144 
MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
Baba had a great number of Arabic manuscripts ; I have pre- 
served a leaf finely illuminated. Apokoo astonished us by ofFeringr 
to lend us some books to read ; he shewed us two French volumes 
on geography, a Dutch bible, a volume of the Spectator, and a 
Dissuasion from Popery, 1620. It was gratifying to recollect that 
this chief, now become so much attached to us, w^as the man 
mentioned in our early dispatches as snatching Mr. Tedlie's sword 
from him, on the declaration of war, to make his oath against us 
the more inveterate. Telling the King one day that Mr. Hutchi- 
son's and Mr. Tedlie's countries, Scotland and Ireland, were 
formerly distinct from mine, he begged directly to hear specimens, 
of the different languages, and was reluctantly persuaded that it 
was the policy of England to get rid of all national distinctions 
between her subjects. Apokoo was very fond of scribbling, and 
with a smile frequently begged to know what he had written. 
* They could not comprehend how any hieroglyphic that was not a. 
picture, could express an object. My name, said the King, is not 
like me. He was rather uneasy at my sketching ; the Moors, he 
hinted, had insinuated that I could place a spell on the buildings 
I drew. I told him, without drawings, the people in England 
could not be convinced that I had visited him ; he appeared 
satisfied, and begged to be drawn handsome. 
There are only four direct descendants now living 6f the noble 
families which accompanied the emigration of Sai Tootoo, the 
founder of the Ashantee monarchy ; none of them are wealthy, 
and Assaphi, who is one, is a beggar, wandering in the bush, 
having been disgraced from the highest favour, for the following 
fraud. An old linguist of the former King's (Sai Quamina) having 
died at a distant croom, the King, according to custom, sent 
Assaphi with four periguins of gold, and a quantity of expensive 
cloths and mats to bury him; Assaphi kept the gold, and substi- 
