258 
MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
the latter. I understood this, from the best authorities, to be in- 
dispensible as a check on the palavers ; envy, spleen, or covetous- 
ness would otherwise accumulate. 
The accuser is never discovered or confronted to the accused, 
nor the evidence revealed, until the latter has fully replied to the 
charge, as outlined by the King's linguists. 
Palavers are frequently allowed to sleep even for years, as in the 
Fantee country, to make the damages sued for, the heavier: for 
instance, if a man stole a hen twelve months before, the value of 
the broods and eggs it would have produced, on a fair average, in 
the interval, would be shrewdly calculated, and sued for.* State 
palavers are also allowed to sleep for years, but that is to impose 
the confidence on the accused that the principal witnesses are 
dead, and the impression is artfully assisted by the policy of the 
council. The witnesses against Appia Nanu, who had reported 
his haughty message to the King, had not been seen for nearly 
twelve months before they burst before him on the day of his trial, 
having been sent into the bush on the most distant frontier. 
No man is punished for kilhng his own slave, but he is for the 
murder of his wife or child .-f If he kills the slave of another, he 
must pay the value. If a great man kills his equal in rank, he is 
generally allowed to die by his own hands : the death of an inferior 
is generally compensated by a fine to the family, equal to seven 
slaves. J 
* The Ahanta laws do not allow of these protracted palavers, and only award the in- 
trinsic value of the articles stolen or destroyed. If a man robs a plantation of a yam, he 
must pay the owner a tokoo of gold, and take two more. In Fantee the pettiest theft 
frequently entails slavery. 
f In the kingdom of Amanahea or Apollonia, the tenth child is always buried ahve. • 
I A person accidentaUy killing another in Ahanta, pays 5 oz. of gold to the family, 
and defrays the burial customs. In the case of murder, it is 20 oz. of gold and a slave ; 
or, he and his family become the slaves of the family of the deceased. If a man dashes 
