120 William F. Daniell, Esq., on the Ethnography of 



On the Ethnography of Akkrah andAdampe, Gold Coast, West- 

 ern Africa. By WILLIAM F. Daniell, M.D., F.R.G.S., 

 Assistant Surgeon to the Forces, &c. Communicated by 

 the Ethnological Society. 



(Continued from vol. Hi., p. 303.) 



Deaths. — Upon the death of any native, several curious and in- 

 teresting rites are strictly enjoined, from the performance of which 

 they seldom deviate. Apparently great consideration is attached to 

 them, if we may judge from the peculiar customs and celebrations 

 enacted on such occurrences, not only by the inhabitants of the Gold 

 Coast, but in most of the countries of Western Africa. Shortly after 

 life has become extinct, the body is thoroughly washed by the house- 

 hold women, and every portion of it well rubbed over with a ligno- 

 resinous powder named teufan, procured from the bark of a certain 

 tree, which possessing an aromatic fragrance, is first pulverised and 

 then appropriated as a perfume of ordinary use. The head and face 

 are next carefully shaved, the limbs invested with their usual brace- 

 lets and other golden ornaments, and the whole body enshrouded in 

 a number of the richest and most sumptuous dresses that can be 

 chosen. If the deceased has been a person of consequence, gold 

 dust is liberally sprinkled over the face and other uncovered surfaces, 

 on which it is retained by the previous application of Ashante grease 

 or the vegetable butter, brought from the interior. The corpse thus 

 arrayed is then exposed in state for a brief period for the farewell in- 

 spection of all relatives and friends, and is subsequently enclosed in a 

 wooden box, and privately interred. In Akkrah the dead are inva- 

 riably buried in one of the compartments within the house, but the 

 slaves, unless they are favourites, lie scattered around the environs 

 of the town, in some convenient spot selected for the purpose. With- 

 in the coffins of the more affluent are deposited a great variety of 

 native cloths, gold rings, and other valuable trinkets, and occasion- 

 ally a few bottles filled with gold dust, while upon their exterior 

 surface are placed the brass ewer and basin, with the spoon, which 

 the defunct was wont to employ during lifetime, and which the family 

 now deemed an indispensable accompaniment towards the comfort 

 to be attained in the next world. Until within a recent date, the 

 immolation of human victims at these obsequies was fully authorised 

 by the institutions of the country, to the end that the deceased might 

 not be found deficient in the requisite number of attendants as would 

 be found compatible with the rank he was supposed to keep in another 

 sphere of existence. It is not many years since, upon the death of one 

 of the powerful caboceers of Kinka, this sacrifice was consummated 

 by the offering of two young slaves, who were slaughtered without 

 compunction on the edge of the grave, and their bodies separately 



