CUSTOMS. 
295 
and breast, as the Moors did when they pronounced a blessing, 
and the Ashantees, invariably, to propitiate one. These troops of 
boys who carry the elephants tails, are the sons of men of rank 
and confidence ; for whenever the King dignifies a deserving sub- 
ject, with what may be termed nobihty, he exchanges some of 
his own sons or nephews, (from eight to fourteen years of age,) for 
those of the individual, who maintains them, and for whom they 
perform the same offices, as his own and others do for the King. 
Thus the present King (the short reign of his brother Sai Apokoo 
being unanticipated) carried an elephants tail before Apokoo, 
whose kindness and indulgence to the child secured the preference 
of the monarch. 
It is a frequent practice of the King's, to consign sums of gold 
to the care of rising captains, without requiring them from them 
for two or three years, at the end of which time he expects the 
captain not only to restore the principal, but to prove that he has 
acquired sufficient of his own, from the use of it, to support the 
greater dignity the King would confer on him. If he has not, his 
talent is thought too mean for further elevation. Should he have 
no good traders amongst his dependents, (for if he has there is no 
difficulty) usury and worse resources are countenanced, and 
thought more creditable than a failure, ascribed to want of talent 
rather than to a regard of principle. 
The fees to the King's household on a captain being raised to a 
stool, are generally eight ounces. I saw two instances of the 
King paying them himself; the individuals, very suddenly elevated 
for extraordinary courage, being too poor to do so. They were 
immediately dispatched to collect tributes, the per centage on 
which, (see Laws,) and the douceurs, whicli may be judged of by 
the amount provided for them in the settlement of the Commenda 
palaver, would possess them of a good sum to begin with. 
