SOCIETY OF THE UNIVERSITY OP ABERDEEN. 109 



suffer from this. During lactation the mother is separated from her 

 husband, all her powers being devoted to the nourishing of the child. 

 A woman is not supposed to be able to rear twins, therefore one is 

 sacrificed, sometimes both. If both then the father of one was an 

 evil spirit, and not being able to decide which both are thrown into 

 the bush. A child is weaned within a year. Like the women of 

 many African races the women purposely elongate their breasts so 

 that they can throw them over their shoulder to the child behind or 

 under the arm as most convenient. They do not elongate the nipple. 

 When the child is born its head is bandaged tightly so as to com- 

 press it into a conical shape. This custom prevails chiefly among 

 the pure-bred Ashantis and higher castes. In the adult it gives an 

 appearance very like that seen in Egyptian sculpture. This is the 

 only deformation I have observed amongst the Ashantis. A child 

 is named apart from the family name, according to circumstances, 

 e.g., Mensah is a common name, it means the third son in succession, 

 Quashie means Sunday, because the child was born on that day, 

 Tamalmv means tardy of development, or long in coming, and so on. 



The average span of life is not long ; not many men reach the 

 age of sixty. The King of Bompata is an old man, decrepit, blind 

 and toothless. I thought he must be over ninety, but was surprised 

 to learn he was only sixty. Women age rapidly, and when they 

 cease to be able to carry water and cook they soou die. 



The pathology of West Africa includes for the most part that of 

 tropical medicine. As regards the Ashantis they are perhaps more 

 immune from disease than any of the other races met with on the Gold 

 Coast. If one finds syphilis it can be traced to a visit to the coast ; 

 yaws and the like to their intercourse with the Fantees. I have seen 

 one case of goundon beyond Kumasi in a small bush hamlet, but on 

 inquiry 1 found this place, Barabadoe, to be the remains of an old 

 Apollonian mining camp, and that the inhabitants were not pure 

 Ashantis. They are all subject to skin diseases such as " craw craw," 

 dhobic itch, tuica imbricata, " chiggers," caused by the pulex penetrans. 

 I have frequently met with " ainhum " (nigger's ring toe) amongst the 



