56 



ASHANTEE. 



of the Geographical Society. In 1837 he was 

 gazetted physician extraordinary to the Queen. 

 In 1838 lie published a treatise on " Warming 

 and Ventilating; " and, in 1855, one on "The 

 Smokeless Fire-place, Chimney- Valves, etc." 

 He was a man of great mechanical genius, and 

 invented the Arnott stove, the Arnott ventila- 

 tor, a water-bed of great excellence for inva- 

 lids, and other valuable contrivances to in- 

 crease human comfort and relieve suffering. 

 With characteristic disinterestedness, he re- 

 fused to patent any of these, lest the cost of 

 them should be enhanced to the poor. In 1861 

 he published a " Survey of Human Progress." 

 In 1869 he gave to each of the Universities of 

 Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St. An- 

 drew's, a donation of 1,000 ($5,000) for the 

 promotion of the study of experimental phys- 

 ics among the medical students. He also 

 placed at the disposal of the Senate of the 

 University of London 2,000 ($10,000) to 

 found a scientific scholarship. 



ASHANTEE.* Even before the arrival of 

 Sir Garnet Wolseley, October, 1873, on the 

 Gold Coast, the commanding general of the 

 Ashantees, Amantaquia, had received from the 

 King of the Ashantees the order to retreat. 

 Violent rain-showers and epidemics had car- 

 ried off many of their warriors. Before re- 

 treating, the Ashantee general made an attempt 

 to possess himself of Abrakrampa, the capital 

 of Abra, and formerly the capital of the king- 

 dom of Fantee. The place was defended by 

 Major Baker Eussell, at the head of about 600 

 men, mostly natives, and gallantly withstood 

 the onset of the Ashantees, who, on November 

 6th, abandoned the siege, and continued their 

 retreat. At the beginning of December they 

 fully evacuated the British territory, after 

 having occupied it for nearly a year, and 

 thoroughly devastated the Denkera and Fan- 

 tee districts. The Ashantees, in their retreat, 

 did not stop short of their capital, Coomassie. 

 Here, according to their custom, the soldiers 

 were received with military salutes and other 

 honors. Of the 40,000 warriors who had 

 taken the field, only 20,000 returned home. 

 Seventy -nine coffins, containing the remains of 

 the fallen nobles, were carried through the 

 streets. The army was assembled by the 

 King on the large market-place, and treated 

 to roast-lamb and brandy. The general, the 

 princes, and nobles, who had taken part in the 

 expedition, were invited by the King to a coun- 

 cil, where it was resolved to continue the 

 war. 



As General Wolseley considered the number 

 of troops he had .under his command entirely 

 insufficient to finish the war, he soon after his 

 arrival demanded new reenforceraents. At 

 the beginning of December the new troops ar- 

 rived, consisting of the Forty-second Regiment, 

 Royal Highlanders, called the Black Watch, a 

 regiment which in the eighteenth century during 



* For a geographical description of the kingdom of 

 Ashantee, see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1873. 



the Jacobite disturbances had become famous 

 as coast watch, the Rifle Brigade, the Twenty- 

 third Regiment, Royal W T elsh Fusileers, some 

 volunteers of the Seventy-ninth Regiment, a 

 battalion of marine Infantry, and the First 

 Regiment of West Indians (negroes). As the 

 preparations for transporting the troops into 

 the interior were far from being finished, they 

 had to remain in their ships for about one 

 month. As a sufficient number of beasts of 

 burden was not at hand, a large corps of car- 

 riers had to be organized. As the Fantee gen- 

 erally showed themselves unwilling and un- 

 trustworthy, the organization of this branch 

 of the service encountered unexpected difficul- 

 ties ; the West Indian negroes, and even the 

 Highlanders and the riflemen, had for some 

 days. to serve as carriers. At last, Lieutenant- 

 Colonel Colley, to whom the task of organizing 

 the transport of the army had been assigned, 

 succeeded in organizing a sufficient number 

 of Fantee women, who were hired at one and 

 a half shilling a day, and had to carry fifty 

 pounds each. In the mean while, Major 

 Home, of the Engineers, had constructed a 

 good military road from Cape-Coast Castle to 

 Prahsu on the Prah. Eight barrack-stations 

 were established on this road, seven of which 

 afforded shelter for half a battalion each ; 

 while at Prahsu, accommodations had been 

 prepared for the entire English army. Elec- 

 tric wires connected Cape-Coast Castle with 

 Mansu, and Mansu with Prahsu. These two 

 villages, as well as Donqua, Yankomasi, and 

 the other villages on the road from Cape-Coast 

 Castle to Prahsu, had been destroyed at the 

 time when the Ashantees invaded the territory. 

 At Mansu and Prahsu post and telegraph offices 

 were established, and Mansu and Donqua were 

 fortified by means of intrenchments, palisades, 

 and ditches. Prahsu, which was more strong- 

 ly fortified than any of the other stations, had 

 the appearance of a city of soldiers' huts. The 

 army was attended by seventy physicians and 

 surgeons. 



On December 27th, C eneral Wolseley, with 

 the Naval Brigade under Captain Blake, left 

 for the Prah. The plans of operation pro- 

 vided that the regiments were to begin their 

 march on January 6,. 1874, that they were to 

 arrive a week later at Prahsu, and to cross the 

 Prah on January 15th. On the same day, 

 Captain Glover and Captain Butler were to 

 cross the Prah with the native corps they 

 were to raise in Western Assin, and Captain 

 Dalrymple 'in the west with the Wassaws. 

 This plan was, however, but partly executed ; 

 the efforts of Butler and Dalrymple to raise 

 native corps were an entire failure. The 

 Ashantees were first followed by the native 

 troops under command of Wood and Russell, 

 who suffered less than the English troops from 

 want of provisions, and therefore were pre- 

 pared the first to cross the Prah. This river ' 

 is considered the frontier of the Ashantees, 

 but Ashantee proper begins at the Adansi 



