1818.] Account of a Mission to Ashantee. 13 



the King's residence, that the Sovereign may be gratified by 

 the spectacle of his last sufferings, and finally of his decapita- 

 tion. Whenever the King, goes to visit the tombs of his ances- 

 tors he is obliged to propitiate them by the slaughter of from six 

 to 12 human beings. The son of the King of Akim, a child 

 .seven or eight years old, taken at the conquest of the countiy, 

 was placed in a brass pan on a man's head, the people dancing 

 around him in front of the chief temple, or fetish house : he was 

 then ripped open, his head cut off, and the mangled carcass 

 thrown into the enclosure of the temple, as a present from the 

 King. The daily sight of these and similar cruelties produces 

 its natural effect on the manners of the people, who make no 

 scruple of sacrificing any person at the instigation of revenge or 

 gain : and though no one by law is allowed to sacrifice a human 

 being without the consent of the King being previously obtained, 

 yet it is frequently done by the rich, either as an offering to 

 their ancestors, or from respect to their own fetish. The ditch 

 round the town is the general receptacle for these dead bodies, 

 in consequence of which all water for domestic use is obtained 

 from wells. 



The dress of the higher classes is chiefly silk, or finely- 

 wrought cloths, the manufacture of their own country, inter- 

 mixed with silk, which they obtain by unravelling the manufac- 

 tured silk which they get from the European traders and inter- 

 weaving it with their own cotton. A profusion of gold ornaments 

 is also worn. The lower orders wear cotton cloths of blue, white, 

 and black stripes, the manufacture of their own country : whence 

 it may be inferred that the Indian and Manchester articles which 

 they purchase on the coast are employed in their commerce with 

 the interior of Africa. 



The only river which the embassy passed on its way to 

 Ashantee is the Bossumpra. It flows through the Assim coun- 

 try : about four days' journey from Cormargie it is as broad as 

 the Thames at Vauxhall, and is deep. Hence it takes an 

 easterly direction, entering the Akim country at the back of 

 Acra. It is not navigable, being obstructed by rocks and 

 numerous falls, and is supposed to be the Volta, or a branch of 

 that river. 



Eighteen miles north of Cormarcje runs the river Tando, which 

 at this place is a broad deep stream : it appears to run west, and 

 is probably a branch of the river of Assinee. The rains never 

 set in at Cormarcie before the month of August. 



The territoiy of Ashantee proper is but of small extent ; but 

 the whole kingdom, including the conquered countries, is re- 

 puted to extend from the capital 20 days' journey to the east, 15 

 to the west, 12 to the south, and 40 to the north. 



