6 THE GOLD COAST, ASHANTI, AND KUMASSI 



from imperfect statistics, the Grain coast and the British colo- 

 nies of Sierra Leone and the Gambia, and also the region be- 

 tween the Niger delta and the mouth of the Kongo, are by com- 

 parison less deadly, but this is indeed faint praise. 



The stranger visiting the Gold coast will at first be sorely puz- 

 zled by the similarity of the names of the natives. Every child 

 takes its surname from the week-day of its birth, and stranger& 

 theirs from the day of their arrival, with an additional sobriquet 

 descriptive of some ])er8onal peculiarit3^ For instance, a child 

 born on Wednesday receives the name of that day of the week^ 

 Kwako. Kwabina (Tuesday) and Kwako are held to be " strong- 

 days " of birth ; but children that appear on Fridays, Saturdays, 

 and Monday's are considered " weak as water." Nothing will in- 

 duce the Fanti to sleep with his head toward the sea or to take 

 possession of a new dwelling-house on a Tuesday or Friday, both 

 these days being regarded as unlucky for this purpose. Paternal 

 affection and filial love apparently do not exist. The mother 

 nurses her child for one or two years, and then it must shift for 

 itself. There is no appearance of affection even between hus- 

 bands and wives, or between parents and children ; and Duncan ^ 

 an English traveler who visited the Gold coast fifty years ago, 

 states that many parents offered to sell him their sons or 

 daughters as slaves. 



In common with many other natives of Africa, the Fanti lives- 

 in close communion with the vague and mysterious beings of the- 

 unseen world. A large proportion of his-time is spent in con- 

 sulting or ajjpeasing the deities that inhabit the earth, the air^ 

 the sea, the rivers, and even trees, sticks, stones, and bits of cloth. 

 If he is ill, he believes that his ancestors are summoning him,, 

 and he at once proceeds to consult the fetichman. The latter 

 is given a fee and is requested to present the sick man's excuses- 

 to the expectant shades. These fetich priests generally exercise 

 great influence over their superstitious fellows. Sometimes the 

 departed is supposed to have returned to earth in the body of a, 

 child, and yet remaining in Deadland, thus giving rise to the 

 assertion by some travelers that the doctrine of metempsychosis- 

 obtains among the Fantis. They bury their dead in their houses^ 

 choosing a room that can afterward be kept fastened up or se- 

 cluded. This custom the colonial authorities have attempted ta 

 abolish on sanitary grounds, but the effort has not wholly suc- 

 ceeded. So much homage did the Egyptians pa}^ to their dead^ 

 that it was said that they lived in Hades, rather than on the 



