12 Account of a Mission to Ashante'e. [Jan. 



There is said to be a gold-mine near the capital, which, how- 

 ever, the King will not allow to be worked, all the supplies of 

 this metal in the country being obtained, either from washing 

 the sandy earth, or in baiter from the Dinkaras and Waisaws. 

 About 30 miles from Cormarcie is a plantation belonging to the 

 King, where he often goes, being conveyed in a basket on men's 

 shoulders. The road to this place is a very fine one, but is the 

 only one in the country, all the other outlets being merely paths. 



It is the custom of the King (Poco) to sit three times each 

 day in public, in order to hear and decide disputes ; and his 

 generals, captains, and caboceers also pay their inspects to him 

 three times a day, when he regales them with palm wine. The 

 laws are very severe, death being the general punishment : the 

 sentence, however, may in many cases be commuted for a large 

 sum of money. The gainer of a cause always pays the expenses 

 of the suit. It is not unusual, in cases where the King is a 

 party, for him to submit his cause to the determination of the 

 caboceers, and other principal men. If the affair is decided 

 against him, as happens not unfrequently, it is his custom to 

 make an apology, and a proportionate compensation, to the 

 injured party. The government, however, is a pure despotism, 

 and the Sovereign is the universal heir. One of his generals, 

 the second in command in his army, having offended him, the 

 King deprived him of his command, took away his 300 wives 

 and his slaves, leaving only two of each for his use, and ap- 

 pointed him overseer of the ferry over the Bossumpra and of the 

 fishing canoes. After, however, the degraded favourite had 

 occupied his new post for about six weeks, he was found hang- 

 ing, having first dispatched his two wives and his slaves. 



The wives of the King are said to amount to 3334. They 

 inhabit a particular quarter of the city which is walled in; and 

 it is death for any person even to pass near the gate leading to 

 their residence. When any of them walk abroad, they are 

 attended by a train of boys and eunuchs, and by a military 

 guard, who shoot without scruple all who do not fly on their 

 approach. 



Human sacrifices are so frequent as to render Cormarc.ie on 

 this account a very disgusting residence for an European. They 

 " play with a man," as they term it, every 43 days. A criminal, 

 or, if none is to be had, a prisoner of war, if of high rank the 

 more acceptable, is brought out into an open space, and taken 

 possession of by 12 or 14 men hideously painted, and dressed in 

 tiger skins, each being armed with two knives. They commence 

 by thrusting a knife through the cheek, transfixing the tongue, 

 so as to prevent their victim from uttering any cries ; they then 

 insert a knife near the shoulder-blade on each side of the back- 

 bone ; and, lastly, pass a cord through the cartilage of the nose. 

 The poor wretch is then made to dance, and is mangled with 

 deliberate cruelty for five or six hours. He is then led before 



