Annamaboe--State of the Fort--Indolence of the Natives, and Difficulty
in procuring Labourers--Domestic Slavery--Missionary Schools--Want
of Education in the Useful Arts--Hints on this Subject--Vegetables
and Fruits--Town of Annamaboe--Soil--Natives--Reception of me by the
King, and Conversation with him--Mr. Brewe--Mr. Parker--Excessive
Heat--Little Cromantine, its impregnable Situation--The
Fort--Cromantine--The Market-place--Extraordinary Tradition--Wonderful
Dwarf--An Adventure--Accra--Wesleyan Missionaries--Natives--their
Habitations--Wives and Slaves--Situation of the Town, and Soil.
On Monday, 23d of November, 1844, Mr. T. Hutton and I started from
Cape Coast for Annamaboe, a town of considerable trade on the coast,
about thirteen miles from Cape Coast Castle, from which its magnetic
bearing is about due east. It has also a very good fort, which,
however, is gradually going to decay. Its ramparts are well supplied
with artillery, and capable of making a good defence against an attack
from the sea, if properly garrisoned, and it is quite impregnable by
the natives from the land, or north side. It was at this place that the
Ashantees made so determined an attack, and an attempt to blow up the
gate of the fort. They, however, failed in all their attempts during
the late war of 1817. There are at present only two or three private
soldiers and a sergeant of militia in charge of the garrison. Some of
the apartments in the garrison are in a pretty good state of repair,
and might be very profitably used in more ways than one, if from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred militia-men were stationed here, and
employed by turns in managing a farm in the immediate neighbourhood:
the soil is capable of producing every thing necessary for the support
of the garrison. In three or four years, on such a plan, this garrison
would pay its own expenses.
The native kings or chiefs, and caboceers, are never to be depended
upon; and even the humblest of the natives, when they imagine they have
any power, although naturally great cowards, will bully and be very
insolent. The natives are so lazy that at times the merchants cannot,
without great difficulty, get men to load or unload their ships. This
is a very serious grievance, and often exposes our merchants to great
difficulties as well as loss. Were our merchants allowed to hold as
many slaves as are requisite for the performance of domestic duties,
and the carrying on of their business, it would act as a check to the
exportation of slaves.
I have minutely observed and inquired into the state and condition of
domestic slavery amongst the native caboceers, and I solemnly declare
that their condition is much superior to that of our English peasantry.
One English labourer, on an average, does more work than any twelve
Africans; and the provision of the latter being so cheap (one penny per
day is sufficient for their support), they have always plenty to eat.
I am writing from actual observation, having had for three months a
number of hired men under my charge.
Another evil arising from the same cause, is, that if a man is urged
to do anything like a tenth part of a day’s work, he will go away, and
steal sufficient to maintain him for some time; consequently, the towns
on the coast abound with thieves and vagabonds, who will not work. Had
domestic slavery (or rather I may call it service) been tolerated, our
merchants would have been encouraged to enter upon other speculations,
such as agriculture, and even trades; since many of our merchants, who
constantly employ five or six native and European carpenters, would
put their slaves to learn a trade, whereas they have now no motive for
doing so. Besides, the holders of domestic slaves would use all their
influence in abolishing the removal of slaves into another country.
In Elmina the Dutch settlers still hold their domestic slaves, and
they are in a thriving condition. In its immediate neighbourhood I
was surprised to find several fine gardens and plantations, belonging
to different merchants established there. Moreover, the surrounding
country is well cleared of wood for a considerable distance, which
renders that settlement much more healthy than Cape Coast, or any of
our English stations. Although no man detests the Slave Trade more than
myself, I cannot help feeling convinced that much evil to the natives
as well as to the merchants has arisen from the abolition of domestic
slavery in our African settlements.
Another evil I also believe to be this. In all our Missionary Schools,
reading and writing, with a slight knowledge of arithmetic, is all that
is taught. By this, undoubtedly, much good is done; but much more would
be done, if these schools were also schools of industry. When a boy has
left school in this country, you never see him reading a book, or even
looking at a newspaper. All that these young men aspire to, is to get
something in the fashion of European clothing, and to seek employment
as clerks. I have already seen great numbers, who have been dismissed
from school, and can write a little. They then consider themselves
gentlemen, and their ideas are above anything under a clerk’s place.
Now, it is well known, that among the few merchants established on
the coast, employment as clerks cannot be afforded to as many as are
desirous of such a situation.
I will, therefore, endeavour to point out a remedy for this evil, which
would, I think, not only benefit this class of individuals, but the
country at large, as well as our manufacturers in England:--I mean, the
establishment of schools of industry on a scale similar to that which
I have recommended for the garrison at Annamaboe. Let a suitable piece
of land be selected, which any one may have for nothing; build upon it
dwelling-houses and offices, as well as workshops, which could soon
be done in this country, if the people could be induced to work. Men
willing to become apprentices to different trades should be selected,
and bound to bricklayers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, weavers,
wheelwrights, and cabinet-makers, for three or five years, as might be
deemed most proper. These men might assist in building their dwellings
and shops, before they began to learn their trades, which some of them
would do by employment in this very work. Sufficient ground should also
be enclosed for raising such food as is necessary for the support of
these labourers.
Every article of subsistence is abundantly produced in this country,
and many luxuries, such as sugar and coffee. Vegetables, and great
quantities of fruit, grow spontaneously. Civilization might thus be
begun, but it could hardly be permanently advanced without a recourse
to arms. The Kings of Apollonia and Ashantee possess too much arbitrary
power to be withdrawn from their cruel and barbarous habits by any
other means than the sword; and it is said, that very many other chiefs
and kings are in the daily habit of making human sacrifices.
Although Annamaboe has been already often described, a few remarks
upon it will not perhaps be unacceptable. Behind the fort, or on its
north side, is a piece of ground about two hundred yards square, round
which are built some very good houses, with their stores, belonging
to English and native merchants. These houses and the mission-house
are the only buildings worthy of notice, except the King’s house. This
is new, and copied from those of the merchants; it is not, however,
yet finished, and very probably never will be, in consequence of the
extreme indolence of the people. The town may, perhaps, contain about
three thousand inhabitants, and consists (with the exception of the
houses already mentioned) of dwellings irregularly huddled together,
generally built round a square of about seven yards each way, with
only one outer entrance, each house opening into the square, and
forming its sides. Some of the principal houses of this description
have benches running along the outside wall inside of the square. These
benches are made of fine clay, in the form of sofas, and are handsomely
coloured with clay of a different colour. It is here that they hold
their palavers, all being seated around; the head man, or caboceer, is
generally placed on a seat raised above the rest.
Although the soil in the neighbourhood of Annamaboe is excellent, yet
it is very little cultivated; the natives chiefly depend upon the
people in the woods for their corn and yams, vegetables and fruit,
which are got in exchange for fish, a very plentiful article on the
coast at certain seasons of the year.
The only thing in the neighbourhood of Annamaboe worth mentioning as a
sign of either improvement or enterprise, is a good road for about ten
or twelve miles into the interior, made for the purpose of conveying
timber to the coast. This great undertaking was executed entirely at
the expense of one person, a very intelligent and highly respectable
native merchant, named Barns; but since the abolition of domestic
slavery, he, unfortunately, cannot obtain labourers to carry on the
timber-trade; though he has procured from England timber-carriages and
every thing requisite--all is sacrificed. In fact, a complete check is
now put upon every effort of enterprise by the abolition of domestic
slavery. These slaves were much better provided for than our labourers
in England, for they had always plenty of food and clothing, and were
never exposed in bad weather, nor was one quarter of the labour ever
required from them that would be expected in England.
The natives of Annamaboe are in character much the same as those at
Cape Coast, and many of them are thieves and vagabonds. During my
short stay there my servant’s country cloth was stolen off him in the
night. When inquiry was made for it every one denied all knowledge of
the theft; however, on a closer search, the cloth was found rolled up
tightly under the head of one of the servants of the house where I
lodged. I had him well flogged; but nothing will cure these people of
thieving, except a tread-mill for they fear nothing so much as labour.
During my stay at Annamaboe, the King sent me a pressing invitation
to pay him a visit, and in order to appear before his Majesty in a
suitable manner, I was advised by the merchants to send to Cape Coast
for my regimentals. On the following day I paid him a visit in my
uniform, with which he seemed much delighted. Having previously learnt
that I belonged to Her Majesty’s Life Guards, he asked me a great
many questions respecting the Queen of England--how she was when I
left England? and if Prince Albert was quite well? how many children
she had? how long she had been married? and what were their titles? He
laughed heartily when I informed him that Her Majesty had five children
in so short a time, and asked me how I accounted for the English ladies
being so prolific? Upon which I told him that the reason was, that in
England one man had only one wife: he could not be persuaded, however,
that one wife was sufficient for one man.
I experienced great kindness during my stay at Annamaboe from the
merchants of that place, both English and native; and was indebted,
during the whole of my visit there, to the hospitality of Mr. Brewe, a
very respectable and enterprising merchant.
Among the native merchants I may justly point out Mr. Parker, who,
though educated in Africa, would appear with advantage even in Europe.
His memory is astonishing; he has read a great deal, and has a very
good library of the best English writers. With regard to reading,
indeed, he is an exception to the rest of his countrymen, owing, I
believe, principally to their erroneous system of education.
November 30th.--I took my departure from Annamaboe, to visit the
krooms[4] along the coast. Three quarters of a mile from Annamaboe, we
reached a small village of about four hundred inhabitants, named Agah,
and bearing E. 2° N. from Annamaboe. My companion, Mr. Brewe, being
well acquainted with the King, or chief, I was introduced to him, and
he expressed his gratification at seeing me in his kroom, and desired
us to enter his house, and partake of some palm wine, or peto.[5] But
having a long and difficult journey to perform in the scorching sun,
we excused ourselves, and proceeded on our journey to the next kroom,
which is three miles and a quarter from Annamaboe. Our road was along
the beach, on dry sand, ankle deep, and in the sun, with a heat of
118° Fahrenheit, which rendered it very fatiguing for people on foot.
However, in an hour and a quarter we reached the kroom called Little
Cromantine, formerly a Dutch settlement of considerable trade, bearing
E. 2° N. from Annamaboe. It has a strong fort, although now abandoned
and going to decay; consequently its trade has also gone to Annamaboe.
The fort is in one of the best positions on the whole of the African
coast. It is built on a perpendicular rock one hundred feet high,
washed at its base by the sea. It is so steep as to be accessible by
land only by means of a zigzag path, and yet its garrison surrendered
without resistance to the Ashantees, when they might have defended
themselves against any number of assailants. Its courtyard is entirely
overgrown with small shrubs; but there still remain on the batteries
twenty-four good twenty-four pounders.
This fort might be easily put into complete repair. The village
contains not more than five or six hundred inhabitants, who live
chiefly by catching fish, which they carry to Annamaboe. It is a
wretched kroom. The houses are very indifferently built, without any
regularity; and in passing from house to house, you must climb over one
rugged rock after another, as is sometimes the case on the sea-beach in
England.
After surveying the fort and village, we commenced our march towards
Cromantine, from which the last-named kroom derives its name. It is two
miles and a half distant, bearing by compass E. 1° N. The road being
very bad, we did not reach it until about ten o’clock. The entrance to
the town is very steep, as it is elevated one hundred feet above Little
Cromantine. Its situation is very grand and romantic. On suddenly
emerging from a very narrow path, about the width of a sheep-track,
and six feet deep, the town presents itself in full view on the
right front, and immediately on the right is a steep ravine, thickly
planted with the beautiful plantain and banana trees, the cool aspect
of which is refreshing to one half melted under a tropical sun; for,
unluckily, my means would not allow me to be carried in a hammock, as
my friend was. Thank God, however, my health was good, and I bore the
journey well. The town is much more regularly built, with a more level
foundation than Little Cromantine. We halted in the market-place, in
the centre of the town, where we were refreshed with some ale furnished
by my friend Mr. S. Brewe. During this time the natives assembled
around us in great numbers, gazing upon us with astonishment. Mr.
Brewe’s musical box pleased them very much.
In the centre of the market-place is a very dirty, stagnant pool of
water, the exhalation from which was very unpleasant; and though
a drain about twenty yards long and three feet deep would have
completely removed it, the inhabitants are too lazy to make it. The
greater part of the Fantee people are the most ungenerous, ungrateful,
and unneighbourly people in the world; so much so, that when their
neighbour’s house is on fire, they will not assist in extinguishing it,
unless hired to do so. Although they are very superstitious respecting
their fetish or religious rites, they have no prescribed form or system
of performing them.
In Cromantine there exists a tradition, or rather a tale, to deceive
strangers, that they have still in their possession a male child, who
has existed ever since the beginning of the world. This child, they
declare, neither eats, drinks, nor partakes of any nourishment, yet
still continues in a state of childhood. When I laughed at this absurd
tale, it somewhat offended my friend Mr. Brewe, who declared that he
himself and his father had actually seen this infant. I therefore
expressed a wish to see this extraordinary child; and during the
half hour which was required to prepare him for the visit, we were
admitted into their fetish-house, or temple, in the corner of which
was seated in a chair a little clay figure of the god whom they invoke
or threaten, according to circumstances. In the same house, leaning
against the wall, was the hollow trunk of a cocoa-nut tree, chalked
over with white spots. This, they told us, was sent down to them from
heaven, and was preserved here as a proof that their fetish lives
for them. When I reproved their folly in believing such tales, they
seemed quite astonished and incensed, especially the old fetish-woman,
a priestess, who at times extorts great sums for the preparation of
certain charms, supposed to be very potent. When a man is sick, his
relations send for the fetish-man, who, if the party is found to be
very anxious respecting the sick man, generally makes a heavy charge,
in addition to a gallon of rum to drink success to the fetish; and he
very frequently orders a few bottles of rum to be buried up to the neck
in the ground in different places, which the god is supposed to take as
a fee for his favours to the sick man. If he should die, the fetish-man
assures his relatives that the favour of the god was not to be gained
by so small a quantity of rum. Such is the abject superstition
prevalent on this coast.
At length I became impatient to see this wonderful dwarf, or child of
other days, but was still desired to wait a little longer. However, as
we were anxious to proceed on our journey, we set off. Fortunately, our
road onwards passed close to the residence of this wonderful child,
so that we halted, in the hope of having a peep at him. Being again
delayed, I lost all patience, and resolved to enter his dwelling. My
African friends and the multitude assembled from all parts of the town,
warned me of the destruction that would certainly overtake me, if I
ventured to go in without leave. But I showed them my doubled barrelled
gun as my fetish, and forced my way through the crowd. On entering
through a very narrow door or gateway, into a circle of about twenty
yards diameter, fenced round by a close paling, and covered outside
with long grass, about nine feet high, (so that nothing within could
be seen,) the first and only thing I saw was an old woman, whom, but
for her size and sex, I should have taken for the mysterious being,
resident there from the time of the Creation. She certainly was the
most disgusting and loathsome being I ever beheld. She had no covering
on her person (like all the other natives of this place), with the
exception of a small piece of dirty cloth round her loins. Her skin
was deeply wrinkled and extremely dirty, with scarcely any flesh on
her bones. Her breasts hung half way down her body, and she had all
the appearance of extreme old age. This ancient woman was the supposed
nurse of the everlasting child. On my entering the yard, this old
fetish-woman (for such was her high style and title) stepped before me,
making the most hideous gestures ever witnessed, and endeavouring to
drive me out, that I might be prevented from entering into the god’s
house; but in spite of all her movements I pushed her aside, and forced
my way into the house. Its outward appearance was that of a cone, or
extinguisher, standing in the centre of the enclosure. It was formed
by long poles placed triangularly, and thatched with long grass. Inside
of it I found a clay bench, in the form of a chair. Its tenant was
absent, and the old woman pretended that she had, by her magic, caused
him to disappear.
On my return, I found my friends anxiously waiting for me, dreading
lest something awful might have happened to me; and the townspeople
seemed quite in a fury. They did not, however, dare to attack me,
for they are great cowards when the lest determination or spirit of
resistance is shown. They are so superstitious, that not one individual
would venture over the threshold of the holy house, without the
permission of the old nurse. When I explained to the multitude the
nature of the trick practised by the old woman, they were greatly
incensed. There can be no doubt that some neighbour’s child is borrowed
whenever strangers wish to see this wonderful infant; and when dressed
up and disguised by various colours of clay, it is exhibited as the
divine and wonderful child. The natives are so credulous, that a
fetish-man or woman has no difficulty in making them believe any thing,
however extravagant.
After the delay occasioned by my visit, we went on to our next stage,
a small town near the beach, called in the native language, _Occro_,
which signifies salt-pond. It contains about two thousand inhabitants,
and derives its name from the lake on which different parts of it
stand. Its appearance is very picturesque, as it is shaded by many
large cotton and adoomah, as well as cocoa-nut trees, which grow in
abundance on this part of the coast.
Here the Wesleyan missionaries have an establishment, which we visited.
We remained there for some hours during the heat of the day, which was
excessive, making the loose sand very troublesome. On our arrival, my
friends (though they had been carried through the whole distance) were
glad to lie down to rest; but being myself anxious to see and learn as
much as possible, I went over the greater part of the town to observe
the manners and habits of the people, which differ considerably from
those of Cape Coast or Annamaboe, although not at a great distance from
them. The natives of this place are more generous in their manner, and
in many of their features differ entirely from those of the Fantees,
bearing much resemblance in features and form of the head to the Arabs
and Fellátahs. Their limbs also are more elastic, and their eyes
quicker than those of the Fantees, who are the heaviest and most morose
of all the Africans whom I have seen.
The houses here are much cleaner and better constructed than at Cape
Coast or Annamaboe. They are generally built round a square yard,
with one main entrance into it. This is mostly about four yards by
twelve, the houses forming its sides, with entrances to the different
apartments from the court or yard outside of these rooms. Along the
walls are clay benches, in the form of sofas, which are shaded from the
sun by projecting roofs. In the morning, the master of the house sits
here with his attendants, and drinks palm-wine; but the women are his
principal drudges or slaves, as is the case in almost all other parts
of Africa. The master of the house has generally from six to ten, or
even twenty wives, according to his means, and a proportionate number
of slaves. The slaves are not usually treated worse than his wives.
Marriages are here made by purchase, as in other parts of this coast.
When a man sees a girl to whom he takes a fancy, he goes to her father,
and bargains for her as he would for a sheep or goat, without any
consideration of the disparity of age, nor are the girl’s inclinations
ever for a moment thought of. Even the most influential of the native
merchants, who have had a liberal education, do the same thing, and
maintain a vast number of wives at an enormous expense.
On inquiry, I found that many Arabs and Moors, as well as Fellátahs,
had found their way to this place, either as slaves or fugitives,
from their own country, and thus the difference of feature before
noticed may be accounted for. Fishing is the chief occupation of the
inhabitants, who dry the fish which they catch in great abundance, and
carry them to Annamaboe and into the interior. Palm-oil is also made
here, as well as farther inland.
The lake from which the town derives its name is very salt, although
unconnected with the sea. A high bank of sand, about a hundred yards
broad, separates this lake from the sea; consequently the salt water
must filter through the sand into the lake, which, at high water, is
much lower than the sea. From the nature of the soil and bed of the
lake, there is very little doubt but that it was once an inlet of
the sea, now separated from it by sand and shells washed up by the
tremendous swell all along this coast;--hence the lagoons, or salt
lakes, found in many places, and which stretch out to a great extent.
The water is very bad, and can only be obtained by digging, or rather
scratching holes in the sand, and it is always brackish. This town
bears E. 1° N. from Annamaboe, and is distant about nine miles from
Cromantine. We experienced great kindness at this place from the
Missionary teacher, a native of Cape Coast, placed here by Mr. Freeman.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] Villages.
[5] A beer made from Indian corn.