* * * * *
MISSION
TO
ASHANTEE.
* * * * *
[Illustration: A Map _shewing the_ _DISCOVERIES & IMPROVEMENTS_ _in the_
Geography _of_ WESTERN AFRICA _resulting from the_ _MISSION to ASHANTEE_
_by_ _T. E. Bowdich_ _Conductor_ 1817
_REPORTED COURSES_ of the NIGER to the NILE, GAMBAROO to CAUDEE,
OOGOOAWAI to the CONGO.
_London published as the Act directs by John Murray Albemarle Street
4th. Jany. 1819._
_J. Walker Sculpt._]
MISSION
FROM CAPE COAST CASTLE
TO
=ASHANTEE,=
WITH A
STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THAT KINGDOM,
AND
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF OTHER PARTS
OF THE
INTERIOR OF AFRICA.
* * * * *
BY T. EDWARD BOWDICH, ESQ.
CONDUCTOR.
* * * * *
“Quod si præ metu et formidine pedem referemus, ista omnia nobis adversa
futura sunt.”
LONDON:
* * * * *
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.
1819.
* * * * *
London: printed by W. Bulmer and Co.
Cleveland-Row, St. James’s.
INTRODUCTION.
* * * * *
A curiosity throughout Europe, proportionate to the ignorance of the
Interior of Africa, exacts the publication of the proceedings and
researches of every Exploratory Mission, from its Conductor, as a duty
to the Public: “mandat fieri sibi talia.”
The Public, in acknowledgment of the performance of the duty, reflecting
that it constrains literary efforts which the Author otherwise might
never have presumed to expose, should sympathise in his diffidence and
anxiety, and receive and review them as a task imposed, and not as a
spontaneous essay.
If this indulgence is due even to gentlemen who have had the most
enviable opportunities of qualifying themselves at the expense of a
liberal Government, it is surely secure to one who never enjoyed those
advantages; but, being suddenly called to the immediate conduct of a
Mission, originated by a public Board of very contracted means, when
estranged from all facilities, had no resource to aid his realization of
the scientific desiderata, beyond the acquirements common to most
private gentlemen.
The vessel in which I am making my passage to England having been
chartered to trade in the River Gaboon, which is immediately on the
Line, I diverted a tedious delay of seven weeks in so unhealthy a
situation, by visiting Naängo, a town about fifty miles from the mouth
of the River, where I collected Geographical Accounts of the Interior,
from several intelligent traders, and numerous slaves from different
countries. I have added this compilation, (as it may borrow some
interest from the adjacency of the Congo,) with a few notices of the
customs and productions of this ruder part of Africa.
CONTENTS.
* * * * *
PART I.
CHAP. I.—The Objects and Departure of the Mission. 3
CHAP. II—The Route and Reception of the Mission. 14
CHAP. III.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Third 42
Dispatch to Cape Coast Castle.
CHAP. IV.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Signing of 101
the Preliminaries to a General Treaty.
CHAP. V.—Proceedings and Incidents until the Ratification 118
of a General Treaty.
CHAP. VI.—Proceedings and Incidents until the completion of 131
the Mission and its return to Cape Coast Castle.
PART II.
CHAP. I.—Geography. 161
CHAP. II.—History. 228
CHAP. III.—Constitution and Laws. 252
CHAP. IV.—Superstitions. 261
CHAP. V.—Customs. 274
CHAP. VI.—Architecture, Arts, and Manufactures. 304
CHAP. VII.—Climate, Population, Revenue, City, Market, &c. 315
CHAP. VIII.—Trade. 330
CHAP. IX.—Language. 344
CHAP. X.—Music. 361
CHAP. XI.—Materia Medica and Diseases. 370
CHAP. XII.—Mr. Hutchison’s Diary. 381
CHAP. XIII.—Sketch of Gaboon, and its Interior. 422
CHAP. XIV.—Suggestions for future Missions to the Interior 453
of Africa.
APPENDIX.
NO. I.—Extract from Meredith’s Account of the Gold Coast. 463
NO. II.—Translations of an Arabic MS. Descriptive of Mr. 478
Park’s Death.
NO. III.—Arabic Routes. 482
NO. IV. Dr. Leach’s Notice of Reptiles, Insects, &c. 493
NO. V.—Thermometer Account. 497
NO. VI.—Vocabularies. 504
DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.
Map _to front the Title._
1. A Captain in his War-dress _to face p._ 32
Arabic Circular 128
Map from Dapper 211
2. The first Day of the Yam Custom 275
3. The oldest House in Coomassie 307
4. Quarters of the Chief of the Embassy _ib._
5. Odumata’s sleeping room 307
6. Inner square of Apokoo’s house _ib._
7. }
} Piazzas of the palace 308
8. }
9. Part of Adoom Street _ib._
10. Exterior of the King’s bed room _ib._
Ichnographical Sketch of Coomassie 323
Ashantee Music 365
Empoöngwa Music 449
* * * * *
ERRATA.
Map.—Affix the name Leeasa to the river flowing from the Niger by
Boussa.
Page 9.—After Frederick James, Esq. add, Member of Council, and
Governor of Accra.
Page 72.—For dated, read _dictated_.
GLOSSARY.
Croom. A town or village.
Caboceer. A chief or magistrate.
Pynin. An elder or counsellor.
Palaver. A dispute, debate, argument, or suit.
Book or Note. A certificate of a monthly pension of the African
Committee, paid in trade to the Fantee Kings and Chiefs in the
neighbourhood of the British settlements, in consideration of their
attachment, influence, and services; which Books or Notes were claimed
by the King of Ashantee, as his by right of conquest.
Stool. Throne, seat in council, inheritance.
Custom. A festival, carnival, public ceremony, funeral rite.
Panyar. To seize or kidnap.
A Benda. Two ounces four ackies, or £9. currency.
A Periguin. Two ounces eight ackies, or £10. currency.
An Ackie. Five shillings currency.
A Tokoo. Ten pence.
A Dash. A present.
Fetish. A charm, amulet, deity. Any supernatural power or influence.
Any thing sacred.
* * * * *
MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
PART I.
* * * * *
MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
* * * * *
_The Objects, and Departure of the Mission._
Bosman and Barbot mention the Ashantees as first heard of by Europeans
about the year 1700; the latter calls it Assiantee or Inta, and writes,
that it is west of Mandingo, and joins Akim on the east; he asserts its
pre-eminence in wealth and power. Issert, a physician in the Danish
service, who meditated a visit to Ashantee, writes, “this mighty king
has a piece of gold, as a charm, more than four men can carry; and
innumerable slaves are constantly at work for him in the mountains, each
of whom must collect or produce two ounces of gold per diem. The Akims
formerly dug much gold, but they are now forbidden by the King of
Ashantee, to whom they are tributary, as well as the Aquamboos,
previously a very formidable nation.” Mr. Dalzel heard of the Ashantees
at Dahomey, as very powerful, but imagined them, the Intas, and the
Tapahs, to be one and the same nation. Mr. Lucas, when in Mesurata, was
informed that Assentai was the capital of the powerful kingdom of
Tonouwah. In Mr. Murray’s enlarged edition of Dr. Leyden’s discoveries
in Africa, we find, “the northern border of Akim extends to Tonouwah,
denominated also Inta, Assientè, or Assentai, from its capital city of
that name, which stands about eighteen days journey from the Gold
Coast.”
In 1807 an Ashantee army reached the Coast for the first time. I would
refer the reader to the extract in the Appendix, from Mr. Meredith’s
account of the Gold Coast, as the particulars are introductory as well
as interesting; and also serve to correct the misstatement in the work
last quoted, that in 1808 the King of Ashantee destroyed the English
fort of Annamaboe; originating, probably, from the storm of the Dutch
fort at Cormantine, at that time.
The Ashantees invaded Fantee again in 1811, and the third time in 1816.
These invasions inflicted the greatest miseries on the Fantees. Few were
slain in battle, for they rarely dared to encounter the invaders; but
the butcheries in cold blood were incredible, and thousands were dragged
into the interior to be sacrificed to the superstitions of the
conquerors. Famines, unmitigated by labour, succeeded the wide waste of
the Fantee territory, the wretched remnant of the population abandoning
itself to despair; and the prolonged blockade of Cape Coast Castle in
the last invasion, engendered so much distress and hazard, that the
Government having averted imminent danger by advancing a large sum of
gold on account of the Fantees, earnestly desired the Committee to
authorise and enable them to venture an Embassy, to deprecate these
repeated calamities, to conciliate so powerful a monarch, and to
propitiate an extension of commerce. By the store ship which arrived in
1817, the African Committee forwarded liberal and suitable presents, and
associated scientific with the political objects of the Mission, in
their instructions, which I submit in explanation.
“In order to enable you to redeem the promise to the King of Ashantee
(and as we are sanguine in our hopes of the good that may result from
it), we send you sundry articles as presents for him, to which you may
add such others from the public stores as you may deem desirable,
provided they will not materially increase the expense. The Committee
are extremely anxious (and in this respect the wishes of all classes of
people in this country go with them) that no exertions should be spared
to become better acquainted with the Interior of Africa; and we consider
the existing state of things to be most favourable for undertaking an
exploratory Mission into the dominions of the King of Ashantee. If,
therefore, nothing shall have transpired in the interim of this dispatch
being received by you, to make the measure objectionable, we wish you to
obtain permission from the King to send an Embassy to his capital: if
granted, you will select three Gentlemen (one of them from the medical
department[1]) for that service; and let them be accompanied by a
respectable escort, you giving them the fullest instructions for their
government. In particular, it will be necessary for them to observe, and
report upon, the nature of the country; its soil and products; the
names, and distances, and the latitude and longitude of the principal
places; and its most remarkable natural objects: the appearance,
distinguishing characters, and manners of the natives; their religion,
laws, customs, and forms of government, as far as they can be
ascertained; and by whom each place is governed. When at Ashantee, they
should endeavour to obtain the fullest information of the countries
beyond, in each direction; particularly whether any high mountains,
lakes, or large rivers are known; and the width, depth, course, and
direction of the latter; and whether the water, as well of the lakes as
the rivers, is salt or fresh: and how far, and under what circumstances,
white men may travel with safety, especially in a northerly direction.
They should collect the most accurate information possible of the
extent, population, and resources of the Ashantee dominions, and should
report fully their opinion of the inhabitants, and of the progress they
may have made in the arts of civilized life. They should be directed
also, to procure and bring away (with the consent of the chiefs) any
specimens of vegetable and mineral productions they may be able: and to
ascertain where and how the natives collect the gold, and the extent to
which the trade in that article, and in ivory, might be carried on. It
would, we conceive, be a most important advantage, if the King of
Ashantee, and some of his chiefs, could be prevailed upon to send one or
more of their children to the Cape, to be educated at the expense of the
Committee (to be attended by their own servants, if required), under the
guarantee of the Governor and Council for their personal safety, and
that they should be sent back when required.
“Another great object would be, to prevail upon the King to form, and
keep open, a path not less than six feet wide, from his capital, as far
as his territories extend towards Cape Coast, you engaging on the part
of the Committee, to continue it from that point to Cape Coast, which we
presume may be done at a very small expense, by means of monthly
allowances to the chiefs of such villages as be in that line; upon
condition that they shall not allow the path to be overgrown with
underwood, or otherwise obstructed.
“It may perhaps be found, that high mountains, or a large river, may be
not many days journey beyond Ashantee; in which case, if the Gentlemen
composing the Embassy feel themselves secure in the attempt, they may
probably be disposed to proceed so far. In such event, we authorize you
to pay their drafts for any moderate sums which they may find it
necessary to expend, as well as for the general objects of the Mission.
“Besides the escort of which we have spoken, we think it necessary, or
at least extremely important, that the Embassy should be accompanied by
natives of character and consequence, conversant with the Ashantee
language, in whom you have perfect confidence, selected, one from each
of the towns of Cape Coast, Accra, and Apollonia, to whom you may make
reasonable allowances for their time and trouble.
“We have said that you should obtain the permission of the King of
Ashantee to send the Embassy: we have doubts of the expediency of
requiring hostages; but, we presume you will concur with us in thinking,
it will be necessary, before it leaves Cape Coast, that a man of
consequence should be specially sent down by the King, to serve as a
guide and protector; and who, on his journey to Cape Coast, may arrange
with the messenger whom you may send to the King, respecting the places
at which the Embassy may stop to refresh, and give directions to open
the paths that may be overgrown.
“The Gentlemen whom you may select, will of course be well advised by
you not to interfere with any customs of the natives, however absurd; or
in any way to give them offence. And they cannot too strongly impress
upon the minds of the King and people of Ashantee, that the only objects
his Britannic Majesty has in view, are, to extend the trade with that
country; to prevent all interruption to their free communication with
the waterside; and to instruct their children in reading, writing, &c.
from which, as may be easily pointed out, the greatest advantages must
arise to the Ashantees.
“From what has been said, you, Gentlemen, will perceive, that in
selecting the Embassy, it is important that one of the persons composing
it should be able to determine the latitude and longitude of places, and
that both shall be seasoned to the climate; of ability, physical and
mental; of cool tempers, and moderate habits; and possessed of fortitude
and perseverance; and that in the selection of their escort also, regard
be had to the qualifications of the parties in those respects. Among
them there should be a bricklayer, carpenter, blacksmith, gunsmith, and
cooper, with proper tools; if these persons can be spared for the
purpose. We wish also they should take with them a number of
_certificates regarding Major Peddie_, and his companions, to be
circulated as distinctly as possible in the Interior; for though the
period may be past when they might have been useful to those travellers,
it is yet possible that they may be of use in making generally known the
object of Government in sending white men to explore that country.”
The suggestion of hostages was wholly impracticable, for there was not
even time for a communication with the King. A variety of circumstances
conspired to urge the immediate dispatch of the Mission; our interests,
to say the least, imperiously demanded its early interference; and had
we waited for a formal permission from the King to relieve the
difficulties of the enterprise, the rainy season would have been too far
advanced, and the critical moment have escaped us. The Governor thought
it more advisable to dispatch the Mission without an escort, and two
native soldiers only were added to the bearers of the baggage. The
perusal of the Governor’s instructions will be satisfactory to the
reader:
_Cape Coast Castle, April 19th_, 1817
FREDERICK JAMES, ESQ. Member of Council, and Governor of Accra.
SIR,
IN accepting your voluntary offer of conducting the Embassy to the King
of Ashantee, I have every reason to believe, that from your long
experience in this country, and your knowledge of the manners and habits
of the natives, it will terminate in a manner highly creditable to
yourself, and eventually prove of the greatest importance to the
commercial interest of Great Britain, which is the more immediate object
of the Mission; however, as many subjects of scientific research may be
associated with it, they are particularly recommended to your attention.
For this purpose Mr. Bowdich will accompany you; and I have no doubt he
will be found perfectly qualified to make the necessary observations, in
which you will afford him every facility and assistance. He is provided
with instruments for determining the latitude and longitude of places.
Mr. Hutchison, writer, and Mr. Tedlie, assistant surgeon, will also be
attached to the expedition.
The Ashantees, who are appointed your guides, have been selected by the
Ashantee Captain who is now here. They will, I hope, aid and assist you
in every thing that lays in their power.
In addition to the Committee’s instructions, a copy of which you have
herewith, you will attend to the following:
On the subject of your journey, I have nothing to observe further, than,
that I hope you will take every opportunity of travelling when there
will be the least exposure to the sun, as the officers who accompany you
have been but a short time in the country, and every precaution will be
necessary for the preservation of their health.
As soon as may be convenient after your arrival at the Ashantee capital,
you will of course see the King, and deliver him the various presents in
the name of the African Company, to be received by him as pledges of the
harmony and friendship which is ever to subsist between them; and also
of his good will towards the natives residing under the protection of
their different forts. You will not fail to impress upon his mind, the
great power, wealth, and consequence of the British nation, and how much
it is the interest of himself and his subjects, to promote and
perpetuate their present free intercourse with the water side. In the
course of your interview many circumstances will doubtless occur, which
will suggest various other matters proper to be mentioned to the King,
all which I shall leave entirely to your own discretion.
You will acquaint the King, that in order to secure a correct
communication between him and myself, I request his permission to allow
an officer to reside constantly at Commassey, who will defray all his
own expenses, and for whom you will build a house without loss of time.
A carpenter, bricklayer, and cooper are sent with you, and you will
leave them with Mr. Hutchison, who will remain as Resident. On your
departure you will give him full instructions in writing for his future
government, a copy of which you will deliver me upon your return.
You will keep an exact diary of every circumstance possessing the least
interest, a copy of which you will transmit me by every opportunity.
In the course of your stay in the Ashantee country, you will embrace
every occasion of becoming acquainted with the politics of that nation,
of ascertaining its extent and boundaries, the power of the King over
the lives and property of his subjects, the probable force he could
bring into the field, the number of his allies, the sources and amount
of his revenues. Whether he is tributary to any other power, and what
nations in his neighbourhood are tributary to him? The amount of
tribute, and in what articles paid? The rule of succession to the
throne? What are the punishments for crimes of all descriptions? Who are
the persons of most consequence next to the King? The names of their
offices, and the extent of their power: by whom, or how paid? What are
the most prominent features in the character, manners, and habits of the
people, &c. &c. &c.?
Are any human sacrifices made? Upon what occasions, and to what extent?
How are prisoners of war now disposed of?
Of what nation are the Moors that frequent the Ashantee country, and for
what purpose do they go there?
Ascertain the current medium of exchange, whether gold, or cowries; also
the usual prices at which the Ashantees sell the goods they purchase
from the Europeans on the sea coast; and the extent of their commercial
relations with the Interior.
You will enquire whether any European travellers have ever been seen or
heard of in any of the countries to the northward; and what became of
them? Whether any thing be known of the river Niger, or Joliba, as it is
called by the natives? This information you will probably obtain from
the Moors.
Ascertain the position of the Doncoe country, and the city of Kong; also
the mountains of that name. Refer to Park’s Travels, and acquire as much
information as possible of the regions lying between Ashantee and the
last places he visited. In short, leave nothing undone that may add to
our present imperfect geographical knowledge of the Interior.
You will receive herewith copies of certificates relative to Major
Pedde’s expedition, which you will distribute amongst any persons you
find travelling into the Interior from Ashantee.
It would be of the first importance to have a road cut directly down to
Cape Coast; and this you will urge to the King in the strongest manner.
Your observations will, of course, enable you to point out the proper
directions.
I inclose a sketch of a treaty, and it would be highly desirable if you
could procure its ratification by the King. He might perhaps make some
objection at first, but may be persuaded at length, by your address, and
reasoning. If he wished any trifling alteration made, you might use your
discretion in this respect.
You will acquaint the King, it is my wish that in future he receive his
company’s pay at this Castle, and not at Accra, as formerly. Should he
say any thing of an increase to his present allowance, you may give him
hopes that it will be granted to a reasonable extent, provided the
objects of this Mission be fulfilled, and after twelve months experience
shall have proved the sincerity of his friendship to the British
Government, and to the natives resident under its protection at the
various forts on the Coast.
From the jealous disposition of the natives of Africa, it is highly
probable, that in the prosecution of your enquiries, you will be subject
to many unfavourable suspicions. These you will take all possible care
to remove, by the most candid explanations on every point that may be
required.
You will particularly explain to the King, the ill treatment the people
of Cape Coast have experienced from those of Elmina, which has added
very much to the distresses they have for some time suffered from the
extreme scarcity of provisions; and there is reason to believe, that
this unjust persecution has been induced, from their presuming on their
connection with the Ashantees. Being perfectly aware that it has been
done without the concurrence of the King; I have no doubt but he will,
by a proper representation of the affair from you, exert his influence,
and prevent what is at present to be apprehended, and what the Elminas
are endeavouring to provoke—a war between the two people.
In all cases not provided for in these Instructions, you have of course
a discretionary power, which I am convinced you will make use of with
deliberation and prudence, and with becoming zeal for the service upon
which you are employed.
Wishing you a prosperous journey and a safe return,
I am, Sir, your most obedient Servant,
JOHN HOPE SMITH.
[Footnote 1: We recommend his being well supplied with dressings, &c.
for wounds, and bruises, so that he may be able to assist any natives
whom he may meet with requiring his aid: services of this sort give
Negroes an exalted idea of white men, and are always gratefully
remembered.]
CHAPTER II.
* * * * *
_The Route, and Reception of the Mission._
The Mission left Cape Coast Castle on the morning of the 22d of April,
with the intention of quitting the water side at Moree, three miles and
a half to the eastward; but on reaching it, we were told that the path
thence to Payntree’s croom, always bad, was then impassable from the
rains; and that we must proceed to Annamaboe before we struck into the
bush for the Interior.
The reluctance of the carriers, who had been pressed into the service by
the authorities of the town, became thus early almost insuperable; the
consideration of pay and subsistence, and the reflection, that the
dearth inflicted by the invasions the Mission was to deprecate, allowed
them but a bare existence at home, were entirely lost in their aversion
to the undertaking, which was equally influenced by jealousy and
indolence: eleven deserted the first day; and the slender authority of
the King and caboceers of Annamaboe, delayed the procuring of others to
replace them until the next evening. One party was then started,
attended by a soldier and a messenger, as they persisted in laying down
their loads, even in the town; and many of the Annamaboes who had been
procured, after lifting their packages, which were of moderate weight,
walked off again, with the most insolent indifference. The devices by
which these people displayed their ill will were peculiarly their own,
and none could be more ingeniously tormenting. At four o’clock on
Thursday morning we started the remainder of the packages, and followed
them at half past six. Proceeding about two miles in a N.N.W. direction,
we descended a steep hill, a quarter of a mile in length, and entered a
beautiful valley, profusely covered with pines, aloes, and lilies; and
richly varied with palm, banana, plantain, and guava trees: the view was
refreshed by gentle risings crowned with cotton trees of a stupendous
size. I never saw soil so rich, or vegetation so luxuriant.
The first croom we reached was Quama’s, about three miles and a half
from Annamaboe; it presented but a few hovels; and we passed through
three others, Simquoi, Taphoo, and Nasmam, just as wretched and
insignificant, before we reached Booka, romantically situated amidst the
luxuriant foliage of a high hill, terminating the valley. Abra is about
three miles eastward of this croom: it has been entirely deserted since
the last invasion, the Ashantee army under Appia Nanu having made it
their head quarters. It formerly exceeded Annamaboe, but the little that
now remains is in ruin, the inhabitants having retired to the small
crooms of their caboceer, or Captain Quaggheree.
Passing through Tachradi, which scarcely existed but in name, we
ascended a gentle rising, with a small croom, called Acroofroom, on the
left hand. The astonishment of its miserable inhabitants engaging our
attention, the extensive area of the summit burst upon us with the more
effect. It was environed by small groves; and clumps of cotton trees
rose so happily in frequent spots, as to afford all the scenery of a
romantic little park; the broken rays of the sun stealing through the
small trees in the distance, to make the deep shade of the foreground
more imposing. The path then became more hilly, and the landscape fuller
of wood: our descents and risings frequently through long vistas, so
richly gilded with the sun on the summits, that, impressed with the
description of Issert, we naturally yielded to the expectation, in
ascending each eminence, that it would afford us the delightful prospect
of an open country; but we were disappointed, and passing through
Dunnasee and Assoquah, both small crooms, the latter situated on a long
level, about three miles and a half from Acroofroom, we shortly after
arrived at Payntree’s.
On the higher hills the soil was generally gravel, with large stones; on
the lesser, white flint and whinstone abounded: the levels presented few
stones, and the earth was black, strong, and rich, producing grass from
four to ten feet high. The country was very thinly inhabited, and more
sparingly cultivated, the cassada frequent, but producing little from
the want of cultivation.
I made Payntree’s croom barely fifteen miles from Annamaboe; judging
from time, it was guessed to be eighteen or twenty; but the impediments
which the path almost incessantly presented to a hammock, the
inequalities of the ground, and many delays which insensibly consumed
the time, conspired to make such a calculation of distance very
fallacious. The plan I adopted throughout, though laborious, entitled me
to more confidence; and the observations confirmed the pretension. Mr.
Tedlie, who was always just ahead of myself, took the angles of the path
by his compass, which I pencilled as he uttered them, with their several
lengths, allowing four yards and a half for every six paces. It is
allowed too by the natives to be an easy four hours walk. Several hours
elapsed before all the carriers came up; most of those who had been
started by us the preceding day, slept in the bush, and one more had
deserted.
The prevailing courses and their proportions were N.¼; N.bW.⅛; N.N.W.⅛;
N.N.E.⅛; the rest of the distance being made up of small lengths, in
every point of the compass, from S.W. to S.E.; the variation 17¾° W. The
latitude of Payntree, by two altitudes of the sun, was 5° 20′ 30″ N.;
the longitude, by the course and distance, as afterwards corrected, 1°
47′ W.
We received the compliments of Payntree and several caboceers, under a
large tree, and were then conducted to a neat and comfortable dwelling,
which had been prepared for us: a small square area afforded a shed for
cooking in on one side, and a sleeping room in each of the others, open
in front, but well thatched, and very clean: from this we passed to our
sitting room, the floor of which was elevated about two feet from the
ground.
The croom was prettily situated on a level, encircled by very fine
trees, and consisted of a very broad and well cleaned street of small
huts, framed of bamboo, and neatly thatched. Just beyond the north end
of the croom, there was a stream running to the N.N.E and more than a
mile of marshy ground was distinguished by the deeper shade and
luxuriance of the foliage. We observed a great number of small birds,
which were even more beautiful from their delicate symmetry, than their
brilliant plumage; they were generally green, with black wings, and
their nests hanging from the trees.
The Ashantee captain, who expected to continue there some months, on the
king’s business, sent us a sheep, pleading the scarcity, and his being a
stranger, as apologies for so small a present. Old Payntree was
attentive and obliging; he dashed us some fowls, yams, and palm wine. We
remained there the next day, to allow our people to procure four days
subsistence, as they would not be able to meet with provision on the
path during that period.
I walked with Mr. Tedlie along a very neat path well fenced, and divided
by _stiles_, to a corn plantation of at least twenty acres, and well
cultivated. Payntree’s farm house was situated here, and afforded
superior conveniences; a fowl house, a pigeon house, and a large granary
raised on a strong stage. As we returned we paid him a visit, and were
refreshed with some excellent palm wine: his dwelling was a square of
four apartments, which were entered from an outer one, where a number of
drums were kept; the angles were occupied by the slaves, and his own
room, which had a small inner chamber, was decked with muskets,
blunderbusses, cartouch belts fantastically ornamented, and various
insignia. The order, cleanliness, and comfort, surprised us; the sun had
just set, and a cheerful fire on a clean hearth supported the evening
meal. The old man was seated in his state chair, diverting himself with
his children and younger wives, the elder one was looking on from the
opposite apartment with happy indifference; it was the first scene of
domestic comfort I had witnessed among the natives. There was a small
plantation or garden neatly fenced in, near the house, for the supply of
the family.
On Saturday the 26th we left Payntree’s croom, and proceeded through two
romantic little valleys, with a few huts in each: the variety of trees
increased with the number, and ornamented the hills with almost every
tint and character of foliage: the path was frequently covered with
water. Just before we reached Cottacoomacasa, a most beautiful landscape
opened, the fore-ground darkly shaded with large cotton trees, and the
distance composed of several picturesque little hills; their fanciful
outlines, and the beautiful variety of fresh and sombre tint of the
small groves which encircled them, forcibly reminded me of the
celebrated ride by Grongar hill, from Carmarthen to Llandilo.
Cottacoomacasa is about six miles and a quarter from Payntree’s croom,
and consisted but of a few miserable huts and sheds, which scarcely
afforded shelter, and were close and filthy. I took the angles of a
cotton tree near us, and the height proved to be 139 feet; generally
speaking, those we had passed were, to appearance, much higher. The
bearers had all settled themselves here, and not contented with a long
rest, refused for some time to proceed until the next day; several were
intoxicated with the rum from some ankers they had designedly broken. We
started again however about half past three, and almost immediately
entered a large forest impervious to the sun; the risings were frequent
but gentle; the path, crooked and overgrown, presented such constant
obstacles to a hammock, that Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, were
glad to dismount, and found it was much more comfortable as well as more
expeditious to walk; the only inconvenience was the troops of large
black ants, which were too thick to be avoided, and stung us sadly. We
passed two little streams running E.N.E. About six miles from
Cottacoomacasa we found all the baggage, the people making their fires,
and settling themselves for the night; it was almost dark; Quamina, our
Ashantee guide, had gone on without us, and Mr. James we knew must be
far behind; we therefore determined to halt for the night, and our
hammocks were slung to the trees. The distance marched this day was
twelve miles. The longitude of Cottacoomacasa was one mile E. of that of
Payntree by account, that of our resting place 1° 46′ 30″ W. and the
lat. 5° 28′ N.
The next morning we continued our march through the same dark solitude,
and passing three small streams running E. we reached Mansue soon after
ten o’clock. We had scarcely seated ourselves under a tattered shed,
which could not defend us from the burning sun, when we were encircled
by the cooking fires of the party, and nothing but violence could remove
them to a proper distance.
Mansue had been the great Fantee market for slaves from the Interior,
and its former consequence was evident from the extent of its site, over
which a few sheds only were now scattered.
We proceeded again at one o’clock, and passing through a small river,
Assooneara, running eastward, we came to a second, called Okee, running
in the same direction to the Amissa, which falls into the sea between
Annamaboe and Tantum. We passed five or six swamps, one nearly half a
mile long; in these the soil was a dark clay, but otherwise gravelly. We
halted in the woods at a spot where our guide Quamina was busied in
cutting down the underwood to accommodate himself and his women; the
bearers, resolute in their perverseness, had gone on with our provisions
and clothes. The ground of our resting place was very damp, and swarmed
with reptiles and insects; we had great difficulty in keeping up our
fires, which we were the more anxious to do after a visit from a
panther: an animal which, the natives say, resembles a small pig, and
inhabits the trees, continued a shrill screeching through the night; and
occasionally a wild hog bounced by, snorting through the forest, as if
closely pursued. This day’s distance was eight miles, and the course
N.¼N. b. E.⅙. Lat. and long. by account 5° 34′ N. and 1° 48′ W.
Thermometer in shade 6 A.M. 74.
We started the next morning at seven o’clock, and after three miles and
a half crossed a small river called Gaia, and sometimes Aniabirrim, from
a croom of that name being formerly in its neighbourhood; it was ten
yards wide and two feet deep, and ran to the E. just across the path,
but afterwards N.N.E. to the Amissa. Here Mr. Hutchison waited for Mr.
James to come up, whilst Mr. Tedlie and myself walked on to overtake the
people. The doom and iron-wood trees were frequent; the path was a
labyrinth of the most capricious windings, the roots of the cotton trees
obstructing it continually, and our progress was generally by stepping
and jumping up and down, rather than walking; the stems or caudices of
these trees projected from the trunks like flying buttresses, their
height frequently 20 feet. Immense trunks of fallen trees presented
constant barriers to our progress, and increased our fatigues from the
labour of scaling them: we were also frequently obliged to wait the
cutting away of the underwood before we could proceed, even on foot. The
large trees were covered with parasites and convolvuli, and the climbing
plants, like small cables, ascending the trunks to some height, abruptly
shot downwards, crossed to the opposite trees, and threaded each other
in such a perplexity of twists and turnings, that it soon became
impossible to trace them in the general entanglement. We passed through
two small streams running S. and several swamps, richly covered with
palm trees. Parrots and crown birds were numerous. At the end of ten
miles we came to a small river called Quatoa, four yards wide, also
running eastward to the Amissa; and immediately after to a few sheds
bearing the same name, where we found the last party of the bearers all
lying down, and a soldier ineffectually endeavouring to rouse them: we
started them with difficulty. A mile and a half thence we met with the
Okee again, running over its rocky bed in a transparent stream, which
reflected the richest foliage; its course S.W.½W., the breadth nine
yards, and we stepped across it from rock to rock. We soon afterwards
walked through the Antoonso, a smaller river running W.S.W., which
probably crossed the path to the eastward in one of the small streams
near Cottacoomacasa, as every report confirmed its also running to the
Amissa; it was very near Fousou, where we had scarcely arrived, before
the Fantees, such was their perverseness, insisted upon going on, the
Cape Coast messengers either had no influence or would not exert it; we
soon stopped them with the assistance of Quamina, our Ashantee guide,
Mr. James not coming up until late in the evening. Fousou was formerly a
large town, but had been destroyed by the Ashantee invasion of 1807; it
presented but a few sheds, in one of which we observed the Ashantee
traders to deposit yams and plantains to subsist them on their return;
so severe was the scarcity in the Fantee country: we could purchase
nothing, and were admitted to the best hovel with reluctance. This day’s
distance was 14 miles. The courses N.½, N.N.W.¼, N.bW.⅛. The latitude of
Fousou by observation, was 5° 43′ 20″ N. and the longitude by account 1°
52′ W.
The next morning, the 29th of April, we marched seven miles to
Ancomassa, a name given to half a dozen sheds; the path was still of the
same rugged nature, and the gloom unvaried. A strong fragrance was
emitted from the decaying plants and trees of the mimosa kind, whilst
others in the same incipient state of putrefaction were very offensive.
We passed through two small rivers, Bettensin and Soubin, six yards
wide, and shallow; they both ran eastward to the Owa, of which I could
not learn more than that it emptied itself into the Boosempra.
We proceeded at four o’clock, and had not gone two miles on our gloomy
route before it became dark. The path was level, but very swampy, and
generally covered with water. The fire-flies spangled the herbage in
every direction, and from the strength of their light, alternately
excited the apprehension of wild beasts, and the hope that we approached
the resting place our guide, whom we never saw after starting, had told
us of in the morning. The greatest fear of the people was of the spirits
of the woods, (whom Mr. Park’s interpreter, Johnson, propitiated by a
sacrifice between Jing and Gangaddi) and the discordant yells in which
they rivalled each other to keep up their courage, mingled with the
howls and screeches from the forest, imposed a degree of horror on this
dismal scene, which associated it with the imaginations of Dante. Three
or four times we suddenly emerged from the most awful gloom into
extensive areas, on which the stars shed a brilliancy of light gradually
softened into the deep shade which encompassed them; they were the sites
of large and populous crooms destroyed in the Ashantee invasions. About
nine o’clock we discovered a few miserable sheds, which the noise of the
bearers, who had long arrived, convinced us to be Accomfodey. We had
passed two small rivers, the Aprinisee and Annuia, both running to the
Boosempra. This day’s distance was 11 miles, and the courses N.⅓,
N.bW.⅕. The lat. and long. by account 5° 49′ N. and 1° 55′ W.
Thermometer 11 a.m. 80.
We marched early the next morning. The scenery of the forest, excepting
on the banks of the small rivers, was very naked of foliage, and only
presented a harsh and ragged confusion of stems and branches intricately
blended. We passed a small river soon after leaving Accomfodey, bearing
the same name and running eastward; and shortly after another, six yards
wide and two feet deep (the Berrakoo), running N.E. to the Boosempra.
The path was sometimes trackless, and appeared to have been little used
since the invasion of 1807; several human skulls were scattered through
this dark solitude, the relics of the butchery. We halted about two
o’clock by Mr. James’s direction, and passed the night in the forest.
This day’s distance was eight miles, the prevailing courses N.¼, N.bW.⅛,
N.N.W.⅛, N.bE.⅛. The latitude and longitude by account 5° 53′ N. 1° 55′
W. Thermometer 2 p.m. 88½, 7 p.m. 82½.
The next morning we passed some sheds, on the sites of the crooms
Dansamsou and Meakirring. At the end of five miles and a quarter, the
herbage to the right disclosed the cheerful reflections of the sun from
the water; and we descended through a small vista of the forest, to the
banks of the Boosempra or Chamah river. Nothing could be more beautiful
than its scenery: the bank on the south side was steep, and admitted but
a narrow path; that on the north sloping; on which a small Fetish house,
under the shade of a cachou tree, fixed the eye; whence it wandered over
a rich variety of tint and foliage, in which light and shade were most
happily blended: the small rocks stole through the herbage of the banks,
and now and then ruffled the water: the doom trees towering in the
shrubbery, waved to the most gentle air a rich foliage of dark green,
mocking the finest touch of the pencil; the tamarind and smaller mimosas
heightening its effect by their livelier tint, and the more piquant
delicacy of their leaf: the cotton trees overtopped the whole,
enwreathed in convolvuli, and several elegant little trees, unknown to
me, rose in the background, intermixed with palms, and made the coup
d’oeil enchanting. The bright rays of the sun were sobered by the rich
reflections of the water; and there was a mild beauty in the landscape,
uncongenial to barbarism, which imposed the expectation of elegance and
refinement. I attempted a sketch, but it was far beyond my rude pencil;
the expression of the scene could only have been traced in the profile
of every tree; and it seemed to defy any touches, but those of a Claude
or a Wilson, to depict the life of its beauty. I took two angles from a
base on the south side, which gave the width of the river, forty three
yards; the depth was 7 feet, and the course N.W.½W. with a very strong
current. A small river called Nimeä, ran into it, close to our right as
we landed: we crossed in the hollow trunk of a tree, thirty feet long,
the ends plastered up with sticks and swish.
Mansue was said to have been the last town of the Fantee territory; but
we had no opportunity for comparison until we passed the river, the
country thitherto presenting all the gloom of depopulation, and the
forest fast recovering the sites of the large towns destroyed in the
Ashantee invasions. The inhabitants of the few wretched hovels, remotely
scattered, seemed as if they had fled to them as outcasts from society;
they were lost even to curiosity, and manners were brutal and sullen.[2]
We could purchase nothing for our subsistence.
The scene brightened from our crossing the Boosempra; the path improved,
and Prasoo, the first town, only three quarters of a mile from the
river, presented a wide and clean street of tolerably regular houses;
the inhabitants clean and cheerful, left their various occupations to
gratify their curiosity, and saluted us in a friendly and respectful
manner: indeed the Assins may be considered, collectively, a more
mannerly and orderly people than the Ashantees. Kickiwherree, one mile
and a half distant, was a larger town, not so regular, but presenting
the same neat appearance, improved by the white-washing of many of the
houses. We halted here under the ganian[3] tree, used, generally
speaking, for recreation only, palavers being talked in the open fronts
of the houses. We were conducted to a comfortable dwelling, affording us
four very clean rooms, about 12 feet by 7, in which there were shelves
containing many articles of superior domestic comfort; a curtain or
skreen of bamboo let down in the open front, and the floors raised about
a foot and half from the ground, were washed daily with an earth of the
neighbourhood, which coloured them Etruscan red. The iron stone
abounded. Kickiwherree was 7 miles from the previous resting place, and
the prevailing courses N.¼ N.b.W.⅐. The latitude by observation was 5°
56′ 40″ N; the longitude by account 1° 57′ W. Thermometer 8 a.m. 77; 1
p.m. 91.
My observations had not been so frequent as I wished; the nature of the
country, and the season of the year were both very unfavourable to them.
I worked the double altitudes, invariably by Dr. Pemberton’s rule in
Keith’s trigonometry, which requires no assumed latitude, and is in all
cases accurate.
Mr. James having determined to rest the next day at Kickiwherree, we did
not proceed until Saturday the 3rd of May. We passed through a small
river close to the town, called the Ading, six yards wide and two feet
deep; and soon after a second, the Animiasoo, nine yards wide, and three
feet deep, both running to the Boosempra; close to the latter was a
large croom of the same name, the seat of Cheboo’s government. Pagga and
Atobiasee were also large crooms near each other, and within four miles
of Kickiwherree. At Atobiasee was a small river called Prensa, five
yards wide, and two feet deep, which ran E.S.E. to the Boosempra: two
miles thence we came to Becquama, a very old croom, with a river nine
yards wide, called Prapong, running E. by S. to the Boosempra; and at
the end of nine miles we halted at Asharaman, a small croom on an
eminence, where the Assins under Apootey and Cheboo, first engaged the
Ashantees in 1807. There was a small plot of corn near this croom, the
first we had seen since we left Payntree, though every croom was
surrounded by a tract of cultivated land, or plantation of plantains.
The path continued through forest. Distance 8 miles. Courses N.¼.
Latitude by observation, 5° 59′ 20″. Longitude by course and distance 1°
57′ 40″ W. Thermometer 6 a.m. 76, p.m. 89.
The next day we passed through Ansa, a large croom, where Amoo had
governed; north-west of which, at a little distance, was Aboiboo, the
residence of his enemy Apootey. A small river near Ansa, called
Parakoomee, eleven yards wide, and three feet deep, ran south to a
larger, called Ofim or Foom, which rises six days northward of
Coomassie, and falls into the Boosempra some miles westward of our
crossing. The path was very swampy, and we did not reach Akrofroom until
three o’clock: this was by far the largest croom we had seen. The heavy
rains during the night floated us in our lodgings, and, as Quamina
reported, rendered the path to Moisee impassable for the next day;
consequently we did not proceed until Tuesday the 6th. Distance 12
miles. Courses N.⅕, N.N.W.¼. Latitude by observation, 6° 5′ 40″. Long: C
and D 2° 2′. W. The path still through forest, presented frequent
acclivities, and the iron stone, and a soft grey rock abounded; the soil
was sometimes gravelly, but generally of a red coloured clay used in the
native pottery. We passed the Parakoomee again twice, and at the end of
11 miles halted at Moisee,
“Cingebant silvæ; quem collibus undique curvis,”
the last Assin town, at the foot of three high hills covered with wood,
bearing W.N.W., N., and N.N.E.; the barriers of the Ashantee kingdom.
Course N.⅕, N.W.b.N.⅐, N.b.E.⅛. Latitude by observation 6° 8′ 50″ N.
Longitude C and D 2° 4′ 20″ W. The thermometer was broken on the 4th.
We passed the northern boundary the next morning; the ascent was a mile
and a half in length, and very rocky; a small river called the Bohmen
ran S.W. to the Jim, which falls into the Ofim: the water of the Bohmen
is said to instil eloquence, and numerous Ashantees repair annually to
drink of it: it flowed in a very clear stream, over a bed of gravel, and
was three feet deep, and eight yards broad. The expectation of an open
country was again disappointed; I bore several eminent points, in the
hope of being able to do so again at some distance, and of thus, with
the intermediate course, checking the distance computed by paces; but
the forest soon shut them out entirely. The first Ashantee croom was
Quesha; and we soon after passed through Fohmannee, which had been a
very considerable town. We stopped there awhile at the request of a
venerable old man, who regaled us with some palm wine and fruit: his
manners were very pleasing, and made it more painful to us to hear that
his life was forfeited to some superstitious observances, and that he
only waited the result of a petition to the king to commiserate his
infirmities so far as to allow him to be executed at his own croom, and
to be spared the fatigue of a journey to the capital: he conversed
cheerfully with us, congratulated himself on seeing white men before he
died, and spread his cloth over the log with an emotion of dignity
rather than shame: his head arrived at Coomassie the day after we had.
On ascending the hill, the soil became a dark brown clay, and very
productive. We passed the first large plantation of corn we had seen
since we left Payntree, and halted at Doompassee. Distance 6 miles.
Courses N.⅓, N.N.W.⅕, N.W.⅙. Latitude by observation, 6° 11′ 30″.
Doompassee had been a very large croom, but the caboceer having
intrigued with one of Sai Cudjoe’s wives, who had permission to visit
her family in this place, the greater part of it was destroyed in
consequence, and the caboceer decapitated: the woman possessing
irresistible art in practising upon the numerous admirers of her beauty,
the king spared her life, and employed her thenceforth to inveigle those
distant caboceers, whose lives or properties were desirable to him. It
was the most industrious town on the path; cloths, beads, and pottery
were manufacturing in all directions, and the blacksmiths’ forges were
always at work. The intelligence of the beginning of the King’s fetish
week, and Mr. James’s attack of fever, delayed us at Doompassee, and a
messenger was dispatched in the interim to announce our approach. During
our stay, I observed an eclipse of Jupiter’s first satellite, which gave
the longitude 2° 6′ W.
We did not leave Doompassee until the 14th of May; after two miles,
passing a small stream running N.W. we ascended a high hill, on which a
large croom, called Tiabosoo, was situated. I looked into a pit here six
feet deep; the first stratum was vegetable mould, the second gravel, the
third, a kind of potter’s clay, and the remaining of brittle stone of a
reddish brown, resembling that they call cabouc in the East Indies. The
next croom was Sanquanta, where the path took an easterly direction, and
about seven miles from Doompassee we passed Datiasoo, where large
quantities of pottery were manufacturing, exclusively: it was not more
than a mile distant from Dadawasee, where we found a messenger from the
king, expressing his regret that we had come up in the rainy season, as
he had heard it was a very unhealthy one for white men, and appointing
us to enter the capital on the Monday following; he sent us a present of
a sheep, forty yams, and two ounces of gold for our table; he had also
given six ackies to our messenger, who returned at the same time. The
path had been cleared by the king’s order, the plantations became more
frequent and extensive, and numerous paths branching off from that we
travelled, shewed that the country was thickly inhabited, and the
intercourse of the various parts direct and necessary for an interchange
of manufacture and produce: the crooms hitherto had appeared insulated.
The Acassey or blue dye plant grew profusely. Distance seven miles.
Courses N.¼, N.bW.⅐, N.N.W.⅐, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude by observation 6° 16′
20″ N. long: C and D 2° 7′ 30″ W.
The next day, leaving Dadawasee, close to which was another large croom
called Modjawee, we descended a very steep hill, and passed the Dankaran
or Mankaran, a small river, in the rainy season eleven yards wide and
four feet deep, running to the Birrim: not far from this river was
Sahnfoo, and a short distance from that croom, a smaller river called
Yansee, running N.N.W. We then passed through Korraman, near which was
the small river Dansabow, running westward, and three other large
crooms, Aquinasee (having a neatly fenced burial ground,) Amafou, and
Agabimah; crossing another small river called Soubirree, near the
latter, we reached Assiminia, distant eight miles from Dadawasee. The
path was frequently eight feet wide, and kept as neatly as that of a
garden in the environs of the crooms, which now disclosed themselves
very prettily at some distance. Courses N.⅕, N.bE.⅙, N.N.E.⅙. Latitude
by observation 6° 22′, longitude C and D 2° 7′ 50″ W.
There was a violent tornado in the night, during almost the whole of
which the rain continued in torrents, increasing the small streams near
the town from ancle to three feet deep. Almost all the inhabitants were
employed in weaving the staple manufacture of Assiminia, which was
formerly of much greater extent. Mr. James rested here the whole of the
next day, and on Saturday we proceeded through Boposoo (on a very high
hill), Agemum, Yoko, and Abountum; near which we crossed the Biaqua,
running west to the Jim, and about seven yards wide and two feet deep;
between this and Sarrasou, where we halted, were two large crooms,
Pootooaga and Fiasou.
The path was continually well cleared: each croom presented one wide
central street, with the ganian or cachou trees at the extremities. The
soil ceased to be sandy, and became a reddish earth: we observed some
quartz, but silex prevailed. Distance 11 miles. Courses N.¼, N.N.E.⅕.
Lat. by observation, 6° 30′ 20″. Long. C. and D. 2° 6′ 30″.
The river Dah runs close to Sarrasou, rising at Sekooree near Dwabin,
and falling into the Ofim at Measee in the Warsaw path; it is generally
about sixteen yards wide, and four feet deep. There was an ingenious
fishing weir in this river; two rows of very strong wicker work were
fixed across it, supported against the rapidity of the stream by large
stakes, driven into the ground obliquely on each side of them, and
connected above and below by the trunks of two large trees. The funnel-
shaped baskets, thickly inserted at the bottom, were of split cane, and
about twelve feet long. There are large plantations of corn around
Sarrasou, which is a great nursery for pigs. We left it on Monday
morning, the 19th, and passing through a small croom, Oyoko, stopped at
another, Agogoo, about four miles distant, to dress ourselves in full
uniform. The soil from Sarrasou was a rich black mould, and there were
continued plantations of corn, yams, ground nuts, terraboys, and
encruma: the yams and ground nuts were planted with much regularity in
triangular beds, with small drains around each, and carefully cleared
from weeds.
Two miles from Agogoo, we crossed the marsh which insulates Coomassie;
the breadth at that part forty yards, and the depth three feet. Being
within a mile of the capital, our approach was announced to the king,
who desired us by his messengers to rest at a little croom, called
Patiasoo, until he had finished washing, when captains would be deputed
to conduct us to his presence. Distance 6½ miles. Courses N.⅙, N.N.W.⅙.
We entered Coomassie at two o’clock, passing under a fetish, or
sacrifice of a dead sheep, wrapped up in red silk, and suspended between
two lofty poles. Upwards of 5000 people, the greater part warriors, met
us with awful bursts of martial music, discordant only in its mixture;
for horns, drums, rattles, and gong-gongs were all exerted with a zeal
bordering on phrenzy, to subdue us by the first impression. The smoke
which encircled us from the incessant discharges of musquetry, confined
our glimpses to the foreground; and we were halted whilst the captains
performed their Pyrrhic dance, in the centre of a circle formed by their
warriors; where a confusion of flags, English, Dutch, and Danish, were
waved and flourished in all directions; the bearers plunging and
springing from side to side, with a passion of enthusiasm only equalled
by the captains, who followed them, discharging their shining
blunderbusses so close, that the flags now and then were in a blaze; and
emerging from the smoke with all the gesture and distortion of maniacs.
Their followers kept up the firing around us in the rear. The dress of
the captains (see drawing, No. I.) was a war cap, with gilded rams horns
projecting in front, the sides extended beyond all proportion by immense
plumes of eagles feathers, and fastened under the chin with bands of
cowries. Their vest was of red cloth, covered with fetishes and
saphies[4] in gold and silver; and embroidered cases of almost every
colour, which flapped against their bodies as they moved, intermixed
with small brass bells, the horns and tails of animals, shells, and
knives; long leopards tails hung down their backs, over a small bow
covered with fetishes. They wore loose cotton trowsers, with immense
boots of a dull red leather, coming half way up the thigh, and fastened
by small chains to their cartouch or waist belt; these were also
ornamented with bells, horses tails, strings of amulets, and innumerable
shreds of leather; a small quiver of poisoned arrows hung from their
right wrist, and they held a long iron chain between their teeth, with a
scrap of Moorish writing affixed to the end of it. A small spear was in
their left hands, covered with red cloth and silk tassels; their black
countenances heightened the effect of this attire, and completed a
figure scarcely human.
[Illustration: _Drawn by T. E. Bowdich Esqr._
_No. 1._
CAPTAIN in his WAR DRESS.]
This exhibition continued about half an hour, when we were allowed to
proceed, encircled by the warriors, whose numbers, with the crowds of
people, made our movement as gradual as if it had taken place in
Cheapside; the several streets branching off to the right, presented
long vistas crammed with people, and those on the left hand being on an
acclivity, innumerable rows of heads rose one above another: the large
open porches of the houses, like the fronts of stages in small theatres,
were filled with the better sort of females and children, all impatient
to behold white men for the first time; their exclamations were drowned
in the firing and music, but their gestures were in character with the
scene. When we reached the palace, about half a mile from the place
where we entered, we were again halted, and an open file was made,
through which the bearers were passed, to deposit the presents and
baggage in the house assigned to us. Here we were gratified by observing
several of the caboceers pass by with their trains, the novel splendour
of which astonished us. The bands, principally composed of horns and
flutes, trained to play in concert, seemed to soothe our hearing into
its natural tone again by their wild melodies; whilst the immense
umbrellas, made to sink and rise from the jerkings of the bearers, and
the large fans waving around, refreshed us with small currents of air,
under a burning sun, clouds of dust, and a density of atmosphere almost
suffocating. We were then squeezed, at the same funeral pace, up a long
street, to an open-fronted house, where we were desired by a royal
messenger to wait a further invitation from the king. Here our attention
was forced from the astonishment of the crowd to a most inhuman
spectacle, which was paraded before us for some minutes; it was a man
whom they were tormenting previous to sacrifice; his hands were pinioned
behind him, a knife was passed through his cheeks, to which his lips
were noosed like the figure of 8; one ear was cut off and carried before
him, the other hung to his head by a small bit of skin; there were
several gashes in his back, and a knife was thrust under each shoulder
blade; he was led with a cord passed through his nose, by men disfigured
with immense caps of shaggy black skins, and drums beat before him; the
feeling this horrid barbarity excited must be imagined. We were soon
released by permission to proceed to the king, and passed through a very
broad street, about a quarter of a mile long, to the market place.
Our observations en passant had taught us to conceive a spectacle far
exceeding our original expectations; but they had not prepared us for
the extent and display of the scene which here burst upon us: an area of
nearly a mile in circumference was crowded with magnificence and
novelty. The king, his tributaries, and captains, were resplendent in
the distance, surrounded by attendants of every description, fronted by
a mass of warriors which seemed to make our approach impervious. The sun
was reflected, with a glare scarcely more supportable than the heat,
from the massy gold ornaments, which glistened in every direction. More
than a hundred bands burst at once on our arrival, with the peculiar
airs of their several chiefs; the horns flourished their defiances, with
the beating of innumerable drums and metal instruments, and then yielded
for a while to the soft breathings of their long flutes, which were
truly harmonious; and a pleasing instrument, like a bagpipe without the
drone, was happily blended. At least a hundred large umbrellas, or
canopies, which could shelter thirty persons, were sprung up and down by
the bearers with brilliant effect, being made of scarlet, yellow, and
the most shewy cloths and silks, and crowned on the top with crescents,
pelicans, elephants, barrels, and arms and swords of gold; they were of
various shapes, but mostly dome; and the valances (in some of which
small looking glasses were inserted) fantastically scalloped and
fringed; from the fronts of some, the proboscis and small teeth of
elephants projected, and a few were roofed with leopard skins, and
crowned with various animals naturally stuffed. The state hammocks, like
long cradles, were raised in the rear, the poles on the heads of the
bearers; the cushions and pillows were covered with crimson taffeta, and
the richest cloths hung over the sides. Innumerable small umbrellas, of
various coloured stripes, were crowded in the intervals, whilst several
large trees heightened the glare, by contrasting the sober colouring of
nature.
“Discolor unde auri per ramos aura refulsit.”
The king’s messengers, with gold breast plates, made way for us, and we
commenced our round, preceded by the canes and the English flag. We
stopped to take the hand of every caboceer, which, as their houshold
suites occupied several spaces in advance, delayed us long enough to
distinguish some of the ornaments in the general blaze of splendour and
ostentation.
The caboceers, as did their superior captains and attendants, wore
Ashantee cloths, of extravagant price from the costly foreign silks
which had been unravelled to weave them in all the varieties of colour,
as well as pattern; they were of an incredible size and weight, and
thrown over the shoulder exactly like the Roman toga; a small silk
fillet generally encircled their temples, and massy gold necklaces,
intricately wrought; suspended Moorish charms, dearly purchased, and
enclosed in small square cases of gold, silver, and curious embroidery.
Some wore necklaces reaching to the navel entirely of aggry beads; a
band of gold and beads encircled the knee, from which several strings of
the same depended; small circles of gold like guineas, rings, and casts
of animals, were strung round their ancles; their sandals were of green,
red, and delicate white leather; manillas, and rude lumps of rock gold,
hung from their left wrists, which were so heavily laden as to be
supported on the head of one of their handsomest boys. Gold and silver
pipes, and canes dazzled the eye in every direction. Wolves and rams
heads as large as life, cast in gold, were suspended from their gold
handled swords, which were held around them in great numbers; the blades
were shaped like round bills, and rusted in blood; the sheaths were of
leopard skin, or the shell of a fish like shagreen. The large drums
supported on the head of one man, and beaten by two others, were braced
around with the thigh bones of their enemies, and ornamented with their
skulls. The kettle drums resting on the ground, were scraped with wet
fingers, and covered with leopard skin. The wrists of the drummers were
hung with bells and curiously shaped pieces of iron, which gingled
loudly as they were beating. The smaller drums were suspended from the
neck by scarves of red cloth; the horns (the teeth of young elephants)
were ornamented at the mouth-piece with gold, and the jaw bones of human
victims. The war caps of eagles feathers nodded in the rear, and large
fans, of the wing feathers of the ostrich, played around the
dignitaries; immediately behind their chairs (which were of a black
wood, almost covered by inlays of ivory and gold embossment) stood their
handsomest youths, with corslets of leopard’s skin covered with gold
cockle shells, and stuck full of small knives, sheathed in gold and
silver, and the handles of blue agate; cartouch boxes of elephant’s hide
hung below, ornamented in the same manner; a large gold handled sword
was fixed behind the left shoulder, and silk scarves and horses tails
(generally white) streamed from the arms and waist cloth: their long
Danish muskets had broad rims of gold at small distances, and the stocks
were ornamented with shells. Finely grown girls stood behind the chairs
of some, with silver basins. Their stools (of the most laborious carved
work, and generally with two large bells attached to them) were
conspicuously placed on the heads of favourites; and crowds of small
boys were seated around, flourishing elephants tails curiously mounted.
The warriors sat on the ground close to these, and so thickly as not to
admit of our passing without treading on their feet, to which they were
perfectly indifferent; their caps were of the skin of the pangolin and
leopard, the tails hanging down behind; their cartouch belts (composed
of small gourds which hold the charges, and covered with leopard or
pig’s skin) were embossed with red shells, and small brass bells thickly
hung to them; on their hips and shoulders was a cluster of knives; iron
chains and collars dignified the most daring, who were prouder of them
than of gold; their muskets had rests affixed of leopard’s skin, and the
locks a covering of the same; the sides of their faces were curiously
painted in long white streaks, and their arms also striped, having the
appearance of armour.
We were suddenly surprised by the sight of Moors, who afforded the first
general diversity of dress; there were seventeen superiors, arrayed in
large cloaks of white satin, richly trimmed with spangled embroidery,
their shirts and trowsers were of silk, and a very large turban of white
muslin was studded with a border of different coloured stones: their
attendants wore red caps and turbans, and long white shirts, which hung
over their trowsers; those of the inferiors were of dark blue cloth:
they slowly raised their eyes from the ground as we passed, and with a
most malignant scowl.
The prolonged flourishes of the horns, a deafening tumult of drums, and
the fuller concert of the intervals, announced that we were approaching
the king: we were already passing the principal officers of his
houshold; the chamberlain, the gold horn blower, the captain of the
messengers, the captain for royal executions, the captain of the market,
the keeper of the royal burial ground, and the master of the bands, sat
surrounded by a retinue and splendor which bespoke the dignity and
importance of their offices. The cook had a number of small services
covered with leopard’s skin held behind him, and a large quantity of
massy silver plate was displayed before him, punch bowls, waiters,
coffee pots, tankards, and a very large vessel with heavy handles and
clawed feet, which seemed to have been made to hold incense; I observed
a Portuguese inscription on one piece, and they seemed generally of that
manufacture. The executioner, a man of an immense size, wore a massy
gold hatchet on his breast; and the execution stool was held before him,
clotted in blood, and partly covered with a cawl of fat. The king’s four
linguists were encircled by a splendor inferior to none, and their
peculiar insignia, gold canes, were elevated in all directions, tied in
bundles like fasces. The keeper of the treasury, added to his own
magnificence by the ostentatious display of his service; the blow pan,
boxes, scales and weights, were of solid gold.
A delay of some minutes whilst we severally approached to receive the
king’s hand, afforded us a thorough view of him; his deportment first
excited my attention; native dignity in princes we are pleased to call
barbarous was a curious spectacle: his manners were majestic, yet
courteous; and he did not allow his surprise to beguile him for a moment
of the composure of the monarch; he appeared to be about thirty-eight
years of age, inclined to corpulence, and of a benevolent countenance;
he wore a fillet of aggry beads round his temples, a necklace of gold
cockspur shells strung by their largest ends, and over his right
shoulder a red silk cord, suspending three saphies cased in gold; his
bracelets were the richest mixtures of beads and gold, and his fingers
covered with rings; his cloth was of a dark green silk; a pointed diadem
was elegantly painted in white on his forehead; also a pattern
resembling an epaulette on each shoulder, and an ornament like a full
blown rose, one leaf rising above another until it covered his whole
breast; his knee-bands were of aggry beads, and his ancle strings of
gold ornaments of the most delicate workmanship, small drums, sankos,
stools, swords, guns, and birds, clustered together; his sandals, of a
soft white leather, were embossed across the instep band with small gold
and silver cases of saphies; he was seated in a low chair, richly
ornamented with gold; he wore a pair of gold castanets on his finger and
thumb, which he clapped to enforce silence. The belts of the guards
behind his chair, were cased in gold, and covered with small jaw bones
of the same metal; the elephants tails, waving like a small cloud before
him, were spangled with gold, and large plumes of feathers were
flourished amid them. His eunuch presided over these attendants, wearing
only one massy piece of gold about his neck: the royal stool, entirely
cased in gold, was displayed under a splendid umbrella, with drums,
sankos, horns, and various musical instruments, cased in gold, about the
thickness of cartridge paper: large circles of gold hung by scarlet
cloth from the swords of state, the sheaths as well as the handles of
which were also cased; hatchets of the same were intermixed with them:
the breasts of the Ocrahs, and various attendants, were adorned with
large stars, stools, crescents, and gossamer wings of solid gold.
We pursued our course through this blazing circle, which afforded to the
last a variety exceeding description and memory; so many splendid
novelties diverting the fatigue, heat, and pressure we were labouring
under; we were almost exhausted, however, by the time we reached the
end; when, instead of being conducted to our residence, we were desired
to seat ourselves under a tree at some distance, to receive the
compliments of the whole in our turn.
The swell of their bands gradually strengthened on our ears, the peals
of the warlike instruments bursting upon the short, but sweet responses
of the flutes; the gaudy canopies seemed to dance in the distant view,
and floated broadly as they were springing up and down in the
foreground; flags and banners waved in the interval, and the chiefs were
eminent in their crimson hammocks, amidst crowds of musquetry. They
dismounted as they arrived within thirty yards of us; their principal
captains preceded them with the gold handled swords, a body of soldiers
followed with their arms reversed, then their bands and gold canes,
pipes, and elephants tails. The chief, with a small body guard under his
umbrella, was generally supported around the waist by the hands of his
favourite slave, whilst captains holla’d, close in his ear, his warlike
deeds and (strong) names, which were reiterated with the voices of
Stentors by those before and behind; the larger party of warriors
brought up the rear. Old captains of secondary rank were carried on the
shoulders of a strong slave; but a more interesting sight was presented
in the minors, or young caboceers, many not more than five or six years
of age, who overweighed by ornaments, were carried in the same manner,
(under their canopies), encircled by all the pomp and parade of their
predecessors. Amongst others, the grandson of Cheboo was pointed out,
whom the king had generously placed on the stool of his perfidious
enemy. A band of Fetish men, or priests, wheeled round and round as they
passed with surprising velocity. Manner was as various as ornament; some
danced by with irresistible buffoonery, some with a gesture and carriage
of defiance; one distinguished caboceer performed the war dance before
us for some minutes, with a large spear, which grazed us at every bound
he made; but the greater number passed us with order and dignity, some
slipping one sandal, some both, some turning round after having taken
each of us by the hand; the attendants of others knelt before them,
throwing dust upon their heads; and the Moors, apparently, vouchsafed us
a blessing. The king’s messengers who were posted near us, with their
long hair hanging in twists like a thrum mop, used little ceremony in
hurrying by this transient procession; yet it was nearly 8 o’clock
before the king approached.
It was a beautiful star light night, and the torches which preceded him
displayed the splendor of his regalia with a chastened lustre, and made
the human trophies of the soldiers more awfully imposing. The skulls of
three Banda caboceers, who had been his most obstinate enemies, adorned
the largest drum: the vessels in which the boys dipped their torches
were of gold. He stopped to enquire our names a second time, and to wish
us good night; his address was mild and deliberate: he was followed by
his aunts, sisters, and others of his family, with rows of fine gold
chains around their necks. Numerous chiefs succeeded; and it was long
before we were at liberty to retire. We agreed in estimating the number
of warriors at 30,000.
We were conducted to a range of spacious, but ruinous buildings, which
had belonged to the son of one of the former kings, and who had recently
destroyed himself at a very advanced age, unable to endure the severity
of disgrace: their forlorn and dreary aspect bespoke the fortune of
their master, and they required much repair to defend us from the wind
and rain, which frequently ushered in the nights.
[Footnote 2: Every account I received afterwards, confirmed the boundary
of the Fantee and Assin territories to be between Mansue and Fousou;
also that Ancomassa, Accomfodey, Dansamsou, Meakirring, &c. &c. had all
been large Assin crooms, destroyed with many others in their
neighbourhood, in the Ashantee invasion of 1807.]
[Footnote 3: This is the same tree as the banian or India fig.]
[Footnote 4: Scraps of Moorish writing, as charms against evil.]
CHAPTER III.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the Third Dispatch to Cape Coast
Castle._
_Coomassie, May 22nd_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE important objects of the Mission, and the safety and prosperity of
the Settlements, have this day demanded our public dissent from our
superior officer, Mr. James; to prove the act tutelary to these objects,
can be our only justification.
The Mission has engrossed our thoughts and exertions from the moment we
were honoured by the appointments; we have felt that the credit of the
Committee, the character of the service, and the good of our country
were associated in the enterprise; and that we were personally
responsible for these important objects, to the extent of our industry,
fortitude, and ability. Our reflections naturally associated obstacles
commensurate with the importance of the objects affected; and to
overcome the former in a manner auspicious to the latter, we conceived
to be the duty expected from us, as composing a Mission originated to
remove a portion of the formidable barriers to the interior of Africa.
We anticipated prejudice, intrigue, and difficulty, as inevitable; as
obstacles to invigorate and not to sicken our exertions.
At Dadasey, on Wednesday the 14th instant, we received a present from
the King, of two ounces of gold, a sheep, and thirty yams, with a second
appointment to enter his capital the succeeding Monday. When within a
short distance, the messenger who announced us, returned, to desire us
to wait at a croom until the King had washed. We were permitted to enter
soon after two o’clock, and the King received us with the most
encouraging courtesy, and the most flattering distinction. We paid our
respects in turn, (passing along a surprising extent of line) to the
principal caboceers, many of remote, and several of Moorish territories;
and all of these encircled by retinues astonishing to us from their
numbers, order, and decorations. We were then requested to remove to a
distant tree to receive their salutes; which procession, though simply
transient, continued until past eight o’clock. It was indescribably
imposing from the variety, magnificence, and etiquette: its faint
outline in Mr. Bowdich’s report, will impart our impression of the power
and influence of the monarch we are sent to conciliate. The King as he
passed, repeated his former condescensions.
The next morning (Tuesday) the King sent to us to come and speak our
palaver in the market place, that all the people might hear it: we found
him encircled by the most splendid insignia, and surrounded by his
caboceers: we were received graciously. Mr. James, through his linguist,
declared to the King’s, (who are alone allowed to speak to him in
public) that the objects of the Mission were friendship and commerce;
impressed the consequence of our nation, and the good feelings of the
Committee and Governor towards the King, as would be testified by our
presents; he submitted the wish of a Residency, and of a direct path.
The King enquired if we were to settle the Commenda palaver; the reply
was, no! He rejoined, “that he wished the Governor of Cape Coast to
settle all palavers for him with the people of the forts, and that he
had thought we came to make all things right, and so to make friends
with the Ashantees.” The King had previously observed, as literally
rendered, that “the forts belonged to him,” meaning (as the context, and
the whole of his sentiments and conduct have confirmed) nothing
humiliating to our dignity and independence; but simply, that the
advantages derived by the Fantee nations from the forts, should now be
his. He desired the officer to be pointed out to him who was to be the
Resident; and then enquired if that was all our palaver, he was told
yes: he said he would give us his answer the next day.
Soon after we returned to our house, the King’s linguist delivered this
message. “The King knows very well the King of England has sent him
presents; if you wish to be friends with him you must bring these
presents to his own house, and shew them to him and his friends, and not
give them before all the people.” This, in our judgment was a policy, to
prevent any favourable bias of the body of caboceers and people
anticipating the King’s and his councils satisfaction of our motives and
professions.
We attended: all the curiosity the packages excited could not incline
the King to regard them, until he had desired distinctly to understand
who had sent them, the King of England, or the Governor. He was told,
the Company to whom the forts belonged under the King; the interpreter
seemed to render it the King individually; it was more intelligible, and
the agreeable impression it made was striking. The presents were
displayed. Nothing could surpass the King’s surprise and pleasure, but
his warm yet dignified avowal of his obligations. “Englishmen,” said he,
admiring the workmanship of the different articles, “know how to do
every thing proper,” turning to his favourites with a smile as
auspicious to our interests, as mortal to the intrigues of our rival.
Much of the glass was broken; Mr. James expressed his regret, and
offered to procure more; the King replied, “the path we had come was bad
and overgrown, that we had many people to look after;” and waved our
excuses with superior courtesy. He desired the linguists to say, “this
shewed him that the English were a great people, that they wished to be
friends with him, to be as one with the Ashantees; that this made him
much pleasure to see, (and to repeat again and again,) that he thanked
the King of England, the Governor at Cape Coast, and the officers who
brought the presents much, very much.” He made very liberal presents of
liquor to our people, and delivered the distinct presents to his four
principal caboceers in our sight.
We learned from Quashie, the Accra linguist, the favourable reports he
had collected through his intimacy with some of the principal men. All
the caboceers, he said, had thought we had come for bad, to spy the
country; the King thought so too a little, but much fetish was made, and
all shewed that we meant well, and now the King thought so; the mulatto
sent by General Daendels, directly after Mr. Hydecoper, and who arrived
just before us, had sent to the King for a pass to go back, and the King
told him, that he would give him this message, “that the King had
thought to do good to the Dutch, but now he sees their white mens faces,
he should do good to the English.” This mulatto man (who is not in the
service, but a free man of Elmina town) visited us afterwards, and his
complaints and sentiments confirmed these reports in our favour.
On Wednesday morning the King’s sisters (one the caboceer of the largest
Ashantee town near the frontier) paid us a visit of ceremony, and
retired to receive our’s in return; their manners were courteous and
dignified, and they were handed with a surprising politeness by the
captains in attendance.
Mr. James being indisposed, we went by invitation to see the chief
captain’s horse, when the King sent to us to say, he was walking that
way, and requested us to get our chairs and wait, that he might bid us
good morning. Directly he saw us he ordered the procession to alter its
course, and stopped to take us by the hand. The procession consisted of
about 2000 men, and was marked by all the suit and parade of royalty.
The caboceers that day in attendance appeared as warriors, being
divested of the rich silks of the preceding day; the executioner, the
master of the bands, and the cook, were in the train, with suits which
shewed the importance of their offices; the latter was preceded by a
massy service of plate. Mr. Bowdich’s report will be more particular.
The king sent his messenger this morning to repeat, that he thanked the
King of England and the Governor very much for yesterday.
The King was much pleased when Quashie, the Accra linguist (who is our
only intelligible medium,) attempted to describe the use of the sextant;
consequently, when Mr. Bowdich saw the King’s chief captain this
morning, he offered to shew it to the King, with the camera obscura and
telescope; the captain said it would please the King, and reported, that
the King was much pleased with us, that he liked to be friends with the
English, that he wished to make pleasure with us, and would send for us
by and by to do so. We have been particular in these lesser
circumstances, as they are the evidence of the King’s good feelings, and
of the fair prospect of the consummation of the Mission, superior to all
the prejudice and intrigue opposed to it.
We were sent for to the King’s house; he was only attended by his privy
counsellors; he expressed much delight at the camera obscura and
instruments. He said, “the Englishmen knew more than Dutchmen or
Danes—that black men knew nothing.” He then ordered our people to be
dismissed, said he would look at the telescope in a larger place, that
now he wished to talk with us. He again acknowledged the gratification
of Tuesday, and desired Mr. James to explain to him two notes which he
produced, written by the Governor in Chief at the request of Amooney,
King of Annamaboe, and Adokoo, Chief of the Braffoes, making over to
Saï, King of Ashantee, four ackies per month of their company’s pay, as
a pledge of their allegiance and the termination of hostilities. The
impression seemed instantly to have rooted itself in the King’s mind,
that this was the Governor’s individual act, or that he had instanced
it; his countenance changed, his counsellors became enraged, they were
all impatience, we all anxiety. “Tell the white men,” said the King,
“what they did yesterday made me much pleasure; I was glad we were to be
friends; but to day I see they come to put shame upon my face; this
breaks my heart too much. The English know, with my own powder, with my
own shot, I drove the Fantees under their forts, I spread my sword over
them, they were all killed, and their books from the fort are mine. I
can do as much for the English as the Fantees, they know this well, they
know I have only to send a captain to get all the heads of the Fantees.
These white men cheat me, they think to make ’Shantee fool; they pretend
to make friends with me, and they join with the Fantees to cheat me, to
put shame upon my face; this makes the blood come from my heart.” This
was reported by his linguist with a passion of gesture and utterance
scarcely inferior to the King’s; the irritation spread throughout the
circle, and swelled even to uproar.
Thus much was inevitable; it was one of our anticipated difficulties; it
was not a defeat, but a check; and here originates our charge against
Mr. James, whom we declare to have been deficient in presence of mind,
and not to have exerted those assurances and arguments which, with a
considerate zeal, might at least have tended to ameliorate the unjust
impression of the King, if not to have eradicated it. Mr. James said,
“the Governor of Cape Coast had done it, that he knew nothing about it,
that he was sent only to make the compliments to the King, that if the
King liked to send a messenger with him, _he was going back and would
tell the Governor all that the King said_.” This was all that was
advanced. Was this enough for such a Mission to effect? the King
repeated, “that he had expected we had _come_ to settle all palavers,
and to _stay_ and make friends with him; but we came to make a fool of
him.” The King asked him to tell him how much had been paid on these
notes since his demand—that he knew white men had large books which told
this. Mr. James said he had seen, but he could not recollect. Nothing
could exceed the King’s indignation. “White men,” he exclaimed, “know
how many months pass, how many years they live, and they know this, but
they wont tell me; could not the other white men tell me.” Mr. James
said, “we never looked in the books.”
We were not so indiscreet as to expect or wish Mr. James to commit
himself by _promising the satisfaction_ of the King’s wishes; but
dwelling on the expense and importance of the Mission, on the
expectations it had excited, and feeling the reason of the King’s
argument, that its object should be to settle all palavers if we wished
to be good friends, we conceived we but anticipated the feeling of the
Council and of the Committee, in our anxiety for Mr. James to offer to
communicate with the Governor by letter, and to wait his reply, with a
confidence that his good feeling towards the King, his instructions from
England, and his own disposition, would lead him to do every thing that
was right to please him.
Mr. James’s embarrassment had not only hurried him to extricate himself
as an individual at the expense of his own dignity and intellect, but,
which was worse, he had thrown the whole onus of this invidious
transaction on the shoulders of the Governor in chief, against whom the
King’s prejudice would be fatal to all, and whose interest in his honour
was most flattering to the King, most auspicious to us, and the hopes of
the Mission; not only the future prosperity, but the present security of
the Settlements hung upon this, and the dagger was at this moment
suspended from a cobweb. Mr. Bowdich urged this in the ear of Mr. James,
urged the danger of leaving the King thus provoked, the fatal sacrifice
of every object of the Mission, the discredit of the service, the
disgrace of ourselves; Mr. James replied, “he knew the Governor’s
private sentiments best.” The Moors of authority seized the moment, and
zealously fanned the flame which encircled us; for the King looking in
vain for those testimonies of British feeling which presence of mind
would have imposed, exclaimed, as he turned his ear from the Moors, “I
know the English come to spy the country; they come to cheat me; they
want war, they want war.” Mr. James said “No! we want trade.” The King
impatiently continued, “They join the Fantees to put shame upon my face;
I will send a captain to-morrow to take these books, and bring me the
heads of all the Fantees under the forts; the white men know I can do
this, I have only to speak to my captains. The Dutch Governor does not
cheat me; he does not shame me before the Fantees; he sends me the whole
4 oz. a month. The Danes do not shame me, and the English 4 ackies a
month is nothing to me; I can send a captain for all; they wish war.” He
drew his beard into his mouth, bit it, and rushing abruptly from his
seat exclaimed, “Shantee foo! Shantee foo! ah! ah!” then shaking his
finger at us with the most angry aspect, would have burst from us with
the exclamation, “If a black man had brought me this message, I would
have had his head cut off before me.” Mr. James was silent.
Gentlemen! imagine this awful moment, think what a fatal wound menaced
the British interests; the most memorable exertion of the Committee, the
pledge to the Government of their energies, of the zeal and capabilities
of their officers, this important and expensive Mission falling to the
ground, the sacrifice to supineness; the Settlements endangered instead
of benefited, ourselves disgraced as officers and men, our key to the
Interior shivered in the lock, and the territories of a great and
comparatively tractable prince shut against us for ever. Could we be
expected to look with indifference on these sacrifices, to risk nothing
to avert them; to be auxiliary to the triumph of the intrigues and
duplicity of our rival, which you know to have been exerted even to our
destruction? Not a moment was to be lost; Mr. Bowdich stood before the
King, and begged to be heard; his attention was arrested, the clamours
of the council gradually abated: there was no interpreter but the one
Mr. James brought from his own fort, and no alternative but to charge
him promptly in the Governor’s name, before reflection could associate
the wishes of his master, to speak truly. Mr. Bowdich continued standing
before the King, and declared, “that the Governor wished to gain his
friendship more than he could think that we were sent, not only to
compliment him, but to write what he had to say to the Governor, and to
wait to tell his answer to the King, and to do all he ordered; to settle
all palavers, and to make Ashantees and English as one before we went
back. That the Governor of Accra was sick, and in pain, and naturally
wished to go back soon, but that himself, and the other two officers
would stay with the King, until they made him sure that the Governor was
a good friend to him. That we would rather get anger, and lose every
thing ourselves, than let the King think the Governor sent us to put
shame on him; that we would trust our lives to the King, until we had
received the Governor’s letter, to make him think so; and to tell us to
do all that was right, to make the Ashantees and English as one; and
this would shew the King we did not come to spy the country, but to do
good.” Mr. Bowdich then assured Mr. James that no outrage on his dignity
was meditated; that we should continue to treat him as our superior
officer, but that we felt the present act imperative, as our duty to the
Service and our Country.
Conviction flashed across the countenance of the interpreter, and he
must have done Mr. Bowdich’s speech justice, for the cheerful aspect of
the morning was resumed in every countenance. The applause was general;
the King (who had again seated himself) held out his hand to Mr.
Bowdich, and said, “he spoke well; what he spoke was good; he liked his
palaver much.” The King’s chief linguist came forward and repeated his
commendations with the most profound bows; every look was favourable;
every where there was a hand extended. The King then instructed his
linguist to report to Mr. Bowdich, personally, his arguments respecting
the books. “That he had subdued the Fantees at the expense of much
powder and shot; and that, in consequence, all their notes were his:
that he had only to send a Captain to bring all their heads, that he did
not want to do no good, and keep the books; he would do more for the
forts than the Fantees could; that the Dutch Governor did not cheat him,
but gave the four oz. a month. That he wished to be friends with the
English; but that the 4 ackies a month put shame upon his face.” To this
Mr. Bowdich replied, that he could only say he knew the Governor would
do what was right; that he could not say more until he heard from him;
but that he would write every word the King said; and he was sure the
King would see that the Governor would do what was right. We shook hands
and retired.
All the Fantees being detained by the King, Mr. Bowdich and Mr.
Hutchison went in the evening to the chief captain to request a
messenger from the King to Cape Coast; about two hours afterwards he
reported the King’s reply almost literally as follows: “The King wishes
you good night; this is his palaver and yours, you must not speak it to
any one else, the white men come to cheat him. The King recollects the
face of the white man who spoke to him to day, he likes him much, he
wishes he would talk the palaver; the King likes the other white men who
stood up with him very much; he thinks the Governor of Accra wishes to
put all the wrong on the Governor at Cape Coast, and not to tell any
thing. The King thinks that not right, and he sees you do not like that.
You must not speak this palaver again; ’tis the King’s palaver, and
yours; the King’s captain will speak right to the King what you say, and
you shall have a messenger.”
We again affirm positively, that Mr. James made no offer to communicate
with the Governor, but spoke only of his return, which we know he was
meditating at the expense of the treaty, and every object of the
Mission.
Referring to our detail previous to the serious business of to day, you
will find every circumstance to have been encouraging, and in our
opinion, auspicious to the consummation of the Mission. Yet at that
moment, unclouded as it was, we know Mr. James, by his own confession,
to have written to head quarters with a gloom which existed only in his
own imagination; this letter did not go from the detention of the Fantee
bearers. We believe firmly, that had there been no interference on our
part at the critical moment, Mr. James would have returned forthwith to
Cape Coast, without effecting one object of the Mission, and that the
future good of the Settlements would not only have been sacrificed, but
their present security endangered.[5]
Mr. James may write that Mr. Bowdich rose with great warmth: this we
deny, and affirm that he displayed no more than a temperate zeal,
considerate in its declarations, and respectful even in its dissent from
Mr. James. The attention of the King was arrested by the novelty of a
white man addressing him in the oratorical manner of his own country,
but it was not until the linguist had conveyed the arguments, that the
King held out his hand and the applause was general. Mere observations
whispered in the ear of the linguists had lost all effect, and would not
have answered the crisis.
Mr. James has talked, and perhaps written much of the King’s suspicion,
but we must contend that much of this is misnamed, and is no more than
that deliberate policy which is a pledge of the durability of the
confidence it precedes. Certainly there has been suspicion, but not more
than must have been expected, not more than was commensurate with the
important novelty which challenged it. It has been confessed here, that
our political rival has exerted all his address to vitiate our objects
in the eyes of the King, to convince him our ostensible views were
pretences; our real ones dangerous and unjust; that we sought
sovereignty, not commerce. The Moorish chiefs and dignitaries by whom
the King is surrounded, whose influence is powerful, not only from their
rank but their repute, naturally urged these arguments against
unbelievers and competitors in trade, and their extensive intercourse
has unfortunately possessed them of facts to the point of our ambition.
Let these considerations be weighed, let our account of the King’s
general deportment be again referred to; let us impress, that he has
never once adverted to our destruction of his troops before Annamaboe,
or of the critical situation of the fort; that he has evinced a
disposition to a sound understanding, by veiling every irritating
retrospect, by acknowledging every conciliatory circumstance.
We do not presume to enter our opinions into the important question of
the King’s demand of the whole of these two notes; we have advanced
nothing but our assurance that the Governor will do what is right, and
we have pledged our lives to convince the King of this; the importance
of the Mission would have claimed a more valuable pledge.
Whilst we impress the surprising power and influence of the King, we
must do him the justice to acknowledge the convincing manner in which he
urged the injuries and forbearance which preceded the Fantee war; his
willingness to do every thing for the forts, and the conduct of the
Dutch Governor in giving him the whole of the four ounces, were
impressively and ingeniously associated.
To wear away suspicion, Mr. Bowdich has ceased his enquiries and
observations for a time. The resources for intelligence of the Interior
are infinite. Timbuctoo has been visited by most of the sojourners, and
a mass of valuable information may be gathered with caution.[6] The
eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites will be regularly observed by Mr.
Bowdich, and the mean longitude reported; the want of a good watch
imposes considerable trouble.
We have reflected on what we have done, and if we are so unfortunate as
to be visited by your and the Committee’s displeasure, we shall console
ourselves in our reluctant change of pursuit, by the satisfaction of our
own minds of the honourable zeal of our motives.
We most respectfully solicit our recall, as we cannot implicate our
character and our responsibility with Mr. James’s judgment and
perseverance in prosecuting the Mission, of the consummation of which we
cannot agree to despond. We could not reconcile ourselves to the
sacrifice of one of its important objects to our personal apprehensions
(supported as we are by authority and circumstances) whilst the
recollection of the illustrious energies of an enterprising traveller,
forlorn and destitute, appeals to our spirit, and impresses the
expectations of our country. We are, &c.
(Signed)
T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
W. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
* * * * *
_Coomassie, May 24_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE act our former letter has avowed, and we would presume (after the
most deliberate reflection) to add justified, has made it our duty to
communicate (independently of Mr. James) the circumstances of the
interval we may await your pleasure.
If this duty had not been imposed on us by the act in question, the
imminent fatality engendered in the debate of to day, and quickened by
the ardor of the captains, would have demanded from our private as well
as our public feelings, the most energetic representations (as auxiliary
to those of Mr. James,) in impressing the calamities and the sacrifices
which menace the Settlements and the Mission, to secure your serious
deliberation, as the only preventive we can look to with confidence.
Yesterday we were conducted some way without the town to an assembly of
the Moorish caboceers and dignitaries, who exert every device against
us. A chapter was read from the Koran, and we were ordered to swear by
that book that we had no rogues palaver, and that we had put no poison
in the King’s liquor. We severally refused to swear on the Koran, but
offered to do so on our own prayer books. The King’s linguist mediated,
and asked us if we would only strike that book three times, and then
declare as much, because the Moors said, that book would kill us if we
lied. We did this, and were about two hours afterwards ordered to sit
without our house and receive the following present from the King:
One bullock, 2 pigs, 8 oz. of gold, for Mr. James.
One sheep, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, for each of us.
To each of the numerous Fantee messengers, 10 ackies of gold.
To our cooks, a large assortment of pots and country vessels, 100 large
billets of wood, 100 yams, 100 bunches of plantains, four of sugar cane,
four (24 gallon) pots of palm oil, three jars of palm wine.
To the soldiers, 10 ackies of gold.
To the Accra linguist, 10 ackies of gold.
On Saturday we were summoned to the King, and waited as usual a
considerable time in one of the outer courts of the palace, which is an
immense building of a variety of oblong courts and regular squares, the
former with arcades along the one side, some of round arches
symmetrically turned, having a skeleton of bamboo; the entablatures
exuberantly adorned with bold fan and trellis work of Egyptian
character. They have a suit of rooms over them, with small windows of
wooden lattice, of intricate but regular carved work, and some have
frames cased with thin gold. The squares have a large apartment on each
side, open in front, with two supporting pillars, which break the view
and give it all the appearance of the proscenium or front of the stage
of the older Italian theatres. They are lofty and regular, and the
cornices of a very bold cane work in alto relievo. A drop curtain of
curiously plaited cane is suspended in front, and in each we observed
chairs and stools embossed with gold, and beds of silk, with scattered
regalia. The most ornamented part of the palace is the residence of the
women. We have passed through it once; the fronts of the apartments were
closed (except two open door ways) by pannels of curious open carving,
conveying a striking resemblance at first sight to an early Gothic
screen; one was entirely closed and had two curious doors of a low arch,
and strengthened or battened with wood-work, carved in high relief and
painted red. Doors chancing to open as we passed, surprised us with a
glimpse of large apartments in corners we could not have thought of, the
most secret appeared the most adorned. In our daily course through the
palace there is always a delay of some minutes, before the door of each
of the several distinct squares is unlocked; within the inmost square is
the council chamber.
To day, after the delay of nearly an hour (which seems an indispensible
ceremony) in the outer court, (where different dignitaries were passing
to and fro with their insignia and retinues,) we were conducted to a
large yard, where the King, encircled by a varied profusion of insignia,
even more sumptuous than that we had seen before, sat at the end of two
long files of counsellors, caboceers, and captains; they were seated
under their umbrellas, composed of scarlet and yellow cloth, silks,
shawls, cottons, and every glaring variety, with carved and golden
pelicans, panthers, baboons, barrels, crescents, &c. on the top; the
shape generally a dome. Distinct and pompous retinues were placed
around, with gold canes, spangled elephants tails to brush off the
flies, gold headed swords, and embossed muskets, and many splendid
novelties too numerous but for a particular report, which will not be
neglected. Each had the dignitaries of his own province or establishment
to his right and left; and it was truly “Concilium in Concilio.” When we
recollected the insignificant, though neat appearance of the few
Ashantee towns we had passed through on the southern frontier, and even
the extent and superior character of the capital, this magnificence
seemed the effect of enchantment.
We have intruded this sketch to impress the power and resources of the
monarch we are to conciliate, and to anticipate in some degree the delay
of Mr. Bowdich’s report, the transcription of which must yield to the
present momentous communication.
The King having decided a cause then in course, by which one of his
captains was condemned to death for cowardice, ordered the question of
the Annamaboe and Braffoe notes to be resumed. The several Fantee
messengers were heard, the King of Annamaboe’s, Amooney’s, and
Payntree’s (the interior caboceer) having joined us in the path. They
appeared all equivocation and embarrassment, as Quashie’s
interpretations confirmed; they were incompetent to answer the King’s
linguists, and unable to use the few uninterrupted intervals which were
allowed them to any purpose: it seems they would not acknowledge what
the full amount of these notes was. Mr. James was asked, he said “white
men’s heads were not like black men’s, and he could not recollect; but
he thought 4 oz. and 2 oz.” He did not offer to learn from the Governor.
Several impassioned harangues were made by the King’s linguists and
counsellors: the King said, “he had 4 oz. from Elmina, and 2 oz. from
English Accra; was it not putting shame upon him to send him 4 ackies
from Cape Coast?” The Cape Coast messenger (Quashie Tom had absented
himself) spoke again with great trepidation; the King could not conceal
his emotions; his counsellors became clamorous; in an instant there was
a flourish of all the horns; all the captains rose and seized their gold
headed swords from their attendants; the head general snatched Mr.
Tedlie’s from his scabbard; numerous canopies crowded one upon the other
in the background, as if some considerable personages had arrived; there
was nothing but commotion, wrath, and impatience. The captains, old and
young, rushed before the King, and exclaimed, as Quashie reported, (who
seems to have been afraid to tell us all, and was restrained by Quamina)
“King, this shames you too much; you must let us go to night and kill
all the Fantees, and burn all the towns under the forts.” They then
presented themselves successively with their bands of music and
retinues, and bowing before the King, received his foot upon their
heads; each then directed his sword to the King (who held up the two
first fingers of his right hand) and swore by the King’s head, that they
would go with the army that night, and bring him the books, and the
heads of all the Fantees. Each captain made the oath impressive in his
own peculiar manner; some seriously, some by ridicule, at our expense,
and that of the Fantees, pointing at our heads and ears, and
endeavouring to intimidate us by the most insolent action and gesture as
they held out their swords. The old general (Apokoo) who swore the last,
after he had done so in the most expressive manner, threw Mr. Tedlie’s
sword to him, over the heads of the people with contemptuous defiance.
The number was so great, that we thought this awful ceremony would never
finish.
The King left the council a short time. In the interval, Quamina Bwa
(our guide) told Accra Quashie to beg Mr. James to speak to the King
when he came back, and try and appease him. Mr. James did so, but
without the zeal, presence of mind, or argument the crisis demanded; it
was not adequate even to ameliorate the King’s impression of the
Governor and the English; it was no more than he said at first. The King
took not the least notice of it, but declared angrily, that “if he did
not see white men’s faces he would cut off the heads of every Fantee
messenger on the spot.” Some sheep and gold were then brought forward
and presented to the Captains, and the King rose abruptly from his
chair. In this anxious moment we reflected that the mulatto of General
Daendels had a long audience of the King just before we were received;
no resource was to be left untried, that was manly and appropriate. Mr.
Bowdich stepped before the King, and declared through the linguist,
“that he wished to speak what he knew would make the King think that the
Governor would do him right, and was his good friend.” The King said he
would hear him speak in the house; we retired amidst the insults and
menaces of the assembly.
About two hours after, we were summoned, and, as is the etiquette, kept
some time in waiting; in this interval, Mr. James said that our
situation being very critical, it was a pity any difference should be
observed, and that he thought it much better to be reconciled. Mr.
Bowdich replied, that he could not think it possible our sentiments to
be delivered to the King could differ at such a moment; that if they did
we should assimilate ours to his as much as possible; but feeling the
necessity for the greatest energy, for every address and argument for
the conviction of the King, we must, for the public good, continue our
assumption of the privilege of strengthening his declarations by our own
until our recall, that we should be tender of his dignity, but that it
being a difference on a point of public duty, we could not compound it,
but would take the consequences. We were received; the King’s aspect was
stern; he prefaced that “he did not wish to make war with the English;
but that the 4 ackies a month shamed him too much; that the captains
said to him, King! they cheat you, they put shame on you; we will go to
night and bring you the heads of all the Fantees; that he was forced to
say to them, I beg your pardon, but as I see the white men’s faces, I
beg you to stay till to-morrow, when they can write to the Governor, and
they will tell me themselves what he says; then if he does not send me
Amooney’s and the Braffoes books, you shall go and kill all; that he had
been obliged afterwards to dash them sheep and gold to make them stay
until the white men got the Governor’s letter.” Mr. James assured the
King “that the King of England and the Governor wished to be friends
with him, to do all that was right; and he thought in his own mind that
the Governor would give up the books.” The King took no notice, and
continued serious: the moment called for the most energetic appeal to
his reason, for every imposing argument and circumstance. There was a
long pause; Mr. Bowdich rose, and charged Mr. James’s linguist to
interpret truly. We took the precaution of making notes of this speech,
feeling we should be particular where we pledge our honour, and
volunteer our affidavit; it was as follows.
“We swore yesterday as the King wished, to day we wish to swear as we
should before our own King.” The King held up the two first fingers of
his right hand as he did to the captains. “We swear” (presenting our
swords and kissing the hilt, as the most imposing form that occurred to
us) “by our God, and by our King, and we know the Governor of Accra will
do the same, that we mean no bad to the King, that the King of England
and the Company ordered the Governor to send us to make the Ashantees
and English as one, that we are sure the Governor will do the King
right, and that when we write him all the King says, we will write also
that we think the King’s palaver good. We were sent to make the English
and Ashantees as one, because our’s is the greatest white, your’s the
greatest black nation, and when two great nations are friends, it makes
good. I came out in the ship that was sent to tell the Governor this,
and when he heard it, he said it gave him very much pleasure. The King
of England and the Company thought the Governor should send to the King,
to send some of his great men to Cape Coast, that we might be safe; but
the Governor said, no! there was no occasion, and wrote to the King and
the Company that he could trust all his officers in Ashantee, because
the King’s honour made them safe, so we came without sending, because we
knew the King was our true friend.
“The Governor wished always to do the King right, but the Fantees never
would tell him what was right, so he wrote to the King of England to
send him some presents, that he might send his own officers to the King,
and hear properly from the King’s own mouth what was right, because the
Fantees never would tell him what was true, or what the King said. When
the Governor reads what we shall write him, then he will know the truth
for the first time. We shall stay to make the Ashantees and English one,
and we pledge our lives to the King, that we speak a proper palaver, and
when we speak true before God and the King we cannot fear.”
There were repeated and general applauses as each sentence was
interpreted; the King smiled, and desired his linguist to say to Mr.
Bowdich as Quashie interpreted, “The King likes you, you speak a proper
good palaver, you speak like a man, the King wishes to be a friend to
white men; he thinks white men next to God.” Here the King raised his
hands to heaven, and then covering his face, Quashie continued to
interpret. “The King thanks God and his own fetish, that they have sent
him white men to talk proper like this to him, and when you three white
men go back to Cape Coast, and the Governor has bad put into his head,
and think you did wrong, then if you want any thing to eat, send a
messenger to him and he will send you plenty, for the King thinks you do
right to God and him, and to your King, and to the Governor, and that
you will get much honour when you go back; so the King thanks you, and
says you speak well.” The King then asked Mr. James if he would swear on
his sword like us, as we said; Mr. James did so. The King made an
observation which it seems we cannot convey to you in its full force, or
nearer than, that he liked the three white men because they always stood
up to speak, and pushed forward to get what they wanted. Many auxiliary
observations were afterwards offered casually by each of us, to confirm
his change of sentiment. The Fantee linguists attempted to intimidate
the linguist Quashie of Accra, but ineffectually; this man is invaluable
from his influence and intelligence, he is our only safe medium, and
interprets to the King anxiously and impressively.
The King appeared much pleased, and made us a long speech. “The King
says the Fantees are all rogues, the Governor knows that very well; the
King thinks they always put bad palaver in the Governor’s head, he
always tells his captains so; he is sure you come to do him right. The
King wishes all good for the English; he swears by God and by the
fetish, that if the English could know how the Fantees serve him, and
all the bad they do, they would say his palaver was good. The King
speaks true.” He then gave us an outline of the Fantee war, which must
have convinced even the most prejudiced, of his injuries and
forbearance, and their injustice and cruelty.
The King says, “if the English trust to him, he will take more care of
the forts than the Fantees can, he will do them great good, he does not
want to do nothing. He will send the English his trade; he will send
them good gold like what he wears himself, (shewing his armlets,) not
bad gold like he knows the Fantees make, his people don’t know how to do
that, the Fantees do it in their own houses before they give it to white
men. If at any time the English in the forts are in want of any thing to
eat, and send to him, he will send them every thing. To morrow is
Sunday, but the next day is Monday, then he will give you a proper
messenger.”
We cannot do justice to the King’s sentiments either in detail or in
expression; they were incredibly liberal, and would have ennobled the
most civilized monarch; they seemed to break the spell which has shut
the Interior. He begged us to drink with him, and Mr. James agreed in
the toast of “May the Ashantees and English always be one;” it pleased
him, and he begged us to touch his glass with ours. He then turned
suddenly to the Fantee messengers (who were trembling in the rear) and
said, “you made me very angry with you, and I am very angry with you,
but never mind, come and drink some of my liquor.”
Our critical situation demands the delivery of our sentiments on the
subject of these notes; we do so with diffidence and respect. The
services of the Braffoes, who hold the one, are merely nominal, their
enmity nugatory from their political situation; the issuing of a fresh
note to Amooney will be but a small addition to the expenditure, and
even the expense of renewing them both cannot be weighed with the
prevention of another Fantee war, of the destruction of a whole people,
and the ruin of our Settlements in their defence, with the defeat of the
intrigue and devices of our rival, and the acquisition of the confidence
of a powerful and liberal monarch, whose influence may perfect the views
of the British Government on the Interior. We hail the circumstances as
auspicious, even in the present serious moment.
Mr. James confesses that he desponds of consummating the objects of the
Mission; we do not; we would be responsible for all of them, but we
diffidently await your decision. We must claim this momentary calm of
the King to ourselves, because it only affords us the credit, or rather
the justification of having done our duty, which we are resolute in
repeating Mr. James has not. What has been said through Mr. Bowdich is
here reported faithfully; we have not committed the Governor or
ourselves.
Gentlemen, our situation is critical; if your answer determines the King
on war, we are his prisoners; if, as we cannot doubt, the valour of our
countrymen again retards his progress by defences as memorable as that
of Annamaboe, we may be the victims of an irritated soldiery, though we
feel it would be with the reluctance of a generous prince, who is not
independent, but, unfortunately, controlled by a military despotism,
which deposed his brother and invested him.
But, Gentlemen, if in your better knowledge and reflection, you cannot
consistently with your honour and your trust, meet the King’s demand,
the history of our country has fortified our minds with the illustrious
example of a Vansittart, and his colleagues, who were situated as we
are, when the dawn of British intercourse in India was scarcely more
advanced than its dawn in Africa now; and their last request to their
Council is our present conclusion to you—“Do not put our lives in
competition with the honour and interests of our country.”
We are, &c. &c.
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
W. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
_Coomassie, May 28th_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.
GENTLEMEN,
ON Sunday the King visited us at our quarters, and expressed much
gratification with the trifles we presented him individually, and our
solicitude in explaining some plates of botanical and natural history,
which he sends for frequently.
On Monday we had a public audience before the Captains, (whose ill-will
has been acknowledged,) when two messengers were ordered to accompany
one of ours to Cape Coast, with the letters to the Governor, and were
impressively sworn; they received their instructions in a speech from
the linguist of nearly two hours; it seemed to be intended to conciliate
the Captains at the same time.
In the afternoon the King sent for us again, and said he wished to
dictate a letter to the Governor. Mr. James wrote the sense of the
King’s expressions, but was obliged to leave off from indisposition. The
King would not trust it out of his hands. Yesterday evening it was
concluded, when the King proposed to make his mark, and insisted on
repeating it in the direction. We have taken the pains to preserve this
curious letter verbatim, which from its length, and our constant
interruption, we are compelled to reserve with many curious particulars
for the General Report.
We are anxiously waiting a summons to hand our dispatches to the
messenger. Nine days are allowed for the journey to Cape Coast, and nine
for the return. The whole time has been gradually extended, by intreaty
of the Fantee messengers, from eighteen to thirty days.
Mr. Hutchison is ill with a bilious attack, and several of the people
with a fever and dysentery. The heat is very powerful here, but Mr.
Bowdich and Mr. Tedlie continue in excellent health.
We would recommend the sending up a common green silk umbrella, and a
Company’s dirk, as presents to the King’s favourite nephew.
Our confinement to the house is rather irksome; we are not allowed to
walk in the town without Captains accompanying us.
12 o’clock. The King sent to say Mr. Bowdich must come to the palace,
and mount the chief captain’s horse, and shew him how Englishmen ride.
Mr. Bowdich went, and by the King’s desire gallopped up and down the
opposite hill. The King expressed great anxiety when the horse was made
to play his tricks; and when Mr. Bowdich persevered, and made him gallop
back and alighted, the King sent him word that “he rode like a proper
man, that he stayed on the horse well, and made him do proper.”
4 o’clock. The King sent for us at two, to make some additions to the
letter, and to seal it in his presence. A long prayer was uttered by a
Moor after the sealing of the letter, and we were called back to be
again impressed with the example and justice of the Dutch as regards the
books. Mr. Hutchison’s illness prevented his attendance to day. The
messengers are to go to night.
May 29th, 3 p.m. The messengers and the Fantee bearers, have been
delayed in consequence of the death of a person of rank, and their
assistance in the custom. I am now assured that they will leave
Coomassie at 4 o’clock.
In reply to the request we urged to Mr. James, that he would dismiss our
hammock men, as they had been of so little service to us in coming up,
and were a considerable expense; he impressed that it would be contrary
to your instructions.
Only one message from the King to day, and that a private one to Mr.
Bowdich, with permission for him to ride: he went all round the town,
which he considers to be about three miles in circumference: the King
afterwards sent him word, that to-morrow he must ride on a cloth only,
as he had heard the English did.
We are, &c. &c.
(Signed) T. E. BOWDICH.
H. TEDLIE.
P.S. Mr. James had a severe relapse of fever last night, and was very
ill this morning; at 10 o’clock a.m. he had the cold bath, and some
febrifuge medicine. Mr. Hutchison is rather better, the soldiers also,
but the hammock men continue much the same.
* * * * *
SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, to_ JOHN
HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Settlements on
the Gold Coast of Africa._
THE King sends his compliments to the Governor, he thanks the King of
England and him very much for the presents sent to him, he thinks them
very handsome. The King’s sisters and all his friends have seen them,
and think them very handsome, and thank him. The King thanks his God and
his fetish that he made the Governor send the white men’s faces for him
to see, like he does now; he likes the English very much, and the
Governor all the same as his brother.
The King of England has made war against all the other white people a
long time, and killed all the people all about, and taken all the towns,
French, Dutch, and Danish, all the towns, all about. The King of
Ashantee has made war against all the people of the water side, and all
the black men all about, and taken all their towns.
When the King of England takes a French town, he says, “come, all this
is mine, bring all your books, and give me all your pay,” and if they
don’t do it, does the Governor think the King of England likes it?[7] So
the King has beat the Fantees now two times, and taken all their towns,
and they send and say to him, you are a great King, we want to serve
you; but he says, Hah! you want to serve me, then bring all your books,
what you get from the forts, and then they send him four ackies, this
vexes him too much.
The first time he made war against the Fantees, two great men in Assin
quarrelled, so half the people came to Ashantee, half went to Fantee.
The King said, what is the reason of this, so he sent his gold swords
and canes to know why they did so, and the Fantees killed his messengers
and took all their gold.[8] After they fought with the Elminas and
Accras, the Fantees sent word to the King they would serve him; the King
sent word to the Assins, if it is true that the Fantees want to serve
me, let me hear; after that they sent to say yes! they tired of
fighting, and wanted to serve him, he said, well, give me some gold,
what you get from the books, and then you shall hear what palaver I have
got in my head, and we can be friends; then he sent some messengers, and
after they waited more than two years, the Fantees sent word back, no!
we don’t want to serve the King, but only to make the path open and get
good trade: this vexed the King too much.
Then the Fantees sent to a strong man, Cudjoe Coomah, and said, “come,
let us put our heads together against the King;” after that, when the
King heard this, he sent one, not a great man, but his own slave, and
said, well you will do, go kill all the people, all the Aquapims, and
Akims, and all; and so he killed all, and after he killed all he came
and told him.
When he sent against Akim, the people in Akim sent word, that they told
their head men not to vex the King, but they would not mind them, so he
killed the head people, and the others begged his pardon.
When the King went to fight with the Fantees they sent this saucy
word—we will kill you and your people, and stand on you; then they did
not kill one Ashantee captain, but the King killed all the Fantee
captains and people. They do not stand on him.
That time, after the King fought, all the Fantees sent word, well we
will serve you, but you must not send more harm to hurt us, we don’t
want to fight more, but to make good friends with you. Then the King
said, what caboceer lives at Cape Coast and Annamaboe, what books they
get from the forts, let them send all, and then we can be friends. And
the King sent word too, if my messengers go to Cape Coast fort, and if
they bring pots of gold, and casks of goods, then I can’t take that,
_but I must have the books_.
After that the King sent word to the Governor of Cape Coast and the
Governor of Annamaboe, well! you know I have killed all the Fantees, and
I must have Adocoo’s and Amooney’s books, and I can make friends with
you, good brother and good heart; but now they send four ackies, that is
what makes the King’s heart break out when he looks on the book and
thinks of four ackies, and his captains swear that the Fantees are
rogues and want to cheat him. When the white men see the Fantees do
this, and the English officers bring him this four ackies, it makes him
get up very angry, but he has no palaver with white men.
All Fantee is his, all the black mans country is his; he hears that
white men bring all the things that come here; he wonders they do not
fight with the Fantees, for he knows they cheat them. Now he sees white
men, and he thanks God and his fetish for it.
When the English made Apollonia fort he fought with the Aowins, the
masters of that country, and killed them; then he said to the caboceer,
I have killed all your people, your book is mine; the caboceer said,
true! so long as you take my town, the book belongs to you.
He went to Dankara and fought, and killed the people, then he said; give
me the book you get from Elmina, so they did, and now Elmina belongs to
him.[9]
The English fort at Accra gave a book to an Akim caboceer, called
Aboigin Adjumawcon. The King killed him and took the book. The Dutch
fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Curry Curry Apam. The Danish
fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Arrawa Akim; the King killed
all and took their books.
This King, Saï, is young on the stool, but he keeps always in his head
what old men say, for it is good, and his great men and linguists tell
it him every morning. The King of England makes three great men, and
sends one to Cape Coast, one to Annamaboe, and one to Accra; Cape Coast
is the same as England. The King gets two ounces from Accra every moon,
and the English wish to give him only four ackies for the big fort at
Cape Coast, and the same for Annamboe; do white men think this proper?
When the King killed the Dankara caboceer and got two ounces from
Elmina, the Dutch Governor said, this is a proper King, we shall not
play with him, and made the book four ounces. The King has killed all
the people, and all the forts are his; he sent his captains to see white
men, now he sees them, and thanks God and his fetish. If the path was
good when the captains went, the King would have gone under the forts
and seen all the white men. The Ashantees take good gold to Cape Coast,
but the Fantees mix it; he sent some of his captains like slaves to see,
and they saw it; ten handkerchiefs are cut to eight, water is put to
rum, and charcoal to powder, even for the King; they cheat him, but he
thinks the white men give all those things proper to the Fantees.
The King knows the King of England is his good friend, for he has sent
him handsome dashes; he knows his officers are his good friends, for
they come to see him. The King wishes the Governor to send to Elmina to
see what is paid him there, and to write the King of England how much,
as the English say their nation passes the Dutch; he will see by the
books given him by both forts. If the King of England does not like
that, he may send him himself what he pleases, and then Saï can take it.
He thanks the King and Governor for sending four white men to see him.
The old King wished to see some of them, but the Fantees stop it. He is
but a young man and sees them, and so again he thanks God and his
fetish.
Dictated in the presence of,
T. EDWARD BOWDICH,
WILLIAM HUTCHISON,
HENRY TEDLIE.
* * * * *
May 30. Apokoo sent us a present of 30 ackies of gold and some fruits.
June 1. The King sent to desire Mr. Tedlie to bring his instruments and
medicines, and explain their uses to him; he was shrewdly inquisitive,
and presented Mr. Tedlie with 6 ackies of gold in approbation of his
intelligence.
June 4. The King paid us a visit at our quarters, and expressed himself
highly gratified with some botanical engravings: he said white men tried
to know so much they would spoil their heads by and by. We were allowed
to take a walk in the town to day, in charge of two captains. We had
scarcely passed the palace when two men were decapitated for cowardice:
three others had been executed during the night.
June 5. Bakkee, to whom our house formerly belonged, had been sent the
second in command of the army with which Appia Danqua invaded Fantee the
second time, in pursuit of the Akim and Aquapim revolters. Wearied of
the procrastination and labours of the campaign, he inconsiderately
observed to a public messenger, that, as the King had declared when he
invaded Fantee in person, that he would have the head of every Fantee
caboceer, and yet returned with a part only; so he could not be expected
to forego the enjoyment of the riches and luxuries of his home, until
every revolter was killed. On his return to the capital without leave,
he was charged with this, and not denying it, was stripped of all his
property, and hung himself. Aboidwee our present house master was raised
to Bakkee’s stool, or seat in council, to which 1700 retainers are
attached.
June 9. The King sent us two sheep and a large quantity of fruit; his
nephew also sent us a sheep.
June 11. We were invited to attend the King’s levee, on the Adaï custom,
and were presented with a flask of rum and a fat sheep. This walk was a
great relief, for the longest court in our quarters was not more than 14
feet.
June 12. The King sent us a large Hio sheep to look at; it measured 4½
feet from the head to the insertion of the tail, which was two feet
long, its height was three feet, and it was covered with coarse shaggy
hair.
June 13. The King sent for us late at night; he assured us he wished to
think well of the English; and that if Cape Coast was not so far off, he
should send messengers daily to wish the Governor good morning, but the
Crambos (Moors) and his great men thought we came to do bad, and spy the
country; so he sent for us when it was dark, that they might not know
it. He had only two persons with him. Mr. James was too ill to attend.
17. The King sent a present to our quarters of
2 ounces of gold to the officers.
20 ackies to our people.
10 ackies to our linguists.
1 hog, 1 sheep, and a profusion of plantains and oranges.
This was his reproof of a disgraceful attempt to borrow money of him for
our subsistence; of which Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, had
publicly disclaimed our knowledge and sanction. Nothing could be more
injurious to our dignity.
18th. Mr. Tedlie having ventured to walk a few yards without the town,
was arrested by a captain, with about 100 followers, who detained him in
his house whilst a message was sent to the King, who desiring Mr. Tedlie
to be brought before him, enquired if he had his small box (compass) in
his pocket, and finding he had not, affected to reprove the captain
severely, for supposing either of us could wish to run away, whilst the
King was our friend. After this we seldom went out.
21st. Bundahenna, one of the King’s uncles, begged him for permission to
go and make custom for some relatives whom he had lost in the last
Fantee war, as he feared their spirits were beginning to trouble him.
The King subscribed four ounces of gold, two ankers of rum, one barrel
of powder, and four human victims for sacrifice, towards this custom. We
received a present of 11 ackies of gold from Quatchie Quofies household.
26th. We received a present from a captain called Oöossa Cudjo, of 10
ackies of gold, and another from Jessinting, of the same quantity, a
sheep and some plantains.
28th. The King sent us a large quantity of plantains and oranges.
Apokoo, one of the four greatest men in the kingdom, hearing his
mother’s sister was dead, killed a slave before his house, and proceeded
to her croom to sacrifice many more, and celebrate her funeral custom;
but, when he found, on opening her boxes, that the old woman from her
dislike of him, had thrown almost all her rock gold into the river, and
that he should only inherit a number of hungry slaves, he sacrificed but
one more victim, and made but a very mean custom.
29th. Attended the King’s levee, and were presented with a flask of rum,
and a fat sheep. The King sent us word that he would be glad to let us
walk out, but there were many bad people who would kill us if they
could. We were gratified by an invitation to visit Odumata, one of the
four aristocrats; he begged us to drink palm wine with him, and ordered
a large jar of it to be sent to our servants. He told us he was the
first captain who fought with the English at Annamaboe; and that if the
books were not sent, he would be the first to do so again; he asked us
if we would take him to England to see our King, and engage to bring him
back again; for, having sold an immense number of captives as slaves, he
expected some of them might recognise him, and call out to the King of
England to stop him, because he had sent them out of their own country.
July 2. A girl was beheaded for insolence to one of the King’s sons, and
a man for transgressing the law by picking up gold which he had dropped
in the public market place, where all that falls is allowed to
accumulate until the soil is washed on state emergencies.
3rd. This morning one of the King’s sons (about 10 years of age) shot
himself: his funeral custom was celebrated in the afternoon, and a smart
fire of musquetry was kept up until sun-set, amidst dancing, singing,
and revelry; two men and one girl were sacrificed, and their trunks and
heads were left in the market place till dark. The mother of this child,
a favourite wife of the King’s, having added crime to a continued
perversity of conduct, had been put to death; the boy was banished the
King’s presence from that time. This morning he had stolen into the
palace for the first time, and the King desiring him to be removed,
observing that he had, doubtless, as bad a head towards him as his
mother had shewn; he replied, that if he could not be allowed to come
and look at his father, he had better die; half an hour afterwards he
destroyed himself privately, by directing a blunderbuss into his mouth,
and discharging it with his foot. The keeper of the royal cemetry was
this day imprisoned. His wife was soon after charged by the council with
making fetish to turn the King’s head; she replied that it meant no more
than to make the King think better of her husband; but they insisted
that she invoked the Fetish to make the King mad, and she was executed.
5th. A loud shout from our people announced the return of the messengers
from Cape Coast Castle, after an absence of thirty-eight days.
[Footnote 5: “The government of the country is a military despotism, and
I have this day received private information, that it is already
settled, that if the refusal of the notes occasions a war, and any one
is hurt or killed by the forts, our lives will be the forfeit.” Mr.
James’s Dispatch.]
[Footnote 6: “In the present suspicious state of the King’s mind
respecting us, I fear it would be impolitic to make the enquiries you
ordered in your instructions. I think it will be more prudent to leave
them to time. Mr. H. if he remains, will be able, from time to time, to
obtain such information as they can give, without creating that
suspicion which would certainly arise from any questions put at the
present moment. I have kept Mr. H’s hammock men, as it is yet uncertain
whether he will remain.” Mr. James’s Dispatch.]
[Footnote 7: This is an extraordinary impression, that all the towns in
Europe are supported like those under the forts, holding notes from
their governments for annual stipends.]
[Footnote 8: Here the King’s linguist ceased, and by his desire
requested us to repeat all the King had said, he was much pleased with
our accuracy, and begged us to take some refreshment, (spirits and palm
wine were introduced in silver bowls) fearing he had kept us too long
without eating, and, would continue the letter to-morrow. He locked up
what had been written, and heard it read again the next day, before his
linguists continued.]
[Footnote 9: The King always spoke of the acts of all his ancestors as
his own.]
CHAPTER III.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the Third Dispatch to Cape Coast
Castle._
_Cape Coast Castle, June 21_, 1817.
SIR,
MR. JAMES being ordered to return here as soon as possible, will deliver
you his instructions, and you will immediately on receipt of this
letter, take upon yourself the management of the Mission. I have every
reliance on your prudence and discretion, and still firmly hope that the
termination of the Embassy will be attended with success, and that the
sanguine expectations which we have entertained as to the result of it,
will not be disappointed.
The King has received a very erroneous impression of the affair of the
Fantee notes, which I regret to hear was the cause of a serious
disturbance: I am glad however to find that by your prompt mode of
conduct, you were in some measure able to repress the unfavourable bias
it seems to have occasioned, and I have no doubt that an explanation of
the circumstance will effectually remove any remaining prejudice. This
transaction was entirely between the Ashantee messengers and Fantees,
negociated, and determined on by them at Abrah, and afterwards ratified
here by their mutual consent. Hearing that messengers from the King were
at Abrah, I invited them down, wishing through their medium to
communicate with him concerning the conveyance of the presents I had
received from the Committee. After some delay they arrived, and on their
first interview made known their errand to the Fantees, and the manner
it had been arranged, applying at the same time for two notes to be made
out in favour of Zey, at four ackies each, which were to be deducted
from the notes of Amooney and Aduecoe; not being perfectly satisfied
from the representation of these people as to the justness of the claim,
I delayed complying until it was stated to be a pledge of good faith and
allegiance on the part of the Fantees, and a confirmation of the final
adjustment of all differences between the two parties, and as such they
were given them. The nature of the claim having been fully and
satisfactorily explained, I have no hesitation in complying with the
wishes of the King; and this I do the more readily, knowing that by the
extension of his authority, good order and subjection will be better
preserved.
This will, I hope, evince to the King my friendly intention towards him;
and you will impress upon his mind, that it is my earnest desire to
cultivate his friendship, the establishment of which will be mutually
beneficial; and in order that the union between us may be more closely
cemented, I am particularly desirous that Mr. Hutchison be permitted to
reside at Ashantee, which will be the means of preventing any
interruption to the good understanding which, before you leave, will, I
hope, be firmly settled.
I have no objection to you returning by way of Warsaw, but your
undertaking the journey on foot, I am apprehensive, you will find too
fatiguing. The hammock-men are engaged for the trip, therefore the only
additional expense will be their subsistence; I however leave it to you
to dismiss them or not.
The Accra linguist being so very useful, and the only man who will
interpret faithfully, you will retain him until you return.
I have sent you, by the King’s messenger, 40 oz. of gold to defray your
expenses; should any loan have been granted by the King, you will of
course repay him.
I send you a piece of muslin and 10 danes for presents to the Moors,
whose friendship it will be highly necessary to conciliate. I have also
at your request, sent a dirk and umbrella, intended for the King’s chief
captain and his favourite nephew.
Quamina, the Ashantee captain at Abrah, has refused to allow any letters
to pass that place which may be given in charge to Ashantee traders, on
the plea that by so doing he would incur the displeasure of the King;
who, he says, expects that especial messengers will be engaged here to
proceed with all letters to the capital. Not long ago a trader who had
received a letter, was detained by him at Abrah, and the letter
returned. The expense of employing messengers here on every occasion
would be material, which is quite unnecessary, as opportunities almost
daily occur for forwarding letters by the different traders going from
hence. I therefore hope your representation of this affair to the King,
will induce him to countermand his orders to Quamina, if any such have
been given him.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
JOHN HOPE SMITH.
_To Thomas Edward Bowdich, Esq._
JOHN HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Forts and
Settlements on the Gold Coast of Africa, to_ SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King
of Ashantee._
SIR,
I HAVE received your letter of the 26th ult. and am happy to find that
you are sincerely desirous of cultivating the friendship of the British
nation. Both inclination and duty urge me to reciprocate the sentiments
expressed by you, and I shall be anxious at all times to promote the
harmony and good understanding which, I hope, will now be established
between us respectively, and which cannot fail to be mutually
advantageous.
I regret to find there has been so much trouble about the Fantee notes,
and I am sorry you did not apply to me in the first instance, as the
affair should have been settled immediately to your satisfaction; but I
knew not of it, except from the Fantees having begged me to take four
ackies per month from each note, which they said they had agreed for
with your messengers at Abrah.
I observe by the many instances quoted in your letter, that the notes of
conquered countries have been transferred to your ancestors, therefore
it shall be the same on the present occasion. Herewith I send you two
notes, one for two oz. per month, formerly held by Amooney, also one
from the caboceer at Abrah for two oz, the latter was only 12 ackies per
month, and I have added 1 oz. 4 to it. These, and the notes you hold
from Accra, will make your Company’s pay six oz. per month, which shall
be regularly paid at the Castle.
I hope my ready compliance with your wishes will convince you of the
good will of the British nation, but I have every reason to believe that
attempts have been made to prejudice you against it, however your own
good understanding will readily suggest to you that the only motive is
jealousy in trade.
The conduct of the English you will always find very different; they
enter into fair competition with the other European residents here, but
they never, by clandestine means or false assertions, endeavour to
injure their character with the natives of this country.
I have learned with regret that the people of Elmina are using their
influence to induce you to make a palaver with the Commendas. They are a
mere handful of people, extremely poor and not worth your notice;
besides they are under my protection, therefore I hope you will not
think further of the affair, and I shall consider your compliance in
this instance, as the greatest possible proof of the sincerity of your
intentions towards the English.
I wish you health and happiness, and I hope you will reign many years,
enjoying the love of your subjects, and the respect of all the Europeans
resident in this country.
I am, Sir,
your faithful friend,
(Signed) J. H. SMITH.
_Cape Coast Castle, 20th June_, 1817.
P.S. The abolition of the slave trade was an act of the King and the
Parliament in England, in which the government in this country had no
concern.
_Coomassie, July 9_, 1817.
TO JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
THE messengers returned on Saturday the 5th instant.
To be confirmed by your approbation, in the opinion that my zeal for the
public good had not exceeded my duty, is a most flattering satisfaction.
The appointment you have conferred on me, is an acknowledgment so far
transcending my conduct, that it must stimulate every ability to exert
itself for the success of the Mission, to justify such an honourable
distinction.
The box containing the letters was opened in the King’s presence, but
being engaged in a custom on the death of a son, he deferred the reading
of your letter, retaining it with the notes. His acknowledgments of your
justice were associated with the declaration, that, although you had
sent him the notes, still, if I could not fortify him with the prices of
the various articles to be received in payment, you would have it in
your power (though he did not suspect you) to reduce the intrinsic of
the whole, to that of the moiety rejected. The proposition of the same
prices as those attached to the Accra note, was annihilated by the
argument, that Accra was a small fort, and not like Cape Coast or
_Elmina_. So much stress was laid on the instance of the latter, that I
felt called upon to declare, as the only striking conviction, that you
did not wish, in the payment of these notes, to treat the King like a
trader, and therefore would not allow the Elmina Governor to act more
liberally in prices than yourself: the conviction was entire and
instantaneous.
The next audience did not take place until Monday, Mr. James being
present. I did justice to the utmost of my ability to your impressive
letter; the effect was honourable to you, and encouraging to myself; the
King ordered me to take his hand, in his sensibility to the strong
appeal of the several paragraphs, and again at the conclusion, as a
pledge of his cordial satisfaction of the whole; his linguist followed
his example, (as did the whole council) when he laid his fore-finger on
his head and breast, as the invocation to Heaven for the vouchsafement
of your several good wishes, as I concluded with them. I was reluctantly
compelled to yield a minor object to a custom consecrated by their
constitution. The laws of the three first Kings (who were brothers, and
cotemporary leaders of the colony, whose conquests established the
Empire) are sacred; and it was a law of Saï Cudjo, the younger brother,
and the grandfather of the present King, which granted to particular
captains the honourable patent of receiving the pay of small forts,
distinctly, each being responsible for his separate duties to his
settlement. If this law were not inviolable, the King pleads, that it
would be an invidious act, and unjust to the merits of the Captain of
English Accra, (Asquah Amanquah) to remove the payment of the Accra note
to Cape Coast; but as the other appointments originate in him, he will
respect your wish, by constituting one captain to receive both the Abra
and Annamaboe notes at Cape Coast. He enquired if it was your wish that
no Ashantee trader should go to Accra? I replied no! you were only
desirous to induce as many as possible to come to Cape Coast.
The Cape Coast linguists, and our guide, Quamina Bwa, confirmed your
report of the conduct of Quamina Bootaqua, the captain now at Payntree,
in the negociation of the notes; it excited the greatest surprise and
indignation; his interception of letters was disclaimed, and will be
done away with. I submitted to the King, on retiring, that in my next
audience, I should be desirous of declaring the purport of the official
instructions transferred to me (which had not been yet avowed) with
other credentials, explanatory and impressive of the good wishes and
intentions of the Government, the Committee, and yourself. I was
favoured with my first separate audience at 8 o’clock this morning. I
first impressed from the dispatches of the Committee, every motive and
sentiment that was convicting or imposing; urging your waving the
hostages and escort, as the demonstration of your confidence in the
King’s honour and friendship; and insinuating that the establishment of
a school at Cape Coast, was solely in anticipation of the King’s
committing some of his children to your care for education, as the
foundation of the pre-eminence of Europeans. I then passed to your
instructions, rendering them in a manner as persuasive and auspicious as
possible; associating in favour of the Residency, the commanding motive
of facilitating political interests, with the imposing one of securing
justice to the Ashantee traders. Lastly, I introduced the Treaty, as a
pledge from the King to give force to your application to the Government
at home, for the increase of his pay; for, as he continued to dwell on
the grant of 4 ounces from Elmina, I availed myself of this liberty of
my instructions, to divert the impression, and to propitiate his
ratification of the Treaty. I considered the pretence of your being
obliged to address the British Government on the subject, as
preservative of the opportunity of judging of the sincerity of his
professions, and of the duration of the union.
I think I may pledge myself for three great pillars of our commercial
intercourse, by the accomplishment of the Residency, the Education, and
the Treaty.
I reconcile myself to fresh difficulties by the reflection that they are
inseparable from all great political views; and that without them, I
should be deprived of the satisfaction of proving myself, in a small
degree, worthy this confidence and distinction, by patience and
perseverance. A letter accompanies this, written in the King’s presence,
on the subject of the Commenda palaver, which wears so decided an
aspect, that whilst I pledge all my energy and address, and look with
hope to the aid of your suggestions, I must candidly confess, I do not
think it can be compounded in any thing like a reasonable way. I
appealed to the King’s magnanimity, and depicted the poverty of the
Commendas, but every appeal and every argument was ineffectual; their
aggravated offences admit of no amelioration of the King’s feelings. I
depreciated the plea of General Daendels’ repeated messages, by
submitting that they were addressed to the Town, and not to the Fort,
and I succeeded in retiring him from the negociation, as an interference
inconsistent with your dignity, and the present good understanding.
I did not discourage the King’s great anxiety for clothes of the English
costume, considering that his example would be more auspicious than any
thing else, to the introduction of these manufactures. I have
distributed the muslins, &c. as politically as possible, including with
the Moors of repute, the aristocracy, or four captains controuling the
King, his four linguists, his brother and successor, our housemaster,
and some other captains of superior influence. I made a point of
conciliating a Moor of influence, about to return through Sallagha or
Sarem (the capital of the Inta country, and the grand emporium of the
merchandize of the interior) to Houssa, feeling the policy of
communicating every favourable impression to the neighbouring kingdoms.
In my second interview I obtained permission from the King to dismiss
the remaining Fantees. It was one of the first considerations, for the
sake of our dignity, to avoid the humiliating circumstances and
impressions, which have ensued from the want of foresight, and the
consequent inability to meet the demands of our people. Their conduct
since has been so mutinous and insulting, with the exception of six,
that to preserve the impression of the firmness of an English officer, I
secured one who encouraged the others, by persisting in some insulting
indecencies, in contempt of my remonstrances, and ordered him to be
punished.
The others (with the above exception) having refused in a body,
aggravating their disobedience with the grossest insolence, to go with a
cane to Payntree, and bring the biscuit which had been deserted there; I
have disclaimed them, and left them to act for themselves, only securing
them the King’s permission to depart.
I shall request the King to furnish me with his own people, on the
conclusion of the business of the Embassy. Such an arrangement favours
œconomy, and impresses the confidence I affect.
The frequent presents had enabled me to present the Fantees with large
supplies of plantains and hogs; and on paying them their arrears, which
I did the same evening I received your gold, I gave them a bullock which
fell to my share in a division with Mr. James.
You will see by the balance of the annexed account, that (preserving our
dignity) every expense should be avoided that can be; and I assure you,
that in making the present arrangement for bearers for our baggage only,
I do not disregard your solicitude for our health. I shall order one
Cape Coast messenger to attend Mr. James, and also the bearers left
behind, being sufficiently recovered.
The statistical and scientific desiderata so impressively recommended to
my attention, are daily realising beyond my expectations. Mr. Tedlie has
had a severe attack of fever and dysentery, but is convalescent: Mr.
Hutchison and myself are in perfect health.
I am, with respect, Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
T. E. BOWDICH.
SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, to_ JOHN
HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Settlements on
the Gold Coast of Africa._
THE Commenda palaver now rests with you and the King of Ashantee only,
the Dutch Governor has no more to do with it, so the King recals the
captain sent to him, and sends a proper messenger to treat with you
individually.
The conduct and messages of the Commendas have been so irritating and
insolent to the King, that nothing but believing you to be his good
friend, could induce him to treat at all with them, or do any thing but
kill them; but for your sake, he will settle the palaver, and you must
help him properly.
The King wants to begin the union without any palaver remaining, and as
this Commenda palaver is the only one, it must be settled, and if you do
this, he will take care the Elminas shall not do wrong to the Fantees,
but he will help you in all your palavers.
The Elminas are always sending him messages about the insulting conduct
and expressions of the Commendas towards him, and this is very vexatious
to him, so he wishes to put an end to it with your help.
Adoo Bradie, his favorite nephew, the son of the former King Saï
Quamina, is sent with a proper captain, Quantree, to help you settle the
palaver.
Two thousand ounces is the demand.
The origin of the palaver is, that after the King returned from his own
campaign against the Fantees, the Commendas went to the Elminas and
said, “well, you help’d the King, and now he is gone back we will fight
for it.”
Again, when a war was about to take place between the Cape Coast people
and the Elminas, the Commendas went to the latter and said, well, we
will help you if you will give us plenty of powder to fight for you:
they did so, and immediately the Commendas used it to seize 98 Elminas,
and sold them as slaves—this the King thinks you will say is very bad.
The Cape Coast people and the Fantees having joined against the Elminas,
they sent to tell the King, stating, when he demanded the reason, that
it was because they had not resisted him when he came down against the
Fantees; adding, that the Commendas, who were their natural allies
before, had now joined their enemies, and begging the King to revenge
this act of perfidy. The King much angered, immediately sent a captain
for the purpose of their destruction (Yaquokroko,) but the Dutch
governor sent to him, and then sent to the King to beg him to stop,
because the English and Dutch being one, it would put shame on his face.
Col. Torrane by giving up Cheeboo, induced the King to consider the Cape
Coast people as his friends, and they took fetish accordingly, but their
joining the Fantees afterwards to fight against Elmina for assisting the
King, has made him distrust them always since.
He considers his favourite nephew as the adopted son of Col. Torrane, to
whom he gave him, and the Colonel gave him English clothes, so he is all
the same as a Cape Coast Boy.
Col. Torrane being dead, he considers his nephew to stand in the same
relation to you, and that he is therefore the proper messenger to send
to you about this palaver.
You must write in your great book, that the King is your good friend,
that he likes you too much, that he thanks God very much, so that every
future Governor may read that in the Cape Coast Books.
The mark X of Saï Tootoo, King of Ashantee,
Per T. E. BOWDICH.
Present.
WM. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
_Coomassie, July 9th_, 1817.
_Coomassie, July 12th_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c.
SIR,
I AM just returned from reading your letter to the King, and extracts
from that to myself, before the assembly of the captains: the effect was
satisfactory; and Quamina Bootaqua is ordered up to answer for his
conduct. The King enquired if the pay now due on the two notes would be
liquidated on application; I replied, immediately; he is anxious for it,
on account of the approaching yam custom.
I am, &c.
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
* * * * *
I will not continue to copy the rude diary before submitted, it is only
a register of dull or disgusting circumstances, illnesses, human
sacrifices, and ceremonious visits. I would not anticipate the better
arrangement of my reports, or break the thread of the correspondence on
the political difficulties opposed to the Mission. I will abridge some
passages of my diary, merely to give an idea of the nature of our
conversations, and the biography of the leading men. Mr. Hutchison has
sent me copious extracts from his diary, as Resident, his leisure and
tranquillity having afforded him better opportunities of social
intercourse and domestic observation, than I had, or could afford time
to cultivate, without neglecting my reports. I shall adjoin these
extracts, expecting they will contribute to the rational entertainment
of the public, and to the credit of an active and intelligent officer.
A captain called Asofoo, sent us a present of seven ackies of gold, and
we also received twelve from Amanquateä, and three from our house
master. On the 9th of July the King sent us ten ackies of gold, and
repeated his satisfaction of the result of the late correspondence, and
daily presents of meat and fruits from various quarters, evinced the
better opinion of his chiefs.
I paid my first private visit to Baba the chief Moor, and took some
pens, paper, ink, and pencils with me as a present; the paper and
pencils were much esteemed, but he preferred his reed and vegetable ink.
He received me courteously, and was contemplating a curiously intricate
figure like a horoscope; the ms. was filled with them; he laid his
finger on it, and said, if you have any hard palaver, this can make me
settle it for you when no other person can; or if you have any dear
friend in England you wish to see, tell me the name, and this shall
bring him to you. I thanked him, observing, that when Englishmen knew
their palaver was right, they always left it to God, and that England
was too good a place for me to wish any one I regarded to leave it. His
disciples and pupils were writing on wooden boards, like those Mr. Park
describes. When a charm was applied for, one of the oldest wrote the
body of it, and gave it to Baba, who added a sort of cabalistical mark,
and gave it a mysterious fold; the credulous native snatched it eagerly
as it was held out to him, paid the gold, and hurried away to enclose it
in the richest case he could afford. I had a long conversation with
Baba, and he begged me to visit him frequently; he was much gratified
with the specimens of African Arabic at the end of Mr. Jackson’s work,
and read them fluently. I visited him the next day, when he sent hastily
for a Moor, who he told me was very learned, and just come from
Timbuctoo. This man expressing no surprise when he first saw me, Baba
explained it, by telling me, spontaneously, that this Moor had seen
three white men before, at Boussa. I eagerly enquired the particulars of
the novelty, and they were again repeated to Baba, and were thus
interpreted: “that some years ago, a vessel with masts, suddenly
appeared on the Quolla or Niger near Boussa, with three white men, and
some black. The natives encouraged by these strange men, took off
provisions for sale, were well paid and received presents besides: it
seems the vessel had anchored. The next day, perceiving the vessel going
on, the natives hurried after her, (the Moor protested from their
anxiety to save her from some sunken rocks, with which the Quolla
abounds) but the white men mistaking, and thinking they pursued for a
bad purpose, deterred them. The vessel soon after struck, the men jumped
into the water and tried to swim, but could not, for the current, and
were drowned. He thought some of their clothes were now at Wauwaw, but
he did not believe there were any books or papers.” This spontaneous
narrative, so artlessly told, made a powerful impression on my mind. I
saw the man frequently afterwards, his manners were very mild, and he
never asked me for the most trifling present. He drew me a chart before
he went away, and I dispatched some certificates for Major Peddie by
him, endorsed with Baba’s recommendations. I heard exactly the same
thing afterwards from another Moor, but he had not been an eye witness.
I begged Mr. Hutchison, when I left Coomassie, to note any other report
on the subject of Mr. Park’s death, and he afterwards sent me the ms. a
translation of which is in the appendix. I continued to call on Baba
three or four times a week; these visits afforded much information, for
at each I found strange Moors just arrived from different parts of the
interior, sojourning with him. They always affected to deplore the
ignorance of the Ashantees, and presumed it must be as irksome to me as
to them. Baba telling one that I could speak different languages, he
said that he would try me, and addressed me in several, all very uncouth
to my ear, and their names even unintelligible, except one, which he
called Hindee or Hindoo; neither had I heard of any of the great cities
he enumerated, until at last he pronounced Room (Rome) and said, if I
did not know that I was not a Christian. I never saw the Shereef Brahima
(to whom I was introduced about this time by a Jennë Moor) at Baba’s,
they did not appear to be on terms; I think the latter was envious of
the greater learning and intelligence of the former, who had been to
Mecca and Medina. One day I requested Baba to draw me a map of the
world, he did so, encircling one large continent with a sea, bounded by
a girdle of rocks. Old Odumata’s notion of geography was as strange; for
he mentioned one day, that when on the coast above Apollonia, he had an
idea of walking to England, for he was told he should reach Santonee
(Portugal) in 30 days, and that after that, the path was very good. He
greatly enjoyed our singeing the hair of a foppish attendant of his,
with a burning glass; the man’s amazement was inconceivable, Mr.
Hutchison was at some distance, and not suspected.
We were now permitted to walk four or five miles beyond the city, and
felt quite at home. We seldom went out in the morning, lest an occasion
for an audience should occur. Apokoo and several other daily visitors
diverted us with their anecdotes, and in the afternoon we made our round
of calls. Apokoo was always facetious, and looked with much anxiety for
our entry, as his greatest recreation; he was very desirous of learning
tennis and sparring, and daily made some essays, so comical, that
neither we nor his attendants could contain ourselves. Apokoo became
very communicative of Ashantee politics, and asked innumerable questions
about England; particularly, why the King of England did not send one of
his own sons to the King of Ashantee, with the presents, and why so
great a King sent such a small force to Africa. The Spanish campaign was
gone through, again and again, and never tired him. He gave us an
excellent dinner, as did Odumata repeatedly. Both were extravagantly
enraptured with the miniature of an English female, and called all their
wives to look at it.
Having been advised by a note from the Governor, of the arrival of an
Ashantee boy and girl at Cape Coast Castle, sent by the King without any
explanation, I desired an audience on the subject, and forwarded the
following letter, which also communicates the baseness of one of the
King’s messengers, just returned from the Coast, and other inauspicious
circumstances.
* * * * *
_Coomassie, 10th Aug._ 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
THE King has explained to me that he sent the boy and girl you mention
to have arrived at Cape Coast, to become the property of the Committee
or Government, conceiving it to be obligatory on him, in justification
of his possession of the notes, to allow an Ashantee family to rear
itself under the Governor’s protection, for the service of the
Settlement, and as an acknowledgment of the duties he owes it. He begs
me to observe that he put the same plates of gold around their necks
which distinguish the royal attendants.
I had reason to believe, from a coolness and some invidious comparisons
on the part of the King, that the messenger lately arrived, Ocranameah,
who was so particularly recommended to your favour, had been unjust in
his report of the treatment he had experienced. I did not hesitate to
avow my impression to the King, having solicited an audience for the
purpose. The King confessed he had felt his private feelings hurt ever
since the return of that messenger, having received his assurance, that
you would scarcely admit him to your presence; that he received no
present or compliment from you, and was wholly neglected during his stay
at head quarters. I instantly pledged my honour to the King that
Ocranameah (who was present) was guilty of falsehood and ingratitude,
adding, that I was not prepared to confront him with the particulars of
the presents he received from you and the officers; though I was
positive, from private letters, as well as my own conviction, that you
had not slighted the opportunity of evincing your private friendship for
the King; and as I might possibly identify some trifle, I wished the
King to allow a search to be made. On the messenger’s box being sent for
and opened, two engravings appeared, to the surprise of the King, and
which I recognised; but as the messenger still persists in _your_ entire
neglect of him, and of his not having received any present or compliment
worth mentioning, I must trouble you for the particulars of his
treatment at Cape Coast Castle, for the entire conviction of the King.
The King expressed his suspicion (founded on reports) that many
Ashantees imposed on your generosity, by introducing themselves as
attached to him in various capacities; and hoped that you would only
listen in future to such as he recommended to your notice by letter,
which his three messengers above had been; the second (Ocranameah) the
more particularly, and that recollection had made him so sensible of the
neglect. You will regret, with myself, that this inauspicious
circumstance has been unavoidable.
The recent intelligence respecting the Buntooko war, has imposed serious
anxiety, in the place of the King’s former confidence. The revolt of
that people, as may be expected in all revolts from arbitrary controul,
has gradually induced the secessions of some other tributaries; and the
King feels called upon by these unexpected difficulties, to conduct the
war in person; not with his former expectation of witnessing their rapid
subjugation, but from his present conviction of the necessity for every
stimulus and energy. His precaution has dictated some popular acts,
ameliorating the condition of the lower order of his subjects. The
confidential ministers have been instructed to hint to me, that it would
be indiscreet in the King to expose even his temporary reverses in an
arduous war, by the residence of a British officer; and that he would
most probably defer that part of the mutual wish, until the contest was
terminated. I used the same medium to impress upon the King, that such a
feeling towards the delegate of a friendly power was misplaced; that you
had expedited his ex-parte views in the confidence of his consummation
of the reciprocal objects of the Mission, without which (as they had
been instituted for his benefit and aggrandisement) I could not think of
returning; since a protraction would be construed into a slight of the
friendly overtures of the British Government, which (from its dignity
and pre-eminence in Europe) could not be vouchsafed whenever they might
be solicited.
I anxiously await your communications on the Commenda palaver, to
further my exertions for the full accomplishment of the Mission. The
King and his Council labour under so much anxiety and business at the
present moment, that though we pay and receive visits of ceremony, it is
almost impossible to effect an audience, but on the receipt of
dispatches.
I am, &c. &c.
T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
The most entertaining _delassement_ of our conversations with the
chiefs, was, to introduce the liberty of English females; whom we
represented, not only to possess the advantage of enjoying the sole
affection of a husband, but the more enviable privilege of choosing that
husband for herself. The effect was truly comic, the women sidled up to
wipe the dust from our shoes with their cloths, and at the end of every
sentence brushed off an insect, or picked a burr from our trowsers; the
husbands suppressing their dislike in a laugh, would put their hands
before our mouths, declaring they did not want to hear that palaver any
more, abruptly change the subject to war, and order the women to the
harem.
One of the King’s linguists was a very old man, called Quancum; he spoke
but seldom, yet the greatest deference was paid to his opinion; the King
appeared to consult him more than any other. I was so much interested by
this man’s deportment, that I enquired his history. He had been the
linguist of two former Kings, who paid frequent, and large sums of gold,
as damages for his intrigues; neither had age corrected his fault, until
very lately, though the present King used the most friendly
remonstrances; and urged, that from his paying large sums so frequently
for him on this account, his subjects thought, that he countenanced the
depravity. Quancum confessed to the King, that his ardour for women was
perpetuated by the sensual devices of one of his wives. Soon afterwards,
he was detected in an intrigue with the wife of a captain of great
consequence, and the King refused to interfere. The captain declaring
that the punishment of Quancum, and not gold, was his object, the King
permitted him to be despoiled of all his property, even to his bed. The
favourite wife was amongst the spoil, and the injured captain being much
smitten with her, assured her of an indulgence and preference, even
greater than that she had enjoyed with Quancum; she replied, she must
always hate him, and intreated to be sold. After much importunity the
captain agreed to do so, provided she would put him in possession of all
the presents Quancum had lavished on her; she produced them,
stipulating, that her son might retain a small sum of gold, which
Quancum had lately presented to him; this was agreed to, and she was
immediately sold to a distant caboceer; but her son followed her, and
buying her with his little property, presented her again to his father.
On this, the King gave Quancum a house, and some furniture, and takes
care to continue small supplies of gold daily, adequate to his and this
woman’s comfort; having exacted a solemn oath from him, that he would
devote himself to this one wife, and never try to recover any of the
others.
Mr. Tedlie’s interesting interview with the King, when he desired his
attendance to exhibit and explain his surgical instruments, and
medicines, is best described in his own words.
“The King sent for me this morning, saying he wished to see the
medicines, books, and instruments. I went immediately, and explained
through Quashie, the Accra linguist, the proper use and advantage of
each instrument: he was very particular in his enquiries, and asked if I
had performed the operations I described; I assured him that I had, and
as a proof, exhibited a piece of bone that I had taken out of an Indian
black man’s head in Ceylon, who had been wounded, and who lived. The
King held up his hand as a mark of approbation, and all his attendants
were astonished. I applied the instruments first on myself, then on the
linguists, afterwards on the King’s two captains, and lastly on the
King: nothing could exceed the King’s approbation. He then desired me to
shew him the medicines; he enquired the virtues and doses of each, what
time in the day they should be taken, and whether it was proper to eat
or drink after taking them? I told him: he asked if I would sell them? I
said no. I brought these medicines for the officers; I could not sell
them, but I would give him as much as I could, keeping in view that some
of the four officers might be sick; he said that I was right, but he
could not help coveting the greater part of the medicines; he viewed
them all over five or six times, and asked me to give him some of them.
I did give him as much innocent medicine as I could with propriety
afford; he thanked me “very much.” I then shewed him the botanical
books; he was astonished, held up his hand and exclaimed hah! at every
brilliant or high coloured plant which he saw. All his attendants were
closely arranged around: the two captains laid hold of a volume each,
and were admiring the flowers; when either of them ejaculated an
admiration, the King would seize it, and ask me what that tree was?
After I had told him the use of them, I said all these trees grow in
England; and the reason the English write all these in a book is, that
they may know which is a good tree, and which is bad. He expressed the
greatest astonishment at the flax (linum), oak “that we build our ships
with,” poppy “that makes a man sleep,” and the sensitive plant (mimosa),
which he pointed out and described himself. During this time he
whispered to one of his attendants, who went out, and returned in a
short time with a bit of cloth containing 9 ackies of gold; the King
presented it to me; I accepted it, and returned thanks. He then asked me
if I would come and see him at any time he sent for me; I assured him I
would do every thing to please him, consistent with my duty. He shook
hands with me and went into his house. He returned in a short time,
leading his sister by the hand, in a manner that would shame many beaux
in Europe, saying, “this is the white doctor I told you of; go, and take
his hand; you are sick, tell him your complaint, and he will do you
good:” the lady complied with his request. He then said “give me that
gold I gave you, the cloth is not clean; I want to put it in a clean
cloth for you.” He then put it in a piece of rich silk, and after he
returned the gold he said “I like you; I like all the English very much;
they are a proper people, and I wish to drink health with you.” He
retired to his own apartment, and returned with a flask of gin, and two
servants with a silver vase and water and glasses; he helped himself and
me, made a bow and said “Saï wishes you good health.” I returned the
bow, saying, I wish good health to the King, and hope he never will
require any of my medicine: when this was explained to him he held out
his glass to me, we touched and drank. He then took my hand, saying, “If
I send my sister to you will you talk with her?” I assured him I would
talk with and advise all the King’s friends whenever he wished. After I
gave all the medicine I could conveniently part with, he sent for a
small Dutch liqueur case; he desired 10 or 12 of his attendants, and his
eunuch, to keep in their heads what I said; and requested me to repeat
again the use and dose of each medicine I gave him, with the proper time
and method of using it. I did so. He placed his hand on his head saying
“Saï recollects what the white doctor says;” then placing the medicines
in the case himself said “that good for my head, that good for my belly,
that good for my stomach,” &c. One of the King’s sisters sent a message
that she wanted to come and see the white gentlemen; and shortly
afterwards arrived with her stool and retinue, being head caboceer of a
large town. After exchanging compliments, she complained that her left
hand pained her very much. I examined it, but must confess I could not
see any thing the matter with it; however I rubbed a little liniment on
her hand, which seemed to gratify her; she asked if I would come and see
her in the evening? I answered yes. Quamina, our Ashantee guide, came to
conduct me: he said I must dress, put on my sword and hat, as this woman
was a caboceer, and the King’s sister; he would carry my umbrella. When
I arrived I found the princess lying on a mat in one of the inner
apartments of the house she occupied; she ordered a stool for me; I
rubbed some more liniment on her hand; she wished me to stop and drink
palm wine; this I declined, alledging the English did not like palm wine
in the evening, because it is sour.”
CHAPTER V.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the Signing of the Preliminaries to a
General Treaty._
[The Governor’s reply to my communication on the subject of the Commenda
palaver, reached me on the 27th of August.]
_Cape Coast Castle, August 11_, 1817.
T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
SIR,
I ENTERTAINED a confident hope that no further mention would have been
made by the King concerning the Commendas, after the receipt of my
letter, and I am sorry that he should allow so insignificant a set of
people to protract in the least the settlement of our union. As it is my
particular wish to remove this impediment, I have used every endeavour
to bring the affair to a conclusion, and trust the King will not suffer
it to be invincible. The Commendas are also naturally anxious for its
termination, but their poverty is so great, that they have it not in
their power to comply with his demand. They have acknowledged their
fealty to the King, and have agreed to pay the sum of 120 oz. of gold,
of which, messengers are sent by his nephew to enquire whether he will
accept. This, with the sum they have been unavoidably obliged to promise
the principal persons deputed to negociate this business, will increase
the sum to at least 150 oz. The many proofs the King has had of my
friendly intentions towards him, and the consideration of the benefits
that will accrue to him from his alliance with the English, will, I
hope, induce him to concede to the terms offered by the Commendas. A
refusal must be considered as an avowal of his determined resolution not
to conciliate the affair, and as the indigent circumstances of these
people, make it utterly impossible for them to pay a larger sum, you
will, should he persist in exacting more, procure his permission to
leave the country, and return with the other officers as soon as you
can. To sacrifice the Mission, after the heavy expences which have been
incurred, and when we are induced to believe that every other object is
propitiated to our utmost expectations, should be avoided if possible;
but if he insists on a larger sum being levied from the Commendas than
has been offered, there remains no other alternative. The dignity of the
flag must be the superior consideration to all others.
The King has no need to doubt in the least the sincerity of the Cape
Coast people, they are his friends, and have every inclination to
continue so; and I am convinced his nephew will, on his return, confirm
this report to him.
I will make known to the Committee his request for a crown and clothes,
and I have no doubt but it will be complied with.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
JOHN HOPE SMITH.
_Coomassie, Aug. 29_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
I HAVE the satisfaction to enclose a copy of the Preliminaries to the
general Treaty, as signed this day by the King in Council, adjusting the
Commenda palaver, agreeably to your letter of the 11th, which did not
reach me till the 27th instant.
I proceed to acquaint you with the transactions of the interval.
The charge of a political Embassy, in a part of the world where respect
and security are founded upon the opinion imposed by our conduct,
exacted a spirit and dignity, which might have been abated in
insinuating a Mission through the country for scientific purposes, but
the inviolability of which was inseparable from the improvement and
safety of neighbouring settlements. Since my last dispatch, I have been
obligated to resist various encroachments, of which I shall mention two
or three to justify my treatment of them.
The death of Quamina Bwa, our Ashantee guide, in the early part of the
last week, creating an idle, but popular superstition that he had been
killed by the fetish for bringing white men to take the country; I was
applied to in the King’s name, to ameliorate this impression, by
contributing an ounce of gold towards the custom to be made by the King
for his repose. I refused on two grounds; first, that Quamina Bwa had
himself unjustly incensed the people against us, by panyaring[10] their
provisions in the King’s name, for our subsistence, and defrauding them
of the gold we gave him for the payment: secondly, that the rites of
customs were unnatural to our religion, which bound us, at least, not to
encourage them. Fifteen persons had been sacrificed the week before (in
a custom for the mother of a captain) with aggravated barbarity.
Several of the principal men having applied to me to send to Cape Coast
for silks, to be paid for on receipt at Coomassie (a very dangerous and
impolitic indulgence), I impressed, indignantly, that I was not sent as
a trader to make bargains with them, but as an officer to talk the
palavers with the King.
These circumstances, and a personal chastisement of some insults from
inferior captains, which was provoked after much patience, influenced ex
parte representations, which, though they may not have sickened the
King’s regard, induced hauteur and neglect. In proceeding to the King’s
house on public occasions, which I never did without the flag, canes,
and soldiers, we had been expected to make way for the greater retinues
of superior captains, who would rudely have enforced it; and after
soliciting audiences for two days, I was kept in waiting above an hour
in the outer courts of the palace. On the last occasion of the latter
treatment, knowing that it was affected, I returned to our quarters
until I received the King’s invitation; representing to him, that as an
officer dignified by an authority to make a treaty with him in the name
of the British Government, I could not submit to disrespectful treatment
at the Palace, nor allow the English flag to give place to any but
himself; that, if it merely affected myself as an individual, my esteem
for the King would induce me to compromise these points of etiquette
with his captains; but, according to the custom of England, I dared not;
for if I did, my sword would be taken from me on my return to Cape Coast
Castle. It produced the desired effect; the gong gong proclaimed in
every street that all captains must make way for the flag; and at the
monthly levee of the captains (the Adaï custom) the King’s linguists
were deputed to us first, with the customary present of a sheep and rum;
and presented us the first to pay our compliments to the King, being
followed by Amanquateä, Quatchie Quophi, Apokoo, and Odumata; the four
captains composing the Privy Council, or Aristocracy, which checks the
King. The first (whose power approximates to that of the Mayor of the
Palace under the early French dynasty) sent his linguist and gold swords
to compliment us on the ground. I determined to take advantage of this
impression, and of the comparative facility of intercourse, and demanded
an audience to discuss the treaty, a copy of which I enclose, and hope
my additions will be satisfactory. I have the King’s assurance that it
shall be formally executed in eight days; when all his tributaries will
be present for the yam custom, and when I hope to make the King of
Dwabin and its dependencies a party, whose power is equal to the King of
Ashantee’s.
To resume—the audience was granted; and I read the treaty before the
King and his Council, submitting it article by article, to their
consideration. It was debated the whole of that and the succeeding day.
I considered that if I could get the treaty discussed and executed in
this favourable interval, removing the Commenda palaver from the
situation of an obstacle, and reserving it as the first proof of the
King’s disposition to coincide with you in what was reasonable and just,
I might, on the receipt of dispatches, gain the better terms for that
people.
On Saturday the 22d instant, I was summoned to declare the articles of
the treaty before the assembly of captains, who were seated with their
attendants and warriors in the large yard of the palace, with all the
imposing pomp and military parade, which had before been collected to
subdue us, in the scene of the declaration of war. The King’s sisters,
with the females of his family, were seated, with their numerous
attendants, on an elevated floor behind. The deputies from the Fantee
towns in the interior, were placed within hearing, and the crowd was
almost impervious: the most ghastly trophies were mixed with this blaze
of ostentation. We were seated near the King immediately opposite to his
linguists.
In reading the treaty, I paused after every article, leaving it to be
formally repeated to the King through his linguists, and then sat down
whilst it was discussed by the assembly. It is not necessary to repeat
the various debates; and I will only notice that Amanquateä, through his
linguist, proposed the renewal of the Slave Trade as a sine qua non;[11]
this, however, as I had all along declared it to be impossible, was at
length over-ruled, but with considerable difficulty. It was also
proposed to attach a fine to the infraction of the treaty; but this I
resisted as derogatory to the dignity of the contracting parties; and
urged, that as the King and his dignitaries would consider his oath as
sacred, as you and the Government would mine, I considered no
_infraction_ of the treaty could take place; though it might possibly be
_offended_ by the conduct of his subjects, or of individuals under
British protection, which was provided for, and must be visited
accordingly by the authorities pledged to the treaty.
I had declared from the first, that it would be expected that the King
should swear in the form of his country to the fulfilment and
preservation of the treaty, and that his oath should be attested by his
principal captains, from my anxiety to fortify to the utmost, a measure
not only valuable to commerce but to humanity, in averting the renewal
of a war, recorded by indelible marks of carnage and devastation.
At the moment I expected the King to execute the treaty, a fresh design
was disclosed, in a long speech from the chief linguist, setting forth
the wrongs the King had just received from the people of Amissa, who had
scourged his messengers, and couched their insulting defiance in the
foulest language; yet, he said, the King did not want to invade the
Fantee country for the sake of one town, and therefore I must stay and
assist him to settle that palaver; he would then readily swear to the
treaty. I replied at length, declaring particularly that I could not,
and would not recognize the Amissa palaver; that the King vitiated the
compliments he had been pleased to pay me, in expecting me to be such a
fool as to involve you in the palaver of a people, over whom you neither
possessed nor desired authority; and that if I had not a right to think
better of the King, I should view such a proposal as evasive of the
treaty, and final to the hope of a thorough understanding.
The chief linguist rejoined, that I had declared in announcing the
treaty, that it was the wish of the British Government to put an end to
war, and for the King to have no occasion to trouble the Fantees;
whereas, if the people of Amissa were not persuaded to retract, the King
must send a captain to destroy them, which could be done at a word, and
this perhaps would make another war. I urged that the Fantee towns under
the British forts must be considered distinctly, and that those, and
those only, were viewed by the Government and the treaty; yet, for the
cause of humanity, I would request you, for the King, to advise the
people of Amissa better, through some medium, which I hoped might do
good, but if disregarded, you could not even repeat it: that was all I
could promise, and if that was not enough, our negociations were at an
end. No! that was not enough, I must stay and see the palaver settled.
We immediately rose, and I declared as impressively as I could, that as
the officer of the King of England, your orders only could be obeyed by
me, that I dared not remain or allow myself to be stopped, even if I
should be killed on the path, for my life was not my palaver, but the
King of England’s. As I bowed to retire, the linguist exclaimed, that
the King promised to see me again in an hour.
I used the interval for reflection, and resolved to act upon the
conclusion, that nothing but an undaunted resolution could check these
encroachments, which were to be attributed to the Government rather than
to the King.
The hour having fully expired, I sent a cane to Adoocee, the chief
linguist, to desire the audience; he sent me word that the King was
asleep, and no one dared to awake him. I then went to Odumata (who
resides within the palace) and repeated to him, that I was determined to
go, if the King did not keep his word and see me; he said I could not; I
rejoined, I would, and left him. I then went to Adoocee’s house,
declared the same, and received the same reply. I left a cane in waiting
at the palace, with orders to quit and return to me at 4 o’clock, (which
allowed altogether four hours instead of one) if he was not dispatched
with a message in the interval. No notice was taken; there was no
alternative to my making good what I had said. The views of the Mission
were at risk, but they would have been too dearly purchased by such
concessions, and I was sanguine, rather than apprehensive of the success
of the measure I adopted; without spirit and fortitude nothing was to be
done.
I ordered all the baggage out, planted the flag, and giving the
soldiers’ muskets to the officers, converted them and the artificers
into bearers, as well as our own servants, for I saw the previous
dismissal of my own people was considered a hold on me. I ordered the
linguists to declare to the party publickly, that I would flog any man
who attempted to leave the town in debt; I paid all they confessed, by
advances on their pay to the amount of 10 ackies: this gave the greatest
publicity to our movements.
The King’s uncle, Bundaenha, and another superior captain came in form
to entreat me to stay, whilst they affected to address the King. I saw
through this, and that I might presume on it; holding the watch in my
hand, I promised to wait half an hour, and no longer. They returned
within the time to conduct me to the King, but after being kept
unusually long in waiting, the answer to my remonstrance through the
linguists, was, that the King was very busy hearing a great palaver; I
saw they lingered still in their hope of my submission. I sent the two
canes to tell the King that mine was a great palaver, and ought to be
heard, not only from its importance, but because he had passed his word
that it should; that after a King disregarded his promise, it was
useless to wait any longer. Returning to our quarters, I ordered the
people to load the baggage.
At the moment of starting, a royal messenger ran up, to say the King was
waiting to see me. I dismissed him with the message, that I could not
stop, unless a person of consequence was sent to promise for the King.
The King’s uncle came, and assured me the King would receive me himself
at the entrance of the palace. We went, and were instantly ushered into
the presence of the King and his captains, who were debating by torch
light: the clamour and deportment of this assembly might have been
subduing, had it been novel. The uproar having abated, the King
demanded, through his linguist, why I had determined to leave so
suddenly, and whether he had not behaved well to me, adding to much
declamation, that he knew the King of England and the Governor wished to
please him, and would not countenance the act. I replied, that “I had
not only gone the full length of my instructions to please the King, but
exceeded them; and all that I had to fear was, that you would not
approve my remaining a moment after he had trifled with me. The King’s
behaviour to me, as an individual, I should always be proud to speak of,
but his respect of the Embassy was a very superior consideration. Every
thing he wished had been done, and now he tried to impose a palaver on
me, with which you had no more to do than with the Buntooko war. The
King had promised me to settle the point of the treaty, I waited the
discussion patiently, he pledged his word to see me that evening, he had
avoided it; I had said I would wait no longer if he did not keep his
word; no English officer dared to break his word, if he did, he lost his
sword.” Much declamation ensued, but the King’s conviction silenced the
assembly, and realized the triumph I expected. He said, what I told him
was true, that he was very sorry, but he had too much to think about; he
liked the Law (the Treaty) very well, but begged me to wait a little
longer till all his captains came. I received his promise to see me the
following day. The next morning the head linguist came in form to
acquaint me that some palavers had arrived in the night, which had made
it necessary for the King to go to Berramang (a croom about five miles
to the N.E. on the road to Sallagha, the capital of the Inta country)
but he had orders to furnish us with the King’s hammock-men, if we were
inclined to follow him the next day. We did so, and I enclose an extract
from my diary, with the circumstances of the day, as they do not affect
the point in question: on taking leave in the evening, the King promised
that I should hear from him the next day.
Apokoo, who had been left in charge of the town, visited me in form by
the King’s orders, with the criers and insignia, to assure me there
should be no more impediments to the treaty, and that the King would
return the next day. The evening was productive of another disturbance,
from my resistance of an indignity. The Cape Coast messenger arriving,
informed me that the dispatches and letters were retained by Adoo
Bradie’s messenger, who accompanied him. I sent the canes to Apokoo’s to
demand them, but ineffectually; I then went myself, and insisted on the
delivery; he said it could not be allowed until the King returned to the
capital. I protested so strongly against the act, that he sent for the
chief linguist (Adoocee) and after a palaver, they promised to send me
the letters on my return to the house: I left the canes in waiting. The
time allowed having expired without the receipt, I went again to
Apokoo’s, who referred me to Adoocee. I went to him, and he said he
dared not interfere in the business. The Cape Coast messengers refusing
to do so, we proceeded instantly to Adoo Bradie’s house, and finding the
messenger, demanded the letters, and obtained them. I had scarcely read
them, before Adoocee came with some captains, and about 100 persons,
(being then 9 o’clock) to demand my delivery of your letter to his
charge, until the King’s return. I indignantly refused, asserting my
authority, and criminating such a request as injurious to the rights of
the meanest subject of the King of England, and an insuperable affront
to you. He tried threats and entreaties alternately; the former I
treated with contempt, the latter I regretted I dared not yield to. The
palaver was prolonged till 10 o’clock at night. I determined not to lose
ground. The King did not arrive until the evening of the next day, I
sent three canes with my compliments on his return, and received his
with an appointment of an audience the next (this) morning.
We were sent for early, the affair of the letters was opposed to me. I
repeated my declarations to Adoocee, and added, that I should not think
of leaving a Resident, if such were the forms of the Ashantee Court. The
Ashantee messengers declared that you had ordered your letters to be
delivered to the King. I said that was impossible. The King was very
gentle, but such was the suspicion of the assembly, that they requested
me to swear on my sword, that I had not altered any part of your letter;
I did so, prefacing the act as such a suspicion merited. I then read
your letter, abating nothing of its spirit and firmness, and laying
stress upon your disposition to benefit the King, and the proofs you had
given. I concluded my illustrations with the declaration, that you did
not settle the King’s palaver from fear, but from friendship, as it
remained with him to prove. I submitted the preliminaries in form, for
rejection or acceptance. After an ardent debate among the captains, they
were executed and attested, and I lose no time in forwarding the copy. I
left a duplicate with the King, as I shall of the treaty.
The King intends to dispatch a messenger directly to empower Adoo Bradie
to receive the gold, and hopes you will recommend the people of Commenda
to restore any of the slaves in their possession belonging to Elmina,
although that is not his palaver.
The King desired me to communicate his best thanks for your handsome
treatment of his nephew, whose reports have been very flattering.
I urged my intercessions for Quamina Bootaqua, until the King vouchsafed
me his assurance that he would pardon him.
I have the satisfaction to inform you, that I have been able, privately,
so far to conciliate the Moors, as to have witnessed their forwardance
of the certificates[12] to the Interior, with their own letters of
recommendation indorsed.
I advocated the merits of the Castle linguist, De Graff, as you desired,
and successfully. I flatter myself this will anticipate the arrival of
the King’s, and the Cape Coast messengers.
I am, &c. &c.
T. E. BOWDICH.
_Preliminaries of a General Treaty, to be made and entered into by_
THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH, _Esquire, for the Governor and Council of Cape
Coast Castle, and on the part of the British Government, with_ SAÏ
TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies._
1st. The King accepts the offer of the people of Commenda, through the
Governor in Chief; namely, one hundred and twenty ounces of gold for
himself, and the customary fees to his embassadors, as a settlement in
full of all demands.
2nd. The people of Commenda shall acknowledge their fealty to the King,
and be entitled to all the benefits of his protection.
3d. The King shall authorize some responsible captain to receive the
gold, from the hands of the deputies of the people of Commenda, at Cape
Coast Castle.
4th. It is hereby agreed, that every palaver is now settled preparatory
to the General Treaty, which shall be executed forthwith.
Signed and sealed this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
The mark of SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA. X (L. S.)
T. E. BOWDICH. (L. S.)
In the presence of
WILLIAM HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
ADOOCEE, Chief Linguist.
APOKOO, Keeper of the Treasury.
QUAMINA QUATCHIE, }
} Linguists to the Mission.
QUASHEE APAINTREE, }
_Extract from Diary._—Monday, 25th August, we started soon after seven
o’clock, and proceeding in a N.E. direction, crossed the marsh close to
the town, where it was about two feet deep and one hundred and fifty
yards broad. We travelled the path to Sallagha, through a beautiful
country, abounding in neat crooms (of which we passed through seven),
the sites spacious, and environed by extensive plantations. The path was
wide and so nearly direct, that the eye was always in advance through
beautiful vistas varied by gentle risings. The iron stone still
prevailed.
The King received us in the market place, and enquiring anxiously if we
had breakfasted, ordered refreshment. After some conversation we were
conducted to a house prepared for our reception, where a relish was
served (sufficient for an army) of soups, stews, plantains, yams, rice,
&c. (all excellently cooked) wine, spirits, oranges, and every fruit.
The messengers, soldiers, and servants were distinctly provided for.
Declining the offer of beds, we walked out in the town, and conversed
and played drafts with the Moors, who were reclining under trees; the
King joined us with cheerful affability, and seemed to have forgotten
his cares. About two o’clock dinner was announced. We had been taught to
prepare for a surprise, but it was exceeded. We were conducted to the
eastern side of the croom, to a door of green reeds, which excluded the
crowd, and admitted us through a short avenue to the King’s garden, an
area equal to one of the large squares in London. The breezes were
strong and constant. In the centre, four large umbrellas of new scarlet
cloth were fixed, under which was the King’s dining table (heigthened
for the occasion) and covered in the most imposing manner; his massy
plate was well disposed, and silver forks, knives, and spoons (Colonel
Torrane’s) were plentifully laid. The large silver waiter supported a
roasting pig in the centre; the other dishes on the table were roasted
ducks, fowls, stews, pease pudding, &c. &c. On the ground on one side of
the table were various soups, and every sort of vegetable; and elevated
parallel with the other side, were oranges, pines, and other fruits;
sugar-candy, Port and Madeira wine, spirits and Dutch cordials, with
glasses. Before we sat down the King met us, and said, that as we had
come out to see him, we must receive the following present from his
hands, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, one sheep and one large hog to the
officers, 10 ackies to the linguists, and 5 ackies to our servants.
We never saw a dinner more handsomely served, and never ate a better. On
our expressing our relish, the King sent for his cooks, and gave them
ten ackies. The King and a few of his captains sat at a distance, but he
visited us constantly, and seemed quite proud of the scene; he conversed
freely, and expressed much satisfaction at our toasts, “The King of
Ashantee, the King of England, the Governor, the King’s Captains, a
perpetual union (with a speech, which is the sine qua non) and the
handsome women of England and Ashantee.” After dinner the King made many
enquiries about England, and retired, as we did, that our servants might
clear the table, which he insisted on. When he returned, some of the
wine and Dutch cordials remaining, he gave them to our servants to take
with them, and ordered the table cloth to be thrown to them and all the
napkins. A cold pig, cold fowls (with six that had not been dressed)
were dispatched to Coomassie for our supper. We took leave about five
o’clock, the King accompanying us to the end of the croom, where he took
our hands, and wished us good night. We reached the capital again at
six, much gratified by our excursion and treatment.
Mr. Tedlie had brought Quamina Bwa (our guide) into a very advanced
state of convalescence; but he so eagerly betook himself from low diet
to palm oil soups, and stews of blood, that he soon relapsed, and a
gathering formed on his liver, aggravated not a little by the various
fetish draughts he swallowed. Seeing there was no other chance, Mr.
Tedlie, who is a very skilful operator, would have scarified the liver;
but although I had great reason to rely confidently on his judgment and
ability, I thought our situation too critical to run such a risk. A
Fantee boy having fractured his leg, and his dissolution appearing
inevitable, the parents, in great distress, applied to the surgeon of an
English outfort, who amputated the limb, and after much wearying
attendance, to the surprise of every one, restored the boy to health.
The family then brought him into the fort, and laying him down in the
hall, addressed the surgeon (who was in charge of the fort) thus; “As
Master cut off poor boy’s leg, and so spoil poor boy for work, we come
to ask Master how much he think to give poor boy to keep him.”
Quamina Bwa was fetished until the last moment, and died amidst the
howls of a legion of old hags, plastering the walls, door posts, and
every thing about him, with chopped egg and different messes. I forget
how many sheep he had sacrificed to the fetish by the advice of these
harpies. The King sent him a sheep and a periguin of gold, when he heard
he was ill. This man had settled the palaver with Mr. White, after the
blockade of Cape Coast, in 1815, the third invasion of the Ashantees,
and was universally odious, for his cruel extortions; these being
reported to the King, he was disgraced; and being very extravagant,
became much involved. Being at Payntree, he prevailed on Quamina
Bushmaquaw to allow him to conduct us, to retrieve his finances a
little. Excepting Adoocee, the King’s chief linguist, he was the most
plausible villain I ever met with.
The head of an Akim caboceer arrived in Coomassie about this time. The
King and the Ashantee government had proposed that every croom of Akim
should pay 20 periguins of gold as an atonement for their late revolt.
Ten periguins were advanced immediately by each, and the other moiety
was excused until after the harvest; but Aboidedroo caboceer of Manasoo
resolutely refused to pay a tokoo. The King’s messengers, however,
appealed to his people with so much address, that they rose upon their
caboceer, killed him, and sent his head to the King, with the 20
periguins required.
[Footnote 10: Seizing.]
[Footnote 11: Presents from two Spanish slave ships were received
through the Mulatto Brue on the 16th instant; they were general, but I
can only particularise the following:
To the King, 3 pieces of cloth, 1 umbrella, and a hat.
To the chief linguist, 1 piece, do. 2 flashes liquor.
To the 4th do. (Otee) 1 do. 2 ditto, do.
To Odumata, 2 do. 2 ditto, do.
To Quamina Bwa, agent for the purchase of the slaves, 2 pieces of
cloth, 1 umbrella, and 1 Dane gun.
]
[Footnote 12: For a copy of these certificates vide the opposite
engraving.]
CHAPTER VI.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the Ratification of a General Treaty._
The report of an Ashantee having been flogged to death in Cape Coast
Castle, which was aggravated every hour to our prejudice, was explained
by the following letter:
_Cape Coast Castle, August 17_, 1817.
T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
SIR,
THE day before yesterday an Ashantee man was guilty of a most daring
insult to the fort. On passing the gate, he was desired by the sentinel
to take his cloth off his shoulders, but instead of complying, he turned
round and struck him. The offender was instantly secured, and I ordered
him to be put in irons. Last night about nine o’clock, the captain of
the guard came to me to say, that the sentry on duty had reported the
Ashantee to have hung himself. The place in which he was with others
confined, was immediately opened, and he was found in a room adjoining
to that in which the prisoners sleep, with his under cloth attached to a
beam not more than three feet high, and very tightly drawn round his
throat, part of his body was lying on the ground, and it must have been
by the most determined resolution that he succeeded in strangling
himself. The surgeon was present, but his efforts to recover him were
ineffectual. This is the second offence of a similar nature that has
occurred; the first person, I most assuredly should have punished, had
he not ran past the sentry and made his escape.
The King’s displeasure will no doubt be excited when he hears of such
acts of insolence, and I hope he will issue such orders to his people,
as will make them more circumspect in future.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
J. H. SMITH.
* * * * *
_Coomassie, 31st August_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
I RECEIVED your letter last evening respecting the suicide of the
Ashantee. I procured an audience this morning, and have just returned
from the palace, where I had the honour to address you a letter, in the
name of the King, on this, and other subjects.
The messenger sent up by Adoo Bradie, was the brother of the deceased,
and declared before the King upon oath, that he had been killed by the
officers. The master (our landlord) proposed a fine to the captains
assembled, but after the audience was gone through, the King retired to
council, which is the form, and returning, dictated the sentiments I had
the honour to communicate to you, and rebuked our house-master severely
for his proposition. Of course I impressed the insult to the fort, as
the superior consideration of your letter.
The insolence of the lower orders here became insufferable, they
proceeded even to pelting us with stones; after every effort on our part
to conciliate them by the exhibition of the telescope and other
novelties. As may be expected in a military government, they are beyond
the King’s control, out of the field. He declared however, that he would
behead any man I would point out to him, and begged me to punish them as
I thought proper: a summary chastisement of two inferior captains
repressed this spirit.
All the captains of consequence have become friendly and respectful;
Apokoo was deputed in form yesterday, in the name of the whole, to thank
me for my conduct in negociating with the King.
The Treaty will be brought forward to be executed in six days, before
the annual assembly of Kings, caboceers, and captains. All the Kings
tributaries and allies being compelled to attend him at the yam custom.
The King intends your linguist De Graff, to take fetish with his five
linguists, to be just to both the powers to be pledged to the treaty,
and is convinced of his probity.
I am, with respect, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
* * * * *
_Coomassie, 31st Aug._ 1817.
SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee, &c. to_ JOHN HOPE SMITH,
_Esquire, Governor in Chief, &c. &c. &c._
SIR,
THE King assures you, that, anticipating the permanent union of the
English and Ashantees, so far from allowing the death of one man to
retard it, he should take no notice if a thousand were flogged to death
by you, as reported here, well knowing the insolent disposition of the
lower order of Ashantees, which is as vexatious to him as to you. He is
satisfied however, that this man came to his death by his own hands.
The King wishes you to adjust the palaver between the Commendas and
Elminas, as soon as convenient to you; that all the people who serve him
may be united, relying entirely on your justice.
The King will thank you very much if you will make the people of Cape
Coast, Elmina, and Commenda “_all one together_.”
The little palaver between these people, is the only one remaining; and
therefore, though it is not his, he wishes you to settle it.
The King hereby, and by his messenger, empowers his nephew Adoo Bradie,
and the Captain Quantree, to receive the gold from the deputies of
Commenda in your presence.
You must settle the compliments and fees, which the Commendas send to
the King’s linguists and captains.
The King hopes you will advise the people of Amissa, through some
medium, to retract their insolent message to the King, that the whole of
the Fantee territory may be quiet.
The King has condescended personally to solicit Mr. Bowdich to protract
his stay fifteen days, and obliged all his captains to the same
condescension, so that you will consider it the King’s act from the wish
to send him down with an honourable escort, and other marks of his
favour.
The King wishes you health and happiness.
The mark X of Saï Tootoo Quamina, &c.
In the presence of
WM. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
A few only of the many curious observations of our Ashantee friends
recur to me. One captain told us he had heard that the English were so
constantly in palavers, one with another, that their houses, which he
understood to be made of wood, the same as their ships, were always
fixed on wheels; so that when a man had quarrelled with his neighbour,
he moved to another part of the bush. Another insisted that monkies
(whom the Moors said sprung from the Israelites, who disobeyed Moses)
could talk as well as men; but they were not such fools; for if they
did, they knew men would make them work.—This is better than Pliny’s
account of monkies playing chess.
The King walked abroad in great state one day, an irresistible
caricature; he had on an old fashioned court suit of General Daendels’
of brown velveteen, richly embroidered with silver thistles, with an
English epaulette sewn on each shoulder, the coat coming close round the
knees, from which the flaps of the waistcoat were not very distant, a
cocked hat bound with gold lace, in shape just like that of a
coachman’s, white shoes, the long silver headed cane we presented to
him, mounted with a crown, as a walking staff, and a small dirk round
his waist.
The King presented one of our servants with six ackies of gold, for
making trowsers for his child, and mending him a pair of drawers, which
he thought it extravagant to put on under trowsers or small clothes, and
therefore wore them alone.
I fixed a rude leaping bar in the outer yard of our house, and trained
the horse to it, preparatory to getting him over the trunks of trees on
the path: this brought even greater levees than the camera obscura, or
the telescope. Sometimes a gazer would start from the eye piece of the
latter, to lay hold of the figure at the end, as he expected; and they
all insisted on both being taken to pieces in their presence, that they
might see what was inside. At length, being inexplicable, it was
pronounced fetish. A captain had told the King, that with the telescope
we saw, when at Doompassie, all that he was doing at Coomassie: and
happening, in a sudden and heavy rain, to gallop from Asafoo to our
house, with Mr. Tedlie on the horse behind me, holding the umbrella, it
was immediately reported to the King as our plan of travelling to Cape
Coast.
Our Accra linguist pointed out a man to me named Tando, whom he
recollected to have visited the Coast some years, in great pomp, never
going the shortest distance, but in his taffeta hammock, covered with a
gorgeous umbrella, and surrounded by flatterers, who even wiped the
ground before he trod on it. This man had now scarcely a cloth to cover
him. He had been retired from his embassy to Akim, in consequence of a
dispute with Attah, then the king of that country; for though Attah was
adjudged to be in fault, after the palaver was talked at Coomassie, the
Ashantee government thought it politic to displace Tando, though he had
become disagreeable to the other, only for his vigilance and fidelity.
After a long interval of the most luxurious life the capital could
afford, he was instructed to proceed to Elmina, to talk a palaver for
the King; but thinking it would be a coup d’éclat much more important
and agreeable, if he could settle the Warsaw palaver as well, he visited
the country on his return, and persuaded them to conciliate the King,
and avert their ruin, by carrying a considerable sum of gold to
Coomassie, and agreeing to pay twenty-four slaves for every Ashantee
subject killed or injured by one of Warsaw. Deputies returned with this
man for this purpose; but the King dismissed them contemptuously; and to
the disappointment and surprise of Tando, declared that no man must dare
to do good out of his own head, or perhaps he would find he did bad, as
Tando had done, in spoiling a palaver which he and his great men meant
to sleep a long time. Tando was immediately stripped of all his property
for his presumption, and from a noble became a beggar.
The Moors now became friendly, and sent us some very good coffee, and
choice pieces of meat.
* * * * *
_Coomassie, Sept. 8th_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c.
SIR,
I HAVE the satisfaction to inform you, that the treaty was signed and
sworn to yesterday, by the King of Ashantee, and this day, by the King
of Dwabin. The whole of the caboceers, captains, and tributaries having
arrived, the treaty was finally discussed on Saturday, and two of the
four members of the Aristocracy, with the two oldest captains (Ashantee
and Nabbra) were deputed to swear for that assembly, with the King,
whose oaths (being very rare) are solemnized by the presence of his
wives.
The King sent a handsome procession of flags, guns, and music, to
conduct us to the palace on the occasion; and meeting us in the outer
square, preceded us to the inmost, where about 300 females were seated,
in all the magnificence which a profusion of gold and silk could
furnish. The splendour of this coup d’oeil made our surprise almost
equal to theirs. We were seated with the King and the deputies, under
the large umbrellas in the centre, and I was desired to declare the
objects of the Embassy and the Treaty, to an old linguist, peculiar to
the women. The King displayed the presents to them; the flags were all
sewn together, and wrapped around him as a cloth.
I was afterwards desired to stand before the King, and swear on my sword
that I had declared the truth: I did so, with the other officers. The
next form dictated was, that I should seat myself, and receive the oaths
of the deputies, and lastly, of the King himself, for his brother the
King of England. They advanced in turn, extending their gold swords
close to my face, as they declared their oaths. I rose to receive the
King’s, all the women holding up two fingers, as their mark of
approbation when he received the sword, and one of his counsellors
kneeling beside him with a large stone on his head. The King swore very
deliberately, that his words might be fully impressed on me, invoking
God and the fetish to kill him; first, if he did not keep the law, if we
had sworn true; and secondly, if he did not revenge the Ashantees to the
full, if we had bad in our heads, and did not come for the purpose I
avowed. The assurances, and the menaces of the oaths of the captains
were equally forcible. The King sent an anker of rum to our people to
drink on the occasion, and paid each captain the customary fee, of a
periguin of gold on his oath.
The King having communicated my wish, by a formal message, to Boïtinnee
Quama, the King of Dwabin, who holds his temporary court on the north
side of the town, I seconded it, by sending the canes to request an
audience; at which I had again formally to declare the objects of the
Embassy and the Treaty, which, after a great deal of form and enquiry,
received his signature, with the attestations of his chief linguists,
Quama Saphoo, and Kobara Saphoo, who are his principal counsellors. His
court was equally crowded with the King of Ashantees, who sits on his
right hand when he visits Dwabin; a reciprocal etiquette.
By an addition to the 4th article of the treaty, I reconciled the point
of the Amissa palaver; and the securing you the opportunity of
mediation, (without attaching any thing like responsibility) I
considered to be not only a precaution due to humanity, but a prudent
and legitimate measure for the extension of our influence.
The value of this treaty is enhanced by the reflection, that the
justice, dignity, and spirit, of the British Government have been
preserved inviolate; and that it has been the result of the impression,
and not of the abatement of these characteristics.
We are flattered by your acknowledgment of our offer to accompany the
King to the Buntooko war, and feel the force of your reason in the
present view of the invasion of that country. The lake proving to be
southward instead of northward, and close to the Accra path, I did not
think it prudent to aggravate suspicion, for so secondary and well
defined an object, whilst every day exacted some exertion (beyond
vigilance) to wear away the difficulties opposed to the more important
views of the Mission.
I expect the King will permit me to take leave on Saturday next. To-
morrow Apokoo gives us a dinner in public.
I am, with respect, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
T. E. BOWDICH.
* * * * *
_Treaty made and entered into by_ THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH, _Esquire, in
the name of the Governor and Council at Cape Coast Castle on the Gold
Coast of Africa, and on behalf of the British Government, with_ SAÏ
TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, and_ BOÏTINNEE
QUAMA, _King of Dwabin and its Dependencies._
1st. There shall be perpetual peace and harmony between the British
subjects in this country, and the subjects of the Kings of Ashantee and
Dwabin.
2nd. The same shall exist between the subjects of the Kings of Ashantee
and Dwabin, and all nations of Africa residing under the protection of
the Company’s Forts and Settlements on the Gold Coast, and, it is hereby
agreed, that there are no palavers now existing, and that neither party
has any claim upon the other.
3rd. The King of Ashantee guarantees the security of the people of Cape
Coast, from the hostilities threatened by the people of Elmina.
4th. In order to avert the horrors of war, it is agreed, that in any
case of aggression on the part of the natives under British protection,
the Kings shall complain thereof to the Governor in Chief to obtain
redress, and that they will in no instance resort to hostilities, even
against the other towns of the Fantee territory, without endeavouring as
much as possible to effect an amicable arrangement, affording the
Governor the opportunity of propitiating it, as far as he may with
discretion.
5th. The King of Ashantee agrees to permit a British officer to reside
constantly at his capital, for the purpose of instituting and preserving
a regular communication with the Governor in Chief at Cape Coast Castle.
6th. The Kings of Ashantee and Dwabin pledge themselves to countenance,
promote, and encourage the trade of their subjects with Cape Coast
Castle and its dependencies to the extent of their power.
7th. The Governors of the respective Forts shall at all times afford
every protection in their power to the persons and property of the
people of Ashantee and Dwabin, who may resort to the water side.
8th. The Governor in Chief reserves to himself the right of punishing
any subject of Ashantee or Dwabin guilty of secondary offences, but in
case of any crime of magnitude, he will send the offender to the Kings,
to be dealt with according to the laws of his country.
9th. The Kings agree to commit their children to the care of the
Governor in Chief, for education, at Cape Coast Castle, in the full
confidence of the good intentions of the British government, and of the
benefits to be derived therefrom.
10th. The Kings promise to direct diligent inquiries to be made
respecting the officers attached to the Mission of Major John Peddie,
and Captain Thomas Campbell; and to influence and oblige the
neighbouring kingdoms and their tributaries, to befriend them as the
subjects of the British government.
Signed and sealed at Coomassie, this seventh day of September, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
The mark of SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA X (L. S.)
The mark of BOÏTINNEE QUAMA X (L. S.)
THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH. (L. S.)
In the presence of
WILLIAM HUTCHISON, Resident.
HENRY TEDLIE, Assistant Surgeon.
The mark of APOKOO X }
}
ODUMATA X } Deputed from the General Assembly of caboceers
} and captains to swear with the King.
NABBRA X }
}
ASHANTEE X }
KABRA SAPHOO X }
} Linguists to the King of Dwabin.
QUAMINA SAPHOO X }
QUASHEE APAINTREE X Accra Linguist.
QUASHEE TOM X }
} Cape Coast Linguists.
QUAMINA QUATCHEE X }
* * * * *
[Illustration: This _is to make known that Major John Peddie, Capt.
Thos. Campbell, and Surgeon Willm. Cowdry, have been employed by the
British Government to proceed from Senegal into the interior of Africa,
to trace the course of the River Niger; and to obtain such information
respecting the Countries through which they pass, as may be useful in
the extension and improvement of Commerce which is the object of the
British Government in sending those persons to Africa; and that any
Person who may happen to meet with those Gentlemen, and shall be the
Bearer of a Letter to the Governor of CAPE COAST CASTLE on the Gold
Coast, from either of them, shall receive five Ounces of Gold, and be
liberally rewarded for any Service or Act of kindness which it may
appear by such Letter may have been rendered to either of them._
_Witness my hand at Coomasie the Capital of the Kingdom of Ashantee the
30th. day of July 1817_
_Wm. Hutchinson Resident_
_T. E. Bowdich Conductor of the Mission from Cape Coast Castle_]
We were present at the trial of Appia Nanu, who had accompanied his
brother Appia Danqua in the last invasion of Fantee, and was ordered by
the King, on his death, to take the command of the army, and prosecute
the campaign. In the irritation of the moment, he exclaimed, before the
royal messengers, that though the King did not prevent him from
succeeding to the stool, and the honours of his brother, he kept back
all the rock gold which belonged to the inheritance, and desired to wear
him out in the pursuit of the revolters, to prevent his claim and
enjoyment of the property of his family. From this time he was very
inactive, and became suspected of cowardice; however, having succeeded
in getting the head of one of the revolters, he returned to Coomassie;
where he was coolly received, but not accused until the 8th of July. The
witnesses were the messengers the King had sent to him, who had been
concealed in a distant part of the frontier ever since, that Appia Nanu,
believing the general report of their death, might be the more
confounded when they burst upon him at the moment of his denial of the
charge. He was deprived of his stool and the whole of his property, but
permitted to retire with three wives and ten slaves; the King hearing
the next day that he still loitered in the capital, exclaimed, that no
proper man would bear so much shame before all the people, rather than
leave his home, and ordered only one wife to be left to him, whereupon
Appia Nanu hung himself. The King considers, that none but the basest
spirits can endure life after severe disgrace.
The Moors celebrated the feast of Ramadan in this month: there was
nothing curious in this ceremony. Men and women were dressed in their
richest suits, and seated on large skins before their houses, for they
occupy one street exclusively. They rose occasionally in small troops,
made short circuits in different directions, saluted each other, and
then sat down again. In the evening, the superiors exchanged visits at
their houses; the one visited always accompanied the other some distance
along the street on his way, where they exchanged blessings, and parted.
The slaves who carried their small umbrella’s over their heads, seemed
thoroughly jaded by this incessant parading.
The King regretted in one of his visits about this time, that they were
not more frequent; he said, our conversation entertained him more than
any thing else, because it told him of so many things black men never
heard of, but when he wished to see us on that account, his great men
checked him, and said, it did not become him as a great King to want us,
but that he should only send his compliments, see us, and make us wait a
long time when he sent for us to the palace.
CHAPTER VII.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the completion of the Mission and its
return to Cape Coast Castle._
On the 11th of September I received the Governor’s reply to my letter of
the 10th of August.
_Cape Coast Castle, August 25_, 1817.
T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
SIR,
I HAVE received your letter of the 10th instant. The boy and girl shall
be disposed of under the protection of the Government here, agreeable to
the King’s wishes.
The messenger (Ocranameah) has grossly misrepresented to the King, the
reception he met with at Cape Coast; he was treated with the greatest
civility during his stay, and on leaving, expressed himself gratified by
the attention which had been shewn him.
For the King’s satisfaction, I have subjoined a list of the articles I
made him a present of;[13] the three first which I gave him, on taking
leave, will, when produced, convince him how much he has been deceived,
and prove to him, that his recommendation of the messenger was not
unattended to.
The Buntooko war, I consider a mere pretext for getting rid of the
Resident; it cannot be the true motive: to oppose however, any
disinclination to the measure, either on the part of the King or his
principal men, would be entirely useless; the aversion to it has no
doubt originated in the latter, with whom, under the present order of
things, the Resident would be very unpopular; consequently unsafe. The
eager desire which the King has manifested for enquiring into every
trivial occurrence, is another cause of its being objectionable. The
residence of a British officer would afford him the opportunity, not
only of doing this, but of making demands which he might otherwise not
have thought of. These and other circumstances, which were entirely
unforeseen, have materially altered my opinion in regard to the
Residency, which is certainly not so desirable as I before considered
it. You will therefore, on your return, bring Mr. Hutchison with you.
I am not aware of any Ashantees having introduced themselves here, but
such as were duly authorised by the King; you will however inform him,
that none will be attended to unless they bear his cane.
As Mr. Hutchison is to return, it will be a most important point that
you bring down two of the King’s sons for education, and I am very
solicitous that you should accomplish this object if possible.
The Commenda palaver being terminated, there will be nothing to detain
you longer at Ashantee. Your returning by way of Warsaw will be
desirable, and I hope the King will not object to your so doing.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
JOHN HOPE SMITH.
_Coomassie, Sept. 16_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
I DID not receive your letter of the 25th of August, until the 11th
instant, four days after I had advised you of the execution of the
treaty. I considered it my duty to acquaint you of every variation in
the prospects of the Embassy, although, even when communicating the
discouraging circumstances of my letter of the 10th ult. I could not
abate my hopes, or allow doubt to sicken my exertions. I valued on the
reflection, that I had not been heard before the King in vindication of
the Residency; the motives of which I knew to have been grossly
misrepresented by our natural enemies the Moors, to whose arts the
suspicion of the natives have been suitably auxiliary. My confidence was
justified by the favourable impression the King and the Government
manifested, when the subject was publicly advocated; since which I have
never heard of an objection to it: it has indeed, become a favourite
measure with the superior captains, who, as far as may be judged from
the respect and deference with which they have treated us from that
time, seem not only to have been conciliated, but won by the recent
circumstances of the negotiation. The terms of the treaty, by exceeding
your expectations, will compensate for the accumulation of difficulties
which have been opposed to us. We are taught to believe that no law has
ever been enacted in this kingdom with equal solemnity, or an oath, so
serious, been before submitted to by the King, or imposed on the
captains. Had the treaty disappointed, instead of exceeded our
expectations, I must have viewed it as inviolable, and submitted myself
to your candour; which I would now, and justify myself by answering the
reasonable apprehensions which have recently affected your opinion of
the Residency, rather than by the plea that the treaty was executed
before I received them.
If I had been convinced that it was dislike, and not suspicion, which
actuated the opposition to the Residency, I should not only have
considered it imprudent, but derogatory, to have persevered in the view;
but, sensible that it was the latter, (from the evidence of the King’s
deportment, and the knowledge of the intrigue and calumny excited
against us,) I felt the greater anxiety for its accomplishment; since,
to have yielded to suspicion, without every labour to eradicate it,
would have been to have excluded ourselves from the kingdom hereafter.
If the King had been actuated, individually, by the desire of detecting
the frauds of his messengers, I should have viewed the measure as
pernicious; but the Government itself having anxiously recommended it,
for the sake of their own interest, (Fort pay, and purchases from the
treasury being always divided amongst the superior captains) I
considered it harmless; and not solely from the power of its advocates,
but also from the impotence of the royal messengers in state affairs,
being generally attendants on the King, and therefore jealously watched
by the other parts of the Government. This desire has only been
addressed to me in two instances, both of which I think justified it:
first, respecting the fort pay; it having been since proved, and
confessed, that, out of 62 oz. paid at Christiansburg Castle in 1816 and
17, the Ashantee Government has been defrauded of 23 oz. by the
messenger: and secondly, respecting the goods purchased by Ocranameah,
where the fraud could not escape notice. Such peculations have probably,
in the first case, given rise to doubts of our honour; and in the
latter, have certainly proved a prejudice to the trade. On the occasion
of Ocranameah’s baseness, I myself requested the King to allow me to
address you for the particulars of his treatment; and if you consider
the mischievous influence of the report, the fatality of the impression
that the King’s Embassy had been subjected to contempt, whilst we had
been treated with generosity and respect, you will admit that the
disproof was imperious on me: he has been disgraced, and owes his safety
to my intercession. Nothing but the most decisive conduct can arrest
villainy here. The reports of Adoo Bradie have been highly flattering.
The King will certainly have a better opportunity of making demands from
the residence of a British officer; neither can I lessen the probability
further than by my opinion, which though only indulgent of the people in
general, is certainly favourable of the honour of the King, and the
superior captains. The advantages and prospects of our preserving our
footing by a Residency, have been too fully suggested by your
experience, to require my dwelling on them.
I will proceed to acquaint you of the circumstances subsequent to my
receipt of your letter, one of which had nearly been serious. After the
settlement of the Commenda palaver, the King requested me to wait 10
days, which were afterwards extended to 15, as you were advised in his
letter of the 31st ult. This time expired on Saturday last, but the King
said then that we must not go until Monday. Accordingly, on that day, I
delivered Mr. Hutchison written instructions (a copy of which I enclose)
and sent several messages to the King to remind him of his promise. We
were not sent for until six o’clock in the evening, when the King said
he could not let me go then, nor before he had time to send me away
properly. This I considered to be the mere affectation of state; I
pleaded that your orders were binding, and that it was insulting to you,
as well as dangerous to me, to prevent my respect of them, now every
thing like business was settled. The King said he would only ask me to
stop until Wednesday. I replied, that if he would give me his hand, and
promise that I should go then, I would wait. No! he could not, but he
would promise me for the Monday following. I saw that yielding to this
would subject me to an indefinite delay. I told the King that I should
be obliged to go, though unwillingly, without his approbation, and that
not only my duty but his promise justified me. I had only to ask him if
he still wished me to leave Mr. Hutchison? All the reply I could get
was, that I might break the Law if I thought proper. I told them the Law
would never be broken by an English officer, but still, if they were
sorry that they had sworn to the Law, I would send for it and tear it in
pieces before them; we did not make laws from fear. No! they liked the
Law, and could not break it, but I might if I chose. I repeated my
willingness to stay till Wednesday; the promise could only be given for
the Monday: the King and the council retired abruptly. I followed them,
told them I was obliged to be determined, and begged the King to shew
his respect for you, and the friendship he had condescended to profess
for myself, by considering your orders; this was construed as
indecision; and Monday, or when the King has time, was the reply. I
thanked him formally for all his kindnesses, told him I must go, and
retired. It was necessary, at least, to make the attempt, although it
was then eight o’clock. I left all the luggage in the charge of Mr.
Hutchison, except two portmanteaus, the sextant, and the box containing
my papers. We had scarcely proceeded fifty yards before the gong-gongs
and drums were beat all around us, and we were attacked by a crowd of
swords and muskets, headed by our house master Aboïdwee, who in the
first rush seized the luggage and the flag. I felt myself compelled to
attempt to regain the flag; and the value of my papers, and the impolicy
of being intimidated by the outrage, were also considerations. I begged
the officers not to draw their swords till the last moment, and taking
the muskets, the butt ends of which cleared our way to the luggage, we
fastened on it, with the soldiers, artisans, and our servants, who
supported us vigorously. The Ashantees did not attempt to fire, but
attacked us only with their heavy swords and large stones. We kept our
ground nearly a quarter of an hour, though our belts and caps were torn
away, and we frequently fell. At this time, Mr. Tedlie (who had regained
his sword, which had been torn from his side) was stunned by a blow on
the head, and as all were much bruised, and some of the people cut, I
contented myself with the recovery of the flag, the sextant, and the
papers, and we retired slowly to the house, not expecting they would
follow us; but they did so, with a fury which led me to believe they
intended our destruction. We posted ourselves in the door-way, and I
immediately dispatched the canes by a back way to the King, to tell him
we had not yet drawn our swords, but we must do so unless he rescued us
immediately. The tumult did not allow expostulation, we had no
alternative but to defend ourselves, which the narrow passage favoured.
The captain, Aboïdwee, who was quite mad with fury and liquor, made a
cut at me as I held him from me, which would have been fatal but for the
presence of mind of one of the soldiers, through which it only grazed my
face. We were soon rescued by the presence of Adoocee, the chief
linguist, and Yokokroko, the King’s chamberlain, with their retinues.
Nothing could exceed their servility, they offered to swear the King was
not privy to the outrage, ordered Aboïdwee before them, and threatened
him with the loss of his head. I told them I knew the King’s controul,
and was not to be treated as a fool; he had forcibly detained us as
prisoners, and must take the consequences; I should say no more. They
continued their professions and entreaties upwards of an hour, and did
all they could by their menaces to Aboïdwee, and their deference to the
evidence of our people, to convince me of their discountenance of the
outrage. I divided the people into watches for the night.
By day light the next morning all our luggage was returned, I refused to
receive it. Yokokroko and Adoo Quamina then sent to say they waited
below until we had done breakfast; a long palaver succeeded, of the same
tenour as that of the preceding night. About 11 o’clock, the linguists,
Adoocee, Otee, and Quancum; Yokokroko, and a crowd of captains came from
the King with a present of 20 ackies, two flasks of liquor, and a large
hog. I asked them if they came to put more shame on my face, by bribing
me to settle the great palaver they had made the night before with the
King of England. They flattered and menaced by turns to make me take it,
and urged, that to refuse the King’s present was to declare war. I
persisted in refusing every thing short of an interview with the King.
The Cape Coast messengers, impelled by their apprehensions and their
avarice, had the temerity to declare at this moment, that you had sent
them as a check upon me, and that they knew I was not doing as you
wished in talking so to the King, and that you would make a palaver with
me for not waiting the King’s pleasure. It was necessary to annihilate
the impression of such language immediately. I deprived them of their
canes, and threatened to put them in irons. The King not long after sent
his eunuch and followers to conduct us to the palace, where he had
assembled the superior captains. We went in plain clothes, alleging that
we dared not wear our uniforms as prisoners. The King said, I must not
say that; he was my good friend, and would do me right; he did not think
I would have tried to go without his leave, and never meant his people
to fight with us, he would give me the heads of all those who led them
on, and beg me himself for the rest, as I begged him for Quamina
Bootaqua; he never begged any body before; he did not send the gold, as
I thought, he sent it to pay for any thing the people had spoiled, and
meant to do us right all the same; it would break his heart if the King
of England heard he had used his officers ill, and if I liked him, I
must settle the palaver easy.
Of course I would not hear of any heads being cut off, though they all
pressed it repeatedly, and doubtless would not have regarded sacrificing
a few inferior captains to varnish their allegation; yet, I must
declare, it is my firm opinion, and it is supported by the evidence of
our private friends, that the King and his principal men merely intended
Aboïdwee to stop us, by placing his numbers before us and pleading the
King’s orders, not dreaming of any outrage, or that the impetuosity of
this man, irritated by the loss of his retainer at Cape Coast,[14] would
hurry him to order his soldiers to assault us: he has not an atom of
influence; but the King selected him as a near relative of his own, to
succeed to Bakkee’s stool, to which 1700 men are attached: the King
repeatedly offered me his head. To resume, the King requested us to
drink with him, and then to shake hands, begged us to resume our
uniforms, and ordered his own people to attend us at our house. I
renewed the subject of our departure. The King said this was a bad week,
and he did not like us to go in it, he would thank me very much to stay
till Monday, and then he could get a proper present ready. Sunday too
was the Adaï custom, and then I must put Mr. Hutchison’s hand in
Adoocee’s, and Adoocee place it in his, and he would promise to take
proper care of him before all the captains. Odumata and Adoocee came
forward to give me their hands, as a pledge of their responsibility. I
said I could receive no one’s hand but the King’s on such an occasion,
but I ordered Quashie Apaintree to do so, and it was sworn to. The King
then said Adoocee had told him the Cape Coast messengers had tried to
put shame on my face—he was very angry with them—they ought to know God
made white man’s head better than black man’s, and they must come before
him, and put my foot on their heads. I told him, I could not let any one
do so, but I sent for their canes, and entrusted them to them again,
with a suitable reprimand. The King then begged me to receive his
present, which I did, giving the people the hog and liquor, they had
received another on the Friday before, which the King sent me, with 39
yams.
I have observed that the Government’s anxiety for the force of the
Treaty, and for the Residency, has heightened in proportion to the
indifference I have affected. I consider the affair of yesterday to have
perfected the impression of our spirit. I certainly would not think of
leaving any but an officer of the most considerate conduct as a
Resident, and, I believe, Mr. Hutchison, by tempering his spirit with
judgment, may safely realize the objects of the situation; if, however,
on my return, you consider I have left him in a precarious situation, I
volunteer my services to replace him, and deliberately to retire the
Residency.
It occurs to me, the Amissa palaver may possibly be the design of this
interval, if it should, you may rely on my remaining resolute on the
subject.
I am, &c.
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
_Coomassie, Sept._ 1817.
_To_ WILLIAM HUTCHISON, _Esquire, British Resident._
SIR,
I AM directed by the Governor in Chief to leave you written instructions
for your future government.
The conviction of the honour and justice of our public negotiations,
having procured us a footing in opposition to the arts which have been
practised upon the suspicion of the natives, your conduct is looked to,
with confidence, to support it, by originating an opinion of our moral
character, equally auspicious to the benevolent views of the British
Government. The simplicity of our religion, tolerating the calumny of
the Moors, that we are destitute of any, you will have the satisfaction
of perfecting the confutation, by a regular retirement to its duties,
and by the practice of that benevolence and forbearance, equally
congenial to the policy prescribed to us.
It would be premature, as well as dangerous, to direct any other than
the tacit reproof of your own conduct and sentiments, to the cruelties
consecrated by the superstitions of the Ashantees; you must be content
to avoid the countenance of them by your presence, by adhering to the
plea of the repugnance of your religion. This conduct, associated with a
humanity always inclining you to induce mercy, whenever the offence, or
prudence, may admit of an interference, will propitiate your own wishes,
and the expectations of the Government.
The friendship and respect which the King, and the superior captains
have manifested, will not only be preserved, but strengthened, by a
dignified deportment, and a considerate use of the private intercourse
these feelings have established; and you will cultivate the frequent
opportunities of instilling into their minds, that education originated
the pre-eminence of Europeans; and that peace is most auspicious to the
greatness of a Nation, directing all its powers to commerce and the
arts, and thereby founding its superior comfort, prosperity, and
embellishment. The power and resources of your own country should be
quoted to illustrate this truth; and you will impress that it is the
experience of it, which has imposed the benevolent anxiety of the
British Government, to improve the condition of the people of Africa,
through the legitimate medium of commerce. This impression you will
extend, deliberately, to the visitors from other kingdoms, particularly
to those from the Sarem and Mallowa countries.
In encouraging the trade with the Coast, your measures must disprove any
view but that of a fair competition; and your vigilance of the British
interests must be distinct from any thing like jealousy, suspicion, or
intermeddling: you will act as the advocate of the views of Europe, but
not allow any interference to be imposed on you, without the sanction of
the Governor in Chief, whose letters will be, exclusively, attended to,
and to whom you will candidly communicate any circumstance or
reflection, affecting our new connection.
You will repress, rather than encourage the disposition of the King and
the Council, to detect imposition through your assistance, by confining
your justifications, as much as possible, to public transactions; for
although the Government is gratified by it, it may tend to make the
Residency unpopular.
I enclose you a copy of the Treaty, and particularly direct your
attention to the 4th article, which authorizes you to submit to every
thing like a mediation, separable from responsibility, to the discussion
of the Governor in Chief, for the sake of peace and humanity; but you
will do this, invariably, with diffidence; without betraying any
sanguine expectations.
You will be more sensible to insult than injury; and the most politic
conduct will be, to declare that the British Government exacts from all
its officers, on pain of disgrace, a firm repulse of the former; and
that they dare not admit the influence of their private feelings, as in
the latter case.
I leave you in possession of the esteem of the King, and the friendship
of the superior Captains, and with every thing favourable to the objects
of the Residency; but, should any caprice in the Government make you
invidious to any thing like a party, or diminish their respect, you will
immediately address the Governor in Chief, who will order your presence
at Head Quarters. Another important consideration will be your health;
also the character of the captain who may be left in charge of the
capital, should the King go himself to the Buntooko war. Your personal
safety is out of the question at present, but should the least doubt
arise in your own mind hereafter, you must consult the Governor’s
solicitude, rather than your own spirit.
You see the necessity of keeping in with the Moors; the flattering their
intelligence is most conducive to this, and also elicits valuable
information.
I shall afford you a perusal of the dispatch of the Committee, and the
instructions of the Governor in Chief, to perfect the present.
I have directed Mr. Tedlie to leave you a supply of medicines, and you
will take charge of the Resident’s flag.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
Baba had a great number of Arabic manuscripts; I have preserved a leaf
finely illuminated. Apokoo astonished us by offering to lend us some
books to read; he shewed us two French volumes on geography, a Dutch
bible, a volume of the Spectator, and a Dissuasion from Popery, 1620. It
was gratifying to recollect that this chief, now become so much attached
to us, was the man mentioned in our early dispatches as snatching Mr.
Tedlie’s sword from him, on the declaration of war, to make his oath
against us the more inveterate. Telling the King one day that Mr.
Hutchison’s and Mr. Tedlie’s countries, Scotland and Ireland, were
formerly distinct from mine, he begged directly to hear specimens of the
different languages, and was reluctantly persuaded that it was the
policy of England to get rid of all national distinctions between her
subjects. Apokoo was very fond of scribbling, and with a smile
frequently begged to know what he had written. They could not comprehend
how any hieroglyphic that was not a picture, could express an object. My
name, said the King, is not like me. He was rather uneasy at my
sketching; the Moors, he hinted, had insinuated that I could place a
spell on the buildings I drew. I told him, without drawings, the people
in England could not be convinced that I had visited him; he appeared
satisfied, and begged to be drawn handsome.
There are only four direct descendants now living of the noble families
which accompanied the emigration of Saï Tootoo, the founder of the
Ashantee monarchy; none of them are wealthy, and Assaphi, who is one, is
a beggar, wandering in the bush, having been disgraced from the highest
favour, for the following fraud. An old linguist of the former King’s
(Saï Quamina) having died at a distant croom, the King, according to
custom, sent Assaphi with four periguins of gold, and a quantity of
expensive cloths and mats to bury him; Assaphi kept the gold, and
substituted inferior cloths of his own. The wife urged the great and
zealous services of her husband to Saï Quamina, and her indignation at
such a mean acknowledgment as the King had sent. Assaphi returned,
reported her gratitude, and that every thing had been handsomely done,
to the credit of the King. The wife privately dug up the cloths buried
with the corpse, and suspecting the fraud, secretly conveyed them to the
King, with a full account. The King sent for Assaphi and again enquiring
the particulars, with seeming indifference, suddenly required him to
swear to the truth, which he advanced to do, when the King said no! you
must not swear, and the woman was immediately discovered to him with all
the cloths. He then confessed the particulars, was stripped of every
thing, and is now the more despised for not killing himself; and the
King could not put him to death, as the direct descendant of one of Saï
Tootoo’s peers. Part of the King’s reproach to him was curious: “my
brother’s linguist did him great good, so when he and my brother, who
now live with God, make God recollect all, and tell him the shame you
put on him for me, in so burying him, God will kill me.”
A man and a woman were beheaded on the 17th of this month, for an
intrigue: the woman was very handsome, and the wife of a captain: on
their being suspected, both were ordered to drink doom, which choking
them, they were immediately executed. The King’s sister sent for Mr.
Tedlie to go and see her, he enquired into her complaint and recommended
some medicine, which she very thankfully agreed to take; he prepared
some for her, and went to give her the proper directions; upon which,
she handed the cup to her husband, who beginning to swallow it very
fast, Mr. Tedlie stopped him, and said he had only prepared sufficient
for one person; the lady replied, “let him drink this to day, and I can
have more to-morrow;” he told her that he had very little medicine, and
could not afford to give it to people that were in good health: she did
not appear pleased with this reasoning. A man of Assiminia, who had
received medicine and advice from Mr. Tedlie on our march up, sent him a
third present about this time, of fruit, vegetables, and wild deer, with
the account that he was quite well.
Apokoo enquired very anxiously, why the King of England had not sent one
of his sons with the presents to the King of Ashantee. He said he had
himself conquered five nations, during the present and the preceding
reign, and he named twenty one nations which now paid tribute to
Ashantee; but he added, there were three countries which would not; two
eastward, and one to the north-west; each of those eastward had defeated
the Ashantees; the one north-westward, on the King sending for tribute,
desired that he would come and take it, and afterwards entirely
destroyed an Ashantee army.
* * * * *
_Akrofroom, Sept. 26_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
THE King only availed himself of our detention to introduce us to fresh
ceremonies, and to augment the testimonies of his friendship. The Amissa
palaver was not attempted, and nothing like design has disclosed itself.
On the Monday there was a general assembly of the caboceers and
captains, the King of Dwabin being present, with his linguists, also
several Dagwumba caboceers, and the Moorish dignitaries. The King
announced the execution of the Treaty by himself and the deputies, and
impressed, in a long speech through his linguists, that he would visit
the least offence against it with the greatest severity. I was then
requested to read it for the last time, and the King’s duplicate was
executed in a similar manner.
In the evening, the King gave us our last audience before all his
superior captains: a letter was dictated, which I shall present to you
on my arrival; and Adoocee, the chief linguist, was formally deputed to
receive Mr. Hutchison’s hand from me, and to place it in the King’s, who
received it with a solemn avowal of his responsibility for the charge.
The linguist then presented from the King,
To the Government, four boys for education.
To the British Museum, six specimens of the goldsmith’s work. (I had
interested the King, by my account of this national repository.)
To the Governor in Chief, one boy, one girl, to be brought up in his
service.
To Mr. Bowdich, one boy, one girl, and 2 oz. 6 ac. of gold.
Mr. Tedlie, one boy, and 1 oz. 4 ac. of gold.
Accra linguist, one cloth, 10 ditto.
Cape Coast linguists, two cloths, 10 ditto.
De Graaff’s messenger, 10 ditto.
The officers servants, 10 ditto.
The soldiers, 10 ditto.
I afterwards received a Sarem cloth and some trifles as a further dash
from Apokoo; one sheep, &c. &c. from Baba the chief of the Moors; and 15
ackies of gold from the King’s linguists, with their acknowledgments of
my firmness during the negotiation.
The King having a palaver at present with the Warsaws, objected so
strongly to our returning through their territory, that after one or two
attempts to over-rule his apprehensions, I found it would be imprudent
to persevere in the wish, although the disappointment was great; the
King assured me the Warsaw path was two days longer, and that he will
not spare any labour on that of Assin directly after the war. I had
permission to go some miles on the Warsaw path, to convince myself of
its neglected condition.
The King’s favorite son (a child about five years old) whom he had
dressed in our uniform for the occasion, was so alarmed at the idea of
being given over to us, that the King’s feelings obliged him to promise
me that he would send the children after me; he is too jealous of the
advantages to allow those of his great men to participate, until his own
family are first distinguished by them.
The King supplied me with bearers, and pressed me to take six hammock
men in case of sickness; he would not hear of pay for any, and persisted
in appointing one of his captains to take care of us. He yielded the
point of an escort reluctantly, which I had combated from the
consideration of the expense of a present to such a number. The King
requested me on taking leave, to wait a short time until his captains
had distributed the powder to salute as on our departure, and it being
then dark, to proceed no further than a small croom just beyond the
marsh, where the people should join us in the morning. The King and his
captains were seated by torch light with all their insignia, without the
palace, and we quitted the capital, preceded by the King’s banners,
discharges of musketry, and every flattering distinction that could be
thought of.
The King has provided one of the best houses for Mr. Hutchison, very
superior to any we could have raised at so short a notice, and has
anticipated every thing to make him comfortable, and respected; nothing
could be more considerate or kind, than his speech to him on my taking
leave.
A messenger of the King of Dwabin’s accompanies me for a suit of our
uniform for the King’s wear, which I could not refuse.
I am, &c. &c.
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
_Coomassie, September 22_, 1817.
SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee, &c. to_ JOHN HOPE SMITH,
_Esquire, Governor in Chief, &c. &c. &c._
SIR,
WE are from this time forth good friends, and I shall send all the trade
I can to Cape Coast Castle, and I hope that you will by and by have
confidence in my word.
I beg you will send my best compliments to the King of England, and
accept them yourself, in proof of my satisfaction of the purposes of the
Embassy, and its happy termination.
You will call all the Fantee caboceers before you, and impress the
importance of the Treaty, and exact their respect of it, as I have from
all my great men and caboceers.
I hope you will always act towards me as a friend, and I shall always be
ready to protect and support the British interests.
I wish you health and happiness, and all my captains send their best
compliments to you.
I am, Sir,
your sincere friend,
The mark X of Saï Tootoo Quamina.
Present,
W. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
I will thank you to impress on the King of England that I have sworn not
to renew the war with the Fantees, out of respect to him, and I shall
consider them as his people. I hope therefore he will, in turn, consider
if he cannot renew the Slave Trade, which will be good for me.
I hope the King of England will now let all foreign vessels come to the
coast to trade, and you must say that the path is now clear to do as
much English trade as your supplies will allow.
* * * * *
The following letter was sent after me, to Doompassie.
_Coomassie, 23d September_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
THE King of Ashantee desires me to request you will write to all the
Governors of English forts, on the African coast, to order the caboceers
of each town, to send a proper person to Cape Coast, and that you will
add one messenger yourself; that they may all proceed to Coomassie to
take the King’s fetish in his presence, that none may plead ignorance of
the Treaty concluded between his Majesty and the British nation.
The King wishes me to express, that he is fully satisfied with the
objects of the Mission, and that the Treaty may be read by me to all the
Fantee deputies you may send for that purpose.
I am, &c. &c.
(Signed) W. HUTCHISON.
* * * * *
My last private letters from Cape Coast Castle had imposed the most
painful anxiety; the two lives naturally beyond all others the dearest
to me, were imminently endangered by the seasoning illness of the
country; one yielded to it before I could arrive, yet, under all the
impatience of my affliction, I must confess, when I took the King’s hand
for the last time, when I reflected on the benevolence, the solicitude,
and the generosity I had experienced whilst my life was in his hands,
affected by the most untoward and irritating political circumstances, by
the aggravated suspicions of his chiefs, and by the poisonous jealousy
of the Moors, there was a painful gratification in the retrospect, which
blended the wish to linger another hour in listening to acknowledgments
of esteem and obligation, more affecting than flattering, and enhanced
by the consoling reflection, that they were the natural emotions of one
of those monarchs we are pleased to call barbarians. Night was coming
on, but as I had so positively declared before the King and his council,
on the former occasion, that nothing should deter me from keeping my
word in quitting Coomassie on this day, it would not do to delay even
until the morning. A strict observance of your word, is every thing in
the eye of a Negro. The King said, he would not beg me to stay, as I had
declared I dared not; he would only ask me to go no further than Ogogoo,
that night, and his people should join me early in the morning. Our exit
was a brilliant scene, from the reflection of the glittering ornaments
of the King and his captains by the torches; they were seated in a deep
and long line, without the palace, accompanied by their retinues; all
their bands burst forth together, as we saluted the King in passing, and
we were enveloped in the smoke of the musketry. The darkness of the
forest was an instantaneous and awful contrast, and the howlings and
screeches of the wild beasts, startled us as we groped our way, as if we
had never heard them before. The torches provided for our protection
against them were extinguished in crossing the marsh, which had swollen
to between four and five feet deep, and the descent to it from Coomassie
was rocky and abrupt. The linguists and soldiers lost themselves in the
forest, and did not arrive at Ogogoo until long after Mr. Tedlie and
myself. The inhabitants were asleep, but they rose cheerfully, cleared
the best house for us, and made fires. The next morning I received the
dash of gold from the King’s linguists, in a Mallowa bag, with a long
compliment; the conclusion of which was, that I must always be ready to
use the same spirit and address, in talking a palaver for the King of
Ashantee, as I had shewn in talking that of my own King. This testimony
of their good feeling and esteem, which they could not avow whilst we
were political antagonists, was grateful.
Marching through Sarrasoo, where we were liberally refreshed with palm
wine, we halted in the evening at Assiminia. We were received with great
hospitality by the principal man, who provided us with excellent
lodging, to his own inconvenience, and presented us with some fowls. The
path was almost a continued bog, for the rainy season had set in
violently. The next day we marched through Dadasey to Doompassie, and
occupied our former comfortable dwelling. One party spent the night in
the woods. Thursday morning, the 6th, we had a short but most fatiguing
march over the mountains dividing the frontiers, to Moisee, the first
Assin town. The difficulty of procuring provisions until the people
returned from the plantations, detained us in Moisee until four o’clock
in the evening. As the stage from Doompassie had been short, (although
fatiguing) I determined to proceed to Akrofroom, as we should gain a day
by it. The Ashantees remonstrated, knowing the swollen state of the
several small rivers, and the aggravated difficulties of the path from
the heavy rain; but I was so apprehensive of being detained, by their
pleading their superstitious observance of good and bad days for
travelling, that I was afraid of seeming to yield to them, lest it might
encourage the disposition. I recommended them to go back, and started
without them, but they were soon at my heels, declaring, they should
lose their heads if they quitted us. Mr. Tedlie, myself, a soldier, and
the Ashantee next in authority under the captain, outwalked the rest of
the party, and found ourselves out of their hearing when it grew dark.
We lost some time in trying to make torches to keep off the beasts, and
to direct us in the right track, for we were walking through a continued
bog, and had long before lost our shoes. A violent tornado ushered in
the night, we could not hear each other holla, and were soon separated;
luckily I found I had one person left with me (the Ashantee) who, after
I had groped him out, tying his cloth tight round his middle, gave me
the other end, and thus plunged along, pulling me after him, through
bogs and rivers, exactly like an owl tied to a duck in a pond. The
thunder, the darkness, and the howlings of the wild beasts were awful,
but the loud and continuing crash of a large tree, which fell very near
us during the storm, was even more so to my ear. The Ashantee had
dragged me along, or rather through, in this manner until I judged it to
be midnight, when, quite exhausted, with the remnants of my clothes
scarcely hanging together, I let go his cloth, and falling on the
ground, was asleep before I could call out to him. I was awoke by this
faithful guide, who had felt me out, and seated me on the trunk of a
tree, with my head resting on his shoulder; he gave me to understand I
must die if I sat there, and we pursued the duck and owl method once
more. In an hour we forded the last river, which had swollen
considerably above my chin, and spread to a great width. This last
labour I considered final, and my drowsiness became so fascinating, that
it seemed to beguile me of every painful thought and apprehension, and
the yielding to it was an exquisite, though momentary pleasure. I
presume I must have slept above an hour, lifted by this humane man from
the bank of the river to a drier corner of the forest, more impervious
to the torrents of rain; when, being awoke, I was surprised to see him
with a companion and a torch; he took me on his back, and in about three
quarters of an hour we reached Akrofroom. This man knew I carried about
me several ounces of gold, for the subsistence of the people, not
trusting to our luggage, which we could not reckon on in such a season
and journey. Exhausted and insensible, my life was in his hands, and
infested as the forest was with wild beasts, he might after such a
night, without suspicion, have reported me as destroyed by them; this
had occurred to me, and was an uneasy feeling as long as my torpor left
me any. It was about two o’clock in the morning, and the inhabitants of
Akrofroom were almost all asleep, for it was too rude a night for Negro
revelry; however, I was directly carried to a dry and clean apartment,
furnished with a brass pan full of water to wash in, some fruits and
palm wine, an excellent bed of mats and cushions, and an abundance of
country cloths to wrap around me, for I was all but naked. After I had
washed, I rolled myself up in the cloths, one after the other, until I
became a gigantic size, and by a profuse perspiration escaped any other
ill than a slight fever. A soldier came up about mid-day, and gave me
some hopes of seeing Mr. Tedlie again, who arrived soon afterwards,
having left his companions in a bog, waiting until he sent them
assistance from the town. Our gratification was mutual, for the only
trace he had had of me was by no means an encouraging one; my servant
meeting an Ashantee in the forest with fragments of my clothes, which he
persisted he had not taken from any person, but picked up on his way.
Mr. Tedlie (whose feet were cut and bruised much more than mine, and
whose wretched plight made him envy the African toga I had assumed)
after we had separated, and the storm had drowned our mutual hollaings,
the howlings of the wild beasts meeting his ears on all sides, had just
determined to roost in a tree for the night, when an Ashantee appeared
with a torch, and conducted him out of the track to the remains of a
shed, where four or five of the people had before strayed and settled
themselves. Another party arrived at Akrofroom about four o’clock, and
the last, with the Cape Coast linguist and the corporal, not until sun
set; they had lost the track altogether, and spent the whole day, as
well as the previous night, in the woods. We made an excellent duck
soup, our grace to which was, “what a luxury to poor Mungo Park;” the
name recalled sufferings which made us laugh at our own as mere
adventures.
On Saturday the 8th we marched to Asharamang. Here we found great
difficulties in getting provisions until the Ashantees came up, for
Quamina Bwa’s knavery had been ascribed to us; and here, panyaring all
we required, he had not given the inhabitants a tokoo of the gold. At
length we were well supplied and comfortably lodged. The next day we
marched through Kickiwherree to Prasoo, where we occupied a good house,
and an Ashantee captain proceeding on an embassy, dashed us a supply of
fowls and yams. We crossed the Boosempra early the next morning, and
thence began to leave the rains behind us. Persevering in making but one
journey of the distances which occupied us two and three days going up,
we pressed forward, passing by our former bivouacs in the woods,
scarcely distinguishable, until we reached the site of Accomfodey, for
only one hut now remained; the wretched inhabitants having deserted it
in terror of the Ashantees. The solitary Fantee who occupied it, had the
address to assure me, that I should find much better lodging at
Ancomassa, where we recollected to have left some comfortable huts going
up, and we resolved to try another stage, and were recompensed by
finding scarcely a wreck of the place, and some tattered sheds only
instead of the sound roof we had quitted. We proceeded early the next
morning, passed Foosou, which was entirely deserted, and marched until
we found ourselves at sun set on the banks of the Aniabirrim. The people
were all behind, and the Ashantees coming up about an hour afterwards,
informed us they had settled themselves for the night about two hours
walk distant. Unfortunately we had no flint, and after fasting all day,
we had the mortification of losing our supper merely for want of a fire;
the wood was all so wet that friction had no effect on it, we could find
no shelter, and a heavy rain set in as it grew dark; fatigue luckily
beguiled us of cold and hunger, and of our apprehensions of a visit from
the beasts, who were howling about the banks of their watering place. I
wrapped myself up in the Inta cloth Apokoo had given me, and wet as the
ground was, I never slept better. Hence the forest visibly declined in
height towards the coast. We pressed on by day light, found some
excellent guavas to allay our hunger, and reaching Mansue, made a good
soup of our fowls, peppers growing luxuriantly all around us. We waited
until we heard of the people behind us, and then proceeded; about five
in the evening I reached Cottacoomacasa, with the Dwabin messenger only.
The place was deserted, and a body of Ashantee traders had occupied the
remaining shed. I would not disturb them, but waiting until sun set for
Mr. Tedlie, I left him a supply of guavas, and proceeded to Payntree.
There was a charm in the name of that place, being but one journey from
the sea, superior to the recollection of the former night’s adventure.
It was a brilliant night, and the dark gloom and hollow echos of the
long vistas of the forest, formed a fine contrast to the extensive areas
(sites of large Fantee crooms destroyed by the Ashantees) into which we
frequently emerged. The wild music and cheerful revelry of the
inhabitants of Payntree stole upon my ear, and raised the tone of my
spirits in proportion as the sounds strengthened.
A loud and continued shout warned me that I was announced; torches and
music instantly encircled me, and I was conducted to old Payntree’s
residence, who had built himself a new house somewhat in the Ashantee
fashion. An excellent bed was prepared for me of an accumulation of mats
and country cloths, and a famous supper of soups, stews, fruit, and palm
wine. Quamina Bootaqua paid his respects, and old Payntree, Amooney King
of Annamaboe, and two or three other caboceers, unknown to me, made a
long adulatory speech, complimenting my ability, bewailing my hardships,
and magnifying their obligations. I was requested to seat myself on old
Payntree’s state stool, whilst they stood around me, and he begged me to
listen to an air composed by his band on the occasion of the embassy,
and its successful termination; “all would now be well, and Fantee
revive and flourish.” I sat up till midnight, vainly expecting Mr.
Tedlie and the soldiers; they awoke me by their arrival before sun rise;
they had passed the night in a sound hut, on the path, which from the
want of a torch had escaped my notice.
Hearing, as I expected, that there was a path from Payntree to Cape
Coast Castle, avoiding Annamaboe (whence the Mission had departed), I
determined to explore it, and Payntree furnished me with a guide. The
country was beautifully diversified with hill and dale, but the soil was
generally lighter and more gravelly than that between Annamaboe and
Payntree. We passed through several groves of guava trees, and all the
other tropical fruits abounded. Occasionally there were small
plantations of Guinea corn, where a few wretched Fantees still lurked in
the ruins of the crooms the Ashantees had destroyed. We passed through
eleven which had been considerable, and now presented but a few mud
houses scattered over extensive sites. Their names were Assequah,
Daöoramong, Amparoo, Taächoo, Coorikirraboo, Perridjoo, Abikarrampa,
Aquoitee, Miensa, and Amosima. The only water was near Amparoo; it was a
large pond nearly two miles in circumference, and sixty yards broad,
impregnated with vegetable matter. After travelling 15 miles, we climbed
some very steep and rocky hills, apparently of iron stone, and descended
into a flat country, continuing until a small rising about two miles
from Cape Coast Castle, (which I judged to be 20 miles from Payntree by
this interior path) opened the sea to our view; as delightful to our
sight, as land would have been after a prolonged and perilous voyage.
The shouts and greetings of the natives were a grateful introduction to
the more congenial congratulations of our countrymen.
[Footnote 13: One piece of silk. 10 handkerchiefs of Dane. 1 umbrella. 4
gallons of rum. 20 lbs. of pork. 1 basket of rice. Biscuit. 1 sheep.]
[Footnote 14: The man who hung himself.]
* * * * *
MISSION TO ASHANTEE.
PART II.
* * * * *
CHAPTER I.
* * * * *
_Geography._
The impression of the Natives that we came “to spy the country” was
sedulously strengthened by the Moors, who were actuated by alarm,
jealousy, and a spirit of intolerance unmitigated by a previous
intercourse with Europeans. I felt compelled, therefore, to suppress all
curiosity for a considerable time, lest the anxiety to detect us in
geographical enquiries, to make their calumny more imposing, might have
been gratified. Latterly, when better feelings had been induced through
patience and candour, as the Moorish charts and MSS. evidence, the
inaptitude rather than the reluctance of the natives, made the shortness
of our stay unaccommodating. I shall pass over a mass of memoranda
recorded on individual report, and only select such, wherein Moors and
natives, unknown to each other, have agreed; describing their travels in
their own way, without my questions anticipating or directing them.
These routes and observations were further confirmed by the evidence of
children, recently arrived as slaves from the various countries, whose
artless replies decided my credence. It may be remarked, that the
children of the African Negroes, early accustomed to travel with their
parents for their convenience or their assistance, and unoccupied by the
difficulties of incipient education, observe nature more attentively
than European children of the same age would; for they have nothing else
to think of, or to divert the fatigue of these reiterated trading
journies: their evidence, therefore, was a genuine and acceptable check
on the Moorish and Negro adults.
The difficulty of adjusting geography by investigation only, is not
diminished by the numerous small states, scarcely less frequent than
those of modern Italy, which we find to compose this part of Western
Africa.
Any thing like observations of the Sun’s place, during a journey, seemed
to be so uncommon to the Natives, and so secondary to the Moors, from
their confused accounts of the occasional changes, that, after expending
much time to no purpose, I was obliged to content myself with placing
the different kingdoms in the same direction as their several paths bore
from Coomassie, taking every precaution to be convinced that the paths
did not cross each other; and afterwards adjusting the positions by the
various auxiliary evidence which occurred in the general course of my
enquiries. I allow 15 miles for each days journey (which, from
observation and report, I have reason to think is the average) and two
thirds of the sum to be made good on the horizontal distance, as we
found this to be nearly the case in our journey from Annamaboe to
Coomassie; the distance travelled being 146 miles, Annamaboe laying in
5° 4′ N., and 1° 43′ W., and the latitude of Coomassie being 6° 34′ 50″
N.; and the longitude 2° 11′ W. by the mean of the observations of the
eclipses of Jupiter’s 1st and 2nd satellites.
I procured the numerals of the various countries whenever I could, to
assist future enquirers.
There are nine great paths leading from Coomassie, the Dwabin, Akim,
Assin, Warsaw, Sauee, Gaman, Soko, Daboia, and Sallagha.
Dwabin is not more than three quarters of a day’s journey eastward from
Coomassie, by the route No. 1.; in which I have retained only the larger
towns, omitting the villages; as I shall invariably. The river Dah is
crossed close to the westward of Dwabin, and said to be as wide as we
found it at Sarrasoo. Two journies beyond Dwabin is a small dependent
district called Mohoo. Several names, such as Meäsee, Marmpon,
Akrofroom, &c. will be found common to different states, as Larissa,
Argos, and Thebes were in antient Greece.
There is an eastern branch of the Akim path, entered immediately on
leaving Coomassie, to a country called Quaöo, northward of Akim, (of
which it seems formerly to have been a district) and adjoining the
Volta. Diabbee is its principal town, and the second Wantomoo, 8
journies from Coomassie by route No. 2. The latter is situated at the
foot of a mountain whence the Boosempra issues, with two smaller rivers,
the Soobirree and Sesee, running to the Kirradee. This district is
entered the 3d day from Coomassie.
There are two routes to Accra through Akim, the capital of which is
Bannasoo, 5 journies, and the northern frontier town Feëa, 3 journies
from Coomassie. The easternmost route to Accra is 15 journies; the other
is made 17 journies to pass near the lake Boosmaquee. This lake, 3
journies from Coomassie, was described as four miles long, and nearly
three broad; upwards of thirty small crooms were reckoned situated
around it, supported by fishing: the water was said to be unpleasant to
drink, and to give a reddish hue to the hair of the people who washed in
it. Fish were forwarded thence daily for the King’s table, by relays of
men. It was called the white mans fetish, there being a popular
superstition, nourished by the Moors, that Europeans were to join it
with the sea, to introduce vessels for the subjugation of the country.
Close to the lake is a mountain called Quashee Boposoo, sometimes seen
clearly from Coomassie, abounding in large black stones, described as
basaltes. By this route (No. 3.) to Accra, the Akim country is entered
the 4th day, the Boosempra is crossed on the 6th, by a tree laid over
it, and the Birrim, by a line and raft on the 12th; it is much wider
than the Boosempra is where we crossed it, and runs to that river,
falling into it just above our crossing. The Aquapim, a clear and
mountainous country, is entered on the 16th day. By the eastern route,
No. 4, the Akim country is entered the 4th day; a large hill called
Abirrawantoo is passed the 9th; thence the Birrim springs, crossing the
path twice before it runs to the Boosempra. Three days westward from
this mountain, is a second, called Papow, in which the Aïnshue or the
Winnebah river rises. A river called Dinshue rises also in this
neighbourhood, running to the Saccomo, which falls into the sea 8 miles
west of Accra. Isert, who visited Aquapim, called the capital Kommang,
but Akropong is so now. The distance from Coomassie to Accra may be
estimated at 230 miles, which bears about the same proportion to the
horizontal distance, as the path we travelled through Assin from
Annamaboe. Dr. Leyden was much imposed on in the extravagant account he
has given of the extent, power, and commerce of Akim,[15] which is
placed in the map accompanying his work, eastward of Dahomey, instead of
westward of the Volta. Dr. Isert was a Danish gentleman, who had the
good fortune to cure the former King of Ashantee’s sister of a lingering
disorder, after she had exhausted all the skill of the fetish women, and
came to Christiansburg Castle in despair. He afterwards expressed his
wish to visit the Ashantee kingdom; and being encouraged, he set out in
June 1786, and staying some days in Aquapim, was just about to enter
Akim, when he was recalled by the Governor. A dangerous illness,
heightened by his disappointment, soon afterwards disgusted him with the
country, and he left it for the West Indies. As Dr. Isert’s letters are
only known in German and Dutch,[16] and he was an industrious and
scientific observer, an extract from his description of the Aquapim
country will be acceptable. I am indebted for a Latin translation of
this and other passages, adduced on different subjects, to Dr. Reynhaut
of Elmina Castle.
“I began my journey early in the morning of the 17th of June, and after
walking two hours I arrived at a little village, picturesquely situated,
named Aschiama. Two hours behind this lies a chain of mountains, which
are composed of granitous stones; flints are but rarely found. The whole
prospect shews itself here in a very different manner to that observed
in sandy countries; the rocks are covered with lofty trees, which are
encompassed with small forests almost impervious. The soil, no longer
sandy, becomes argillaceous, and excellent for vegetation. Behind these
forests I arrived at a Negro village called Abodee, eight leagues from
Christiansburg: the inhabitants of this place are very tenacious of
native ceremony and etiquette. Thence I passed by an irregular path
through the following villages, Fiasso, Fientema, Futu, Mampon, Odaky,
Manno, and Manseng. An hour afterwards I reached a village named
Kommong, the residence of H.R.H. the Duke of Aquapim. Here the country
is charming, though forests are still to be found. Mountains, rocks, and
vallies vary each other in the most striking order; fresh water, so
rarely obtained in maritime countries, is found here of an excellent
quality. Near this village a stream constantly rushes from the summit of
a rock, and affords a fresh and crystalline water. Trees of a very large
circumference are also found; I calculated one of the biggest to be 45
feet round and 15 in diameter. These trees are not the same as those of
which Adanson speaks in his description of Senegal, (Adansonia digitata)
but are of a peculiar species; they much resemble a round tower, as they
do not bear either flowers or fruits. Here I found the Ammonium Grana
Paradisi, the Ammonium Zerumber, and a new genus in a perpendicular tree
ornamented by flowers, which resembled tulips, (Novum Genus Tetandriæ)
and of great elegance: also a new species of aloe, of which the
inhabitants make thread; a new species of citron with indented leaves,
and a multitude of unknown trees and shrubs. In the thickest forests
grows a species of Spanish cane, very straight and well proportioned,
and often attaining six feet in height; it is to be wished that it could
be made use of, treating it as the Chinese do, for if, when dry, an
equal degree of tenacity could be induced, it would prove superior in
quality. I observed, on the boughs of the trees, the Senna plant (which
is parasitic, and consists entirely of a flower), it was almost the
shape of a pine when open, and the inside is of a very deep red; the
Negroes use it in the syphilitic disorder, when first attacked. I took
it for the Aphuteia Hydrora of Thunberg, but on examination it differs
much, as it belongs to Icosandria. Palm trees are here very rare, except
the oliferous (Elois Guineensis) and the viniferous (an Phœnix) which
are cultivated in great numbers; also the true cocoa nut trees (Cocas
nucifera) and the false (an Borassus.) In a word, nature entirely
changes her form as soon as you reach the summit of the chain of
mountains, and I do not believe one twentieth part of the plants found
here are the same as those on the Coast. With regard to natural history,
I was less happy in making discoveries. The elephant, so abundantly
inhabiting the environs of Fidah, (Whydah) and other wild beasts, are
here very rare, which may be attributed to the scarcity of grass, the
growth of which is prevented by the almost impenetrable forests. Several
sorts of birds are here seen, principally paroquets, of which I knew six
species, Psittacus, Erythæus and Pullarius (Linn.) the others seem to be
new, and I also saw a great number of insects of new species. The
mineral kingdom would perhaps be richer if they had mines here. The
rocks are solely composed of rough stones like granite and grens, and
their species; dry quartz and slate stones are often found; on the other
hand I could not discover calcareous earth. The soil is varied, but
consists in general of a rich aluminous earth, traced in different
colours, and of a rich black earth with which sand is never mixed. The
atmosphere seemed more salubrious than on the sea coast, though
physicians generally deny this quality to exist near the forests which
grow in warm climates. I believe the elevated situation of the country
contributes much to it. The Europeans who inhabit the Coast in forts,
would do well to establish an hospital and a garden here. The Arum
Esculentum, the Banana (Musa sapientum) the Ananas (Bromelia Ananas) the
Carica Papaia and Citron all abound here.”
The Assin path is that described in the route from Annamaboe to
Coomassie, it branches off at Foosoo to Ensabra, two journies from
Winnebah, through Anissoo, Asoidroo (the head quarters of the King of
Ashantee in the invasion of 1807) and Atoäperrim, which means “to fire a
gun.” The principal town of Assin is Ansa, through which we passed,
Akrofroom, apparently larger, is called the second. A range of stony
hills is the boundary of Assin and Akim.
The path to Elmina, through the Warsaw country, makes so considerable an
angle to the westward, that the Ashantees invariably declared it
occupied more time to travel than the Assin; it is allowed to be ten
journies at Elmina, by route No. 5. The Dah is crossed the first day at
its town Adahsoo, and in the evening Becquoi (one of the five large
towns built by the Ashantees) is reached. The Dankara country is entered
the third day, the Tufel the fourth, the Warsaw the sixth, the Boosempra
is crossed the tenth day, the Ofim, which skirts this path to the
westward (having received the Dah at Meeäsee) falling into it. The
capital of the Dankara country is four journies westward of Coomassie,
and the frontier is entered the second by route No. 6: it is the most
productive of gold, but has been extravagantly over-rated in Bosman’s
report of its population. The river Seënnee, or, as the Portuguese have
called it, Ancobra, from its serpentine course, has been thought to rise
just beyond the north eastern frontier, but it will presently appear to
be a branch of the Tando of the Ashantees. In the Dutch copies of the
old Portuguese charts, Dankara is placed eastward of Ashantee. The
Warsaw country will be noticed more particularly, in considering the
maritime geography from Cape Coast Castle to the river Assinee.
The Warsaw path has two grand branches, one to Apollonia and one to
Aöwin, each thirteen journies; the former is in the small kingdom of
Amanăheä. The Aöwin country extends from Apollonia to the river Assinee,
five journies in length and three in breadth; it is governed by seven or
eight caboceers, like those of Warsaw, independent of each other: it can
furnish about 5000 soldiers. The numerals of Amanăheä and Aöwin will
appear in an essay on the Fantee language. Both countries are at the
mercy of the Ashantees, who extort gold from them frequently, though
they have not yet fixed the tributes.
Sauëe lies eight journies W.N.W. from Coomassie, and Moinsan fifteen. I
could not procure the routes, but Wom and Sannasee are two of the
largest towns which are passed through.
Buntookoo, the capital of the kingdom of Gaman, is 11 journies N.N.W. of
Coomassie by route No. 7. The river Ofim is crossed the second day, the
Tando the fifth, thence the country becomes open. Yammee, the frontier
town of Gaman, is reached the eighth day. The name of the King of Gaman
is Adinkara; the capital, though not so large, is allowed to be better
built than Coomassie, and the Moorish influence has been longer
established. It is incomparably the richest country in gold, and small
pits were described to me, like those Mr. Park saw at Shrondo. The
numerals are,
One Tah.
Two Noo.
Three Sah.
Four Nah.
Five Taw.
Six Torata.
Seven Toorifeenoo.
Eight Toorifeessa.
Nine Toorifeena.
Ten Noonoo.
The four principal Gaman towns, are Sarem, which some call the capital,
Bandakeeä, Bundoo, and Nasseä, five journies from Kong, and seven from
Buntookoo.
A powerful kingdom called Bahooree, which has hitherto successfully
resisted the Ashantees, was described to be westward, and expected to
afford refuge to the King of Gaman on the approaching invasion.
I had heard it reported that the Tando formed the Assinee river, about
35 miles westward of Cape Apollonia, but a very intelligent Ashantee
satisfied me this was a mistake, arising probably from Seënee being the
native name of the Ancobra, which is formed by one branch of the Tando;
a second running westward. The Tando is not near so large as the
Boosempra, and therefore very unlikely to form so large a river as the
Assinee; the western branch may possibly run into it. Mr. Meredith,
writing from report without sufficiently checking it, has made the Tando
and the Chamah or Boosempra the same; yet, p. 225, he adds, “the Volta
is more probably a branch of the Tando, a large river reported as
running to the eastward, and which the Ashantees are obliged to cross in
coming to the Coast;” he did not reflect that he thus laid down a river
running out of the sea. The Tando, we have seen, is five days northward
of Coomassie, it rises in some rocky hills called Toofeeä, near the
large town Aënkroo, between the Banda and Inta paths.
Soko (formerly a province of Gaman) is 11 journies from Coomassie; and
Banda, four beyond, and a little to the eastward; see route No. 8. The
first day, Tafoo is reached, a large aboriginal Inta town, for, as will
be seen in the historical report, the Ashantees emigrated, and subjected
several Inta districts now forming the northern part of their dominions,
and trenched considerably on that declining kingdom, now entirely at
their mercy. If Mr. Dalzel had reflected, it would have occurred to him,
that the Taffoe, Tafoe, or Tafu of Snelgrave (placed so absurdly in his
map, 60 miles west of the mouth of the Volta) and the In-ta[17] he heard
of at Dahomey, and confounded with Ashantee, were the same: for the In
in In-ta is scarcely audible, and only a slight nasal sound barely
amounting to n, as N-ta; foo is merely an adjunct equal to people or men
in our language, affixed in the present infancy of African language to
all names of countries, as if we always said the Scotchmen or Irishmen,
instead of the Scotch and Irish. The Ofim is crossed one day beyond
Tafoo at its croom Ofeesoo, the Tando four journies beyond at Tandosoo.
Takima is reached the eighth day, whence the Fantees are reported, by
tradition, to have emigrated, and there is yet but little difference in
the languages.
Sixteen journies N.N.E. of Coomassie is Boopee (which I have placed
accordingly in 8° 42′ N. and 1° 19′ W.) the frontier town of Inta,
hitherto confounded with Ashantee, than which it is more populous and
more civilized. The Moorish influence has been long established there,
and almost all its caboceers affect to profess that faith. The river
Adirri, which we shall presently identify with the Volta, is crossed
four hours southward of Boopee, and is described as about 120 yards
broad; it rises eight journies N.W. of Boopee, in a large mountain
called Kondoongooree, one of the mountains of Kong, which were
distinctly and invariably reported not to be a chain, but frequently and
individually scattered, from Kong eastward. Seven journies from
Coomassie, on the Inta route, is the smaller kingdom Coranza (probably
the Corisseno of the old maps) the people of which are of the same
origin as the Ashantees by tradition, but, as the King himself assured
me, of much more genius and aptitude. Three journies from Boopee is
Daboia, the second town of Inta. The first journey is to Minsiroo, where
lions are numerous; the second to Moronko, the inhabitants of which are
so fearful of being carried off as slaves by the Ashantee traders (who
travel in great numbers) that they have no doors to their houses, but
ascending by a ladder, which they immediately draw up, they enter
through the thatch. Close to Moronko is a river, about as large as the
Boosempra, called Adiffofoo. Pahmee, three journies south eastward of
Daboia, and Yabo which I cannot place so precisely, are the alternate
residences of the King of Inta. There is a constant commercial
intercourse between Inta and Dahomey, the frontiers being five journies
apart. The numerals of Inta are
One Koko.
Two Anyoe.
Three Assa.
Four Anna.
Five Annoo.
Six Assee.
Seven Assoonno.
Eight Adoobrooa.
Nine Digrakoono.
Ten Koodoo.
Sallagha, the grand market of the Inta kingdom, is 17 journies north-
eastward from Coomassie, by route No. 10. The first is to Marmpon, one
of the five large towns built by the Ashantees, and possessing palatine
privileges; the second, through five smaller towns to Aphwaguiassie, the
largest market in the Ashantee kingdom; the 9th day the rivers Kirradee
and Oboosoom are crossed, each about 60 yards wide, and flowing so near
together, as to appear one in the rainy season; a high mountain,
Aduarreekennee, is just beyond them, the boundary of Ashantee and
Booroom. The tenth day the river Sennee is forded, which afterwards
enlarges considerably, and runs into the Volta; it rises five journies
from Coomassie (by route No. 11) between the Boopee and Sallagha paths.
The Booroom country is quite open, and the Ashantees give the river the
figurative name of Birrinsoo, which means that its distance is so
deceiving, that you will cry before you reach it. The capital of Booroom
is Guia, a considerable town, noticed in the route to Odentee, a fetish
sanctuary of great repute, and said to be splendidly furnished. The
Ashantee language is spoken very commonly in Booroom, but the vernacular
numerals are
One Ekoo.
Two Enoo.
Three Essa.
Four Enna.
Five Annoo.
Six Esseä.
Seven Assoono.
Eight Aquiay.
Nine Akonno.
Ten Edoo.
The tenth day the Adirri or Volta is crossed, more than a mile wide, but
much interrupted by rocks, and described to be full of hippopotami
(which they call sea elephants,) and alligators. This river divides
Booroom from Inta, Sallagha being one day’s long march from it.
Calculating the 17 journies to Sallagha at 15 miles each, the course as
N.E. by E. and supposing two thirds to be made good on the horizontal
distance, according to our own experience, which gives 170 B. equal to
147 G. miles, Sallagha will lie in latitude 7° 56′ N., and longitude 9″
W. As a check upon this position, it will be necessary to follow the
Adirri or Volta as far as the natives navigate it from Adda, where it is
called the Flou (as the falls of the Senegal.) Isert’s report may be
interesting as an introduction.
“The people of Adda think it derogatory to cultivate land, and live by
fishing, and making salt, which they sell to the people of the Interior.
The Volta has no breakers, and therefore may be presumed to be deep.”
This is an extraordinary mistake; Dalzel says there are high breakers.
Colonel Starrenberg (of Engineers) at Elmina Castle, who went about 60
miles up the Volta, accompanied by a Danish officer and flag, and met
with no impediment so far, but turned back reluctantly in three or four
fathoms of water, observed to me, that he thought the channel between
the breakers about a mile wide. Dalzel mentions an American brig making
good her passage over the bar, on which there is about two fathoms
water; and a Danish schooner has done so since. “An arm goes from the
mouth to Quitta.” This must be the river running from Lagos into the
Volta, near the mouth, as will be shewn in considering the errors in the
maritime geography. “Six English miles from the mouth, it forms a lake
60 miles long and 48 broad, whence an arm extends to Pottriba, 3 miles
eastward of Quitta: in this lake are more than a hundred islands.”
Colonel Starrenberg thought the river widened about 9 British miles from
the mouth, but the number of small islands prevented even ocular
demonstration. So large a lake would certainly have been spoken of by
the natives to Europeans ere this; those whom I have questioned, have
gone up the river to the extreme navigable point, and crossed it in many
parts; and they all declare that at Ascharee, 2 days from Adda, it is
not two miles wide. I never could find either an Ashantee, or a
waterside native, who knew of the arm running to Pottriba, a name they
had not heard of; neither could Col. Starrenberg learn any thing of it;
no branch appeared as far as he went. Isert probably alluded, from
report, to the river Assuafroo, which runs from eastward into the Volta,
7 journies from Adda, as will appear in the natives account. “From May
to December the water is good to drink, being then higher than the sea;
in the other months it is not so, but produces more fish. The river
overflows in July, and August, and the neighbourhood of its banks is
excellent for the cultivation of rice.” Rice is abundantly cultivated in
the Inta kingdom. “Three miles from the sea is an island, called Bird
Island, full of pelicans of peculiar kinds. There is a fish in this
river called hardrass, which, when smoked, is exactly like European
salmon. There are also hippopotami and crocodiles: quantities of oysters
adhere to the mangroves, but when the river is fresh they are good for
nothing. There are a great number of singing birds, and a nightingale
equal to the Polish, which sings in May and December.” Col. Starrenberg
heard a nightingale, but saw only one hippopotamus. There is a kind of
cedar tree, (Avicenniæ nov. spec.) which shoots up many branches from
the ground, about as thick as a pipe, and bare of leaves: this tree is
so very salt in its nature, that in the morning a great quantity of
liquid salt is found on the leaves, chrystallizing in the course of the
day.[18] Amalfee is on an island, 48 miles from the mouth, the
inhabitants of which, and those on the banks of the river, of Agrafee,
Wefee, Tophirree, and Bettoo, call themselves river inhabitants. The
former are the brokers of slaves for the Creppee country, and receive a
vast number from one of its provinces called Acottim, 3 journies
eastward.”
Mr. Meredith could scarcely have enquired about the Creppee or Aquamboe
countries, to have placed them west of the Volta. The natives who carry
salt up the Volta, pull the 1st day, by Agrafee, Foomee, and Tefferee to
Amanfee, on the banks; the 2nd to Dofo on an island; the 3rd, by
Ascharee, on the western bank, to Adomë; the 4th by Assafoo to the
Aquamboe country; the 5th to Sowa; the 6th to Pessee; the 7th by
Appasoo, to Deyatoompon, where a large river flows into the Volta from
the eastward; to Doodee the 8th; to Tombo the 9th; to Akorosoo the 10th;
to Odentee the 11th. Here the river becomes too rocky to proceed
conveniently, and hence to Sallagha by land is 4 journies, through the
large towns Oboëkee, Akuntong, Enkungquakroo, and Apapassee, famous for
making cotton cloth. There is a small state northward, between Aquamboe
and Inta, called Anoöchoo, subject to Ashantee, bordering on which is
Guasoo, the southern district or province of Inta. The Creppee country
borders on Aquamboe eastward, and is independent.
I am not in possession of Colonel Starrenberg’s bearings, but the course
of the river may be pretty well ascertained from fixing the points of
Odentee, Quaöo, and Ascharee. Odentee is 6 journies southward of east
(by route No. 12) from Pattooda, in the Booroom country, and mentioned
in the route to Sallagha. Quaöo, the country where the Boosempra rises,
has already been mentioned as entered 8 journies from Coomassie.
Ascharee, 2 days and a half pull up the river, is reached in 1 day’s
walk from Ningo. The course of the Volta is consequently about W.N.W. to
Quaöo, N.E. by N. to Odentee, and N.W. by Sallagha, which course it
appears to continue to Boopee, if not to its source in the Kondoongooree
mountain. The 10 days pull from Adda to Odentee, and the 4 journies by
land thence to Sallagha, agree very well with the distance and position
of that place, as before calculated by the 17 days route from Coomassie.
The houses of Sallagha and other towns of Inta were mentioned as
peculiar from being round. Leo Africanus observed houses built in the
form of bells at Timbuctoo.
Seven days from Sallagha, N.E. according to the Moors, through the Inta
town of Zongoo, is Yahndi, the capital of Dagwumba, which I have placed,
calculating the course at N.E. by E., and allowing 18 miles for each
journey, as the country is said to be open, in 55′ E. and 8° 38′ N.: the
position is assisted by the common account of its being 8 journies from
Daboia, by route No. 13, and that two obscure, but direct paths to
Daboia and Yahndi, from Coomassie, occupy the first 19 days, and the
latter (described as laying between Daboia and Sallagha) 23 days. Sir
William Young, in his Report of the Geography and History of Northern
Africa, writes, “the Slatees of Old Calebar are said to carry on their
trade to Degombah _northward_,” which also supports my placing it more
to the eastward than it appears in Major Rennel’s map. Yngwa, a district
and large town of Dagwumba, is said to lie 8 days north-westward of
Yahndi, through Sakoigoo; its distance from Daboia, by report 6
journies, places it about N.N.W. Two journies from Daboia, towards
Yngwa, is the river Adiffofoo, about 60 yards wide, running eastward, 2
journies from which is Kooboro, a large Dagwumba town.
North-eastward of Yahndi is Tonomah, of which I do not recollect more
than the name, though I think it is a town and district of Dagwumba. The
kingdom of Tonowah, of which Assentai has been described as the capital
by the Shereef Imhammed,[19] must have been derived from this name,
being otherwise unknown. Three journies north-eastward of Yahndi is
Sokoquo or Ensoko, also a considerable town.
Yahndi is described to be beyond comparison larger than Coomassie, the
houses much better built and ornamented. The Ashantees who had visited
it, told me, they frequently lost themselves in the streets. The King,
Inăna Tanquăree, has been converted by the Moors, who have settled there
in great numbers. Mr. Lucas called it the Mahomedan kingdom of Degomba,
and it was represented to him as peculiarly wealthy and civilized. The
markets of Yahndi are described as animated scenes of commerce,
constantly crowded with merchants from almost all the countries of the
interior. Horses and cattle abound, and immense flocks are possessed
even by the poorer class. The numerals of Dagwumba and Yngwa differing,
I submit both.
_Yngwa._ _Dagwumba._
One Lakoo Yahndo
Two Ayee Ayee
Three Attah Attah
Four Anāhee Nasee
Five Leerennoo Ennoon
Six Ayoboo Yohbee
Seven Ayapaï Poiee
Eight Annee Nehenoo
Nine Awai Whyee
Ten Peä Edoo.
Yahndi is named after the numeral one, from its pre-eminence. Sarem is
the name of a region, including Gaman, Inta, and Dagwumba, so called
from the open nature of those countries.
One day from Sallagha, towards Yahndi, and scarcely one journey westward
from the latter, is the river Laka, described to be as large and as
rapid as the Adirri or Volta, which it joins below Odentee, and may
therefore be safely concluded to be the Assuafroo; for the names of
rivers are very mutable in Africa, each country through which they pass
naturalising them to its own language, and thus increasing the
perplexities of a geography founded on investigation. I could not
procure any authorized account of the northward course of this river,
the best opportunities had escaped me when I heard of it.
Five journies N.E. from Yahndi is the smaller kingdom of Gamba, the
birth place of Baba the chief Moor at Coomassie, and the boundary of the
Ashantee authority, though its influence, through the much respected
medium of Dagwumba, would extend to the Niger. Seven journies northward
of Yngwa is the kingdom of Fobee: the river Koontoorooa is crossed four
days from it, being about half a mile broad, it has an eastern and
western branch, the former running to the Karhala, one day farther,
considerably wider, and the course south-eastward. One journey from the
river is a large mountain called Sarraka, the same distance from Fobee,
the capital of the kingdom. Lakoo, Lamma, Karhala, and Koomada are the
next largest towns. Five journies northward is an independent kingdom
called Chouoocha. The position of Fobee is checked by Goorooma, being 15
journies from it, (a kingdom to be noticed presently in the direct
northern route from Yahndi to Houssa,) and Kawerree only nine, doubtless
Cayree, a kingdom in the route of the Moors from Coomassie to Jinnie.
The numerals of Fobee are
One Koroom.
Two Nalay.
Three Poompevarra.
Four Leetaynalee.
Five Kakwassee.
Six Mannassa.
Seven Noottoosoo.
Eight Borafay.
Nine Pirrifay.
Ten Nanooa.
Five journies from Yngwa is Mosee, a more warlike but less visited
kingdom; it consists of many states, but the superior monarch is named
Billa, and the capital Kookoopella. I place this N.W., because, although
its traders pass through Yngwa, they do not cross the Karhala, or indeed
any river but what they can walk through. The numerals are
One Yimbo.
Two Ayeeboo.
Three Ataboo.
Four Annasee.
Five Annoo.
Six Ayobee.
Seven Owhi.
Eight Ennee.
Nine Aïhopoi.
Ten Peega.
A few days northward of Fobee, through Chamday and Kobafoo, is Calanna,
described as a very large city, rivalling Yahndi as a market, and
situated at the foot of a mountain abounding in iron stone, which they
manufacture for rude purposes in much the same manner as Mr. Park
witnessed at Jeningalla. Calanna is probably the Calanshee of Imhammed,
who told Mr. Lucas that it was a dependency of Tounouwah or Assentai,
situated mid-way between it and the coast, 18 journies from each. The
numerals are
One Kodoom.
Two Naboolla.
Three Naweedazoo.
Four Nabonaza.
Five Nabonoa.
Six Lodoo.
Seven Logwa.
Eight Littaïzoo.
Nine Nako.
Ten Yewoo.
Kumsallahoo I have not attempted to lay down, having no other guide for
placing it than the report that it is one moon’s journey from Dagwumba,
that its traders pass through Mosee, and cross only one river, the
Fachinga, and that not large. The numerals are
One Yumbo.
Two Yeeboo.
Three Tabo.
Four Nasee.
Five Annoo.
Six Yobo.
Seven Poihee.
Eight Nehee.
Nine Wahee.
Ten Pega.
We will now return to Coomassie and proceed northwards to Jinnie, or as
it was generally pronounced, Jennë. This route to Tombuctoo (or
Timbooctoo) is much less frequented by the Moors than that from
Dagwumba, through Houssa. They alledge that the people northward, are
neither so commercial, so civilized, or so wealthy as those north-
eastward. The first 12 journies are to Buntookoo, seven journies whence
is a river called by the natives Coombo, and by the Moors, Zamma; it is
described as half a mile broad, and running westward. I could not find
any Ashantee who had travelled beyond this river, which is the northern
limit of their authority. Five journies eastward of north from the
river, is Kong, the King of which is named Asequoo. A large mountain
called Toolileseena is near the capital, and a small river, Woora, four
journies from it. The kingdom is said to be by no means so wealthy or
powerful as that of Ashantee; the market is supplied from Houssa, the
country is populous, horses numerous, and elephants killed daily. The
people fight with spears, and bows and arrows. Seven journies from Kong
several mountains are passed, called Koonkoori. Mr. Park says, that
“Kong signifies mountain in the Mandingo language, which language is in
use from the frontier of Bambarra to the western sea.” The language of
Kong seems to be a corruption of the Bambarra or Mandingo: the numerals
are
One Kiddee.
Two Filla.
Three Sowa.
Four Nanoo.
Five Looroa.
Six Wora.
Seven Ooranfilla.
Eight Leeaygee.
Nine Konunto.
Ten Tah.
The Ashantees calling all the slaves whom they brought down to the water
side Dunkos, it had been, for many years, naturally concluded that there
was a large country of that name in their neighbourhood. Isert writes,
“the Dunkoers are a people behind Ashantee.” On enquiry, however, I
found to my surprise, that there is no country of that name, but that it
is merely an epithet, synonymous with the barbarian of the Greeks and
Romans, which they apply to all the people of the interior but
themselves, and implies an ignorant fellow. I first suspected this from
observing some Dunkos were cut in the face, and some not, and I
presently discovered their vernacular languages were various, and
unintelligible to each other. Generally speaking, the bush or country
people of Dagwumba have three light cuts on each cheek bone, and three
below, with one horizontal under the eye; those of Yahndi, three deep
continued cuts; the people of Mosee, three very deep and long, and one
under the eye; those of Bornoo are frequently cut in the forehead; of
Marrowa all over the body in fine, small, and intricate patterns. In
Fobee, Kumsallahoo, and Calanna, the lower orders have a hole bored
through the cartilage of the nose. These cuts are made during infancy,
to insinuate fetish liquids to invigorate and preserve the child.
Nine journies northward of Kong is Kaybee, the King of which, named
Mamooroo, killed the former monarch Dabbira. The country was said to be
very populous, the capital behind a mountain called Beseeree, the soil
chalky, and asses as numerous as horses. Three journies from the
frontier of Kaybee, over a large mountain called Seboopoo, and across a
large river, is Kayree, through which country it is very dangerous to
pass, the people laying in ambush in small parties to rob or kidnap
travellers, and subsisting by rapine. Five journies thence is Garoo
(probably Gago[20]) a very powerful kingdom, the King, Batoomo, lives at
Netaquolla. Twenty journies beyond is the kingdom of Doowarra, the
people of which are indifferent warriors, but superior agriculturists,
and plant extensively; the soil is red earth. A smaller kingdom called
Filladoo or Firrasoo, is in the neighbourhood. Five journies north of
Doowarra is the Niger, and on an island, about a mile from the southern
bank, is Jennë. The route from Kong to Jennë is the only one which has
not been checked by Negro evidence, but I had reason to think well of
the Moor who furnished it, who never contradicted himself, though
repeatedly cross questioned during the four months I was at Coomassie.
The places reported to Mr. Park on this route, it is true, are none of
them mentioned, but, probably, the people who were insuperably adverse
to his proceeding, were the least likely to satisfy his curiosity but by
imposing on him.[21] Mr. Park in his route from Sego to Bædoo, has a
town called Doowassoo, only four journies from Sego; but I was assured
repeatedly that Doowarra is a powerful kingdom. In the first Mission,
Mr. Park reported the kingdom of Gotto to be so close to the Niger, that
its chief, Moösee, embarked on it to attack Jinnie, and Major Rennell
has placed it accordingly: but, in the second, he writes, “one month’s
travel south of Bædoo,” (which he makes 30 journies southward of Sego)
“through the kingdom of Gotto, will bring the traveller to the country
of the Christians, who have their houses on the banks of the Ba Sea
Feena.” He says the Ba Nimma rises in the Kong mountains south of
Marraboo, but does not mention the kingdom of Kong in his route, which
is about one moon’s travel from the sea, as he has described Bædoo to
be. Now it is very unlikely, if Bædoo had been but 20 journies from
Coomassie, that we should not have heard of it; and it is next to
impossible, that if any kingdom called Gotto laid still nearer, (which
it must have done, to have been passed through from Bædoo to the sea)
that it should have been unknown. Indeed, if the kingdom of Bambarra
extended 28 days south of Sego, as appears by the route given to Mr.
Park, the Ashantees would not have spoken of it from mere report, but
would probably have become acquainted with it, either through war,
commerce, or negotiation. It is a little extraordinary that the kingdom
of Ashantee, reported as eminently powerful to Mr. Lucas even so far
distant as Mesurata, and which must be well known in the neighbourhood
of Jennë, from the number of Moors who visit it from that city, should
not even have been noticed to Mr. Park in this southern route from Silla
or Sego to the sea. Mr. Park writes of the Moors not being able to
subject Jinbala; I believe they insinuate themselves as residents every
where, but I could not hear of their having established themselves by
force, or of their composing even the greater part of a population any
where.[22]
Having reached the Niger it is time to observe, that it is only known to
the Moors by the name of Quolla, pronounced rather as Quorra by the
Negroes, who, from whatever countries they came, all spoke of this as
the largest river they knew; and it was the grand feature in all the
routes (whether from Houssa, Bornoo, or the intermediate countries) to
Ashantee. Mr. Horneman wrote that the Niger, in some parts of Houssa,
was called _Gaora_, which must sound very like Quorra. The Niger, after
leaving the lake Dibbir, was invariably described as dividing in two
large streams; the Quolla, the greater, pursuing its course south-
eastward until it joined the Bahr Abiad, and the other branch running
northward of east near Timbuctoo, and dividing again soon afterwards;
the smaller stream running northwards by Yahoodee, a place of great
trade,[23] and the larger turning directly eastward, and increasing
considerably, running to the lake Caudi or Cadi under the name of
Gambaroo.[24] The Moors call the branch running by Timbuctoo the
Jolliba, I presume figuratively, as a great water, for I was assured by
a native of Jennë, who had frequently visited Timbuctoo, that this
branch was called Zah-mer by the Negroes.[25]
The variety of the concurrent evidence respecting the Gambaroo,
certainly made an impression on my mind almost amounting to conviction.
De Lisle, in his map of Africa for the use of Louis XV, (the accuracy of
which in one point where our latest charts are in error, the Lagos
river, will be shewn towards the close of this Report) makes a branch
from the Niger running near Timbuctoo; and what is even more to the
point, writes “Gambarou ou Niger.” It was not till sometime after my
return from Ashantee, that I unexpectedly discovered this solitary
European record of such a name, and it will at least be allowed that so
respectable a character as De Lisle, would neither have laid down the
branch from the Niger (for it is as likely to be so in the absence of
explanation, as a river running into it) without some authority, nor
have invented the name Gambarou: and it will also be allowed, that he
must have heard of it as being a very large river, to have confounded it
with the Niger. De Lisle has preserved most of the names reported to me,
more closely than any other geographer.[26] In the judicious compendium
of Mr. Murray, I observe the following note. “It is but justice to
D’Anville to say, that in his map of central Africa, inserted in the
26th volume of the Academie des Inscriptions, he has represented a river
passing close to Timbuctoo, running S.W., and falling into the Niger.
This delineation has not been copied by others, but it is not the less
probable that that excellent geographer may have had positive
information on which to found it.” Now, I may presume, this is only
recorded in delineation, and not noticed by D’Anville in the text, or,
his authority would have appeared. I shall be indulged in such a
conjecture, when it is recollected I am writing where I cannot satisfy
myself, in a place destitute of literary facilities. If it is only to be
found in the delineation, it is of course, as likely to be a branch
running N.E. from the Niger, as a river running S.W. into it. Mr. Park
has described the Niger as dividing into two large branches after
leaving Dibbie, and their re-union has been admitted by considerate
investigators, to be a very improbable addition to that report.[27] Sidi
Hamet assigns no course to the great river which he described as about
an hour’s ride with a camel south of Timbuctoo, and distinguished from
the Niger, or, as he called it, Zolilib, by saying the latter was two
hours ride. Adams placed La-mar-Zarah, about three quarters of a mile
wide, two miles south of the town, without hesitation, but he only
_conceived_ that the course was S.W.[28] Leo, ambiguous as the context
may be, certainly writes that there is a _branch_ of the Niger passing
Timbuctoo, “Vicino a un ramo del Niger.” Mr. Beaufoy’s Moor says that
below Ghinea is the sea into which the river of Tombuctoo disembogues
itself; on which Major Rennell observes, “by the word sea, it is well
known the Arabs mean to express a lake also:” this river of Timbuctoo
is, doubtless, the branch of the Niger forming the Gambaroo, and the sea
below Ghinea, the lake Caude. In the Description de l’Afrique, traduite
du Flamand, D’O. Dapper, à Amsterdam, 1686, I find “Ce Royaume de Tombut
ou Tongbutu environ à quatre lieuës _d’un bras_ du Niger.” The account,
to be submitted presently, that this branch of the Niger passing
Timbuctoo is not crossed until the third day going from Timbuctoo to
Houssa, is not an argument against its identity with the Zarah of Adams,
or the river of Sidi Hamet, only two or three miles from the city;
because, giving a northerly course to the branch, and Houssa laying
north eastward 20 journies from Timbuctoo, as will be shewn presently,
the direction of the path would not require the river to be crossed
immediately, but, evidently, not till the second or third day.
De Barros, who considered the Senegal to be the Niger, wrote, that it
received various names,[29] and was called by the Caragoles
(Serawoollies) Collë; on which Mr. Murray reasonably observes, “this
name seems readily convertible into Joli-ba, the latter syllable being
merely an adjunct, meaning a river:” this I was also given to
understand. Now, if the name Joliba had not been reported on the
authority of Mr. Park, I might submit that Collë is more readily
convertible into Quolla, which approximating even more closely to Kulla,
seems to identify the Collë and Kulla under the common name of
Quolla.[30] Mr. Park in his memoir to Lord Camden, writes, “the river of
Dar Kulla, mentioned by Mr. Browne, is generally supposed to be the
Niger, or at least to have a communication with that river.” The name
and course of the Quolla suggested this to me before I observed the
above remark, which I did not until my return.[31] Other arguments will
presently appear for the identity of the Kulla and the Niger.[32]
The Gambaroo seems to me to identify the Gir of Ptolemy,[33] carried by
him into the centre of Africa, and which would appear as large as the
Niger by the expression, “maximi sunt Gir et Nigir.” The river of
Bornoo, hitherto assumed, is not adequate to the impression Ptolemy
conveys, and the names “Gir et Nigir,” seem to indicate a connection.
The Niger may be considered to terminate when the smaller stream is lost
in the Nile.
Concerning the source of the Niger, there was a difference of opinion
amongst the Moors, and not the least notion amongst the Negroes. Some
said that it rose in Bambooch, meaning, as I presume, Bambouk, and
others in Jabowa, where they described another large river to rise also,
running westward. Jabowa was said to be 40 journies from Sego, and
Bambooch 43.
From Jabowa the Niger was described to run to Fouta Gollabi, and in six
days thence to Fouta Towra; the Moors must certainly have meant Foota
Galla, and Footatora, for their pronunciation was more imperfect than
their knowledge of the native names westward, whither they rarely
travelled. I induced a Moor on each side the question, and of different
countries, to draw in my quarters, unknown to each other, what they
called a chart of the Quolla, for the sake of preserving the several
names in their own writing. They were only inferior to one Moor, from
whom I never had an opportunity of inducing a chart. Both parties met,
apparently, at Hasoo, as will be seen by submitting the names.[34]
_Bambooch._ _Jabowa._
_Journies._
10 to Gadima, probably Gadoo, little more than 6
journies from the capital of Bambook, according
to Major Rennell.
20 to Hasoo Hasoowa.
4 to Jaoora Jaoona.
2 to Jamoo Gamsoö.
5 to Mallaïa Mallaïu.
2 to Shégo Sego.
Sego was correctly described according to Mr. Park, and the death of the
monarch he first knew spontaneously mentioned, with his warlike
disposition, and great power. Mr. Park observes that he found the
language of Bambarra a sort of corrupted Mandingo; this confirms the
numerals repeated to me as the Bambarra:
_Bambarra._ _Mandingo._
One Killi Killin.
Two Foolla Foola.
Three Sabba Sabba.
Four Nani Nani.
Five Looroo Looloo.
Six Wora Woro.
Seven Worroola Oronglo.
Eight Sagi Sie.
Nine Konunto Konunto.
Ten Ta Tang.
From Sego to Sansanding was called one journey, from Sansanding to Jennë
three. Jennë was described as on an island of the Niger, the town
considerable, and fortified, and with large houses to pray in. I did not
understand that it was subject to Timbuctoo; it certainly has a distinct
monarch, who was called Malaï Smaera, and the head Moor, Malaï Bacharoo.
From Jennë through Dibbir, at the entrance of which is Sanina, to
Kabarra or Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo (half a day’s walk from it) is a
voyage of 20 days. By land, it was only 12 journies, through Mashena
(Masina) Farrimabbie, Jimballa (the Jinbala of Mr. Park, which they
persisted was not on an island of the Niger, but on the northern bank of
it) Taäkim, Assoofoo, Zeddaï, Douraï (probably the Downie in Major
Rennell’s map) Matarooch, and Makkasoorfoo, probably the Soorka’s, whom
Mr. Park mentioned as inhabiting the northern bank of the river between
Jinnie and Timbuctoo: he also writes that it is 12 journies by land from
Jinnie to Timbuctoo. The horizontal distance from Jennë to Jimballa, on
Major Rennell’s map is about 100 B. miles, and thence to Timbuctoo 90
more. Now 12 journies at 18 miles, give but a horizontal distance of 144
B. miles, wherefore, I should think the northern bank of the lake
Dibbir, is not so high as it has been hitherto drawn, and the path so
distant as not to be deflected by any curve of the lake. Timbuctoo was
described as a large city, but inferior to Houssa, and not comparable
with Bornoo. The Moorish influence was said to be powerful, but not
superior. A small river goes nearly round the town, overflowing in the
rains, and obliging the people of the suburbs to move to an eminence in
the centre of the town, where the King lives. This is, probably, the
smaller river described by Sidi Hamet as close to the town. Leo says,
when the Niger rises, the waters flow through certain canals to the
city. There were very few muskets to be seen; the King, a Moorish Negro
called Billabahada, had a few double barrelled guns, which were only
fired at customs, and gunpowder was almost as valuable as gold. The two
latter circumstances, besides the name of the river, were all that I
recognised in their reports confirming the description given by Adams,
which I conceive to be as inadequate as those collected by Mr. Jackson
are extravagant.[35] The three last Kings before Billa, were Osamana,
Dawoolloo, and Abass. Mr. Jackson says there was a King Woollo reigning
in 1800, and a Moor who had come from Timbuctoo to Coomassie ten years
ago, did not know King Woollo (Adams’s King) was dead, as he was
reigning at the time he left Timbuctoo. Abass probably had a short reign
like Saï Apokoo the second. This Moor also said that Woollo’s favourite
wife (called by Adams, Fatima) was named Fatooma Allizato. The editor of
Adams shews that the name of Fatima, affords in itself no proof that its
possessor was Moorish, or even a Mohammedan woman. I think it is
probably derived from a numeral, for it answers to five in the numerals
of Garangi (a country described to be northwards of Jennë) which are
One Kerriminna.
Two Ferriminna.
Three Sowaninna.
Four Firrima.
Five Fahtima.
Six Tata.
Seven Mannima.
Eight Pirima.
Nine Missirĭma.
Ten Guahee.
Numerals are frequently added to names in Ashantee.
Perhaps the old ms. which I purchased with difficulty from a Jennë Moor,
will recompense the translator by a fuller account, but I fear religion
only is the subject. It contains thirteen pages, with some marginal
notes in a different hand. I should have observed, that, generally
speaking, I found the Moors very cautious in their accounts, declining
to speak unless they were positive, and frequently referring doubtful
points to others whom they knew to be better acquainted with them. I did
not succeed in procuring the numerals of Timbuctoo, but the language is
different from that of Houssa, as the words opposed to those recollected
by Adams will shew:
_Timbuctoo._ _Houssa._
Man Jungo Motoo.
Woman Jumpsa Motee.
Camel So Rakoomee.
Dog Killab Karree.
Cow Fallee Saneä.
House Dah Garree.
Water Boca Looa.
Tree Carna Leeseeä.
Gold Or Jennarreä.
A Moor Seckar Bibay.
From Timbuctoo[36] to Houssa is 20 journies; the three first through a
woody country, and over the branch of the Niger to Azibbie, the frontier
town. Houssa was said to be the largest city north or south of the
Quolla, except Bornoo; the Moorish influence to have been established
there beyond memory, and the King’s name Serragkee. Cabi is not the name
of the kingdom, but of a large dependent town and district on the Niger.
Mallowa, or Marrowa, as the Negroes pronounce it, (for they seemed
invariably to substitute _r_ for the _l_ of the Moors, as Quorra for
Quolla)[37] is the next extensive in its limits to Bornoo. It is, no
doubt, the kingdom of Mellè, misplaced by Leo, and reported to Cadamosto
in 1455, as 30 journies beyond Timbuctoo. Major Rennell observes, “we
should naturally look for it on the eastward of Timbuctoo,” and it has
only been placed south eastward, and south of the Niger, because Edrisi
has a city called Malel thereabouts, though he calls the name of the
kingdom of which it is the capital Lamlam, which Hartman would reconcile
by supposing it to be a transposition of Malel, certainly a forced
conjecture.[38] A large town called Mahalaba is the nearest I have found
to Malel, to be noticed on the route from Dagwumba to the Niger.[39] In
speaking of all fortified cities, the negroes of Mallowa invariably
prefixed Berinnë or Brinnë to the name, as an indication that they were
so; this was always the case in mentioning Houssa, Cabi, Cassina,
Katinna, &c. &c. I shall place the numerals of Cassina, as written by
Mr. Lucas after the Shereef Imhammed, to the right of those of Houssa or
Mallowa, from their close affinity, perhaps identity; for this language
is spoken far eastward, and the Shereef, as we shall presently see, was
rather inaccurate in his recollection of the numerals of Bornoo.
One Daia Deiyah.
Two Beeyoo Beeyou.
Three Okoo Okoo.
Four Odoo Foodoo.
Five Beä Beat.
Six Seddah Sheedah.
Seven Becquay Bookai.
Eight Tacquass Takoos.
Nine Tarra Tarrah.
Ten Gwoma Goumah.
Two large lakes were described close to the northward of Houssa, one
called Balahar Soudan, and the other Girrigi Marragasee. Calculating the
20 journies from Timbuctoo at 18 miles each, supposing two-thirds to be
made good on the horizontal distance (equal to 212 g. miles) and the
course N.E., I have placed Houssa, 18° 59′ N. and 3° 59′ E. This agrees
pretty well with the account of its being 17 journies from the Niger, or
Quolla, which give 306 B. miles, and the horizontal distance 176 g.
miles. Houssa has hitherto been laid down about 2 journies N. of the
Niger. I have an impression that the city of Houssa will be found to lay
about E.N.E. of Timbuctoo, of course nearer the Gambaroo, which runs
through its dominions, and thus account for the reports of its being
situated upon the Niger. Leo certainly meant Mallowa and the Gambaroo,
when he wrote, “Melli regio quæ extendit se ad flumen quoddam quod ex
Nilo (i.e. Nigro) effluit trecenta millia passuum,” adding, “regnum
opulentissimum, maximè artificum et mercatorum copia, frequentia templa,
sacerdotes et populus qui Nigritas omnes civilitate antecedunt;” which
they certainly appear to do: see a few of their articles for the British
Museum. May not the Maurali of Ptolemy be the Melli of Leo, and the
modern Mallowa or Marrowa? his large adjunct to the Niger to the south
indicates the two rivers. Major Rennell seems to have expected the
present discovery, when he writes (commenting on Mr. Park’s report that
Houssa was 30 journies by land from Tombuctoo, and 45 by water)
“Possibly it may be that Houssa is situated on a different river from
that which passes by Tombuctoo (the Joliba,) but which may be an adjunct
of it, and may run into it in the quarter of Tombuctoo.” In Dapper’s
translation of the Description De l’Afrique du Flamand, 1686, I find
“Cette contreé (Melli) s’etend environ cent lieuës _le long d’un bras_
du Niger.”
Tarrabaleese, 50 journies westward of north, was much spoken of from the
number of its market places. This must be Tripoli, the Arabic corruption
of which is Trabŏlis. The Moors gave me a route to Tunis or Toonis, but
I cannot recognise any name in Major Rennell’s map, (which I could not
procure until my return,) unless Sabbai be Sebba, and Mookanassa
Mourzouk, in Fezzan. There is also another route eastward which I cannot
trace. See Appendix.
From Kabarra the Quolla, continuing its course southward of east, passed
by Uzzalin, Googara,[40] Koolmanna, Gauw, Tokogirri, (perhaps the Tokrur
of Edrisi and Gatterer) Askeä, Zabirmë, and Cabi to Yaoora, which I
imagine to be the Youri of Major Rennell’s map.[41] De Lisle places a
kingdom, Yaouree, south of the Niger. It is a very celebrated ferry,
occurring in a variety of routes from the north of the Quolla to
Ashantee, spoken of always as westward of Cassina, and with little
variation as 25 journies from Timbuctoo. Now as the Moors called it one
day’s journey from Sego to Sansanding, and Mr. Park made it scarcely
more, I will assume this as the rule to calculate the distance from
Timbuctoo to Yaooree, and afterwards consider its place according to the
routes from Dagwumba, through it, to Cassina. Twenty five journies from
Timbuctoo would place Yaoora about 70 miles above the Berrisa in Major
Rennell’s map, but this makes the horizontal distance from Yaoora to
Dagwumba about 850 B. miles, and therefore too great for 42 journies,
the greatest number allowed in the routes from Dagwumba to Yaoora.