“Glory be unto God in unity. Be his holy name glorified for the powers

of speech, by which our tongues are made to converse with one loving

friend and another, and between a brother and his brethren. So I bear

witness to you, O ambassador of the great king, truly a benevolent

friend of the blacks of every nation, and a friend to the felicity (of

man) as happiness consists in fidelity, and therefore in sincerity I

bear witness that there is no other God than one God, and that Mohammed

is the Apostle of God. May this guide you in safety to your country, and

may you enjoy ample felicity to the full extent of my friendship; as

there is truth in this invocation, and that you are the friend of the

king of Ashantee, Sai Quamina, &c. &c. God Almighty shower down upon

them both (the king of England and the king of Ashantee) blessings and

abundance, and may he unite their hearts, and cement the friendship

between them permanently.

“My friend—friend of the Moslems, God prolong your life in the enjoyment

of his bounty and benevolence, and may you return again to us with the

love of God and the love of men in sincerity. Written by Mohammed,

commonly called Baba, the Moslem Bashaw of Coomassy.”

الحمل لله وحده ذاك مسكي اعطاه صاحبه وحبيبه قرطاس وقد وصل لنا ذاك جزاك

الله خيرا وطويل الله عمره وعظمه الله بعظمة كثيرامع العافية البدن وصحت

الجسام وحمده واشكره ويرجعك الله الي بلدك بالعافية والقدر صح[124]

“Glory be to God in unity. Kind friend thou didst give some paper to thy

loving friends, and the esteemed donation came to us in safety. May God

multiply his rewards, (may he) prolong thy life and raise thy greatness

to a high renown, with health and strength of body. Praise him therefore

in gratitude, and God will carry you back to your country in vigour, for

omnipotence belongs to him in truth.—From Abdallah ben Ghatta.”

This might suffice to prove the truth of the attachment of these people

personally, and to the interests of the mission, without going to

further quotations, as it is also evidence of a refinement in courtesy.

But it is due to candour and to the welfare of future travellers that I

should circumstantially exonerate this friendly sect from ungrateful

misrepresentation, by an open avowal that I found them disinterested in

their proffers of friendship, liberal to an excess in courtesy, and

staunch to their engagements, when their services, even from the hour I

became acquainted with them, were called for. Devoid of Arabian or

Turkish bigotry, they felt but a very remote interest in those anathemas

of the Koran levelled against Christians and Jews as enemies of the

faith: buried in the wilds of Ethiopia, they could listen passively to

the recitations of early times, when the roar of battles raged in the

north, and religious phrenzy desolated the Asiatic and African plains,

without feeling moved otherwise than by a transient effusion of

gratitude to the Almighty, for promulgating a law which taught them the

heinous offence of idolatry; whilst the religious inveteracy of the

Arabs against the name of Nazarene, or Roumi, they considered something

in the light of a national antipathy, with which locally they had

nothing to do, and which it was not incumbent on them to imbibe

themselves, or to instil into the minds of their children. In the

practice of devotion they were constant and apparently sincere, although

some of them violated the law of temperance, indulging by stealth in

spirituous liquors and palm wine. When taxed with the crime, they would

reply, “God pardon our offences, they are manifold; drinking strong

drinks we know is a relic of the days of ignorance, but it is a custom

of this country which we learn from our mothers.”

The Moslems of Coomassy and Salgha are nearly as jetty-complexioned as

the idolaters themselves; but many from the inland countries are, more

or less, as fair as the northernmost desert Arabs. As another instance

of deviation from the institutions of the Koran, and of which they also

give their mothers the credit, their faces and bodies are cut by

prolongated incisions, the object of which is to distinguish their

respective tribes or nations. The superstitious ceremonies of the Pagans

they deplore with sympathy, and the diabolical custom of offering human

victims for sacrifice they hold in just abhorrence; but still pity is

mingled with their indignation.

The Moslems are the only class of subjects belonging to the kingdom, who

are morally scrupulous in virtues such as we prize ourselves. This the

king is sensible of, and hence the attachment he evinces for the

professors of that faith, is at least politically sincere; but it must

be confessed also, that that monarch is somewhat religiously inclined

towards the followers of Mohammed from a reverential awe of the

universal God, the Father, according to his imagination, of the

creation, of every terrestrial deity, and of those invisible powers,

whose benign or malign actions agitate the world, and inspire the hearts

of men with good or evil propensities. Notwithstanding this sovereign

chuses to adhere faithfully to his Pagan rites in all their manifold

horrors and enormities, he does not neglect to supplicate the Moslems

for their prayers, particularly when oppressed with anxiety, when the

state council is convened on business of emergency, or when the national

priests or necromancers are unable to solve any problem to the

satisfaction of majesty. The talismanic charms fabricated by the

Moslems, it is well known, are esteemed efficacious, according to the

various powers they are supposed to possess; and here is a source of

great emolument, as the article is in public demand from the palace to

the slave’s hut; for every man (not by any means exempting the Moslems)

wears them strung round the neck, either in cases of gold, silver, or

the hairy hide of wild beasts, such as lions, tygers, monkeys,

elephants, sloths, &c. Some are accounted efficacious for the cure of

gunshot wounds, others for the thrust or laceration of steel weapons,

and the poisoned barbs of javelins, or arrows. Some, on the other hand,

are esteemed to possess the virtue of rendering the wearer invulnerable

in the field of battle, and hence are worn as a preservative against the

casualties of war. Besides this class of charms, they have other

cabalistical scraps for averting the evils of natural life: these may

also be subdivided into separate classes; some, for instance, are

specific nostrums in certain diseases of the human frame, some for their

prevention, and some are calculated either to ward off any impending

stroke of fortune, or to raise the proprietor to wealth, happiness and

distinction.

We are told, in Mr. Bowdich’s work, that he received ill-treatment at

Coomassy; a truth which cannot be denied: yet the Moslems had no share

in it, directly or indirectly. On the contrary, it appears by the

general testimony, they advocated the cause of the white men,

notwithstanding public opinion pronounced censure for the indecorous

precipitancy of the party in their conduct to the king, whose orders,

the author, according to his own confession, indignantly spurned at; and

thereby entailed upon himself and his associates a chastisement

humiliating to his personal feelings, and highly offensive to his

dignity, as a public functionary. In reference to this insult, according

to Mr. Bowdich’s statement, the king would not allow him to depart from

his capital on a certain Wednesday, but insisted that it should be the

Monday following, in opposition to every remonstrance: Mr. Bowdich, who

was equally inflexible, insisted upon the king’s compliance, or on

leaving Coomassy “without his approbation.” The king said, he might

break the law if he thought proper, and the other retorted, with a

slight qualification, “he would send for the treaty and tear it in

pieces before him.” The king, in disgust, no doubt, rose abruptly and

retired. In effect, the project was carried into execution that very

day; but the party had scarcely traversed fifty yards through the city,

ere the “gong gongs were beat, and a crowd of swords and musquets

attacked them (as the author expresses himself,) headed by the landlord

Aboidwee, who, in the first rush, seized both luggage and flag.” The

author then narrates a circumstantial account of a _battle_, during

which “his party were attacked with heavy swords and large stones,” and

this battle lasted near a quarter of an hour, although in the sequel it

is admitted that the party did not even draw their swords in self-

defence, or, what was even of primary consideration, in defence of the

proud flag which had been consigned to their vigilance and discretion,

when it was first ravished from their grasp. On the contrary, _the king_

was applied to for rescue from the _murderous_ weapons that flourished

over their heads, and which besides wounding “several of the party, had

well nigh cut short the thread of the narrative by an unmerciful blow

with a scimiter, which, being promptly fended off, only grazed the

author’s face.” This disaster, in the language of Mr. Bowdich, he

considers to have “perfected the impression of his spirit.” Waving this

momentous consideration, may it not be enquired if such a train of rash

proceedings, taking the author’s own words for it, were calculated to

perfect an impression of any thing more weighty? This, in substance, is

what is described in pages 136, 137, &c., of that Mission to Ashantee;

but which, as the affair was revealed to me by the king, by the

caboceers, by the Moslems, and lastly, by several Fantees who were in

the _engagement_, is materially inaccurate—I must say _falsely

embellished_ with incidents that never occurred. During my residence at

court, the king particularly enquired if the king of England was angry

at what had happened to Mr. Bowdich, when he attempted to go away

without permission. He confessed that he gave orders to stop him, but

not to ill use the white men; whereas “some of his people had beaten

them” (flogged was the term) “with sticks, because they would not obey

his last message to return until they discovered that he was serious.

When they were brought back to their house it made him very sorry for

what had occurred; but he was sorry also the white captain should tell

him before the caboceers, that he would go when he chose, for that was

not the custom of the country, nor was it proper.” The king’s

declaration accorded well with that of all ranks who witnessed the

transaction, and of my own servant Coffee, who was in Mr. Bowdich’s

employ at the time. No crowds of musquets, or other fire arms, no

swords, or other offensive weapons, save sticks, were resorted to during

this _engagement of a quarter of an hour’s durance_, and consequently

none were either killed or wounded in the action; but all, all is a

fabrication, if the testimony of above a hundred witnesses is to be

credited before the bare assertion of an individual. What did really

happen to the party was, however, sufficient to leave behind an

indelible stain upon the capacity of Mr. Bowdich as a _plenipotentiary_,

and privately, perhaps I am justified in saying, as a man of mature

understanding. On the other hand, it would be silly to suppose that the

author’s intemperate language, or the misfortune that befel him, were at

all adapted to raise the national reputation of Englishmen; for what he

arrogantly refused the king in full court, he was ultimately induced to

comply with in the midst of public and private insult.[125]

The Moslems who are to be found in Coomassy, are either natives born in

the north-eastern districts, bordering the Volta river, or they are

subjects of various inland kingdoms, whose residence in the capital is

temporary only. The former class is the most numerous, if we include

their slaves or proselytes, whose education is limited to an imperfect

knowledge of the essential prayers and ceremonies of worship which they

practice under the auspices of their masters, who devote a certain

portion of each day to their education. The foreign Moslems, beside

those of Salgha, Yandy, and other parts of Dagomba, and Ghunja, are from

the inland districts bordering the Ghulby and Koara rivers, to instance

the kingdoms and districts of Houssa, Killinga, Magho, Bargho, Marroa,

&c.; and these men, who upon the average are better educated, are

proportionably gifted with knowledge more extensive than their Guinea

brethren possess. Hence it is that the arrival of a well educated man is

announced by public rejoicing, and he is entitled to a degree of

veneration in proportion to his talents. Natives of Cairo, of the great

Desert, of Medina, and Mecca, sometimes (although rarely) visit the

empire, as well as adjacent kingdoms; and the Tunisian and Tripolitan

merchants occasionally penetrate as far. When any of these events

happen, the epoch is commemorated by rejoicings at court also, and a

suitable number of human victims are doomed to bleed in honour of the

visitors. Even the imperial Sherfa tribe extend their travels as far as

this remote district of heathen Africa; and, as the sea presents an

obstacle to their progress southward, they pursue their rambles east and

west to the neighbouring courts, as politics or commerce may invite

their steps. These descendants of the prophet’s family are received at

Ashantee with hospitality unlimited in its scope; they become the

honoured guests of king and ministers, while the population in bulk

venerate them as demi-gods, and look for an increase of wealth in

proportion as they compete in tendering respect and offers of service to

their visitors: for no man is ignorant of the pretensions they set up on

account of their sanctified genealogy, and their consanguinity to kings

and emperors of the past and present day. Expiatory and propitiatory

offerings of all descriptions are tendered to the stranger’s god, as

well as to the national and tutelary deities; the poor commonly make

oblations of the blood of fowls, eggs, pigeons, &c.; the superior

classes of citizens, that of goats or sheep; and the court, that of

slaves and prisoners of war; as was practised under the old Mexican

emperors, who reserved these unhappy men for public sacrifice, on days

dedicated to state ceremony, to religious festivals, rejoicings, or

lamentations.

The degree of respect entertained for the Sherfa by the Guinea Moslems,

is at least equivalent to the homage that is their due in the Barbary

states. These princes, to whatever nation they may belong, enjoy a

precedence over their brethren in faith on all ceremonious occasions;

and this distinction is unreluctantly accorded even by the Bashaw of

Coomassy. In the distribution of presents made by the king, and the

great officers and captains, their share of gold and provisions is at

least equivalent, and it most commonly exceeds the rest in quantity.

There have been three of these princely visitors at Coomassy during the

reign of Sai Quamina, and none ever came so far to the south and west

before; a circumstance that induces the present sovereign of Ashantee to

arrogate to himself a greater degree of glory than his ancestors ever

enjoyed. The last of these princes was the Sheriffe Brahima who was at

court during Mr. Bowdich’s mission in 1817, but who, after a residence

partly at Coomassy and partly at Abomey, the capital of Dahomy, during

the space of nearly three years, quitted the former for Nikky, with an

ample fortune, and in charge of a large caravan of pilgrims, who had

entered into engagements with the Sheriffe for protection to Cairo.

The inhabitants of Morocco, Fez, Taffilet, Suse, or the deserts in their

vicinity, rarely frequent this part of Guinea; nor have the Ashantees

any direct open communication with the Niger between Ghou and Yamina, a

space of nearly six hundred miles horizontal, although they sometimes

visit those regions by circuitous routes, under the guidance of a

friendly Moslem: the reason is that certain hostile kingdoms intervene

both north and west of Ashantee.

The geography of Western Africa, as it is submitted in the Map, is

carefully compiled from a series of manuscripts,[126] and from

information purely native, whose authors were in frequent habits of

traversing the African Continent from south to north, (or vice versâ)

from the forests of Ashantee to the several ports of the Ghulby and

Niger eastward, as far as Bornou, and even Bagharmi, where, it is

stated, the Shary forms a junction with the waters of the Shady in its

course to the Egyptian Nile. Whatever may be the various sentiments of

the learned in African literature, as regards the natural and political

features of the internal parts of this continent, I take no part in the

controversy, neither am I wedded to any theory, however presumptive or

otherwise the evidence may appear. In this avowal, which embraces every

hypothesis, it will be only requisite to repeat that the reader is

naturally at liberty to establish his own reflections upon the materials

before him, while the author of the treatise, whatever may be his

sentiments individually, will simply claim the privilege of asserting,

that it could not concern him either intimately or remotely, if it even

should be shewn by possibility or demonstration, that the Niger, the

Koara, the Ghulby, &c. pour their waters into the eastern or western

ocean, into the northern African sea, (the Mediterranean) or into the

swamps and lakes which have been supposed to exist between the equator

and the tropic of Cancer, and to which the erroneous name of Wangara

seems to have been given. Far be the thought, however, that might

obtrude a shade of disrespect towards the conceptions and prejudices of

the world of science; for many illustrious writers, and others whose

talents are known only in private life, are perhaps in the full

enjoyment of opinions founded upon hypothetical conclusions, and the

assertions of travellers, which as far as philosophical reasoning should

have influence, may possibly claim as much, or more public attention,

than any isolated system whatever, relating to the great rivers of

Africa.

Among the manuscripts furnished by the Moslems for illustrating the

geography of interior Africa, is one whose features are descriptive of

the kingdoms and districts bordering the courses of the Jolliba, Koara,

Ghulby, Shary, Shady, and Nile, to the outlet of the last-mentioned

river at Alexandria, on the Egyptian coast. It was written agreeably to

a desire I expressed, that my informers should substantiate what they

had verbally reported of the courses and names of the great inland

waters. Some trifling passages are not quite intelligible; but as a

point of greater consideration, it is not clear to me whether the

authors intended to trace the Niger from Youry westerly to its source

(in which case Bambouk is to be deemed the reservoir), or that it was

principally designed to give information of the countries upon the

parallel of the Koara, the Jolliba, &c. and between their fountains and

those of the Gambia and Senegal. The manuscript, indeed, supports the

former supposition, yet the latter, after all, would seem to be the most

probable conclusion; for, according to Park, the countries of Foota,

Toura, Foota Joulaba, or Jalo, and Bambook, are watered by the streams

which compose these great western rivers, and consequently the Niger, in

its course eastward, cannot in all human probability intersect so many

rivers, whose inclinations are to the north. It is worthy of remark,

however, that the Moslems should say its Bambara name, Jolliba,

(pronounced Joulaba) is derived from the country Foota Joulaba at the

extremity of a great range of mountains, which form a sort of chain

stretching eastwards, nearly as far as Kong.

In reference to the Appendix to Mr. Bowdich’s work, Nos. 1, 3, and 4,

called “Courses of the Niger or Quolla, by Moors of Haoussa, Bornou, and

Jennie” there is a great coincidence with the manuscript in question in

leading features. If, however, the objection already started, that

Bambouk cannot contain the source of the Niger, be substantially true,

the evidence throws nothing in the scale; that of the Jennie Moor (No.

4) excepted, which it would seem is thus far corroborative of what the

Kong and Manding Moslems report: viz., that the Jolliba rises behind

their country westward, and between that and Melly, in a mountainous

ridge that extends as far as the sea, called Bahar Ahmar, a name which

may be interpreted either the Red River or the River of Savages (and

which I take to be the Gambia): without enumerating places of minor

note, it passes on to Yamina[127], from thence to Sago, Sansanding,

Jennie, Timbuctoo, and Ghou, where the Jolliba ceases to bear that name.

Ghou is the first kingdom westward upon the Koara; it flows then to the

south-east, passing Kaby, and some other states, to Youry: according to

the manuscript, it then runs through Boussa (for the author, besides its

eastern channel, gives it a southern course through Wawa, Kaima,

Khodobari, Khamba, Yarraba, and Ageasse) into the sea at Benin. The

eastern channel, i.e. the Koara, continues to flow away in that

direction, passing Noofee and Atagara to the Sharee, and the Chadee,

from whence it enters Foor and Waddai, until it unites with the Nile.

This manuscript, as it is published, I read over to many Moslems, and

they all agreed that it was correct in substance, although not

sufficiently explicit, because it did not name the southern branch,

called by them the Ghulby Kanbaja, or Shadarba; neither did it state

that it flowed into the salt sea of Benin, by the way of Wawa and

Yarraba, the channel which Mr. Bowdich acknowledges to have expunged,

because he imagined it to be a road instead of what it really was

designed for, a river; hence he merely refers to it as such at

manuscript No. 1, of the Houssa Moor.

In compiling the sketch of a chart at Coomassy, representing the

geographical information I gained of the Moors, it was with some

difficulty they were made to comprehend it; but this was eventually

accomplished, with tolerable satisfaction to myself. Latitude and

longitude it could not be supposed they knew any thing about, for had

they been so qualified, that alone would have argued a pre-eminence over

the Arabs and northern Africans, who are alike ignorant in these

essentials. Journeys of days, half days, and watches[128], according to

their own distribution of time, and according as the Arabs themselves

compute the distance of one place from another, serve them in lieu of

meridional lines and parts. The bearing and relative position of roads,

rivers, kingdoms, &c. they described even with a degree of accuracy.

Shareka and Moghareba, east and west, were terms not unknown to them,

any more than those which express north and south. But their favourite

expressions were the rising or setting Sun; the Sun on the right eye or

on the left, and the Sun full on the cheek, implying the courses or

bearing (relatively) E. and W.—those NE. or NW. and that which pointed

due north. By the same characteristics they described the bearing, and

by days’ journies the distance of one inland kingdom from another,

confirming all they advanced by the testimony of their travelling

manuscripts, and the evidence of those amongst them who had visited the

places they mentioned.

The allowance of sixteen British miles, three-fourths of the same to be

made good on the horizontal distance, I think, from my own experience,

is equivalent to a day’s journey, where the country is intersected by

forest or thicket; or where the surface is interrupted by hills and

mountains. One-fourth reduction from the actual distance by the path, is

certainly not over-rated in proportion to the capricious winding of

roads, such as I travelled over; and I have been credibly assured that

the southern roads exhibit, more or less, the same aspect, whilst those

inclining southward of east, and northward of west, are moreover greatly

impeded by hills, mountains, and ravines.

The impervious forest and thicket, in which most of the capital towns of

Ashantee are embosomed, breaks off in some places about fifty, and in

others sixty miles north-east and west of the metropolis; the roads then

become open, free, and not much inclined to those curvatures, which are

unavoidable in the wilderness of Assin. Hence, from Akeyah, Quahou,

Massy, and the Tando, I imagine that twenty miles, with four-fifths of

that distance to make good for the horizontal distance, will not be

over-rated, for those countries reputed to be champaign land. It should

be recollected, that horses are common inland, throughout the eastern

districts, as far north as the Koara, and that camels are not uncommon.

In the north they are also plentiful; they abound, in short, wherever

the country is adapted to their procreation and use, and the natives of

those parts, as Mr. Bowdich had a fair opportunity of seeing during the

Yam Custom, make use of those valuable animals in their caravans.

I have been in the practice of travelling in the same manner in the

north of Africa. In the year 1814, I travelled, that is, rode, from

Mogadore to Tangier, between which there is a difference of nearly five

degrees of latitude, and about three of longitude, giving an horizontal

distance some trifle short of three hundred and fifty miles, but which

in reality was about four hundred and forty-five, for the road branched

off inland, leaving the direct track, and upon gaining the higher

latitudes, the surface was abrupt and hilly. This journey I performed in

eighteen days, which would almost average twenty-four miles six furlongs

each day. This is what would be termed regular easy travelling, in the

countries of the Gharb, and every where north of the great Desert. The

actual and the horizontal distance in this calculation are at variance

ninety-five miles, which should be accounted for thus:—seventy-four

miles to be reduced by a rate of five-sixths for the angular inclination

of the roads, and twenty-one miles more for diagonal or indirect

courses, a sweep that was made to avoid the plains of a rebellious tribe

of Arabs. But even this is nothing compared with the rate at which

couriers will travel on foot the same distance, as it is no uncommon

thing for those hardy men to perform the journey to Tangier in eleven

days, nay, some few of them are able to accomplish the distance in ten.

But these efforts are put in practice upon cases of emergency only, and

when the express is desired to make his way by night as well as day. By

the same rule the Morocco, Suse, Taffilet roads, &c. are traversed, and

at the same rates. I have journeyed to the capital of this empire in all

seasons of the year, and I invariably found that six days or twenty-five

miles each day was the full average rate[129] without incurring the risk

of fatiguing the cattle. These, which may be termed domestic journeys,

apply exclusively to known places, the towns and cities of the same

empire; whereas the routes leading to foreign parts, and from kingdom to

kingdom, are not traversed so rapidly, whether they are mountainous or

the reverse. In the temperate zone, twenty-four miles by the road is

reckoned a full and complete journey in traversing remote districts, and

twenty miles is estimated as the average; the former making good four-

fifths of the actual distance, would give about nineteen miles one and a

half furlong, and the latter exactly sixteen miles for the horizontal

distance each day.

It has been shewn by an authority no less respectable than the Quarterly

Review[130], that “Mr. Bowdich seems determined to reconcile himself to

every hypothesis that had ever been formed of the course and termination

of the Niger. But the way in which he makes his Quolla to perambulate

the whole of the African Continent, and literally to quarter it with its

divergent branches, some flowing to the east, some to the west, some to

the north, and others again to the south, is not only geographically

absurd, but physically impossible.” I must confess that I am at a loss

to conceive what materials that gentleman could have found at Coomassy

for the arrangement given to his map, in support of an hypothesis of the

texture of which he has submitted no evidence. The Moslems of Coomassy,

with all the elucidation I was capable of giving to the subject, with

his book and map upon the table before us, were unable to comprehend not

only the heterogeneous courses of the rivers, but the very names he has

given to many places, and which, it does appear, have no existence

whatever, except on paper.

It would, perhaps, be an act of injustice to that gentleman, to say I

make no doubt that his system of African geography, which, as he assures

us himself, was checked by the artless prattle of children, was a

fabrication of his own: I do not say so; but this I will affirm, that

the names of kingdoms, cities, rivers, mountains, &c. which might have

been familiar to his hearing at Ashantee, were, as it seems, so

transplanted and shoved about when he constructed his map, that, to use

a hackneyed phrase, “’Tis now so like nothing, that there is nothing

like it.” Nay, it cannot be said to agree with those names of places

which are heaped together in the appendix, many of which are really

deserving of credit. The Gambaro running westerly out of the lake called

Caudee to Timbuctoo; the Quolla going to the rising sun, and uniting to

the Moonda, the Agooawai, the Zaire, or Congo, the Nile, &c.

I would not be thought hostile to any hypothesis, neither do I in the

capacity of reader object to speculations, even such as Mr. Bowdich has

indulged in, provided they are characterised by their proper names. But

as my pen may have been as indignant at these incongruities as my

feelings were at Coomassy, when the author’s map was found to be

useless, it is incumbent on me to point out some of the most palpable

errors, and this I shall do as briefly as possible. Beginning then at

the top of the map, I find a place called Yahoodee, a country or town of

non-existence. Yahoodee simply implies Jews, the tribes of Jews, &c.

which term the Moslems apply to those people of the Mosaic faith who

inhabit the lower Atlas, and the district of Suse. They also apply the

term Yahoodee to the Hebrew or Jewish tribes, whether native Africans or

not, who inhabit Marroa, some parts of Fillany, and the neighbourhood of

Timbuctoo. Of these people I imagine the author of the information

spoke, when he endeavoured to make Mr. Bowdich comprehend the import of

the word Yahoodee. As a nation or a tribe they cannot be inserted with

propriety in any map, for they exist even in a more deplorable state of

servitude and humiliation in those districts than in the empire of

Morocco.

Haoussa, which stands in the neighbourhood of his Yahoodee, he

represents a city with two lakes, &c. giving it the latitude of nineteen

degrees or thereabouts; but which should have been described as a mighty

empire or district whose capital city is Kassina; and Youry, which he

places on the lower river, is Quolla, a powerful kingdom connected with

and dependent upon that metropolis, from which it is distant only

fifteen good journies, east and west. His kingdoms of Barrabadi and

Kallaghee, are totally unknown at Coomassy. His Gambaroo river has no

existence whatever; but Gambaroo is a large city and district eastward

of Kano, and on the south bank of the Koara. Katinna, the city placed

between his kingdom called Kassina and his city of Haoussa, is equally

unknown, unless intended to express the true Kassina, in which case it

is placed as many hundred miles out of its position as the Haoussa city

in relation to the latter, being considered the western limits of that

district: but Haoussa and the tributary kingdoms are upon the Koara. The

towns conducting from the Gambaro to Katinna, are entirely unknown by

name, even to natives of Kassina or other parts of Haoussa. Of the names

scattered between the rivers, and eastward of his Jolliba, some indeed

are known, although the greater portion do not enjoy that advantage.

Taking a peep over the Quolla from Noffee, there will be seen an

extensive desert upon the chart; but which has no existence elsewhere,

if the natives of Nooffee or Noufy, are to be credited, any more than

those long harmonious names in the vicinity of Wawa, spelt Goodoobirree,

Gillimakafoo, Garagooroogee, Paangee, &c. The same rule may be applied

to many more such, and the small writing is commonly erroneous. Of his

kingdoms south of the Koara, and between that river and the Aswada,

(supposing the Roman letters to have that signification) it is to be

lamented that some of them are not yet established; witness his Firrado,

Doolooe, Fobee, Kaybee, and others. But in justice to the author it must

be admitted, that in the midst of such extensive regions he has hit upon

some, perhaps I should have said, many places that really have

existence, although in most cases it appears he has mistaken kingdoms

and districts for towns and cities, and _vice versâ_. In short, there is

little to be commended, besides the names of those provinces which now

constitute the empire of Ashantee. Yet his river Laka, his river Mory,

his river Kaarhalla, and that which he calls Coombo or Zamma, (unless

Komba) are alike unintelligible to natives of those parts. True it is,

there is a town called Coombo; and his river called Mory, or, as it

should be written, Mawry, is a kingdom upon the banks of the Ghulbi, a

river which it seems he never heard of. Gooroma, which is marked as a

kingdom, happens to be the capital city of one of the most puissant

governments of interior Africa. Nay, he did not know that the Volta was

called the Aswada; that there was a great city called Nikky, the

metropolis of Killinga, distant from the Niger or Koara, and the

vicinity of Youry, only thirteen days; that there was a lake in the

dominions of Ashantee called Bouro; (although he will find it written

and published in one of the manuscripts) or that there were provinces in

the empire bearing the name of Akiyah, Ajorah, Yobati, Baboso, &c. All

these inferences may be drawn from his map. Turning from this barren

subject, to the little sketch called “Reported Courses of the Rivers,”

&c. affixed at the corner of the said map, I shall only remark, that his

Oongoora, which is pronounced by the Moslems and Pagans broad and full,

Wankara, nearly as we write it, should be removed from its elevated

station, and be again inserted, in proper characters, in a latitude

considerably lower than his lowest river, (of those running east and

west) and above a thousand miles more to the westward of the longitude

he has assigned it.[131]

It would, perhaps, have astonished the survivors of the mission of 1817,

to be told, that their party had first the honour of exploring a region

so famous in record which has been so long searched after, and of which

it has puzzled so many men of erudition, (transcending our own by far,)

to form a solution agreeably to the writings of the ancients.

Nevertheless it is an undoubted fact, authenticated by the testimony of

every Moslem in Coomassy, that Wangara, or Wankara, is a mighty district

(like what was called the province of Africa, where the city of

Aphrodisium stood, and from which that of Mehedia also took its name)

spreading over all that tract of land from Gaman inclusively, or the

Manding States of Enkasy and Ghombati, in the west, to Khimbee, and

Ajasee, in the east; and from N. to S. from Ghofan and Tonouma, down to

the margin of the Atlantic ocean. But I shall submit, as I may find

occasion, such other observations as I am warranted to do, from the

unanimity and confidence which all my informers opposed against any

argument of a character to destroy their testimony.

Whatever class my literary errors may belong to, or however unworthy I

may be to obtrude upon the good sense of the public, I trust I shall not

deserve the imputation of having knowingly misrepresented facts. The map

of Wangara, will at least enjoy the merit of being free from[132]

speculative or conjectural matter, excepting where such speculations are

characterised as such (by dotted lines, &c.) Besides the corroborative

testimony of the manuscript, the two maps stand supported by a mass of

information gleaned from the Moslems of the interior parts. I have

purposely revised my old maps and sketches, expunging from them a

variety of reports which were unsubstantiated by writings in the native

character, and which it was my original intention to publish

connectedly, but with a specific mark, to distinguish those features

which were corroborated by the Arabic, from others which were not so.

Every thing short of ocular demonstration, it cannot be denied, is

defective; or at least liable to error. Latitude and longitude are

unquestionably the criterions by which the mind may satisfy itself of

the relative position of objects: yet where these essentials cannot be

obtained in practice, others, founded upon authority, may be substituted

with more or less pretension to accuracy; and information derived from

these sources may even stand the test of public criticism. Liable as my

own map may be to errors, I shall not deem it inconsistent at a future

day, should my destiny again lead me to the shores of Africa, to

expunge, with my own hand, the faults I may then discover, and publish

to the world any misconceptions, however extensive they may appear.

Such, I conceive, is a duty incumbent upon every man, who, by profession

should, in a course of active service, enjoy local advantages whereby he

may, from time to time, reap information calculated for the public ear.

The kingdom of Ashantee, from west to east, _i.e._ from Gaman to the

Volta River, embraces about four degrees of longitude, including its

recent acquirements in the west; and from south to north, _i.e._ from

Cape Coast Castle to the tributary kingdom Ghofan, about four degrees of

latitude. This is the full extent of what, politically, is modern

Ashantee; for over this tract the king rules with unrivalled sway: every

king, chief, viceroy, or caboceer, being his absolute and unconditional

vassal, as tributaries or not, and most of them holding their

governments by virtue of an appointment from the court. The numerous

kingdoms, or principalities, which in the days of Bosman flourished in

the vicinity of the Gold Coast, have successively been engulphed in the

vortex which has since spread under its modern name of Ashantee, into

that great political association of kingdoms, that have fallen under the

sword of the ruling dynasty, and are now only to be distinguished as

provinces dependent on the court of Coomassy. This is to be understood

as referring to what originally was called the kingdom of Dinkra, the

mountains of Tofal, the kingdom of Wassau or Warsaw, that of Amanaha,

Aowin, Showe, and Toosequa, on its western longitudinal meridian; those

of Soko, Takima, Coransa, Massy, Assin, Fantee, and Ahanta, on the

central meridian; and the districts of Ghofan, Baboso, Banna, Yobati,

Ajorah, Bouromy, Akeyah, Aquahou, Akim, Aquapim, and Aquambo, in the

east, bordering on the Volta.

There is a free and unobstructed communication with all the leading

provinces, by roads or paths, which by way of distinction are

collectively called great roads; and, separately, they bear the name of

the sovereign in whose reign they were cut, or the country they lead to.

These roads are eight in number; not nine as Mr. Bowdich was informed.

The Aowin is the first, leading to the western coast, to Apollonia,

Assinee, Bassam, and Lahou. The second is the Wassau road, leading

through Dinkra to Wassau; from whence it again branches off, east and

west, the former leading to the river Praa, which is crossed to El Mina,

Commenda, Chamah, &c., and the latter striking through Ahanta, to Cape

Three Points, and the European establishments in its vicinity. The third

road is that leading through Assin and Fantee, to the village of

Doonqua, where it forks off in two branches, the one to Annamaboe, and

the other to the Dutch fort at Mouree; which is about four miles

eastward of Cape Coast Castle. The fourth is a road, running south-east,

and north-west; through Juabin, Yomoho, Akim, and part of Aquapim, to

Accra, and the English, Dutch, and Danish settlements in that

neighbourhood. These are the four great maritime causeways, from whence

the Ashantees derive all their supplies of powder, guns, and European

merchandize.

The inland roads of Ashantee are, first, that leading from Coomassy,

north-west, to the ferry of Ensoota or Ensotah, on the River Tando, and

from thence branching off in two directions, the one to the northward,

leading to Bontoko, and Houraboh; the residence of the late king of that

country, (Enkasy, Kong, &c.); the other inclining more westerly, to

Shouy, Soumah, and Sarem in the west. The second road leads through

Takimah west, or Coransah and Banna east, to the River Aswada, and the

mountains of Sarga, the eastern circuit of which leads on to Ghobagho,

and the western to Enkasi, Kong, and Manding. The third is a road cut

through Massy, Coransa, and Banna, easterly to the Aswada, below the

Desert of Ghofan, where it again branches off northward to Ghobagho; and

eastward to Tonoma, and the kingdoms of Dagomba. The fourth, and last

great path, is the one leading to Akiyah; from whence it sprouts out in

two branches, the one easterly to Bouromi and the Volta, the other

inclining to the northward of the lake Bouro, through Ajorah, part of

Yobati, and Baboso, to the Volta again, beyond which is Salgha. The two

last roads are sometimes called the old roads, from their antiquity and

pre-eminence. Besides these, since the recent subjugation of Gaman, the

king employed a considerable body of troops in cutting a path more

westerly through the forest, that would lead to the open plains on the

Tando, and to Gaman, by a route reported to be shorter by two journies

than the old one into which it is made to strike, at the distance of one

watch from Coomassy.

The minor roads and paths are more numerous; the chief of them is one

leading through the north-eastern provinces to a ferry called Goya,

named after the chief town in Bouromy, south of the Bouro Water. Another

of this class proceeds to Quahoe, from whence there is a cross road to

Akim, Aquapim, Accra, Ningo, &c.; and another, branching easterly, to

Aquambo and Dahomy: but it is reckoned extremely hazardous to enter that

kingdom from the side of Ashantee through Aquambo. There is another road

leading from Coomassy to Sumah and Showy, in the west, over the Tando.

Another also, taking through Akeyah, between the Banna road and the

Volta, and leading to the eastern extremity of the Desert, from whence

it is only two good journies to a considerable town of Ghunga, called

Agaga. Several roads of a like importance, lead, more or less, to the

east and west of south, with branches that fork to the principal towns

on the sea coast, and to the forts or factories of the three European

powers, there established: viz. one over the Aquapim Hills, to Ningo,

Pram Pram, and the mouth of the Volta. Another through Akim, to Berracoe

and Winnebah. A third breaks out at Tantum by a branch from the main

track, leading to Annamaboe. Some other branches, besides, extend from

Wassau through the Ahanta country, opening a communication with the

windward settlements, from the Praa to the Ancober rivers. But all these

roads are of comparative insignificance, and many of them are shut up,

from time to time, by fallen timber, swamps, and barriers of matted

vegetation, cemented together by uncommon rains, tornados, or the sudden

rush of torrents from the hills. Neither are the main roads exempt from

these casualties; for sometimes it occurs that the most frequented

tracks are reported by the last traveller to have become impassable, in

which case it is usual for the government to employ men to remove the

obstructions, or to cut a new opening in the parts adjacent, as may be

effected most expeditiously.

The principal towns, as well as most of the superior villages, are

within the track of the high roads: yet there are others, of

distinction, to which access is gained by traversing paths diverging

from the main trunks.

Ashantee, from the latitude of 7° 30′ north, down to the water’s edge,

is a solid rampart of vegetation, extending east and west, from Aquapim

to Ahanta, in the form of one compact forest, either (as it is found

about fifteen miles inland) of the most stupendous character, or (as it

may be seen in the vicinity of the coast) exhibiting an entanglement of

lofty bush, blended with tall trees. The paths that intersect this

forest are unavoidably the most capricious and serpentine. The labour of

cutting them straight would indeed be a severe tax upon the industry of

the nation. But the government, for reasons of a political nature,

connected with the recent aspect of some of the Fantee towns in the

neighbourhood of Forts, does not yet think proper to remove the

impediments of this natural barrier, between the sea coast and the

capital of the empire. Hence the generality of them notwithstanding they

are considered as main roads, are scarcely to be called footpaths.[133]

The roads or paths leading inland are infinitely superior to the others,

and as the forest is cleared on the fourth or fifth day, and in some

places, the third from leaving Coomassy, these tracks extend over vast

plains where there is no great impediment to the traveller, unless the

jungle may have become matted in certain spots. Gaman, Banna, and in

short the greater part of Sarem, in the south, is almost universally

champaign land, in some places variegated by clumps of trees and

shrubbery, scattered in patches widely distant apart. Ghunja beyond the

Volta, as also Dagomba, have also a similar aspect, although hilly, if

not mountainous, in the vicinity of that river; and it has more woods

than Sarem.

The seat of empire is environed by numerous large and small populous

towns, the chief of which is Juabin[134], bearing south-east from

Coomassy, one day’s journey. It is reckoned to be about one third the

size of Coomassy, and its population is estimated at seventy thousand

souls. Below the city is the lake Echouy, at a very inconsiderable

distance, and in the neighbouring hills (for it is inclosed in a natural

amphitheatre) are many small towns and villages, whose inhabitants,

beside their usual occupations, derive extra emoluments from fishing, an

operation which they perform with canoe and circular net, the same as is

practised on the ocean. Many thousands of Fantees, Assins, and Gamans,

are there detained prisoners of war. Of the two first nations some are

considered free, although narrowly watched to prevent their escape to

the sea side: the rest are absolute slaves, having been sold and

transferred in due succession from hand to hand. From their superior

capacity in aquatic employments, they are considered valuable property

by their taskmasters.[135] In short, Echouy, or as it may be also called

Bussem Echouy, and the territory thereabouts may be considered the

Siberia of the Court: for it is also a place of banishment for inferior

ranks of insurgents, whom the king may think proper to spare, or reserve

for future punishment.

Eastward of the lake is a little district of Akim, called Yomoho, whose

chief town is Adumpore. It has also a great population scattered about

in little villages, whose inhabitants are agriculturists, and supply the

markets of Juabin, Bequa, Sarasoo, Dompassy, &c. with corn and yams.

Beyond Yomoho, on the north-east, is the province of Quahou, formerly a

little kingdom of itself. This is reckoned a very fruitful spot, and in

many places the land is clear and open, even down to the Volta, where

there is another valuable fishery that gives employment to many

thousands of the natives of those parts.

The route from Coomassy to the lower part of Aquambo, Aquapim, &c. down

to the mouth of the Aswada or Volta, lies over a very hilly country

greatly intersected by water-courses, many of which incline easterly,

and discharge themselves into the Volta; the banks of which river, on

both sides, are occasionally infested by a banditti, who are sometimes

daring enough to plunder the smaller crooms in its vicinity. The

insurgents are mostly Aquambo negroes, excited to rebellion against

their conquerors the Ashantees, by other branches of the tribe who fled

before the invading army, and have established themselves on the Dahoman

shore; yet, in peaceable times, they are also considered the subjects of

Ashantee. It is reckoned eighteen journies from Coomassy to the mouth of

that river.

The route to Accra lies through Yomoho, Atoa, and Akim.[136] The surface

for the most part is abrupt. The provinces of Akim and Aquapim are

mountainous or hilly; yet many extensive tracts on the eastern frontier

of Akim are entirely free from forest and thicket.

A medical gentleman of the name of Isert, in the service of his Danish

majesty, made several excursive tours in Aquapim, and, as it is

reported, would have travelled further inland had it been agreeable to

the views of the Company. According to the traditions still preserved

amongst the officers of Christiansburg castle, this traveller

experienced much hospitality from the natives, and was greatly delighted

with the beauteous novelties that opened to view as he advanced to the

northward. After passing the chain of hills he found the land to be

open, yet not entirely free from forest. The crooms on the line of path,

unlike the Fantee roads, were numerous, populous, and imposing; and they

scarcely averaged the distance of two miles apart.

The streams are very numerous throughout the Akim and Aquapim provinces;

some of them, particularly after heavy rains, are impassable until the

water subsides. The chief of the rivers crossed by the Akim path between

Coomassy and the coast, are, first, the Dah, which rises at no great

distance from Jamacasi, passing Juabin and falling into the Praa, two

journies westward of the ford at Prassoo.

The second river of magnitude is the Praa, which is crossed between

Anoka and Argosi on the fifth day. This river being a tutelar god is

dignified with the name of Bussem, which may be interpreted sacred,

awful, majestic, holy;[137] it rises in a mountain between Akeya and

Quahou, near a little croom called Sumtasoo, and sacrifices are made at

its spring head, which is said to be a large gaping rock about half way

up the side of the mountain. Here the full vigour of the God is supposed

to exist, yet the water does not always gush out with the same force.

The river Birrum is the third in rank on the Accra route; it rises near

Sonara in Quahou, and falls into the Praa at a very short distance from

Dansansoo.

The Corim, the Sagwa, and the Souho, are streams which rise in the

Aquapim hills, and flowing eastward fall into the Aswada within forty

miles of its mouth.

The river Saccoom, between Accra and Berracoe, has also its rise in the

Aquapim mountains, and a branch of it is crossed at three journies from

Accra.

Accra is scarcely one hundred and sixty miles horizontal distance from

the capital, yet the surface is so rugged, and the paths so obstructed

and circuitous, that the real extent of ground is near two hundred and

forty miles, according to the time it employs the traveller in going

that distance.

Akeyah, Bouromy, Ajorah, Yobati, and Coransah, are reckoned among the

most populous provinces of the empire. The habits of the people are more

commercial and enterprising, and their evil passions less predominant

than those of the Ashantees. This may be, in some degree, attributed to

the great influence of the Moslems in the above-named provinces, in

Bouromi, and in Baboso, where likewise they sojourn in great

numbers.[138] It is also to be observed, that these people, in

conjunction with the inhabitants of Banna, were the vassals, in the

middle of the last century, of the sovereigns of Salgha.

The road leading to Bouromy and the Volta, at Goyah and Odanty, is

frequented by the traders who convey merchandize to the markets on the

confines of Dahomy, for the supply of that empire. The distance to this

ferry is reckoned twelve days good travelling. The path is passably

smooth as far as the mountains of Akeyah, about sixty miles from

Coomassy, yet the forest extends to their very basement. After gaining

access to the opposite side, the path takes through extensive plains,

where trees are only to be met with in detached spots, and sometimes

none will be seen for many miles. The surface is covered with high grass

and jungle, which the inhabitants fire, and employ the ashes to manure

the plantations.

Elephants abound in Bouromy, Yobati, Baboso, and Banna; and hunting

these animals is one of the chief occupations of the people. The natives

of Yobati are reckoned so adroit at the sport, that they can furnish

above a hundred loads of ivory, for Coomassy, in the space of a month,

if required. It would seem that the elephant was an equivalent gift of

Providence in the lieu of those veins of precious ore, which are to be

met with in some districts southward, and westward, where these animals

do not usually herd.

The Moslems are particularly numerous in Yobati, and in all the

provinces to the east and west of north: they live in political

societies governed by their respective princes, who are vassals to the

king, but who enjoy prerogatives exceeding those of any other class of

subjects.

The lake Bouro, a sheet of water of a greater extent than the Echouy

lake, lies to the northward of Yobati, and in the season of rain is

distant from the Volta one watch, or about three hours easy walk. The

Echouy being situated in the land of the heathens, and close to the

capital, is a place of greater renown. It is supposed hence to have

obtained the title of Bussem, being called indiscriminately Echouy, or

Bussem Echouy, the sacred lake.[139] Hypothetical as this may appear, it

is in some degree corroborated by the reports of the Moslems, who affirm

that the title of Bussem was conferred upon it by an ancestor of the

reigning sovereign, in commemoration of a battle gained in its

neighbourhood, over the Akims, when they attacked the royal army by land

and water. During those wars the Echouy was considered the guardian of

the capital against Akim, then the most powerful and warlike tribe of

negroes in the neighbourhood. The water of Echouy, notwithstanding it is

filled by the torrents, and by rain descending from the amphitheatre of

hills, is sometimes brackish, and this happens particularly during the

greatest heat, when the land has been droughty for any length of time.

Yet I never heard Mr. Bowdich’s assertion that the water gave a reddish

hue to the colour of the hair confirmed by the most credulous native; on

the contrary my enquiries extorted a smile, and a reply, that it was

like other water, only “sometimes salt like the sea.” In this property

the Echouy differs from the Bouro, for the latter is perfectly fresh and

pure, at all seasons. The Bouro is also deeper as well as larger, and is

navigated by fishing canoes like the former. If the rains are excessive,

it overflows its natural limits to the extent of many miles, and

sometimes discharges its surplus of waters into the Aswada. A little

river that rises in a mountain between Banna and the little desert of

Ghofan, flows by a south-easterly course into the lake, and contributes,

during the sun’s greatest action, to supply the deficit occasioned by

evaporation. This stream, as the lake rises, inundates and fertilizes

the land periodically on both sides, and the natives plant their fields

as soon as the water subsides. Fish of a large size, and of delicious

flavours, are said to be taken in the lake, and conveyed alive to

Salgha. Many thousands of families also gain a living on its shores by

drying the article, and selling it to traders who make it a profession

to frequent the markets of Dagombah.

Between Bouromi and Akeyah, there is a small stream that has its source

in the mountains of the latter district, and which in its course

easterly to the Aswada, forms a continuation of swampy patches like the

bogs which surround Coomassy on the south and east. To this land they

give the name of Ghorekati غريقة a name synonymous with humid, watery,

and deep.

The distance of Yagy from the capital by the above route will be about

two hundred and fifteen miles.

The route to Daboya and the kingdom of Ghobagho takes northerly through

the districts and provinces of Massy, or Akeya, Coransa, Banna, and the

Desert. The principal towns are Jamakasi, Kikiwhari, Enaso, Sakado,

Kikiwasi, Graga, Dankari, Measi, Batmali, Coransa, Boben, Kerahem,

Kantano, Kaka Caranda, Dawa; then the desert of Ghofan, and the Aswada

river.

The route to Salgha, the metropolis of Ghunja, takes through the

provinces of Akeyah, Ajorah, Bouromi, Yobati, and Baboso: the towns are

numerous, but those of note are Jamacasi, Antoa, Damoka, Akroforom,

Manbon, Adijani, Amatini, Akokoa, Batoda, Atabaho, Yobati, Sakenim,

Yagy, and Salgha.

The route to Kong and Manding, leading on to the great kingdom of Melly

on the Jolliba, intersects the provinces and districts of Massy, Safoy,

Takima, Ghombati, and Enkasy. Here, however, the policy of the natives

(who from about nine degrees to twelve degrees of latitude in this

direction, are principally Moslems) is directly inimical to that of the

court of Ashantee, and consequently there is rarely any commercial

intercourse with the southern Manding tribes, excepting the few who,

after the defeat of Dinkera, submitted to the yoke of vassalage, under

the government of Ashantee, and were permitted to enjoy their

inheritances peaceably in Ghombaty, Sokoo, and the confines of Ghofan.

A few of these people I occasionally saw in Coomassy. They are fairer

complexioned than any of the heathens of these parts, but less robust,

and seemingly less vigorous. Yet the greatest resistance the Ashantees

met with during the campaign in Gaman, is admitted to have originated

with the Mandings, who are the best cavalry troops, as they are also the

best Elephant hunters in any part of Sarem.

Their warlike weapons are scimiters, bows and arrows, darts, and lances

of the old Arab[140] construction, and whose blades, besides being of

the length of sixteen or eighteen inches, are sometimes barbed and

envenomed the same as the arrows with a deadly sort of poison, said to

be known only to the inhabitants, and differing materially from what is

prepared in Ashantee or Banna.

[Illustration: A Moslem of Kong in Military Costume.]

The more easterly kingdoms of Wangara, above the parallel of eight

degrees of latitude, contain a still greater proportion of Moslems than

the western, as far at least to the eastward as the great lake of Ayoh.

The Moslem powers north and north-west of Dahomy are, it is affirmed,

when united, able to raise an army adequate to drive the Dahomans from

their capital, and strike terror into the breasts of the surrounding

nations, as they have done on former occasions. But the Sultan of Zogho,

to whom the Dahomans are tributary, is adverse to these invasions, as

long as they are faithful in their remittances to the Court.

The Natives of Entaa, Mahee, and Gouaso, over the Aswada, are mostly of

a tawny brown complexion, alike in persons, language, and features; but

differing in customs, inasmuch as the tribes of the two last named

provinces, distinguish themselves by scarifying and puncturing various

parts of the body, besides the face, which the Moslems practise in

common.

The metropolis of Ashantee,[141] according to my reckonings, will be

found about nine geographical miles to the southward of the parallel of

seven degrees of north latitude, and in two degrees sixteen minutes or

nearly so of west longitude. It approaches in bearing nigher to the

meridian of Elmina, than any other town on the line of coast, and when

the path is open, the distance by that, which is called the Wassau path

or route, is traversed in less time by one day, and as some say one day

and two watches, than any other station on the sea coast, a proof of its

westerly inclination in regard to the longitudinal meridian of Cape

Coast Castle.

The military resources of Ashantee are great indeed, without casting

into the scale her preponderating influence in Sarem and Dagomba. The

bashaw Mohammed assured me, that the armies of Ashantee that fought in

Gaman, amounted to upwards of eighty thousand men, (without including

the camp attendants, such as women and boys) of whom at one time above

seven thousand were Moslems, who fought under his orders. In this

estimate I speak within bounds, for I am inclined to believe he alluded

to the army of Banna as a distinct force, whose numbers varied from

twenty to twenty-five thousand men, armed with tomahawks, lances,

knives, javelins, and bows and arrows. Of the eighty thousand the King

can put muskets and blunderbusses in the hands of from forty to fifty

thousand. The opposing enemy, including the auxiliary Moslem and Heathen

powers allied to the army of Dinkera, amounted at times to one hundred

and forty thousand men, of whom a great proportion were cavalry. The

issue of that war, which restored the sovereignty of Gaman to the king

of Ashantee, must unquestionably have increased his military strength to

the extent of twenty or thirty thousand more men, although it is true

the relics of those tribes who submitted, or escaped the butcheries,

were not considered worthy to be trusted with arms during my stay at

Court.

The King of Dahomy and his auxiliaries, the bashaw says, can raise

about[142] fifty thousand men, of whom from eight to ten thousand only

are fusileers; the rest are armed with bows and arrows, besides sabres,

and iron maces. This, he says, is the greatest force the Dahomans ever

sent into the field.

The king of Benin is, however, by far the most powerful of the three

monarchs, in regard to the number of his troops, for he can arm two

hundred thousand upon an emergency, but he cannot furnish above ten

thousand with muskets.

The dominions of the Ashantees, east of the Aswada, are considerable,

but do not extend as far as has been represented. Yandy forms no part of

the empire; but it is true that Ashantee influence carries great weight

in the councils of the sovereign of Dagomba. Those which are deemed the

north-east frontier towns are Coobeya, Yansala, Banko, and Toubary, in

Tonouma and Entâa; the town last mentioned serving as a frontier on the

Dahoman side; but in none of these places are Ashantee troops stationed,

the people being left to the government of their caboceers, and the

jurisdiction of their own laws. In fact, they seem to belong rather to

the class of tributaries, than subjects; yet they are compelled, whether

Moslems or heathens, to serve in the wars of the empire. Salgha, the

chief city of these districts, whose station I have assigned 8°. 50′.

latitude, and 0°. 25′. longitude east, is reported to be of twice the

size of Coomassy, and its population, of whom nearly one-sixth part are

Moslems, to be about four hundred thousand souls. The Korannic law is

that which governs the population not only of Tonouma, but also of

Simmer, Ghofan, Ghomba, and the northern tribes of Entâa; and in most of

these places the heathens are, notwithstanding their numerical

superiority, either subservient to it, or they cheerfully comply with a

judicial doctrine whose ministers they are from childhood taught to

respect as apostles of the great God, and whose _fetische_ is thought to

be of greater power and efficacy than any ritual or magical incantation

known among themselves.

The route to central Wangara, leading to the capital of Dahomy, the

Moslems sometimes travel over, but the heathens never. This is a path

which forks off in two branches from Quahou; the upper or northern one

leading through the southern districts of Bouromy to Goyah and the ferry

at Odanty, and the lower or southern one, through Aquambo to the ferry

at Nagho, a capital town now subject to the dominion of Ashantee. The

upper road, by a circuit round the Mahee hills, leads to the towns of

Fosoko, Arico, Chaca, Gholamto, Meami, Atoy, and Abomey.

The land is supposed to be equal in fertility in these parts to that of

Benin, which is universally allowed to be the richest and best

cultivated in any part of Wangara; but the population is not by any

means so great as the latter, for the tribes are constantly harassed by

invasions of the Dahomans, who pursue the same barbarous maxims in their

wars as the Ashantees themselves. The countries to the eastward of

Dahomy, including Ghodau, Yagah, Khimbee, Ayoh, Ajasee, and Benin, are

all heathen, or are governed by heathen monarchs, whose laws and

religion have no relation to the Korannic institutions, but are in a

proportionate degree the same as prevail generally among the heathens,

although in a milder manner, from the more commercial and agricultural

habits of many or most of the tribes in eastern Wangara. The people of

these parts, however, in common with the Moslems, practice circumcision.

The current coin throughout these regions is cowries; not only do they

circulate east of the Aswada, in Dahomy, and Dagomba, but also in the

Ashantee provinces of Bouromy, Baboso, Yobaty, Quahou, Aquambo, and

Inkran, where gold is not found; for the Gold Coast extends no farther

east than Berracoo.

[143]Wangara, as I have already noticed, written ونقرا[144] and

consequently pronounced nearly as we do, excepting that the g should be

blended with the sound of guttural k, imitating the Arabian ق, is that

great strip of land which comprehends the minor districts of Sarem,

Ghunja, and the southern parts of Dagomba, with part of Yarraba in the

south also. Its sweep along the line of coast embraces about six hundred

and sixty geographic miles, i.e. from Cape Lahou, the boundary of

Ashantee, and its Gaman province or kingdom on the west, to the parallel

of longitude that marks the track of the Formoso or Callebar rivers,

which, according to my authors, are its boundaries to the rising sun,

(the east.) The navigation between Benin (and between all those great

streams which intersect the Warree coast,) and the Koara and Ghulby

rivers, is not, as my informers say, to be doubted; and it is possible

to perform the voyage from Benin to Timbuctoo and Sago without setting

foot on shore, although it is not usual to navigate against the streams

of those great waters, the Kadarko, the Shawanka, the Ghulby, the Koara,

Shady or Jolliba, particularly in the rainy season, when the rivers are

full; for although they know of no rapids or cataracts to the south of

Wawa, yet the natural velocity of the streams is so great as to impede

the canoes in a northerly progress, although impelled forward by the

strength of fifty men and more. Two of my informers declared, they had

performed the voyage from north to south, under protection of the sultan

of Youry, as far as the gates of Benin.

Returning to Wangara, the first individual to whom I applied for

information, was the very Bashaw Mohammed known to Mr. Bowdich by the

name of Baba (_father_). Wangara was a subject of interest in our

earliest conversations. Of this man I begged to know where that

celebrated country, its lakes, its rivers, and its swamps existed. The

reply was, “Wangara is a large place; it is not a kingdom, neither is it

a city; but it contains many kingdoms and many cities: the ground you

tread upon is Wangara.” At this explanation I betrayed a mixture of

surprise and incredulity. “Can you doubt what I tell you?” replied the

chief; “if you do, enquire of our people whether I do not speak what is

true.” Shouma, Abou Becr, Cantoma, Mohammed bel Cassim, and some others

who were present, confirmed the assertion, (as did the king himself, on

a day of subsequent enquiry if he knew Wangara,) in terms the most

positive and convincing.[145] Wangara was naturally an object that

claimed a leading interest, from its having been the great focus of

speculation among the learned in Europe. Rivers it has many; for the

eastern confines are exceedingly low; but swamps (except little

incidental ones, such as occur on the Ashantee path) it has none,

besides what may be found on the great tropical Delta, (Warree) during

the season of rain, when in truth the whole eastern country, as far as

the Callebar river, or the Rio del Rey, is more or less swampy, and may

in many places be navigated over in canoes, through the heart of the

lower forest regions, where the trees are at this time to be seen

growing as in the bed of a lake.

In the course of many subsequent meetings, although my enquiries were

reiterated where doubt and conviction were still somewhat at variance,

the replies were uniform:—“This is Wangara, and we believe there is no

other country of that name on our side of the great deserts; but if

there is, we never heard mention of it, and therefore it must be a very

small place.” “Where are the great rivers talked of in the Gharb, (in

Ismaëlia) and which the Arabs say run to Wangara?” “The rivers of

Wangara are numerous; they are such as we have already described,

running into the great salt sea of Benin, and from whence you came (Cape

Coast.) The greatest river of Wangara runs south behind Dahomy, direct

to Warree, and is fifteen long journies to the east of Abomey.” “Is not

this the Koara you speak of?” “No; the Koara is another very great

sea;[146] it runs to Noufy, where it takes three days to cross the

water; from Noufy, the water runs by two or three channels into the Lake

of Shady, and the sea or river so called, passing Bousa, Souy, Kassina,

Yakoo, Kano, and Gambaro, in its course easterly, below Bornou, to the

Bahar Neel (Nile) of Egypt. The Ghulby, after a long eastern course,

inclining to the north, runs into it at Noufy, and the great Benin river

turns from it to the south, cutting from the direction of Wawa, through

Kaima, Khodobari, Agiassy, and Benin. They are all great seas, but the

Koara is the greatest in the universe.” “Is the great river of Benin the

Ghulby that flows from Ghoroma in the kingdom of Magho?”—“It is not that

sea itself, but it is connected with its waters through the lake Noufy.”

This conversation is extracted from a diary, which it was my practice to

keep. On a subject which I deemed of importance, I have preferred

inserting the arguments verbatim, devoid of all embellishments of the

pen, or any bias which a change of language or my own conceptions might

suggest.

I have, in an earlier page, ventured a somewhat anomalous comparison of

Wangara with that district of the north, known by the name of Africa to

Greece and Rome. But, perhaps, it might be more correctly compared with

that vague appellation _Guinea_, by which we describe the country

itself. The discovery of the true position of this district, assuming

the fact upon the grounds I have stated, would, I am aware, incline to a

revolution in the theory of the Niger itself; but as it is no part of my

plan to speculate or infringe upon the prerogatives of the reader, I

shall abstain from any hypothetical conclusions of this nature.

Concerning the course of the Niger itself—the Jolliba of Park, called by

the Arabs, Bahar Neel, Bahar Abied, Bahar Soudan, &c. and by the Wangara

Moslems, Bahar Koara, I never heard of two different opinions in regard

to its termination. South or north of the Great Desert, in Wangara or

Mauritania, the sentiments were the same, that the great flow of water

is easterly to the Egyptian Nile. Yet it must be confessed, that none of

my instructors had ever tracked its course beyond the western limits of

Bornou. It was an orthodox opinion, that the Shady, as well as the

Koara, united its waters with innumerable other large and small rivers

(like the Amazon) which contributed to replenish its channel in the dry

season, when it usually tracks its course mildly; and in the season of

rain when it runs in tempestuous eddies, sweeping off in its current

whole islands of matted vegetation.

The great rivers of Wangara, besides such as exclusively belong to

Ashantee, are, first the Aswada, or Volta, called by the heathens

Adirray. This river rises in a cluster of hills or mountains called

Sarga, bearing north from Coomassy, behind the desert of Ghofan, and

distant seventeen journies, or about two hundred and seventy-two miles

horizontal. Its course through the desert inclines greatly to the

eastward of south, until it passes Yajy, where its general inclination

is southerly, till it discharges itself near Cape St. Paul, and where it

is known to navigators by the name of the Volta. In its course it laves

the provinces of Baboso, passing Salgha, Yobati, Bouromy, Quahou,

Aquambo, and Adampy. In Ghofan it is a narrow stream not much above

ancle deep; but, on the parallel of a town in Tounouma, called Dafoo, it

is broader, and becomes navigable from its junction with another small

river, called Bahar Bourgan. In the neighbourhood of Salgha it is a

great river, as wide according to the testimony of my informers, as from

the quarters I occupied to the palace gate, a distance about equal to

the dimensions of the Thames at Battersea. The lake Bouro, south of the

town of Yajy, does not always overflow its embankments to a great

extent; but only when the rains are heavier than usual. It then runs by

a channel into the Aswada. This inclination of the water of the lake, is

propelled by a stream which rises on the confines of Ghofan, as it has

been stated, and empties itself in the Bouro. In Bouromy, and Quahou,

the Aswada is much wider and deeper than at Salgha, particularly in the

latter province, where its dimensions in some places exceed double the

width before related, and consequently it is greater than the Thames at

London. In Aquamboe, near the mouth of the river, it is so wide that the

human voice at its greatest elevation cannot be heard from the opposite

shore.

The great river that flows between Dahomy and Benin, and which

consequently must be the Logos, is crossed in the forest east of

Tounoma, where it is very narrow and shallow; but it is navigable near

the town of Konjasi, where it bends south-east in its track to the sea

behind Ardrah. The name of it, according to a Moslem of Tounoma, I was

assured, is Komashar (كماشر) from a valuable sort of gum, so called,

which abounds in its neighbourhood, and is collected for the markets of

Yandy and Nikky, where it is sold to the northern traders. This river is

inferior in size to the Aswada, although equally adapted to the purposes

of navigation, they both being exempt from cataracts and dangerous

rapids. From Goyah it is fourteen journies, easterly, to the Komasha, or

about two hundred geographic miles; but from Salgha to the same river,

in the upper part of its course, it is no more than six. Its source is

near Yandy.

Behind the Komashar in the Ayoh country, and upon the parallel of

Salgha, is a lake of very great extent, whose shores the traveller, on

an eastern or western journey, does not quit for two days; the name of

it I know not; but my informers describe it as a fresh water lake, which

had no communication with any river. Zogho is due north of this lake,

from which it is distant six journies, or less than one hundred

horizontal miles. From hence to Abomey it is seven journeys, and to

Benin eleven. Its distance from the Komashar, at the ford, is three

journies only. There are many populous islands in this lake, with towns

and villages, and the natives of these parts are subject to the dominion

of the sultan of Zogho. The tribes of Ayoh inhabit an extensive flat

surface, south of the lake, and they also serve the sovereign of Zogho

as tributaries.

The great river of Benin is among the easternmost of the great Wangara

rivers. From Abomey to this river it is fourteen journies due east; and

from the lake, before-mentioned, to the Kadarko River, a river which is

said to fall into or unite with the Benin, it is but four good journies

through the Yagah country, a country inhabited by a race of heathens;

the same nearly in language, laws, and customs as Ayoh. Khimbee is the

last district or principality in Wangara east; and that also is an

appendage to the throne of Zogho.

This great empire (Zogho), I conceive to be the Gago of Leo; and that

the g, intended doubtless for a soft one, has been inserted by the

translator to express the Arabian characters, ج or ذ which, being nearly

synonimous, are oftentimes indiscriminately used to mark the same sound.

My informers said, in the most positive terms, there was no kingdom

existing between Dahomy and Zogho, except such small ones as were

tributary to the latter, the sultan of which was the most powerful

monarch known in these parts, without excepting the kings of Ashantee or

Benin. They confirmed what Mr. Dalzel reported in his history of the

kingdom of Dahomy; that the sovereigns of this country pay tribute to

Ayoh, which they affirm is the same as Zogho, for these southern tribes

are employed, as occasion may require, to collect it by force of arms.

They call the sultan of Zogho, although a rigid Moslem, the friend of

Dahomy; because that monarch suffers the government of Dahomy to exist

when he might destroy it at his pleasure, for he can lead on an army of

500,000 men, a very great proportion of whom are good cavalry troops,

well armed with short javelins, lances, bows and arrows, and cutting

swords. The affinity, therefore, between Ayoh and Zogho, is the same as

between Ashantee and Inta, or Entâa agreeably to what Mr. Dalzel has

said, for Entâa is also the name of those tribes in Ghunja, who are

settled near the Aswada, and who built the city of Salgha.

The sections of Wangara, as they are now politically divided, were,

according to the traditions of the country, once united in one

consolidated empire, under the government of a king, who resided at

Yandy, and who governed Dahomy and Benin, the latter in tributary

subjection. This southern empire, which was of no long duration, enjoyed

its supremacy before the Arabs were known upon the Niger; and it was

their encroachments chiefly, which, by causing the northern powers to

fall back, contracted the resources of government and ultimately gave

occasion to the tributary kingdoms to shake off their allegiance, (the

tide of conquest flowing from east to west,) some of these sovereigns,

in the sequel, becoming proselytes and others tributaries to the Arabs

and their auxiliaries. Somewhere about the hejyran year 300 (that

memorable epoch when the Arabs were led to expect that some portentous

revolution would occur in the west; or, as it was metaphorically

predicted, the sun would rise in that quarter;) the great empire of

Wangara, which might then have been nearly as extensive as Bornou, was

compelled to receive laws from the natives of the banks of the Koara and

Ghulby. The auxiliary Moslem powers poured their forces into the

northern provinces, establishing their head-quarters at Killinga; from

whence, at that time and for two or three subsequent centuries, they

overawed the surrounding countries to the effect of eliciting tribute in

ivory, slaves, and the produce of the gold mines of Ashantee and Gaman.

Whether the great districts of tropical Africa, such as Ghunja, Sarem,

Dagomba, Killinga, Marroa, Fillany, &c. &c. are indebted to the Arabs

for the names they now bear, I am not able to decide; but that of

Yarraba, as I was assured by many, certainly received its name from the

eastern Arab tribes, as the sound itself implies; as did also Fillany,

from the western, in relation to Taffilet, (east of the Atlas

Mountains), the land which gave birth to the conquerors of the West.

Fillany is the proper name of the tribe of Taffilet. The deplorable

action of war in this country is unquestionably a bar to the attainment

of a correct and lasting system of its geography; and this evil, coupled

with the few incidental opportunities that offer for checking the

reports of travellers, and comparing their writings with those of

ancient or established authority, must ever increase the obstacle as

long, perhaps, as the natives of Europe and Africa shall be found to

have feelings and interests of opposite characters. We need not go far

for a solution of what this problem would give: It may be seen by a

reference to maps of Guinea, which were engraved as recently as the

early part of last century, that upon the Gold Coast only, many kingdoms

enjoyed, in their day, a political and substantial existence; but which

are now no more; or at most they exhibit but a shadow, which gives only

a faint outline of their original splendour, their opulence, and their

vigor; having been, from time to time harassed by cruel wars, of a

tendency to extirpate or expatriate the population in a mass, and their

names as nations. Let the reader refer to the map of Bosman’s

description of Guinea, where he will discover the names of powerful

little kingdoms, such as Dinkera, Akim, Quahou, Aquamboe, Fantyn;

besides those of less note, such as Adom, Coomany, Saboe, Ladincour,

Acron, Agouna, and some others, the most celebrated of which barely

enjoy their present oblivious rank and names as provinces of the

Ashantee Empire, while many places are totally extinct, and their

ancient glory is supplanted by the ingress of a foreign population,

bearing the names of their own tribes, to distinguish the new colony

nationally.

The works of the ancients upon the subject of African kingdoms,

appreciated by the most celebrated geographer of the present age, should

not therefore be rashly rejected; however we may feel inclined to

scepticism, on the ground of natural and permanent distinctions of land

and water.

Another tradition says, that after the decline of power in the east,

Dagomba and Ghunja were both united, more intimately than at present,

and formed one great kingdom, that ruled from Magho to the sea shore of

Dahomy; and that this was the political aspect of western Wangara for

many generations, between the dismemberment of the original Wangara

empire and the first coming of the Europeans; or, as they express it,

the first knowledge their ancestors had of white men; the early

Portuguese navigators.

At another period, when I know not, Kong and the Manding country were

mistresses of Sarem; and they governed many other maritime nations in

the south west. Haoussa, says the Bashaw, was then governed by a

sheriffe, whose armies were composed of Arabs and Africans, from the

north and east. Yarraba, at times, was tributary to it, as well as

Killinga, and Arab fleets ruled the cities and tribes upon the banks of

the Koara, the Ghulby, &c., as did their camel and cavalry armaments by

land, wherever the country was adapted to open warfare. The heathens

then could only find safety in the mountains, in close countries, and in

those extensive forest lands wherewith the continent abounds; for the

Arabs scowered every assailable point, to the effect of exacting

tribute, and propagating the creed of the prophet in nations the most

remote. The Moslem countries of the Koara, continued my informer, in a

tone that evinced envy and regret, owe their religious felicity and the

security they now enjoy to the wisdom of the old Arabian councils, and

the vigour of their horse and camel troops, which the most powerful of

the heathen nations trembled to confront on the plains of north-east

Africa; for most of the northern tribes, as well as those of Wangara,

were possessed of none of those useful animals before they knew their

conquerors. But, he concluded, the same causes which contributed to the

subjugation of Soudan, and the propagation of Islam, in the revolution

of years, aided the converted people, by God’s will, to drive back the

holy nation upon the deserts from whence they came, and where their

posterity still exist, although some Arab tribes are yet to be found on

the Koara, whose influence, comparatively, is not great; and whose

jurisdiction is limited to the government of themselves, and the few

insulated Ethiopian tribes of Moslems in their neighbourhood.

But for these events, it is the opinion of the Moslems of the south,

that every nation, down to the sea coast itself, would have been

converted to the service of Allah, long ere this, and the Koran would

have been known throughout _Africa_; whereas now the Idolaters are

strong in the south; and although they respect the Moslems from the fear

of the most high God, to whom they observe them pray, yet many tribes of

true believers are by them held in subjection, as may be seen at

Ashantee; and are compelled to pay tribute and fight the battles of

heathen princes, whose religion and whose interests are necessarily the

reverse of their own.

The absence of that political co-operation in the north, it is affirmed,

is mainly the cause why the southern believers are checked in their

efforts to propagate God’s worship by dint of arms; for the existing

governments in the vicinity of the great inland waters are supine, and

devoid of that energy which distinguished the career of the Arabs. If I

might hazard an opinion I would say, that the European trade upon the

western and Guinea coasts, particularly the importation of guns, powder,

and rum, operated greatly to the prejudice of the southern Moslem

tribes, by arming so powerfully against them the idolaters of their

neighbourhood.

The Moslems with whom I conversed are agreed that the maritime nations

of heathens maintain their political preponderance on the coast, and

their influence inland, by the use of European arms, the means of

procuring which are necessarily at their command, from the wealth of

Africa, (the gold mines of Wangara), so eagerly sought after by all

nations, from the reign of Solomon[147], being the produce of the soil

they cultivate; and which is defended by such forests, mountains, and

morasses, as defied the strength of the Arabs and their auxiliaries to

approach, in the plenitude of their conquests. The Moslem sovereigns of

Dagomba and Ghunja, and the sultan of Zogho, they assured me, ardently

wished for a free communication with the whites; although the latter,

from political reasons, did not think proper to root out the heathens in

Dahomy, as he might if he had chosen. All these nations ardently desired

such an intercourse, as would procure them the same weapons and

commodities as the Europeans now import to Fantee, Amanaha, and the

windward countries; a commerce which it is not the policy of the

maritime powers, such as Ashantee and Dahomy, to permit; and therefore

the interior states purchase what they require of the manufactures of

the north, at the great markets of Haoussa, Killinga and Sarem, besides

certain other stationary markets, upon the Koara, frequented by the

northern traders.

In reply to a question, if it were possible for me to visit Yandy,

Zogho, and Nikky;—the Bashaw said, it was not to be doubted, that the

name of the king of Ashantee was sufficiently powerful to carry me

safely to those places, or any part of the east to the extent of

Yarraba; (Benin excepted) and if coupled with that of the great white

sultan, my sovereign, it would not only be a sufficient passport, but

gain me the friendship of any court in Soudan. The king of Dahomy also,

he added, would be jealous, and the king of Ashantee would not wish me

to visit his country, because it lies on the sea side: whereas in the

north and eastern districts, where the alliance exists, my visits would

give pleasure to the king and caboceers, who would feel pride in the

envy of other nations.

The great kingdoms or empires of modern Wangara are three in number,

Ashantee, Dahomy, and Benin, and their dependencies. Those of minor

importance contained in the districts of Sarem, Ghunja, Dagomba, and

Yarraba, including the tributaries, are, in the West, Enkasy, Gaman,

Aowin, and Amanaha, or Apollonia; in the centre, Ghofan, Tonouma, Entaa,

Mahee, Gouaso, Kerapy, Popo, Whydah, and Ardrah. In the east, Yagah,

Khimbee, Ajasee, Jaboo, Kosie, and Waree.

The Moslems are scattered over the new provinces of Bouromy, Yobaty,

Baboso, Sokoo, and Takima; but their political sway is confined to the

government of themselves. Enkasy is the first Moslem principality in the

north-west, inhabited by some strayed tribes from Manding. From Coomassy

to Soke Aila, the capital (or market-place) of Enkasy, it is fourteen

journies, and six more to Kong. Agreeably to this, I have placed the

former in 9° 26′ N. lat. 3°. 42′ W. lon. and the latter 10° 12′ lat.

4°—lon. and which I conceive to be very near the truth. Enkasy is

tributary to Kong, and Kong itself pays tribute to Melly, a kingdom in

which the Moslem influence is great, although its sovereign is an

unbeliever.

Ghofan is the first Moslem government in the north beyond Banna, from

which it is separated by the Gaman province of Sokoo, formerly a little

principality, by Banna itself, Baboso, and the Deserts. It is hilly or

mountainous in the NW. and desert in the SE. but it has many extensive

fertile plains, well cultivated, and the country contains a moderate

population, who were the most warlike and active of the enemies of

Ashantee (Kong, and the Manding tribes, perhaps, excepted). Ghofan,

seven years back, was tributary to the sultan of Kong, but since the

subjugation of Gaman, in the late war, the king of Banna, the ally of

the Ashantee empire, has overrun many places in the south, and

established a new frontier upon the river. The Koran is the only

established law here, and at Ghobagho, another Moslem country, to the

north east, now of a greater importance than Ghofan, from which it is

distant only seven journies, or about one hundred and twelve miles; and

from Coomassy to Daboya, its capital, (although the sultan mostly

resides at Botintasy) sixteen journies or two hundred and fifty-six

miles. I have accordingly assigned it the latitude and longitude of 10°

15′ N. and 0° 32′ W.

The Desert, which must be crossed from Ghofan, is an extensive track of

coarse white sand, with a few stunted bushes, whose greatest breadth

from N. to S. is four journies. Water, however, is to be found in

abundance in the Desert; mostly in large stagnant pools, or lakes,

besides the Aswada, and many of its tributary streams, which flow

through the heart of it. The Sarga mountains, which are very lofty, lie

to the westward of Ghobagho, from which the loftiest ridges are distant

five journies; but a branch of them may be seen from Daboya and

Botintasy.

Yandy, the metropolis of Dagomba, is seated in a small district named

Simmer, on the confines of the great forest of Tonouma. It is on the

line of the main road from Salgha, from which it is distant six days to

the NN.E. and from Coomassy twenty-one, or three hundred and thirty

British miles, which would give it about the latitude and longitude of

9° 40′ N. 1° 20′ E. as I have assigned its position on the map. From

Yandy to Abomey, the capital of Dahomy, it is thirteen journies, and to

Benin twenty-eight, giving to the former a distance of two hundred

British miles, and to the latter three hundred and forty. Different from

travelling in Ashantee, all these journies may be performed with

facility, from the general open state of the country, and the use of

horses, and other beasts of burthen. The great forest, or wilderness of

Ghomaty, is five journies distant from Yandy, in the NE., the southern

boundary of which serves also for the boundary of Wangara in that

direction.

The eastern kingdoms and tribes of Wangara, are deemed infinitely more

populous and more civilized than the western: a truth which, I believe,

is not to be questioned, for there agriculture is encouraged, and

commerce exists upon an equal scale with the most commercial people in

Africa. In pursuit of gain the natives of Khimbee, Ajasee, Ghodau,

Benin, and Mazam, wander to the most remote parts of the continent in

caravans, or by means of the great waters that intersect Yarraba and

Killinga.

In all these countries, Benin excepted, horses are plentiful,

particularly in Ayoh and Yagah. Fire arms and gunpowder are, however,

unknown in these parts or very scarce, but their weapons, which they

wield with great dexterity and execution, are much dreaded in that

country. These weapons, which I have seen in Coomassy, are very long

supple lances, barbed and poisoned, targets, bows and arrows, tomahawks

and iron maces, the former of which they are in the practice of

poisoning with a venom more deadly than that which is used by any other

nation, as its operation is said to be sometimes instantaneous, and its

wound, although ever so slight, usually produces death within the lapse

of a few minutes. The troops of the sultan of Zogho are armed in the

same manner, and his subjects, who, although commercial, are as brave as

the Ashantees, and perhaps more enterprising, are proportionably dreaded

by the surrounding nations. Benin itself, although not strictly

tributary to the sovereign of Zogho, frequently sends presents to the

Court of the latter, where, by his ambassadors, the king cultivates the

friendship of a power he has too much reason to fear, from his great

resources inland, and the means he has of insinuating a Dahoman army on

the west over the Lagos river.

Benin itself is rich, and comparatively a civilized well governed

kingdom, superior to Ashantee in the arts and conveniences of life, in

the state of society, and in the administration of the laws, which,

however, have no better foundation than custom and tradition. The spirit

of commerce reigns here, and particularly in the northern provinces, in

its utmost vigour; and the land itself is so fertile and populous, that

it is usual to travel the day long amidst corn fields or plantations, of

which the tall and stunted palm, date, plantain, banana, yam, cassada,

and some kinds of fruit trees besides, occupy the surface of many acres,

which are enclosed with mud walls or bramble, to distinguish them as

private property.

The Moslem traders of Benin are said to navigate on their great rivers,

and the eastern branches which join the Kadarko, the Shoanka, and

Shaderbah.[148] Some of these rivers open a communication with a tribe

of heathens named Gargari, who live in tents, and are not black, but a

red skinned people, yet they are not of the Arabian stock. The best

breeds of horses and mules come from these parts.

On the sea shores of Benin there is no navigation adapted to canoe

voyages, for the sea runs so high, and breaks with such violence upon

the Warree, Kosie, and some parts of the Dahoman coasts, (as I have seen

the effect myself,) that the natives of those parts scarcely ever

venture out of their rivers; and the sea, unlike that of the Gold Coast,

yields them little or no tribute from its stores; but in requital, they

enjoy in security from the surf and the tempest, the most prolific

inland fisheries known any where in Soudan. There is, moreover, an open

navigation, by means of these rivers and lakes, extending from the city

of Benin westward to the Volta, crossing the Cradoo lake, the Lagos,

passing Porto Nova, Whydah, Popo, and Cape St. Paul. On the eastern side

of Benin, the extent of river navigation is not precisely known, unless

to the natives themselves; but it is admitted that there are channels

which intersect all the Warree rivers at right angles, running within

the compass of one or two days from the sea shore, out of the Formosa

river into the Forcados, Dodo, Nun, St. Nicholas, Bartholomew, Callebar,

Bonny, &c.; that the land hereabout is covered with thicket and forest

trees;[149] that the navigation in Warree, although unobstructed by

natural causes, is proportionately dangerous, from the ferocious

character of the people in these parts, and the bands of robbers who

lurk in concealment among the trees, ready to attack the trading canoes.

The sovereign of Benin, powerful as he is, cannot, as my informers say,

exact entire obedience from these people, who are supported in their

independence by the association of numbers of the discontented subjects

of Benin itself, who emigrate to the forests of Warree for personal

security, or to escape the retaliation of violated laws. There are said

to be three great forks which branch off from Ajasse at ten journies

from the sea, to which they run in a course inclining to the east of

south; and all these streams, in their upper courses, are studded with

richly cultivated islands, towns, and villages.

On the western boundary of Wangara is Gaman, formerly a powerful

kingdom, and now a province of the Ashantee empire. Its boundary on the

west is a flat country inhabited by the Mandings; Ghombaty, and Enkasy

bound it on the north. The Tando river separates it from Ashantee Proper

on the east, and Aowin, Amanaha, Lahou, and Bassam on the sea-coast, are

its limits in the south. The town of Bontokoo, the ancient residence of

its sovereigns, bears north-west from Coomassy, from which it is distant

eight journies. I have accordingly assigned its place on the map, 7° 36′

lat. N. 3° 25′ lon. W. Houraboh, the residence of its last king, is five

journies beyond Bontokoo, and its position, by the same calculation,

will stand good at 8° 30′—3° 58′.

[Illustration: A Man & Woman of Gaman.]

Gaman, and particularly its provinces of Ponin, Safoy, and Showy,

contain the richest gold mines known to my informers, in this or any

other part of Africa; who by way of illustration say, that in Ashantee,

Dinkra, and Wassau, the veins of metal are found at the depth of twelve

cubits (twenty-two feet) below the surface, but in these Gaman provinces

at five (nine feet.) The ore is dug principally out of large pits, which

belonged to the late king, in the neighbourhoods of Briquanti and

Kontosoo. The gold from these parts, according to specimens which were

shewn to me, is of a very deep colour, mixed with red gravel and pieces

of white granite. It all falls under the denomination of rock gold, and

is considered of more intrinsic value than that of Ashantee, although

the latter, as it passes for current, is mostly pure. The gold of Gaman,

i.e. the pit gold, is sometimes brought to the Ashantee market in solid

lumps, imbedded in loam and rock, which together would probably weigh

fourteen or fifteen pounds troy, and of pure metal might possibly yield,

if separated from the dross, about one pound or one pound and a half.

But even this, as I was credibly assured, is no sample adequate to

convey a just idea of the richness of the mines, many of which, and of

the richest in ore, are either dedicated to the national gods, or are

deemed, as in Ashantee, too sacred to cut into. Other specimens which

bore the most perfect natural appearances, were displayed daily before

my eyes, in solid lumps, which the caboceers wore attached to the

wrists, during and after the Adai custom, and which would in some

instances, I am inclined to think, weigh as much as four pounds. The

dust gold of Gaman, which is collected by washing in the beds of

torrents during the rains, the same as in Ashantee, Fantee, and Ahanta,

is also higher coloured, cleaner, and better than what is gathered in

any other country[150]. On the banks of the Barra, a stream which rises

near the large Moslem town of Kherabi, and flows south into the Tando or

Assinee river, the Gamans also wash for gold; and during the season of

rain, my informers relate, there is occupation for eight or ten thousand

slaves for two months; and the metal they collect, added to the produce

of the pits, the great bulk of which used formerly to be exported to

Manding and Kong, (where it was manufactured into trinkets, and from

thence transported to the nations of the Jolliba) now finds its way to

Ashantee, from whence it passes in small quantities to the maritime

provinces of Apollonia, Ahanta, Fantee, &c. and is there alloyed before

it reaches the hands of the whites; and the principal part of the metal

is either carried away by the inland traders, or remitted to the

correspondents of the Moslems at Yandy, Salgha, Banko, Wabea, and other

great cities of the north-east districts. In this active state of

currency it shortly reaches Zogho, Salamo, Kook, and last, Nikky, the

metropolis of the great kingdom of Bargho, where also it is transformed

into trinkets and ducats, (Mitskal) and under its new characters is as

rapidly translated to the Koara at Haoussa, or is circulated in the

provinces or neighbouring kingdoms of Wawa, Maury, Kaima, Baman, and

Kandashi. From the Koara and the Ghulby it is circulated through all

parts of Soudan, the Desert, and its kingdoms, Bornou, Egypt, and the

Gharb, but it never finds its way to any of those countries perfectly

pure, and never in its crude state, either as it is dug from the mines,

or in lump or dust as it passes for the medium of exchange in western

Wangara. The Ashantees themselves manufacture a little into trinkets,

chains, breast-plates, and ornaments; it melts away in a moderate equal

proportion in its north-easterly progress, even before it reaches the

kingdoms of Bargho or Magho, where the great manufactories are.

Within the empire, the provinces of Soko and Takima, independent of the

native population, who are heathens, contain many large towns, where the

Moslems live in distinct societies under the jurisdiction of their own

laws, but in subordination to the caboceers, appointed by the king of

Ashantee, or the tributary sovereigns and princes, whose governments

were not violated in the late war. Nomassa, the metropolis of Soko, is

said to contain about a thousand Moslems. In Waraki, the proportion is

even greater than this, and at Kherabi they are permitted to live

entirely by themselves in a city which was described to me to be as

large as Doompassy, and where the head bashaw of the believers resides,

who governs, for the king, the Moslems of the north-west, in number,

probably exceeding 80,000 of both sexes, including the proselytes. But

even at this estimate, as I conceive from the reports of the Bashaw of

Coomassy, the believers who are settled in the north-eastern districts

and provinces of Ashantee west of the Aswada, in Yobati, Bouromy,

Baboso, Coransah, part of Ghofan, and the kingdom of Banna, are

infinitely more numerous, and may, upon the total average, bear a

proportionate relation to the heathens, as one to fifteen.

As the maritime nations, and the Fantees in particular, are, of all the

tribes of Wangara, those with whom the British have hitherto been the

most intimately connected, I shall conclude this chapter with some

information respecting their character. The king of Ashantee alluded to

them in several conferences, public and private: “If I had not loved

white men,” said he, “surely I should not have made peace when the white

flag was displayed, but I would have had the forts where I knew there

was plenty of gold and merchandize. The Fantees wanted to govern the

castle, and they alone were enemies to us both; they formerly ill-used

white men,[151] but they dare not now.” Indeed the king’s observation

was a just one, in every point; for, previous to his visit to the Coast,

it was perhaps hardly known at times whether the British governed

themselves, or were governed by the natives, whose arrogance knew no

moderation, in the plenitude of their strength, and whose maxim it was

to terrify into compliance, by every act that cruelty, falsehood, and

treachery could devise. True, however, it is, and equally humiliating,

that they palliate their sins of this dye by recriminating upon the

whites, whom they accuse of acting towards them unconscientiously, and

without any other regard than to their own proper interests. It was no

uncommon thing for the natives to assemble in arms, at any little

disgust they might take, and shut up the garrisons within their walls.

Cape Coast Castle itself, the redoubted fortification, that, as Mr.

Smith would insinuate, was to bid defiance to the whole power of

Ashantee, has repeatedly experienced this calamity from the natives of

_its town only_; and the last time it happened was but a very few years

back, and since their subjugation by the Ashantees, when the people,

from their house-tops, had almost, I had said, overawed the garrison;

for the cannon-shot could only perforate the mud walls, without

dislodging the enemy from the thatch; while these plied their weapons

effectually through the embrasures, killing the sergeant, and maiming

others; and this disgusting anarchy terminated, as usual, in a

humiliating compromise, wherein each party bound themselves to restore

peace to the other, as it would seem, upon the basis of a mutual

forgiveness. As to the out-forts, excepting, perhaps, Annamaboe, they

have occasionally exchanged masters with the natives: and his _sable

Excellency_ has been seated under the flag-staves, or in the halls of

his deposed predecessors, negotiating at head-quarters for their own

abdication, upon golden terms. What, I would ask, led to the demolition

of the fort at Winnebah, recently, but these very outrages? And what

befel Mr. Meredith himself? Did not the natives drag that gentleman and

another, barefoot, over burning stubble, that lacerated and scorched

their feet at every step,—flogging them, at the same time, in a most

inhuman and degrading manner? and was not Mr. Smith an eye-witness of

this brutality, which in the sequel cost one or both gentlemen their

lives? Can it be denied that matters have been carried to that point of

extremity, that governors in former years have been compelled to fire

their magazines, and blow themselves into the air, to avoid falling into

the hands of an infuriated people? But in palliation of these acts, as

the Fantees relate, if it were practicable to draw out a just list of

aggravations and offences, and enumerate the sins of all, it would

probably be a matter of speculation which way the balance might incline.

The ponderous power of Ashantee, in lieu of contributing to the

insecurity of life and property, _alone guarantees both_ to us, by its

friendship, its _interests_, and the position it occupies in the rear of

its maritime provinces. The Fantees have it no longer in their power, as

the king justly observed, to pursue their rancours so audaciously,

although other tribes may still enjoy such privileges.