TIMES OF SICKNESS, <^c. 
117 
CHAPTER XVI. 
TIMES OF SICKNESS AND FORSON'S EMBASSY. 
The departure of the prince inaugurated a new order of 
things with us, for in him we had lost our housekeeper, 
adviser, and the manager of our purse. Our sorrow was 
deepened by the increasing indisposition of brother K., 
who could only take rice soup and chicken, and who in 
his depression would sometimes pray he might be released 
from his sufferinsrs. 
The most dreadful of the Ashantee festivals, Bantama, 
or " death wake," now approached. The king went early 
in the morning of February 5th, to Bantama, where the 
remains of his deceased predecessors were preserved in a 
long building, approached by a gallery, and partitioned 
into small cells, the entrances of which were hung with 
silken curtains. In these apartments reposed the skele- 
tons of the kings, fastened together with gold wire, and 
placed in richly ornamented coffins, each being sur- 
rounded by what had given him most pleasure during 
his life. On this occasion every skeleton was placed on 
a chair in his cell to receive the royal visitor ; who, on 
entering, offered it food ; after which a band played the 
favourite melodies of the departed. The poor victim 
selected as a sacrifice, with a knife thrust through his 
cheeks, was then dragged forward and slain, the king 
washing the skeleton with his blood. Thus was each 
cell visited in turn, sacrifice after sacrifice being offered, 
till evening closed ere the dreadful round was completed. 
