10H F'Kot'KKDINUS OF TIIK ANATOMICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL 



but never an Ashanti, although I have no doubt that they do suffer 

 from it. 



The Ashantis arc proud and haughty and cany themselves ac- 

 cordingly. They never have been made slaves. For a West African 

 people they are brave and do not fear death. Many of the chiefs are 

 perfect heathen gentlemen, most hospitable and kind, and their superi- 

 ority to the ordinary native in breeding and manner is very marked. 



The Ashantis are a very prolific people, hence the country is 

 thickly populated. I never heard of a girl having a child before 

 marriage. This may be accounted for by the fact that many of the 

 girls are married before reaching puberty, up to which time they 

 continue to live with their parents. They are as a whole a moral 

 people, a wife rarely being unfaithful to her husband. Such a crime 

 is punishable with death, that is, the husband can kill the woman 

 if he likes, and get the other guilty party fined by bringing him 

 before the king or chief. A girl reaches the age of puberty about 

 twelve years. She is then decorated with all the family gold or- 

 naments, fine cloth to the waist, above the waist she is painted fetish, 

 then paraded through the village accompanied by her female com- 

 panions singing, chanting and dancing. It is a great feast. The 

 older women accompany her to the river or nearest stream where she 

 washes every scrap of clothing belonging to her. Then the old women 

 wash her and shave her head. Other ceremonials having been gone 

 through she is ready to join her husband if she has one, if not she 

 waits until some young man fancies her and is willing to work for 

 money to buy her. The consent of the chief has to be obtained. A 

 sheep cannot be sold by the owner without the chief's permission. 

 When women become pregnant they do not live apart from their 

 husbands. Labour is easy, and is accomplished in the erect posture, 

 the woman holding on with both hands to a fn fu stick or a house 

 support and the legs apart. In multipart- the child is frequently 

 born rather suddenly, and may be suspended by the umbilical cord. 

 This weakens or mayhap tears the abdominal wall, the result being 

 umbilical hernia. Nearly 30 per cent, of the children in Ashanti 



