336 MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
governments,) with incalculable fees for corruption or interference, 
refine upon the splendor of equipage even to satiety, and still pos- 
sess a large surplus of income daily accumulating. Were they to 
encourage commerce, pomp, the idol of which they are most jea- 
lous, would soon cease to be their prerogative, because it would be 
attainable by others ; the traders growing wealthy, would vie with 
them ; and for their own security, stimulated by reflections they 
have now too little at risk to originate, they would unite to repress 
the arbitrary power of the Aristocracy ; and even if they did not, 
inevitably (as the chiefs conceive) divert the people^s genius for war. 
It will occur that even to furnish the necessities or luxuries of 
the Ashantees alone, in cloth, silk, &c. would, considering the ex- 
tent of the kingdom, considerably augment the returns of our 
commerce in this part of the world ; and therefore it would be 
well to wean them, gradually, from the markets of the interior, by 
inducing their cultivation of cotton, which grows abundantly, is of 
a superior quahty, and which, offered in quantities, in addition to 
the ivory, would lessen the balance of trade now in our favor, and 
by enabling them, in some degree to purchase with produce in- 
stead of gold dust, remove the present comparative disadvantage 
in trading with Europeans entirely. This occurred to me, and I 
explained the view not only to the king, but to the more enter- 
prising and reflecting natives : but they had no idea of a quantity, 
and immediately concluded cotton to be so desirable to us, that 
40 or 50 lbs. would be received in barter for twenty times its value; 
and they required one tokoo and a half per lb. for it, (say one 
shilhng,) even in gold, and on the spot. When I urged that they 
must clear the ground, form plantations, and superintend the 
labours of their slaves; they repHed, that the Boossee or Gooroo 
nut grew spontaneously, and required no labour, that salt was 
brought to their frontier by poorer nations^ and sold for little with- 
