CHAPTER II.

* * * * *

_The Route, and Reception of the Mission._

The Mission left Cape Coast Castle on the morning of the 22d of April, with the intention of quitting the water side at Moree, three miles and a half to the eastward; but on reaching it, we were told that the path thence to Payntree’s croom, always bad, was then impassable from the rains; and that we must proceed to Annamaboe before we struck into the bush for the Interior.

The reluctance of the carriers, who had been pressed into the service by the authorities of the town, became thus early almost insuperable; the consideration of pay and subsistence, and the reflection, that the dearth inflicted by the invasions the Mission was to deprecate, allowed them but a bare existence at home, were entirely lost in their aversion to the undertaking, which was equally influenced by jealousy and indolence: eleven deserted the first day; and the slender authority of the King and caboceers of Annamaboe, delayed the procuring of others to replace them until the next evening. One party was then started, attended by a soldier and a messenger, as they persisted in laying down their loads, even in the town; and many of the Annamaboes who had been procured, after lifting their packages, which were of moderate weight, walked off again, with the most insolent indifference. The devices by which these people displayed their ill will were peculiarly their own, and none could be more ingeniously tormenting. At four o’clock on Thursday morning we started the remainder of the packages, and followed them at half past six. Proceeding about two miles in a N.N.W. direction, we descended a steep hill, a quarter of a mile in length, and entered a beautiful valley, profusely covered with pines, aloes, and lilies; and richly varied with palm, banana, plantain, and guava trees: the view was refreshed by gentle risings crowned with cotton trees of a stupendous size. I never saw soil so rich, or vegetation so luxuriant.

The first croom we reached was Quama’s, about three miles and a half from Annamaboe; it presented but a few hovels; and we passed through three others, Simquoi, Taphoo, and Nasmam, just as wretched and insignificant, before we reached Booka, romantically situated amidst the luxuriant foliage of a high hill, terminating the valley. Abra is about three miles eastward of this croom: it has been entirely deserted since the last invasion, the Ashantee army under Appia Nanu having made it their head quarters. It formerly exceeded Annamaboe, but the little that now remains is in ruin, the inhabitants having retired to the small crooms of their caboceer, or Captain Quaggheree.

Passing through Tachradi, which scarcely existed but in name, we ascended a gentle rising, with a small croom, called Acroofroom, on the left hand. The astonishment of its miserable inhabitants engaging our attention, the extensive area of the summit burst upon us with the more effect. It was environed by small groves; and clumps of cotton trees rose so happily in frequent spots, as to afford all the scenery of a romantic little park; the broken rays of the sun stealing through the small trees in the distance, to make the deep shade of the foreground more imposing. The path then became more hilly, and the landscape fuller of wood: our descents and risings frequently through long vistas, so richly gilded with the sun on the summits, that, impressed with the description of Issert, we naturally yielded to the expectation, in ascending each eminence, that it would afford us the delightful prospect of an open country; but we were disappointed, and passing through Dunnasee and Assoquah, both small crooms, the latter situated on a long level, about three miles and a half from Acroofroom, we shortly after arrived at Payntree’s.

On the higher hills the soil was generally gravel, with large stones; on the lesser, white flint and whinstone abounded: the levels presented few stones, and the earth was black, strong, and rich, producing grass from four to ten feet high. The country was very thinly inhabited, and more sparingly cultivated, the cassada frequent, but producing little from the want of cultivation.

I made Payntree’s croom barely fifteen miles from Annamaboe; judging from time, it was guessed to be eighteen or twenty; but the impediments which the path almost incessantly presented to a hammock, the inequalities of the ground, and many delays which insensibly consumed the time, conspired to make such a calculation of distance very fallacious. The plan I adopted throughout, though laborious, entitled me to more confidence; and the observations confirmed the pretension. Mr. Tedlie, who was always just ahead of myself, took the angles of the path by his compass, which I pencilled as he uttered them, with their several lengths, allowing four yards and a half for every six paces. It is allowed too by the natives to be an easy four hours walk. Several hours elapsed before all the carriers came up; most of those who had been started by us the preceding day, slept in the bush, and one more had deserted.

The prevailing courses and their proportions were N.¼; N.bW.⅛; N.N.W.⅛; N.N.E.⅛; the rest of the distance being made up of small lengths, in every point of the compass, from S.W. to S.E.; the variation 17¾° W. The latitude of Payntree, by two altitudes of the sun, was 5° 20′ 30″ N.; the longitude, by the course and distance, as afterwards corrected, 1° 47′ W.

We received the compliments of Payntree and several caboceers, under a large tree, and were then conducted to a neat and comfortable dwelling, which had been prepared for us: a small square area afforded a shed for cooking in on one side, and a sleeping room in each of the others, open in front, but well thatched, and very clean: from this we passed to our sitting room, the floor of which was elevated about two feet from the ground.

The croom was prettily situated on a level, encircled by very fine trees, and consisted of a very broad and well cleaned street of small huts, framed of bamboo, and neatly thatched. Just beyond the north end of the croom, there was a stream running to the N.N.E and more than a mile of marshy ground was distinguished by the deeper shade and luxuriance of the foliage. We observed a great number of small birds, which were even more beautiful from their delicate symmetry, than their brilliant plumage; they were generally green, with black wings, and their nests hanging from the trees.

The Ashantee captain, who expected to continue there some months, on the king’s business, sent us a sheep, pleading the scarcity, and his being a stranger, as apologies for so small a present. Old Payntree was attentive and obliging; he dashed us some fowls, yams, and palm wine. We remained there the next day, to allow our people to procure four days subsistence, as they would not be able to meet with provision on the path during that period.

I walked with Mr. Tedlie along a very neat path well fenced, and divided by _stiles_, to a corn plantation of at least twenty acres, and well cultivated. Payntree’s farm house was situated here, and afforded superior conveniences; a fowl house, a pigeon house, and a large granary raised on a strong stage. As we returned we paid him a visit, and were refreshed with some excellent palm wine: his dwelling was a square of four apartments, which were entered from an outer one, where a number of drums were kept; the angles were occupied by the slaves, and his own room, which had a small inner chamber, was decked with muskets, blunderbusses, cartouch belts fantastically ornamented, and various insignia. The order, cleanliness, and comfort, surprised us; the sun had just set, and a cheerful fire on a clean hearth supported the evening meal. The old man was seated in his state chair, diverting himself with his children and younger wives, the elder one was looking on from the opposite apartment with happy indifference; it was the first scene of domestic comfort I had witnessed among the natives. There was a small plantation or garden neatly fenced in, near the house, for the supply of the family.

On Saturday the 26th we left Payntree’s croom, and proceeded through two romantic little valleys, with a few huts in each: the variety of trees increased with the number, and ornamented the hills with almost every tint and character of foliage: the path was frequently covered with water. Just before we reached Cottacoomacasa, a most beautiful landscape opened, the fore-ground darkly shaded with large cotton trees, and the distance composed of several picturesque little hills; their fanciful outlines, and the beautiful variety of fresh and sombre tint of the small groves which encircled them, forcibly reminded me of the celebrated ride by Grongar hill, from Carmarthen to Llandilo.

Cottacoomacasa is about six miles and a quarter from Payntree’s croom, and consisted but of a few miserable huts and sheds, which scarcely afforded shelter, and were close and filthy. I took the angles of a cotton tree near us, and the height proved to be 139 feet; generally speaking, those we had passed were, to appearance, much higher. The bearers had all settled themselves here, and not contented with a long rest, refused for some time to proceed until the next day; several were intoxicated with the rum from some ankers they had designedly broken. We started again however about half past three, and almost immediately entered a large forest impervious to the sun; the risings were frequent but gentle; the path, crooked and overgrown, presented such constant obstacles to a hammock, that Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, were glad to dismount, and found it was much more comfortable as well as more expeditious to walk; the only inconvenience was the troops of large black ants, which were too thick to be avoided, and stung us sadly. We passed two little streams running E.N.E. About six miles from Cottacoomacasa we found all the baggage, the people making their fires, and settling themselves for the night; it was almost dark; Quamina, our Ashantee guide, had gone on without us, and Mr. James we knew must be far behind; we therefore determined to halt for the night, and our hammocks were slung to the trees. The distance marched this day was twelve miles. The longitude of Cottacoomacasa was one mile E. of that of Payntree by account, that of our resting place 1° 46′ 30″ W. and the lat. 5° 28′ N.

The next morning we continued our march through the same dark solitude, and passing three small streams running E. we reached Mansue soon after ten o’clock. We had scarcely seated ourselves under a tattered shed, which could not defend us from the burning sun, when we were encircled by the cooking fires of the party, and nothing but violence could remove them to a proper distance.

Mansue had been the great Fantee market for slaves from the Interior, and its former consequence was evident from the extent of its site, over which a few sheds only were now scattered.

We proceeded again at one o’clock, and passing through a small river, Assooneara, running eastward, we came to a second, called Okee, running in the same direction to the Amissa, which falls into the sea between Annamaboe and Tantum. We passed five or six swamps, one nearly half a mile long; in these the soil was a dark clay, but otherwise gravelly. We halted in the woods at a spot where our guide Quamina was busied in cutting down the underwood to accommodate himself and his women; the bearers, resolute in their perverseness, had gone on with our provisions and clothes. The ground of our resting place was very damp, and swarmed with reptiles and insects; we had great difficulty in keeping up our fires, which we were the more anxious to do after a visit from a panther: an animal which, the natives say, resembles a small pig, and inhabits the trees, continued a shrill screeching through the night; and occasionally a wild hog bounced by, snorting through the forest, as if closely pursued. This day’s distance was eight miles, and the course N.¼N. b. E.⅙. Lat. and long. by account 5° 34′ N. and 1° 48′ W. Thermometer in shade 6 A.M. 74.

We started the next morning at seven o’clock, and after three miles and a half crossed a small river called Gaia, and sometimes Aniabirrim, from a croom of that name being formerly in its neighbourhood; it was ten yards wide and two feet deep, and ran to the E. just across the path, but afterwards N.N.E. to the Amissa. Here Mr. Hutchison waited for Mr. James to come up, whilst Mr. Tedlie and myself walked on to overtake the people. The doom and iron-wood trees were frequent; the path was a labyrinth of the most capricious windings, the roots of the cotton trees obstructing it continually, and our progress was generally by stepping and jumping up and down, rather than walking; the stems or caudices of these trees projected from the trunks like flying buttresses, their height frequently 20 feet. Immense trunks of fallen trees presented constant barriers to our progress, and increased our fatigues from the labour of scaling them: we were also frequently obliged to wait the cutting away of the underwood before we could proceed, even on foot. The large trees were covered with parasites and convolvuli, and the climbing plants, like small cables, ascending the trunks to some height, abruptly shot downwards, crossed to the opposite trees, and threaded each other in such a perplexity of twists and turnings, that it soon became impossible to trace them in the general entanglement. We passed through two small streams running S. and several swamps, richly covered with palm trees. Parrots and crown birds were numerous. At the end of ten miles we came to a small river called Quatoa, four yards wide, also running eastward to the Amissa; and immediately after to a few sheds bearing the same name, where we found the last party of the bearers all lying down, and a soldier ineffectually endeavouring to rouse them: we started them with difficulty. A mile and a half thence we met with the Okee again, running over its rocky bed in a transparent stream, which reflected the richest foliage; its course S.W.½W., the breadth nine yards, and we stepped across it from rock to rock. We soon afterwards walked through the Antoonso, a smaller river running W.S.W., which probably crossed the path to the eastward in one of the small streams near Cottacoomacasa, as every report confirmed its also running to the Amissa; it was very near Fousou, where we had scarcely arrived, before the Fantees, such was their perverseness, insisted upon going on, the Cape Coast messengers either had no influence or would not exert it; we soon stopped them with the assistance of Quamina, our Ashantee guide, Mr. James not coming up until late in the evening. Fousou was formerly a large town, but had been destroyed by the Ashantee invasion of 1807; it presented but a few sheds, in one of which we observed the Ashantee traders to deposit yams and plantains to subsist them on their return; so severe was the scarcity in the Fantee country: we could purchase nothing, and were admitted to the best hovel with reluctance. This day’s distance was 14 miles. The courses N.½, N.N.W.¼, N.bW.⅛. The latitude of Fousou by observation, was 5° 43′ 20″ N. and the longitude by account 1° 52′ W.

The next morning, the 29th of April, we marched seven miles to Ancomassa, a name given to half a dozen sheds; the path was still of the same rugged nature, and the gloom unvaried. A strong fragrance was emitted from the decaying plants and trees of the mimosa kind, whilst others in the same incipient state of putrefaction were very offensive. We passed through two small rivers, Bettensin and Soubin, six yards wide, and shallow; they both ran eastward to the Owa, of which I could not learn more than that it emptied itself into the Boosempra.

We proceeded at four o’clock, and had not gone two miles on our gloomy route before it became dark. The path was level, but very swampy, and generally covered with water. The fire-flies spangled the herbage in every direction, and from the strength of their light, alternately excited the apprehension of wild beasts, and the hope that we approached the resting place our guide, whom we never saw after starting, had told us of in the morning. The greatest fear of the people was of the spirits of the woods, (whom Mr. Park’s interpreter, Johnson, propitiated by a sacrifice between Jing and Gangaddi) and the discordant yells in which they rivalled each other to keep up their courage, mingled with the howls and screeches from the forest, imposed a degree of horror on this dismal scene, which associated it with the imaginations of Dante. Three or four times we suddenly emerged from the most awful gloom into extensive areas, on which the stars shed a brilliancy of light gradually softened into the deep shade which encompassed them; they were the sites of large and populous crooms destroyed in the Ashantee invasions. About nine o’clock we discovered a few miserable sheds, which the noise of the bearers, who had long arrived, convinced us to be Accomfodey. We had passed two small rivers, the Aprinisee and Annuia, both running to the Boosempra. This day’s distance was 11 miles, and the courses N.⅓, N.bW.⅕. The lat. and long. by account 5° 49′ N. and 1° 55′ W. Thermometer 11 a.m. 80.

We marched early the next morning. The scenery of the forest, excepting on the banks of the small rivers, was very naked of foliage, and only presented a harsh and ragged confusion of stems and branches intricately blended. We passed a small river soon after leaving Accomfodey, bearing the same name and running eastward; and shortly after another, six yards wide and two feet deep (the Berrakoo), running N.E. to the Boosempra. The path was sometimes trackless, and appeared to have been little used since the invasion of 1807; several human skulls were scattered through this dark solitude, the relics of the butchery. We halted about two o’clock by Mr. James’s direction, and passed the night in the forest. This day’s distance was eight miles, the prevailing courses N.¼, N.bW.⅛, N.N.W.⅛, N.bE.⅛. The latitude and longitude by account 5° 53′ N. 1° 55′ W. Thermometer 2 p.m. 88½, 7 p.m. 82½.

The next morning we passed some sheds, on the sites of the crooms Dansamsou and Meakirring. At the end of five miles and a quarter, the herbage to the right disclosed the cheerful reflections of the sun from the water; and we descended through a small vista of the forest, to the banks of the Boosempra or Chamah river. Nothing could be more beautiful than its scenery: the bank on the south side was steep, and admitted but a narrow path; that on the north sloping; on which a small Fetish house, under the shade of a cachou tree, fixed the eye; whence it wandered over a rich variety of tint and foliage, in which light and shade were most happily blended: the small rocks stole through the herbage of the banks, and now and then ruffled the water: the doom trees towering in the shrubbery, waved to the most gentle air a rich foliage of dark green, mocking the finest touch of the pencil; the tamarind and smaller mimosas heightening its effect by their livelier tint, and the more piquant delicacy of their leaf: the cotton trees overtopped the whole, enwreathed in convolvuli, and several elegant little trees, unknown to me, rose in the background, intermixed with palms, and made the coup d’oeil enchanting. The bright rays of the sun were sobered by the rich reflections of the water; and there was a mild beauty in the landscape, uncongenial to barbarism, which imposed the expectation of elegance and refinement. I attempted a sketch, but it was far beyond my rude pencil; the expression of the scene could only have been traced in the profile of every tree; and it seemed to defy any touches, but those of a Claude or a Wilson, to depict the life of its beauty. I took two angles from a base on the south side, which gave the width of the river, forty three yards; the depth was 7 feet, and the course N.W.½W. with a very strong current. A small river called Nimeä, ran into it, close to our right as we landed: we crossed in the hollow trunk of a tree, thirty feet long, the ends plastered up with sticks and swish.

Mansue was said to have been the last town of the Fantee territory; but we had no opportunity for comparison until we passed the river, the country thitherto presenting all the gloom of depopulation, and the forest fast recovering the sites of the large towns destroyed in the Ashantee invasions. The inhabitants of the few wretched hovels, remotely scattered, seemed as if they had fled to them as outcasts from society; they were lost even to curiosity, and manners were brutal and sullen.[2] We could purchase nothing for our subsistence.

The scene brightened from our crossing the Boosempra; the path improved, and Prasoo, the first town, only three quarters of a mile from the river, presented a wide and clean street of tolerably regular houses; the inhabitants clean and cheerful, left their various occupations to gratify their curiosity, and saluted us in a friendly and respectful manner: indeed the Assins may be considered, collectively, a more mannerly and orderly people than the Ashantees. Kickiwherree, one mile and a half distant, was a larger town, not so regular, but presenting the same neat appearance, improved by the white-washing of many of the houses. We halted here under the ganian[3] tree, used, generally speaking, for recreation only, palavers being talked in the open fronts of the houses. We were conducted to a comfortable dwelling, affording us four very clean rooms, about 12 feet by 7, in which there were shelves containing many articles of superior domestic comfort; a curtain or skreen of bamboo let down in the open front, and the floors raised about a foot and half from the ground, were washed daily with an earth of the neighbourhood, which coloured them Etruscan red. The iron stone abounded. Kickiwherree was 7 miles from the previous resting place, and the prevailing courses N.¼ N.b.W.⅐. The latitude by observation was 5° 56′ 40″ N; the longitude by account 1° 57′ W. Thermometer 8 a.m. 77; 1 p.m. 91.

My observations had not been so frequent as I wished; the nature of the country, and the season of the year were both very unfavourable to them. I worked the double altitudes, invariably by Dr. Pemberton’s rule in Keith’s trigonometry, which requires no assumed latitude, and is in all cases accurate.

Mr. James having determined to rest the next day at Kickiwherree, we did not proceed until Saturday the 3rd of May. We passed through a small river close to the town, called the Ading, six yards wide and two feet deep; and soon after a second, the Animiasoo, nine yards wide, and three feet deep, both running to the Boosempra; close to the latter was a large croom of the same name, the seat of Cheboo’s government. Pagga and Atobiasee were also large crooms near each other, and within four miles of Kickiwherree. At Atobiasee was a small river called Prensa, five yards wide, and two feet deep, which ran E.S.E. to the Boosempra: two miles thence we came to Becquama, a very old croom, with a river nine yards wide, called Prapong, running E. by S. to the Boosempra; and at the end of nine miles we halted at Asharaman, a small croom on an eminence, where the Assins under Apootey and Cheboo, first engaged the Ashantees in 1807. There was a small plot of corn near this croom, the first we had seen since we left Payntree, though every croom was surrounded by a tract of cultivated land, or plantation of plantains. The path continued through forest. Distance 8 miles. Courses N.¼. Latitude by observation, 5° 59′ 20″. Longitude by course and distance 1° 57′ 40″ W. Thermometer 6 a.m. 76, p.m. 89.

The next day we passed through Ansa, a large croom, where Amoo had governed; north-west of which, at a little distance, was Aboiboo, the residence of his enemy Apootey. A small river near Ansa, called Parakoomee, eleven yards wide, and three feet deep, ran south to a larger, called Ofim or Foom, which rises six days northward of Coomassie, and falls into the Boosempra some miles westward of our crossing. The path was very swampy, and we did not reach Akrofroom until three o’clock: this was by far the largest croom we had seen. The heavy rains during the night floated us in our lodgings, and, as Quamina reported, rendered the path to Moisee impassable for the next day; consequently we did not proceed until Tuesday the 6th. Distance 12 miles. Courses N.⅕, N.N.W.¼. Latitude by observation, 6° 5′ 40″. Long: C and D 2° 2′. W. The path still through forest, presented frequent acclivities, and the iron stone, and a soft grey rock abounded; the soil was sometimes gravelly, but generally of a red coloured clay used in the native pottery. We passed the Parakoomee again twice, and at the end of 11 miles halted at Moisee,

“Cingebant silvæ; quem collibus undique curvis,”

the last Assin town, at the foot of three high hills covered with wood, bearing W.N.W., N., and N.N.E.; the barriers of the Ashantee kingdom. Course N.⅕, N.W.b.N.⅐, N.b.E.⅛. Latitude by observation 6° 8′ 50″ N. Longitude C and D 2° 4′ 20″ W. The thermometer was broken on the 4th.

We passed the northern boundary the next morning; the ascent was a mile and a half in length, and very rocky; a small river called the Bohmen ran S.W. to the Jim, which falls into the Ofim: the water of the Bohmen is said to instil eloquence, and numerous Ashantees repair annually to drink of it: it flowed in a very clear stream, over a bed of gravel, and was three feet deep, and eight yards broad. The expectation of an open country was again disappointed; I bore several eminent points, in the hope of being able to do so again at some distance, and of thus, with the intermediate course, checking the distance computed by paces; but the forest soon shut them out entirely. The first Ashantee croom was Quesha; and we soon after passed through Fohmannee, which had been a very considerable town. We stopped there awhile at the request of a venerable old man, who regaled us with some palm wine and fruit: his manners were very pleasing, and made it more painful to us to hear that his life was forfeited to some superstitious observances, and that he only waited the result of a petition to the king to commiserate his infirmities so far as to allow him to be executed at his own croom, and to be spared the fatigue of a journey to the capital: he conversed cheerfully with us, congratulated himself on seeing white men before he died, and spread his cloth over the log with an emotion of dignity rather than shame: his head arrived at Coomassie the day after we had. On ascending the hill, the soil became a dark brown clay, and very productive. We passed the first large plantation of corn we had seen since we left Payntree, and halted at Doompassee. Distance 6 miles. Courses N.⅓, N.N.W.⅕, N.W.⅙. Latitude by observation, 6° 11′ 30″.

Doompassee had been a very large croom, but the caboceer having intrigued with one of Sai Cudjoe’s wives, who had permission to visit her family in this place, the greater part of it was destroyed in consequence, and the caboceer decapitated: the woman possessing irresistible art in practising upon the numerous admirers of her beauty, the king spared her life, and employed her thenceforth to inveigle those distant caboceers, whose lives or properties were desirable to him. It was the most industrious town on the path; cloths, beads, and pottery were manufacturing in all directions, and the blacksmiths’ forges were always at work. The intelligence of the beginning of the King’s fetish week, and Mr. James’s attack of fever, delayed us at Doompassee, and a messenger was dispatched in the interim to announce our approach. During our stay, I observed an eclipse of Jupiter’s first satellite, which gave the longitude 2° 6′ W.

We did not leave Doompassee until the 14th of May; after two miles, passing a small stream running N.W. we ascended a high hill, on which a large croom, called Tiabosoo, was situated. I looked into a pit here six feet deep; the first stratum was vegetable mould, the second gravel, the third, a kind of potter’s clay, and the remaining of brittle stone of a reddish brown, resembling that they call cabouc in the East Indies. The next croom was Sanquanta, where the path took an easterly direction, and about seven miles from Doompassee we passed Datiasoo, where large quantities of pottery were manufacturing, exclusively: it was not more than a mile distant from Dadawasee, where we found a messenger from the king, expressing his regret that we had come up in the rainy season, as he had heard it was a very unhealthy one for white men, and appointing us to enter the capital on the Monday following; he sent us a present of a sheep, forty yams, and two ounces of gold for our table; he had also given six ackies to our messenger, who returned at the same time. The path had been cleared by the king’s order, the plantations became more frequent and extensive, and numerous paths branching off from that we travelled, shewed that the country was thickly inhabited, and the intercourse of the various parts direct and necessary for an interchange of manufacture and produce: the crooms hitherto had appeared insulated. The Acassey or blue dye plant grew profusely. Distance seven miles. Courses N.¼, N.bW.⅐, N.N.W.⅐, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude by observation 6° 16′ 20″ N. long: C and D 2° 7′ 30″ W.

The next day, leaving Dadawasee, close to which was another large croom called Modjawee, we descended a very steep hill, and passed the Dankaran or Mankaran, a small river, in the rainy season eleven yards wide and four feet deep, running to the Birrim: not far from this river was Sahnfoo, and a short distance from that croom, a smaller river called Yansee, running N.N.W. We then passed through Korraman, near which was the small river Dansabow, running westward, and three other large crooms, Aquinasee (having a neatly fenced burial ground,) Amafou, and Agabimah; crossing another small river called Soubirree, near the latter, we reached Assiminia, distant eight miles from Dadawasee. The path was frequently eight feet wide, and kept as neatly as that of a garden in the environs of the crooms, which now disclosed themselves very prettily at some distance. Courses N.⅕, N.bE.⅙, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude by observation 6° 22′, longitude C and D 2° 7′ 50″ W.

There was a violent tornado in the night, during almost the whole of which the rain continued in torrents, increasing the small streams near the town from ancle to three feet deep. Almost all the inhabitants were employed in weaving the staple manufacture of Assiminia, which was formerly of much greater extent. Mr. James rested here the whole of the next day, and on Saturday we proceeded through Boposoo (on a very high hill), Agemum, Yoko, and Abountum; near which we crossed the Biaqua, running west to the Jim, and about seven yards wide and two feet deep; between this and Sarrasou, where we halted, were two large crooms, Pootooaga and Fiasou.

The path was continually well cleared: each croom presented one wide central street, with the ganian or cachou trees at the extremities. The soil ceased to be sandy, and became a reddish earth: we observed some quartz, but silex prevailed. Distance 11 miles. Courses N.¼, N.N.E.⅕. Lat. by observation, 6° 30′ 20″. Long. C. and D. 2° 6′ 30″.

The river Dah runs close to Sarrasou, rising at Sekooree near Dwabin, and falling into the Ofim at Measee in the Warsaw path; it is generally about sixteen yards wide, and four feet deep. There was an ingenious fishing weir in this river; two rows of very strong wicker work were fixed across it, supported against the rapidity of the stream by large stakes, driven into the ground obliquely on each side of them, and connected above and below by the trunks of two large trees. The funnel- shaped baskets, thickly inserted at the bottom, were of split cane, and about twelve feet long. There are large plantations of corn around Sarrasou, which is a great nursery for pigs. We left it on Monday morning, the 19th, and passing through a small croom, Oyoko, stopped at another, Agogoo, about four miles distant, to dress ourselves in full uniform. The soil from Sarrasou was a rich black mould, and there were continued plantations of corn, yams, ground nuts, terraboys, and encruma: the yams and ground nuts were planted with much regularity in triangular beds, with small drains around each, and carefully cleared from weeds.

Two miles from Agogoo, we crossed the marsh which insulates Coomassie; the breadth at that part forty yards, and the depth three feet. Being within a mile of the capital, our approach was announced to the king, who desired us by his messengers to rest at a little croom, called Patiasoo, until he had finished washing, when captains would be deputed to conduct us to his presence. Distance 6½ miles. Courses N.⅙, N.N.W.⅙.

We entered Coomassie at two o’clock, passing under a fetish, or sacrifice of a dead sheep, wrapped up in red silk, and suspended between two lofty poles. Upwards of 5000 people, the greater part warriors, met us with awful bursts of martial music, discordant only in its mixture; for horns, drums, rattles, and gong-gongs were all exerted with a zeal bordering on phrenzy, to subdue us by the first impression. The smoke which encircled us from the incessant discharges of musquetry, confined our glimpses to the foreground; and we were halted whilst the captains performed their Pyrrhic dance, in the centre of a circle formed by their warriors; where a confusion of flags, English, Dutch, and Danish, were waved and flourished in all directions; the bearers plunging and springing from side to side, with a passion of enthusiasm only equalled by the captains, who followed them, discharging their shining blunderbusses so close, that the flags now and then were in a blaze; and emerging from the smoke with all the gesture and distortion of maniacs. Their followers kept up the firing around us in the rear. The dress of the captains (see drawing, No. I.) was a war cap, with gilded rams horns projecting in front, the sides extended beyond all proportion by immense plumes of eagles feathers, and fastened under the chin with bands of cowries. Their vest was of red cloth, covered with fetishes and saphies[4] in gold and silver; and embroidered cases of almost every colour, which flapped against their bodies as they moved, intermixed with small brass bells, the horns and tails of animals, shells, and knives; long leopards tails hung down their backs, over a small bow covered with fetishes. They wore loose cotton trowsers, with immense boots of a dull red leather, coming half way up the thigh, and fastened by small chains to their cartouch or waist belt; these were also ornamented with bells, horses tails, strings of amulets, and innumerable shreds of leather; a small quiver of poisoned arrows hung from their right wrist, and they held a long iron chain between their teeth, with a scrap of Moorish writing affixed to the end of it. A small spear was in their left hands, covered with red cloth and silk tassels; their black countenances heightened the effect of this attire, and completed a figure scarcely human.

[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._

_No. 1._

CAPTAIN in his WAR DRESS.]

This exhibition continued about half an hour, when we were allowed to proceed, encircled by the warriors, whose numbers, with the crowds of people, made our movement as gradual as if it had taken place in Cheapside; the several streets branching off to the right, presented long vistas crammed with people, and those on the left hand being on an acclivity, innumerable rows of heads rose one above another: the large open porches of the houses, like the fronts of stages in small theatres, were filled with the better sort of females and children, all impatient to behold white men for the first time; their exclamations were drowned in the firing and music, but their gestures were in character with the scene. When we reached the palace, about half a mile from the place where we entered, we were again halted, and an open file was made, through which the bearers were passed, to deposit the presents and baggage in the house assigned to us. Here we were gratified by observing several of the caboceers pass by with their trains, the novel splendour of which astonished us. The bands, principally composed of horns and flutes, trained to play in concert, seemed to soothe our hearing into its natural tone again by their wild melodies; whilst the immense umbrellas, made to sink and rise from the jerkings of the bearers, and the large fans waving around, refreshed us with small currents of air, under a burning sun, clouds of dust, and a density of atmosphere almost suffocating. We were then squeezed, at the same funeral pace, up a long street, to an open-fronted house, where we were desired by a royal messenger to wait a further invitation from the king. Here our attention was forced from the astonishment of the crowd to a most inhuman spectacle, which was paraded before us for some minutes; it was a man whom they were tormenting previous to sacrifice; his hands were pinioned behind him, a knife was passed through his cheeks, to which his lips were noosed like the figure of 8; one ear was cut off and carried before him, the other hung to his head by a small bit of skin; there were several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under each shoulder blade; he was led with a cord passed through his nose, by men disfigured with immense caps of shaggy black skins, and drums beat before him; the feeling this horrid barbarity excited must be imagined. We were soon released by permission to proceed to the king, and passed through a very broad street, about a quarter of a mile long, to the market place.

Our observations en passant had taught us to conceive a spectacle far exceeding our original expectations; but they had not prepared us for the extent and display of the scene which here burst upon us: an area of nearly a mile in circumference was crowded with magnificence and novelty. The king, his tributaries, and captains, were resplendent in the distance, surrounded by attendants of every description, fronted by a mass of warriors which seemed to make our approach impervious. The sun was reflected, with a glare scarcely more supportable than the heat, from the massy gold ornaments, which glistened in every direction. More than a hundred bands burst at once on our arrival, with the peculiar airs of their several chiefs; the horns flourished their defiances, with the beating of innumerable drums and metal instruments, and then yielded for a while to the soft breathings of their long flutes, which were truly harmonious; and a pleasing instrument, like a bagpipe without the drone, was happily blended. At least a hundred large umbrellas, or canopies, which could shelter thirty persons, were sprung up and down by the bearers with brilliant effect, being made of scarlet, yellow, and the most shewy cloths and silks, and crowned on the top with crescents, pelicans, elephants, barrels, and arms and swords of gold; they were of various shapes, but mostly dome; and the valances (in some of which small looking glasses were inserted) fantastically scalloped and fringed; from the fronts of some, the proboscis and small teeth of elephants projected, and a few were roofed with leopard skins, and crowned with various animals naturally stuffed. The state hammocks, like long cradles, were raised in the rear, the poles on the heads of the bearers; the cushions and pillows were covered with crimson taffeta, and the richest cloths hung over the sides. Innumerable small umbrellas, of various coloured stripes, were crowded in the intervals, whilst several large trees heightened the glare, by contrasting the sober colouring of nature.

“Discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit.”

The king’s messengers, with gold breast plates, made way for us, and we commenced our round, preceded by the canes and the English flag. We stopped to take the hand of every caboceer, which, as their houshold suites occupied several spaces in advance, delayed us long enough to distinguish some of the ornaments in the general blaze of splendour and ostentation.

The caboceers, as did their superior captains and attendants, wore Ashantee cloths, of extravagant price from the costly foreign silks which had been unravelled to weave them in all the varieties of colour, as well as pattern; they were of an incredible size and weight, and thrown over the shoulder exactly like the Roman toga; a small silk fillet generally encircled their temples, and massy gold necklaces, intricately wrought; suspended Moorish charms, dearly purchased, and enclosed in small square cases of gold, silver, and curious embroidery. Some wore necklaces reaching to the navel entirely of aggry beads; a band of gold and beads encircled the knee, from which several strings of the same depended; small circles of gold like guineas, rings, and casts of animals, were strung round their ancles; their sandals were of green, red, and delicate white leather; manillas, and rude lumps of rock gold, hung from their left wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be supported on the head of one of their handsomest boys. Gold and silver pipes, and canes dazzled the eye in every direction. Wolves and rams heads as large as life, cast in gold, were suspended from their gold handled swords, which were held around them in great numbers; the blades were shaped like round bills, and rusted in blood; the sheaths were of leopard skin, or the shell of a fish like shagreen. The large drums supported on the head of one man, and beaten by two others, were braced around with the thigh bones of their enemies, and ornamented with their skulls. The kettle drums resting on the ground, were scraped with wet fingers, and covered with leopard skin. The wrists of the drummers were hung with bells and curiously shaped pieces of iron, which gingled loudly as they were beating. The smaller drums were suspended from the neck by scarves of red cloth; the horns (the teeth of young elephants) were ornamented at the mouth-piece with gold, and the jaw bones of human victims. The war caps of eagles feathers nodded in the rear, and large fans, of the wing feathers of the ostrich, played around the dignitaries; immediately behind their chairs (which were of a black wood, almost covered by inlays of ivory and gold embossment) stood their handsomest youths, with corslets of leopard’s skin covered with gold cockle shells, and stuck full of small knives, sheathed in gold and silver, and the handles of blue agate; cartouch boxes of elephant’s hide hung below, ornamented in the same manner; a large gold handled sword was fixed behind the left shoulder, and silk scarves and horses tails (generally white) streamed from the arms and waist cloth: their long Danish muskets had broad rims of gold at small distances, and the stocks were ornamented with shells. Finely grown girls stood behind the chairs of some, with silver basins. Their stools (of the most laborious carved work, and generally with two large bells attached to them) were conspicuously placed on the heads of favourites; and crowds of small boys were seated around, flourishing elephants tails curiously mounted. The warriors sat on the ground close to these, and so thickly as not to admit of our passing without treading on their feet, to which they were perfectly indifferent; their caps were of the skin of the pangolin and leopard, the tails hanging down behind; their cartouch belts (composed of small gourds which hold the charges, and covered with leopard or pig’s skin) were embossed with red shells, and small brass bells thickly hung to them; on their hips and shoulders was a cluster of knives; iron chains and collars dignified the most daring, who were prouder of them than of gold; their muskets had rests affixed of leopard’s skin, and the locks a covering of the same; the sides of their faces were curiously painted in long white streaks, and their arms also striped, having the appearance of armour.

We were suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors, who afforded the first general diversity of dress; there were seventeen superiors, arrayed in large cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled embroidery, their shirts and trowsers were of silk, and a very large turban of white muslin was studded with a border of different coloured stones: their attendants wore red caps and turbans, and long white shirts, which hung over their trowsers; those of the inferiors were of dark blue cloth: they slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we passed, and with a most malignant scowl.

The prolonged flourishes of the horns, a deafening tumult of drums, and the fuller concert of the intervals, announced that we were approaching the king: we were already passing the principal officers of his houshold; the chamberlain, the gold horn blower, the captain of the messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the market, the keeper of the royal burial ground, and the master of the bands, sat surrounded by a retinue and splendor which bespoke the dignity and importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small services covered with leopard’s skin held behind him, and a large quantity of massy silver plate was displayed before him, punch bowls, waiters, coffee pots, tankards, and a very large vessel with heavy handles and clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold incense; I observed a Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they seemed generally of that manufacture. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy gold hatchet on his breast; and the execution stool was held before him, clotted in blood, and partly covered with a cawl of fat. The king’s four linguists were encircled by a splendor inferior to none, and their peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in bundles like fasces. The keeper of the treasury, added to his own magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service; the blow pan, boxes, scales and weights, were of solid gold.

A delay of some minutes whilst we severally approached to receive the king’s hand, afforded us a thorough view of him; his deportment first excited my attention; native dignity in princes we are pleased to call barbarous was a curious spectacle: his manners were majestic, yet courteous; and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a moment of the composure of the monarch; he appeared to be about thirty-eight years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent countenance; he wore a fillet of aggry beads round his temples, a necklace of gold cockspur shells strung by their largest ends, and over his right shoulder a red silk cord, suspending three saphies cased in gold; his bracelets were the richest mixtures of beads and gold, and his fingers covered with rings; his cloth was of a dark green silk; a pointed diadem was elegantly painted in white on his forehead; also a pattern resembling an epaulette on each shoulder, and an ornament like a full blown rose, one leaf rising above another until it covered his whole breast; his knee-bands were of aggry beads, and his ancle strings of gold ornaments of the most delicate workmanship, small drums, sankos, stools, swords, guns, and birds, clustered together; his sandals, of a soft white leather, were embossed across the instep band with small gold and silver cases of saphies; he was seated in a low chair, richly ornamented with gold; he wore a pair of gold castanets on his finger and thumb, which he clapped to enforce silence. The belts of the guards behind his chair, were cased in gold, and covered with small jaw bones of the same metal; the elephants tails, waving like a small cloud before him, were spangled with gold, and large plumes of feathers were flourished amid them. His eunuch presided over these attendants, wearing only one massy piece of gold about his neck: the royal stool, entirely cased in gold, was displayed under a splendid umbrella, with drums, sankos, horns, and various musical instruments, cased in gold, about the thickness of cartridge paper: large circles of gold hung by scarlet cloth from the swords of state, the sheaths as well as the handles of which were also cased; hatchets of the same were intermixed with them: the breasts of the Ocrahs, and various attendants, were adorned with large stars, stools, crescents, and gossamer wings of solid gold.

We pursued our course through this blazing circle, which afforded to the last a variety exceeding description and memory; so many splendid novelties diverting the fatigue, heat, and pressure we were labouring under; we were almost exhausted, however, by the time we reached the end; when, instead of being conducted to our residence, we were desired to seat ourselves under a tree at some distance, to receive the compliments of the whole in our turn.

The swell of their bands gradually strengthened on our ears, the peals of the warlike instruments bursting upon the short, but sweet responses of the flutes; the gaudy canopies seemed to dance in the distant view, and floated broadly as they were springing up and down in the foreground; flags and banners waved in the interval, and the chiefs were eminent in their crimson hammocks, amidst crowds of musquetry. They dismounted as they arrived within thirty yards of us; their principal captains preceded them with the gold handled swords, a body of soldiers followed with their arms reversed, then their bands and gold canes, pipes, and elephants tails. The chief, with a small body guard under his umbrella, was generally supported around the waist by the hands of his favourite slave, whilst captains holla’d, close in his ear, his warlike deeds and (strong) names, which were reiterated with the voices of Stentors by those before and behind; the larger party of warriors brought up the rear. Old captains of secondary rank were carried on the shoulders of a strong slave; but a more interesting sight was presented in the minors, or young caboceers, many not more than five or six years of age, who overweighed by ornaments, were carried in the same manner, (under their canopies), encircled by all the pomp and parade of their predecessors. Amongst others, the grandson of Cheboo was pointed out, whom the king had generously placed on the stool of his perfidious enemy. A band of Fetish men, or priests, wheeled round and round as they passed with surprising velocity. Manner was as various as ornament; some danced by with irresistible buffoonery, some with a gesture and carriage of defiance; one distinguished caboceer performed the war dance before us for some minutes, with a large spear, which grazed us at every bound he made; but the greater number passed us with order and dignity, some slipping one sandal, some both, some turning round after having taken each of us by the hand; the attendants of others knelt before them, throwing dust upon their heads; and the Moors, apparently, vouchsafed us a blessing. The king’s messengers who were posted near us, with their long hair hanging in twists like a thrum mop, used little ceremony in hurrying by this transient procession; yet it was nearly 8 o’clock before the king approached.

It was a beautiful star light night, and the torches which preceded him displayed the splendor of his regalia with a chastened lustre, and made the human trophies of the soldiers more awfully imposing. The skulls of three Banda caboceers, who had been his most obstinate enemies, adorned the largest drum: the vessels in which the boys dipped their torches were of gold. He stopped to enquire our names a second time, and to wish us good night; his address was mild and deliberate: he was followed by his aunts, sisters, and others of his family, with rows of fine gold chains around their necks. Numerous chiefs succeeded; and it was long before we were at liberty to retire. We agreed in estimating the number of warriors at 30,000.

We were conducted to a range of spacious, but ruinous buildings, which had belonged to the son of one of the former kings, and who had recently destroyed himself at a very advanced age, unable to endure the severity of disgrace: their forlorn and dreary aspect bespoke the fortune of their master, and they required much repair to defend us from the wind and rain, which frequently ushered in the nights.

[Footnote 2: Every account I received afterwards, confirmed the boundary of the Fantee and Assin territories to be between Mansue and Fousou; also that Ancomassa, Accomfodey, Dansamsou, Meakirring, &c. &c. had all been large Assin crooms, destroyed with many others in their neighbourhood, in the Ashantee invasion of 1807.]

[Footnote 3: This is the same tree as the banian or India fig.]

[Footnote 4: Scraps of Moorish writing, as charms against evil.]