SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN. 105 



From between the years lH99and 1900 gold ceased to be brought 

 to the coast from Ashanti for barter, and also ceased to be the 

 currency of the country, the reason being that syndicates began 

 to take up concessions from the kings and chiefs, consequently they 

 stopped all native workings. A native would give a chief, say, 50 

 ounces for the privilege of working for gold within the said chief's 

 boundary. Now that the railway has been opened from the port 

 of Sekondi to Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti, it has become the 

 chief port on the Gold Coast, but the Ashantis, who are a most 

 conservative people, continue to carry their goods to Cape Coast 

 Castle for trading purposes. 



The country, from the coast to nearly two hundred miles north, 

 was inhabited at one time by the Fantees, a tribe of very finely de- 

 veloped men and women, who have been in great demand for slaves 

 in Northern Africa and America, or wherever slaves were required. 



The Ashantis came from the north and drove the Fantees to the 

 coast, helping themselves to slaves from amongst them when they 

 thought fit. The result is that the Fantees are a clever, cunning, 

 deceitful and cowardly people. The headquarters of the Fantee 

 people is at Anamabo, near Saltpond, on the coast. There is to 

 be found probably the purest breed on the coast, the purest Fantee 

 language spoken and the handsomest and best-featured women. 



From their long intercourse with the Fantees the Ashantis, to 

 a great extent, have become mixed, with the exception of reigning 

 families and families of chiefs, also the inhabitants of towns (e.g., 

 Agogo) and villages away in the north-east Hinterland, where one 

 may see the pure-bred Ashanti, many of them having well-marked 

 Arab features. 



The average Ashanti is tall, thin and wiry, not capable of 

 great immediate bodily exertion, but of great endurance. Some of 

 them have a very fierce appearance, with widely dilated and laterally 

 curved nostrils, the curve being so marked in some cases as to appear 

 like a slit separating the ala from the cheek. The women are well 



shaped for the most part, but not comely to look at. Relatives of 



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