30 Account of the Climate, Natural Products, Arts and 



Ashantee, with wild hogs, hyaenas, cows, sheep, goats, deer, an- 

 telopes; dogs approximating to the Danish; cats extremely sharp- 

 visaged and long-necked; Gennet cats, pangolins, alligators. 

 The rhinoceros is found in Boroom, and the hippopotamus in 

 the Odirree river. 



The Ashantees say that an animal culled sissah or sissiree will 

 attack every other however superior in size. The Fantees, who 

 had never seen it, had imbibed a tremendous idea of it from the 

 stories in their own country. I doubt its being so formidable to 

 all other animals, for the skin I saw was not more than three 

 feet long and the legs short ; it resembled that of a boar, but the 

 natives said it was i)etween a pig and a goat. It is extraordinary 

 that the g/ino (antelope gnu) which is found behind the Cape of 

 Good Hope is known in Inta by the same name. Where the beds 

 were not an accumulation of cushions, the skin of the gnoo was 

 nailed to a large wooden frame, raised on legs about a foot from 

 the ground, and stretched as we would sacking. It was a revered 

 custom that no virgin of either sex should sleep on this kind of 

 bed. Another animal called otrum was described by the inha- 

 bitants of the eastern frontier as having one very long horn on 

 one side of the head, and a short one on the other ; it is much 

 larger than the gnoo. We met with a spotted animal of the cat 

 kind, very common, and allied to the leopard or panther ; but 

 whether referable to either of those species, or to be considered 

 as distinct, we could not determine, owing to the very vague and 

 unsatisfactory character by which naturalists have attempted to 

 distinguish them, — the kind and numbers of the rows of spots; 

 which we have observed in individuals of the same decided species 

 to present almost an infinity of variation. 



The vulture, which is venerated by the natives for the same 

 reason that the Egyptians venerated the Fidturus percopterus, is 

 the Fidturus monachus figured by Le Vaillant. Green pigeons 

 are found, and crows with a white ring round their necks, pro- 

 bably the Corviis scapulurh figured by Le Vaillant. There were 

 several small birds of beautiful plumage which sung melodiously; 

 two in particular, the one like a blackbird, and the other of the 

 same colour as the English thrush, but larger. Also a variety of 

 parrots beautifully spangled with different colours. M. Cuvier 

 was misinformed when he wrote (Regne A?U7nal, tome i. p. 108) 

 " Macaque est le nom generique des singes a la cote de Guinee." 

 The name is unknown there as well as in the interior. Dokoo is 

 the generic name. The Simla Diana, which has the most beau- 

 'tiful skin of any monkey, is found in Ashantee as well as in War- 

 saw. All the natives agree that they do not know of any mon- 

 keys which dare to attack men but the akoneson, which they de- 

 scribe as small and always seen in troops. 



Snakes 



