INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 
BY THE 
REV. DR. GUNDERT, CALW, WURTEMBERG. 
We are indebted to peculiar circumstances for the follow- 
ing pages. Two missionaries suddenly found themselves in 
a position to observe closely the still unbroken national and 
political life of a pure African race ; to live and to suffer 
with them in a very important and critical period of 
their history — probably indeed tlie turning point. But 
in this case the usual state of thino^s was reversed. 
Europeans, whether travellers, merchants, residents, or 
missionaries, when they cross the path of, or come in 
contact with the negro, commonly do so from a position 
of superiority. They look from above, but these men 
saw all from below ; the white man was the slave, the 
negro the master. 
Those who wish to know the state of things which 
really existed in the now fallen Ashantee kingdom, its 
forms of government, and the individual, social, and 
political life of this interesting negro people, will find in 
this journal important and dependable disclosures. Of 
course, they are scattered through the narrative ; for a 
connected summary, or a polished description of the 
country has not been attempted here. 
To the attentive reader it will be clear that the real 
journal, viz., that which was written simultaneously with 
the events, only commenced when the writers had ink 
and paper sent them. They both made use of the long 
