Akkrah and Adampe, Gold Coast, Africa. 125 



been asserted, that should the wife be guilty of any criminal inter- 

 course with other parties, the same observations would apply with 

 equal precision, inasmuch as the offspring must, at least on the ma- 

 ternal side, enjoy no inconsiderable portion of the ancestral lineage. 

 With the husband or male, on the contrary, they remark, that after 

 a few generations the blood becomes progressively diverted into other 

 courses, and, proceeding downwards, is ultimately absorbed into the 

 families of those females to which they have been allied. 



It is the scrupulous regard paid to these fundamental distinctions 

 of consanguinity, that also determines the choice and elevation of the 

 royal aspirants who may be called to occupy the Ashante throne. 



Upon the death of any individual, his property invariably de- 

 scends to his brothers and sisters in direct rotation, and not to his 

 issue, as is the custom in more civilized communities. Should no 

 brothers exist, the eldest sister succeeds in full, and subsequently 

 her children, notwithstanding all her predecessors may have left 

 large progenies behind them. It may therefore be considered as a 

 general axiom, that the son seldom, if ever, inherits the estate of his 

 father, which, from a deficiency in the proper collateral kindred, 

 passes to the nephew or niece by the next sister's side. The only 

 deviations from this rule are when the man has no other heir by any 

 of his female relatives ; under these circumstances, the first-born male 

 not only comes into possession of his father's but even his uncle's 

 wealth, should their decease have preceded that of his parent. Of 

 course it is clearly understood that the son always obtains the effects 

 and valuables of his mother. But when an inhabitant dies without 

 relatives to demand his inheritance, the oldest slave is commonly 

 selected as the representative to supply this void. Several percep- 

 tible modifications of this law have, however, been effected within a 

 few recent years, in consequence of the promiscuous alliances of 

 Europeans and their descendants with the aboriginal women. These 

 rules of inheritance will perhaps not inaptly be explained by the 

 following illustration : — Should a freeman, for instance, have sexual 

 communion with a female slave, and conception take place, the fruit 

 of it is born in bondage, and, like its mother, is the property of her 

 owner ; but should a smilar result follow where the father is a 

 slave and the woman free, the offspring belongs to the mother, and, 

 like herself, is equally free, since it partakes of the same recognised 

 condition, and is endowed with full rights and immunities as if its 

 birth had occurred under the most benignant auspices. 



After the interment of the corpse, the next of kin, in the grada- 

 tion previously assigned, assumes the guardianship of the family in- 

 terests, by virtue of which he not only acquires the patrimony of the 

 defunct, but an undisputed right over his wives, children, and slaves, 

 the former being for the most part superadded to his own establish- 

 ment if the heritor be a man, while the two latter become incorpo- 



