176 MISSIONARY LIFE IN ASHANEE. 
appear, or remembered with any presents. It was said 
that Kotiko the privy counsellor had reproached the 
king with spending too much money on strangers ; people 
here however seem fond of surprises, for on July 29th he 
was suddenly summoned to the palace, and we were to go 
with him. In the outer yard we met Afirifa and Kotiko 
with others, which led us to suppose that they wished to 
acquit themselves of their embassy. When therefore Mr. 
Plange was ordered to read his letters, he stated that he 
had arrived at the capital before Afirifa, and could not 
allow his affairs to be mixed up with his (Afirifa's), where- 
upon the latter was sent into the outer court. Mr. Plange 
commenced readino^, but the remarks of the Dutch o-over- 
nor upon Akjampong's unjustifiable conduct were so 
severe that we were sent to the other side of the court. 
When the words were read, " King William III. trans- 
fers Elmina with all rights and possessions on the Gold 
Coast to her majesty the queen of Great Britain, etc," the 
interpreter Nantschi explained, " The king of Holland is 
queen Victoria's husband ; how is it that he sells his pos- 
sessions to his wife ? " Mr. Plange did not attend to this 
interpretation, but went on reading and explaining in the 
Fantee dialect. 
The king enquired if the chiefs of the various races 
in and around Elmina had given their consent to this 
transfer. He was told that the king of Elmina had 
mounted the British flag and fired seven times to ex- 
press his joy at the English present of rum, etc. 
The announcement of a yearly present of forty-eight oz. 
of gold instead of the usual twenty-four, was received 
with universal approbation, but the king broke up the 
interview with the unmeaning phrase, that he " wished 
to live in peace with the white people, and hoped to dis- 
miss their messengers with good reports of him." 
In the meantime he seemed to wish to raise his own 
