are filled up with chalk: they are also skilful in goldsmith's work; but they have no idea of making iron from ore as their interior neighbours have : they tan leather well, but are indifferent carpenters.
The climate of Ashantee I consider more healthy than on the coast. The inhabitants are very subject to dysentery from the marshes which surround the capital: it rains at intervals six months in the year. Mr. Bowdich estimates the population of Ashantee at a million; but I think he has greatly overrated it.
The population of Coomassie may be about 15 or 20,000: the men are not so strongly made as the Fantees; but the women are generally handsomer in their persons, and more pleasing in their manners. The food of the higher orders is chiefly soup or dried fish, fowls, beef, or mutton, and ground-nuts stewed in blood: palm wine is their usual beverage, but they have also a drink made from Indian corn called pitto.
The markets are held daily. Amongst the articles for sale were beef (about 8d. per lb.), and mutton cut in small pieces for soup, wild hog, deer, monkey's flesh, fowls, pelts of skins, yams, plantains, Indian corn, sugar-cane, rice, encruma (a mucilaginous vegetable resembling asparagus), peppers, vegetable butter, oranges, papaws, pine apples, bananas, salt and dried fish from the coast, large snails smoke-dried, eggs for fetish, pitto, palm-wine, rum, pipes, beads, looking glasses, sandals, silk, cotton-cloth, powder, small pillows, white and blue cotton-thread, calabashes, &c. &c.
The price of a good bullock at Coomassie is about 6l., a sheep 15s., and a fowl 1s. 8d.
The revenue arises from various sources; the gold dust of all deceased and disgraced subjects; a tax in gold upon all the slaves purchased for the coast; a tax upon the elephant hunters; the washings of the small pits in. Soko, yielding from 700 to 1200 ozs. per month; a. tax upon every chief increasing his gold ornaments, and also the tributes paid by dependant states.
Coomassie is built upon the side of a large rocky hill of iron stone; it is an oblong of upwards of three miles in circumference; four of the principal streets are nearly half a mile long, and 50 yards wide; they have all a name, and a principal captain resides in each. There are about 27 streets in all.
The cattle at Coomassie are nearly as large as the English. All the cows belong to the Moors, who regularly supplied us with milk, it being fetish with the Ashantees, so that they will neither drink nor touch it unless by accident. The sheep at Ashantee, as well as at all our settlements on the coast, are hairy, with long legs. The horses are small, with large heads and lathy legs. The Ashantees seldom ride on horseback, consequently they are bad horsemen. The number of horses at Coomassie did not exceed a dozen, and the price of a good one was 8 and 10 ozs. (32L. or 40l.) The Ashantees use no implement but the hoe; yet their plantations are neatly laid out, and enclosed, with a house at the gate, where the slaves, who take care of it, sleep.
They have two crops of corn a year; they plant yams at Christmas, and dig them early in September. The oranges are large, but I did not think them of that excellent flavour which Mr. Bowdich mentions. The castoroil rises to a large tree. The cotton plant is very common, but little cultivated. The usual African animals are found here. The currency of Ashantee is gold dust, but the Ashantees are more inclined to be a warlike than a commercial people : they do, however, carry on a considerable trade in gold dust and ivory with our merchants on the coast; but the chiefs consider trade beneath their attention.
On our journey to the capital, we met many traders going to the coast with gold dust and elephant's teeth. These traders on their arrival at our settlements are always imposed upon by the Fantees, who act as brokers or agents between them and the Europeans: it is the common practice for these fellows to cheat the Ashantees of nearly onethird of the value of an elephant's tooth. The way this is done, is by Fantee brokers making a bargain with the Europeans for more than they receive in the presence of the Ashantee trader, and the surplus is reserved by the European merchant for the broker, who calls for it the day after; so that the king and Sir James Yeo were very right when they said the whites joined with the Fantees in cheating the Ashantees. This practice, however, I believe, much to the credit of the English merchants, has in some measure been put a stop to within the last two years. The profits made by Europeans on goods sold to the Ashantees are from 50 to 100 per cent.; and those made by the Ashantee traders, in retailing goods at Coomassie, are from 100 to 400l. percent. The principal articles of trade will be found in the Appendix, in the list of the Company's prices. The most valuable article sold to the Ashantees, is the Indian silk or taffeta, the price of which is 31. 10s. and 4l. per piece of 11 yards : these are unravelled by the Ashantees, and wove into cloths of their own manufacture; they prefer those from Fezzan for this purpose, as the colours are more showy. Coarse thick scarves are also brought from the interior.
It has already been mentioned that, the currency of Ashantee is gold dust; that of Inta, Dagwumba, Gaman, and Kong cowries. Cowries (small shells,) are also the currency at Accra, but at all the other British settlements on the coast it is gold dust. Mr. Lucas writes, "To the merchants of Fezzan who travel to the southern states of the negroes, the purchase of gold, which the dominions of several, and especially those of Degombah, abundantly afford, is always the first object of commercial acquisition." Mr. Bowdich says, "I could not learn that any gold was dug or collected in Dagwumba, though considerable quantities are imported from its extensive commerce."
365 The following is one of their songs, which is sung by several individuals, who rise and advance, singing in turn.
1st. Woman.
My husband likes me too much
He is good to me,
But I cannot like him,
So I must listen to my lover.
1st. Man.
My wife does not please me,
I tire of her now,
So I will please myself with another
Who is very handsome.
2d. Woman.
My lover tempts me with sweet words,
But my husband always does me good,
So I must like him well,
And I must be true to him.
2d. Man.
Girl, you pass my wife handsome,
But I cannot call you wife,
A wife pleases her husband only,
But when I leave you, you go to others.
366 All the superior captains have peculiar flourishes or strains for their horns, adapted to short sentences, which are always recognised, and will be repeated on enquiry by any Ashantee you may meet walking in the streets, though the horns are not only out of sight, but at a distance to be scarcely audible. These flourishes are of a strong and distinct character. The King's horns uttered, "I pass all kings in the world." Apokoo's, " Ashantees, do you right now?" Gimma's, "Whilst I live no harm can come." Bundahennna's, "I am a great king's son." Amanqua's, "No one dares trouble me"
