EBENEZER. 
79 
but not a scrap of paper, and private conversation with the 
prince was impossible. We however managed to note 
the most important facts on the fly-leaf of our Testament. 
Two days later we were again instructed to write to 
our brethren, David and others, telling them they might 
send to the king umbrellas, salt, liquors, silk materials, 
&c. This we gladly agreed to do, only reminding his 
majesty that Mr. Wiedmann was not a merchant, but 
would procure the goods if money were sent, and this we 
promised in our letter should be done. We added a 
word of petition for necessary clothing for ourselves. 
On July 12tli we were again before the king, as he sat 
under the palm-trees, when the cry of the eunuch sounded 
in the distance, announcing the approach of the royal 
wives. The men disappeared in an instant, and we stepped 
aside, knowing the penalty incurred by any man who 
even by accident sees one of these ladies ; but we were 
soon recalled, and beheld fourteen women, surrounded by 
little boys, sitting on the right hand of the king. Some 
of them were very beautiful, others ugly enough. They 
were not grandly dressed, and their only ornaments were 
rows of coral beads. They stared at us with unfeigned 
curiosity, while the attendant cried out constantly, " Ho ! 
Ho !" Their heads, like those of other Ashantee women, 
were closely shaven, with the exception of a tuft of hair 
on the left side and a few small circles round it. 
Our usual petition for salt was preferred again on this oc- 
casion, and on the 24th of July we received a beautiful pre- 
sent of fruit, vegetables, flour, sugar, &c.,&c., from the ladies. 
On the 25th a load of salt arrived, with an intimation that, 
* On one occasion a Wesleyan missionary met the wives of the king 
accidentally on his morning ride. He was at once dragged from his 
horse by the ennuch and shamefully treated. He complained to Quakoo 
Dooah, who ordered the execution of the eunuch, as the missionary was 
a white man and a stranger; but on the missionary's intercession he was 
banded over to corporal punishment instead. 
