APPENDIX. 
305 
APPENDIX III 
THE GOVERNMENT OF ASHANTEE. 
As it has been easy to perceive by the reading of these 
pages, that the reins of the Ashantee government are not 
exclusively in the hands of the king, nor does he possess 
unlimited power, but shares it with a council which 
includes, besides his majesty, his mother, the three first 
chiefs of the kingdom, and a few nobles of Kumasi (Coo- 
massie). This council is called " Asante Kotoko," or the 
Ashantee porcupine, which means that like the animal of 
that name, nobody dare touch them. The principal drum 
in Coomassie has as its peculiar strain or motto, " Asante 
Kotoko, wokum apem, apem reba," which means " if 
thousands are killed, thousands are coming up again." 
It is this Kotoko council which rules the entire king- 
dom, and deals with the people, who must obey, whatever 
their own wishes or inclinations may be, in the most 
despotic way. In case of war the people have no voice, 
and to enforce obedience they must be ever under the 
consciousness that the king and his council are the arbi- 
trators of their life or death. In important matters all 
the other chiefs of the kingdom are called together to 
discuss the case, but they are sure to vote in accordance 
with the view of the council, for who would dare to 
oppose the Kotoko ? 
At the Yam festival, usually held in October, all the 
chiefs of the kingdom meet at Coomassie, and have to 
report the events of the year in the parts Tjnder their 
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