1810.] 
of things among them, they should make 
any great exertions beyond what is neces- 
sary to that object.’ 
The moral standard of this people is 
extremely low. They appear to have no 
idea of restraint, beyond what their own 
interests or the dread of punishment im- 
poses; and besides that their laws are 
both too loosely framed, and too par- 
tially executed, to have a very powerful 
effect in curbing men’s passions, it is to 
be considered that no laws can provide an 
effectual check for that class of offences 
which may be comprised under the head 
of immoralities. They are without any 
education or discipline of a moral kind ; 
and trom their earliest infancy are habi- 
tuated to examples of inhumanity, fraud, 
and licentiousness. In short, the moral 
principle is not cultivated among them: 
80 that there is hardly any act which will 
attach disgrace or infamy to -the indivi- 
tlual, or even bring reproach upon him, 
if he do but pay the penalty of the law. 
Their religious system has no tendency 
whatever to improve their morality. It 
consists almost entirely in a superstitious 
dread of suffering from some malign in- 
fluence, and in the faith they repose in 
the Fetishes, or charms, which are fur- 
nished by their Fetishmen, or- priests, 
for the purpose of warding off the dreaded 
evil. he people in general do not 
appear to engage in any kind of worship; 
and although on certain days they abstain 
from their ordinary employménts, yet 
they assign no reason for this, except 
_that it has been the custom to do so. 
The Fetishmen, however, who may be 
considered as an order of priests, engage 
in certain forms of worship and religious 
ceremonies; and they are sappesed to 
hold communion with the demon, or 
Fetishe, and to obtain from him the 
knowledge which is requisite for the exer- 
cise of their profession, which is, to solve 
the doubts and perplexities of their fol- 
lowers, ‘and to furnish them with the - 
means of averting evil, either actual or 
possible. 
presents made to the Fetish by the vota- 
ries: these they appropriate to their own 
use; and they are often of considerable 
value. The Fetishmen usually connect 
themselves with the persons in power, 
and are often serviceable in strengthening 
the government, and enforcing obedience 
to the laws; as they have great influence 
among the people, and continue to be 
respected by them even when the govern- 
ment has fallen into disrepute. 
At Winnebah there is an annual sacri- 
a District of the Gold Coast. 
Their profits arise fram the 
219 
fice of a deer made to the Fetish. Hu- 
man sacrifices take place only when aman 
of eminence dies. The victims are se- 
lected from among the slaves of the de- 
ceased, and are generally old and infirm 
persons. Such sacrifices, however, very 
seldom occur in Agoona. When a vic- 
tim has heen selected for this purpose, 
it is believed that he cannot be res 
deemed. 
With respect to intellectual capacity, 
this people do not discover any natural 
inferiority to Europeans; at the same: 
time their attainments are as low as can 
be imagined, their minds nat being ime 
proved by any kind of culture. They 
are wholly ignorant of letters; and their 
language, which is the Fantee, has never 
been reduced to writing. The language 
itself is soft and harmonious. The fol 
lowing short specimen of it gives the pro- 
per names of men and women, according 
the day of the week on which they are 
om: | 
Day of the week. Men, 
Women; 
Sunday Quashie Aquieswa 
Monday ‘Cudjoe Aduah 
Tuesday Quabino Abinebah 
Wednesday Quacow Eccoah 
Thursday Quaw Abbah 
_ Friday Cuftee Esfuah 
Saturday Quamina Athbah 
. Arts-and manufactures are in alow 
state among them. They make canoes, 
fishing-nets, hooks and lines, haes, bills, 
baskets, mats, and various other articles 
of the same kind ; and some of them can 
work as masons and carpenters. The 
amusements of the young consist chiefly 
in dancing and singing: those more ad- 
vanced in years, amuse themselves by re- 
Jating the exploits performed in their 
youth. 
The women of this country, as in all 
countries where polygamy is practised, 
are in a degraded state, They are li- 
terally slaves to the men, and perform 
almost all the laborious offices, as grind- | 
ing corn, procuring fire and water; they 
do every thing, in short, but fish and 
plant corn. ‘The women also generally 
act both-as physicians and surgeons. 
The prevailing complaints are fevers, 
fluxes, rheumatism, and leprosy; for the 
care of whicli, they use for the most pare 
certain herbs, which are natives of the 
country. They sometimes have recourse. 
to bleeding, by means of scarification and 
_ cupping; and these operations are pere | 
formed with much dexterity by the 
women, 
The number of persons in a state of 
slavery 
