WITH M. BONN AT IN ABANKOEO. 61 
claimed the head as her share, but finally ceded the 
tongue to us. 
As Ageana and the soldiers could not eat beef, they 
only wanted to obtain favour by giving it away. Every 
Ashantee avoids eating some particular kind of food in 
honour of his Fetish, thus one touches no beef, another 
avoids snails, and a third cannot taste fish, &c. Many 
drink no palm wine on Tuesdays, others refrain on 
Fridays, all being regulated according to the taste or 
rule of their respective idols. The king for instance 
denies himself beef, and takes no palm wine on Tuesdays ;, 
and our old man being unable to enjoy our store, cooked 
it most unwillingly, and managed to spoil a good deal 
of it. 
However, in his reports to the governor, the king 
boasted of the splendid liberality with which he was 
treating us. He also appeared to have heard of our 
obstinate eruption, and so far pitied us as to forbid our 
being employed in menial work. 
One November night we were aroused from our sleep 
by tremendous knocking, and the entrance of some mys- 
terious looking men from Coomassie. They carried 
lighted torches, and whispered among themselves so as to 
excite our suspicions of a cruel death, but we soon 
noticed that Ageana's wife was weeping, and felt sure her 
tears would not fall for us, so we dismissed our fears, 
and found in the morning that it was the death of the 
district chief, which had thus been announced, and six 
days later his funeral festival was celebrated. Two 
slaves were brought from Coomassie, with ropes round 
their necks, and with a knife stuck through the cheek of 
each to prevent noise and cursing. Eight other unfor- 
tunates were killed at the same time. This incident will 
give some idea of the sad way in which our life was 
varied. 
