MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
permission to proceed to the king, and passed through a very 
broad street, about a quarter of a mile long, to the market place. 
Our observations en passant had taught us to conceive a spec- 
tacle far exceeding our original expectations ; but they had not 
prepared us for the extent and display of the scene which here 
burst upon us : an area of nearly a mile in circumference was 
crowded with magnificence and novelty. The king, his tributaries, 
and captains, were resplendent in the distance, surrounded by 
attendants of every description, fronted by a mass of warriors 
which seemed to make our approach impervious. The sun was 
reflected, with a glare scarcely more supportable than the heat, 
from the massy gold ornaments, which glistened in every direction. 
More than a hundred bands burst at once on our arrival, with the 
pecuhar airs of their several chiefs ; the horns flourished their 
defiances, with the beating of innumerable drums and metal instru- 
ments, and then yielded for a while to the soft breathings of their 
long flutes, which were truly harmonious ; and a pleasing instru- 
ment, hke a bagpipe without the drone, was happily blended. At 
ligast a hundred large umbrellas, or canopies, which could shelter 
thirty persons, were sprung up and down , by the bearers with 
brilliant effect, being made of scarlet, yellow, and the most shew:y 
cloths and silks, and crowned on the top with crescents, pehcans, 
elephants, barrels, and arms and swords: of gold ; they were of 
various shapes, but mostly dome ; and the valances (in some of 
which small looking glasses were inserted) fantastically scalloped 
and fringed ; from the fronts of some, the proboscis and small 
teeth of elephants projected, and a few were roofed with leopard 
skins, and crowned with various animals naturally stuffed. The 
state hammocks, like long cradles, were raised in the rear, the poles 
on the heads of the bearers ; the cushions and pillows were covered 
with crimson taffeta, and the richest cloths hung over the sides. 
