82" 
MISSIONARY LIFE IN ASIIANTEE. 
The king mentioned this occurrence to prince Ansa, 
expressing his surprise at my wife's emotion. "We 
black people," replied the prince, " have hard hearts, and 
can behold misery unmoved ; it is not so with the whites ; 
such a spectacle wounds them deeply." Soon after this, 
we one day carried our fufu to the poor imprisoned 
children, but found to our disappointment the king 
already in the village, engaged in separating the prison- 
ers. Our soldiers sprang forward to drive us back ; we 
hid behind a hedge, and entreated them to take the food 
themselves to the children, whereupon the dish was 
shown to the king, who uttered an exclamation of sur- 
prise, but desired that our wishes should be fulfilled, and 
soon after sent us a sheep with his compliments. 
After this prisoners continued to arrive, just living skele- 
tons. The sight of one poor boy touched us deeply ; the 
thin neck was unable to support the head, which drooped 
almost to the knees. I spoke to him repeatedly, and 
offered him food ; at length he gave me a look I shall 
never forget ; just said, " I have eaten," and the head 
hung down helpless as before ; all hope seemed gone ' 
Another of apparently higher rank coughed as if in the 
last gasp of existence ; he was as emaciated as the others, 
but had been allowed to retain some beads and a brass 
ring; we gave him some snail soup, and promised to 
bring him a daily supply of fufu. 
Another object of our compassion was a young child 
so weak from want of food as to be unable to stand. It 
was touching to see how the little thing jumped on its 
mother's knee as my wife approached with fufu and 
ground nut soup. Alas ! it was but little we could do 
to ameliorate the miseries of these wretched groups, but 
that little called forth their most grateful thanks. 
On the 26th of August we again received a sheep and a 
sua of gold dust, and for a few days our diet was improved, 
