Manufactures of the Kingdom of Ashantee. 31 



Snakes green and of all colours ; scorpions, lizards, &c. were 

 found as on the coast, with a curious variety of heetles and the 

 most beautiful butterflies. A few specimens preserved in spirits 

 have been sent to the British Museum. 



Arts and MaJiufac lures. 



The Ashantee loom is precisely on the same principle as the 

 English; it is worked by strings held between the toes; the 

 web is never more than four inches broad. A small loom com- 

 plete is among the articles presented to the British Museum. 

 They use a spindle and not a distaif for spinning, holding it in 

 one hand, and twisting the thread (which has a weight at the end) 

 with the finger and thumb of the other. The fineness, variety, 

 brilliancy and size of their cloths is astonishing; a specimen 

 which is in the British Museum will be admired for the two first 

 qualities, and for having the same appearance on both sides. 

 The richest red tafifetas imported from India are unravelled, and 

 wove into the cloths of their own manufacture. They are also 

 sometimes in the custom of unravelling a few of the fancy silks 

 (India), but these are generally bought for wear, though they pre- 

 fer those from Fezzan for that purpose, because the colours are 

 more showy. The richest silks I saw were worn by the Moors, 

 who had bought them at Yahndi and Houssa. Reckoning nine 

 inches to a span, there are eight spans in a fathom, which is the 

 Ashantee measure ; but the fathom of Inta and Dagwumba con- 

 tains only six spans. Even if the Ashantee traders give only 

 twenty shillings a fathom in barter of boosie, salt, lum, iron, &c. 

 it is considerablv cheaper than ours (silks), considering that they 

 get 100 per cent, on it at Coomassie. Mr. Lucas mentions " silk 

 wrought and unwrought" among the articles exported from Fez- 

 zan to Kassina. Apokoo and several others related to me that 

 Sai Cndjo bought a piece of silk at Yahndi so very fine, that al- 

 though it could be compressed between two hands, it was never- 

 theless larger than any cloth I had seen the present king wear, 

 and his appeared monstrous. Apokoo added that six slaves 

 were paid for it, which would have produced 160/. at the water 

 side. 



A description of British cotton cloth (which goes here by the 

 UMWCO^ sarslracundo) is in considerable request. It is a highly 

 glazed article, of brigiit red stripes with a i)ar of white, and is 

 l)onght solely for the red stripe (as there is no red dye nearer than 

 Marrowa), which the Ashantecs weave into their own cloths, 

 throwing away the white. The red dye of Marrowa, which is very 

 good, is obtained from a tree called moosaralec. 



Tiie white cloths which arc |)rincipally manufactured in Inta 

 and Dagwumba they paint for mourning, with a mixture of blood 



and 



