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WESTERN AFRICA. 



tees, however, made several successful incursions in 1811 

 and 1816 ; and on the last occasion the Fantees were 

 obliged to own their supremacy, and engage to pay an 

 annual tribute. The British government judiciously kept 

 aloof from these feuds ; but in 1817 a mission was sent, 

 under Messrs. James, Bowdich, and Hutchinson, to visit the 

 capital of that powerful kingdom, and to adjust some trifling 

 dissensions which had unavoidably arisen. 



The mission having set out on the 22d April, 1817, passed 

 over a country covered, in a great measure, with immense 

 and overgrown woods, through which a footpath had with 

 difficulty been cut, though in some parts it presented the 

 most beautiful scenery. Being delayed by Mr. James's ill- 

 ness, they did not arrive at Coomassie, the capital, till the 

 19th May, when they were surprised at its unexpected 

 splendour. It was four miles in circumference, built not in- 

 deed with European elegance, but in a style considerably 

 superior to any of the maritime towns. The houses, though 

 low, and constructed only of wood, were profusely covered 



