YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

EIGHTEEN YEAES

THE GOLD COAST
OE AFRICA.

INCLUDING AN ACCOUNT OP THE NATIVE TKIBESj AND THEIB
INTERCOUESE WITH EUROPEANS.

BEODIE ceuickshank:,
MEMBEB OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
. YOL. II.

LONDON:
HUEST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHEES,
SUCCESSOES TO HENEY COLBUEN,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.

LONDON !
Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.

CONTENTS OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTEE I.

The great degradation of the African owing to a consti
tutional law of our nature — Assertion of the natural
affections — The authority of the local government — Its
great moral power — Insubordination of Chiefs — Alarm of
the Fetishmen — Causes of our extensive influence —
Necessity for maintaining it — Diminished power of the
Chiefs — The Governor's necessary severity — Establish
ment of good order — Its effect upon men's minds —
Poverty of the people — More general' union of the
members of a family — Frequent appeals made to the
Govemor — A better understanding and full confidence
established — ¦ Caution in carrying out reforms — Great
influence of the decisions given in Court . . 1
CHAPTEE II.
General order and security — Its effect upon trade ¦ —
Employment given to the people — Progressive diffusion
of wealth — Extensive system of credit — Attributable to
the severity of the law of debt — The injurious tendency
counterbalanced by its advantages — Trade chiefly de
pendent on Ashantee — Oil trade — Condition of the
people ........ .30
CHAPTEE III.
Disinclination for improvement — Difficulty of overcoming
prejudices — Toleration of the Government — Anomalies

IV CONTENTS.
observable in society, and in individual character —
Compulsory observance of order— Gives rise to com
mercial enterprise — Growing taste for the habits ot
civilized life — Moral virtues neglected— Establishment
of a school— Arrival of a Christian missionary upon the 47
coast 
CHAPTEE IV.
The difficulties the first missionary had to struggle against,
from ignorance of the language — Misapprehensions
respecting Christianity • — Persecution averted by the
government — Desertion of the missionary service —
Similar effects of the first propagation of Christianity
in other parts of the world — The Wesleyan Society-
Sacrifices made by many of the uneducated adidt Chris
tians — Their firmness and austerity . . .63
CHAPTEE V.
Improved position of women — Effect of Christian marriages
— Difficulties attending the elevation of women — Sym
pathy with missionary labour — Hostility of the Fetish
priests — Formation of small Christian bodies — Advan
tages arising. from intercourse with the missionaries In
their journeys through the country — The first missionaries
— Their indiscreet zeal, and its effects — Politic conduct
of Mr. Freeman — Establishment of a good under
standing with the chiefs — The progress made by the
natives ........ 95
CHAPTEE VI.
Vague ideas respecting God — Mode of worship — The
priests — Evil spirits — Offerings made to them — The
immortality of the soul — Worship of the spirits of de
ceased friends — Slaves killed to attend their master to
the next world — Corrupting tendency of idolatry —
Prophetic pretensions of the Fetishmen — Tricks and
impostures — Children dedicated to the Fetish office from
birth — The Great Braffo Fetish — Independent conduct
of the Fetishmen — Priestesses — Their infamous conduct

CONTENTS. V
— The influence of Fetish upon the African — Decline of
the Fetish faith — Its utility as an engine of civil govem
ment . . . . . . . .124
CHAPTEE VII.
Strong religious feeling of the natives — Human sacrifices —
Success in war attributed to the Fetish — Confidence of
the worshippers not destroyed by defeat — Ceremonies
observed at the conclusion of a treaty of peace at Appol-
lonla — Ordeals — Case of Yow Nacoon — Witchcraft —
Curious case of an Akim woman's Fetish — Case of
conjuring — Ordeal observed upon suspicion of adultery
— Religious feasts — Extraordinary ceremony connected
with one of the Cape Coast Fetishes — Computation of
time . . . . . . . .171
CHAPTEE VIII.
Native marriages — Betrothals — Description of a young
virgin — African marriage cards — Causes of divorce —
Enslaving nature of the marriage contract — Curious
custom observed in reference to girls — Observances at
the naming of a child — African names — African lovers —
Curious case of disappointed affection — Murder of a wife
and .children — The story of Adjuah Amissah — Circum
cision — Customs for the dead — Expensive observances —
The cause of slavery — Laws respecting inheritance —
Day of annual remembrance — Extraordinary scene —
Human sacrifices in Ashantee and Dahomey — Custom
made for Governor Maclean . . . .191
CHAPTEE IX.
Modifications introduced into the native laws and customs by
the English magistrates — Certificates of emancipation —
Alterations In the law of marriage — Difficulties attending
the question of slavery — Mode of proceeding in reference
to runaway slaves — Recruiting — Commotion excited by
the enlistment of slaves — Major Hill's prudent conduct
A slave's idea of emancipation — Practice pursued in
reference to Ashantee runaways — The King's regard for
oaths — Condition of the slave — His Instinctive obedience
- ~^-,-:. : .1" ^p.-.v-fv Thi, "r?f-V5._jTi? inferiority to the

V CONTENTS.
Fantee— Extent of the internal slave trade— System of
pawning— Summary of the African character— Resem
blance between the state of society on the Gold Coast
and the accounts given in the Scriptures of the nations
of antiquity ....••• 227
CHAPTEE X.
No written language — Difficulty of reducing the Fantee
to grammatical rules — Proficiency of young scholars —
Prevalence of written communications in the English
language — Music — Musical instruments — Workmanship
in gold — Tanning and dressing leather — Weaving —
Dyeing — Agriculture — Native process of grinding —
Palm Wine — Manufacture of oil — Introduction of cotton-
growing — Mr. Freeman's model plantation — Exports
— Imports — Dress — Houses — ^Taste for European luxu
ries — Hospitality . . . . . .261
CHAPTER XI.
Persecution of the Christians at Assafa — Their offensive
conduct — Sacred grove violated — Indignation of the
Fetishmen — Council of chiefs — Denunciation of the
Fetish worship by a Fetish priest — Destruction of the
Christians' village by Adoo, chief of Mankassim —
Captivity of the Christians — Interference of the English
authorities — Palaver held at Anamaboe — Resistance —
Necessity for caution on the part of the authorities —
Little dependence to be placed on native co-operation —
Meeting with the head men of Cape Coast — Deputation
to Adoo — He consults his Fetish, and receives permission
to go to Cape Coast — His arrival — Interest felt in his
trial — Conspiracy of Fetishmen to poison four supporters
of Christianity — Exposure of Fetish tricks — Indignation
of tbe chiefs — They pronounce the Fetishmen worthy
of death — Helpless condition of the people bereft of
spiritual aid — Their conflicting feelings on the sub
ject  298

Appendix  333

EIGHTEEN YEARS
ow
THE GOLD COAST.

CHAPTER I.

The great degradation of the African owing to a consti
tutional law of our nature — Assertion of the natural
affections — The authority of the local government — Its
great moral power — Insubordination of Chiefs — Alarm of
the Fetishmen — Causes of our extensive influence —
Necessity for maintaining it — Diminished power of the
Chiefs — The Governor's necessary severity — Establish
ment of good order — Its eiFect upon men's minds —
Poverty of the people — More general union of the
members of a family — Frequent appeals made to the
Governor — A better understanding and full confidence
established — Caution in carrying out reforms — Great
influence of the decisions given in Court.
The ordinary effect of misfortune upon man
kind, when not under the influence of Christian
feeling is to beget a selfishness, dead alike to the
voice of nature and humanity. We accordingly
B

2 EIGHTEEN YEARS 9n
find that the long series of miseries, which for ages
pressed upon this unfortunate race, begat in them a
brutish insensibility to human suffering. Occupied
entirely with the care of their individual interests,
and checked in their pursuit by no moral restraint,
every imagination of the thoughts of the heart
became their only rule of life, and the natural and
inevitable consequence of this guidance was, of
course, what unerring wisdom had declared it in
variably to be, " only evil continually." To such
depths of degradation had man's natural depravity
conducted the Afirican, that the natives of more
favoured lands, in the pride of superior acquire
ments, have sometiraes scorned to admit them to
an equality of origin. This has not been a preju
dice of the ignorant only, but many who considered
themselves entitled to be regarded as philosophers,
and as lights of the world, have written and argued
in defence of this doctrine.
A little attention to the corrupt tendency of the
human heart, and of the consequence of yielding
to its dictates, in the total extinction of every seed
of goodness, might, we think, have led the candid
inquirer to see that the complete demoralization of
the African is owing to a constitutional law of our
nature, to which the white man and the black are
equally subject. He might have learned, by a

'** THE GOLD COAST.

reference to the early records of the most favoured
nations of the earth, that wherever gross ignorance
and an idolatrous worship have prevailed, the work
of corruption has been uninterrupted and progres
sive, and that the debasement and elevation of in
dividual man, as well as of nations, have been in
exact proportion to the moral standard of his
worship. If he will admit this much, the long ages
of dark superstition which has kept the African
mind in thrall, and the influences of external and
internal lawlessness and oppression, will, we think,
sufficiently account for its moral debasement, without
having recourse to any original inferiority of nature.
It has been the misfortune of this race to labour
under a greater accumulation of miseries than has
fallen to the lot of any other, and to have been
continuaUy subjected to them for a longer period.
During these long ages of progressive debasement,
the principle of evil in our nature became so
strengthened and confirmed by habitual exercise,
and the reasoning faculty so powerless, that the
proneness of the African to evil assumed the
character of an undeviating instinct, to which
the absence of any sufficient legal restraint gave
the utmost scope. But though thus fallen and
ruined, without an apparent vestige of any higher
destiny than their mean and grovelling desires and
2

4 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
pursuits indicated, there yet existed in their minds
—obscured and defaced, it is true, but still unextin
guished — the glimmering of a purer ray, which
needed only a more genial atmosphere for its
brighter development. That this has been the
case, a review of the progress made during the last
twenty years will sufficiently prove.
As soon as the minds of men began to recover
from the deadly paralysis, which was the result
of the accumulation of evils that had so long
afflicted them, and to experience some relief from
the incessant blight which kept withering every
sickly bud of hope that sprung up in their breasts,
feelings of natural affection were the first to assert
their claim for redress.
Cheerless and desolate as the home of the
African had in general been, without those endear
ing associations which hallow it in the eyes of
more favoured nations, it nevertheless still forraed
the load-star to which their thoughts, relieved
from the cares of self-preservation, became ulti
mately attached. Even many, to whom the
domestic affections had never been known, longing
for human syrapathy, and feeling the aching void
of the heart, yearned to relieve their oppressed
feelings in the bosora of some one, whom they
could regard as connected with them by the ties of

THE GOLD COAST. 5
blood. The dispei'sion of a brood of chickens, and
the wide and Sfudden separation of a flock of sheep
with their restless wanderings and plaintive cries
to be re-uniied, form no inapt representations of
the condition of the Gold Coast at the time to
which we refer. But man's havoc among his
feUow-men is more irreparable than that committed
by the beasts of prey upon their quarry. A long
series of years has not yet healed the wounds
which were inflicted, and generations yet unborn
will be affected by theai. Much, however, has
been done to alleviate their calamities.
The acknowledgment of the independence of
the Fantees and other allied tribes, whieh the
English government wrung from the Ashantees,
i^lieved the country from its most oppressive
load ; and the consequent supervision of its
general police by the government, affected such a
salutary impKJvement in the increased facility and
security of communication, that such redress as
the peculiar circumstances of the social condition
of the people admitted, was open to alL It must
be remembered, that the fundamental constitution
of society was neither affected by this indepen
dence, nor by the protectorate of England. The
same servile dependence of families upon their
head, of vassals on their lord, and of slaves oc

6 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
their master, which has been akeady described,
continued to exist in fiill force. Now, as before,
individuals were given in pawn, and sold into
slavery, according to the necessities of their
relations and owners. The individuals of a
household had still a property value in the esti
raation of its head, and human beings still formed
a portion of the currency of the country.
The great step gained was the limitation which
the suppression of lawlessness put upon this
system, and the opportunity which a good police
and an impartial adrainistration of justice afforded
to every one, of resisting unjust clairas for the
present, and of obtaining relief from such as had
been iniquitously established in time past.
Nothing could more forcibly demonstrate their
need of a disinterested superior, and their estima
tion of the advantages derived from his super
intending justice, than the fact, that with a corps
of one hundred and twenty men, natives of the
country, and with pecuniary resources not ex
ceeding, annually, £4,000, Governor Maclean
maintained fbr a series of years an undisputed
sway over an immense extent of territory, com
prising a numerous population, composed of dif
ferent tribes, speaking different languages, and
many of them possessed of great physical power.

THE GOLD COAST. 7
There have been few instances in the history of
the world of such an extensive influence, so
completely the result of moral force. But it must
not be iraagined that it had the effect of entirely
putting a stop to unjust practices, or of effecting
any vital revolution in the principles upon which
their general polity was grounded. The remera
brance of their uncontrolled power was too fresh
in the minds of the chiefs, and the temptation to
relapse into their forraer tyranny too strong, to be
always successfully resisted. The distance of
many of them also from the seat of the controlling
power was so great, and the detection of their
mal-practices, on that account, so uncertain, that
the restraint of fear did not always operate with
the unvarying precision which was essential for
the prevention of injustice. Exalted conceptions
also of their physical power, of their kingly state,
and of the traditionary glory of their ancestors,
which the flattery of interested sycophants kept
continually ringing in their ears, placed their sub
mission to a superior in a degrading point of view,
and induced them to make comparisons between
their power and the physical strength of the
government, favourable to their own consequence,
and inconsistent with perfect obedience.
These considerations, coupled with the instinc-

8 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
tive alarm of the priesthood, who intuitively per
ceived that the doraination of the Europeans
would greatly impair their influence, and who
therefore used it, while it reraained to them, to
warn their countrymen against incurring the dis
pleasure of the gods by a departure from the
custoras of their fathers, kept alive a refractory
spirit, which occasionally manifested itself in acts
of cruelty and oppression in open defiance of any
superior authority. And as acts of obvious
injustice could not always be prevented, so neither
could any radical change be effected in the fun
daraental structure of society. The relative
positions of its raembers had been the result of a
progressive growth, which might well bear a
nobler graft, productive of better fruit than that of
the natural branch, but whose stem and roots
could not be disturbed without endangering its
¦vdtality, and hastening its decay.
But although it was found impossible to pre
vent injustice at aU tiraes, yet redress of injuries
was generally within the power of the government,
nothwithstanding the teraporary obstructions and
delays which were inseparable from the very nature
of its influence. Had it been based on physical
force, injustice would have been less frequent, and
its redress and punishment more consequent on its

THE GOLD COAST, 9
commission ; but it is doubtful whether the effect
in gradually moulding the inclinations of the
people, and in diffusing generally a more humane
spirit, would have been so salutary and lasting by
the resistless opposition of superior force, as by
the exhibition of an undeviating course of justice,
straggling with difficulties, often baffled, but
never dismayed, and persevering with an untiring
firmness to the accomplishment of its object.
In the one case, the irapression left on the
mind is merely what they had seen exhibited
among themselves — the coercion of the weak by
the strong ; in the other, they have leisure to con
template the moral government of the world, to
trace effects through all their intricate windings to
their original cause, to observe the certainty of
punishment following a deviation from rectitude
and justice, and to arrive at the wise conclusion
that " honesty is the best policy."
We would not, by these remarks, be understood
to undervalue the importance of a sufficient
coercive force. On the contrary, to ensure good
government, there ought to be present in the
minds of the governed the conviction that the
government can at all times, when necessity re
quires it, bring a physical force to bear more than
sufficient to crush every opposition. There's no
" 3

10 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
necessity for continually parading this force. In
deed, it is not necessary even that it should be
kno.wn whence, on any occasion of eraergency, it
is to spring up. It is sufficient that the executive
should be surrounded by such syrabols of his
authority, as will protect him from insult, ensure
respect, and enable him to provide for the ordinary
administration of justice. When extraordinary
emergencies occur, the moral influence of the
government will become the source of its physical
force, and -will raise defenders sufficient to quell
the disaffected, and to enforce justice.
The peculiar circumstances of our position on the
Gold Coast have hitherto rendered a large railitary
force unnecessary. The very iraportant part which
we played in the war which led to their independence,
and the indication of the exhaustless nature of our
pecuniary resources, apparent in the great reckless
ness of expense during the progress of the war ;
the necessity of a protector against the power and
ambition of the Ashantees, and their own inability
to maintain their independence ; the mutual fear
and jealousy of rival chiefs, which made a common
superior necessary to prevent discord ; the tyranny
of chiefs over their dependants, and of masters
over their slaves; and a general belief in the
rectitude of our intentions, and the irapartiality of

THE GOLD COAST. II
our justice ; all conspired to influence the miuds of
every class, to elevate us into power, and to make
common cause in maintaining our authority.
This power once assumed, the necessity of
maintaining it with a firm hand against encroach
ments from without, and feuds, discords, and
disobedience from within, involved the existence of
the settlements, and the very principle of self-
preservation. The causes of an occasional refrac
tory spirit have been briefly adverted to. The
supervision of the government tended to lessen
the consequence of the chiefs, to curtail the sources
of their emolument by the prevention of indis
criminate extortion and injustice, to elevate the
condition of their dependants, and to obtain for
thera a consideration to which, until then, they
had been utter strangers. The impartiality of our
decisions, the equal distribution of justice to rich
and to poor, the curb put upon the oppressor, and
the general trammels which sought to tame down
the restive and alraost incorrigible tempers of the
chiefs to a proper degree of submissive obedience,
made them sigh for a return of forraer lawlessness,
and almost regret that they had thrown off the
yoke of the King of Ashantee, who, provided he
obtained his revenue, did not care how much his
vassal chiefs oppressed their people.

12 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Under the influence of this discontented spirit,
individual chiefs have, upon several occasions,
atterapted to assert their independence, and to
resist the authority of the government; but
although a partial and temporary success has
soraetiraes attended their efforts, yet they have
never been able to withstand its power for any
length of tirae. The arras of rebellion have
dropped one by one from their hands, without the
intervention of force, and left them naked and
defenceless, at the mercy of the governraent.
Their own dependants, sensible of their increased
privileges through the intervention of the Euro
peans, did not desire to see their chiefs independent
of control, and were therefore lukewarm in their
support. Rival chiefs could not endure that one
of their number should presurae to withdraw him
self from a control to which they were subject,
and joined heart and hand in enforcing sub
mission. The freedom of communication and our
relations with Ashantee rendered the independence
of a single chief inconsistent with the general
peace of the country. The cries of obstructed
justice, which roused a spirit of retahation, obliged
the governor to cut off the rebellious from any
external communication, and to shut them up in
their own country ; and if need was, and nothing .

THE GOLD COAST. 13
else would counsel submission, a demonstration
of brute force still remained to overpower aU
opposition. Such an overwhelming amount of influence
might be supposed sufficient to eradicate every seed
of disobedience from the heart, and to render a
repetition of the same offence incredible ; but neither
the hopelessness of the attempt, the certainty of
punishment, motives of self-interest, nor the perfect
conviction in the rainds of the offenders theraselves,
in their raoraents of sober reflection, of the utility
and absolute necessity of European control, could
restrain the wUd bursts of passion to which the
ungovernable raind of raan in his natural state is
subject, nor check his inherent tendency to trans
gress, and to harden himself in his transgressions.
The consequence of this seemingly irreclaimable
disposition made the intercourse between the gover
nor a;nd the chiefs, especially at the outset, a con
tinual series of offences on the part of the latter,
and of punishment, of pardon, and of re-instatement
to his favour, on the part of the former.
The frequency of these contumacious delinquen
cies, and the necessity for severity, gave to the
government the character of extreme harshness,
and for some years occasioned an incessant struggle
between the governor and the chiefs, who could

14 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
ill brook to submit themselves to regular rules of
conduct. Fines after fines were imposed with
startling rapidity ; restitution to the uttermost far
thing was rigidly enforced in every case of wrong ;
even imprisonment and deposition were powerless
in establisbing a confirmed habit of obedience.
The happy contrivance of giving pledges for their
peaceable behaviour was at last had recourse to, and
in a short time there was not a chief of any conse
quence in the country who had not been compelled
to lodge in Cape Coast Castle the greater part of
his property in gold, as security for his general good
conduct, and for his appearance before the governor
at any time that he might be summoned to answer
a coraplaint against him.
To such an extent was this thoughtlessness and
disregard of consequences carried, and such was
their want of self-control, that even in the town
of Cape Coast, under the walls of the castle, and
in the presence of the govemor and his whole
garrison, it was necessary to have recourse to the
same system, and to take security of the elders for
the orderly behaviour of the inhabitants. And
now we had a most gratifying corroboration of the
truth of that text in Scripturg which declares,
that " where our treasure is, there will our heart
be also;" for no sooner was the treasure of the

THE GOLD COAST. 15
chiefs lodged in the strong box of the castle, than
their devotion to the governor, and obedience to
his commands, becarae the rule of their life. These
deposits were returnable to their owners after a
certain period of probation, and were renewed or
given up according to the character which each
individual chief had raanaged to establish for hira
self; and as a proof that they answered the end
intended, there are, out of a very numerous list,
only on record a few instances of forfeiture.
By this simple expedient, and the posting of a
soldier in the principal towns of the different
districts, to maintain an open communication
throughout the country, to report misdemeanors
to the governor, to signify his wishes to the chiefs
with whora they resided, to assist them in main
taining their authority over their people, and gene
rally to keep aU in mind of the duty of obedience,
good order and tranquillity were completely estab
lished. From this time we are to date a new era in the
history of the Gold Coast. Never, untU now, had
there been any scope afforded for the developraent
of the better qualities of our nature. The liberty
accorded was still prescribed, but a dreadful in
cubus had been removed, and men began to
breathe more freely, and to become conscious of

16 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
feelings and of rights of which they had previously
no conception. We are now to see whether there
is not something in the African which, under the
influence of favourable circumstances, entertains as
readily and as eagerly responds to good impres
sions as in the European ; and to enable us to draw
the parallel with greater justice^ we must carry
back our historical recollections to the worst days
of European serfdom and superstition, and com
pare the slow process by which the fetters which
enslaved both the body and the raind were shaken
off, with the account which we are to give of the
initiative taken in this country.
No sooner was it fiiUy apparent that protection
was afforded to every one, than a new spirit seemed
to pervade the general mass of the people. It
was like the awakening from a dream which had
dissipated the senses, and left no tangible impres
sion upon the mind, and required a process of
carefiil reflection to arrive at a proper compre
hension of their position. It was a boon which
was regarded by many with mixed feelings of grief
and joy — of hope and fear. To some it had come
too late : the spoiler had already seized his prey,
and left none of a numerous family to sympathise
with their feelings ; and to such the contemplation
of another's joy was only the renewal of their grief.

THE GOLD COAST. 17
Others rejoiced in the prospect of peaceful days, in
which they might sit at ease under their own
palms in the undisturbed enjoyment of the society
of their friends and relations ; many clung to the
hope of being able to reunite the scattered nurabers
of their several families, and devoted themselves to
a dUigent search after them, with the view of
endeavouring to redeem them from the bondage in
which they were held ; while others set about this
anxious labour in doubt and fear, without a trace
of the lost ones, and ignorant in which direction to
turn their steps.
So general an emotion on the part of a people,
expressed in such an unequivocal manner as soon
as the most distant prospect of relief was opened
up to thera, is a sufficient indication, at least, that
there was no want of natural affection ; and that
though misery may have deadened those feelings,
or circumstances may have rendered the exhibition
of them worse than useless, yet they had never
been extinguished.
How often raay the calmness of despair have
been mistaken for insensibility, and the perfect
inutUity of any exhibition of grief for a callous
indifference ! It would have been happy for this
people, if the gratification of those feelings had
been as much within their reach as within their.

18 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
inclination; but years have been passed by many
in a fruitless search ; others have been discovered
in the chains of an incurable bondage ; some have
been traced to the cane-fields of Cuba and BrazU ;
and not a few have poured forth their blood to
grace a heathen hohday, or to gUd the tombs of
the Kings of Ashantee. Undismayed, however,
by difficulties, and persevering in spite of dis
appointment, the main object of the general body
of the population for the last twenty years has
been for each to raise the broken walls of his
family house, and to gather his widely-scattered
relatives under the shadow of its roof.
But, independently of the impossibility of
success in such contingencies as we have
aUuded to, the difficulties were by no means
easUy overcome, even where the residence and
circumstances of the different members of a
family were known. It wUl be remembered that
we have represented society on the Gold Coast
as being composed, with sundry modifications,
of only the two classes — of master and slave ; that
property in slaves is considered the most valuable
of all kinds of possessions ; and that the constitution
of society had not been affected by the protectorate
of England. Bearing this in mind, as weU as the
processes by which the work of enslaving was

THE GOLD COAST. 19
carried on — namely, by a money value, or by
assistance and protection considered equivalent to
a purchase, it wiU be seen that more was neces
sary than the raere discovery of the residence of
a relation to be united to him. He was the
property of a master, from whom he had to be
redeemed before he could cast off his yoke — of
a master perhaps, who, if he had bought him
formally, might refuse a redemption price, or at
least place such an exorbitant value upon him, as
amounted to a prohibition.
It wiU be seen then, that, notwithstanding the
strong desire exhibited by members of the same
family to be reunited, yet the difficulties which
in most cases opposed the accompUshment of
their vrishes were of a nature to prevent their
unconditional freedom. The rich man could
generaUy redeem his relations ; but after the
grinding tyranny of the Ashantee supreraacy,
riches were far frora abundant in the land.
Neither, at the time to which we refer, was the
attainraent of wealth within the reach of raany.
Confidence had not yet been completely estab
lished. The Ashantees, upon whom we were
dependent for our principal supply of gold, were
in the habit of visiting the coast for the pur
poses of trade in large parties, who, on account

20 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
of the suspicion which stUl lurked in their minds,
did not consider themselves altogether safe, unless
under the protection of some of the principal
chiefs or head men of . the Fantee country.
They therefore left their own country, consigned
to some one of these, who acted as brokers, in
carrying on their trade with the Europeans.
This was a source of great emolument to the
parties immediately employed, but had Uttle
effect in diffusing any general benefit. It, In
fact, increased only the property of those who
had the least need for it, and enabled them to
increase stiU more the distance between them
and the other classes of society, and to lay hold
of those advantages which a superior position
in its early stages never fails to place within
their reach.
WhUe this state of raatters continued, the
general body of the people who felt raost the
pressure of their separate bondage, had no " op
portunity of acquiring means to purchase their
own redemption, or that of their relatives.
They were therefore obliged to content tliem
selves with the knowledge of their different situ
ations, and to Umit their intercourse to an occa
sional visit or message, as circumstances gave
them opportunity. Upon these occasions they

THE GOLD COAST. 21
would. In pure simplicity of heart, often seek
to bespeak a master's favour for a relation, by
trifling presents ; and by instigating the slave to
zeal for his master's service, and the master to
kindness, they endeavoured to keep alive such
mutual feelings of satisfaction and good-wiU, as
made the connection between them agreeable to
both. Where this good understanding did not
exist, and where the severity of the master ren
dered the slave's life miserable, recourse was often
had to some wealthy person, who had the repu
tation of being a good man, who was entreated
to purchase his redemption from the bad raaster,
and to make him his own slave; and as the
services of a discontented slave were always un
satisfactory to the master, the latter generally
consented readily enough to his redemption.
Slaves and pawns had it thus very much in
their own power to make choice of their own
master, and this liberty of choice contributed
largely to bring together the different members
of a faraUy under one master, and thus, by af
fording free scope to the enjoyment of the
domestic affections, deprived slavery of its severest
sting. This then was the first step which the fuU
protection given by the government enabled the

22 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
people to take — namely, the more general union
of the different merabers of a family under the
same roof, and the reUef opened up to many
from the severity of a bad master. As yet,
however, there was no diminution in the extent
of slavery. It was its quality alone which had
been affected.
But the progress after this is now rapid. The
great vigilance of the government in detecting,
and its rigour in punishing acts of oppression,
the frequent resort of aggrieved persons to the
local authorities, and the ready and cheap redress
of injuries, soon made the whole population
perfectly famUiar with the nature of the pro
tection afforded them, and unwilling to submit
to any wrong at the hands of their ovra chiefs.
From the decision of these, appeals were frequent.
The chiefs themselves, in consequence, had often
occasion to resort to Cape Coast Castle, and had
many opportunities, by their attendance in court,
of comprehending more fuUy the broad princi
ples of justice, and the necessity of enforcing
them for the general good of society. They
soon perceived that the governor's severity,
which they had at first been inclined to regard
as persecution, was dictated from an enlightened
view of a necessary exaraple, for the mainte-

THE GOLD COAST. 23
nance of order, and the general tranquiUity of
the country, in which they themselves had the
principal interest. A better and more cordial
understanding, which at length ripened into the
most perfect confidence and esteem, was the
result of a longer acquaintance.
The effect of all this was to bring the governor
prominently forward before the whole country in
his true position — as the federal head and pro
tector of the allied chiefs, responsible for their
observance of treaties to the Ashantees, and
their defender against any unjust demands from
these — their mediator between each other, and
the general redresser of wrongs. The chiefs
began to regard themselves as so many officers
of government, to each of whom was entrusted
the administration of the affairs of his own
people, subject to the supervision of the gover
nor, who, by the punishment of injustice, and
by heartily approving and rewarding a proper
discharge of their duties, soon managed to elicit
a strong desire to obtain his favour. If the
motives for this zeal were base, it was never
theless attended with a more extensive distri
bution of justice, and the diffusion generaUy of
a more humane and equitable spirit. Instead
of a captious opposition, seeking insidiously to

24 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
overreach the law, and laying hold of every
possible occasion to cause obstruction, and to
limit the influences of good order, there was
now, externaUy at least, a disposition which we
believe in many cases to have been founded on
a just appreciation of their real interests, to go
hand-and-hand with the governor, and to give
him every assistance in establishing and main
taining a more perfect system of justice than
had hitherto guided their intercourse with each
other. Their ideas of justice, it is true, were not of that
enlightened character which belongs to a higher
standard of moral duty. They were stiU influenced
by the prejudices of a dark superstition and tra
ditionary customs, and required the watchful and
resolute caution of a skUful reformer, whose care
was as necessary in guarding against a too hasty
innovation, as in rigidly enforcing the utmost
degree of social progress which might safely be
ventured upon.
Nor was the governor without a sufficient test
of the state of public feeling upon these important
points. The court (of which, at the time to which
we refer, he was himself the judge) became a spe
cies of lecture-roora, frora which the principles of
justice were disseralnated far and wide throughout

THE GOLD COAST. 25
the country. It was daily crowded by listeners
frora the raost distant districts under our jurisdic
tion, as well as by those close at hand. The prac
tice of the chiefs being constantly surrounded by a
large body of retainers, gave greater publicity to the
doctrines inculcated, by the free access of all classes
to a knowledge of the sentiments which influenced
their government. The chief there learned that an
injustice done in his judicial capacity would recoil
upon himself; the raaster, that he owed duties to
his slave, the neglect of which, or an undue seve
rity, would lead to his unconditional eraancipation ;
the slave, that though obedience was the badge of
aU his tribe, he was still the object of a care, which
would shield hira from oppression and vindicate
his title to a kind and humane consideration ; the
husband, that his wife and the mother of his
chUdren was not a mere household drudge, the
instrument, of his gross passion, and his grosser
cupidity, but that she was entitled to his love and
his regard, and was Intended to be the sharer of
his joys and his sorrows ; and the wife that she had
been submitting to an unjust degradation, and
that she could appeal successfully against the un
worthy position aUotted to her. Although it was
not always possible to carry out the rules of moral
duty to the extent that could be desired — and a
VOL. II. ,c

26 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
mightier influence than that of the civU magistrate
was necessary for their strict observance — yet the
effect of the decisions in the court, and the ge
neral expositions with which they were attended,
had a very sensible operation in ameUorating ge
neraUy the social condition of the people.
The court also becarae a very successful, and
not an invidious raediura of attack upon their most
objectionable laws and custoras, as well as upon
such of their superstitious observances as led to an
unjust invasion of Individual rights and liberties.
The victims of their severe laws in reference to
debt, of a false accusation, and of pretended crimes
of which they had no evidence but their supersti
tious fears, or the oracular dictate of the Fetishman,
of sorcery, witchcraft, and of a variety of super
stitious offences, never appUed in vain for protec
tion. Any direct attack upon such dearly-che
rished prejudices would have raised a perfect storm
of opposition, and such watchwords as ever answer
party purposes would soon have been heard, to
intimate that persecution had begun. But when
it was seen that the governor did not go out of
his way to seek for cause of accusation, that he
merely threw his protecting shield over one of
themselves appeaUng against injuries inflicted for
offences, of the comraission of which they could

THE GOLD COAST. 27
produce no reasonable proof, they were obliged to
acknowledge that he was actuated by a sense of
justice, and not by direct hostility to their customs.
By this indirect censure, and the tone of sUghting
ridicule with which their childish superstitions
were treated, as if unworthy of a moment's serious
consideration, many bad practices which at one
time had been attended with very injurious conse
quences feU completely into conterapt, and were
laughed at and disavowed by those who stUl had
faith in them, although they were ashamed to
own it.
Sometimes during the investigation of circum
stances connected with appeals to the court, cruel
and barbarous practices were revealed, which were
scarcely known to the Europeans to exist ; but
which were considered a necessary part of their re
ligious observances, which could not be aboUshed
without incurring the displeasure of the gods.
The pertinacity with which ignorance hugs its ab
surd superstitions Is weU known, and appears to be
in exact proportion to their absurdity. Abstract
reasoning with such characters Is perfectly out of
place. An implicit faith in the benevolent inten
tion of the law-giver, a consciousness of his general
superiority, and of the advantages of obedience,
occasional demonstrations of his power, and the
c 2

28 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
certainty of punishment in withstanding it, are
essential to the abolition of a confirraed custom.
The prejudices in its favour will exist long after Its
fiTiIts have been destroyed, and wUl only yield to
tirae, and the influence of a new class of ideas
arising out of a more coraprehensive view of self-
interest. As soon, then, as the governor had
established sufficient confidence to afford a rea
sonable hope of success in putting down their most
obnoxious practices, he cautiously led his attack
against them. By frequent animadversions upon
their iniquitous character, and the absolute neces
sity of abolishing them, by the announcement that
he was only waiting for a favourable opportunity
to do so effectuaUy, he famUiarized raen's minds to
their possible suppression at no distant period, and
won over many to an acknowledgment of their
unfitness ; and when he perceived that he had thus
sufficiently paved the way for an enactraent upon
the subject, he pereraptorily commanded their dis
continuance. This very possibly had not the de
sired effect, but it gave to their repetition the
character of a punishable offence, made the greatest
secrecy necessary to their comraission, and sub
jected the perpetrators to punishment upon dis
covery. The amount and nature of the public sympathy

THE GOLD COAST. 29
consequent upon the punishment of the offender,
afforded a perfect criterion of the seasonableness of
the step ; and thus the court served admirably the
purposes of a piUse to indicate the extent of the
reforraation which the country was at any tirae
capable of bearing, consistent with the degree of
confidence in the government, without which no
progressive improvement could be general. It was
therefore politic not to endanger this confidence by
rash and hasty legislation, which, however bene
ficial in reference to the point in question, was
nevertheless to be avoided, if it prevented a greater
good, by interrupting the course of gradual and
steady advancement upon which the country had
entered, as any interruption of this kind at the
outset would have been fatal to our influence.

30 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON

CHAPTER II.
General order and security — Its effect upon trade —
Employment given to the people — Progressive diffiision
of wealth — Extensive system of credit — Attributable to
the severity of the law of debt — The injurious tendency
counterbalanced by its advantages — Trade chiefly de
pendent on Ashantee — Oil trade — Condition of the
people. Having in the foregoing chapter given, we
hope, an intelligible account of the nature of our
influence, of its extent, and its raode of develop
ment, the reader will have less difficulty in ac
counting for the rapid advancement now consequent
upon the establishraent of those feelings of confi
dence and rautual good-will which we have repre
sented as subsisting between the governor and the
governed. By this influence the raost complete

THE GOLD COAST. 31
protection and security were afforded to every one.
The paths and thoroughfares of the country
became as safe for the transmission of merchan
dize, and as free frora interruptions of any
description, as the best frequented roads of the
most highly civUized countries of Europe. No
police force, organized upon the principles of disci
pUne which govern this important engine of civU
government in a free country, can be compared in
efficiency with that system of responsibiUty which
made the chief accountable for the peace of his
district, and for the orderly conduct of his de
pendants. The patriarchal rule, which obtains in families, the
assemblage of famUies under a chief, the vassalage
of chiefs under a common superior, with the feel
ings of strict obedience, submission and clanship,
strengthened and confirmed by superstitious obser
vances, which exercise such a powerful control over
those having faith In them, form altogether such a
nicely graduated scale of accountability, that inde
pendence of action becomes impossible, and the
detection of crime consequently easy. With this
free scope for the full development of energy and
enterprize, we are now to pursue the pecuUar
modes in which they principally exhibited them
selves.

32 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
The Ashantees were not slow in perceiving that
aU danger of being obstructed and plundered was
now at an end, and that the especial protection of
a particular chief was no longer necessary. They
were therefore glad to be reUeved from the incon
venience of travelling in such large parties, and
frora the exorbitant profits which the chiefs
received in name of brokerage for the simple trans
acting of their trade with the merchants. They
soon discovered thousands eagerly seeking to be
employed, and anxious to offer their services at a
much raore moderate rate; and they experienced
rauch greater freedora of choice in this simple and
unostentatious system of trade. On the other
hand, the certainty of protection, and the profitable
nature of mercantile speculation at the time, allured
numbers to try their fortune as trading adventurers.
SmaU capitalists invested what gold they had in
goods, and either carried them into the interior, or
sent them in charge of confidential agents to be
sold. The success of these petty adventurers had a
magical effect in making this system general.
Even the merchants themselves, finding that the
quantity of goods thus sent for sale into the
interior had a sensible influence in curtaUing their
own store trade, by preventing in a great raeasure

THE GOLD COAST. 33
the resort of the Ashantees to the coast, were
obUged to yield to the current, and to carry on
their business principaUy by means of agents
employed in the same manner.
Instead of the duU, stagnant, lifeless appearance
which the country presented some time before, the
monotony of which was only varied occasionaUy by
an act of gross outrage, or the sudden outbreak of
an old hereditary feud, all was now cheerful bustle
and activity. There was not a nook or corner of
the land to which the enterprize of some sanguine
trader had not led him. Every vUlage had its
festoons of Manchester cottons and China silks,
hung up upon the walls of the houses, or round
the trees in the market-place, to attract the
attention and excite the cupidity of the vUlagers.
In the principal towns on the main line of
communication with Ashantee, extensive depots
were forraed, where every species of goods suited
to the traffic might be got In abundance ; and in
Cooraassie, the capital, many agents constantly
resided, who received steady supplies of goods by an
uninterrupted system of conveyance from the coast.
The land carriage of aU this raerchandize, in a
country where beasts of burden are not used, gave
employment to many thousands in transporting
the goods. The porterage, considering the great
c 3

34 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
distance of the journey, and the time occupied in
accomplishing it, was exceedingly trifling ; but the
ignorance of the value of labour properly directed,
and their natural distaste for a steady, regular and
laborious employraent, made them prefer occasional
jobs of this description, which gratified also a rara
bling disposition, to agricultural pursuits, or any
other occupation requiring fixed habits of appUca-
' tion. As yet, their absolute wants were few and their
desires moderate. The simple supply of the ne
cessaries of life was aU that the bulk of the
population cared about, and this the bounty of
nature placed within the reach of a very small
araount of labour. The prospect of elevating their
condition by careful Industry, had only yet been
opened up to those engaged in trade, who per
ceived the road to wealth and consequence now
plainly exposed to them. These eagerly pursued
their advantages, perfectly alive to the important
consequences of success, whUe the instruraents of
their traffic, the unreflecting carriers, were con
scious of few wants to which the beasts of burden,
whose province they had assuraed, were not sub
ject. On this account the diffusion of wealth
although greatly extended beyond its former Umit,
was stUl partial, but rapidly progressive ; for the

THE GOLD COAST. 35
numerous instances of independence suddenly ac
quired, could not but strike the dullest apprehension,
and excite, in some measure, a more general spirit
of eraulation.
The condition of slavery, also, which attached
to the greater part of those carriers was another
reason for their want of ambition. They had in
general been hired from a master, who received
their wages, and only gave them out of their
scanty allowance what was necessary for their
subsistence. To such persons, the present move
ment held out little prospect of bettering their
condition; and only those who, from their su
perior quickness of parts had given promise of
achieving a raore honourable position for them
selves, and increased wealth for their masters,
were afforded opportunities of seeking their own
fortune. It was the nature, however, of this system of
trade by means of agents eraployed to seU goods
In the interior upon the raerchants' account, to
become one of simple credit. The step between
agency and the responsibUity of a comraon debtor
was so easy, and the latter liable to so much
less misunderstanding, that credit soon became
general. The natural result of this system of
trust, was the extensive diffusion of property

36 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
throughout every class of society, to a degree
which can hardly be comprehended by one unac
quainted with the pecuUar partiality of the natives
of the Gold Coast, and, we believe, of Africa
generally, for pedUng. Men, women and chUdren
are indiscrirainately infected with this passion,
which absolutely assuraes, frora its inveteracy, the
character of a confirmed malady. One is at a
loss to conceive where there is any room for
buyers among such a nation of pedlers; and
there Is certainly no way of accounting for the
disposal of such an endless exhibition of their
petty wares, except upon the principle of barter.
The foundation of the confidence upon which this
general and extraordinary subdivision of credit is
grounded, araong a people by no means reraarkable
for their integrity, raust, we believe, be sought for
in the severity of the law of debt, which involves
such an extensive responsibUity, including that of
the freedora of the debtor and his relations, rather
than in the facile credulity of the people.
Owing to this peculiarity of their laws, the
advantages of this systera of general credit, as
a raeans of improving their social condition, have
been very doubtfiil ; but we are incUned to think
that Its effect in creating artificial wants, and in
forming new habits, and thereby exciting to their

THE GOLD COAST. 37
gratification by industrious exertion, far outweighs
the temporary injustice and abuses which the
spirit of progress evoked by it must ultimately
redress. Its imraediate effects, however, were
undoubtedly of a raixed character, dependent in
a great raeasure upon individual capacity and
integrity ; for where credit was so general, edu
cation alraost unknown, and the standard of raorai
principle extreraely low, it could not be, but that
rauch of this credit was raisplaced, and that pro
perty was frequently squandered, as often hy the
incapacity as by the unprincipled extravagance
of the debtor. But whatever the cause, the
result was the sarae — the irapUcatlon of the inno
cent relations, who have been made available, to
raise the funds to liquidate the debt, either by
bondage as pawns, or by actual sale.
As a counterpoise, however, to the fooUsh and
reckless adventurers, who have thus entaUed misery
upon themselves and farailies, there have been
others of a very different starap; men who, by
cautious prudence and integrity, have acquired
the means of elevating the social position of them
selves, and of redeeming frpm the bondage of a
former period their most distant relatives. As
these more than outnumbered the former, and as,
raoreover, by the happy result of their exertions,

38 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
they exhibited in its proper Ught the legitimate
fruits of honest deaUng, the emulation which their
success created, and thegenerai aspirations which, it
raised for greater independence, greatly overbalanced
the evUs resulting frora the abuse of their pri
vUege. This preponderance becarae stUl more
apparent as soon as it was known that by an
appeal to the court, relations were relieved from
all responsibUity respecting debts incurred without
their especial suretiship, as it put it beyond the
power of every worthless character to impoverish
and enslave his relations.
But the benefit of this protection was not so
general as it might have been. The court only
interfered upon application made to it. Public
prejudice was stUl in favour of old customs. It
was esteeraed a disgrace to cast off a relation on
account of debt, If the family had at aU the means
of paying it, and very seldom, except In the case
of a confirmed and incorrigible prodigal, and
where the UabUity was altogether beyond their
means, did they withhold their support. The
system of pawning therefore stUl continued. Even
in cases where the creditor has failed to interest
the debtor's faraily, and has in consequence been
corapeUed to Imprison him for the debt, they have
finally yielded to the feelings of syrapathy excited

THE GOLD COAST. 39
In his favour, and after aUowing hira time for
correction and reflection, have helped him out of
his troubles. But notwithstanding the influence
of an estabUshed custora, in preventing the relief,
which was put within their reach, being universaUy
or even generaUy accepted, yet the knowledge that
it raight be had recourse to, had a very sensible
effect in curtailing the extent of credit ; and when
it was seen that insolvent debtors obtained their
discharge after a period of purgation, little raore
was needed to restrain credit within those limits
which are essential to the interests of comraerce,
as well as to the steadiness and consistence of
social progress.
By this useful liraitation, and the removal of
certain restrictions upon prices imposed by a self-
constituted Board of Trade, the carrying system
received its death-blow. The room for competi
tion, which an unfettered traffic opened up, enabled
those who preferred a sure store trade to make
such a reduction of price, as induced the Ashantees
to come to the coast, instead of making their pur
chases from the petty traffickers, or from the depots
In the interior. The greater choice of merchandize
in the stores of the merchants, the presents which
the traders were in the habit of receiving, and
which eventually became an estabUshed perquisite,

40 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
their Uttle consideration of the value of time, and
their consequent indifference about the length of
their journey, combined with more consideration
for themselves, and greater fairness of dealing than
guided the transactions of adventurers, far re
moved from any sufficient control, aU conspired
to place the trade entirely upon a new footing.
The consequence of the Ashantees becoraing their
own carriers, was to throw a very great number of
persons out of employraent, and to force thera to
seek another means of living.
Since the commenceraent of the carrying trade,
they had becorae accustoraed to raany trifling luxu
ries within the reach of their scanty pay, to which
they had formerly been strangers. These had now
becorae absolutely necessary to them, and they
were willing to turn their hands to any work, in
order to obtain the means of procuring them.
This certainly was a great step in advance ; but
the absence of any suitable occupation seemed on
the point of consigning thera once more to their
original habits of perfect Idleness, when the
medium of circulation throughout the Fantee
country was Increased so rapidly, that an astonish
ing impetus was given to a branch of trade, which
had not hitherto occupied a very prominent place
in their attention. Gold-dust and ivory had been

THE GOLD COAST. 41
almost the sole articles of export. Neither of^^
these coramodities was found in great abundance
within the countries under our jurisdiction, and our
trade was, and is, principally dependent upon Ash
antee. The only source of wealth was, therefore, |
confined to an Interchange of the raanufactures o^
Europe, for articles beyond the reach of labour to ob
tain thera, and consequently beyond the reach of thp
raass of the population. UntU labour found a mar
ketable value, there was no prospect of the general
ameUoration of the condition of the people. Had
gold been found in the soU of the country In suffi
cient quantities to render the search for it a steady
and profitable occupation, it is possible that labour
of this kind would have tended to iraprove the
circumstances of the masses ; but the uncertainty
of the result of labour of this description, and the
reckless gambling spirit to which it invariably gives
rise, are very unfavourable to moral improvement.
On this account, we consider it particularly fortiix
nate for the people of the Gold Coast, that the]
branch of industry to which their attention has
been directed is one which, at the same time that in
gives a good return for the labour expended, yet ren-l
ders necessary habits of patient toU and application.
The manufacture of palm-oU, as giving employ
ment to a great portion oT'the population, may be'

42 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
said to have been only known vrithin the last fifteen
years. It had been made in small quantities long
before this period, but It had no general influence,
nor do we think that it would have ever risen into
the importance which it is now assuraing, except
for the extensive use of the circulating medium to
which we have referred. Slaves, for sorae time, as
being the staple of commerce, held the most con
spicuous place as a test of computation, and an
article was ordinarily reckoned at the value of one,
two, or more slaves. But the imraense variety of
circumstances which depreciated their value or
otherwise, made it of such a relative quaUty, that
even the classification into prime, good, bad, and
indifferent, conveyed but a doubtful and indefinite
idea of their true worth.
The assumption of gold-dust as the standard
of value, was, therefore, highly conducive to the
interests of trade; but its supply was so limited,
and so little diffused, as to render it altogether
{inadequate as a mediura of circulation. The defi
ciency was attempted to be made up, by raeans of
various articles of trade, which were passed from
hand to hand at the market price at the time, or
for such value as might be agreed upon between
the payer and receiver. These articles, however,
were generally of a very perishable nature, and

THE GOLD COAST. 43
unless required for iramediate consumption, of
little use to the person receiving them. As long
as this state of things continued, and there was no
ready and convertible price for labour of easy
access, there was little inducement to work ; but
when labour could be very profitably employed
in the raanufacture of an article of great con
sumption, for which there was always a ready
market, and which was paid in a coraraodity
capable of great subdivision, and in constant use
as the circulating raediura of an extensive district
of the country, motives for exertion were only
limited by the extent of desire.
The introduction of the cowrie-sheU and Its ap
plication to this purpose supplied the desideratum j
necessary for the prosecution of the trade in palm-/
oU, the supply of which is found to fluctuate accordina
to the supply of the cowries. If these have been
exhausted in the stores of the raerchants, no oil is
brought to the market unless in such smaU quanti
ties as may be required for immediate consuraption ;
and although the manufacture of oU may go on
in the meantime, in the expectation of new
importations of cowries, yet if these be long
delayed, the activity of the labourer slackens and
finaUy ceases; the object of his labour being to
obtain what to him is tantamount to ready

44 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
cash, which he can apply in any manner he
thinks fit.
The reader wiU have sorae idea of the utUIty of
this article as a circulating medium, when we state
that the annual importation of cowries is steadily
increasing, and that it at present amounts to one
hundred and fifty tons per annum. When he Is
farther informed that a ton of good cowries is
equivalent to three hundred and sixty doUars, that
two thousand four hundred shells go to the doUar,
and that there are consequently eight hundred and
sixty-four thousand cowries in a ton, he will more
readUy comprehend the facilities of exchange, and
the great encourageraent which it gives to industry.
It would be irapossible at present even to conjec
ture with any degree of probabUity the extent to
which this importation of a very serviceable cur
rency might be carried, without affecting Its circu
lating value ; but the sudden and extraordinary
increase of late years, has had no effect in deterio
rating them, and the increased demand keeps pace
with the supply — in other words, a sufficient
marketable equivalent for labour has not yet been
supplied, as the resources of the country and the
energies of the people are only in their first stages of
development. How these wiU ultimately be operated
upon, with the best result, it is at present too soon

THE GOLD COAST. 45
to determine, and must depend upon the market
which they find for their labour, and the judgment
vrith which It is directed.
As yet, cowries are only in use throughout a
comparatively sraall portion of the Gold Coast ;
and where they are not already introduced, a strong
prejudice exists against them. In Ashantee it Is
forbidden to sell or pass them at all, under very
severe penalties ; the impression being, that their
introduction and use might have an Injurious effect
in diminishing the extent of the collections of
gold-dust. Along the whole line of coast also to
the westward of Anamaboe, cowries are little used,
and do not pass current in the markets ; gold-
dust, silver, and copper coins being the only
medium of circulation. Owing to the expenditure
of the government at Cape Coast, the circulation
of raoney and gold of the country almost suffice
for the present exigencies of the people, and hold
out the necessary inducement for labour ; but where
there Is nothing extraneous to the gold-dust, the
energy of the people Is cramped for want of a
sufficiently diffusive currency.
We accordingly find that the condition of the
natives in those parts is much more stationary,
and that, notwithstanding their greater attention to
the coUection of gold, and the superior abundance

46 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
of this valuable raineral in these districts, they are
nevertheless excluded from raany comforts which
are now within the reach of all who devote their
labour to the cultivation of the produce of the
country, and who readUy find a marketable price
for it. Every branch of trade and industry known
to the people has been influenced in an extraor
dinary manner, by adopting this currency ; but
greater incentives are still wanting to caU forth the
energies of the people generally, for raany stUl
reraain sunk in a sluggish indifference, frora which,
we fear, they can only be roused by education.

THE GOLD COAST. 47

CHAPTER III.
Disinclination for improvement — Difficulty of overcoming
prejudices — ^Toleration of the government — Anomalies
observable in society, and in individual character —
Compulsory observance of order — Gives rise to com
mercial enterprise — Growing taste for the habits of
civilized life — Moral virtues neglected — Establishment
of a school — Arrival of a Christian missionary upon the
coast. If a benevolent government, with moral influ
ence sufficient to obtain general obedience, and to
give protection and security to aU, a fair measure
of commercial prosperity, a fuU abundance of the
necessaries of life, with the means of supplying
many artificial wants placed within the reach of
every class, were the only requisites for the social
elevation of a people, the natives of the Gold

48 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Coast had now a favourable opportunity of enter
ing upon this career. But something more is
necessary to raise a people from a state of great
moral degradation. Without the consciousness of
their own debasement, and a desire for their own
advancement, the most favourable circumstances
vriU be unavaUing ; and the experience of aU history
shows that this feeling and this desire do not
arise naturaUy.
The human mind is not a soU, where ideas com
mon to an in a civilized state spring up spontane
ously. Not a field in the material world requires
more diligent culture. The weeds which rankle
there are only a type of the tendency, not of the ex
tent of huraan depravity. The forraer germinate,
flourish, wither, die and are renewed. The latter
knows no winter, no season of frigid inaction. In
which the principle of vitality and development is
suspended. Its growth Is continuous, strengthening
with man's strength, and transmitted through suc
cessive generations with a continuaUy increasing
bent, and a more confirmed and instinctive impulse.
And as the natural field has not any inherent power
to substitute the wheat for the tares, so neither has
the mind of raan the capacity of originating and
carrying out Into practice Ideas of an opposite

THE GOLD COAST. 49
tendency from its natural and confirmed bent,
without the addition of some external influence.
The ordinary operation of this influence is cer
tainly through the mediura of the senses, and reflec
tion .upon the effects produced upon them ; for what
by some of the heathen phUosophers, with an indis
tinct gUmmering of the truth, has been denominated
"the divine breathing," by raodern infidels the result
of reason affecting the raorai principle, and by reve
lation the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, has little
perraanent effect upon the actions of men in their
natural state ; and for these siraple reasons, that In
the one case a certain degree of raorai advanceraent
is necessary to qualify men to deduce salutary rules
of life from tracing effects to their original cause ;
and in the other, where the Scriptures have not been"
received as a revelation frora heaven, the importa
tion of a divine influence has been misunderstood,
has consequently not been cherished, and has there
fore reserabled in its motions, rather the eccen
tricity of the comet than the steady undeviating
course of the sun.
It is then to the slow process of raental
culture, the result of compulsion in its first
stages, that we are to look for a substitution of
one class of ideas for another, and for the change
of habits and principles upon which this substitu-
'¦^¦^- ~ri ¦"n 'a "ivreV-- known, that

50 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
nothing but the strong hand of power and a
clearer view of- selfrinterest can put down a
cherished custom and remove a confirmed habit.
Even against power and self-interest, the prejudices
of the old, who have grown grey in the practice of
customs established by prescription, the opposition
of raonopoUst traders in the abuses; of society, the
superstitious fears of sorae, the ridicule of others,
and the natural disinclination for change in all,
invariably maintain an obstinate struggle^
Upon the Gold Coast, the government has very
wisely raade no attack upon customs which did
not interfere with the rights and liberties of
individuals, and has only so far meddled with their
laws, as to infuse into them a more humane
spirit ; ameliorating some without abolishing them,
and consigning others to a gradual oblivion, by
exposing their unfitness for the advancing condi
tion of social progress. This spirit of toleration
has consequently left the battle of civUization to
be fought, principaUy by the influence of opinion ;
and this opinion being moulded, not by any
general system of education calculated to conduce,
with slight modifications, according to the struc
ture of Individual minds, to one great homogeneous
result ; but being the effect of a variety of influ
ences acting partially upon society, its operation
has, of course, been as partial as their application.

THE GOLD COAST. 51
We accordingly find the most incongruous ano-
maUes in the general aspect of society ; and not
only in general society, but, according to our
view's' of consistent keeping In character, the
strangest inconsistencies in the same individual.
This is to be accounted for by his accidental
tiraihing for his particular occupation, and the
ripportutiitie^' which he has had of associating with
and observing the condiict of men more civilized
than himself Having caUed into action particular
qualities bf the raind, and dravpn his attention to a
special roiind' of duties, pairtlcular' faculties have
been improved and certain observainces respefcted,
while other mental qualities have remained
perfectly faUow, arid other duties, equally ' impor
tant, have been disregarded, as they wer6' not caUed
into operation,' and did nbt faU within the range of
his observation. ' ..
We have thus a root of barbarism with a branch
of civUization; the crab and 'the apple growing
side 'by side, upoii the sarhe tfee, and in prdpdr-
tlons varying with 'the opjiortUnlties find iiicUiiation
to i-iecelV-e "hew grafts. ' Tf the ktef wete as general
as thb former, '^dvan'cement would be much more
j-apld ;' but ' nothing but a pers6nal experi^ribe of
self-interest appears 'to' have any Influence in
fnoulding the WiU to seek v61untarily a charige" of
condition. The pleasure of doin^ nothing hks

52 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
such a narcotic influence upon the human faculties,
that the more it is indulged in, the more Invete-
rately is it cherished, untU the whole man is steeped
in such a lethargic stupor that it is next to impos
sible to rouse him. Where the bounty of Provi
dence supplies the actual wants of Ufe almost
without the necessity of labour, and where, more
over, the cliraate has an enervating influence upon
the human frarae, this luxurious dream of listless
inactivity appears to become the chief pleasure of
existence. For this reason, the allurements to
exertion require to be kept continuaUy pressing
upon them, and the senses to be constantly stimu
lated by new and powerfiil incentives. From this
cause it is, that we find so much indifference, and
even disUke to engage in occasional occupations,
which would appear to us, from the remuneration
given, to hold out considerable inducements ; but
he fact Is, this occupation not being continuous, and
heir condition not being permanently affected by it,
their ordinary wants, moreover, not rendering it ne
cessary for their supply, the teraporary benefit is not
considered worth the exertion required to obtain It.
To rouse the energies of any people long burled
in sloth, there must be an adequate inducement in
the imraediate and permanent amelioration of their
condition, and this inducement must come home
in a tangible form to the general body. The least

THE GOLD COAST. 53
attention to the course of social progress in this
country, and not in this country alone, but in
every other country, attests this truth. But for
the fear of punishment, which would entail upon
the perpetrator of an injustice a greater injury than
the possible advantage which he might obtain from
its commission, the natives of the Gold Coast
would have continued to hunt, persecute, and worry
each other untU this very hour. No abstract love
of justice, no feelings of compassion, were capable
of exercising any restraint. The personal conse
quences of criminality alone had the power to
enforce anything like an observance of justice, and
the incessant disregard even of this restraint, at
the commencement, is a sufficient proof that the
golden rule of doing to others as we would that
they should do unto us, is not one of natural growth.
The first step, then, was pure corapulsion ; but
it was the introduction of the fine point of the
wedge, which communicated an aptitude for its
deeper insertion, and which did not leave the whole
work to be done by the force of external appUca
tion. The advantages of a purer administration
of justice soon became apparent to society. It was
seen that its practice was not merely a negative
good, reUeving men from the consequences of
disobedience; but that a positive benefit to the
pubUc flowed from it. This benefit once expe-

54 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
rienced becarae indispensable, and notwithstanding
the interested opposition of indi-viduals, infused such
a general spirit, not of acquiescence only, but of
eagerness to secure and render it perraanent, that
what had at first been introduced by force, was
cherished from choice and maintained frora motives
of self-interest. Here was the first pliable adapta
tion of the cleft to the wedge, which prepared the
way for a more extensive opening upon the next
appUcation of pressure from without ; and as this
first step, the observance of justice and consequent
order and tranquiUity, was binding on aU, its
influence was general, and its effects naturaUy
exhibited in the diffusion of a more humane spirit
throughout every class of society.
This, however. Is the only Improvement of
universal application. Whatever other changes
have been wrought have been partial, and in exact
proportion in their nature and extent to the means
eraployed for their development. The next mo^t
general benefit was the result of the protection and
security now enjoyed by aU, which gave ample
scope for commercial enterprise. It consisted In a
more extensive diffusion of wealth, increased liberty
in proportion to this wealth, and an ambition, among
those who had been most successful, to assume the
habits and acquire the tastes of civiUzed Ufe.
The measure pf success attending those enter-

THE GOLD COAST. 55
prises became also the measure of individual
advancement, which, from the nature of the cause,
produced, as a matter of course; an endless variety
of effect.' We consequently find aU degrees of
progress, from the duU and sluggish bushman,
who has just been shamed into the necessary
exertion to acquire means to purchase a cloth
to cover hiraself, to the intelligent and enter
prising raerchant, who is receiving his conslgn-
raents of thousands from Europe. 
It wUl be observed,- however, that the incentives
hitherto noticed, addressed themselves principally
to a particular class of the affections, calling Into
exercise only those' faculties requisite for the suc
cessful management ' of their traffic: This, of
course, left a very extensive field perfectly untiUed.
WhUe it excited ambition, exercisedi the; judg
ment, and generally sharpened the intellectual
faculties, it had little influence upon the moral
powers of the mind, except to the extent which
a more enlarged view of personal interest has
upon human conduct,' which Is consequently
rather an effect of the inteUect than of the
moral principle. Actions based upon this foun
dation, wiU be in correspondence with the degree
of enlightenment of the individual, thereby ren
dering a very high degree of mental cultivation
essential to the practice of pure moraUty. It is

56 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
a well-established fact, however, that men have
never been able fuUy to act up to their own con
victions of right, when they have assumed reason
only for their guide. A strong temptation, where
the risk of detection or of injury appears Irapos
sible and doubtfiil, has often proved too much
for the highest effort of mere reason to resist.
Such being the case with men of the most highly
cultivated inteUect, what have we a right to expect
frora a people just emerging from the thraldom of
body and of mind which we have represented?
With an education limited to traditionary laws
and customs, generaUy of a corrupt and immoral
nature, with a superstitious reUgion, which makes
no pretension to be a moral guide of conduct;
without even the lessons of experience, and with
no higher standard of obedience than the wiU of
the civU magistrate, whose means of information,
and whose powers of punishment are by no
means commensurate with the wants of society,
is it to be wondered at that the moral virtues
have not a very prorainent place in their regard ?
To such a people, offences punishable by law
only appear criminal; and even then, the de
tection of the offence, rather than the offence
itself, constitutes the crirae. Offences and vices
not generaUy cognizable by the civU magistrate,
therefore, carry with them little degradation, and

THE GOLD COAST. 57
are scarcely regarded in a derogatory point of
view. Lying, prevarication, low cunning, breach
of engagements, and trick and artifice of every
deecription, are with them legitiraate weapons in
the battle of Ufe. Intemperance, excess, lewdness,
strifes, abusiveness, and maUce predominate in the
general character; and aU these vicious practices
only give way in proportion to the experience of
their injurious effects upon their interest.
This ought to excite no astonishment in the
mind of the candid and rational observer, neither
can it for a moment be accepted as an arguraent
in favour of any constitutional inferiority of race,
as it is as natural a result of the tendency of the
human raind, under the influences of the circum
stances which have affected their condition, as
that "the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself;
first the blade, then the ear, after that the fuU
com in the ear."
The degeneracy of a people is no doubt more
or less affected by the circumstances of their
condition. It attaches equally to their moral and
physical nature; and we wUl not deny but that
the African raay, through ages of progressive
deterioration, have acquired a deeper moral taint
than other races more favourably circumstanced.
The indiscretion of a parent entaUs a constitutional
taint upon his offspring to the third and fourth
3

58 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
generations. We are not sufficiently acquainted
with physiology to know whether the converse of
this holds true, but we should think so — namely,
that a careful attention to regimen, and an
abstinence from predisposing causes, wIU, in the
course of the same number of generations, eradi
cate this taint. If this be the case in the physical,
it wiU also hold good in the raorai world; the
difficulty of removal, always being in proportion
to the duration of the disease before its attempted
remedy. From this it would foUow, that by
suitable training, good laws and an enUghtened
Christian education, the most degraded of the
African tribes may, in the course of some genera
tions, attain an equaUty of standard with any
other race of men whatever.
When we mention the low moral standard,
then, of the mass of the Gold Coast population,
we by no means do so as a reproach to them,
nor can we consider it as such : the reproach Is
with those who have traded in their vices and
made a profit of them.
The phUanthropic exertions of England in
behalf of Africa have, it is true, of late years,
been attested by sacrifices which leave no doubt
of their sincerity ; but we cannot avoid remarking
that these exertions have been much more con
spicuous for their zeal, than for their wisdom.

THE GOLD COAST. 59
Had a tithe of the money which, as far as any
permanent advantage to Africa is concerned, has
been fruitlessly expended in the Niger Expedition,
been devoted to increase the means of our judicial
power, and to the establishment of schools through
out the very extensive districts claiming our pro
tection upon the Gold Coast, we do not hesitate
to affirm, that, even by this tirae, the predoralnant
character of the people would have assuraed the
starap of an incipient civiUzation ; but here, where
the result was certain, and where the greatest
facUity was afforded for the introduction of every
species of iraprovement,' the efforts of the govern
ment to instruct the people have been confined to
the estabUshment of a school at Cape Coast, and
the occasional presence of a chaplain in the castle.
Even these most inadequate raeans of instruction
have been irregular and uncertain;
A school was not estabUshed until 1816, and
since then it has been subject to various interrup
tions; at one time broken up on account of war,
at another neglected through the indifference of
governors and the total disregard of the European
residents, and only kept from entire disruption by
an occasional fit of zeal on the part of a new
superintendent. The state of the country, also,
until 1830, was much too unsettled to allow time
for any thought but that of self-preservation. The

60 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Interest taken by Sir Charles M'Carthy in the
improveraent of the country induced hira to give
his particular patronage to the school, and attracted
to It for a short tirae a momentary success ;* but
the events which foUowed put aU such thoughts
frora men's minds.
Afterthe treaty of peace with Ashantee hadbeen
concluded, the government, which had devolved
upon the merchants again, took no interest in the
education of the people ; but the means at their
disposal were altogether so limited, that the system
of instruction pursued was only calculated to impart
a very moderate degree of knowledge. Reading,
writing, and arithmetic, with a very imperfect
acquaintance with the principles of the Christian
religion, constituted the full extent of the school
education. It enabled young men to keep me
moranda, copy papers and accounts, to superintend
the discharging of cargo from vessels, oversee out-
of-door work, and such siraple employments ; but
it did not qualify them for conducting a merchant's
* Sir Charles persuaded the principal chiefs to send one
of their sons to the school at Cape Coast. This measure
has, in one or two instances, produced excellent results,
especially at Dominassie, where the education thus given
to the son of the chief, Amissah, became instrumental in
preparing the people of that village for the introduction of
the Gospel.

THE GOLD COAST. 61
business ; although, by attention on the part of an
employer, who gave hiraself the trouble to devote
a Uttle pains to the subject, and by dUigence and
docUIty on the part of the young men, several ac
quired a sufficient knowledge of book-keeping to
become, at first, factors and clerks to the mer
chants ; and, finaUy, to carry on business on their
own account. The prejudices entertained against
education, at first Umited the scholars to the
chUdren of persons in the employment of the
government ; some of whom had the penetration
to foresee its prospective advantages, whUe others
considered that by sending their chUdren to school,
they were conferring an obligation upon, and
would therefore enjoy, in a higher degree, the
favour of their employers. An education of this
description, however, was not calculated to have
any very important influence upon the life of the
individual. By elevating his position, enlarging
his Ideas, exciting his ambition, and placing upon
the result of his actions a more Important stake,
affecting perraanently his Interest, he certainly
acquired a superior degree of rectitude of conduct ;
but as, generaUy speaking, he was guided by what
appeared most advantageous for his teraporal ad
vancement. It partook of all the imperfections of
his individual judgment, and was the semblance
rather than the reality of probity. It was not

62 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
untu 1835 that any attempt was made to introduce
Christianity among the natives of the Gold Coast.
The sound of the Gospel had seldom echoed be
yond the waUs of the castle, and even within this
circumscribed Urait it was confined to a formal
repetition of church serrices, and an occasional
discourse, delivered in a tongue not generaUy
intelUgible, and without an interpreter. To have
expected much fruit frora such a systera of cul
ture would have been contrary to all experience. In
the rainds of a few, the truths of Christianity left a
salutary impression, and created a desire for greater
enlightenment; but with the generality, even of such
as had the opportunity, they had entered the ears
without awakening the sense or touching the
heart, and were incapable of uprooting the feeUngs
of superstition which were naturally engendered
by constant Intercourse vrith friends and relations
given to the practice of idolatry. The moral dark
ness of the people was consequently almost uni
versal, when the attention of the Wesleyan Society
was attracted to this part of the world. Their
first raissionary arrived here in 1835, and since
then the exertions ofthis Christian society have been
unremitting, and attended with results which, with
a glance at the general effect of the other amelio
rating influences which have been raentioned, will
very appropriately close this branch of our subject.

THE GOLD COAST. 63

CHAPTER IV.
The difliculties the first missionary had to struggle against,
. from ignorance of the language --- Misapprehensions
respecting Christianity — Persecution averted by the
government — Desertion pf the missionary service —
Similar effects of the first propagation of Christianity
in other parts of the world — The Wesleyan Society —
Sacrificfes made by many of the Uneducated adult Chris
tians — Their firmness and austerity.
The great difficulty which presents itself to the
first European missionary, upon his arrival in such
a country as the Gold Coast, is his inability to
convey an intelligible impressipn of his meaning
to the minds of his hearers. He is obliged to
have recourse to the unsatisfactory medium of an
interpreter, hiraself but very iraperfectly acquainted
with the nature' of the doctrines which he is
caUed upon to expound. At the time to which we

64 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
refer, the knowledge of the English language was
confined to a broken conversational dialect, also in
very Uraited use, and only adapted to the most
ordinary interchange of ideas, and the common
traffic of life. Even within this small compass,
it was often inadequate, without the assistance of
inteUigible acts, and significant pantorairae, which
could have no place in the interpretation of the
doctrines of the Christian reUgion. The school
at Cape Coast Castle, it Is true, had sent forth, at
different tiraes, a few young raen acquainted with
the ordinary branches of a school education, and
versed in sorae degree in the faraUiar, although by
no raeans grammatical, use of the EngUsh lan
guage; but it Is a remarkable fact, that, with
some rare exceptions, the generality of these, for
want of any adequate eraployment, or frora habits
of a low and debasing nature, sank to the level of
the uninstructed natives, and lost, in a great
measure, even the traces of their early education.
The exceptions to this unworthy fate, were such as
had been taken from the school into some of the
government offices, or into the employraent of
such of the merchants as required the services of
a clerk or factor.
In those times, however, the whole trade of the
coast was very insignificant, and confined to so

THE GOLD COAST. 65
few, that there was but little roora for employment
from this source. Liraited therefore as was the
supply, both in quality and quantity, of educated
native talent, it was nevertheless greater than the
demand ; for to serve the purposes of petty
trafficking, to which a system of credit had given
rise, the knowledge of reading and writing and
figures, unassociated with any higher degree of
raorai rectitude, was very justly considered, in many
instances, a disqualification. The rarity of this
knowledge had a tendency to excite, in the minds
of those who had obtained it, an exaggerated idea
of their superiority over others. With all the
self-sufficiency of ignorance, they conceived that
they had surraounted the barrier which dirided
the uninstructed African frora the enlightened
• European ; that their education, which was little
raore than raechanical, and their assuraption,
in part, of the habits and the dress of the white
man, elevated them at once into something of an
equality of position ; that these adventitious cir
cumstances alone constituted the chief essentials
in the formation of a civiUzed being, and that
nothing else was necessary to acquire the distinc
tive characteristic of what they emphaticaUy term
" a white man," than the possession of certain
external advantages, which they had been in the
habit of seeing the Europeans enjoying. They

66 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
had a raost iraperfect idea of the infinite variety of
gradations in the scale of civilization, and of the
qualifications necessary for particular stages of
advanceraent, and considered themselves fit for any
situation which fortune might throw in their way.
If such was the self-complacent satisfaction with
which these persons were inclined to regard them
selves, the effect upon the vulgar was even mote
impressive. In the eyes of many, there was a
virtue in the very coat and breeches — which
typified the wearer, and invested him — although
void of any moral or intellectual superiority over
others — with a raysterious profundity of knowledge
and inforraation, which could not be contemplated
without inspiring a certain degree of awe in the
mind of the beholder. Their acquaintance with
the occupations of Europeans was confined to the
service of the govemment and commerce. As
these caUed for the exercise of but Uttle bodily
exertion, they believed it to be a peculiar privilege
of education to exempt them from labour. It
seemed derogatory to their newly-acquired cha
racter to engage in any industrious manual occu
pation, which was only considered fit for slaves.
Comraerce alone was therefore regarded as an
eligible road to a position in society. The effect
of this misconception of their own position and
present capabUities, as weU as of the very erroneous

THE GOLD COAST. 67
views respecting their acquirements entertained by
others, was raost injurious to the cause of ciyiUza-
tlpn. , These errors were a prolific source of un
principled extravagance, dishonourable artifice, idle
indulgence, and, grievous disappointment on the
part of the , one ; and pf misplaced confidence,
fruitless labours, duped credulity, and a consequent
distaste for anything with the garb of civUization
being introduced among the ;people, on the part of
the other.
On this accoijint it, -vyas, that a school education
was accounted a disqualification. It fostered ideas
of expense above their means, induced thera to
seek the gratification of their tastes, regardless pf
the consequences, enabled, them to minister to
their wants by the credulous simplicity of the
ignorant, and ended by involving their relations in
debt and bondage. It was no wonder, then, tha,t
the general body of the Africans, who, had been
watching the result of what theiy had reason to
consider an European education, should, with such
pregnant examples before their eyes, come to the
conclusion, that " the school was a very good thing
for white men, but not fpr black." Even in this
very forra of expression, we have an admission of
the advantages of education, at the same time
that its fruits, as exhibited among their own
countryraen, seemed to bear them out in this

68 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
opinion, that It was not adapted for them ; and if
we add to the effect of this unfortunate result in
influencing the public mind, the natural disincUna
tion of a people to change the practice of their
fathers, we sh-aU be able to form sorae estimate of
the opposition which the first missionaries had to
encounter. Their difficulties would have even been much
greater than they were, except for the assistance
which they received in expounding the Scriptures
through the mediura of some of those natives
who had received their education in the castle.
These interpreters being already formed to their
hand, gave an advantage of at least ten years
labour ; and thus the school, Inefficiently and irre
gularly as it had been conducted, nevertheless
produced a few young raen, who became most
useful pioneers in the missionary cause, and
supplied the place of school teachers, untU such
time as they were able to employ youth of their
own rearing. The pay given by the missionaries
to the young men whom they employed as
teachers, being fully equal to that given by the
merchants, and a greater nuraber of them being
requu-ed for this service, the missionary employ
ment became an object of ambition with raany,
as much, we are afraid, in many instances, for the
sake of the loaves and fishes, as from a sincere and

THE GOLD COAST. 69
earnest desire to promote the cause of Christianity.
This inducement drew a number of the best
educated natives within the pale of the society ;
while the buUding of chapels, and other necessary
works contingent upon the introduction of new
and large estabUshments into the country, gave
employment to a numerous staff of masons,
carpenters and labourers, who, in like raanner,
swelled the ranks of the Christian coramunity.
It would be uncharitable to suppose this con
version only apparent, or to assign it, even in a
great raeasure, to raercenary and selfish raotives ;
but the historian of such a moveraent raust not
lose sight of the tendencies of huraan nature ; and
when he finds these conducing to a result in many
external respects analogous to the effect of religion,
upon the life and conduct of raen, he raust ira-
partiaUy lay bare aU the causes which appear to
have operated in bringing about this end, as weU
as the effects produced by the removal of these
causes and the substitution of new motives for
exertion. WhUe the bait of employment then
attracted numbers to the Wesleyan Chapels, the
promulgation of doctrines so new and unexpected
aroused their attention, and led to speculation of
a very mixed and iU-defined character, partaking
naturally of the peculiarities inseparable from their
social position, and the superstitious ideas and

70 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
observances to which the generality of them had
been accustomed. Little habituated' to contemplate
the operations of the mind, and to deduce rules of
action from attention to them ; regardless also bf
the heart as a spring, from which flow the issues
of Ufe, they were more intent on discovering some
thing in the new doctrine which would ImjiroVe
their teraporal condition, than on probing' the
weaknesses of their nature, with the view of
reforraation and araendraent.
The material world had, as yet at least, a far
stronger hold upon their ' affections than the
spiritual, and all their notions of advantage to be
derived from the introduction of Christianity were
coloured by this prevaUing tint. Texts of Scripture
that seemed to bear some reference to the peculiar
situation of individuals were wrested to suit their
views, and to rainister to their inclinations and
wants. To the slave, oppressed perhaps bythe
severity of a rigid task-master, the announcement
that aU men were equal before God, carried with
it a belief that his temporal bonds wete dissolved,
and that he should no longer be subjected to
labour ; to woman, hitherto the drudge of man,
living in the outskirts of his affection, and sharing
with many rivals a cold and divided a,ttention, the
coramand " to love, to comfort, to honour, and to
keep her In sickness and in health, and forsaking

THE GOLD COAST. 71
aU others, to keep ohly to her," must have opened
up a vision of bliss for which the wildest freaks of
her imagination had never prepared her ; to the
African, generaUy the object of supercilious scorn,
of mocking irony, or of haughty indifference to
the self-sufficient European, it must have been
some satisfaction to learn that Christianity pre
sented a neutral ground, upon which both races,
laying aside the prejudices of birth, might harmo
niously unite in one comraon brotherhood. These
were advantages palpable to aU, if they could only
be realized, and the easy credulity of the Ignorant
unhesitatingly believed this to be extreraely possible.
Much misconception was the consequence of
thus referring the proraises of Scripture to
teraporal affairs. Instead of drawing frora them
lessons of duty and' correctives against the evil
passions and appetites of huraan nature, they
looked upon thera as intended to subvert at once
the whole , estabUshed order of society, and to
compel men, by the irresistible force of a stern
necessity, to release them from aU inconveniences
attached to their position, withput waiting for the
influences of a great moral agency to convince
the understanding, enlighten the judgraent, purify
the heart, and bring forth the fruits consequent
upon this change.
These erroneous irapressions aroused a spirit of

72 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
opposition, and soraetiraes of persecution, on the
part of those whose interests appeared likely to
suffer from such a .sweeping revolution ; and but
for the controling power of the local government,
the missionaries would have been forcibly ejected
from the country. By its influence, toleration was
established; and whatever raay have been the
extent to which resistance was carried privately in
farailies, no case of forcible restraint ever came
within the knowledge of the government, without
its authors being punished. To this first outburst
succeeded a period of quiet indifference. With the
cessation of persecution, zeal for conversion ceased
also. Tirae and a juster view of the scope of Chris
tianity had removed many of those wUd and visionary
chimeras, which at first -riew had appeared easily
attainable by all who embraced it ; and when it
was found that it did not release thera from the
obUgations which they owed to society, the work
of proselytism went on much more slowly. The
converts were nearly limited to such as were con
nected directly or indirectly vrith the raissionary
service. Exhorters and teachers, bricklayers, car
penters, and labourers, domestics of every grade,
with the wives and sometiraes the relations of
these, and others in the pay of the society, con
stituted the great bulk of their congregation.
The Wesleyan system of church discipline being

THE GOLD COAST. 73
strict, and expulsion from the ranks of the society
consequent upon any known and glaring breach
of the moral duties ; the supervision, moreover,
which they habituaUy exercise over the indi
vidual merabers being narrow, jealous, and in
quisitive, a strong obligation rests upon thera to
conforra to the rules of a Christian life. This
obUgation becarae more iraperative, when ex
pulsion frora the society carried with it depri
vation of office, and forfeiture of the pecuniary
benefits which they were enjoying. Owing to
this watchfulness, and the consequences to their
teraporal interests of any deviation from the
prescribed duties required of them, the Christian
community bore outwardly, at least, all the marks
of sincerity of profession.
Where the result is satisfactory, it Is not for
man, perhaps, to pry too curiously into the secret
motives of the heart, and to lay bare springs of
action unknown to, at least unacknowledged by,
the agents themselves ; but where circumstances
indicate the presence of other and contrary prin
ciples, we are constrained to beUeve that many
of the converts were either labouring under a
hypocritical delusion, or that the frailty of human
nature exhibited itself with an uniformity of
weakness truly humiUating and deplorable. This
severity of expression, little consistent with fhe

74 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
feeUngs of good-wUl and charity with which we
are incUned to view every indication of progress
in the country, is rendered necessary by the fact,
that a neglect of Christian duties has almost
invariably attended worldly advancement, and a
return to lewd and iraraoral practices has as con
stantly foUowed dismissal from, or relinquishment
of, the missionary eraployment.
The profits of trade, which of late years has
received an extraordinary development, as much
from the progress of education, as from the
increased security derived from a more extensive
dissemination of justice, held out such induce
ments to the best instructed natives, that the
service of the missionary society, as a source
of eraolument, became altogether secondary. The
facUity with which credit could be obtained, placed
this advantage within the reach of every person
of moderate acquireraents and of respectable cha
racter, and the consequence was that one by
one, the raost valuable servants of the society
were enticed into mercantUe employraents, in the
prosecution of which they lost that raorai recti
tude and pious deportment which had appeared
to characterise their previous conduct.
So general was this course, that it almost as
suraed the form of a regular system. First, a
season of quiet painstaking in the service of the

THE GOLD COAST. 75
missionaries, marked by a scrupulous, sometimes
even an ostentatious observance of their religious
duties; then an arabitious longing to becorae
traders, with the command of property in their
hands; afterwards dissatisfaction with the amount
of their salaries, and a grumble for more pay ;
and finaUy, the abandonment of the service, and
most generally at the same tirae an abandon
ment of the virtuous principles which hitherto
had been supposed, at least, to have been
the guide of their lives. Such a result we
acknowledge to be perfectly corapatible with
sincerity. It is only too common an occurrence
for raan, when he omits to cherish incessantly
the virtues which adom the Christian character;
and no one who has paid any attention to the
deceitfulness of his own heart, wUl hazard the
uncharitable opinion, that the forraer Ufe of such
raen was either hypocritical or iraraoral. At the
same time, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact,
that there are only a very few exceptions to a
general relapse into iramorality, when motives of
personal interest no longer bound the raembers
to attention to their systein of discipline.
There are exceptions, however, and highly
honourable ones ; some among the best-educated
classes of the society, and more — to their great
honour be it said — among hurable artizans and

76 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
workmen, who know neither how to read nor write,
It is laraentable, however, to have to state, that
raany of the best-educated and most intelUgent
raen, who, some years ago, vvere most distin
guished for zeal for Christianity, and who occu-
pied the first rank among the offlce-bearers of
the society, are now living without its pale,
while the offices are fiUed by an inferior class.
But the loss of merabership by no raeans impUes
a return to idolatrous practices. With some of
the most ignorant, whose comprehension of the
object of Christianity had never been very defi
nite, and whose worship, although addressed to
the true God, was stUl tinctured more hy the
spirit of superstition than of a rational faith,
this relapse was not uncomraon ; but the more
enlightened backsliders could not even lay hold
of this miserable refuge from the upbraidings of
conscience. Their convictions had been too
strong, and their experience of the peaceable
fruits of a life consistent with those convictions
so agreeable, that its reraerabrance haunted their
minds, poisoning their joys, and driving them to
seek for its oblivion in excitements of a sinful
and debasing character. Others of them, with
out sinking to this degradation, retaining a re
morseful consciousness of their fall, and halting
with all the raisery of Indecision between a return

THE GOLD COAST. 77
to. duty, and the pleasures of sinful indulgence,
continued to frequent the chapels, and to turn
such looks of lingering regret upon the position
which they had forfeited, as we raay suppose our
first parents to have turned to the Garden of Eden
after their expulsion.
HumUiating as this exposition of the progress
of Christianity undoubtedly is, It wUl occasion no
surprise to the observant student of human nature.
He wUl remember by what slow degrees a just
conception of the pure precepts of the Gospel, as
a guide of life, dawned upon the earliest converts ;
how, even among the Apostles themselves, it was
found necessary to prevent misconstruction, and to
warn thera against grafting them upon, and making
them subservient to, the ideas and practices of the
state of society, and the religious observances to
which they had been accustomed ; how much
difficulty the early churches of Asia found in
making a complete separation between their ancient
idolatry and their new faith ; what necessity there
was for an unremitting supervision by faithful and
zealous teachers; and with what a fatal facUity
they relapsed into lukewarmness and idolatry,
when this supervision slackened or was reraoved.
He wIU bear in mind the number of centuries
through which the churches of Europe presented
nothing better than a gross superstition, occupied

78 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
with forms and observances, without regarding the
influences of true religion upon the conduct. He
wiU not forget the effect of early habits and
Impressions, and with how much difficulty the
human mind emancipates itself frora these, more
especiaUy in a state of society where the indiridual
is living daUy exposed to a continuance of those
influences ; and when he adds to these considerar
tions the aUureraents of vice, the low standard of
morality generaUy prevalent in the country, associ
ation with friends and relations stiU liring in the
practice of idolatry, the irregularity observable in
the conduct of many of the Europeans, whom they
have been taught to respect, and the general
indifference with which a breach of the moral
duties is regarded, he wUl not be astonished that a
Christian church in its purity does not at once
start into existence in the midst of so many
conflicting elements.
But whUe the Christian phUanthropist wUl find
much need for the exercise of a patient faith In
the final triumph of the truths of the Gospel, and
vrill see occasion to check a too sanguine expecta
tion of their speedy fulfUment, we are not at all
inclined to undervalue the good which has been
effected. Such a work as the conversion of a
people from the grossest superstition to the pure
morality of a Christian Ufe, has hitherto been, and

THE GOLD COAST. 79
wUl continue to be — as far, at least, as we may
judge from past experience — the result of a long
series of years of gradual progress necessary for
the development of the reflective powers of the
mind. Individual and sudden conversions no
doubt take place, and in raany instances they may
be foUowed by a consistent life ; but it appears to
us that these wiU occur much more rarely among
rude and ilUterate men than among an edu
cated people, with whom the seeds of religion,
long dormant in the heart, and scarcely known
to exist at aU, wiU often be quickened into vitality
by sudden and unexpected interpositions of Provi
dence. It would be presumptuous to think of assigning
limits for the operations of the Spirit, or of
prescribing the manner in which they may be
manifested. The truth, which may have escaped
the penetration of the phUosopher, has oftentimes
dawned upon the mind of the clown. Judging,
however, frora the history of the past, we conceive
that we are borne out in the opinion that, where
the knowledge of letters is limited to a few, and
where, consequently, the diffusion of knowledge is
far from general, the ideas of the masses respecting
Christianity, wUl be vague and erroneous, their
religious observances wUl be tinged with super
stition, and more attention will be paid to the form

80 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
than to the power of godliness. We must not
therefore be astonished, if what we see presented
as the result of the operations of the Wesleyan
missionaries upon the coast, should confirm this
opinion. They number, doubtless, among their
converts some sincere, rational and consistent
Christians; whUe others, iraagining that some
great good must flow from their worshiping the
God of a people so favoured as the white men,
join in the offices of religion with the same vague
and indefinite ideas as prompted Peter on the
Mount of Transfiguration to exclaim, " It is good
for us to be here."
But after an enumeration of all the inconsis
tencies and misconceptions into which ignorance
will always lead raen in such a vital revolution as
a change from a licentious idolatry to the faith and
practice of the Christian reUgion, there is stUl left
for us to describe results of a highly gratifying
nature, which cannot be contemplated without
raising confident anticipations of the time, distant
though it raust yet be, when Christianity and
civilization will be general in the land.
From the schools which have been estabUshed
in various parts of the country, a number of youths
are annuaUy going out, carrying with them, it
is true, in many instances, little more than a
mechanical acquaintance with the subjects of

THE GOLD COAST. 81
Instruction which had engaged their attention, but
with sufficient knowledge .to enable them, when
Increasing years have brought reflection, to improve
and turn to advantage the benefits which they
have enjoyed. The causes of this great Imper
fection in their education are various. Unac
quainted with the coUoquial use of the EngUsh
language, when they enter the school, associating
with companions equaUy Ignorant, and hearing
nothing spoken In their famUies but their native
tongue, a knowledge of the sounds which certain
formations of the letters of the alphabet represent,
without assigning to them any meaning, is all the
extent of their information. The English mis
sionary, in like manner, ignorant of the native
language. Is unable to explain in a manner intel
ligible to the scholars the meaning of words and
sentences, and is obliged to leave the very impor
tant task of tuition to native teachers, themselves
often imperfectly acquainted with the English
language, and stiU more Ignorant of the very
difficult art of teaching.
The consequence is, that it is not unusual to
meet with lads, who have been at the schools, who
wiU read fluently a difficult passage of EngUsh,
and who are raasters of penmanship, who, at the
same time, wIU not comprehend the meaning of
the most ordinary Question that mav be asked of

82 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
them, and wiU be unable to give an answer in
English when it is explained. The difference be
tween these lads, and others of a sImUar age, who
have been brought up in the domestic service of a
person who is in the habit of speaking English, is
very marked. The latter has no hesitation, and
readUy comprehends whatever may be said. He
raay be sometiraes seen interpreting to his master
a coramunication frora the scholar of several years
standing, who has not yet learned how to make
himself Intelligible; nay, we believe that he has
been known to dictate a letter for the other to
write, who mechanically does so, without knowing
the meaning of its contents.
These youths have to coraplete their education,
at best very defective, by seeking the employment
of Europeans, and others with whom the English
language Is in constant and farailiar use. Here
they learn practically the application of the words,
the sound of which had been long farailiar to
them ; and, in a short time, they acquire such
an enlargement of comprehension, as enables them
to understand what they read, and to explain It to
others. There are, doubtless, some who have not
to go through this Inverted process of instruction :
these are the children of parents who speak
EngUsh, and who are brought up with a know
ledge of EngUsh and Fantee simultaneously. They

THE GOLD COAST. 83
have a great advantage over the others, and do
not require to wait tiU they leave school for the
comprehension of the meaning of what they have
been learning. These carry away with them the
knowledge of a few facts, with an aptitude of raore
readily adding to their number, by a practical
acquaintance with the business of life, and in
tercourse with persons of superior inteUigence.
Another cause of their imperfect education, is the
want of any moral supervision and prudent control
out of school-hours, to which raay be added irre
gularity of attendance and a too early departure
from school, both consequences of the ignorance
of parents, and of their impatient haste to see
their chUdren in a position to assist them — an
object generaUy effectuaUy defeated by this very
impatience. We would also vrith some diffidence advance
the opinion, that the course of instruction given
is too exclusively of a reUgious character. While
we acknowledge the propriety of religion forming
the basis of every system of education, intended
for the moral and social advancement of a people,
more especiaUy in a country where Pagan idolatry
prevaUs, it is, nevertheless, a well-established fact,
that an undivided attention to any particular class
of ideas tends to cramp the intellectual faculties,
and to limit that generous expansion of the mind

84 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
which is so essential even to a tme reUsh and an
exalted appreciation of the sublime tmths of the
Gospel. Another peculiarity is very observable with
regard to these youths after they leave school.
One would be inclined to suppose, that the ranks
of the society would be constantly recraited by
numbers of those with whom so much pains had
been taken to bestow upon them a religious educar
tion ; but so far is this from being the case, that
the members who can neither read nor write,
greatly exceed those who have been taught to
do both. And it is rare for a lad leaving the
school, to observe such a correct deportment as
wUl admit him to the honour of merabership. It
is scarcely doubtful whether this should not be
attributed to the rigid severity of their discipUne.
A glooray and morose austerity seems to pervade
their ministrations. Lugubrious pictures of man's
wretchedness are continuaUy set before their imagi
nations. The sinfiilness of youthful levity, and of
the gay frivolities which have so many attractions
for the young, raeets with the sternest reprobation.
The Christian's pilgriraage appears to them a
continued series of dark conflicts, of harsh raorti
fications, of fiery trials, and of dismal horrors.
The world is represented as a vale of tears, where
wretched raan wanders about a vUe outcast, until

THE GOLD COAST. 85
he sinks with weeping and sorrow into the grave.*
These pictures have no doubt a brighter side ;
but such is the predoralnant character of their
harangues. Their rules of discipUne enforce fre
quent serrices, a strict and inquisitorial scrutiny,
not only into the life, but into the thoughts of the
heart, a staid solemnity of deportment, an open
exposure of error, and a conturaelious disraissal
from their community of every fraU raember.
However tme such representations of man's
character may be, and however efficient such a
systera of discipUne for separating the chaff from
the wheat, they certainly do not seem best calcu
lated for enticing the young and the giddy vrithin
the fold. They would be more in place araong a
nation of Christians, who were relapsing into luke
warraness ; or where men, satiated with the vain
cares and pleasures of the world, longed for a
higher degree of spiritual Ufe than could be
enjoyed, amidst intercourse with , the worldly.
They would serve admirably the purpose, where
they were sought in true singleness of heart, for
* It is not meant to assert, that the calm joys of a
Christian life do not equally form the subject of these
discourses ; but these are only understood by the confirmed
Christians, while to the general body Christianity appears a,
gloomy and self-denying struggle, which is forever to place
o nrriovniia rpstrir.tion unon human eniovment.

86 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
gleaning the pure from the impure; and for a
haven to the hurable penitent, buffeted by the
storras of the world, and seeking araid the sym
pathy of kindred spirits an outlet for the feelings
and emotions of his heart. But to the young
African, irapatient of restraint, and eager to taste
the cup of enjoyraent which the effervescent spirit
of youth seems to present to him, such disraal
pictures and such austere rules, serve no other
purpose than to hurry him as far as possible from
a raissionary ; and only when overtaken with
disease, or surfeited with excess, wiU he reraember
the instruction of his boyhood, and seek for reUef
in reUgion.We cannot avoid thinking that less severity, and
less awful pictures of human life, might have the
effect of drawing many over to a Christian life at
the outset ; and when these raight be exhibited
without any violation of scriptural truth, It is to be
regretted that so many should be withheld from
assuming the profession and being under the
necessity of performing the duties of a Christian.
An eloquent and observant historian, in ascribing
the effacement of all distinction between Norraan
and Saxon, and raaster and slave, in England, to
the noiseless operation of raorai causes produced by
religion, has hazarded the reraark that " It may
perhaps be doubted whether a purer religion might

THE GOLD COAST. 87
not have been found a less efficient agent." It
would, perhaps, havebeen nearer the truth to have
said, that the national raind of England, at the
time referred to, was not in a condition to adopt'a
purer forra of reUgion ; for religion, in its purity,
wiU always produce proportionate effects upon
society. Christianity is undoubtedly suited to man
in every stage ofhis advancement ; but its practical
effects upon the life wUl not be exhibited in the
utmost purity where moral degradation has long
existed, except among a few rare individuals,
whose hearts have been softened by a Divine
influence. With the bulk of a people Uving In
" the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life," without a course of prerious
training, the wrench Is too sudden from all their
traditionary and iraraemorial custoras, and from
aU their darUng rices and instinctive habits of
life, to the pure raorality of the Gospel.
Our Sariour's answer to a question put by the
Pharisees, would seera to indicate that the heart of
man required this previous preparation : " Moses,
because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered
you to put away your wives;" and the whole of
the Mosaic dispensation, as well as the very
gradual and progressive advancement of Christian
principles, into what are now the countries of
Europe most distinguished for pure Christianity,

88 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
clearly demonstrate that a long course of years
is necessary to mould the mind of a nation for
its reception. During these years, there wUl be
much error and misconception in the minds of
men, there wiU be raany bright examples of
Christian rectitude, and still raore raournfiil in
stances of human fraUty and inconsistency ; but
truth -wiU finally be written upon the hearts of
aU, as with a sunbeam, and to mankind raised by
its force to the highest degree of moral elevation,
strength wUl be accorded to act consistently with
its dictates.
Entertaining the opinions vvhich we have here
expressed, we do not think such a rigid system
of discipline as the Wesleyans practise, altogether
best adapted to ensure great results. We by no
means advocate the adraission of immoral cha
racters to the full benefits of Christian communion;
nor do we blame the missionaries for striving,
with a watchful jealousy, to keep their flocks un
tainted from the vices prevalent In society, and
for weeding thera as they see occasion ; but it
is necessary that sorae means should be adopted
to prevent the youths, who are daily coming out
from their schools, from giving themselves up
to an atheistical vagabondism, neither deterred
from vicious courses by the superstitious fears —
which are still a check upon their pagan coun-

THE GOLD COAST. 89
trymen — nor incited to higher moral attainments
by sorae link connecting them with a Christian
community. It were weU also, that there were
some Christian refuge provided for erring members,
where they might hide the shame attached to
their expulsion, without losing sight of the duties
of religion altogether. If the rules of this Church
wUl not aUow it to make some provision of this
description, another shepherd is necessary to
gather these stray sheep into a Christian fold,
where adraission to the sympathy of erring sinners
like themselves, and to the benevolent ministra
tions of a Christian teacher, might lead them back
from error without suffering the deep humiUation,
often too painful for a sensitive mind, of re-ap
pearing at worship in a church where they had
lost caste and reputation.
Few of the Christians of England of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries would stand, we
fear, the test of admission to church membership
with the Wesleyans of the present day ; and yet it
is to the men of those times, and to the influence
of religion upon their hearts, that the historian
has ascribed such a mighty moral and social
revolution. May we not then confidently look
for simUar results from like causes in this country ?
and ought not this consideration to make us
cnrpfiil nnt tn drive back to Daeanlsm and infi-

90 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
deUty, men in whose hearts the seeds of religion
have been once sown, although they may be
choked for a time, as much by the cares and
pleasures of the world, as by the barren unfruit-
fulness of the soU ?
Having now adverted to the obstacles which
opposed the introduction of Christianity, to some
of the raost unproraising features which marked
its progress, and to what we may have erroneously
conceived to be the defects of the system pursued,
we wUl proceed to direct attention to results of a
more cheering character. It has been observed
above, that many of the most intelligent Christians
who first^joined the society were now living without
its pale. This remark we would be understood
to refer to such as had withdrawn from the
missionary employment, seduced by the greater
temporal benefits which trade held out to them.
There stiU remain, however, in its ranks and em
ployment, a few who have acted with Christian
consistency throughout, who, owing to the care
taken to quaUfy them for rendering efficient
assistance In extending a knowledge of the Gospel,
have arrived at higher theological attainments than
any of those who have made shipwreck of their
faith. WhUe trade held out to the latter prospects of
greater emolument than they found it possible to

THE GOLD COAST. 91
resist, the former chose the better part, and, wisely
contenting themselves with such salaries as their
services to the society should appear to merit, have
risen, step by step, to a high degree of useftJness,
and to an honourable place of moderate compe
tence. These men owe their education almost
entirely to the society. Adopted by it soon after
the arrival of the first missionaries in the country,
and set apart for its service, the greater part of
them were educated at an institution formed at
Accra, chiefly with the view of preparing them for
the ministry. Sorae of those students have made
an Ul-requital for the care and money expended
upon them. Unable to withstand the trading
mania, they ungratefiiUy turned their backs upon
their benefactors soon after the corapletion of their
education. But some reraained faithful, and are
now, as assistant preachers, actively engaged in
propagating the Gospel, giving fair proraise, highly
gratifying to the lover pf his species, that Western
Africa vriU, at no distant period, supply a native
band of soldiers of the Cross, qualified, in every
respect, to carry its consecrated standard into the
most distant and darkest abodes of heathen
idolatry. When we spoke of the offices of the society being
now fiUed by an inferior class, we had no reference
to this promising band, but to the class-leaders

92 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
and exhorters, who, for the most part, are unedu
cated raen, and between whora and the assistant
preachers there is a wide gulf in point of acquire
raents. These men, converted to Christianity
after having arrived at raanhood, and after a youth
passed in idolatrous observances, barbarous cus
toms, and iramoral habits, had trials of no ordinary
severity to encounter. The husbands, perhaps, of
several wives, enjoying among their countrymen
offices of distinction in their rude custoras, as cap
tains of corapanies, attached by long habit to
a certain course of life, they had to cleave to one
vrife, to resign positions hitherto the objects of a
fond arabition, to give up cherished practices, and
to bear the jeering taunts, soraetiraes the enraged
threats, of former companions. The moral courage
capable of such sacrifices could only be derived
from a deep conviction of the unsatisfactory nature
of their pagan rites and custoras, and an unshaken
faitK in the promises of the Gospel ; and to brave
successfully this desperate stmggle, a constancy
and firmness was required, which gave to their
character soraething of the rigid austerity of the
Scotch Covenanters.
It is gratifying to find the naraes of most of
those men inscribed upon the class-lists for many
years, and to know that they are stiU raaintaining
a consistent life. If they be inferior in point of

THE GOLD COAST. 93
knowledge to the others, they equal, if they do not
surpass thera in zeal. This zeal raay possibly
sometimes overshoot the raark, and run into wild
and extravagant fanaticisra ; but there can be
little doubt that it has its root in a sincere. If
somewhat raistaken idea of the duty incurabent
upon a Christian. It has always appeared to us,
however, araong raen of this class who have been
weaned from idolatrous practices, and who are
without education, that their ideas of worship re
gard the regularity and formality of the act, as
constituting a raost essential part of their devotion,
fuUy as necessary as the frarae of raind which
should characterise it. Long accustomed to con
sider religion as raade up of superstitions and cere
raonious observances, they have not their rainds as
yet altogether emancipated from the idea that
attention to the external form of worship is of
itself a chief constituent part of the Christian's
duty, superseding in some instances the necessity
of a strict adherence to more essential moral duties
which, from early prejudice and the prevailing rices
of the coramunity around them, they have been ac
custoraed to regard in a venial Ught. It is no
uncommon thing to find Europeans living in a
course of habitual iramorality, who would scorn
the imputation that they were not Christians, ex-
clalmlns; against these raen, and denying their

94 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
claim to this character, because the fraUty of our
nature soraetiraes leads them into the coraraission
of sin, seemingly forgetting that if they themselves
were judged by the sarae standard, their own claims
would be discovered to be rauch more deficient. It
is better surely that the soldier should remain true
to his flag, notwithstanding the occasional loss of a
standard, which a raoment of inadvertence or the
overwhelraing force of the enemy -has occasioned,
than that he should basely throw it away, and seek
an inglorious security where the din of battle wiU
never reach him more. In like manner, that
Christian chooses the nobler part, who, trae to his
warfare, and with a firm reliance on God, rises
superior to every faU, than he who weakly shrinks
from the struggle, and, alarmed at the sacrifices
which he raust raake, lives in the neglect of every
Christian ordinance. With aU the imperfections,
then, natural to men under the influence of such
a moral and spiritual revolution, we can see no
reason to withhold from thera the merit of acting
sincerely according to the conrictions, however
faulty sorae of their impressions may be, and
notwithstanding that they raay not be exempt
from the fraUties " that flesh is heir to."

THE GOLD COAST. 95

CHAPTER V.
Improved position of women — Effect of Christian marriages
— Difficulties attending the elevation of woman — Sym
pathy with missionary labour — Hostility of the Fetish
priests — Formation of small Christian bodies— Advan
tages arising from intercourse with the missionaries in
their joumeys through the country — The first missionaries
— Their indiscreet zeal, and its effects — Politic conduct
of Mr. Freeman — Establishment of a good understand
ing with the chiefs — The progress made by the natives.
Not the least gratifying result of missionary
labour is the Increased consideration which it has
obtained for woraan. Nothing could be lower
than the state of depression to which purely native
Ideas and customs had consigned her, and so
Improbable appeared any ameUoration of her lot,
that the feraale mind, faraUiarised to the destiny of
an unworthy bondage, assumed contentraent with
a position which was believed to be her natural
heritage. But another spirit was evoked at the

96 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
sound of the Gospel. No longer constrained to
submit to what had hitherto been considered as an
inevitable necessity, many of them rebeUed against
the tyranny to which they had been subjected.
They flocked to the chapels to learn the astoundmg
fact, that it was contrary to the law of God for
man to have more than one wife. They returned
to then- homes, and brooding over this consolatory
commandment, were astonished to find themselves
regarding with an excess of jealousy which they
had never before experienced their co-partners
in their husbands' affections. Curtain lectures
became the order of the day ; bickerings were
heard in estabUshments which had been mled with
the quiet despotism of the Grand Turk ; refusals
to cohabit with husbands, except upon condition of
a general repudiation of his other wives, were of
common occurrence ; and such a general fermenta
tion was stirred up in the depths of society, that
husbands yielding to the requirements of a
Christian life, began to cleave to one wife ; and
wives, partly Impatient of a dirided affection, and
partly influenced by a vague idea of Christian duty,
in like raanner insisted upon a divorce from their
pagan polygamist husbands.
We should be too credulous to beUeve that these
separations were Invariably the result of a convic
tion of thc sinfulness of polygamy, or of a sincere

THE GOLD COAST 97
desire to reform the life. A pretended zeal for
religion was, no doubt, in some instances, only a
convenient cloak to enable them to get rid of an
incumbrance which had become disagreeable;
but the faithfiilness with which many have fulfiUed
their marriage engagements, adraits no doubt of
the conscientious nature of their raotives. This
fideUty has been rauch more conspicuous on the
part of the wife than the husband, but this fact
does not, by any means, iraply on her part a
higher sense of Christian obUgation. The mis
conceptions which we have noticed as natural to
the male Christians, with regard to some views
of Christian duty, apply with stUl greater force to
the feraale, who from the debasing influences of
the injurious position assigned to them, had sunk
to a lower degree of moral and intellectual degra
dation. Where a husband is seen faithful to his
vows, there can be little doubt of the sincerity of
the principle which actuates him ; but so raany
motives concur in imposing this obUgation upon
the wife, that there can be no want of charity in
beliering that they have a powerful influence upon
her conduct. By her marriage, her position in
society has been greatly elevated. She is entitled
to the undirided addresses of her husband. He
provides more careftiUy for the wants of his famUy ;

98 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
he Is a better father to his chUdren, feeds, clothes,
and educates them in a respect-able manner, and
contrary to the native law affecting heathens,
leaves them entitled to his property.
With advantages of this description, the institu
tion of Christian raarriage became very popular
with the sex, apart from religious considerations;
and their remarkable fidelity compared with the
easy virtue of the polygaraist's wife, whether arising
from Christian principle or from worldly motives,
sufficiently proves their consciousness of their ad
vantages, and their determination to maintain them.
The number of these marriages was very consider
able, some of them between parties who had been
living together as man and wife before the intro
duction of Christianity, some among the raembers
of the society, who had been cohabiting with seve
ral women before their conversion, and who had to
repudiate these previous to marriage, and a few
among the young raen and girls, who had both
been educated at the Missionary schools. Of aU
these classes, the latter is that which holds out the
best prospect of happiness, and which approaches
nearest to our European Ideas of raarriage. In
both of the forraer there were mixed up some roots
of bitterness. There were children, perhaps, of
different mothers, who became to the Christian

THE GOLD COAST. 99
wife objects of jealousy. There was the knowledge
of a former attachment, the embers of which
were sometimes supposed to sluraber in the
heart, ready to burst forth into a new flame.
There was the fuU consciousness of the loose prin
ciples of a large proportion of the female comrau
nity. There was no want of opportunity for, nor
allurements to, unfaithful conduct ; and there was
with all this, perhaps, a want of confidence In the
husband's powers of resistance and self-denial.
Where such feelings existed, the shadow of a
circumstance capable of suspicion, was sufficient to
cause a scene of doraestic dissension. The new
ness of the position of the married wives, so
lately raised frora degradation, blinded them to the
knowledge of their duties, and Induced them to
exact, as an inalienable and compulsory right,
what, if they had known human nature better,
they might have made the spontaneous result of
dutiful affection. This termagant conduct to
men, who had hitherto been accustomed to have
their own way in their domestic arrangements,
was difficult to brook, and led, we are persuaded,
in many instances, to the sin which it was
intended to repress. From this and other causes,
incident to the state of society, many of these
marriages were not always ' so happy as could

100 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
be wished ; but after making large deductions for
backslidings and short-comings, a great proportion
is still distinguished for consistent fideUty, and a
proper attention to the duties devolving upon them
as husbands and fathers. With these and the
young couples who have lately been united to the
objects of their first affections, raarriage is exhi
bited in its right character. Here Christianity and
the doraestic affections mutuaUy act and react upon
each other. Christianity first forraed the link,
and domestic feUcity, grateful for the boon, finds
its raost endearing enjoyments, its very existence
even, dependent upon cherishing the sacred flame.
The natural result of these Christian mar
riages has been to give an unity of interest to the
husband and wife, which has scarcely any place
in the domestic arrangements of the heathen.
There the wives rarely reside in the same house
with the husband, but come in their turn, or as
his whimsical fancy may direct, to proride his
food, or to rainister to his desires ; attending him,
rather with the obedient serriUty of the slave, than
with the affectionate assiduity of a vrife. Too
much of this lordly superiority stUl characterizes
the conduct of many of the Christian husbands;
but it is fast disappearing, and where it exists, it
is as much to be attributed to the abjectness of

THE GOLD COAST. 101
the female mind, the consequence of early habit
and education, as to the domineering conduct of
the husband. She, happy in the possession of a
husband, who is bound by his marriage vows to
remain faithful to her, cares not how she slaves,
if she can preserve his affection. She cannot
read, and has no mental resources to occupy her
attention. Her happiness is bound up in the
contentedness of her husband, and the welfare of
her children. To secure these, she is satisfied to
drudge as for a master, without pretending to the
rank of an equal. It is not in the nature of man
to practise so much self-denial, as to refuse the
acceptance of a superiority, so voluntarily accorded ;
and what the woman yields, from a sense of the
duty incumbent upon her position, the raan
coraes to regard as his natural right, and
only a fitting tribute due to his superiority. The
tie of a young faraUy springing up around them,
however, and centering their affections upon
objects of a common interest, is fast breaking
down the barriers between husband and wife,
which ages of oppressive severity have rendered
natural and instinctive.
It foUows, as a necessary consequence frora this
improveraent of the doraestic econoray of the
African, that the condition of the offspring

102 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
of Christian marriages is widely different from
others. The Uttle community of interest
caUed into existence by marriage contracts
among the heathen, left the destiny of the
chUdren to the fortuitous buffetlngs of chance.
Owing to the peculiarities of the social system,
which give to the indiridual, as has been stated in
a former chapter, a property value in the estima
tion of his family, and which attaches to the
maternal side, the father had very frequently
nothing to do with his offspring. He did not
even regard them as part of his family, in the
African sense of the term.
But it is not thus with a Christian famUy.
The vows of baptism irapose upon the parents the
duty of training up their children in a Christian
manner. They are sent to school at an early age.
There is a praiseworthy ambition to see them
respectably dressed, and fond anticipations are
cherished of their becoming useful members of
society, in positions to enable them to smoothe the
piUow of their own declining age. This instruc
tion is not confined to boys alone. Female
schools are in active operation, where numbers of
this long-neglected class have been, and are con
tinuing to be, brought up in a knowledge of the
the Christian religion, and an acquaintance with

THE GOLD COAST. 103
every branch of a plain and useful female educa
tion. In the moral elevation of woman, the philan
thropist acknowledges the raost efficient human
engine for the general elevation of a people, and in
her debased and abandoned condition, the Christian
raissionary discovers the raost insuperable obstacle
to the success of his labours. Nowhere has there
been greater necessity for the presence of this
agent than in Africa ; but the same causes which
have produced this necessity, have also occasioned
the great difficulty of calling it efficiently into
operation. From these causes— namely, the long
ages of debasement which gave to the character
an instinctive tendency to vicious courses — the
peculiarities in the social condition of the people
which made the marriage of a daughter a
marketable contract, tantamount to rendering
female virtue an object of sale, the very lax ideas
prevalent in society upon this subject, daUy asso
ciation with friends and relations living in iraraoral
practices, and raaking them the subject of ordinary
conversation, seemingly unconscious of their vUe-
ness, the encouragement given to seduction by
Europeans, and the fierce impetuosity of passion
natural to the chUdren of a tropical sun ; from
all these, and the numerous modifications of cir-

104 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
cumstances arising out of them, the missionary
found it, at first, a difficulty amounting almost to
an impossibUity to pilot these frail vessels, beset
with so many dangers, into the safe haven of matri
raony, without making shipwreck of their virtue.
It is just, however, to acknowledge that this
ruin has been as much the result of compulsory
measures of bargain-making relations, as of the
voluntary act of Indiriduals. This subject is also
a fruitful source of sneering aniraadversion to
raany who wiU not see anything good in mission
ary labour; but with the antagonistic influences
which we have enumerated, what else have we a
right to expect as a general result? Analogous
laws govern the moral and physical world. Can
a number of persons in health enter a city infected
with the plague, mingle vrith its diseased inhabi
tants, eat, and drink, and sleep with them, and yet
remain untainted by infection, notwithstanding
that there may be in their own systems no predis
posing causes ? would we be surprized if we were
told that the majority were attacked with the
malady? and shall we be astonished that those
who are exposed to the taint of a moral plague
equally rirulent in its nature, have not been able to
escape its pollution ?
To the attentive and candid inquirer after truth.

THE GOLD COAST. 105
who duly weighs the influence of the counter
acting causes which we have enumerated, it wiU be
matter of satisfaction to learn that there are,
nevertheless, a few exemplary instances of rirtuous
Integrity, whose escape from the snares with which
they were beset, and whose elevation to the dignity
of Christian matrons, are beginning to give a far
different tone to female moraUty. It has been
shown, that, however great the dangers and terapta
tions raay be to which the young African Is
subjected, they are yet to be withstood by the
Influence of Christian principles, and by the
judicious supervision of Christian instructors. The
bridge over the yawning gulf has been crossed.
The pItfaUs upon it, numerous as those opened up
to the vision of Mirza, have been avoided, and
finger-posts have been erected by Faith and Love,
to guide future traveUers by the same road
past those treacherous snares. SiraUar difficulties
are never Ukely to operate again with the same
force, for, in addition to the superior moral tone
which Christian marriages have Introduced, the
respect and consideration accorded to educated
married people, and the position of easy competence
which they never faU to attain in society, hold out
inducements which, apart from reUgious considera
tions, must exercise a powerful restraint upon the
conduct.

106 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
But another cause of far greater weight is now
coming into operation. The majority of the
female scholars had at first been chUdren of
heathen parents, who had been reluctantly per
suaded by the missionaries to send them to school.
No supervision was exercised over thera out of
school-hours. On the contrary, they very possibly
were accustoraed to hear Christian instruction
revUed, and practices of an iraraoral tendency
encouraged, by those whom the ties of nature
bound them to respect. Now, however, many of the
children attending school are the offspring of
Christian parents. These, both by precept and
example, are bringing them ,up in new ideas, and
subjecting thera to those restraints which are
necessary to keep thera from acquiring bad habits
and tastes. With this additional restriction upon
the girls, there is every reason to expect more
satisfactory results in the tirae to corae, than those
which have attended our experience of the past.
Every fresh exaraple of Christian constancy on the
part of the educated female coramunity wIU act as
a powerfiU lever to raise others to the same eleva
tion, and the generaUy Improved tone of morahty
characterising the conduct of those who aspire to
European habits, wUl help to strengthen and
confirm those reUgious bonds, upon which our
main dependence must always rest.

THE GOLD COAST. 107
Such are a few of the most prominent results of
missionary labour. They are Umited, it is true,
comparatively, to a very smaU portion of the people.
The great masses stIU cling, although with a less
confident grasp, to their idolatrous practices, and
their mde and barbarous customs. But, even
among these, a great revolution of feeUng has
t-aken place. The sentiraents of jealous discontent
with which they had at first viewed the introduc
tion of the Gospel have died away, and have been
replaced by a quiet indifference on the part of the
great body of the people, a complacent satisfaction
with others, and a hesitating assent to its advan
tages with raany. The indications of an incipient
civUization, daUy becoming more apparent in
the general adoption of the dress and habits
of Europeans ; the temporal advantages which
education is enabling so raany to obtain ; the
possession of those advantages by raen who, by
their elevation, have acquired extensive influence
and have become the central points of attraction to
very numerous clans of friends and relations ; the
natural deference which ignorance pays to a higher
degree of intelUgence, and the knowledge of the
humane and benevolent spirit of Christianity, which
idea of its character, though imperfectly understood,
is extensively diffused through all classes, have not

108 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
only overcome aU tendency to a hostUe opposition,
but have prepared the natives for a more general
consideration of its claims for acceptance, unde
terred by fear of persecution. This amicable
feeUng is not confined within the narrow compass
of the principal towns along the sea-board, where
the Europeans reside ; but has penetrated into the
raost distant corners of the extensive territory
under British jurisdiction. The Fetish priests are
viewing the progress of this state of the public
mind with much uneasiness, and are exerting their
influence to counteract it, by urging upon the
chiefs the necessity of abiding by the customs of
their forefathers. They would wiUingly see the
Christians exterminated.
This wide-spread appreciation of the superiority
of European civUization, without an admixture of
that strong disinclination to keep it far from their
doors, which was so general in the comraencement,
is partly the result of the great advantages derived
from the administration of justice by the local
government, and the necessary concourse of the
chiefs and people of the interior to the towns upon
the coast, where they have such frequent opportuni
ties of observing the rapid advance which the natives
there are making in every useful art, and partly of
the numerous schools and mission stations estab-

THE GOLD COAST. 109
lished throughout the country. To these should
also be added the effect which trade has, not only
in drawing constant streams of people to the
coast, but of sending out into every nook of the
interior traffickers with their petty store of mer
chandize. Many of these are youths who have
been educated in the schools. Sorae of them are
in connection -with the missionary society. They
take up a position in the interior towns where they
often reside for months at a time. Their European
dress gives them respect In the eyes of the inha
bitants, who are eager to know frora them all that
they can tell of the white men, their customs,
habits, and religion.
During this intercourse, new ideas are imparted.
Important traths soraetiraes take root in their
minds, convictions of their own inferiority and
debasement begin to be entertained, and longing
desires for their Iraproveraent are frequently
awakened. But of aU these causes, the schools
and mission stations are decidedly the raost
efficient. The sword of justice has a double edge,
and cuts in both directions. To one it imparts
confidence, to another fear. While it restrains the
act, it does not always reach the thought of the
heart ; it represses crime, but Is powerless to instU
virtue ; and although the arts of peace and moral

1 1 0 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
advancement are beholden to it for protection, and
for scope for their fuU development, yet it teaches
no loora to spin, no spade to dig, nor does it enter
into the deep recesses of the human breast and
bring forth the fruits of righteousness. The
civUization ovring to the itinerant trader, also, is of
a very mixed and doubtful nature. He may be, and
frequently is, a worthless and immoral character,
and presents to the eyes of the people in the ulterior,
an example unworthy of his education. He may,
however, and does often speak of the duty required
of a Christian. He can teU of the virtues which
he does not practise, and which he has been taught
to consider as essential to every good man.
Precepts of this kind, unsupported by example,
have seldom much influence, but even from such
corrupt sources the knowledge of some tmths may
be learned, which raay give expansion to other
minds, and incite them to farther inquiry. With
raissionary exertion, however, there mixes no
injurious aUoy. It attacks the vices existing In
society ; but whUe it aims at destroying the roots
from which they spring, it is carefiil to sow new
seed. The explanation which the missionary raakes
of his object to the elders of a town, to induce them
to consent to the establishment of a school for the
education of the young, reveals such a benevolent

THE GOLD COAST. 1 1 1
spirit, and such an absence of aU selfish motives,
that however slow they raay be at first to profit by
it, a long course of laborious perseverance seldom
faUs in gaining them over. A teacher once estab
Ushed, a knowledge of the truths which he has
been instructed to communicate, gains its way
among the general body of the people.
Faith in the efficacy of their superstitious ob
servances and idolatrous worship is sapped In
the minds of a few. They have recourse to the
Christian teacher, and are instracted In his creed.
They attend his ministrations, and listen, often with
awe-struck attention, to his explanation of the
Scriptures. One by one, they feel a desire to
acknowledge the effect which this teaching is
having upon their minds; but shame and fears
arising from a variety of causes, beget a restless
indecision fuU of misery. CorapeUed by the
veheraence of the stmggle going on in their minds,
and unable longer to contend against the convic
tions which begin to dawn upon them, they
request to be admitted to a novitiate. In the
process of time a sraaU society is forraed. They
consent to submit to the discipline necessary for
merabership, and a watchful rigUance Is henceforth
kept upon their raanner of Ufe. The expulsion
from the coramunity of any one persisting in

112 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
iraraorality, reveals to the natives generally the
wide difference between the frailty of raan and the
purity of the Gospel.
The sinful practices of professing Christians
begat an idea that these were not inconsistent with
the Christian faith, and the beautiful precepts
which were represented as forming the moraUty of
the Christian, were considered only as soraething
fit to talk about, without any intention of carrying
them into practice. It was soon revealed, however,
that the weakness of man formed no ground for
irapugning Christianity. No breach of its morality
was allowed to pass without animadversion, and
the bare imagination of the acknowledged pos
sibUity of attaining such a mastery ovep the cor
ruptions of our nature, compelled the most bigoted
to admit that society could not but derive immense
advantages from its consistent practice.
This conviction limited any active spirit of
hostiUty, which stUl Ungered in the minds of
some men, to those Fetishmen, and the more
elderly of the natives, who were loath to see such
a dangerous Invasion of their dearly cherished
customs. The periodical visits which the mission
aries raake to these stations, and the constant
intercourse between them and the natives generaUy
in their frequent journeyings thi'oughout the

THE GOLD COAST. 113
country, have the effect of confirming the impres
sions which have been raade, and of diffusing
widely a spirit of acquiescent toleration ; and thus
while the schools in those parts are laying the
foundations of a new faith, and of increased know
ledge in the education of the young, a variety of
causes is at work, habituating the rainds of aU to
the idea of the final triuraph of the reUgion of
the white raan.
As a proof of the estimation in which Euro
pean instraction is now beginning to be held,
and of the graduaUy relaxing hold, of idolatry,
it should be mentioned that it is not uncomraon
for the superintendent of missions to receive invi
tations and earnest petitions from distant chiefs
to estabUsh schools among their people, and to
be entreated by adult persons liring in viUages,
where no branch society exists to visit them, with
the view of admittuig thera for trial, and of
instructing thera in the duties of Christianity.
UntU we had paid particular attention to this
subject, and had seen to how great an extent
this leaven had been infused, it had been, we
must confess, always a matter of doubt with us
whether the systera of widely scattering the rais
sion stations through the country, were as efficient
a raeans of diffusing a knowledge of the Gospel,
as the concentrating the whole energies of the

114 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
society upon one point; thus forming a nucleus
which would expand itself in every, direction, as
soon as the work of conversion had acquired
sufficient consistence. But when we reflect how
difficult it is to bring the generality of rainds to
an agreement upon any point, either of faith or
practice, how obstinately new doctrines are op
posed, that only a sraaU portion in any coramunity
wiU declare themselves untU these doctrines have
become the creed of the raajority; when, more
over, it is seen that the gradual preparation of
the mind of a people has been in aU countries
and ages the necessary forerunner of an entire
revolution in religion, we are persuaded that the
seed in this country has not been scattered In
vain, but that these humble nurseries, where a
Christian blossom can scarcely yet be discovered
amid the wide waste of heathen barrenness, are
the seed-plots, insufficient as they raay appear,
by which an over-ruling Providence raeans to
raise this hitherto neglected wUderness into a
fruitfiil Eden.
It woiUd be unjust to close this subject, with
out adverting to the manner in which the mis
sionaries have been enabled to set on foot this
silent revolution, and to gain for it the acquiescence
of raen bigoted in no ordinary degree to their
traditionary usages. It has been observed that

THE GOLD COAST. 115
a very hostile spirit was exhibited on Its first
promulgation, to be attributed as much to an
indiscreet zeal on the part of the missionary, as to
the instinctive alarm of a people trembUng for
the subversion of a system, with an adherence to
which their prosperity was supposed to be inse
parably bound up. It is with no exaggeration
of this feeling that we have remarked, that, but
for the protection of the local government, the
work would not have been permitted to go on.
Even with such countenance and support as it
could extend, more than one forcible demonstration
has been raade to suppress It.
The first raissionaries, appaUed at the moral
waste which the degraded state of the African
population presented to their view, and believing
it impossible that any race of people, living in
such a state of spiritual destitution, would close
their ears against a knowledge of the truth, burned
with an interaperate enthusiasm approaching to
fanaticism to communicate the glad tidings of
salvation. In season and out of season, they
dinned into unwUling ears loud complaints of
their lost and raiserable condition. They attacked
their idolatrous practices, their social iraraorallties,
and their more innocent conventional usages, and
forbade their repetition with such a tone of authp-

116 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
rity as the possession only of a power to stUl
at once the raging sea or the stormy passions
of man could have warranted. With their own
experience of the efficacy of religion upon tbe
heart, and under the influence of a strong impulse
to impart to others their joy in beUeving, they
seemed credulously to think that the mere
announcement of such consolatory tmths would
at once secure their eager acceptance.
To the jealous comprehension of the African,
aniraadversions upon their customs, conveyed in
such loud and objurgatory language, assumed
the character of personal abuse; and their pride
took offence at what they were inclined to regard
as a wanton piece of Insult. A too rash inter
ference also vrith their domestic arrangements,
and vrith the fuU discretionary power which every
head of a family considered himself entitled to
exercise over aU its merabers, stUl farther aug
mented this spirit of opposition.
Owing to this over-zeal, which looked for a
harvest without tillage, and which did not make
due aUowance for the nature of the soil, much
exacerbation of feeling was the consequence. It
was not untU the manageraent feU into the hands
of Mr. Freeman, one who had himself served in
the ranks, that a better spirit was evoked. He had

THE GOLD COAST. 117
had opportunities of learning, from the experience
of his past labours, the necessity of not losing sight
of the tendencies of our nature ; and he did not
think it below the dignity of reUgion to consult
these in his attacks upon their prejudices. He
had seen that no dependence could be placed upon
the relinquishment of any custom or habit, where
the understanding remained unconrinced, and the
heart unchanged ; and to this iraportant work he
directed his best energies. Combining the wisdom
of the politician with the active zeal of the mis
sionary, and possessed of an elastic buoyancy of
temperaraent, the result of a firm confidence in
the ultiraate triumph of the Gospel, he warily
reduced the strongholds of superstition, one by
one, in the minds of those to whom he gained
access ; neither arousing hostUity by any Ul-timed
intemperance of assault, nor disconcerted by occa
sional and temporary failure.
By perseverance in this judicious course, and
by cultivating the friendship both of chiefs and
people, in his very frequent and extended journey
ings through the country, by a kind and courteous
affabUity fuU of Christian charity, he not only
removed aU feelings of resentment, but induced
them to yield to his guidance in many important
particulars. It was seen that a difference of

118 EIGHTEEN VEARS ON
opinion upon points of belief did not necessarily
form an insurmountable barrier to friendly inter
course, and the Christian missionary thus found
frequent opportunities of Inoculating the pagan
chief vrith new ideas. The natural result of such
an Intercourse, wiU always be the gradual con
cession of ignorant prejudices to superior intelli
gence. The chief who would have taken alarm
at a direct attack upon his unchristian practices,
and who would have held aloof with a jealous
suspicion from any one who authoritatively com
manded hira to abandon thera, could see no
danger In an araicable conversation, which was
nevertheless sapping their foundations. Much
credit is therefore due to Mr. Freeraan, who
has managed to secure an acquiescent assent for
the free dissemination of Christian truth, which
they feel to be underraining their power, and
to be depriving thera of their privUeges, which
are best maintained by the ignorance of a
people. It has often been a question, whether, with
the pecuniary means placed at the disposal of
the Gold Coast Mission, greater results might
not have been expected ; and the sums swaUowed
up by heavy traveUing expenses, have often been
represented as so much raoney needlessly thrown

THE GOLD COAST. 119
away. Christianity, it has been said, needs no
extraneous assistance for its diffusion, and should
scorn to huraour the prejudices of any people.
The Christian missionary, like the apostles of
old, should provide neither gold, nor sUver, nor
scrip for his journey. He should humbly wander
through the African hamlets, in the firm con
fidence that the workman wUl be considered
worthy of his hire. Much diversity of opinion
wiU always exist upon a subject of this nature;
but our experience leads us to express with con
fidence, that if this course had been pursued upon
the Gold Coast, Christianity as yet would have
numbered but few converts. It is doubtful even
if the missionary might not have been left to
die without any one seeking to provide for his
wants. In the Christian, as well as in the
pagan world, the surest way to gain friends is
not to need them. Nowhere is this truth more
evident than in Africa, for, unless an appearance
of respectability is maintained, nay, without some
Indication of the raeans of being liberal, the
European, lay or clerical, wiU only raeet with
indifference and neglect.
It has been observed above, that the eraploy
ment given by the missionaries was a principal
cause of their chapels being fiUed in the com-

120 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
mencement. But for the assistance of attrac
tions of this nature, many who are now
respectable Christians, would never have been
drawn within the reach of Christian teaching at
all. Whether, is it better that it should be so,
or that barefooted friars should be wandering
through the land, exposed to the scoff of the
heathen, and without the sympathy of a single
convert? Did the power and influence of the
Pope give no impetus to the establishment of
Christianity in England, apart from its inherent
power of disseminating itself? Did the support
of Elizabeth's government give no extension to
the tenets of the Reformed Church? Teaching
is not confined either to the school-room or the
pulpit. The active mind of man drawsits stores
of inforraation from innumerable sources, and is
influenced in its adoption of new ideas from in
numerable causes. From the cradle to the grave
this instruction is in continual progress.
More good may be effected by the journey of
a missionary traveUing through the interior hara
lets, in a manner calculated to secure the respect
of the people, by his friendly and famiUar inter
course with them, by his example of pure mo
rality, of strict teraperance, of Christian charity,
as weU as by the exhibition of the superior

THE GOLD COAST. 121
comforts which ciriUzation has placed within
his reach, than by the preaching of a thousand
homUies. The raore frequent the repetition of
such -risits, the deeper and more lasting will be
the impression. Hence the reraoval of so many
prejudices in this country, and hence also the
gradual preparation of the minds of men for a
hew state of things. With such unquestionable
proofs of the beneficial results arising from the
system which has been adopted, it is impossible
to regret that another, less calculated to secure
respect for the raissionary, and for attracting
the natives to his teaching, has not been had
recourse to.
Our reraarks upon this very iraportant move
ment now draw to a close. It has been our
endeavour to give a faithful representation of
what has been passing before our eyes for the
last eighteen years, in a spirit of candour and
charity. Some of the observations made may
appear somewhat deficient in the latter quality ;
but the prospect of such an imputation has not
been able to deter us from giving what we con
scientiously believe to be a true picture of mis
sionary labour, and its result upon the Gold
Coast. Where there is such an admixture of
the elements of progress and civUization with

122 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
mde and barbarous usages, and where society
presents every variety of shade, from the dark
and besotted idolater, into whose mind one single
ray of knowledge has scarcely penetrated, to the
enlightened Christian, already advanced to a
moderate standing in the scale of civUized beings,
it is difficult in a narrative of this description
to avoid the appearance of seeming contradictions
and inconsistencies.
The gratifying indications of progress which
have to be recounted, and which assume, perhaps,
in the eyes of the observer, an exaggerated esti
mation from contrast with the prevaiUng ignorance,
by which they are surrounded, have a tendency,
at one moment, to lead us to believe the condition
of the people to be generaUy much more advanced
than we find it ; whUe, on the other hand, the
descriptions which it is necessary to give of the deep
raorai degradation, and the barbarous and idola
trous practices of the masses, are apt to blind us
to the degree of progress which has actually been
made. Only one who has been a witness of this
progress can duly estimate its impprtance. A
passing stranger, who obtains only a casual gUmpse
of society, and sees merely its surface, would not
hesitate to pronounce it altogether barbarous.
It is, therefore, necessary to caution the reader,

THE GOLD COAST. 123
who would wish to carry along with him a just
impression of the progress made on the Gold
Coast in aU its features, not to be so enamoured of
its beauties as to overlook the multitude of its
defects, nor to fix his attention so exclusively upon
Its bleraishes as to shut his eyes to its merits. He
wUl not err much in comparing it to those land
scapes, where the hand of art loves to Introduce,
araidst the wUds of nature, sorae traces of its own
fancifiil creation, and where may be seen in emu
lous contrast, the vrild luxuriance and the stubborn
ruggedness of the indigenous plant, and the fair
though tender blossoras of the exotic. And when
he reraerabers how raany a wUderness has, by
patient cultivation, been converted into fhiltful
corn-fields and smiling vineyards, for the supply
of the wants, and as a solace for the cares of
raan, he wUl not do wrong in cherishing hopefiU
anticipations of the tirae when the natives of the
Gold Coast wUl, by a long process of raental
culture, be fully quaUfied to take their stand among
the civilized nations of the world.

124 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON

CHAPTER VI.
Vague ideas respecting God — Mode of worship — The
priests — Evil spirits — Offerings made to them — The
immortality of the soul — Worship of the spirits of de
ceased friends — Slaves killed to attend their master to
the next world — Corrupting tendency of idolatry —
Prophetic pretensions of the Fetishmen — Tricks and
impostures— Children dedicated to the Fetish office from
birth — The Great Braffo Fetish — Independent conduct
of the Fetishmen — Priestesses — Their infamous conduct
— The influence of Fetish upon the African — ^Decline of
the Fetish faith — Its utility as an engine of civil govem
ment. Having, in the foregoing part of this work,
traced the origin and progress of the connection
which has subsisted between the nations of Eu
rope, and the natives of the Gold Coast for a
period extending over more than three centuries
and a half, and having also placed before the
reader a general and cursory riew of the existing
social condition of the people, with some account

THE GOLD COAST. 125
of its gradual formation and growth, we shaU now
direct his attention to their ideas of religion, and
sorae of their superstitious observances, as weU as
to a more particular account of their domestic
economy, without a description of which, the pic
ture would be incomplete. Those subjects, espe
ciaUy the reUgious practices of the people, may
appear to have been of sufficient consequence to
entitle them to be incorporated with the account
which has been given ; but we were unwilling to
intermpt the Consecutive representation of events
by any episodical digression not absolutely required
for the perfect comprehension of the narrative,
and although we have been obUged to advert occa
sionally to their Fetish, the expression hitherto has
been used more as a general term for a supersti
tious worship, than as indicating any particular
observance requiring explanation.
We shaU now, however, attempt to describe the
nature of this superstition, which exercises such
an iUimitable influence over the minds of the
masses of the population. An analysis of this
description is beset vrith no ordinary difficulties.
We derive little assistance in our investigations
from the ideas of the idolaters themselves, which
are extremely vague and indefinite, and we are still
farther puzzled to discriminate between such im-

126 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
pressions, as may be the result of an effort of their
own reason, or the consequence of their fears, and
such as without the knowledge of the existing
generation may have been derived from a more
enlightened people, and handed down to them as a
portion of the creed of their forefathers. There is
great roora to believe that the idea of one great
first cause, the Creator of aU things, has prevaUed
araong them from time iraraemorial; for the Fantee
words Yankompon derived frora " Yankom, "
Friend, and " epon," great, and Yaramie from
" Yeeh" make, and " eme" or " mi " me, by which
they designate God, would seem to indicate that
the idea of a benevolent Creator was co-eval with
the language ; but there can also be little doubt
that indefinite as this idea even now is, in their
minds, it must have received its confirmation from
an intercourse of more than three hundred and
fifty years with Europeans, whose acknowledgment
of one God must soon have become universaUy
known. Even before their intercourse with Euro
peans, it is possible that this great trath might
have been disseminated by the Mohammedan
population of the interior. Be this as it may, the
natives of the Gold Coast generally acknowledge
the existence of a Supreme Being, who made and
governs the world, but they cannot be said to

THE GOLD COAST. 127
worship him.* They sometimes invoke his name,
and caU upon him to bless those whom they love,
and much more frequently to curse those whom
they hate, but in either case their invocation amounts
simply to an ejaculation, and is not attended by any
formal act of worship. '~-
When oppressed with afflictions and over
whelraed by any great calamity, for a release from
which they have sacrificed to their idols in vain,
we find them resigning themselves subralssively
to their fate, vrith the exclaraation that " they
are in God's hands, and he wUl do whatever
he thinks best." But they neither offer sacri
fices to hira, nor do they think of seeking by
supphcation to avert what (if their idols fail them)
they seera inclined to regard as their inevitable
destiny. To this extent, then, we raay regard thera
as predestinarians, acknowledging one Supreme
Governor of the world, who has appointed all
things according to his pleasure, and to whom
* The manner in which they regard God corresponds
exactly -with the account given of the Assyrians, whom
Shalmeneser transplanted into Samaria, and who, in con
sequence, became acquainted with the God of the Jews :
" They feared the Lord, and served their own gods. So
these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven
images." — 2 Kings xvii, 33, 41.

128 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
It were in vain for man to appeal with any hope of
changing his immutable decrees. They beUeve,
however, that this Supreme Being, in compassion
to the human race, has bestowed upon a variety of
objects, animate and inanimate, the attributes of
Deity, and that he directs every individual man in
his choice of his object of worship. This choice
once made, the object becomes the " Souman," or
idol of the individual. It may be a block, a stone,
a tree, a river, a lake, a raountain, a snake, an
aUigator, a bundle of rags, or whatever the extra
vagant iraagination of the idolater may pitch upon.
From the moment that he has made his choice, he
has recourse to this god of his in all his troubles.
He makes oblations to it of rum and palm wine ;
he lays offerings before it of oil and corn; he
sacrifices to it fowls and goats and sheep, and
smears it with their blood ; and, as he performs
these rites, he prays it to be propitious to him, and
to grant him the accomplishment of his petition.
These rites and supplications are directed exclu
sively to his Idol, without any ulterior reference in
his mind to the Supreme Being. During thek
performance, the idolater is sometiraes wrought
up to a high pitch of excitement, and under the
influence of this frenzy, deludes himself vrith the
idea that his idol has mysteriously communicated

THE GOLD COAST. 129
vrith him, and granted him an answer to his prayer.
He is thus directed, by an extraordinary self-delu
sion, to the adoption of some ceremonious rite,
from the performance of which he expects to
obtain the object of his wishes. Nothing can
exceed the absurdity of these rites. They bear no
reference whatever to the subject of petition as a
means to an end. To restore to health a sick
child, to shield from danger a friend engaged in
some perilous enterprize, or to draw down destruc
tion and death upon an eneray, the idolater may,
perhaps, surround his house with a string of withes,
hang up some filthy rags to the branches of a tree,
or naU a fowl to the ground by means of a stake
driven through its body. Whatever wild and ex
travagant fancy may take possession ofhis dark and
superstitious raind, he believes it to be an inspiration
of his senseless block, and to carry it into execu
tion, iraraediately becomes the subject of a strong
religious obligation. Traces of this blind super
stition are to be seen on every path, and about the
house of every idolater. From the Souman, or
idol of individuals, we come to the Boossum of a
famUy or town, which frequently has no material
representation. This word literaUy expresses
" take to serve," but it does not so much represent
the god of an indiridual as a family god, or, more
G 3

1 30 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
universally stiU, the god of a people. Every
family has some god of this description coraraon to
aU, and every town has one or raore also acknow
ledged by the general body of the people, but a
priest or sofoo waits upon this Boossura, and
rainisters at his altars. As long as men are pros
perous, and no extraordinary event occurs to disturb
the even tenor of their lives, they are content each
to worship his individual Souman ; but when cala
mities overtake them, they distrust the power of
their idol to succour them, and their own capacity
to interpret aright his inspirations. Under these
circumstances, they repair to the sofoo to obtain
consolation and relief, from his superior insight
into the mysteries by which they are surrounded.
An offering is given to him to lay before his god.
He explains the nature of the service required, and
after a number of absurd ceremonies, arouses his
deity to attention, and receives from him an inti
mation of the observances necessary to obtain his
object. These he communicates to the supplicant
for priestly comfort, who listens with reverential
awe to the injunctions prescribed, and proceeds to
carry them into effect with a blind credulity.
In Uke manner, when the calaraity is general,
such as a drought, a dearth, a pestilence, or want
of success in war, the whole population or their

THE GOLD COAST. 131
representatives, with their chiefs and head men,
repair to the chief Boossum to make their offerings
and sacrifice, and to seek, through the intercession
of the priests, a mitigation and a release from
their sufferings. These priests, aware of the neces
sity of raaking a deep impression upon such mo
mentous occasions, surround the whole of their
proceedings with a fearful secrecy and mysterious
solemnity, calculated to awe the minds of the sup
plicants, and they deliver their oracles in such enig
matical language as may be capable of a double
interpretation. Like the weird sisters in Mac
beth " they palter in a double sense, and keep the
word of promise to the ear and break It to the trust."
If the observances, which the priests prescribe,
should be performed vrithout any satisfactory result,
it is by no means the fault of the Boossum. It Is
immediately attributed to inattention to sorae reli
gious duty, to the general irapiety, perhaps, of the
people, to the neglect of their sacred groves, their
Fetish houses, or a want of a proper respect for the
comfort of the priests themselves. Greater zeal is
urgently recommended, richer offerings are de
manded, and a renewal of ceremonious observances
prescribed; and when the calaraity, whatever it
raay have been, is overpast, the glory belongs to
the Boossum.

132 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
This idol worship confines the idolater to no
particular idol ; as he attributes his prosperity to
the protecting care of his Fetish, he wiU, as long
as his prosperity continues, remain steadfast to the
worship of that particular Fetish ; but when diffi
culties ariue, and he is beset with perplexities, he
wiU range at vrill, as fancy directs him, to a thou
sand different objects, and make them the gods of
his gross idolatry. The prosperous man is therefore
confined in his worship to fewer idols and observances
than the unfortunate. The former has faith In
the power of his idol, while the latter cannot rest
untU he has found a relief from his troubles ; and
hence the multiplication of his idols and of his
modes of worship.
Apart from his own Souman, the zealous
Idolater finds no want of idols in the groves set
apart for his worship, in the sea, the rivers, the
rocks, and the mountains which surround him.
The grander features of nature have a tendency to
excite in the Christian's mind emotions of devo
tional awe and veneration, and at once to raise his
thoughts from nature up to nature's God; the
mind of the idolater goes not beyond the objects
themselves, but their grandeur appals him : they
become to him gods, and he seeks to propitiate
their favour by an obsequious deportment and vain
oblations.

THE GOLD COAST. 133
There is one peculiar form, which the Fetish
worship of a famUy about to be separated takes,
which deserves to be recorded, as in it we have no
external representation of an idol. In view of a
separation which wiU most probably prevent them
from ever again worshipping the Boossum, to
which they have made their devotions hitherto,
they repair to the priest, or sofoo, and having
explained their wants, he pounds up some Souman
or Fetish substance, and mixes it with water into
a drink, which the whole family swaUow together.
WhUe partaking of this strange coraraunion, the
priest declares to thera that his Boossum com
mands that none of this family shaU ever after
partake of such and such an article of food,
naming, perhaps, fowl, mutton, beef, pork, eggs,
mUk, or anything which he raay choose to mention
at the time. The Fetish edict, once pronounced
against a particular article of food under such
circumstances, no one of the faraily ever tastes it
raore ; and thus we find one who wUl not taste a
bit of chicken, another an egg, a turkey, and so
on ; and this abstinence from a particular species
of food descends to the children, who are under
the necessity of obserring a simUar abstinence. In
this case, the parties are supposed to have swal
lowed their idol, and to have him existing In their

134 EIGHTEEN YEARS^ ON
own persons, and the abstinence prescribed, forms
a continued act of worship.
We do not find that the opinion of a devU, or
one great evU spirit, prevails among' thera. There
are raodes of expression in use which might lead
us to entertain this idea ; but it is found, on more
minute investigation, that these are only translated
forras of expression suited to raeet our European
notions, such as " the devU terapted rae," " to
drive the deril out of town," and so forth, for
which the literal Fantee terras express, " an eril
spirit terapted rae," " to drive all aboraination and
evU spirits away." But although they do not
acknowledge the existence of one superior devU,
they believe the world to abound with numbers of
eril spirits, who are continuaUy eraployed about
mischief. They deny that they worship these evU
spirits ; but if they do not worship thera in the
proper sense of the terra, they have frequently
recourse to offerings to bribe them to inaction, or
to take their departure.
Sudden iUness and diseases, which do not
speedily give way to their processes of cure, are
attributed to eril spirits, and most of the misfor
tunes which occur are also put down to the same
cause ; and offerings of different descriptions are
thrown out upon the paths, vrith the view of

THE GOLD COAST. 135
appeasing these spirits, not to their gods to induce
thera to take them away.
Neither do we find that they have any definite
ideas of the imraortality of the soul. They are
unanimous in thinking that there is In man a
spirit which surrives the body. This spirit is
supposed to remain near the spot, where the body
has been buried. They believe it to have a con
sciousness of what is going on upon earth, and to
have the power of exercising sorae influence over
their destiny. Hence they worship the spirits of
deceased friends and relations, and raake pilgrim
ages to their graves, to make oblations and sacri
fices to thera. But their ideas upon this subject
are as absurd and contradictory as upon every
other point relating to their spiritual concerns.
Unless in the case of the very vUest of malefactors,
they do not associate any idea of punishment in
another world with criraes coramitted in this ;
and the belief that their conduct here wiU have to
be accounted for hereafter, has no part in their
systera.* With regard to a great criminal, we
* Their vague ideas upon this subject may be gathered
from the remark of a criminal under sentence of death. He
had been tried by the assessor and a few of the native
chiefs. The remarks of the former at his trial led the
prisoner to regard him as favourable to his escape ; and he

136 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
sometimes hear the expression made use of " he
wUl die a second death in the other world ;" but
this sentiment seems to arise from an impression,
that the mere death of the body is not a sufficient
punishment for such great criraes, and that a
repetition of this, the heaviest calaraity which can
befal man, ought to be meted out to him, rather
than from any conriction that he has to give an
account in the world beyond the grave for the
crimes which he has committed here. In Uke
manner, they wUl teU us, that they have no belief
in the resurrection of the body ; and yet if they
are asked where they suppose they go to when
they die, they wiU say that they enter upon a new
life in many respects simUar to that which they
have led here. Acting upon this idea, they are in
the habit of burying with the dead a portion of his
valuables, in gold and handsome cloths, and placing
ready to his hand a flask of rum, his pipe, and
tobacco. Formerly, before the government had obtained
attributed his sentence principally to the native chiefs. On
the" morning of his execution he said : " I have no fault
to find with the white man ; he -wished to be merciful ; but
the chiefs are my enemies ; and if it he a country to which
I am going, I will take care to make them suffer for it,
when they come there."

THE GOLD COAST. 137
the authority which it now possesses, many of the
wives and slaves of the deceased were kiUed, that
they might wait upon hira in the country to which
he had gone. From preparations of this descrip
tion, we might be led to infer that they really
beUeved that the deceased had some use for the
supplies which they had given him for his journey ;
but this belief Is again glaringly contradicted by
the fact, that we find these provident caterers for
their deceased relation, soraetiraes disturbing his
bones to rake frora them the gold which had been
buried with him ; thus giving a very satisfactory
proof, that whoever else might have been deceived
into the beUef that gold passed current In the other
world, they at least were not the dupes of such a
vain idea.
In short, the whole systera is fuU of the raost
Inconsistent contradictions, and cannot stand the
test of even an ordinary scrutiny. Had we not
divine authority for the awful state of gross and
ignorant bUndness to which idolatry reduces man
In his search after happiness, and for the abomina
tions into which a dark superstition invariably
leads him, we should find it difficult to give credit
to the eridence of our eyes, for the reality of the
Impenetrable darkness of the raind, with regard to
idolatrous practices which we find existing. It

138 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
may be thought by many, that we have here made
the effect and the cause change places ; and that
we should have attributed their idolatry to their
spiritual darkness, and not the excess of this
darkness to idolatry.
But although ignorance is assuredly the mother
of superstition, yet there cannot reraain a doubt
in the raind of any one who has attentively watched
the effects of an idolatrous practice, that, upon
aU points connected vrith their worship, the clear
reason and sound comraon sense, which do not
faU raen In the ordinary affairs of life, are entirely
dethroned as soon as the idolater repairs to his
gods. It would appear, as if God by this obrious
phenoraenon intended to teach us a lesson of very
weighty import. We raay read in the perplexing
doubts, the slavish fears, the barbarous rites, the
cmel sacrifices, the besotted infatuations, and the
fflthy bestiality of the idolater's mind, the in
dignation of the Almighty against idolatry; and
perceive the fearfiil excesses into which man's
natural constitution wUl invariably lead him, when
he anchors his hopes on any other than the true
God. The highest degree of inteUectual attain
ment forras no safeguard against the operation of
this universal law. It is exhibited in characters
as unmistakable among the ancient Greeks and

THE GOLD COAST. 139
Romans, as among the iUiterate people whose
religious ideas we have been attempting to ex
plain ; and the same law is no less authoritatively
vindicated in the career of the Christian, who faUs
to keep alive his reUgious impressions, by an
abiding tmst and dependance upon God.
The account which has been given of the reli
gious ideas of the natives of the Gold Coast, com
prehends as nearly as can be discovered the funda
raental principles of their faith, if we may apply the
terra to a principle which involves the contradiction
of a facUity of beUef which no absurdity, how
gross soever it may be, can offend, and at the same
time a hesitating infideUty which doubts of every
thing. The articles of their creed which have
been laid down, are gathered raore from their
acts than from any process of reasoning, which
have guided the idolaters in the adoption of their
systera. At present we can discover nothing but a
crowd of ceremonial observances, which we be
lieve to be mechanicaUy performed without rauch
mental participation In the act, without the
thoughts of the idolater, in fact, extending
beyond the mere act itself. Such a system,
where the mind of the idolater alternates be
tween credulity and doiibt, and where of course

140 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
he is ready to yield, for a time, a blind assent to
every proposition which his spiritual adviser may
think fit to dictate, presents opportunities for deceit
and iraposture, of which the priests are not slow
to avail theraselves.
One of the chief characteristics of an ignorant
superstition, is a longing desire to reraove the
veU which conceals the future, and to anticipate
events which the Sovereign Ruler of the world
has, in great mercy to man, enveloped in darkness.
This imprudent curiosity leads the African to have
recourse to the Fetishman upon every occasion of
difficulty and doubt. The latter, finding so many
wUling dupes, readily accepts the character of a
prophet, with which the fears of the people impel
them to invest him. His pretensions rise In pro
portion to their guUibility, which stops short at no
cheat, however monstrous and preposterous it may
be. A short experience of apphcations of this
nature, and of the confiding credulity of the people,
would soon enable the crafty Fetishman to dis
cover the great influence which these circumstances,
in their condition skilfiiUy managed, placed within
his reach ; and hence, out of the priraary articles
of their creed, which we have mentioned, has been
formed such a system of cunning artifice and me
thodical iraposture, as almost effectuaUy conceals,

THE GOLD COAST. 141
under the multiplicity of its absurd observances, the
groundwork upon which they have been formed.
Without adverting to the many fabulous stories
of the origin of this Fetish religion, which are alto
gether unworthy of a place in a narrative of this
description, we wUl give a short account of the Fetish-
men's mode of proceeding, and indicate a few of
the tricks by which they contrive to irapose upon
the multitude. In order to obtain admission Into
the ranks of the Fetishmen, a course of previous
training is considered absolutely necessary. The
norice may be either one who voluntarUy makes
choice of this profession, or he may have been
from his birth, devoted to the service of the Fetish.
It is not an uncoramon practice for mothers, who
have been so unfortunate as to lose several children
by death, to make a vow to devote the next frait
of their worab to the Fetish, with the view of thus
purchasing the favour of her gods for her offspring.
The chUd born under such circurastances is set
apart for the Fetish service ; and very frequently,
on arrival at maturity, fulfils the maternal vow, by
becoming a Fetishman. But if his own inchna
tions should be opposed to this course, an offering
to the Fetish is considered sufficient to release him
from the consequences of this vow.*
* Leviticus xxvii.

142 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
From causes of this description considerable
numbers adopt the profession of Fetishmen. It is
also customary for a Fetishman to bring up his
grandchild to his own caUing. He passes over
his own chUdren, rightly judging that one of a
faraily at a time is sufficient for aU the purposes
of a fraudulent liveUhood ; and he concludes that
his grandchild will be ready to carry on the game
of deceit by the tirae that his own age will
preclude him from taking a very active part In
the Fetish ceremonies.
One of the chief qualifications in the norice
is great endurance in dancing, which forms a
prominent part of the serrice. It is from violent
dancing to the sound of drams that they look for
inspiration. They excite themselves by this exer
cise into a perfect frenzy, untU the Fetish takes
possession of them, when they lose aU accountar
bUity, and toss themselves about wUdly, trembling
aU over, and staggering like a drunken man. In
frightful convulsions, with eyes rolUng, mouth
foaraing, and every indication of total unconscious
ness of all around them, they perfectly confirm
the ignorant belief of their adrairing dupes that
they are no longer self-possessed, but are under
the influence of the Fetish, who leads thera whither
soever he wUl, untU nature can no longer endure

THE GOLD COAST. 143
this tension of her powers, and they sink in a
state of complete exhaustion on the ground. The
greater the strength of the indiridual the longer
he is able to bear up under his exertions, and the
more natural and involuntary he can make these
appear, so much the better is he adapted for the
Fetish serrice.
It is generaUy from qualifications of this de
scription that the aspirants to the higher grades
of the order of Fetishmen are chosen. After this,
they take lessons from some Fetishman in his
craft. He initiates them, however, by slow degrees,
taking care to observe well the natural disposition
of the norice, and to judge how far he may be
trusted with the sacred mysteries. If he unites
vrith the qualifications of a good Fetish dancer, a
tenacious meraory, a prudent discretion, and In
violable secrecy, he may expect to rise to the
highest point of Fetish knowledge ; but if he be
very deficient in either of these qualifications, but
more especiaUy the latter, he wiU never be aUowed
to advance in priestcraft. The gross deceits which
they are in the constant habit of practising, renders
this a wise and very necessary precaution. The
foundation of the Fetishman's power being the idle
fears and superstition of the people, everything
which has a tendency to foster those fears, and to

144 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
acquire for the priests a character for supernatural
knowledge is diligently employed. To this end,
they make it their particular study to obtain a
knowledge of the history of every famUy in their
district for several generations. The names of
their ancestors, with any remarkable event, are
carefully preserved in the memories of the Fetish
men, and handed down as a valuable legacy to
their successors. By these means, a knowledge of
many circumstances concerning individual families
is kept alive among the priests, which are un
known to the families theraselves, or only vaguely
remembered as a very ancient tradition.
This training of the priest, as a necessary con
sequence, gives him a knowledge of the affairs
of his locality, which the curiosity of the African
to pry into futurity enables hira to turn to good
account ; for no sooner has misfortune overtaken
a person, than his relations have recourse to the
Fetishman to know its issue. Should an indi
vidual be sick, they in like manner desire to know
the reason. They seldom think of attributing any
serious iUness to natural causes, such as irregu
larity of liring and a neglect of the means of
preserving health ; they look for the true cause
in the displeasure of the Fetish, the maUce of evil
spirits, the incantation of some wizard, or the

THE GOLD COAST. 145
uneasiness of the spirit of some deceased relation,
whose obsequies perhaps have not been properly
performed. With these fears of a supernatural
agency lurking in their minds, the slightest indi
cation of any cause of this nature intimated by the
Fetishman, gains immediate belief, and they deliver
themselves up to his guidance vrith a blind reliance
in his perfect acquaintance with the cause of the
iUness, and in his power to grant relief
During the Interviews which they have with the
Fetishman upon the subject, the extraordinary ac
quaintance which he evinces of all their raost secret
family concerns, his allusion to past events, and to
the circurastances attending the death and funeral of
sorae ancestor, which they may discover to have
actuaUy taken place, invest him in their eyes with a
knowledge Uttle short of omniscient. This know
ledge, be it reraarked, he pretends to have learned
from his god, after a special consultation upon the
subject, attended by offerings and sacrifices, and a
great deal of idle rauraraery, which stUl fiirther im
poses upon his dupes. For the sarae purpose, they
study sleight of hand, conjuring, ventrUoquisra, and
have concealed accomplices to assist them in carrying
out their deceits. They generaUy perform their
rights in the recesses of some dark shady grove,
apart from the haunts of men, where the solemn

146 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
stillness which reigns around imparts a characto-
of sUent awe to these ceremonies.
However different the result may be from the
promises and prognostications of the Fetishman,
the faith of the idolater in Fetish generally does
not appear to be destroyed. The Fetishman
has little difficulty in persuading hira that the
fault is neither with the Fetish nor with himself,
but that the applicant, for sorae offence which he
has coramitted, is labouring under the displeasure
of the gods, who refuse to be appeased unless
renevyed and richer offerings are made ; or it may
be, that the cause assigned for the IU success of
the means applied, is the disquiet of an ancestor's
spirit, -who cannot rest, and wUl not cease troubUng
his living relations untU they have performed cer
tain Fetish ceremonies, and raade presents to the
Fetish. By such flagrant tricks and excuses, which
no extent of ignorance would seem blind enough
to accept, but which are nevertheless raost credu
lously assented to, the Fetishraen drive a thriving
business, and ruin and enslave thousands by the
extravagant and expensive offerings which they
demand in the name of the Fetish.
Another, and not the least legitimate source of
their influence, is the knowledge which they have
acquired of herbs, which has given them, in con-

THE GOLD COAST. 147
sequence, a considerable proficiency in the healing
art.* In case of sickness, the Fetishman is not
content merely with the sacrifices and other cere
monial observances which he enjoins, he makes
particular inquiry respecting the nature of the
disease ; and is able, from his medical experience,
to prescribe such medicines as very frequently
effect a cure. But while he impresses upon his
patients the necessity of attending to his directions
regarding the medicines which he gives, he is
nevertheless very particular in making them think
that it is to the Fetish ceremonies they wUl owe
their recovery.
They stUl farther manage to extend a high
opinion of themselves, and the power of their
Fetish, by mutual assistance; and the cunning
manner in which they play into each other's hands.
They have messengers continually passing from
one to another, giving information of what is
going on ; what parties are likely to corae to con
sult them, on what subject, and generaUy on every
* The natives of the Gold Coast have no despicable
knowledge of the qualities of herbs. A collection of these
was, at one time, sent home for analysis ; and it was found
generally that they possessed some qualities calculated to
be of use in alleviating the diseases for which the natives
applied them.

148 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
matter which is at aU likely to be of use to a
brother priest in managing the affair. One Fetish
man wiU acknowledge that his Fetish wUl not give
any information upon the specific subject ; but
coraraands the person applying to him to go to
another Fetishman, whom he names, and to whom
he has, in the meantirae, comraunicated all the
particulars of the affair.
When application is raade to this priest, the
applicant is astonished perhaps to find the Fetish-
raan perfectly conversant with the cause of his
visit, even before he has opened his mouth upon
the subject ; and notwithstanding such gross cases
of collusion, the stupid idolater can see nothing In
it but a confirmation of the extraordinary power of
the Fetish. In Uke manner, when a Fetishman
pays a visit to a town, where he does not ordinarily
reside, his first business is to find out the residence
of the Fetishman of the place, who soon makes
hira acquainted with the worldly and spiritual
condition of such of the people as are likely to
seek the ralnlstrations of the stranger ; for in cases
of obstinate resistance to Fetish influences, where
the nostruras of one Fetishman have faUed, it is
customary to have recourse to another. The crafty
rogues arrange their plans in concert, and proceed
systematicaUy to juggle their deluded dupes to ad
miration.

THE GOLD COAST. 149
But it would be an endless and a wearisome
task to foUow these cheats through all the various
schemes which they have set on foot to consolidate
and extend their power. They have only too effi
cient an aUy in the chUdish and ignorant fears of
their countrymen to render this a task of difficulty.
We do not find that there is any regular subordi
nation of rank among these priests, except in those
cases where more than one rainister at the altars of
the sarae Fetish, as araong the Braffo Fetishmen at
Mankassim, who are regarded as the Fathers of the
Fetish of the Fantee country. They have their
residence at Mankassim, forraerly the head-quarters
of the Fantee power, and are looked up to as the
most infaUible oracles of the country. No fewer
than five priests minister at the altars of this Great
Fetish. Their nurabers enable thera to bring into
operation a raore coraplicated and better arranged
machinery for carrying on their tricks, and their
acknowledged superiority over all other Fetishes,
and the consequent estimation in which they are
held by the general body of Fetishraen in the
country, give them advantages in obtaining infor
mation, which individual Fetishmen do not always
possess. They are seldom consulted in the first in
stance. It Is only when the matter is of moment,
or after other Fetishmen have faUed to give satisfac-

150 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
tion that they are applied to ; so that before the
appeal is made to them, they have enjoyed oppor
tunities of raaking themselves acquainted vrith the
circurastances of each case, and are fully prepared
to give their answer. But they take care to sur
round theraselves with every concoraitant calculated
to inspire awe and fear in the minds of those who
consult them.
Their temple is a deep glooray recess of the forest,
where the overhanging foliage is so dense, that
scarcely a single ray of Ught can penetrate it, and
where there is no difficulty in concealing the accom
plices of their artifice. Into this den they convey
their dupes blindfolded ; and amidst strange un
earthly noises, which to the bewUdered senses of the
poor terrified idolaters, seem at one time to issue
from the bowels of the earth, and at another to
rush through the air, they raake their sacrificial
offerings and invocations to their god, whom they
have corae to consult. The confused ubiquity of
the disraal sounds which assaU the ears, and make
the hearts of the wretched worshippers quail, is
accounted for by a band of accompUces being sta
tioned around, some in holes underground, and some
araong the leafy branches of the tree, and aU beUow
ing out the most hideous and unearthly cries and
groans, which a long practice in this vUlanous de-

THE GOLD COAST. 151
ception has enabled them to utter. When they have
sufficiently subdued the minds of their unhappy
rictims by this discordant concert, and when by
violent dancing, and wUd and convulsive struggles
they have aroused their god to attention, they pro
pound to him the object of their visit. It is not
always, however, upon the first application that he
wiU deign a response. This inattention, or rather
this contemptuous neglect of the Fetish, is inter
preted by the priest in the way most accordant vrith
his own wishes. The applicants, it may be, are
told to wait for a raore propitious raoment, to ob
serve a reUgious fast, to appease by offerings the
evU spirits, or to bestow a richer gratuity upon the
priests. It matters little to those hard-hearted men,
that they give their dupes long and fruitless jour
neys in vain. They know that what is obtained
with . difficulty, is prized proportionably, and they
take care that the favours of their Fetish shall not
be Ughtly esteemed. When every penny has been
got from their rictiras, which they can, either by
cajolery or by threats, extort, an answer to their
petition is resolved upon, and deUvered with all
those imposing artifices which they so weU know
how to assume.
But although the, Braffo Fetish Is considered
more powerful, and of a superior order to the other

152 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Fetishes of the country, yet its priests assume no
direction over the conduct of other Fetishraen, who
each in his particular sphere follows the bent of his
own inclinations, and the supposed inspiration of
his idols. Different kinds and degrees of power
are, however, attributed to different Fetishes. One
may be celebrated for his success in exorcism, ano
ther for the detection of a thief and the recovery of
stolen property, a third for the removal of disease,
a fourth for raaking the barren fruitful and so on.
But no jealousy appears to be excited by such pre
ferences. The field for imposture is so extensive,
that there is not only a sufficiency of rictims for
the acknowledged and duly estabUshed fraternity to
prey upon ; but a numerous host of sectaries, simple
conjurors, and doctors assurae the Fetish character
as a very efficient shield for aU kinds of roguery,
and make large gains out of the credulity of the
people. Neither is priestcraft confined to the raale portion
of the coramunity. An established order of
priestesses, or Fetishwomen, still farther sweU the
ranks of these reUgious harpies. Their practice is
little different from that of the men, with whom
they are associated in most of the religious cere
monies. Their principal sphere of action, however,
is In the Fetish processions and dances, which are

THE GOLD COAST. 153
greatly enlivened by their pecuUar costurae, their
vrild gestures, their shrlU cries, and their frantic
passion. The character of these bedlamites is in
famous in the extreme ; their life is one continued
round of wanton lewdness and debauchery. Under
the influence of a superstitious frenzy, and in
flamed by the noise of the Fetish druras, and the
acclamations of a crowd, they give theraselves up
wUdly to aU manner of excesses. But we will not
stain our page with farther detail of the enormities
of those deluded wretches. Enough has been said
to conrince the reader, that the miserable state of
moral degradation which we have represented as
existing among the people cannot have been over
drawn, seeing that such abominable profanity is not
only tolerated, but adopted as an essential part of
their worship.
The character of the Gold Coast African, the
nature of his government, his ideas of justice
and Its adrainistration, his domestic and his social
relations, his crimes and his virtues, are aU more
or less influenced by, and even formed upon their
pecuUar superstition. There is scarcely an occur
rence of life into which this aU-pervading element
does not enter. It gives fruitfulness to marriage ;
it encircles the newly-born babe with its defensive
H 3

154 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
charras ; It preserves it from sickness by its votive
offerings; it restores it to health by its bleeding
sacrifices; it watches over its boyhood by its
ceremonial rites ; it gives strength and courage to
its manhood by its warlike symbols ; it tends its
decUning age with its consecrated potions; it
smoothes its dying pUlow by its delusive obser
vances ; and it purchases a requiem for its disem
bodied spirit by its copious hbations. It fills the
fisherman's net ; it ripens the husbandman's corn ;
it gives success to the trader's adventure ; It pro
tects the traveUer by sea and by land ; it accom
panies the warrior, and shields hira in the battle ;
it stays the raging pestUence ; it bends heaven to
its wUl, and refreshes the earth with rain ; it
enters the heart of the liar, the thief, and the
raurderer, and makes the lying tongue to
falter, quenches the eye of passion, withholds
the covetous hand, and stays the upUfted knife,
or it conricts them of their crimes, and reveals
thera to the world; it even casts its speUs over
malignant demons, and turns them for good or
for Ul, according to its pleasure. It might be
supposed that a religion with pretensions of this
nature could not stand the test of a single week,
and that no ingenuity of the Fetishraen could

THE GOLD COAST. 155
conceal the multitude of their broken pledges, or
save from exposure the hollow tricks by which
they manage to prop up their tottering faith.
That a race of men, who are by no means
devoid of inteUigence, and who upon many other
subjects are perfectly open to reason and to con
riction, should continue, tirae after tirae, the
dupes of such a childish infatuation, can only be
accounted for by raan's innate consciousness of
the helpless nature of his being, and his necessity
for supernatural assistance ; his need, in short, for
sorae faith in things imseen, on which to rest
the anxious burden of his hopes and fears. That
they should trast to such a gross superstition
is a humUiating proof of man's natural blindness,
as weU as of his vicious and corrupt tendencies.
That they derive some consolation frora their faith
is not altogether to be denied ; but It is a fruitless
confidence, ready to be swaUowed up in perplexing
doubts upon any untoward occurrence, and only
not altogether lost, because nature is not more
abhorrent of a vacuum, than is the mind of man
of a blank and infidel isolation.
It is very apparent, however, that with a large
number of the people — a nuraber, too, daUy
increasing — faith in their Fetish practices is merely

156 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
norainal. The raore famUiar intercourse with
Europeans, and the freer interchange of ideas,
which have marked the last twenty years of
their relations with each other, as weU as the
effect of missionary teaching, have given an entirely
new and vigorous impulse to the native mind,
before which the cherished prejudices of ages
begin to crumble away. The unsatisfactory nature
of their worship is tacitly admitted ; its cheerless,
deadening influence upon the raind is openly
acknowledged ; the vile cheats of the Fetishmen
are weU understood, and observed vrith a gloomy
dissatisfaction ; and their punishment by the local
government, upon conviction of some glaring
imposture, is viewed with a sUent and gratified
deUght. But with all this fermentation going on
in the depths of society, the leaven is not suffi
ciently diffused for any general expression of feel
ing upon the subject. The tirae for speaking out
has not yet arrived. The gloomy terrors of the
Fetish stIU cast their dark shadows upon minds
which acknowledge their thraldom, less from
a dread of the spiritual anathemas, which an
avowed contempt for, and open renunciation of
a belief in Fetish, raight bring upon the renegade,
than from a weU-grounded fear of some rile

THE GOLD COAST. 157
human agency being employed to satisfy the ven
geance of the Fetishmen.
Many, also, among the higher and more inteUi
gent ranks of the natives, who have very little
faith in the Fetish, acknowledge its value as an
•engine of civU government, and give their coun
tenance and support to It accordingly. These
men, in our opinion, give strong evidence of
their political prudence by this course ; for there
cannot be a doubt that, with all its rile im
postures and foul abominations, it has a most
salutary restraint upon huraan conduct, and that
the removal of this restraint, without the sub
stitution of such a powerful moral agent as
Christianity, would at once give loose to the most
frightful scenes of a brutal and ferocious anarchy.
Considerations of this nature suggest to us the prOf
bability of a stage, in the progress of opinion, fraught
with dangers to society of no ordinary magnitude,
which it vriU require the whole energies of a govern
ment possessed of strong physical powerto avert.
Distrust of Fetish is not necessarUy followed by
the adoption of the Christian faith. Indeed, it is
seen, that at present there is a wide disproportion
between the number of Fetish renegades and
Christian converts. It is not difficult to anticipate
the time, when this disproportion may be increased

158 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
to such an alarming extent as wiU let loose upon
society bands of infidel miscreants, under the re
straint of no religious obligation whatever ; for
there must be, necessarily, a short period of tran
sition in the minds of the great body of the
people, fuU of a wavering uncertainty, which wUl
take refuge for a whUe in a lawless infidelity.
Such periods of time in the history of a people
cannot be passed over, even by a strong and
despotic government, vrithout fear and trembling.
For a general revolution of this nature on the
Gold Coast, neither the British local government
or the native authorities are at aU prepared.
There may, it is true, be Uttle likeUhood of the
near approach of such an event, but a partial
revolution is at present at work, and its effect,
in a minor degree, wUl be to loosen the bands of
social order. The reraoval. In part, of the strong
superstitious restraint which has hitherto existed,
wUl naturaUy give freer scope to individual action,
and leave men exposed to the vrild guidance and
the rash irapulse of their own passions, the conse
quence of which will be the introduction of criraes
almost unknown in the present simple and primi
tive state of society.
The elements of an extensive social disorganizar
tion are now fermenting in its depths, and give

THE GOLD COAST. 159
token, by a grumbling discontent and an agitated
alarm on the part of the higher classes, and by an
uneasy restiveness, and a partial disregard of their
masters on the part of the slaves, of the breaking
up of many of those fetters, which time and the
right of might had rivetted upon the bodies and
minds of the- people. The powerful chief, and the
wealthy slave-owner alike hold the reins of
authority with a less confident grasp ; and even
the cunning Fetishman feels that he must lower
his pretensions, and raoderate his extortions if he
would not see his victira drag him into a court of
justice. These are certain indications of a new and
more enlarged class of ideas being generaUy dif
fused throughout society, and are the forerunners
of change. The danger is, that the first taste of
emancipation, however circurascrlbed, raay be so
sweet, that an ignorant irapatience raay hurry raen
into excesses, destmctive of aU order. It is on
this account that governraent, during the pro
gress of a revolutionary spirit of the kind, should
strengthen theraselves for the occasion, as much by
a skilful and liberal direction of this spirit to
Its legitimate objects by lawful means, as by
a bold and uncompromising resistance and repres
sion of every iUegal act. On this account, also, it
is that a renunciation of Fetish, by the general

160 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
mass of the people, is by no means desirable,
unless it should be supplanted by Christianity vrith
its peaceable fruits. The local government upon
the Gold Coast must have the candour to acknow
ledge its obligations to Fetish, as a police agent.
Without this powerful aUy, it wovdd have been
found Impossible to raaintain that order, which has
characterized the country during the last twenty
years, with the physical force of the government.
The extraordinary security afforded to property in
the raost reraote districts, the great safety with
which packages of gold of great value are trans
raitted by single raessengers for hundreds of mUes,
and the facUity with which lost or stolen property
is generaUy recovered, have excited the astonish
ment of Europeans newly arrived in the country. ,
But while much of this exceUent poUce has
been due to the energetic raeasures of the local
government, the superstitious fears exercised over
the rainds of the people by the Fetish, have also
had a powerful controUing influence which ought
not to be lost sight of During these years, so
little complicated were the relations of society,
so unvarying its usages, so great the subordination
of its different ranks, and so rare the commission
of crime, that a few magistrates, assisted by a
small body of police, were found perfectly suffi-

THE GOLD COAST. 161
cient for all the purposes of good order. But
daUy experience now shows that this system is no
longer adequate to the present circumstances of
the people. The government has now to exer
cise a raore extensive and subdirided watchfulness
over the masses. The obedience which the slave
formerly unhesitatingly yielded to his master, the
dependent and feudal retainer to his chief, and the
general body of the people to their Fetish obser
vances and obligations, concentrated the controUing
power vrithin such a narrow compass, and, at the
same time, maintained this power in such perfect
efficiency, that the government had only to keep a
watchful eye over these directing influences, in
order to secure its object, the general order and
peace of the country.
If these agents had been content not to abuse
their authority, the same system would no doubt
have been continued in aU its original efficiency
to the present tirae ; but the cause of social pro
gress would not have advanced with the rapidity
which their abuse of their privileges has occa
sioned. The oppressions of masters, the tyranny
of chiefs, and the extortions of the Fetishman
having exposed them, on various occasions, to pun
ishment, their authority feU into contempt ; and
hence arises the necessity of the government to

162 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
substitute new checkSj to replace those restraints,
which are daUy losing some portion of their effi
ciency, and wiU soon become obsolete. Happy
wUl it be for the Gold Coast population, if the
government has the wisdom and the power to
carry them peaceably through such a moral and
social revolution. Their very docUe disposition is
our surest ground of hope ; but we must take care
to direct this disposition to its legitimate objects,
by fortifying those minds which are throwing off
the yoke of the Fetish with a purer religion.
InteUigent natives, who have the penetration to
see the tendency of Christian instruction, and the
other civUizing influences in active operation,
tremble for the consequences of a struggle be
tween the two great principles of civiUzation and
barbarism, which are beginning to form the
people into distinct camps. They see the ancient
landmarks of society disappearing, and attribute
much of it to the roguery of the Fetishmen, who,
by their extortions, have alienated the aUegiance of
the Fetish-worshippers, and have branded the
whole system with the character of imposture.
They look for the preservation of order to the re
forraation of the Fetishmen, and would gladly see
sorae Luther arise among their ranks, to sweep
away the abominations which have been heaped

THE GOLD COAST. 163
upon the primitive simplicity of their worship.
They feel no enmity to Christianity ; for they see
that it inculcates peace, order, and a higher regard
for the rights of individuals, and for the general
good. But they have no faith in its becoming
the rule of Ufe of the multitude, who can only,
they think, be kept in check by the power of the
Fetish. There are a few, again, who would wish to see
the Christians persecuted and utterly exterminated.
They have no favour for education, and cannot
see the gradual progress of civUization without a
wish to cmsh it entirely. These are not so much
bigoted zealots, as alarmed for an invasion of
many of their privileges, which the Fetish super
stition enables thera to secure. The Fetishmen
themselves, with the short-sighted blindness
natural to a very long practice of low cunning,
though aware of the necessity, do not seem to
yield much of their pretensions. It appears im
possible to shake their faith in the credulity of
their dupes. This, indeed, is not to be wondered
afc, when we find their own minds, in spite of
their knowledge of the infamous impositions to
which they have recourse, deeply imbued with a
superstitious dread of the Fetish. The very men
who have spent a lifetime in obvious and pal-

164 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
pable trickery, seek relief in the same mummeries,
in their own misfortunes. Can there be a better
eridence of the doubting principles of a creed like
this than such a fact ? Weak indeed must be the
confidence, cold the emotions, and spudtless the
consolations, derived from a source known to be
based on lying cheats. The knowledge of this
fact, added to a consideration of the foregoing
detaUs, wiU afford us, perhaps, the best clue to a
proper definition of Fetish, and the hold which It
occupies on their minds. Dr. Beecham traces the
polytheism of the natives to the foUovring tradition :
"It is believed, that in the beginning of the
world, God haring created three white and three
black men, with an equal number of women of
each colour, resolved, in order that they might
be left without complaint, to allow them to fix
their own destiny, by giring them the choice of
good and eril. A large box or calabash was, m
consequence, placed upon the ground, together with
a sealed paper or letter. The black men had the
first choice, who took the calabash, expecting that
it contained aU that was desirable ; but upon open
ing it, they found only a piece of gold, some iron,
and several other metals, of which they did not
know the use. The white men opened the paper
or letter, and it told thera everything.

THE GOLD COAST. 165
"AU this is supposed to have happened in
Africa, in which country it is believed God left
the blacks, with the choice which their avarice had
prorapted them to make, under the care of sub
ordinate or inferior deities ; but conducted the
whites to the water-side, where he comraunicated
with them every night, and taught them to buUd a
small vessel, which carried them to another country ;
from whence, after a long period, they returned
with various kinds of raerchandize, to barter with
the blacks, whose perverse choice of gold. In pre
ference to the knowledge of letters, had doomed
thera to inferiority."
Dr. Beechara adds : " Is this notion of the
judicial degradation of the blacks traceable to
the curse pronounced upon Hara ? And is this
again confounded with the result of man's pro
bation Ul Paradise? These are interesting ques
tions; but however they may be decided, it is
certain that in this tradition is to be found the
source of those superstitions which enthral raUlions
of the negro race."
We suspect that this tradition, which Is cor
rectly given, does not date its origin further back
than the period of the first acquaintance of the
natives vrith the Europeans. It seeras to us rather
a theory forraed from the observation of the circum-

166 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
stances of their respective conditions, than the
fundamental source of their superstitions, which
must have existed before the tradition, and which
are to be accounted for, simply by a reference to
man's natural constitution. Unassisted reason has
never yet, we beUeve, led man to entertain just
conceptions of the being and attributes of the
trae God, The speculations of Plato and of
Socrates, founded upon an enlightened contem
plation of nature, approach nearest to the truth;
but it is raanifest that notwithstanding the clear
evidences of power, harmony, and unity, which
they observed in creation, their ideas of God were
vague and indefinite, and only amounted to a
plausible conjecture, not to a beUef on which
their minds could securely rest.
Heathen nations generaUy have faUen far short
of the conclusions to which these great logicians
attained. They have been guided more by their
spiritual instincts than by reason, and have never
arrived at the idea of one God, however much the
forms of expression might lead us to think so.
The operation of our spiritual instincts is as pow
erful, though less discriminating than our physical
instincts. The feeUng of hunger impresses man
vrith the belief that there is something provided
in nature to appease it, and would lead him to

THE GOLD COAST. 167
seek to remedy his want, even if he were ignorant
of the nature of food. If he is thirsty, he feels
that there must be somewhere a remedy for this
also. If he is sick, stiU instinct leads him to look
for reUef amidst nature's stores. In seeking to
gratify those instincts, he might, it is true, take
poison for nourishment, and apply remedies which
would aggravate his disorder, but tl^e instinct
would stUl remain, and lead him to a discovery
of the objects in nature calculated to satisfy it.
In like raanner, his spiritual instincts urge him
to look abroad through nature for relief He feels
that for thera also sorae provision has been made ;
but he is directed in his search by no certain
test, and hence the multiplicity of his objects of
worship. Guided by this impulse, the African has stum
bled into a belief in a mighty, supernatural, and
intelUgent influence, pervading aU created things,
but dormant and unconcerned about the affairs
of men, until by an act of faith and worship, the
idolater has constituted its special abode for the
time, aroused its attention, and purchased its
serrices, which may be made either subserrient
for a blessing, or instrumental for a curse.
He is directed in his particular manner of

168 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
worship at aU tiraes by his own fluctuating
doubts and fears, for he has no assurance of
the forra of worship and rites raost acceptable
to his idol, hence his multipUcity of supersti
tious observances, his wavering doubts of their
efficacy, and the influence of the Fetishmen,
who pretend to frequent and famiUar com
munication with this supernatural intelligence.
Its hold upon the minds of those under Its
influence is unbounded; for the faith of innu
merable worshippers having given a local habi
tation to this intelUgence upon every hand,
wherever their extravagant fancies may have
directed, and their prayers and sacrifices being
supposed to have purchased a fulfUment of their
behests, an endless variety of emanations, in con
formity with the wUl of the supplicants, is beUeved
to be continuaUy proceeding from these idols,
which have become, by an act of worship, the
consecrated abode of a liring inteUigence; hence
a perplexed dread in the mind of the idolater, of
becoming at any moment, through misfortune or
ignorance, or in answer to the particular prayers
offered to an idol, the unhappy butt against whom
those subtle influences may direct their inrisible
attacks ; hence also the necessity for countervaiUng

THE GOLD CO.\ST. 169
observances, charms, and speUs, to preserve him
from such attacks, or to render them abortive.
In his raind, and to compare spiritual with material
things, the spiritual world may be Ukened to the
firmament, with its galaxy of stars, which from
its otherwise dark surface shoot innumerable
scintiUating rays, each according to its magnitude,
and from their combined influence diffuse a light
which pervades space. In like raanner, the idolater
appears to be subjected to the eyes of an aU-
pervading inteUigence, which surrounds him with
an atmosphere of mysterious combinations, deeply
affecting his destiny.
When contemplating the African, under the
influence of purely superstitious emotions, we have
never been able to remove frora our mind the
idea that he regarded the material world as a
breathing aniraated raass, watching him frora a
countless nuraber of sleepless eyes, which kept
hira under continual alarra and restraint. Such
appears to us the nature of the superstition known
to Europeans under the narae of Fetish. If the
account which has been given should fail to leave
upon the mind of the reader a clear and inteUigible
comprehension of the subject, we must plead the
impossibility of bringing light out of darkness, or
VOL. II. I

170 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
of escaping entirely frora its inherent mystification.
It is enough for us, if, from a higher vantage-
ground than the idolaters themselves possess, we
have been able to throw upon their benighted
superstitions a gUmmering from our own rush
light, which may direct other minds more deeply
versed in the mysterious operations of the human
heart, to a lucid solution of its strange and un
accountable vagaries.

THE GOLD COA.ST. 171

CHAPTER VII.
Strong religious feeling of the natives — Human sacrifices —
Success in war attributed to the Fetish — Confidence of
the worshippers not destroyed by defeat — Ceremonies
observed at the conclusion of a treaty of peace at Appol-
lonia — Ordeals — Case of Yow Nacoon — Witchcraft —
Curious case of an Akim woman's Fetish — Case of
conjuring — Ordeal observed upon suspicion of adultery
— Religious feasts — Extraordinary ceremony connected
with one of the Cape Coast Fetishes — Computation of
time. We have now taken a general view of the people
and of their superstitious beUef, and would desire
to place before the reader sorae account of their
ordinary habits of life ; but this we find irapossible,
without being obUged to recur, at every step, to
their Fetish practices, so much are they Incorpo
rated vrith the every-day occupations and pleasures
of the African. It is to be lamented that the
heathen should, in this respect, exhibit a more
I 2

172 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON .
constant, steadfast, and pious dependence upon his
idols than the Christian does upon God, and that
man, relieved frora his superstitious fears, should
so often subside into indifference with but few
indications of a reverential and grateful heart. It
is rare for thera to orait, morning and evening, to
raake some oblation to their Fetish, or to pay then-
homage when they eat or drink. They undertake
nothing even of ordinary importance, without raising
their thoughts to an unseen intelUgence, and pro
pitiating it by some observance, whUe humble
thank-offerings invariably attend its successful issue.
If they were content to confine themselves to this
hurable and thankful dependence, we raight regret
their ignorance of the true object of worship, whUe
we applauded the spirit which dictated it ; but, un
fortunately, their beUef in a raultiplicity of deities
leads to the Idea of a variety of discordant attri
butes, which render necessary a raultitude of
observances. Their vague ideas of a future state
of rewards and punishraents, araounting practicaUy
to a disbelief of such a state, lirait the operation of
their spiritual Instincts chiefly to the circurastances
of their present existence ; which are all more or
less Influenced by them.
War is never undertaken by kings or states
without consulting the national deities. The Fe-

THE GOLD COAST. 173
tishmen " go up to inquire"* of their idols, after
sacrifice being made, and unless the response be
propitious, they wUl not engage in it. Renewed
offerings and sacrifices are made to obtain the
favour and assistance of their gods, and a promise of
success. This once secured, they meet their ene
mies with confidence, relying as much upon the
protection of their gods as their own bravery.
After victory, the glory of which belongs to the
Fetish, they propitiate a continuance of his favour
by sacrificing many of the prisoners taken in war.
These are considered especiaUy grateful to their
tutelary gods. This idea seems to arise from the
belief that, in international wars, the protecting
deities of one nation are contending against those
of the other, and are equaUy interested in the result
of the warfare with the mortal corabatants.
Fetishraen accompany the warriors to the field,f
and urge them to deeds of daring and bravery by
the promise of supernatural aid, and by the invo-
* Has this practice, which has been so generally followed
by the pagans, been derived from the Mosaic system of
appeal to the Deity ; or was the latter adopted out of regard
to the natural constitution of man, and consequently univer
sal .' We believe the latter conjecture to be the true
solution. t This custom of the priests attending the army to the
npln IQ n1«n nf a veiw En^n^pn^ Aatti _— I7j/7p ^"TllberS XXxl 6

174 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
cations which they never cease to make. Their
captive enemies are consequently regarded as the
enemies of the victor's Fetish, and no sacrifice is
so acceptable as their blood. Hence those whole
sale slaughters of vanquished eneinies which attend
the rictories of the kings of Ashantee and Daho-
raey, proceed not so much from the blood-thirsty
disposition of the African, as from a reUgious sense
of duty to their gods. Want of success is some
times, but not always attributed to the inferiority
ofthe gods of the vanquished. The Fetishmen
do not easUy give up their defence, and frequently
manage to conrince the conquered that their faflure
is owing to their displeasure, for the oraission of
sorae observances, for national impiety, or for in
attention to prescribed ceremonies. After the con
quest of Fantee by Sai Tootoo Quamino in 1807,
the faith of the Fantees was considerably shaken in
the Braffo Fetish Mankassim, which, up to this
time, enjoyed an extraordinary shai-e of national
favour. The Fetishmen, however, had always been
averse to the war, and they now took occasion of
this known aversion to excuse then- defeat, and the
worshippers were soon brought back to its altars.
It is worthy of reraark, that although the Ashantees
destroyed Mankassim, they had respect to the
Fetish grove in Its immediate neighbourhood.

THE GOLD COAST. 175
Treaties of peace and amity are also entered into
¦vrith Fetish ceremonies. Having witnessed several
of this description at AppoUonia, we will here give
a short description of them.
After the capture of the King of AppoUonia,
deputies arrived from neighbouring states to
enter into a treaty of peace, and among others
a party of Assinees. They asserabled under a
large tree in the centre of the town, and seated
theraselves in two semi-circles, the AppoUonians on
one hand, and the Assinees on the other. They
then discussed the different articles of the treaty
about to be concluded, and evinced the greatest
anxiety to obtain a very clear and distinct under
standing on each item. Twenty of the AppoUo-
nian head men then came a Uttle in advance of their
party, and sat down upon the ground ; the Assi
nees carefuUy examining their persons, and removing
frora them their knives and ornaments, lest they
should intercept the virtue of the Fetish. They
next addressed them, repeating the nature of the
engagement, entering minutely into the different
terras of the treaty. When these were aU agreed
to, which was not done vrithout sundry explana
tions of the light in which the AppoUonians under
stood thera, and which showed that faith was ac
tuaUy placed in the power of the Fetish by their

176 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
anxious care not to compromise themselves by an
imperfect comprehension of their engagements, the
Fetishman, or priest, of the Assinees produced a
sheU fiUed with sorae odious black compound, which
he mixed and stirred with a piece of stick. He
then stood up and spread his arms over the Appol-
lonians, and evoked the vengeance of the Fetish
if they should prove faithless to the treaty. After
his invocation, he was about to adrainister the
nauseous mixture, when the AppoUonians caUed
out loudly to the Assinees first to take a Utde of it
into the mouth of a few of theraselves to convince
them that there was no poison. This being done,
they smeared the tongues of the AppoUonians vrith
the stuff in the sheU, and waved it over the otiier
AppoUonians standing about, to bring them aU
under the binding of the oath. A siraUar proc&ss
was then gone through by the AppoUonians admi
nistering Fetish to the Assinees, and the cereraony
was at an end. It is not necessarily confined to one
set form. Upon another occasion we saw green
leaves raixed in a calabash with a dark liquid, used
as the sacred draught. The head men took a Uttle
of it into their mouths, and the remainder was
sprinkled over the multitude standing round.f
* Here, again, we would appear to have fallen in with an
ancient observance — Exodus xxiv, 8. " And Moses took

THE GOLD COAST. 177
In their judicial proceedings, also, the Fetish
element predominates. We have already adverted
to the Edura draught, which Is admmistered to
discover guilt; many other ordeals are also had
recourse to, for as the constitution of the African
mind leads the people to attribute misfortune and
death to supernatural causes, they are constantly
employing Fetish practices to discover the guUty.
An instance of this description occurred near
Anamaboe, about sixteen years ago, which will
serve as an Ulustration. At the viUage of Aggrey-
fooah, a man of the narae of Yow Nacoon, was
seized with a lingering illness which seeraed to set
at defiance aU the nostrums of the doctors and
Fetishmen. Eggs had been bespattered about the
door-posts, strings and rags had been hung up to
the branches of his Fetish-tree in the yard, the
empty bottle suspended over the door-way had
been appealed to, charms had been tied about his
person, stones encircled with rags and feathers,
bread besmeared vrith palm-oU, yaras nailed to the
ground vrith stakes, and white fowls sacrificed, aU
to appease the evU spirit, and In vain — he died.
The Abrah Fetish was consulted, with the view
the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said. Behold
the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with
you respecting all these words." : 3

178 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
of discovering the author of his death. His family
were ordered to appeal to the dead man, which was
done in the foUowing manner. The inhabitants of
Aggreyfooah were assembled upon a spot near the
viUage, seating themselves in a circle according
to their different wards or divisions. In the centre
of this circle a stake was set up, covered with
leaves and branches. The corpse was then brought
out on a sheU, and was carried on the heads of
bearers. The Fetish drums kept beating all the
time, as the bearers danced round the circle. At
last they carae to a dead halt before one of the
divisions of the town. They appeared to strain
every muscle and nerve to go forward, but no
sooner had they extended a foot than they were
pulled back by some invisible power. On every
side, the same controling influence restrained them,
and there they reraained, straggling and puUing
against the spirit, untU overcome by their ej^rtions
they sunk under the body to the ground. The
other divisions iramediately rose up, and declared
the raurderer of Yow Nacoon to be one of the
division before which the dead raan's spirit had
compeUed the bearers to halt.
This proceeding had been carried on amidst the
niiise of the Fetish druras accorapanied by dancing,
and araidst the fears of the assembled divisions lest

THE GOLD COAST. 179
the lot should fall upon thera. They now carried
the body to the rillage, and passed round in the
sarae raanner aU the houses of the guUty division.
The bearers at last halted involuntarily before one
of the houses, where of course the raurderer was
declared to be. AU the inmates of the house were
now subjected to a similar ordeal, and the spirit
corapelled the bearers to fall at the feet of an old
man named Cogo Fee, who was unanimously pro
nounced a wizard.* He was drowned at night by
the head raen of the viUage ; and the knowledge of
this circurastance did not corae to the ears of the
English authorities untU fourteen years afterwards,
when aU the circurastances were fully confessed,
and the perpetrators conderaned to iraprisonraent
for a number of years. Of course it had been
preriously arranged who the rictiras of this ordeal
should be, and the bearers had been instracted to
act accordingly.
Witchcraft is a crirae which entaUs by the Afri
can laws not only death upon the witch or wizard,
but death or bondage upon their relations also. It
is chiefly discovered by the Fetishraen, who suit
* We have, in the Old Testament, a trial by lot, of a
similar description, descending from tribes to families and
individuals, although we have no account of the process. —
Vide Joshua vii, 16, 17, 18, 19.

180 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
their own purposes In denouncing the guUty. If
sudden iUness or death should overtake a person,
who had chanced to have a quarrel with another,
this other is supposed to have bewitched him, and
rarely escapes punishment. Appeals are also made
to the Fetish by persons accused of witchcraft to
be reUeved frora the false imputation, and If de
clared innocent, heavy penalties are decreed against
the accuser.
Persons are frequently charged with haring in
their possession dangerous Fetishes, which bring
calamities upon their neighbours. A curious case
of this description was brought under the author's
notice. A native of Akim sumraoned a Fetish-
woman before him, whom he accused of haring
caused the death of a number of his relations. His
story was, that this woman and her famUy were
slaves of an Akim chief, who had died. The Fetish
was consulted as to the cause of his death, and pro
nounced it to be owing to this woraan's bad Fetish.
She was seized in consequence, and was about to
be put to death, when she contrived to escape, car
rying her Fetish with her. Some time afterwards,
she was discovered in another part of the country
by a member of the Akim chief's family, who
assaulted and beat her, and knocked her Fetish,
which she was carrying, off her head. Enraged at

THE GOLD COAST. 181
this treatment, the woman poured out a libation of
rura before her Fetish, and invoked its wrath upon
the aggressor's famUy. Since that time, six mem
bers of his family had died, and a seventh was
labouring under a mortal disease at the time he
made his complaint. These raisfortunes he attri
buted to the woman's curse, and he pleaded that
she ought to be delivered up to him in the first
place as his slave, and in the next, that he raight
deprive her of her Fetish. Nothing could exceed
the earnestness with which he pleaded his cause,
and the superstitious terrors under which he was
labouring were evidenced in the tremor of his
accents, and in the heavy drops of perspiration
which rained down frora his face.
The woraan acknowledged that she was his slave,
and that her daughter and four chUdren were stUl
in bondage at his house at Akira. It was six
years since she escaped from that country flying
for her Ufe. She admitted having invoked her
Fetish to curse her master's house in the heat of
her passion ; but it was a long time ago. She did
not, however, appear to deny that she beUeved the
misfortunes of his house to be owing to the anger
of her Fetish. Indeed, there was visible in her
deportment an air of satisfied triuraph in the power
of it. She prayed with great earnestness, that she

182 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
might not be deprived of it, as she obtained her
living by its assistance. It was represented to her,
that she had been at least guilty of the murder of
the heart, as she had faith in the efficacy of her
Fetish when she invoked the curse upon her mas
ter ; and that whUe he as well as herself enter
tained this belief, it was not proper that she
should be aUowed to keep such a dangerous
Fetish. It is very difficult to deal with such cases
as these, as it is utterly impossible to reason with
them upon the subject.
In the present case, it was arranged that the
Fetish should be taken from the woman, and that
she should be free frora her raaster. But it was
not sufficient to deprive her of the Fetish alone ;
the Akira man wished it to be delivered to him,
that he might carry it back to his country, and
appease its wrath, by worshipping it and sacrificing
to it, in order that the curse might be removed.
Without it. In fact, he considered himself lost, as
he believed that unless he had the opportunity of
appeasing it, he hiraself and all his family woiUd
inevitably perish. Advantage was taken of this
feeling to obtain the freedom of the woman's
family, and the Fetish was to be delivered up to
him, only upon their being immediately restored
to the woman free. He eagerly consented to this

THE GOLD COAST. 183
arrangement, but the woman seeraed to prefer the
Fetish to her chUdren, and it was only by compul
sion that she reUnquished it. Her daughter and
her four grand-chUdren were handed over to her
vrith certificates of freedom, and the Fetish was
given to the Akim man.
Sorae idea may be formed of the effect of this
superstition upon their minds, when it induced
this raan to part with five slaves and to travel a
distance of raore than a hundred railes to get
possession of the Fetish, and led the woraan to
esteem it of more value than her children. It
was brought into court carefully covered over with
a white cloth, which, on being reraoved, gave to
view a brass pan containing a lump of clay with
parrot's feathers stuck in it.
With this dread god, the poor man went away
greatly relieved in mind ; but the awe-struck
manner in which he placed it on his servant's
head showed with what a superstitious fear he
handled it ; whUe the woman, now reconciled to
the sacrifice which she had made, consoled herself
with the belief that Yaukumpon* would direct her
in the selection of a new Fetish. It may be thought
absurd in an European to entertain such cases at
all, but unless we were to hear them, they would
* God.

184 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
settle the matter in their own way by kUling the
whole faraUy. Neither would it have been suffi
cient to destroy the Fetish, as their superstitious
terrors would stUl have haunted them, and induced
them to have recourse to new cruelties.
The Fetishmen are applied to alraost in every
concern of life, to detect thefts, adultery, and the
perpetrators of every crime against society, as well
as to avert raisfortune, to procure a blessing, and
to reveal future events. Applicants for priestly aid
carry with thera presents to the Fetishmen,* and
often impoverish and enslave themselves in their
eagerness to secure their services. Such credulity
exists among the people, that the most barefaced
impostures frequently pass unnoticed and un
redressed, and it is only when serious calamities
overtake them, through this agency, that a magis
trate is applied to.
We vyUl here relate a case of conjuring which
was brought under our notice some time ago. A
woman belonging to Cormantine, suramoned a
Fetishman of Dixcove to answer the charge of
having falsely accused her son of theft, on account
* This custom of carrying presents to the Fetishmen
appears similar to the practice foUowed in ancient times,
upon apphcation made to the prophets — Saul to Samuel,
Naomato EUsha, Benhadad to Elisha, &c., &c.

THE GOLD COAST. 185
of which she herself and her chUdren had been
sold to raake restitution for the property aUeged to
have been stolen, and to pay the services of the
Fetishraan. It appeared that a neighbour of this
woman had lost his foutra, or purse, said to con
tain a great deal of gold. He had recourse to the
Dixcove Fetishman to discover the thief, which he
pretended to do by means of his conjuring, and
fixed the guUt upon the son of the woman ; and
afterwards forced her to make good the loss.
This Fetishman appeared in court dressed in a
white Moorish robe, curiously bound round his
waist with a girdle. On his head was a mitre-
shaped hat of fine matting. A large string of
white and black beads encircled his neck, and
hung down over his breast. Small beUs were
attached to his dress, and iron castanets were round
his ankles, and these made a ringing noise on every
movement of his person.*
He was a strong young man, with an air of
conscious importance in every look and gesture.
He admitted at once that he had detected the thief,
and had caused him and his mother's family to be
sold, to make good the loss. The money gained
* The dress of a head Fetishman, whom we have seen at
Pram Pram, appeared something Uke a caricature of the
High Priest's robes. — Vide Exodus xxix.

186 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
by their sale had been paid to the party the purse
was stolen from, after a deduction of five pounds
for his own trouble. He acknowledged that he
had no evidence whatever of the boy's guUt, nor
even of the existence of the purse aUeged to be
stolen, except such as he had obtained by conjuring.
He was desired to show how he proceeded in this
matter ; and he cooUy took out from a pouch which
he carried at his side six leathern thongs, and
threw them upon the floor, saying, these had given
him the information. He was asked in what
manner, and he proceeded to twist the thongs, and
to place the ends of them in a confused heap, and
having done so, said that they were now speaking
to him, and stiU telling him that the boy was the
thief Being asked if he thought we could hear
what the thongs were saying, he answered that we
might, if we would look at them in the right way ;
upon which, we pretended to examine them curi
ously, and then said, that we now understood them,
but that they did not speak the same language to
us as to hira. He asked what they said, and was
told that they coramanded him, the Fetishraan, to
be iraraediately tied up and flogged with them, as
a cheat and an Impostor.
This sentence, which appeared to give great satisfac
tion to a crowd of people assembled in court, was

THE GOLD COAST. 187
carried into effect, and the Fetishman received two
dozen lashes with his oracular thongs. The woman
and her children were moreover redeemed, the Fetish
man and his accomplices having been corapeUed to
raake restitution. After this, he decaraped frora that
part of the country as speedily as possible, much
crest-faUen, but only, we believe, to renew his cheats
in another district, which the report of his treatraent
had not reached. In cases of this description,
they raay possibly have sorae grounds of suspi
cion, but frequently not, and they are directed to
their victims by their utter helplessness.
In the case of suspicion of adultery, the woman
is carried before the Fetishman, and required to
prove her innocence by an ordeal not dIssimUar to
that required by the Leritical law.* The bitter
draught which she is given to drink is supposed to
have the power of bursting her belly in the event
of guilt, and the terror of such an ordeal frequently
leads to confession. Conriction of this crime with
a king's wife is foUowed by death ; and the original
law appears to have contemplated this punishment
generaUy, but pecuniary compensation is now the
practice generaUy of the country.
We find the natives keeping general feasts at
stated times, which are likewise a part of their
* Numbers xxxi, 1 1 .

188 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
religion, and are attended by a great variety of
cereraonious observances. The priests compute the
time of their approach, and suraraon the people to
prepare theraselves to observe thera. National
sacrifices and offerings of the first-fraits of harvest
are invariably raade, before the kings or people
presume to raake use of the new crop ; and In
addition to this general solemnity, every indiridual
raakes separate offerings for himself and family
upon the day that they first eat of it. Ahout the
same time that this cereraony is observed. It Is
custoraary for aU the males to parade themselves
through their villages, and to clear the paths
leading to their Fetish groves.* During these
processions, they sing aloud the praises of the
deities of the country.
They are also in the habit of propitiating the
gods of the sea to give them abundance of fish in
seasons of scarcity. This duty principaUy devolves
upon the woraen, who, raarshaUed by a numerous
body of Fetishwomen dressed in white, carry greert
branches in their hands, and go singing and
dancing through the streets. During this cere
mony, they caU upon their gods to send them the
* Has this custom any connection with the Jewish ordi
nance for all the raales to appear before the Lord ? — Vide
Deuteronomy xvi, 16.

THE GOLD COAST. 189
blessings of " fish, corn, and peace ;" and the wUd
clamour of their shriU voices is heard at a great
distance, as they continue shouting out, in a musical
choras, this short prayer. At the same time, the
principal Fetishwomen throw heave-offerings of
corn bread, mixed with palm oU, upon aU the
rocks and principal Fetishes. In seasons of drought,
too, they observe a somewhat simUar practice ; but
if rain is long withheld, they go direct to the
Braffo Fetish in a grand procession, and seek the
intercession of the priests by offerings and sacri
fices. Great virtue is supposed to reside in one of the
principal Fetishes of Cape Coast, especially in the
matter of making the sea propitious for their fish
ing ; and upon the occasion of the death of an old
Fetishman who ministered at this altar, we remem
ber having seen his body, which was tightly bound
up in palm-leaves, dragged by a long rope along
the beach and through the breakers, surrounded
and followed by a numerous crowd of howling
worshippers, who had implicit faith in the power
of the dead Fetishraan to give them an abun
dance of fish.
They divide time into weeks, months, and the
seasons of the year. The division of the week into
even days, for which they have distinct names.

190 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
appears to have always prevaUed among them, as
well as the observance of one of those days as a
sabbath of rest. The fishermen have set apart
Tuesday for their day of rest, whUe the bushmen
or agriculturists observe Friday. But in addition
to this general ordinance, each indiridual is in the
habit of paying great respect to the day of the
week on which he was born. On it he dresses
hiraself with more than ordinary care, abstains
from aU manner of business, and employs it in a
more close observance of his Fetish. They have
no means of computing a series of years, and can
only reckon their age by a reference to coUateral
events. In the time of the African Committee,
the regularity of the arrival of store-ships annuaUy
for the forts, afforded them the nearest approach
to the enumeration of time ; and during that period,
it was customary to say that a person was so many
store-ships old.

THE GOLD COAST. 191

CHAPTER VIII.
Native marriages — Betrothals — Description of a young
virgin — African marriage cards — Causes of divorce —
Enslaving nature of the marriage contract — Curious
custom observed in reference to girls — Observances at
the naming of a chUd — African names — African lovers —
Curious case of disappointed affection — Murder of a wife
and children — The story of Adjuah Amissah — Circum
cision — Customs for the dead — Expensive observances —
The cause of slavery — Laws respecting inheritance —
Day of annual remembrance — Extraordinary scene —
Human sacrifices in Ashantee and Dahomey — Custom
made for Governor Maclean.
It has been stated, that native contracts of
marriage are made by the payment of a certain
sum to the relations of the bride,* This sum
* In this we have another instance of resemblance be
tween the customs of the African and the patriarchal age : —
" Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I wiU give
according as ye say unto me ; but give me the damsel to
wife." — Genesis xxiv, 12.

192 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
varies according to the rank of the Indiridual, from
two ounces of gold (£8) to four ackles and a
half (£1 2s. 6d.) ; but it is more frequently paid
in goods than in gold. Betrothals often take place
long before the female has arrived a marriageable
age — soraetimes even before she is born. Such
being the case, it is needless to say that the in
clinations of the lady are little consulted.
A desire to be connected with the family of a
friend induces the African frequently to betroth
mere chUdren, which he does by presenting the
parents with a flask or two of rum, and a piece of
cloth. The acceptance of these destines their
offspring to be the wife of the donor. There is, in
consequence, great dissimUarity of ages ; the chUd
of fourteen being often united to the man of fifty.
But the prevalence of polygamy makes this cus
tom a hardship only on the part of the female, as
the man has, in his youth and manhood, been
already joined to several wives of more appropriate
ages. This betrothal, however, is held perfectly
binding on the faraily of the girl, who is henceforth
regarded as the wife of the person betrothing her,
and who narrowly watches her conduct, and fre
quently deraands and receives compensation for the
most innocent and unsuspecting liberties which
she raay allow other men to take with her.

THE GOLD COAST. 193
Upon arrival at the a'ge of marriage, which in
this precocious country takes place about the
thirteenth year, the girl is dressed out with most
extraordinary care in rich silks, borrowed in many
instances for the occasion. Her hair is completely
covered with golden ornaments, consisting of
doubloons, sovereigns, figures of serpents, fish,
aUigators, and crosses. Chains of gold hang down
over her bosom, which is left uncovered, and her
tawny skin is exquisitely painted in very delicate
lines of white chalk, giring her the appearance
of having on a tightly fitting vest of the finest
lace. Armlets and anklets of gold encircle her
wrists and feet, whUe the silk robe extending from
the waist to the ankle is gracefully fitted over a
neat bustle, and corapressed by raeans of a broad
sUk girdle around her loins. There is often an
appearance of great elegance in the naked simpli
city of this attire, weU suited to set off to advan
tage the trim little figures of the young virgins,
whose deUcate features, sparkling eyes, beautiful
teeth, soft velvety skin, and fine rounded breasts,
greatly add to the charm of their appearance.
There is, especially at this early age, an air of
grace, of lively gaiety and effeminate softness, about
the young African girl, which gives to her move-
VOL. II. K

194 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
ments great beauty and gracefulness, and fiUs the
mind with such agreeable impressions as we expe
rience when contemplating a fine picture, a beauti
ful horse, or the airy and natural elegance of the
young fawn. We see in her every glance, and in
the unpremeditated ease of her motions, the
buoyant elasticity of youth and health, reveUing in
the glad joyousness of mere animal existence.
As soon as she has been properly attired, she is
paraded through the streets, attended by a nume
rous escort of her own sex, one of whom holds an
umbreUa over her head, to protect her from the
sun, or rather, perhaps, to aid the effect of her
elaborate toilet. They attract the notice of the
inhabitants by singing a loud psean in honour of
her virginity, giring the bachelors to understand
that she has arrived at the marriageable age.
Soon after this event, if she has been preriously
betrothed, she is led home to her husband ; or, if
not betrothed, the pubUcity thus given to her
charms soon attracts to her suitors for her hand.
Previous to the consummation of the marriage
ceremony, rum, tobacco, and pipes are given by
the husband to the bride's famUy, which are distri
buted among the more immediate friends and
relations, as proofs of their honourable aUiance, a

THE GOLD COAST. 195
species of " marriage cards" in fact, to notify the
event. In addition to this, a more general notifi
cation is sometimes given by a long procession of
people, sent to the husband's house with presents
of bread, yams, plantains, oU, fruits, and sheep,
which they carry through the streets on their heads
at the same time that they sing a song in honour
of the event. These preliminaries having been
gone through, the bride is led to the house of the
new husband, who gives a feast to his friends upon
the occasion.
It might be supposed that enough had now
been done to acquaint the world they live in
vrith aU that it was necessary to know of the
married couple. But "the spirit of jealousy,"
which in the African takes the form of a
strong instinct, requires an evidence of the lady's
purity. In the event of the husband being satisfied
on this iraportant point, he is obliged, as the
Africans emphaticaUy express It, "to give her
chalk" — that is to say, he sprinkles her over the
head, neck, shoulders, and breast with a thick
powdering of white chalk, and sends her through
the streets, accompanied by a train of singing
damsels, who proclaim the praises and the honour
of the young bride. But if he brings a palaver
to the famUy — that is, if he accuse them of having

196 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
passed off upon him a girl hot a virgin, then he is
entitled, if his accusation be found correct, to a
restitution of the money expended in dowry to his
wife, as weU as the ordinary expenses attending the
marriage, and, moreover, he can at once repudiate
her. If there be truth in the accusation, the girl's
family often persuade him to patch up the matter
and hide her shame ; but if it be groundless, he is
eaUed before the elders, by the girl's father, who is
required to produce " the tokens of her virginity."*
This being done to the satisfaction of the judges,
the husband is bound to pay damages for defama
tion, and the girl may if she pleases repudiate him
without being obliged to make restitution of the
dowry. The desire for offspring is particularly strong
among the African woraen, barrenness being con
sidered a great reproach. It is the cause of much
discord between husband and wife, and frequently
leads to separations. Among the higher classes,
a slave girl is generaUy given by the bride's faraily,
to attend upon her in her husband's house. This
slave, in many instances, becomes the concubine of
the husband ; and her mistress, when she has no
* The practice, in cases of this nature, corresponds
exactly with the Mosaical law. — Vide Deuteronomy xxii,
13—22.

THE GOLD COAST. 197
chUdren of her own,'regards the offspring of her
maid as her own progeny.*
Among the poorer classes the man and the
woman soraetiraes Uve together, without any dowry
havhig been paid, or only a single bottle of rura for
the friends to drink upon the occasion. In such
eases, the husband generaUy resides with the faraily
of his wife, and gives his services to eke out the
means of their coraraon subsistence. Owing to
the little community of interest between husband
and wife, to which we have already adverted in our
general view of the construction of society, and
which leads them to consider theraselves indivi
duaUy as members of distinct famiUes, separations
are of frequent occurrence, and easUy raade ; the
vrife, under such circumstances, invariably retuming
with her chUdren to her mother's family.
The causes of this separation are various. If
the husband neglect his wife for a length of time
to bestow his favours upon a rival, or gros,sly mal
treats her, she may leave him without making
restitution of her dowry ;t but if she has become
* Of this we have also instances in the Scriptures, Sarai
and Hagar, Leah and Zilpah, Rachel and BUhah, Hannah
and Peninnah.
t Exodus xxi, 10, 11.

198 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
tired of the connection, and vrishes to leave him
without cause, she is compeUed to repay him the
original dowry paid for her, vrith aU other expenses
and presents, which he raay have made ; and if
she has chUdren, she has to pay him four ackies
and a half (22s. 6d.) for every chUd which she
has bore to him, as a reward for his proper fulfil
ment of the connubial duties. This latter part of
the arrangement is often coraproraised, by the
mother aUowing her sons to remain with their
father ; but in this case he has no pecuniary claim
upon them, and cannot sell or pawn them.
Sometimes, not being able to make restitution
of the expenses made by her husband on her ac
count, she leaves her chUdren in pawn to him for
the amount; and they are obliged to serve him,
until this sum, with 50 per cent of interest, has
been made good. From causes like this, chUdren
have often become pawns and slaves in their
father's house for life, and have descended as such
to those who have succeeded him in the famUy
inheritance. Connubial infideUty is punished by
fine or damages awarded to the husband, which
vary according to the rank of the individual froni
£1 to £10 ; and where polygamy prevaUs to such
an extent, such a crime is of frequent occur-

THE GOLD COAST. 199
rence. Indeed, many husbands make a trade of
the fraUty of their wives, and encourage them in
their infidelity. But if the wife and the adulterer
should prefer to live together, the latter may obtain
her as his wife, by the payment of the husband's
expenses on her account, without any additional
compensation for the injury.
This arrangement, however, stiU leaves the vrife
liable to her new husband for this sum ; and she
cannot separate from him without making restitu
tion. Even the death of the wife does not release
her famUy from the debt of the dowry, which has
either to be repaid, to the husband, or another wife
substituted by them In her place, upon whom the
same debt in like manner devolves. And as her
famUy are not released by her death ; so neither is
she at Uberty to retum to them upon the death of
her husband, Unless she can pay to his successor
the' debt of dowry, she is compeUed to become his
wife also. The brother thus frequently becomes
the husband of a brother's wife, or a nephew of
his uncle's, according to the order of succession.
A decent interval, however, is aUowed to elapse
before this second marriage is consummated, and
sometiraes the successor does not not seem in
clined to marry her at aU ; but if another should
have intercourse with her in the raeantime.

200 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
damages are exacted as if she had been reaUy
married.* It is thus seen, that the wife in this part of
Africa is regarded by the husband in the light of
a pawn or pledge for the repayment of the money
given to her famUy as dowry ; and when we con
sider with what great facility the husband can add
to the araount of the original debt, by other ex
penses incurred either by his vrife or chUdren, we
readily perceive the very enslaring nature of the
raarriage contract. We have been thus particular
in describing the laws regulating marriage, as it
will afford the reader an opportunity of seeing how
deep are the foundations of African slavery, since
they are consequent upon the very propagation of
the race.
A curious custom, originating in the super
stitious belief of the people, prevaUs among them,
in reference to a girl after conception. As soon as
it becomes generaUy apparent that she is with
child, her friends and neighbours set upon her,
and drive her to the sea, pelting her vrith mud,
* By a reference to the thirty-eighth chapter of Genesis,
the reader has a good illustration of this -practice ; and
even in the meeting of Judah with his daughter-in-law,
Tamar, he has before him an account of circumstance
which might occur any day upon the coast of Africa.

THE GOLD COAST. 201
and covering her with dust. During this operation
they abuse her vehemently ; and conclude the
ceremony by tumbling her over among the waves.
She returns unmolested to her house; and the
Fetishwoman binds charms of strings and parrot's
feathers about her wrists, ankles, and neck, mut
tering a dark speU aU the whUe, to keep away bad
luck and evU spirits. Without passing through
this ordeal, they believe that her chUdbirth would
be unfortunate.
It is considered very disgraceful to utter any
cry of impatience during the pains of labour. The
African mother must endure the pangs of nature
with a stoical indifference, if she would not incur
the taunts and reproaches of her neighbours.
Upon those occasions, they make use of stools,
such as were employed by the Hebrew and
Egyptian women of old, and are generaUy sur
rounded by a crowd of visitors.
After chUdbirth, the mother remains unclean for
seven days ; and continues " in the blood of her
purification," for even a longer period than was
prescribed by the Levitical law. After the first
seven days, during which she can touch nothing
without rendering it unclean, she is perraitted to
attend to ordinary affairs within doors, but she
cannot go from home, or take part in any cere-
" 3

202 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
raony, untU the period of her purification be com
pleted. She then makes her sacrifice and offermgs
to her Fetish, is afterwards dressed out with
extraordinary care, with a profusion of golden
ornaments and rich cloths, and pays visits to her
friends. On these occasions, she is accompanied
by a band of singing women, who sing a song of
thankfulness for her safe delivery. In these songs
they express their gratitude, not only to the Fetish,
but to aU the inhabitants, considering that she is
indebted in part to them for her recovery; for,
inasrauch as no iU-luck had befaUen her, it is
erident that no one had wished her harm or be
witched her, or given her up to the vengeance
of their Fetishes. The very cordial manner in
which they are in the habit of expressing their
thanks to the indiriduals upon whom they make
calls, perfectly conveys the impression, that they
really believe themselves under the greatest obUga
tions for their good-will and forbearance, of which
they have sufficient proofs in the mere absence of
misfortune. Eight days after birth the chUd receives its
name from its father, who proceeds with some
friends to the house of the mother, if she does
not reside in the same house with hiraself, which
rarely is the case at such a time, as she almost

THE GOLD COAST.

203

invariably returns to her mother's house at this
critical juncture. The father and his friends seat
themselves in a circle at the gate of the house.
The chUd is then brought out, and handed to
him. After a short address and blessing, he
bestows a name upon it, caUing it generaUy after
some deceased relation, or some particular friend
StiU living, who assists at the ceremony, which
consists in squirting a little rum from his mouth
into the child's face. Libations are then poured
out to the Fetish to propitiate his favour for the
chUd, and the christening concludes with a jubUee
among the friends. In addition to this narae,
however, the chUd takes another from the moment
of its birth, derived from the day of the week on,
which it was born. These are for :

MALES.

FEMALES.

Sunday

Quashie

Accoossuah.

Monday

Cudjoe

Adjuah.

Tuesday

Quabino

Abnebah.

Wednesday

Quacoe

Eccooah.

Thursday

Quow

Abbah.

Friday

Cofee

Effooah.

Saturday

Quamino

Ambah.

UntU the chUd has arrived at an age to be of
some use to its father in carrying on his occu
pation, whatever it may be, he gives himself very

204 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
little anxiety about its training. He may occa
sionally be seen nursing it, and amusing himself
with its prattle, beguUing an indolent hour in this
manner ; but raore frequently he leaves it entirely
to its mother's care.
f It is thus brought up, principaUy, in the society
of woraen and grown-up people, who place no
restraint upon their conversation on account of
; its presence ; but, on the contrary, speak and act
as if their words and actions could have no effect
upon its raind, and were not understood. It
thus becoraes faraUiar with thoughts, feeUngs,
passions, and actions vrith astonishing precocity,
and frequently startles us as often by its dis
gusting language, indicative of the foul pictures
of life becorae farailiar to its raind, as by its
old-fashioned conceits of worldly wisdom. If the
parents be engaged in agricultural pursuits, in
which the man and the woman alike take a part,
they are always accompanied to their plantations
by their chUd, who has a sraaU hoe placed in
its hand to assist In the labour, at an age when its
^ serrices can be of little moraent. In like raanner,
even before it can handle any irapleraent, it is
carried about everywhere on its raother's back,
seated upon a large bustle, and strapped round
her by her upper garment. Thus roughly cradled.

THE GOLD COAST. 205
it is inured to all weathers and every kind of
hardship, being carried about by the mother,
whether she be engaged in carrying water from
the pond, firewood from the forest, corn or
vegetables to the market — in grinding her cora,
or in hawking her petty merchandize through
the streets.
This rude nursing is, generaUy speaking, so ^
severe, that a very large per centage of chUdren
die in infancy. Those who escape this fate, ^
undergo a variety of diseases incident to their
mode of nurture, and until the ages of five or six
years, their health seldom appears confirmed. A
woman has seddora raore than six or seven chUdren,
although we have known instances of as raany as
a dozen ; but the average does not, at aU events,
exceed five, and of these, perhaps, no more than
two or three arrive at maturity.
If the father be a fisherraan, his chUd Is to be
seen at sea with hira in his fraU canoe, and
handling a paddle, which he has as yet scarcely
the strength to lift. Indeed, no sooner are the
senses of the chUd awakened to the realities of Ufe,
than it becomes initiated into aU the practical
concerns which occupy the very Uraited attention
of the parents ; and as these are confined to the
necessities, habits, and customs of a very simple

\

206 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
and primitive mode of Ufe, its education is readUy
and almost intuitively acquired.
Marriage takes place at an early age. The
enjoyments of the African being chiefly of an
animal nature, he delivers himself up to the
gratification of his passions, unrestrained by any
considerations except those of an irresolute pru
dence, which forms but a fraU safeguard for
rirtue. Their frequent dances and merry-makings
in the streets on moonUght nights, their often-
recurring seasons of Fetish festirities, and their
nightly serenadings, in aU of which the raales and
females indiscriminately take a part, afford oppor
tunities of forming Zzaisons which often disconcert
the bestrlaid matrimonial schemes. There is in
deed a freemasonry among the young, which
begets a mutual understanding, which laughs at
bolts and bars and aU manner of restrictions, and
compresses, into a few stolen moments, the sorrow
ful tale of kindred hearts.
It has sometimes been remarked, that the
Africans are insensible to the tender passion, or
that with them it merely amounts to instinctive
indulgence. We by no means agree with this
view of the case. Their love may, it is true,
be unaccorapanied by the roraance, and sentiment,
and refineraent, which form the great charm

THE GOLp COAST. 207
of European attachments and of poetical descrip
tion ; but it is frequently distinguished by an
order and a constancy full of distracting fears
and doubts, and seeks its gratification, regardless
of the greatest sacrifices. The African rashes
into battle, shouting the name of his lady-love
to inspire him to deeds of daring ; the canoeman
gives additional vigour to the stroke of his paddle
at the mention of her name ; the weary hammock-
bearer plucks up a new spirit through the same aU-
powerfiil speU, and the solitary wayfarer beguUes
the tediousness of his journey by a song in her
praise. WhUe seated round our watch-fires at
AppoUonia, we have frequently Ustened with a
pleased attention to the fond pictures of home
and love, on which their imaginations were wont
to dwell, caUing up ideas of increased fondness
and attachment on the part of sweethearts and
vyives, frora the dangers which they had encoun
tered, the prevaUing sentiraent in the minds of
the speakers being that of the swarthy Moor,
" She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I loved her, that she did pity them."
The obstacles thrown in the way of the union
of lovers, occasionaUy lead to very disastrous con
sequences. We wiU raention an instance of this

208 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
kind which occurred sorae years ago. An attach
ment sprung up between two young people,
residing in the village of Aissam, in the Fantee
country. The girl was a pawn of her lover's
father, who could not be persuaded to aUow them
to raarry. He could not prevent thera, however,
from cherishing a mutual passion in secret, which
they were not sufficiently prudent to conceal from
public notice. Reports of their too great Intimacy
reached his ears, and he determined to put an end
to the annoyance by espousing the girl himself.
His son earnestly reraonstrated with him upon
the cruelty of his conduct, declared the vdolence
and sincerity of his passion, which it was impos
sible for him to overcome, and predicted the
misery which must attend such an union.
The poor girl entreated him vrith tears and
prayers ; but he remained obdurate, and made use
of the power of a master to bend thera to his will.
This Ul-oraened raarriage was at length consum
mated ; but the spirit of jealousy which took pos
session of the husband, made it the fruitful source
of raisery to him. Every look and action of the
wife were misconstrued. It was gall and worm
wood to him to see her speak to his son, and the
loving glances of mutual inteUigence, which they
knew not how to hide, were requited with great

THE GOLD COAST. 209
harshness and cmelty. It did not appear that
any improper intercourse had taken place between
the lovers ; but the jealous fears of the husband
would not allow him to believe them innocent.
He persecuted his wife with great bitterness, and
at last stripped her of her garments, and turned
her out into the streets to be the laugh and scoff
of her neighbours.
This treatment was raore than she could bear.
She went to her lover, reproached him as being
the cause of her great misery, and besought him,
swearing a great oath by the chiefs of the country,
by Sir Charles M'Carthy and by the Fetish, to put
an end to her sorrows and her raisery, by shooting
her, and afterwards kUlIng hiraself. Highly ex
asperated, at seeing the state to which the object
of his affections was reduced, and giving way in an
evU raoraent, to the influence of the passions which
had so long been consuraing him, he rushed into
his house, seized his musket, and shot the wretched
girl through the heart. He then took a knife and
cut his own throat; but the wound not being
mortal, he was brought to the hospital at Cape
Coast, where he recovered only to be tried for the.
raurder, and afterwards to be hanged — a fate,
perhaps, scarcely raerited, when we consider the
aggravated nature of the feeUngs under which he

210 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
committed the rash act. It ended the miseries of
a life for ever clouded by the gloomy horrors of an
unfortunate attachment.
Another -rictim of the laws, which regulate the
system of huraan pawns, was guilty of a shocking
murder, the result also of outraged affection.
Haring incurred a debt, he undertook to place his
wife and chUd in pawn to his creditor, prorided he
was not able to pay it by a certain day. As the
time approached, and he saw no means of satisfying
the demands upon him, without the fulfilment of
his cmel agreement, he shrank from the thought
of giving over into the custody of another, those
who were naturaUy so dear to him. Under the
influence of the harrowed feelings, to which this
idea gave rise, he stabbed his vrife and chUd, and
then laid violent hands upon himself.
The fame of Adjuah Amissah, a native of Cape
Coast, is stiU kept fresh in the raeraory of the
natives, by the songs which they sing in honour of
her death. People are stUl alive, who remember
the great beauty which hurried her to an early
grave. She became the object of a devouring
passion on the part of a young man of Cape
Coast. Her relations, considering that her charms
authorized thera to expect a better aUiance, refused
to admit his addresses. This rejection so preyed

THE GOLD COAST. 211
upon the mind of the disappointed lover, that his
life became insupportable, and he determined to
sacrifice himself to his passion. He resolved, how
ever, that Adjuah Amissah's famUy should dearly
rue having spurned his suit, and in the spirit of
an inextinguishable vengeance he shot himself,
attributing his death to his unrequited love, and
invoking his famUy to retaliate it upon his
murderess. It is the principle of the Fantee law, to risit the
cause of such a calamity with a simUar retribution,
and when a person puts himself to death, " upon
the head of another," as they express it — that is,
attributes the cause of his act to another's conduct
— that other is required to undergo a like fate. The
famUy of the unhappy girl endeavoured to avert
this fate by offering to pay a large sum in gold ;
but nothing but her death would satisfy the
vengeance of the youth's relations, and they ap
pealed to the native authorities to vindicate their
laws. AU the mercy which could be extended to
Adjuah Amissah, was to aUow her a few days to
laraent with her friends her untimely end, and to
have a silver buUet put into the musket with
which she was compeUed to deprive herself of life.
She employed the few days of respite, in singing

212 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
with her young friends her farewell dirge, and com
pleted the cruel sacrifice by shooting herself
These instances wUl show, that the love of the
African is more than a raere aniraal instinct.
Both men and women are at the greatest pains to
render theraselves mutuaUy agreeable to each other.
With this view, they decorate themselves with much
care, and indulge freely in the greatest coquetry.
They frequently exchange love tokens, and watch
over the objects of their affection vrith a jealous
eye. Contentions about a lover are of frequent
occurrence, and lead to much strife and litigation.
Amours are often carried on secretly, without the
knowledge of relatives ; but if a man betrays a
virgin, he is compeUed to marry her or to pay the
price of her dowry, if the parents wiU not consent
to the marriage.*
Women are considered unclean at particular
periods, and are not aUowed to touch anything In
the house, or to approach their husbands. If they
should accidentally transgress this law, they are
subjected to heavy penalties. In sorae parts of the
* Exodus xxii, 16, "And if a man entice a maid that is
not betrothed, he shall surely endow her to be his wife."
17, "If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he
shall pay money according to the dowry of rirgins.''

THE GOLD COAST. 213
country, and especiaUy at Dixcove, they are not
aUowed to come into the house, or even to the
town ; smaU huts being erected for them in the
bush, where they remain until the period of puri
fication. Circumcision is practised amongthe natives of
Accra. This rite is perforraed about the age of
twelve or thirteen, the tirae observed by the
descendants of Ishraael. They can give no other
account of the origin of this practice, than that
it had always been the custora of their an
cestors. The cereraonies observed upon occasions of
death occupy a large portion of their attention.
In view of this event, the head of a faraily sura
mons around his death-bed his relations. He in
structs thera about the state of his affairs, and
how his property was acquired, and how to be dis
posed of. He Is raost particular to furnish thera
vrith proofs respecting the acquisition of his pawns
and slaves, raentions the names of the witnesses
to the transactions, the circurastances under which
they took place, and the suras paid for thera, in
order that his successor may be enabled to defend
his rights, in the event of their attempting to ob
tain their liberty or rederaption at the death of
their raaster. He also recounts the names of his

214 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
debtors, vrith the sums which they owe to him, as
weU as the debts which he owes to others.* His
death-bed declarations, made in the presence of
responsible witnesses, are always received as evi
dence in the event of litigation afterwards. Hav
ing made these arrangements, he calmly resigns
himself to death, apparentiy unconcerned ahout a
future state.
No sooner has the breath left the body than a
loud waiUng laraentation is heard proceeding from
the house. The woraen rush into the streets with
disordered dress and disheveUed hair, and utter
wUd sobbings and bursts of grief. There is some
thing pecuUarly heart-rending in the mournfid
accents of their voices. We have seen a
mother suddenly bereaved of her chUd per
fectly frantic with despair, violentiy beating her
breast, and uttering such sharp agonizing screams,
as the most acute bodily suffering could alone
seem fit to eUcit. The sting of a serpent, or the
appUcation of some horrible instrament of torture,
* Tlie manner in which Jacob on his death-bed instructs
his sons respecting the nature of their right to the cave in
the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the
field of Ephron the Hittite, from the chUdren of Heth, is
an exceUent iUustration of the custom upon the Gold Coast.
— Vide Genesis xlix, 28, 32.

THE GOLD COAST. 215
could not produce more excruciating distortions
than we behold them suffering, whUe writhing
imder the first stroke of their bereavement. Nature
cannot long endure this vehemence of grief, and
graduaUy they subside into a low monotonous
dirge, broken by painful fits of sobbing and fresh
bursts of uncontrollable anguish. Sometimes they
lie low on the ground, unconsciously paddling vrith
their fingers in the dust, and moistening it with
their tears, without any interruption to their low
monotonous waU.
Again they wander through the streets, regard
less of every person about them, and entirely
absorbed in their grief, which they vent In a loud,
sorrowful, and soraetimes defiant tone, as if they
dared any one to gainsay their right to be perfectly
miserable. The African seems to understand weU
the hopelessness of administering consolation, untU
the first paroxysm of grief be past. They pity
and respect the raourner, but never obtmde a
word of syrapathy or corafort untU the first natural
irapulse of the heart has had time to assuage
itself The repose of night is often startled by the
mourners thus going about the street ; and whUe
those on whom the affliction presses most hearily
are delivering themselves up to the unrestrained

216 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
expression of their sorrow, other relations are
washing the corpse, and preparing it for the
funeral obsequies. It is dressed out with great
care in the richest robes of the deceased, and
adorned with a variety of golden ornaments and
beads. Thus appareUed, it is then propped up In
a chair or sofa, and is ready to receive the risits
of those who come to do the honours of its burial.
Spirits and food are placed upon a table before it,
and a close observation is necessary to satisfy one
that Ufe is extinct, so closely do the arrangements
resemble the ordinary occasions of show and fes
tivity, which he was wont to observe in his life
time. Relations, friends, and neighbours crowd to the
house of mourning, and consider it necessary on
their near approach to join in the universal wail,
They speak to and address the dead, sometimes in
accents of reproach for leaving them ; at others,
beseeching his spirit to watch over and protect
them from evU. It is chiefly women who fiU the
chamber of death. The men generally seat them
selves outside, and until the fimeral custom is
commenced, take no very active part in the pro
ceedings ; but the feraales, whether relatives or
not, are very loud in their laraentations, and appa
rently deeply affected by the event. They appear

THE GOLD CO.\ST. 217
to have at ready command an abundant supply of
tears, which stream down their cheeks without
interraission whUe they continue in the house, but
which give place to smiles and laughter and the
greatest unconcern as soon as they have turned
their backs upon the scene.
It is customary for friends and acquaintances to
bring presents to the relations of the deceased, to
assist thera in perforraing the funeral ceremonies
in a becoming manner. These presents consist of
gold, rura, cloths, and' powder; and the more
wealthy add fowls, a sheep, or a goat, and sorae
tiraes a bullock. Each succeeding party, as it
arrives, coraraences a rapid discharge, of mus
ketry, accorapanied by the beating of drums and
dancing ; and having expended their ammunition,
they take up their station in the yard of the house,
or in some convenient place near it selected for the
purpose, and join in the songs, the dances, and
general festivity which mark the occasion. These
saturnalia often last for days and weeks, and are
attended with scenes of great drunkenness and
confusion. They represent that they are intended
to distract the minds of the mourners, and. to
deaden the irapression of grief; but we often hear,
in the midst of all this noise, the waUing accents
of the real raourner, who, seated in some obscure

218 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
comer of the house, pours forth a continuous
dirge, descriptive of the heavy loss sustained, of
the good quaUties of the deceased, and of the help
lessness of those left behind, deprived of his pro
tection. There is often much beauty and simplicity of
feeUng expressed in these unpremeditated songs.
A grave is dug in the floor of one of the rooms of
the house ; and here the body, laid in a coffin, with
rich cloths, gold trinkets and aggery beads, with
rum and tobacco, and soraetiraes a considerable
araount of valuables. Is finally deposited. Sacrifices
of sheep and bullocks, and fowls, are raade over
the grave. The more iraraediate relatives of the
deceased are in the habit of sharing aU the hair
frora their heads and persons, and of perforraing a
long and painful fast. It is soraetiraes with diffi
culty that they can be induced to have recourse to
food again at aU. They are rendered unclean by
the touch of a dead body, and raay be seen going
in procession to the sea, as soon as the grave has
been closed, to sprinkle theraselves vrith water,
which is their process of purification.
Widows generally keep the house for raany
weeks after the death of their husbands, and raain
tain a constant watch over the grave. During this
time, they neglect their persons, and partake raost

THE GOLD COAST. 219
sparingly of food. On the day after the custom is
at end, the relations of the deceased, dressed out in
mourning cloths of dark blue baft, go round the
streets, singing a song of thanks to the people for
their assistance at the fiineral, and caUIng for a few
moments at the houses of more intimate acquaint
ances, to thank them more particularly. It Is
considered unfortunate if a raan approach a widow
before she has performed certain Fetish cereraonies
and sacrifices, which are supposed to have the
power of reraoring the ill-luck, and which seldora
take place until raany months after the death of
the husband. Whoever transgresses in this point,
is doomed to raisfortune. He Is sure, they think,
to die in battle, to be drowned at sea, or to mis
carry in whatever he takes in hand.
AU these troublesome and ceremonious observ
ances attending the obsequies of the dead, occupy-
a very large portion of the time of the people, and
in seasons of great sickness and death they appear
to an observer to have Uttie else to occupy their
attention. They are also a fruitful source of debt
and slavery. Let the consequences be what they
wUl, it is deeraed a point of honour to make a
great show at their funeral customs, and they vie
with each other In perforraing these expensive
burials. Even the poorest wUl pawn and enslave

220 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
themselves to obtain the means of burying a
relation decently, according to the ideas of the
country. The expense faUs upon the heir of the
deceased, who is often obUged to raise the funds
by pawning some of his relations, which the laws
of the country aUow him to do, as head and
raaster of the faraily.
Considerable suras are received in presents at
the tirae of the funeral, but these are often con
sumed at the festivity. At aU events, they are
seldora a source of gain, as it is expected that the
receiver wiU raake siraUar presents to the donor
upon the occasion of death in his family. The
African has a strong desire to lay his bones among
those of his own kindred, and dead bodies are
frequently brought from long distances to be
buried in the family house. On the approach also
¦^f a mortal Ulness, many strive to reach their
horaes to die among their friends. In many of
the towns of Fantee, when a stranger or passing
traveller dies among thera, the inhabitants seldom
bury hira. The body is placed upon a wooden
platforra outside the town, with any property
which he raay have, to be clairaed by his relations.
If these be known to the natives of the town in
which he dies, they are sent to and informed of
the circumstance ; but if they be not known, the

THE GOLD COAST. 221
body is aUowed to wither and consurae in the
open air.
This custom does not take its rise from any super
stition, or from want of respect to the dead ; but froni
fear of the consequences attending his interment.
The Fantee laws render the person who defrays the
burial of the deceased responsible for his debts, and
it is the dread of incurring this responsibility which
leads to the barbarity of the exposure of the corpse.
The operation of this law often brings heavy liabi
lities upon surriring relatives, in addition to the raere
funeral expenses, as in many instances the defunct
leaves little or no property behind hira to raeet the
debts which raay be brought against hira, and
which his nearest of kin is bound to pay. To
avoid this liability, where the debts of the deceased
are great, and his property nothing, the relations
carry a small present to the authorities of the
town, and deliver the body to thera for interraent.
This forras a legal discharge frora his debts ; but
it is not frequently had recourse to, as great dis
grace is attached to any faraily who thus decUnes
to bury their dead, and they prefer to Incur debt, and
even slavery to this reproach. The custoras for the
dead are not confined to the period of his decease.
If his heir be wealthy, they are renewed at stated
intervals and with increasing porap.

222 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
At a certain period of each year, about the
season of eating new yams, a general remembrance
of the dead is observed throughout the land. We
have been startled at a very early hour of the day
set apart for this purpose, by the waUings and
lamentations proceeding from every house. They
commence the day by devoting a short portion of
it to mourning for those who have died during the
year, and their grief appears as loud and natural
as on the first day of their loss. Members of a
famUy corae frora a great distance to join in this
observance. After they have sufficiently testified
their sorrow by their cries and tears, the whole of
the raerabers of each famUy unite together, and
proceed to their place of sepulture. They seat
themselves around the grave, sorae on stools,
others on the ground. They then address the
spirits of the deceased, praying of thera to accept
their offerings, to guard the faraUy frora misfor
tune, and to bless and prosper thera.
Old people record the good qualities of some
ancestor, and urge the young to adopt him as a
pattern for their conduct. They then pour out a
libation of rura upon the grave, and strew it vyith
corn-bread mixed with oU. After this they give
themselves up to a day of festivity, dressing them
selves In their finest clothes, and receiring and

THE GOLD COAST. 223
returning calls. Upon such an occasion the towns
upon the coast present a scene of great excitement.
The chiefs come out in their greatest state, and are
carried through the streets in their basket palan
quins, attended by crowds of very gaudily-attired
retainers, who sing and dance, and beat their
tora-toras. Old and young alike join in the
general gaiety. They forra theraselves into smaU
bands for the most part related to each other, and
pass slowly round the streets, singing songs and
dancing. They intermit this occupation to visit
the houses of their friends, where they are generaUy
regaled with spirits.
The great variety of costume, their showy
colours, the rich dresses of the chiefs, their silver-
beaded canes, the large gold handles of their
swords, their picturesque umbreUas, the lithe
figures and sparkling glances of the deUghted
dancers, the rarapant joy of the little chUdren
astonished at their finery, the contrast of their
dark skins with the rainbow colours of their dresses,
the wild cadence of their songs, the warlike sound
of their horns, their noisy but stirring drums, and
the confused hubbub of bewUdered joy which seems
to pervade the whole, form altogether such a cora
bination as cannot be witnessed without a strange
astonishraent. The European residents who do

224 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
not choose to close their doors against them are
expected to receive their visits on this occasion.
No sooner has one party been admitted, than
others arrive ih quick succession. They enter
the house, often singing the praises of the person
whora they corae to visit, and whora they approach
with a bold confidence, in curious contrast with
the distant and alraost fearful respect which they
are wont to observe on other occasions. One
sentiment of universal gladness appears to level
all distinctions, and to place aU ranks for one day
upon a footing of happy equality. They eagerly
press forward to shake hands, are profuse in their
expressions of regard, of thankfulness to God and
the Fetish for preserving the white man to see
another year, offer prayers for his continued health
and happiness, for an increase to his riches, and
the blessings of peace in his time ; and having
performed a dance in honour of him, they retire in
the same merry spirit to give place to new visitors.
During such extraordinary scenes of a total aban
donment of a whole people, to what raay be caUed
a reUgious joy, incurabent on aU by the rules of
their Fetish worship, it .is not perhaps to be
wondered at, that the day does not close without
indications of a very general inebriety. It is rare,
however, to hear of any quarrels during their

THE GOLD COAST. 225
excesses upon this occasion ; good-wUl everywhere
prevails, and the hearts of aU appear so steeped
in the overflowing of an exuberant joy, as to be
incapable of harbouring an unkind or an ungene
rous thought of another. This avoidance of strifes
and contentions is so different to their conduct on
ordinary occasions of festivity, that we cannot help
attributing it to a sense of the religious nature of
this festival.
In the account which we have given of their
funeral customs, we have not adverted to the
practice of huraan sacrifices, as it is no longer
foUowed, throughout the whole of the extensive
districts at present enjoying British protection. In
Ashantee, Dahoraey, and until lately, in AppoUonia,
a frightful sacrifice of huraan life often takes place
upon these occasions. The authorities at our forts
get their first intiraation of the death of men of
rank In Ashantee, from runaway slaves, who have
raade their escape from these terrible immolations,
and who do not consider themselves safe untU they
have placed themselves under the protection of our
flag. Upon the death of a king, scarcely any one is
safe, as his relations and executioners rush into the
streets and slay every one they meet. Their only
protection is to remain within their houses, which

226 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
are not violated to gratify this bloodthirsty impulse.
In Fantee, the people are now satisfied to content
themselves with the sacrifice of sheep and buUocks,
and they make up for the diminished consequence
of their sacrifices, by the noise and extravagance
of their loud discharges of musketry. The practice
of firing guns at burials must have arisen from an
attempt to imitate the custom of Europeans at their
mUitary funerals. It is now, however, perfectly,
incorporated with their own ideas of befitting respect
for the dead. The quantity of powder expended
on these occasions is sometiraes enorraous ; and
nothing can exceed the noisy confusion of such a
scene. Upon the occasion ofthe death of Mr. Maclean in
1 847, the town of Cape Coast, for the long period
of fourteen days, presented the appearance of a
continued cannonade. AU kind of business was
suspended. Day by day new parties arrived from
distant parts of the country, who, taking up a
position In front of the castle gate, continued for
hours their loud discharges of rausketry; and
even months after, upon the arrival of any chief
from the Interior, who had not risited Cape Coast
since his death, he considered it necessary before
attending to any other business, to pay this last
mark of respect to his old governor.

THE GOLD COAST. 227

CHAPTER IX.
Modifications introduced into the native laws and customs by
the English magistrates — Certificates of emancipation —
Alterations in the law of marriage — Difficulties attending
the question of slavery — Mode of proceeding in reference
to runaway slaves — Recruiting — Commotion excited by
the enlistment of slaves — Major HiU's prudent conduct
—A slave's idea of emancipation — Practice pursued in
reference to Ashantee runaways — The King's regard for
oaths — Condition of the slave — His instinctive obedience
— Causes of severity — The Donko — His inferiority to the
Fantee — Extent of the internal slave trade — System of
pawning — Summary of the African character — Resem
blance between the state of society on the Gold Coast
and the accounts given in the Scriptures of the nations
of antiquity.
From the account given of the custoras and the
social condition of the people in the two preceding
chapters, in which we have described them in their
natural state, without adverting to the great modi
fications which European influence is now rapidly

228 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
effecting, the reader wiU have Uttle difficulty in
perceiving the very enslaving nature of their insti
tutions. He wUl also understand how hopeless
raust be their sudden eraancipation, seeing that
slavery is no abnormal developraent, but a natural
and spontaneous growth. Many circurastances in
their condition, both externaUy and internaUy, have
tended to aggravate its nature, and raultiply its
forras. Among these, the export slave trade
deserves a pre-erainent notoriety, as it fostered, if
it did not originate, that spirit of lawless acqui
sition which placed the weak entirely at the mercy
of the strong, who knew no raercy. But its total
suppression along that line of coast, and the araell-
orating influence of a raore huraane administration
of justice, and of a consequent increased and
increasing consideration for the rights of indi
viduals, have checked Its violent lawlessness, and
raodified its natural severity, as weU as extin
guished raany of the sources of slavery, and opened
a way for the rederaption of all who can be roused
to seek their freedom by their ov^m industrious
exertions. Scarcely a day passes that the English magis
trates are not caUed upon to exaraine into the
validity of a raaster's right to the persons held in
slavery by him. These cases are brought into
court by a suramons Issued at the instance of the

THE GOLD COAST. 229
slave. An investigation is made into the nature
of the master's right, which is often found to be
invalid ; in which case the slave is unconditionaUy
emancipated. But if the master's title to him be
valid, according to the laws of the country — that
is, if he can prove that a money value was paid for
himself or his ancestors — then the slave is obUged
to pay a rederaption price for his freedora. The
ordinary araount paid in such cases is two ounces
of gold (£8).
Certificates of freedora are given under the hand
of the raaglstrate, which are treasured up with a
jealous care, to be produced in after tiraes, when
any attempt is raade by the raaster or his heir to
resume his alleged right, which they soraetimes do
upon the death or absence from the coast of the
magistrate before whom the case was decided.
These certificates have an additional value in their
estimation, as they are considered to place the indi
viduals holding them under the more imraediate
guardianship of the government, which effectually
protects them from imposition and oppression.
The writer has, during a long period of magisterial
duties, had occasion to grant sorae thousands of
these, and has found them to be, with rare excep
tions, a very efficient safeguard. It may be that
the redemption price has not been in all cases paid
by the person redeemed, and that he is not entirely

230 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
reUeved from a state of servitude. His relations
often advance the raoney, which lays hira under
obligations to thera, which he can only requite by
his services ; or a new master raay have been
induced, upon proraise of his obedience, to do the
sarae good office for hira. But as his eraancipation
from slavery has been effected, his new obligations
merely amount to a common debt.
EngUsh interference is also putting an end to
the enslavement going on through the laws regu
lating raarriage, by disaUowing the repayment of
the dowry, and the expenses incurred during co
habitation, in aU cases except where the wife leaves
the husband vrithout just cause. The protection
also given against accusations of witchcraft, the
extortions of the Fetishmen, the rapacity and injus
tice of the native tribunals, and an exorbitant usury,
is fast closing up the avenues of very fiTutfiil
sources of slavery. The effect of missionary teach
ing is also exercising a beneficial influence in
restraining the customs for the dead; whUe the
spirit of improveraent, which education and com
mercial enterprize have evoked, is directing nurabers
to the means of independence.
At the present tirae, the Gold Coast essentiaUy
exhibits aU the symptoms of progress in every
phase of its existence. There is a vitaUty of change
diffusing its innuraerable currents throughout every

THE GOLD COAST. 231
class of society, and giving expansion and force to
an entirely new class of ideas, affecting the moral,
religious, social, and domestic condition ofthe people.
A taste for many of the European necessaries and
luxuries of life, and a partial assimUation in the
construction of their houses, in dress, in manners,
and in religion, are becoming daUy more observable ;
and even where little external change is perceptible,
there is nevertheless going on an extensive modi
fication of ideas, feelings, and customs, paving the
way for a raore general conformity to the usages of
cirilized Ufe.
This infusion of new ideas and desires has effected
a very marked improveraent in the habits of the
people, serving as an invigorating principle of action,
and substituting activity for idleness, and habits of
useful industry for idle raurameries and barbarous
arauseraents. If no interruption be given to the
gradual advanceraent thus hopefuUy coraraenced,
their social elevation wiU be rapid and continuous,
but we must carefully guard against any rash inno
vations, and trust their development more to the
influence of the progress of opinion, than to com
pulsory enactments. On more than one occasion,
our influence has been greatly endangered by a
threatened interference with the state of slavery
existing araong thera. This is the question about

232 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
which we have to apprehend the greatest difficulties.
Our colonial authorities in Downing Street appear
to shrink from the very mention of the word slave
by one of their governors, and have scarcely ever
been induced to look the difficulty fairly in the face.
The consequence has been that a species of timid
disavowed poUcy has been pursued by our Gold
Coast governors in reference to this subject. Our
settleraents appear to be regarded, as far as this
question is concerned, as entirely British territory,
and subject to British law, without ever taking into
account that the British authorities are exercising a
raost beneficial influence over at least a miUion of
natives occupying a most extensive range of coun
try. Our governors are instructed not to deUver
runaway slaves, who are supposed to recover their
liberty as soon as they reach a British fort, and no
slaves are supposed to exist within our jurisdiction.
No one, who has read the account which has been
given of the state of slavery in the country, can
believe in the possibility of a sudden emancipation
without the total disruption of society and universal
anarchy. If the governor is to countenance the
slave in renouncing his obedience to his raaster, hy
harbouring hira, where is he to find an asylum for
hira, or how support him ? for it is only within the
waUs of our forts that we could shield hira from his

THE GOLD COAST. 233
master ; and if this asylum were opened for all the
discontented slaves in the country. It would be an
utter ImpossibUity to find roora to contain thera,
or to provide means for their subsistence. In con
sequence ofthe great squeamishness upon this point,
our governors have been obliged to grapple with
the difficulty as they best could, without entering
into any detaUs in their coramunications to the
Colonial Office.
The plan hitherto adopted has been to examine
into the slave's complaint against his master, and
if the treatraent which he has received should
appear to have been very bad, he receives a certifi
cate of his liberty, and pubUc opinion assents to this
decision, as only a proper check upon the severity
of a cruel master. But if, as is more generally the
case, his coraplaint be frivolous, he is restored to his
master, who gives security for his kind treatment
of hira. Were certificates of eraancipation given to
every slave who chose to run away, the natives
generaUy would throw off their aUegiance, cut off
aU intercourse with our settleraents, and punish
the disobedience of slaves in a very suraraary way —
by putting them to death. Slaves are the only
property of raany people in the country, and no
reasoning can convince thera that the forcible taking
of them away is not as much a theft and a rob-

234 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
bery, as if they were deprived of their value in
gold. In consequence of this state of slavery, the
present governor. Major HiU, has had many diffi
culties to encounter in raising a local corps of three
hundred men. It was only frora the class of slaves
that he could expect to get his recruits. Many of
these carae to the castle for enlistraent, and the
governor, in pursuance of his instructions, refused
to deUver them up to their masters.
A great commotion was excited in the country
by this proceeding, which was on the point of
bringing the governor into hostUe coUision with the
people. The chiefs promised to produce the
requisite nuraber of raen, prorided the governor
would stop his enlistment, and they seemed pre
pared to run all hazards to defend their rights.
Major HIU acted with great pradence upon the
occasion, and prevented an insurrection, to which
the forcible defiant execution of his instmctions
must inevitably have led. But he was obliged to
wink at an arrangement made between the recruit
and his late master, by which the latter was to
receive monthly a portion of the pay untU the sum
of £8, the price of his redemption, should be
made good. If such a feeling was excited
about the enlistment of a few recruits, whom they
acknowledged to be necessary for the purposes of

THE GOLD COAST. 235
government, and employed for their own protec
tion, it is not difficult to imagine the effect of a
sweeping measure of emancipation, or even the
non-recognition of their right to hold slaves. It
was not so rauch against the individual loss that
they contended. Even those who were not injured
by the enlistraent were as loud in their coraplaints
as those who sustained this loss. They were con
tending for a principle which affected the whole
frarae-work of society, and which nothing short of
an irresistible corapulsion could have induced them
to renounce. Nor, adraitting the possibility of
upholding the slaves in a renunciation of their ser
vitude, should we, in their present priraitive state,
consider it conducive either to their moral or social
advancement. The control of a master is necessary to re
strain men within the Umits of order essential to
the preservation of society, until their faculties
and pursuits have been sufficiently developed to
enable thera to feel their self-interest to consist in
honest industry, and in the observance of the laws
which regulate the comraunity of which they form
a part. Most of the criraes at present comraitted on the
Gold Coast are perpetrated by vagabonds, who
have absconded frora their masters, and who live

236 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
by theft and plunder; and the only excuse or
extenuation which the criminals themselves give
for their conduct Is, that they had no person to
look after them, and support thera.
When Dr. Madden explained to a number of
slaves at Accra, that the English government did
not recognise slavery, and that they were free, they
asked hira to provide for their subsistence; for
unless the queen intended to give thera something
to eat, they would prefer to serve their master who
supplied their wants.
Another difficulty which our Gold Coast go
vernment has to contend against, is the disposal of
runaway slaves from Ashantee. It was stipulated
in our treaties with the king, that his fugitive,
subjects should be re-delivered to him in the same
way that Fantees, flying into his dominions, were
to be restored to the governor. This arrangement
was necessary to prevent raalefactors escaping
punishraent. But in many cases, the runaway
Ashantee seeks a refuge from the fate which is
likely to overtake hira at the raurderous cus
toms which are often taking place at Cooraassie,
and a natural repugnance is, of course, felt about
sun-endering hira.
Our position and power, however, do not enable
us to foUow the course raost consistent with our

THE GOLD COAST. 237
feelings. If we were to refuse to deliver these
runaways, the King of Ashantee would retaUate by
seizing aU the Fantees in his country, where a
large number raay at all tiraes be found prose
cuting their trade. He has also the raeans of
cutting off aU intercourse with his country, a raea
sure which he invariably adopts upon occasions of
misunderstanding with the governor. If redress
were refused, war would be the consequence, a
calaraity in the present hopeful state of progress
which would go far to undo the good which has
been already effected, and which of aU things is
raost anxiously to be avoided. Under these cir
cumstances, the governor is obUged to mediate as
he best can, and refuses to deliver up the runaway,
except upon condition of sufficient security being
given that his life wUl be spared.
Although this restriction raust be gaUing to the
king, yet he is induced to subrait to it, rather than
incur the risk of a doubtful war, into which he and
his chiefs would not hesitate to plunge If such a
vital question as the non-surrender of runaway
slaves were involved in the issue. The security
given for their safety Is siraply " the king's great
oath," taken on his behalf by his raessengers.
There is no Instance known of this oath given under
such circurastances being violated. We reraeraber

-238 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
a case, which wiU show the fearful regard which
the king has for oaths.
Upon appUcation being made for some run
aways, the messengers were required to take the
usual oath before they were surrendered. The
refugees, however, were not satisfied with this
oath alone, and positively refused to return to
Ashantee, unless the king's raessengers would
give additional security for their safety, by " kiss
ing the white raan's book." They did not
hesitate to agree to this, as they were perfectiy
satisfied that the kmg's oath would not be riolated,
and that, therefore, there could be no danger in
kissing the book. But when they returned to
Cooraassie, and the king found that they had
bound him, not only by his own, but also by
the white man's oath, he became alarraed, lest any
accidental injury raight happen to the persons thus
protected, which might bring him under the
penalty of its violation ; and to get rid of the
UabUity, he sent the refiigees back to the Fantee
country, preferring to lose them to the risk of
incurring an unknown danger.
It vriU be thus seen, that both to avoid insur
rection among the Fantees, and the horrors of a
war with Ashantee, the British authorities are
corapeUed to adopt a policy with regard to this

THE GOLD COAST. 239
slave question, which appears never to have been
openly avowed, and which is never brought under
the notice of the Colonial Office without exciting
a feeling of uneasiness, and calling forth a renewed
declaration that slavery cannot be recognized
within our settleraents upon the Gold Coast, thus
throwing back upon the governor the responsi
biUty of its recognition.
We have considered it fair to place this question
fuUy before the public, and to represent it in aU its
breadth and deformity; and we justify the poUcy
pursued, as the only one adapted to the state of
the country, and in every respect the most humane,
and best calculated to promote the weU-being and
advancement of the people. We must look for
the only legitimate extinction of slavery in such a
state of society, to the gradual and extensive diffu
sion of wealth and Christian knowledge, through a
series of successive generations. They are now
fairly entered upon this career, and the only assist
ance we can give, is to protect it from interrup
tion, and to multiply the means of its acceleration.
Each succeeding year wiU render our progress less
difficult, by providing us with an increasingly effi
cient aUy, in the gradual education of the people.
If it be offensive to English ears, to hear that a
slave does enter our forts on the Gold Coast vrith-
o ¦ ¦ ¦' 1-' --- -i-:-!- i^" — laws, the

240 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
very touch of our soU is held to comraunicate, then
raust we relinquish our establishraents in this
country. But if we do not choose to sacrifice
to a proud boast, the power which circum
stances have given us of conferring blessings
of ci-yUization on a benighted and enslaved race,
let us boldly persevere In the course upon which
we have entered, in a firra reUance that Pro
vidence wUl prosper our exertions in so righteous
a cause. The condition of the slaves in the countries
under our protection is by no means one of un
mitigated hardship. In ordinary cases, the slave
is considered as a meraber of his raaster's famUy,
and often succeeds to his property, in default of a
natural heir. He eats with hira frora the same
dish, and has an equal share in aU his simple
enjoyments. He intermarries with his children,
and Is allowed to acquire property of his ovra,
over which, unless under very extraordinary cir
cumstances, his master exercises no control. He
sometimes even acquires wealth and consideration
far superior to his master, who may occasionaUy be
seen sweUing his importance, by foUowing in his
train. They address each other as " my father "
and " ray son," and differ in Uttle in their mutual
relations frora the respect and obedience iraplied in
these endearing epithets.

THE GOLD COAST. 241
We see in the whole of their domestic econoray
a coraplete transcript of the patriarchal age ; the
sarae participation in the cares, and sorrows, and
enjoyraents of life ; the sarae coraraunity of feeling
and of interest ; and the same external equality,
conjoined with a devoted obedience, so marked
and decided, as to assurae the forra of a natural
instinct. This quaUty in the mind of dependants
has a tendency to destroy the idea of personal
accountabUity. The will of the master is in most
instances more than a counterpoise for the volition
of the slave, who yields obedience to his com
mands with an instinctive submission, without
the intervention of any external corapulsion, and
often under circurastances where the natural incli
nation of the slave is opposed to the particular
conduct required of him. Slavery of body and
mind is thus thoroughly engrained in the con
stitution of the African. We have known cases
of murder having been coraraitted at the cora
mand of a master, and against the reraonstrances
of the slave, who however does not refuse com
pliance ; and we have seen how completely the
wiU of the master has been considered the test
of the slave's conscience, by the perfect unconcern
of the latter respecting the deed, and the absence
of any idea of his accountabiUty for it. M

242 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Scarcely would the slave of an Ashantee chief
obey the mandate of his king, without the special
concurrence of his immediate master; and the
slave of a slave wiU refuse obedience to his
master's raaster, unless the order be conveyed
to him through his own raaster. This perfect
identification of the mind of the slave with that
of his raaster has no doubt given rise to the
master's accountability for the acts of his slave,
and to the laws which affect thera. He has to
pay his debts, and to make compensation and
restitution for every injury committed by him,
either wilfuUy or accidentaUy. This responsibUity
raay be a cause of the kind and considerate
treatraent so often observable, the raaster's interest
being so closely involved in the conduct of his
slave, as to render him anxious to attach him
to his person, and to engage his affectionate
obedience. It wUl also account for the isolated
cases of harshness and cruelty which occasionally
corae under our observation, the vindictive slave
having it in his power to cause his master much
annoyance and expense, for which the latter can
only retaliate by corporal suffering. Where this
discordant spirit exists, the master, after repeated
ineffectual attempts to reclaim an incorrigible
slave, gets rid of the annoyance by seUing him.

THE GOLD COAST. 243
There does not appear any limit to the extent
of punishment which a raaster is perraitted to
inflict upon his slave. He is considered so
entirely his property, that he may with impunity
put him to death ; although frora applications for
freedora, on the ground of severe personal injury,
such as the loss of an eye or a tooth, there is
reason to beUeve that, during some period of
their history, the slave was protected by a more
humane code of laws.
We have heard a slave argue for his eman
cipation on the score of the accidental loss of
an eye, in his master's service, from the recoU
of a branch of a tree, and appeal to a tradi
tionary law* which entitles him to this compen
sation. Like the Hebrews, the Fantees make a dis
tinction between the slaves, their countrymen, and
those who have been taken in war, or purchased
from another tribe. The latter, untU they be
come amalgamated by a long period of servitude,
and by intermarriage, do not receive the sarae
considerate treatraent. They are considered an
inferior race, -vrith the ordinary class of whom
* " And if a man smite the eye of his servant, or the eye
of his maid, that it perish, he shall let him go free for his
eye's sake." — Exodus xxi, 26.
M 2

244 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
it Is thought derogatory for the daughters of the
land to intermarry. The burden of the labour of
the country faUs upon thera. Imraense nurabers
of these slaves are being annuaUy iraported into
' the country, through Ashantee, from the countries
near the range of the Kong Mountains. Many
of thera, on their first arrival, raanifest an extraor
dinary degree of stolidity and brutishness, and
exhibit a very low type of inteUect and breeding.
They pass under the general narae of " Donko,"
a word signifying a slave in the language of the
interior, and which, from the great stupidity of
these creatures, has come to be a word of reproach,
' tantamount to " fool." They are naturaUy a very
obstinate, perverse, and self-wUled race, upon
whora it is difficult to make any impression by
kindness. It is very difficult also to coerce them
to labour; and yet, notwithstanding their many
bad quaUties, the Fantees eagerly purchase them
from the Ashantees. They vary in price from
£6 to £8, girls and boys being sold at a con
siderable reduction. They have scars on the
face and person, distinctive of their native tribes;
some with semi-circular lines covering the whole
face, some with a few scarred lines on each cheek,
some with a single raised mark upon the forehead,
and others seamed and scarred over the whole

THE GOLD COAST. 245
of the upper part of their persons. Araong this "i
servant race, we find also a good raany mongrel '
Moors, little superior to the others.
If they arrive in the country at an early age,
they are by no means slow in acquiring knowledge,
and become very useful to their masters, and some
times obtain a consideration equal to the native of
the country, intermarrying with the Fantees, and
becoming raerabers of their farailies. But if the
Donko be grown up before his arrival upon
the coast, he generally remains a duU, stolid beast
of burden aU the days of his Ufe. It is only by
comparing the native Fantee vrith these, that we
are sensible of the very great advancement of the
former, who appears a very cirilized being in com
parison with this foreign race. And yet these
are not altogether devoid of some of the better
qualities of our nature. They erince much sym
pathy and corapassion for each other, and readily
assist one another in their difficulties. A common
fate appears to unite them by the ties of a patriotic
attachment, and they deUght to sing, in the place
of their captirity, the songs of their native land.
Their treatment by their raasters depends much
upon their own conduct, for interest, as weU as
natural inclination, make the Fantee a kind raaster.
The great stubbornness of the Donko, however,
^A-ov, Vv..;nn.a rinwin irririn V)im a severe chastisement,

246 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
to which he submits with a suUen insensibility.
Some thousands of these are added to the popula
tion of the country under our protection every
year. Various considerations have induced the local
governraent to tolerate this internal slave trade,
which it would be difficult to suppress. The
objects of it are either taken in war by the
Ashantees, received as tribute frora subjugated
states, or purchased by them. If they were not
bought by the Fantees, many of them would be
/-sacrificed at the Ashantee customs, or kept in a
worse bondage in that country. By being brought
into the countries under our protection, their lives
are spared ; they receive a more humane treatment ;
they are shielded from oppression, and are placed
i within the influence of a higher degree of ciriUza-
: tion. Their condition, in every respect, is Im-
; proved by the change, and the second generation
¦¦ becomes an effective addition to a by no raeans
superabundant population.
It wUl be seen, then, that whUe the diffusion of
wealth and the progress of knowledge are creating
a spirit of industry, and exciting a desire for
greater freedora araong the native Fantees, a fresh
tide of slavery Is pouring into the country from
another direction. It may be questioned how far
this state of matters is to be approved. But
when we reflect, that the Ashantee wars are not

THE GOLD COAST. 247
undertaken expressly to supply this demand ; that
the transfer of the slaves from the Ashantee to
the Fantee country is not adding to the ranks of
slavery generaUy; that it greatly araeUorates the
condition of the slaves in question, and brings
thera and their descendants within the scope of
many civUizing influences, to which they would
othervrise have reraained strangers; that, more
over, an increase to the population is desirable to
bring out the resources of a rich and fertUe
country, we are warranted In concluding that
the cause of general civUization and of humanity is
advanced by this moveraent. It is not unreasonable
to hope that, after centuries of progress, the tide
of emigration may again recede into the interior,
carrying with it the seeds of civilization and
Christian knowledge. '
Besides the native-bom Fantee slaves, and those
purchased from the interior, there remains to be
noticed another species of slavery existing, under
the name of " pawns," to which we have already
adverted. It has been seen that indiriduals form,
in the present state of commerce, no smaU portion
of the currency of the country. To obtain a loan
or pay a debt, a master does not hesitate to place
one or more of his faraily, or slaves, in teraporary
bondage to another. The terras of this contract

248 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
are, that the pawn shaU serve his new raaster untU
such tirae as the person pawning him shall raake
good the sum lent, with 50 per cent, interest;
the services of the pawn, even if they should
extend over a great nuraber of years, counting
for nothing in the Uquidation of the debt. If
a woraan has been pawned, her new raaster
has the right to raake her his concubine, and her
children continue to serve hira also.
The cruel operation of this systera wiU be best
iUustrated by an exaraple. We will suppose A.
to pawn his daughter B. to his friend C. for
the sura of two ounces. He finds it irapossible
to redeem her, perhaps, under a period of many
years, during which tirae we will suppose her to
have borne seven children to her raaster. A.
now is anxious to redeera his daughter, but he
cannot do so without paying C. the original araount
with interest, and four ackies and a half (22s. 6d.)
for each chUd, which raises the original debt of
two ounces (£8) to four ounces fifteen ackies
and a half, or £19 17s. 6d. The raoney paid
on account of the chUdren is regarded as an equi
valent for their raaintenance.
If A. has had to borrow the raoney to effect
this rederaption, which frequentiy happens, it wiU
be seen that the original sura of two ounces would

THE GOLD COAST. 249
go on accumulating at a rate which raust even
tually leave this family in a state of hopeless
bondage. The death of the pawn does not
cancel the debt. A. must substitute another
pawn in her place, or pay the amount ; but in
this case B. generaUy, though not invariably,
foregoes the interest. Neither is the master of
a pawn, like the master of a slave, responsible
for his pawn's debts. These recoil upon the
head of the person pawning her.
A father cannot pawn his child without the
concurrence of the mother's relations, unless she
also be his slave. Neither can a raother pawn
her chUd without the father's consent; but if
he cannot advance the sura required, then she
can do so. We have always regarded this system
of pawning as much worse than actual slavery,
and we have seen but too many of its victims
irrecoverably reduced to perpetual bondage. The
English authorities have greatly raitigated its
hardships, by refusing to consider the loan in any
other light than that of a coramon debt.
After the account which has been given, the
reader will now be able to haye a clear compre
hension of the nature and condition of slavery
upon the Gold Coast. It would appear that It
is greatly influenced by the atHt of social pro-
M 3

250 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
gress, and that its exactions becorae more rigid
in proportion to the advancement of a people.
The closer the points of resemblance between
the master and the slave, the easier wiU be the
yoke; and where the improvement of both go
on simultaneously, aU distinctions graduaUy become
effaced. We see the gradual operation of this
process among the Fantee masters and their
native-born slaves, whUe the diffusion of greater
wealth among the former, and of increased know
ledge, renders the condition of the " donkos," an
inferior class, more truly that of a degrading
servitude, and widens the distance between them
and their masters.
We have now taken a view of this interesting
people under a great variety of aspects, and would
fain hope that we have provided the reader with
data to enable him to form a correct estimate
of their condition. Before closing this subject,
we are anxious to corapress Into one brief sketch
a general picture of their every-day life ; but we
shrink with conscious Inability frora the attempt,
for who can portray aU the varied shades of
existence which so distinctively characterize them
in their idiosyncrasy of teraperaraent, in their
doraestic and social relations, in their superstitious
observances, and in their acts as merabers of the

THE GOLD COAST. 251
body politic ? What daring hand shaU arrest the
ever-changing expression of this Protean race?
What daguerreotype shaU fix its various linea
raents? What strange and sudden contrasts of
feeUng, what unaccountable alternations of pur
pose, what eccentricities of conduct, arrest and
puzzle our observation ! Joy and sorrow, reck
less gaiety and glooray despondency, exaggerated
hopes and distracting fears, unbridled passion
and humble meekness, ardent love and cool in
difference, fierce hate and cordial friendship,
prodigal profusion and griping avarice, atheistical
unconcern and bigoted superstition, sway by
turns their versatUe rainds, and with a rapidity
of change which startles and confounds us. In
whatever relation of life we view the Gold Coast
native, we equaUy behold him the creature of some
momentary impulse, which he seeks not to conceal,
and knows not how to repress.
Born beneath the rays of a tropical sun, with a
clear and serene sky over his head, seldom ruffied
by lowering storms, his character partakes largely
of the gaiety of external nature, and his exuberant
spirits are in unison vrith her bountiful profusion.
Freely as the earth ministers to his wants, supply
ing him with the necessaries of Ufe almost without
the penalty of labour, as thoughtlessly and unstint-

252 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
ingly does he make use of her bounties. Fond
of his ease, and loving to indulge a quiet, volup
tuous indolence of disposition, he can seldora be
roused to much bodily exertion, unless enticed by
the prospect of obtaining the raeans of festivity,
to which he delivers hiraself up with the raost
deterrained abandonment. Possessed of high
physical qualities, and patient in the prosecution
of his object, when once his mind is fairly bent
upon it, he is capable of enduring the severest
toU and the greatest privations ; but unless his
affections are engaged in his work, he soon relapses
into inactivity and indifference, and leaves his task
unfinished. Such does he appear in his purely
native condition ; but brought into contact with
Europeans, and rendered famUiar with a system of
thought and of action, differing in so raany respects
frora his own natural heedlessness of disposition,
he soon learns to conceal his emotions, and to
disguise his real sentiraents, and ends in becoraing
an accoraplished hypocrite. He is by no raeans
deficient in inteUectual faculties; but they are
craraped and paralysed by the strong superstitious
bent of his raind, and we see on many important
occasions his whole reasoning powers thrown
prostrate by this prejudicial agency, in the very
moment of their triumphant vindication.

THE GOLD COAST. 253
His views of external nature, of his own condi
tion, and of aU the circurastances which affect it,
are, in consequence, narrow and liraited, and con
fined within the speU-bound circle of his prejudices,
which nothing but the clearest coraprehension of
his interest is able to break. His memory is
strong and retentive, and he dwells vrith a garru
lous minuteness upon the recollections of his
youth. His lively iraagination delights to feed
itself vrith pleasing reveries ; but it is gross, sensual,
and unrefined. He is naturaUy eloquent, speaks
with an easy and fluent grace, with suitable and
appropriate action, and clothes his ideas with a
siraple and natural imagery. He has frequent
recourse to parables, and dark and enigmatical
sayings, which he never deigns to explain, taking
an apparent delight in lea-ying the rainds of his
hearers to puzzle out his hidden meaning. He is
fond of repartee, dearly loves a joke, the coarser
the better, and has a most lively sense of the
ridiculous. He delights in rude and barbarous
raerriraent, and in noisy and turbulent carousals.
He is quick and irascible in bis teraper, but easUy
appeased if the injury be unintentional or slight ;
but when deeply offended, it is irapossible to
regain his favour without a peace-offering, in the

254 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
shape of a present of rura, or a sheep, with which
he makes a Ubation or a sacrifice to his Fetish
" to give him a good heart."
In the excitement of the moment, he is some
times perfectly bUnded by his passion, and commits
acts which he deeply repents, and which he would
undo the very next instant. With aU this, he is,
in ordinary intercourse, particularly observant of
the courtesies of life, is slow to give offence, often
dignified in his deportment, regardful of another's
consequence, and tenacious of his own. Indignity
and sUght rankle deeply in his heart, and are
seldom forgiven. His affections are keen, but not
durable, and the impressions of sorrow are soon
effaced. His joys and his sorrows equaUy find
vent in spontaneous song, and at raorn, noon, and
night the streets re-echo with the loud catch of
the bacchanal, the impassioned lays of the lover,
and the plaintive notes of the mourner. He is
slow to form friendships, but firm to retain them,
and will often sacrifice his raoney and his comfort
to help a friend in distress. He does not easily
give his confidence to an European, although he
may treat hira with the greatest outward deference
and respect. He is quick in discovering pecuUari
ties of teraper and conduct, and treasures up words

THE GOLD COAST. 255
and acts, to enable hira to form a tme estiraate of
character. Once satisfied of the white man's
tmth, honour, and justice, of his favourable incli
nations to black men generaUy, and of his sensible
and judicious views, nothing can exceed the chUd
like obedience with which he gives hiraself up to
his guidance.
It is not upon a short acquaintance that this
influence is established; but when it has been
confirraed by tirae, and an uniform consistency
of conduct, the European is in a position to break
down the strong barrier of his prejudices. He is,
in short, a truly natural raan, in aU his corraptlons,
and in raany of his virtues, and formed Uke our
selves for such slow and gradual developraent of
his moral and inteUectual faculties as the constitu
tion of our comraon nature wiU only adrait.
Upon a general conteraplation of their whole
custoras and manners, as weU as of the constraction
of their rainds, we cannot help being forcibly struck
with their great resemblance, in raany respects, to
the state of society handed down to us, in the
earliest records of the huraan race. Everything in
their ideas, in the idiom of theu- language. In
their worship, and In the naked simplicity of their
raanners, betrays their priraitive condition, and

256 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
convinces the attentive observer, that he is con
templating a race of men, who, though old In
their generations, have, in most of their essential
characteristics, an unraistakable impression of an
early stage of society. We seem to be transported
back to the patriarchal age, and to be living among
a people in the sarae state of siraple nature. It
requires no effort of the imagination to bring
before the mind's eye the manner in which the
characters recorded in Scripture thought and
spoke and acted, as we have daUy in our sight
Uring representations of human beings actuated
by simUar irapulses which find vent in simUar
modes of expression and action.
The extraordinary coincidences in many parti
culars of the manners and customs of the Africans,
with those of the Hebrews and other Eastern na
tions, raust lead us to the conclusion that we see
in Africa a transcript of these, cormpted by the
uncertain light of tradition ; or that the human
mind. In certain stages of its progress, and under
the influence of similar predisposing causes, exhibits
an uniforraity of bias and developraent so truly
astonishing, as to be argument sufficient to set at
rest the cavUs of phUosophers respecting original
inferiority of race.

THE GOLD COAST. 257
The observation of such a state of society clearly
demonstrates the necessity of the Mosaical dispensa
tion, to wean the human race frora the gross idolatry
into which it had faUen ; for it could only be by
types and syrabols that raan, constituted as he is,
could receive into his raind an idea of the attributes
of the true God. It is irapossible for hira to arrive
at the knowledge of a holy, just, and merciful God,
without revelation ; and this revelation could only
be conveyed to him through the mediura of the
senses, aided by reflection, coraparison, and abstrac
tion. Man can forra no idea of such a being, as
there Is nothing in the raaterial world which would
convey it to his raind. He can, therefore, only
transfer to his idols his own imperfect attributes,
and by worshipping thera, the reaction of his own
depravity would recoil upon hiraself. In this con
sists the corrupting nature of aU idolatry. We
deify the worst passions of our nature, becorae in
consequence assiraUated to the objects of our
worship, and thus aggravate our natural deprarity
by a raost besotting infatuation. To this cause
must we attribute the stagnant nature of the Fantee
mind, it being impossible for it to rise above the
standard of its worship.
And now let us consider the necessity of types
and symbols as the only means of conveying a reve-

258 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
lation of a perfectly holy, just, and merciful God.
In the infancy of language, there is no term by
which an abstract idea can be conveyed. If the
Christian raissionary were confined to the use of
the Fantee language, he could only throw into the
rainds of his disciples the idea of a perfectly holy
God by a process of symbolical comparisons simUar
to those instituted araong the Jews. We have
seen in the Mosaical account given us in the Scrip
tures, that this idea was conveyed to the rainds of
the Jews by separating the aniraals into clean and
unclean, the first step in the coraparison of purity.
The beasts selected for sacrifice were to be from
the clean class, and not only so, but from those of
that class without spot or blemish, thus conveying
another degree of purity. These sacrifices were to
be offered by the priests, a class purified, and set
apart for the office. Before they could be offered,
both the beasts to be sacrificed and the priests had
to be washed and purified ; and even the sacrifice
could only be made in the court of the Holy of
Holies.* Thus, by a series of comparisons, God's
holiness was contrasted with the highest degree of
earthly purity, as neither the people, the priest, nor
* The writer is chiefly indebted to a work entitled " The
PhUosophy of the Plan of Salvation," for a confirmation of
the views which he had himself formed upon the subject.

THE GOLD COAST. 259
the sacrifice were considered sufficiently pure to
corae before him, and the idea of his perfect purity
was thus estabUshed in their minds and engrafted
upon their language. They were led to see by the
sarae systera of types, that God's perfect holiness
becarae the standard of his conscience in the pu
nishment of sin by death, thus revealing his justice,
whUe the vicarious substitute of the sacrifice for
the sinner irapressed them with an idea of his
mercy.* If the raissionary had not the power of
transferring these ideas frora his own language into
that of the Fantee, it would be irapossible to origi
nate them in the mind of the latter without the
teaching by siraUar types. As it is, the poverty of
the language makes it a most difficult process of
instmction; for it is irapossible to disjoin the
abstract idea formed by outward objects, and repre
sented by a word derived from them, from the
object which originated it. From this cause, we
have never been able to Usten to the perforraance
of Dirine service in the Fantee tongue, vrithout
being shocked by the irreverent ideas constantly
* We have not been able to discover that there is in the
African's mind any idea of the substitution of the sacrifice
for himself, when he sheds the blood of men or beasts in
sacrifice. He merely yields to a traditionary practice,
which he does not understand.

260 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
obtruded upon the mind by the use of vulgar words
appUed to sacred emotions, which we have felt
assured the generality of the hearers understood In
their literal acceptation. Even vrith the assistance
of circumlocution and iUustration, they find it diffi
cult to express the fuU force of abstract ideas, and
the native interpreters are constantly haring
recourse to the substitution of the EngUsh words
which represent them. This is a difficulty which
can be overcome by tirae alone, and the adoption
of words of foreign extraction into their language.
At present, shades of raeaning can only iraperfectly
be expressed by degrees of coraparison, and the
Fantee language must be rauch enriched
before it can becorae an efficient raediura of Chris
tian instruction. We thus see the slow and pro
gressive steps by which new ideas are originaUy im
pressed upon the raind, and can by reflection upon
this tedious process, which is necessary according
to man's constitution, raore easUy raake aUowances
for the misapprehension of pagan converts to
Christianity upon raany points of faith and doc
trine.

THE GOLD COAST. 261

CHAPTER X.
No written language — Difficulty of reducing the Fantee
to grammatical rules — Proficiency of young scholars —
Prevalence of written communications in the English
language — Music — Musical instruments — Workmanship
in gold — Tanning and dressing leather — Weaving —
Dyeing — Agriculture — Native process of grinding —
Palm vrine — Manufacture of oil — Introduction of cotton-
growing— Mr. Freeman's model plantation — Exports
— Imports — Dress — Houses — Taste for European luxu
ries — Hospitality.
Although it wUl be perceived from the delinea
tions which we have given of the Gold Coast
natives, that considerable regularity exists in
their forras of governraent, in their laws, in their
worship, and in their social relations, and that they
have the appearance of having attained to this
degree of advancement long before their inter
course with Europeans ; yet viewing thera as a
whole, we cannot consider them as having advanced
beyond the state which Europeans would denomi-

262 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
nate barbarous. There is among them no trace
of a written language, no hieroglyph, nor symbol,
nor anything corresponding to the painted stories
of Mexico or the knotted quipos of Peru. Their
coraraunications are altogether oral, and their
history is a blank. Nor have Europeans been
successful in reducing their language to grammatical
rules, which would be necessary to its being written
in the Roraan character.
Educated natives have frequently faUed In
making coraraunications in writing, in their native
language, intelligible to each other, frora their dis
agreeraent about the sounds of words, and the
consequent employraent of different letters to
represent thera. We do not even know, that it is
desirable that rauch anxiety should be felt to
remedy this defect, for the sooner their own
language gives place to the English, which is
rapidly spreading among thera, the better wiU
it be for their progress in knowledge and civUi
zation. It wiU be as easy for the African to
acquire a knowledge of the EngUsh language,
and to write it, as It would be for him to acquire
the grararaar of his own, and to reduce it to
writing. Teachers find Uttle difficulty in in
structing them to read and to write EngUsh;
and the African boys, who are sent to school

THE GOLD COAST. 263
at an early age, would bear a coraparison of their
proficiency with English children of the same
standing. Their powers of iraitation are very
strong. They acquire with ease the art of pen
manship, and seem capable of changing their
^le of writing at wUl, according to the copies
se! before them. A native clerk wUl, in the
course of a week, be able to copy his master's
hand so exactly, as to puzzle him to discover
whether it is his own or his clerk's.
There are nearly a thousand of these chUdren
receiving instruction at the schools of the Wes
leyan Missionary Society, who are yearly sending
out frora them some hundreds of young people,
very tolerably educated. The uninstructed natives
raake use of these to keep their accounts, and to
coraraunicate by letter with each other ; and they
are now so widely scattered over the country, that
every viUage, even in the reraote interior, has
one or more of these scribes residing in it, who
suppUes the inhabitants with the means of commu-
nnicating with their friends at a distance. Letters
are received daily by the governor and raagistrates
frora Ashantee, Akim, Wassaw, Assin, Appol-
lonia, and aU the towns of Fantee. Many of
the chiefs have a secretary in constant attendance
upon them, very frequently their own sons, who

264 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
have received their education at the schools. The
merchants also receive written orders for goods,
from trading correspondents in the interior. In
short, the people now generally have aU the ad
vantages which are to be derived from the written
coramunication of their wants and feelings.
Parties to a suit In our courts are particularly
anxious to avaU themselves of this raethod of
representing their cases to the raagistrates. They
think, and think rightly, that it is a check upon
the infidelity of the interpreters. Representations
of their cases are therefore carefuUy drawn out,
and handed in upon the court days. Many of
these coramunications are of a very extraordinary
nature, frora the siraplicity of their detaUs, and
the plain unvarnished stateraents of their com
plaints. Some of the scribes charge a high price
for their services, varying according as they esti
mate their iraportance. The ordinary sum given
for writing a letter is about ten-pence, but we
have known an instance of four pounds haring
been paid ; and when the scribe was afterwards
brought up for his exorbitant charge, the only
excuse which he thought it necessary to give for
such extortion was, that he " considered it neces
sary to teach these ignorant people the value of
literature."

THE GOLD COAST. 265
With such ready means of communication, the
greatest facUity is afforded in carrying on the
trade of the country, as weU as in furthering
the riews of the govemment. Let the reader
contrast this state of matters, and the general
peace and security which it irapUes, with the
distracted state of the country twenty-five years
ago, and he can scarcely help being astonished at
the rapidity of the progress made.
Africans are passionately fond of music, and have
an excellent ear for it. The native airs are very
siraple, consisting merely of detached bars. Their
songs are chiefly a species of recitative or chaunt,
with a short choms. They are often improvised,
the principal performer giving out a line, and a
band of choristers joining in the refrain. He stands
up whUe the others are seated around him, and
turns frora one to another, whUe he pours forth his
unprennedltated lay. As one gets wearied, or his
invention fails him, another takes his place, and
continues the amuseraent, which frequently lasts for
hours. They are very expAt in adapting the sub
jects of these songs to current events, and indulge
in mocking ridicule, in biting sarcasm, in fulsome
flattery, or in just praise of raen and things, accord
ing as circumstances seem to demand. The
bravery of a chief, the beauty of a young girl, the

266 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
UberaUty of a friend, the avarice of a miser, the
poltroonery of a coward, the affection of a mother,
and the disappointments of a lover, form indis
crirainately the theraes of these exteraporaneous
effusions. If a white man were to pass these songsters,
whUe thus employed, they would quickly seize
upon some pecuUarity of his character, whether
good or bad, and celebrate it aloud, amidst the
unrestrained merriment of the by-standers. Even
a passing stranger whom they had never seen
before, would come in for a share of their notice,
and sorae eccentricity of look, of gait, or of apparel
be quickly fastened upon as worthy of praise, or of
ridicule. This habit of publishing the praise or
sharae of individuals in spontaneous song, exercises
no little influence upon conduct ; for the African is
most sensitive to pubUc opinion, and dreads being
held up to ridicule, while the incense of flattery
incites him to actions which wUl gain for him the
admiration of his countrymen. In this way these
singing men and woifien become the organs of
pubUc opinion, and supply the place of our journals
and gazettes. The acrimony of their censure is
soraetiraes so severe, that it leads to contentions,
especially when a whole corapany or division of a
town forras the subject of a derisive attack.

THE GOLD COAST. 267
Their rausical instruraents are neither numerous
nor of great corapass. They have a drara forraed
of the trunk of a tree scooped out, and a skin
stretched over one of the ends. The larger kind is
carried on the head of a bearer, the druramer
foUowing behind and plying his sticks. The
smaUer drams are hung round the neck, and
beaten either with small sticks or the fingers.
These druras or tora-toras are in very frequent
request. No raerry-raaking can take place without
them. They appear to have the sarae stirring
effect upon the Fantee, which the bagpipe has
upon the Highlander. He dances franticly at their
sound, and even araidst his most rapid evolutions
keeps time with astonishing accuracy.
It Is laughable to observe the effect of this rude
rausic upon aU classes, old and young, raen,
woraen and children. However eraployed, whether
passing quietly through the street, carrying water
from the pond, or assisting in sorae grave proces
sion, no sooner do they hear the rapid beats of a
distant drum, than they begin to caper and dance
spontaneously. The bricklayer wUl throw down
his trowel for a minute, the carpenter leave his
bench, the corn-grinder her mUling-stone, and the
porter his load to keep time to the inspiriting
fsound. Even the cooper rivets his cask and drives
2

268 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
his hoops, keeping tirae to sorae native air, and
the inhabitants, in default of other rausic, may be
seen dancing to his strokes.
They have also a species of guitar, caUed a
sancho. It consists of a square hoUow box with a
neck attached to it, having ^ght strings in two
rows, supported perpendicularly by a bridge. It is
played with the fingers, and has a soft soothing
effect. This instrument is chiefly employed to
give expression to the raore pensive raoods of the
mind. The lover and the mourner find consolar
tion in its notes, which they accompany vrith their
voices. It is principally in the moonlight nights
that we catch the low sound of their plaintive
raelody. They have also a long flute which discourses
sweet rausic. Its notes have a raost pleasing effect
upon the ear, and are inexpressively sweet. It is
impossible to listen to it without desiring to hear
more than the rausicians bring frora it, their airs
being only broken fragments of raelody, and not a
finished composition. They play this instrument
generaUy in bands of five or six, and pretend to be
able to converse together upon it.
Their most raartial instruraent is the horn,
which is raade of an elephant's small tusk. It has
simply a hole perforated in the side near the smaU

THE GOLD COAST. 269
end, and requires good strength of lungs to blow
it. Every chief has a horn-blower and a special
air of his own. It has a bold, loud, defiant sound,
and raUies the retainers round their raaster. A
chief never travels without a retinue of arraed
followers, his drumraer, and horn-blower. He
announces his arrival In a town by the martial
note of his horn ; and even before he is seen, the
inhabitants can distinguish by the peculiar sound
who it is. These notes always express sorae short
sentence descriptive of the chief's prowess, or of
his conterapt for others. Great offence was given
by an Anaraaboe chief, by the raeaning conveyed in
his trurapet note. It appeared to the town's-
people to say " Who are you ?" in slighting
aUusion to them, in comparison with the horn-
blower's master.
They have also gong-gongs, rattles, and casta
nets, which assist in adding to the noise. In which
they take such great delight. Many of thera have
learned to play upon English fifes, flutes, flageolets,
and bugles. They pick up our airs with the
greatest facility, and play them tolerably after
hearing them a few times.
The arts have not raade much advance in this
part of the world. They are ingenious workers in
gold, and make rings, chains, and brooches, which

270 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
would do no discredit to an European artist. They
mould the gold in every variety of shape, of beasts,
and birds, and creeping things, and adorn their
persons with these ornaraents. They know some
thing of the tanning of leather ; but the Fantees
are inferior to raany of their neighbours in the
art of dressing it. They have attained to some
proficiency in pottery. Their earthenware is
good and serviceable for holding water and cook
ing. They also mould images from clay, and bake
them. We have seen curious groups of these in
some parts of the country. Upon the death of a
great man, they make representations of him,
sitting in state, with his wives and attendants
seated around him.
Beneath a large tree in Adjuraacon, we once saw
one of these groups, which had a very natural ap
pearance. The iraages were, some jet black, some
tawny-red, and others of aU shades of colours be
tween black and red, according to the complexion
of the originals, whora they were raeant to repre
sent. They were nearly as large as life, and the
proportions between the raen and women, and boys
and girls, were well maintained. Even the soft
and ferainine expressions of the feraale countenance
were clearly brought out. The cabboceer and his
principal raen were represented smoking then-

THE GOLD COAST. 271
long pipes, and sorae boys upon their knees were
covering the fire in the bowls, to give thera a proper
light. There is no apotheosis of the dead in
tended by these representations : they are simply
monuraents to their raemory like the statues of our
own great men. No care is paid to their pre
servation after they have been set out for ex
hibition, but there they reraain until they crurable
to pieces. It is chiefly woraen who are employed
in making these figures.
They also weave, making use of a small loom
upon the same principle as the EngUsh hand-loora.
They spin the thread frora the cotton which grows
in the country ; but they raore comraonly make
use of thread out of English cloths, which they
pick to pieces. The web is seldom broader than
four inches, and is interwoven with a great variety
of colours. Many of their cloths are elaborately
wrought, and are sold among themselves at high
prices. The AppoUonians make fine grass cloths,
which are strong and durable. They make strings,
nets and ropes from the fibres of the plantain and
cocoa-nut-trees. They are acquainted with dyeing,
and use red, blue, yellow, and a green formed of
a mixture of the blue and yellow. Their blue dye
especiaUy is very good and durable. Blacksraiths,
carpenters, masons, coopers, taUors, and shoe-

272 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
makers now ply their busy trades throughout the
land. Theu- agriculture is stiU in a very primitive state.
They have neither plough nor beasts of burden to
assist In the operations of the field. Their chief
products are corn, yaras, cassada, ground-nuts,
plantains, and bananas. Besides these, they have
a great variety of fruits, which appear to grow
spontaneously without rauch attention to their
cultivation, such as pine-apples, guavas, Umes,
lemons, oranges, papaws, custard-apples, sour-sops,
a variety of apples, caUed the Cashew apple, the
Cormantine apple, and the sweet apple, raelons,
pumpkins, ochros, a species of musk cherry, and
many kinds of peppers.
They have also the cocoa-nut and the palm -nut,
frora which they compress the oU, which forras the
staple of the export trade. They cultivate a species
of gourd, which grows to a great size, and is very
serviceable to them. They are used for bottles,
calabashes to drink frora, water-pots, and trays-.
They soraetiraes bring the palra oU to raarket in
thera, and we have seen some capable of contain
ing eight gallons. The sugar-cane and cotton-tree
also appear to have been long naturalized to the
soil, if they be not indigenous. But in addition
to the fraits and vegetables which appear indi-

THE GOLD COAST. 273
genous to the country, many others can be raised
with moderate attention.
Mr. Freeman has a model farra or plantation,
about seven miles distant from Cape Coast, which
is a perfect nursery of every description of vegetable
production. Perhaps there is not anywhere to be
found, within the same limited compass, such an
extensive variety. Over and above aU the native
products, he has successfuUy cultivated grapes, figs,
arrow-root, coffee, radishes, turnips, carrots, beet,
cabbage, peas, potatoes, onions, beans, &c., &c.
He has also a variety of trees, and plants, and
flowers, among which the cinnamon-tree and the
rose are conspicuous. He has given the name of
Beulah to his beautiful plantation, which being
situated in the neighbourhood of a smaU mission
station, where there is a chapel and school, and In
the midst of a rich district, presents a fine landscape
to the eye, and the most agreeable Impressions to
the mind, as forming the nucleus of the regenerat
ing influences which are to ameliorate the moral
and physical waste of the people and their country.
The natives prepare the ground for the seed by
cutting down the matted thickets with the biU-
hook, and leaving the more valuable fruit-trees
and plants in the midst of their fields. The
N 3

274 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
heat of the sun soon renders the withered bushes
fit to be consumed by fire, and the ashes are
scattered as manure over the ground. They
seldora extract the roots, and siraply turn up the
ground between them with a hoe, and deposit the
seed. More care is taken with their yam and cas
sada plantations, which are carefully kept clear of
weeds, and staked and trimraed. The pistache, or
ground nut, is also grown in raised beds, which re
quire considerable attention to keep clean. They
do not seek to cultivate raore than is necessary for
their annual consuraption, but if a deraand is made
upon thera for corn for exportation, they are eager
to raise it for sale, and have the raeans of giving a
large supply. They live principaUy upon bread
made from the Indian corn, and upon yams and
plantains, which they mash, or cut up into pieces,
making a vegetable soup, which is highly seasoned
with peppers. The corn Is prepared for bread, by
being ground upon a large stone, sUghtly concave,
by means of another smaller stone roUer, with
which they squeeze the grains. The larger stone
is raised a few inches frora the ground in a slanting
position ; the woraen stand behind it, and stooping
down, move their arms, and the upper part of the
body backwards and forwards, as they keep roUing

THE GOLD COAST. 275
the smaUer stone over the corn. A vessel is placed
upon the ground to receive the meal as it falls from
the stone. This work is always performed by
the woraen, generally about daybreak, when " the
sound of the grinders" is heard in all the streets.
They raix the meal with water, leaven the dough
with a bit of stale bread, roU it up in a plantain
leaf, and bake it in their smaU earthen conical
ovens. They do not raake use of rauch animal food, not
that they do not care for it, but because it is not
abundant. They have not many bullocks in the
neighbourhood of Cape Coast, which is not favour
able for their pasturage. There are pigs, sheep,
goats, turkeys, fowls, and ducks; besides game, such
as deer, bush-pig, buffaloes, hares, partridges, &c. ;
but they are by no means numerous. Dried
fish forras their chief reUsh for their vegetable
diet. In addition to what they cure theraselves,
there is a very considerable supply imported
by the Americans, which is eagerly purchased.
They make a very pleasant and palatable wine from
the palm species of trees. This is done by up
rooting the tree, lopping off its leaves, and perfo
rating the trunk. They place a calabash at the
puncture, and bum sorae dried twigs under the

276 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
tree. The sap is thus forced to the orifice, and
received into the pot, into which it distils for
several days at the rate of about a gaUon a day.
A good tree will yield about twelve gaUons.
The wine is fresh and very pleasant to drink
when new ; but if allowed to stand for sorae hours
it ferraents rapidly, and becoraes pungent and In
toxicating. The natives are very fond of this beve
rage, and drink great quantities of it, preferring It
in its strength. Soraetiraes the tree is not cut
down ; but the extraction of its sap destroys its
vitality. It is the sarae species of palm-tree that
produces the nut from which the oil is made.
The nuts are placed in a large raortar buUt of
stones, and pounded with sharp-pointed stakes, to
separate the external husk frora the stone. The
husks thus separated are then gathered up, put
into an earthen pot with water, and boiled. The
oil ascends to the top. Is skimraed off, and coUected
into separate vessels. These nuts are so full of
oU, that It spirts out upon a pressure of the hand.
They also raake another drink frora the corn,
which is not malted. It tastes soraewhat Uke
small beer, and is caUed pittau. This drink, also,
by being aUowed to ferment, acquires considerable
intoxicating properties.

THE GOLD COAST. 277
The soU of the country Is rich and fertile, and
yields raost abundant returns. Property In it is
acquired by bringing it under cultivation. All the
land in the neighbourhood of a town is considered
as belonging to the inhabitants generally ; and the
raan who first cuts down the bush, and grows a
crop, is regarded as the proprietor of the portion
thus occupied. There is so rauch unoccupied
space, however, that until lately property of this
kind was little regarded. And it is perhaps the
best evidence of advancement that litigations about
a disputed title to ground are now of very fre
quent occurrence. The progressive development
of the resources of the country Is forcing upon
the natives the conviction, that cultivation is the
best and raost legitiraate source of wealth. A
strong impetus in this direction has been given by
an association of gentleraen who are atterapting
to introduce the cultivation of cotton as an article
of export, and several of the native chiefs and
others begin to give their attention to it; whUe
the people generaUy are only waiting the result
of the experiraent, to undertake it, if it shall be
found to answer. We do not think that there
Is rauch doubt about the success of a cotton plan
tation, If properly attended to. The labour of a
grown person can be obtained at two doUars per

278 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
raonth without any additional expense of board or
raaintenance. The exports of the Gold Coast are gold-
dust, ivory, palra-oil, corn, ground-nuts, raalagetta
pepper, and gum copal. The three articles first
enumerated, form the staple of their coraraodities.
The principal supply of gold is received from the
Ashantee traders. It is found generaUy in the
soil of the country in small dust ; but the beds of
rivers yield the largest quantities. There are also
mines, where it is obtained raixed with red loam
and gravel, and pieces of white granite. Many
slaves are employed in collecting it throughout
the Ashantee country.
; From the River Barra, and frora the province of
iGaman, the largest supplies are said to be obtained;
but the policy of the Kings of Ashantee, in pre
venting intercourse with the interior, does not
enable us to speak with much certainty upon this
point. It is also got In abundance in some parts
of the Akim country, which appears to be as pro
Ufic as Ashantee. There are raines in Wassaw
and Denkera. The Dutch governraent took some
trouble to work a raine in the forraer country, but
frora the bad selection of the spot, frora the sick
ness of the rainers, and the unfitness of their
apparatus, it was attended with Uttie success, and

THE GOLD COAST. 279
is now abandoned. In raost parts of the Fantee
country, there is a slight impregnation of the soU
with it ; but it hardly rewards their iraperfect pro
cess of separating it. They take a calabash partly
fuU of earth, raix it with water, and agitate it.
The particles of gold sink to the bottora, and the
earth is thrown away. By continued processes of
this description it is entirely separated frora the
earth, and found in rainute grains deposited in the
bottora of the calabash. It is also found near
Winnebah in luraps of granite, which are pounded
and sifted in the same manner. There can be
little doubt that it wiU yet be found in parts of
the interior in large abundance and in rich veins.
We have ourselves seen a lurap of eleven
ounces, and Dupuis speaks of having seen at
Cooraassie luraps of the weight of four pounds.
It would not appear that the quantity of gold ex
ported frora the Gold Coast has increased of late
years. On the contrary, if we are to consider thei
stateraents which have been made on this subjec '
correct, it has greatly decreased. Mr. Swanzy, ii
his eridence given before a parUamentary cora^
mittee, in 1816, gives it as his opinion that a
hundred thousand ounces of gold were annuaUy
produced. This is nearly double the quantity at
present exported. .J

28P' EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
We are also dependent on the Ashantees for our
supplies of ivory. Our exports of this article are
now very insignificant. It would seem that the
elephants are far less numerous than they were, or
that the interior market for ivory has been closed
against the Ashantees. Themanufacture of palm-
oil has greatly increased, and is stiU increasing. It
is entirely produced by the natives living under our
protection, who bring it, sometiraes on their heads,
in pots of five and six gallons, a distance of forty
mUes. The operations of trade are greatly im
peded, from the want of beasts of burden, or any
narigable river, the time of the people being so
much occupied In the mere carriage of their pro
duce to market. The trade, however, is steadily
increasing, and is capable of a much greater though
gradual development. We do not despair In the
course of sorae years of being able to add cotton to
the nuraber of the exports.
The imports are cotton goods, sUks, velvets,
wooUen stuffs, spirits, wines, tobacco, iron, brass,
copper, lead, hardware, earthenware, cutlery, guns,
powder, flints, salt prorisions, house furniture,
beads, cowries, tea, sugar, beer, and an endless
variety of the ordinary articles of consuraption.
The coraraercial spirit is very strong in the
African. The whole population are traders to a

THE GOLD COAST. 281
certain extent. It is the deUght of the African
women to sit in the market-places under the trees,
exposing their wares for sale, or to hawk them
through the streets from door to door, and from
vUlage to viUage. Their trade, however, is as yet
little more than a barter of one coraraodity for
another. The Gold Coast natives are particularly fond of
dress. The sirapUcity of the national costurae does
not adrait of any other variety than what can be
obtained by change of colours and of texture. It
consists of an under girdle caUed a shin, which is
tied round the loins, passed between the thighs,
and the ends secured to the folds at one side.
They are particular in haring this part of their
dress of the finest texture. It is very
frequently of sUk, of a showy colour, and they
allow the ends or fringes to faU down the side of
the leg, that it raay occasionally be seen upon any
disarrangeraent of the upper robe, which is thrown
round the left shoulder, passed under the right
arra, and readjusted in graceful drapery from the
left, covering the whole person, with the exception
of the right shoulder, arm and breast, which are
left exposed.
These robes are made of all kinds of Man
chester goods, of silks, of velvets, and of their own

282 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
rich country cloths. The patterns and colours are
selected according to the taste of the wearer, some
preferring a neat modest print, while others delight
in gaudy contrasts of colour. Wealthy people
indulge in frequent changes of apparel, and have
an immense variety of these robes. Even the
poorer classes have several changes, and always a
good handsorae cloth to wear on gala days.
Sandals are worn by the better classes, which they
reraove frora their feet as a raark of respect.*
They leave thera at the entrance of a room when
they pay a visit. They also salute Europeans, and
sometimes each other, by slightly removing their
robe frora their left shoulder with the right hand,
gracefully bovring at the same time. When they
vrish to be very respectful, they uncover their
shoulder altogether, and support the robe under
the arm, the whole of the person from the breast
upwards being left exposed. WhUe labouring,
they often reraove the upper robe altogether, or they
gird it In a large araple fold round the loins.f
The feraales have an under girdle simUar to that
worn by the men. To this is attached, behind, a
large bustle ofa conical shape, extending about a foot
* This would also appear to be a traditionary usage of
great antiquity.
t " Gird up now thy loins like a man." — Job xxxviii, 3,

THE GOLD COAST. 283
from the person. A robe is passed round the body
from the waist to the ankle, and tightly secured im
mediately above the bustle by a broad outer girdle.
This is the whole attire of a young unmarried
girl. The breasts, shoulders, arms, and neck,
are left perfectly uncovered. Older females wear
an additional cloth, which is passed round under
the arras, and raeets the lower robe or petti
coat, leaving only the shoulders, arras, and neck
exposed. They are equaUy anxious with the men
to set off their persons to advantage, and occupy
no little portion of their time about their toilet, of
which the proper adjustraent of the bustle is their
chief study. The size of this extraordinary appen
dage varies according to the consequence of the
wearer, always increasing in proportion to her
dignity. Both sexes raake use of beads and gold
as ornaraents for the neck, wrists, and ankles.
Notwithstanding the bare exposure of so rauch
of their persons, it does not strike us as in
delicate, the dark hue of their skins taking away
entirely from the naked appearance, and serring
as a covering. Their fine smooth skins are,
Indeed, their principal beauty, and they take
care to preserve thera carefuUy. Their habits are
cleanly. They wash their whole persons once, if

284 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
not oftener, during the day, and rub their skins
over with a little pomatura and other unguents,
which are so thoroughly absorbed by the friction,
as not to leave any unpleasant greasy appearance.
This Is found to be a very necessary preservative
against the hard, drying action of the sun. Such
are the national costuraes of the men and women ;
but, like everything else in their condition, they
are being largely encroached upon by a growing
taste for our European style of dress.
Their houses do not exhibit much architectural
decoration, or great variety in their accommoda
tions ; but even the very poorest have ample
shelter in proportion to their siraple necessities.
The lowest class of dweUing which we have ob
served Is to be seen in the neighbourhood of the
Saccoora river, near Accra, and at sorae fishing
hamlets between Axim and Dixcove. These con
sist of smaU conical huts, thatched over with grass,
huddled together Uke so many hay-cocks upon the
sand, and vrith only a sraall aperture, through
which the occupant raakes his Ingress and egress
upon his hands and knees. The appearance of
these kennels betrays at once the poverty, the
filth, the ignorance, and lazy habits of life of those
degraded creatures, who live principally by gather^.

THE GOLD COAST. 285
Ing sheUs for Ume-burnlng. The next in degree
to these are the smaU hamlets in the interior parts
of the country, the houses of which are, for the
most part, composed of waUs of bamboo and other
stakes, plastered over with raortar, and thatched
with plantain and palm-leaves. These huts con
sist of one, two, or more apartments, and have
square holes to serve the purpose of vrindows and
door-ways, which are closed up at night, by a
bamboo fence drawn over the apertures, and
secured inside to keep out the beasts of prey.
Some of these huts, of higher pretensions, have
window shutters and doors, with aU the advantages
of hinges and bolts. The sraaller riUages are
entirely composed of huts of this description.
They are generaUy in the neighbourhood of the
principal farras and plantations, and have been
erected for the convenience of the labourers, who
very possibly have dweUing-houses of a better
description in sorae of the principal towns of the
district. UntU within the last twenty-five years, there
was so Uttle security in the country now enjoying
British protection, that raen dared not live in
detached dweUings. The population of a district
was corapelled to congregate in large towns for
mutual protection. Long tracts of forest or jungle,

286 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
without a vestige of a human habitation, inter
vened between these towns, in the immediate
neighbourhood of which they were obliged to cul
tivate their sraall patches of ground, without ven
turing to any distance from their homes. The
great tranquUUty, however, which the country has
enjoyed since the close of the last Ashantee war,
and the effective systera of control under which
the natives generaUy have been brought by the
government, have entirely obriated the necessity
for thus herding together. Detached huts and
smaU haralets have been and are springing up on
every side, and now give to the country not only
the appearance, but the reality, of greater populous
ness and more extensive cultivation. There Is in
consequence at present going on a partial depopu
lation of the larger and raore central towns, which
do not afford sufficient scope for the spirit of
greater industry evoked by the security and pro
tection now universally felt.
But while the most industrious raembers of
these comraunities are thus carrying their labour
into new fields, and planting theraselves In various
directions,- where, seated beneath their own palm-
trees, they are enabled to enjoy In peace and com
fort the fruits of their industry, they nevertheless
maintain a close connection and constant inter-

THE GOLD COAST. 287
course with the parent towns in which their faraily
houses are situated, and where their ancestors are
buried. As yet these are eraphaticaUy considered
their " horaes," whUe their new dweUings in the
wUderness are raerely regarded in the light of a
teraporary convenience. In consequence of this
idea of the transient nature of these new resi
dences, they have been erected without any
view to great corafort and durabUity, and consist
chiefly of wattles and thatch. There are, how
ever, decided indications that ere long their
connection with the parent town wUl becorae
norainal. This is seen in raore substantial houses being
substituted for these teraporary hovels, and in the
neglect and dUapidation of the faraily houses in
the towns. Greater independence is enjoyed in
their rural retreats, where the whole population
consists of one or two faraiUes, connected by re
lationship, than where they form a component
part of a large town, subject to local regulations,
under the iraraediate eye of their chiefs or head
raen, and exposed to the constantly recurring
" palavers," which constitute the eraployraent of
the Fantees, when Uving together in large numbers.
DaUy the intercourse between their old and their
new houses becomes less frequent ; longer Intervals

288 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
elapse betwixt succeeding visits ; chiefs and head
raen gmmble at the desertion of the houses, and
reraonstrate with the owners. These proraise to
return and make faint excuses for prolonged ab
sence ; but captivated with the happy indepen
dence and easy abundance of a country life, they
graduaUy corae to lirait their risits to stated
occasions of public festivity or annual custom-
making. At last the disjunction is corapleted by
the faUen roof and broken-down waUs of the old
famUy house, always to be, but never repaired.
The Fantee country, at the present time, bears
in the general aspect of its towns and hamlets,
the traces of this progressive change. The prin
cipal towns are deforraed by heaps of roofless
waUs in all stages of decay, whUe substantial
houses of higher pretensions are being buUt upon
new sites in uninhabited parts of the country.
These houses are buUt of raud, or " s\\'ish," as
it is caUed when prepared for use, which is done
by mixing the earth with water, and tramp
ing it vrith the feet. It is then coUected into
a heap, covered over with straw, and aUowed to
ferraent for sorae days. Having thus acquired
great adhesive qualities, it is buUt in successive
layers of about eighteen inches high at a time.
The hot rays of the sun perform the operation

THE GOLD COAST. 289
of baking it as effectually as an oven, and give to
it the tenacity, consistence, and hardness of a brick.
Their ordinary plan of construction is in the form
of a square, the rooms forming its sides, and en
closing a quadrangular space, of dimensions pro
portionate to the size of the side rooms. The
entrance is llirough a door or gateway, leading
into one of these rooms, which is generaUy kept as
an open lodge, through which to pass into the
inner square, and in which the chief or head
man is in the habit of keeping his drams. On
the side of the square, fronting this lodge, the
floor of the apartments is raised about a couple of
feet from the ground, and is altogether open to
wards the square, or yard. Sometimes there is
only a part of it open ; a smaU space at each end
being set apart for rooras. The other two sides
of the square consist of rooras with doors and
windows, their floors being on a level vrith the
ground ; or, as in the raeaner class, of raised and
open sheds, as already described.
These houses have rarely any vrindows opening
to the outside, so that the entrance through the
gateway is the only means of extemal comraunica
tion. The greatest privacy is therefore enjoyed by
every faraUy, even in the centre of a town, as they
can attend to the household affairs in the open air,
VOL. II. o

290 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
within the square, or under the open sheds or
rooms forraing its sides, without being seen by
their neighbours.
Of course there is sorae variety in the arrange
ments of the different houses, according to the
taste of individuals ; but the prevailing, and what
raay be terraed the purely native style, is such as we
have here described. In houses of recent erection,
the open apartments are now giving place to rooms
with doors and windows, there being seldom more
than one open apartment in the square. They
frequently consist of a succession of these quadri
lateral buUdings and yards, the nuraber being in
proportion to the consequence and riches of the
individual, and the size of. his family. A smaU
door of comraunication at one of the corners leads
out of one square into another. The females of
the house occupy one of these interior sets if
apartments, where they perforra the domestic duties
of the establishraent — grinding corn, pounding
foofoo, cooking and preparing food. The fire
place is in the centre of the yard, and .consists of
three sraaU clay cones placed close together in the
forra of a triangle ; the cooking utensUs rest be
tween these, and the wood of the fire is on the
ground beneath them; the smoke rises into the
open air, and as the yard is closed in by the waUs

THE GOLD COAST. 291
of the house, and there is not frequently rauch
wind, the atraosphere is often thick and sraoky
during the operation of cooking.
There is frequently a second story upon one
side of the square, and soraetimes upon all. This
is considered necessary to meet the idea of a white
man's house, which they think it so desirable to
imitate. We have observed that the waUs of these houses
are buUt of raud, or swish. They are substantially
roofed with stout sticks and thatch, which for the
most part overlap the waUs some two or three feet,
and afford an agreeable shade to the inmates, who
sit upon a low bank or seat of earth, which is raade
to run along the whole of the waUs inside the
square. This low bank and the floors, being
rubbed over with a wash of red earth, which takes
on a fine glaze when dry, and the waUs above
whitewashed, the whole arrangeraents have a clean,
tidy, and soraewhat showy appearance, the pic
turesque look of which is stiU farther enhanced by
a display of muskets and other warlike accoutre
ments upon the waUs of the principal open apart
raent, which is used by the raaster of the establish
ment as his reception-room and haU of audience.
In other parts of the house we find, suspended
from, or naUed to the waUs, a variety of portraits

292 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
and prints, chiefly French, and vile daubs. Africans
are exceedingly fond of pictures in their rooms,
and to gratify this taste press anything into their
service that comes readiest to hand. Napoleon In
his cocked hat, in gaudy colours or siraple wood
cut, on foot and on horseback, and George IV. in
his coronation robes, may be seen disputing for
space with Punch and his dog Toby, as they
appear in the frontispiece of his publication, with
the urns, tea and coffee-pots of Cox, Savory, and
Corapany, as seen in their advertisements, or with
the royal arras of England flaming in aU the
glory of an announcement of one of her Majesty's
tradesmen. The introduction of pictures is far from being the
only European innovation which attracts our atten
tion. UntU inoculated with the fancy for change,
which their intercourse with Europeans is daUy deve
loping, their household wants were extremely few and
of the most siraple kind, and with raany people in
the country, even yet little change has taken place.
With a cloth to cover hiraself, a mat to sleep upon,
a few earthen pots for holding water and cooking,
a calabash to drink from, a couple of stones to
grind his corn, a tub to pound his plantains in,
and a bUl-hook and hoe to clear his plantation, the
Fantee is in a condition to commence housekeeping.

THE -GOLD COAST. 293
with everything necessary for his estabUshment.
Gradually, however, are gathered around him the
superfluous luxuries which travel in the wake of the
white raan. It is amusing to observe, in raany of
the faraily houses, the progress of ideas among its
inmates, and the various degrees of advancement
which they have made, from their different arrange
ments. Their superstition raay be seen in the
bottle or string suspended over the doorway, in the
Fetish tree in the yard, and in the posts erected in
the corners and behind the doors, to sustain vessels
which hold Fetish substances.
The old people care not to vary the practiee of
their fathers, and confine themselves to the siraple
necessaries of Ufe, not so much that they do not
prefer the comforts of raore ciriUzed habits, as
that they cannot give themselves the trouble to
acquire the means to gratify them. The bare clay
waUs of their apartraent, with their mats and
stools, their earthen pots and calabashes, bespeak
the stagnant nature of their ideas. In another
apartment of the same house, we find perhaps
dishes of pewter and earthenware, a spoon, a
knife and fork, a table, a chair, a bed, and a trunk ;
and the waUs whitewashed, with pictures and the
owner's musket and cartouch-box hung upon them.
Again we may find, stUl in the sarae house, a vveU-

294 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
finished roora according to our European ideas of
corafort, and its inraate dressed like an EngUsh
raan, able to read and to write, and haring the
Bible, Bunyan's " PUgrira's Progress," and other
religious books upon his table or sofa.
This strange interraixture gives a grotesque and
coraical appearance to their whole arrangeraents.
There are few houses now, however, in the neigh
bourhood of Cape Coast, and other principal
towns, in which many of the coraforts and luxuries
of civiUzed Ufe are not to be found ; and many of
the natives enjoy a degree of easy abundance, and of
luxurious enjoyraent, which, untU intercourse vrith
thera has raade it faraUiar to us, we should not
be inclined to associate with the naked simplicity
of their attire ; for it is not among those alone who
follow European habits of dress that we find all
the conveniences of life.
Indeed, among aU classes there is a much more
general diffusion of a raoderate and corapetent
means of subsistence than is to be perhaps found
in any other country in the world, absolute want
being perfectly unknown. The tendency, how
ever, at present is strong towards a higher standard
of exceUence in the objects of their pursuit, which
are chiefly based upon an anxious desire to imitate
European habits of life, which would appear.

THE GOLD COAST. 295
especiaUy in external acquireraents, to be the
grand desideratum of young Africa. So great is
the competition in this respect, that it is leading
many to min ; for, not satisfied to wait the slow
process of obtaining the raeans of adding to their
enjoyraents by habits of frugal industry, by which
the road to wealth is open to aU, they are apt
to launch into extravagant expenses, without at
aU reflecting upon their capability of supporting
thera. In this way, it is not at aU uncomraon
to see a person run headlong and deeply into
debt, aU the whUe that he is buUding a house,
which may possibly be sold by his creditors even
before the projector has raanaged to raake it
habitable. Others, with equal iraprudence, ex
pend the whole of their means in raising a costly
buUding, which remams a raere unfinished sheU —
a monuraent of the foUy and of the pride of its
owner. Some even make a greater miscalculation
of their raeans than this, and coraraence a stmcture
upon a scale so disproportioned to their means,
that they are compelled to leave it half-finished,
to be battered to the ground by the rains. But
on aU hands we see pretensions to a much higher
class of buUding than the preceding generation
considered necessary for their wants, and faUure Is
by no raeans the invariable result of these am-

296 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
bitious riews; on the contrary, there are now to
be found raany whose houses and raode of life
correspond in every respect with our European
ideas. Frora these reraarks, the reader wUl have Uttle
difficulty in picturing to hiraself the endless variety
of degree in the progress raade towards the habits
of a higher degree of civUization, He wiU also
easily iraagine the strange incongruities to be
encountered in his researches into the present
condition of the people ; for he wUl look in vain
in an African estabUshraent for that nice adjust
ment and appropriate suitability, which is expressed
by being " in keeping," and which is justly con
sidered an indication of correct taste.
The virtue of hospitality is general, and appears
so natural to the Fantees, that one of themselves,
a stranger, seems to think he has a right to put it
to the proof by taking up his teraporary abode
wherever he thinks fit. Accommodation is readily
granted without any expectation of recompense;
and upon occasions of a visit between friends,
the guest is invariably received with presents.
To Europeans they are so very accomraodating,
that they do not hesitate to vacate their own
houses for a tirae, in order that they raay be
properly lodged ; and although they do not provide

THE GOLD COAST. 297
them with an entertainraent which they doubt
their abiUty of making suitable for them, yet do
they bring presents of sheep, fowls, yams, plan
tains and palm-wine, in order that their own
servants may prepare the feast. The writer has
seen the greatest delicacy evinced in the unob-
tmsive manner in which real kindnesses have been
done; and has himself, during a long residence
araong thera, received so many proofs of their
respect and attachment as will ever lead him to
regard thera vrith an affectionate and grateful
remembrance.

n 3

298 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON

CHAPTER XI
Persecution of the Christians at Assafa — Their offensive
conduct — Sacred grove violated — Indignation of the
Fetishmen — CouncU of chiefs — Denunciation of the
Fetish worship by a Fetish priest — Destruction of tbe
Christians' village by Adoo, chief of Mankassim —
Captivity of the Christians — Interference of the EngHsh
authorities — Palaver held at Anamaboe — Resistance —
Necessity for caution on the part of the authorities —
Little dependence to be placed on native co-operation —
Meeting with the head men of Cape Coast — Deputation
to Adoo — He consults his Fetish, and receives permission
to go to Cape Coast — His arrival — Interest felt in his
trial — Conspiracy of Fetishmen to poison four supporters
of Christianity — Exposure of Fetish tricks — Indignation
of the chiefs — They pronounce the Fetishmen worthy
of death — Helpless condition of the people bereft of
spiritual aid — Their confiicting feelings on the subject.
Since writing the chapter upon the Fetish wor
ship of the people, in which we represented the
struggle going on between the two great princi-

THE GOLD COAST. 299
pies of barbarism and civUization, the views which
we then expressed have received an extraordinary
corroboration from circumstances which have since
taken place. At the smaU vlUage of Assafa, which
is not far distant frora the great Braffo Fetish of
Mankassim, Mr. Freeman had estabUshed a school,
and adraitted to Christian feUowship a sraaU body
of adult converts to Christianity. It was a cause
of great indignation to the Fetishraen to see their
worship repudiated in the Imraediate vicinity of the
chief Fetish of the country, and they commenced
a series of annoying persecutions, by which they
hoped to extinguish the spirit of Fetish repudiation.
To escape from these annoyances, the Christian
converts removedfrora Assafa, and estabUshed thera
selves in a sraall village under their head raan " Old
Quashie," who had renounced Fetish. This re
moval only brought them nearer to the Fetish grove,
and exposed them stiU more to the vengeance of
the Fetishmen. Nor was the conduct of these
proselytes at all times calculated to avoid giving
offence. They appeared to believe that the best
way of displaying their zeal for Christianity, was to
insult the worshippers of Fetish, and they took no
pains to conceal their detestation, which they ex
pressed by making a raock of their worship, and
by a general abuse of the worshippers.
Moreover thev cleared the bush and made their

300 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
plantation in the iramediate ricinity of the sacred
grove, which they approached with a levity and irre
verence highly displeasing to the Fetishraen, who
urged upon the Fantee chiefs the necessity of aveng
ing their insulted god. The believers in Fetish
generaUy, however, did not consider their interfer
ence necessary, as they had great faith in the power
of their chief deity to avenge hiraself, and they
believed that he would be induced to make some
signal deraonstration of his wrath against the pro
fane contemners of his power. Their faith in this
hope was, however, disappointed, for the plantations
which they thought raust be blighted were particu
larly fruitful, and a stUl raore raarked indignity
faUed to rouse the anger of the god. One of the
Christian converts did not fear to shoot a deer
within the precincts ofthe grove, which was regarded
as such a flagrant conterapt of the great Fetish, that
the priest at last prevaUed upon the Fantee chiefs
to take the matter into their serious consideration.
A council was held, at which it was agreed that the
chiefs would mutually support each other In punish
ing the next insult offered to their deity. Adoo,
the chief of Mankassim, (the representative of the
forraer kings of Fantee, when the nation acknow
ledged one king,) was appointed guardian of the
Fetish. The other chiefs proraised hira their sup
port, and consented to share the responsibUity of

THE GOLD COAST. 301
any measure which he might find it necessary to
adopt in reference to the charge imposed upon him.
Affairs were in this state, when a Fetishraan — one
who had been an inferior serritor at the altar of the
great Fetish — renounced his worship and joined the
other converts to Christianity. -This defection stiU
farther alarraed the Fetishraen, and they only
watched for an opportunity to cut hira off. He soon
afforded thera one, for he was influenced by the
rancour of a renegade against his old associates,
and spared no pains to evince his contempt for them.
Actuated by this spirit, he and two others ventured
to cut sorae sticks within the grove; which the Fetish
men no sooner heard, than they had recourse to
Adoo to punish the offenders. This chief, burning
vrith a fiery zeal In the cause of the Fetish, and rely
ing upon the support of the other Fantee chiefs,
immediately sumraoned his retainers, and set out
for Old Quashie's riUage, where the deUnquents re
sided. He arrived at daybreak, before the vUlagers
had risen frora their beds. He seized and bound
the Christians, and carried thera captive to Man-
kasslra, leaving their houses in flames.
Information of this outrage was conveyed to the
judicial assessor in a letter written by one of the edu
cated natives In the neighbourhood. UntU the receipt
of this coraraunication, the EngUsh authorities had
no knowledee whatever of the councU of the chiefs.

302 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
or of the other circurastances connected with this
affair. A soldier was iramediately sent to Mankas
sim to deraand the Uberation of the prisoners, and
to cite Adoo to appear at Cape Coast Castle, to ex
plain and account for his conduct. At the same
tirae, the assessor, persuaded that such a gross riola
tion of authority, the like of which had not occurred
since the close of the Ashantee war, could only have
been coraraitted by a man who had made up his
mind to dare the worst, privately requested Am-
raooney, the chief of Anamaboe, to use his influence
with Adoo to induce him to subrait to the authori
ties and to obey the suraraons.
In the raeantirae the Fetishraen were instigating
hira to drown the renegade, by the terrors of the
offended deity and every induceraent which they
could think of, but he trembled to take this decisive
step. He stUl respected the EngUsh government,
and he refused to corarait an act which he could
not help regarding as an entire renunciation of his
aUegiance. WhUe this debate was going on, the
suramons reached hira, which being supported by
Araraooney's strong persuasions, had the effect of
recaUing hira to a sense of his danger. He con
sented to appear at Cape Coast upon a day men
tioned, excusing hiraself frora accorapanying the
soldier, upon the plea that he could not collect his
retainers, who must foUow him, under the delay of

THE GOLD COAST. 303
a few days. He promised that he would bring his
prisoners with him, and that no injury should befal
thera. This answer not being satisfactory, another
raessenger was sent to him demanding his imrae
diate obedience to the suraraons. By this tirae,
however, he was ready to corae, the whole of the
Fantee chiefs haring espoused his cause as that of
the Fetish, and prepared theraselves to accompany
him, and to support hira by their countenance at
his trial. When they arrived at Anaraaboe they
wrote a letter to Mr. Bannerraan, the governor,
praying hira not to insist upon their coraing to Cape
Coast, as they had a great many foUowers vrith them,
whora they would find it difficult to support there,
and entreating hira to send the assessor to Ana
maboe " to hear the palaver, " giving at the same
time the strongest assurances that they would en
tirely abide by his decision.
Their request was granted, and the case was
investigated at Anamaboe ; but the assessor was
not a little astonished to find, on landing upon
the beach there, that the whole of the Fantee
chiefs, with fully three thousand foUowers, were
congregated to watch the proceedings. He found
the facts of the case to be what we have here
stated. It was evident, by their own adraission,
as weU as by the testimony of others, that the
nKv;ct;nn inverts had intentionally insulted the

304 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
worshippers of the Fetish, and their conduct had
been calculated with a view to provoke them.
Nor did Adoo seek to deny his act, which he and
his brother chiefs justified as a duty which he owed
to his gods. The merits of the case were, there
fore, easUy comprehended ; but it was not so easy
to decide upon the best raanner of treating it.
There was a necessity for the calraest deliberation,
for a due aUowance being made for the prejudices
of the people, who had faith in their Fetish, and
for the exhibition of the most impartial consi
deration, without regard for Christian or heathen.
It was decided that Adoo should pay to the Chris
tians the fiiU value of the property destroyed by the
burning of their huts, which was calculated at
£56, and that, moreover, he should pay a fine of
£40 to her Majesty for his flagrant contempt of the
law. The insulters of the Fetish were adjudged
to pay £20 to the Fantee chiefs, as compensation
for the insults offered them through their Fetish.
It raay perhaps be thought that the treatraent they
had received, had been sufficient to relieve thera
frora further punishraent, and that the lawlessness
of Adoo's act had forfeited every title to a consi
deration of their insulted feeUngs. But vrithout
basing the whole decision upon the original merits
ofthe case. It would have been impossible to con
vince the Fetish worshippers that favour and par-

THE GOLD COAST. 305
tiallty had not keen shown to the Christians ; for
in dealing out justice to them, it is more necessary
to mark, by comparative penalties, our sense of
the different degrees of culpability, than, after care
fully sumraing up the eridence, to strike the balance
of guUtiness and affix a single penalty upon the
greatest offender.
The circumstances of iraportant cases are ex
tensively, although often iraperfectly, known to the
pubUc ; and it is only by the araount of penalty
that they can estiraate the Europeans' views of jus
tice, as the strictures of the judge are not generally
heard. As soon as judgraent was given in this
case, the chiefs requested, as they often do, to be
aUowed to retire for a few rainutes to consult upon
it. When they returned to the haU, they acknow
ledged its justice in respect to the corapensation
decreed for theraselves, and the fine iraposed for
the violation of the law, and expressed their perfect
readiness to abide by the decision to this extent ;
but their whole sentiraents revolted against the idea
of corapensating the Christians for their losses.
These were, in their eyes, altogether an inadequate
punishment for the affronts offered to the Fetish.
They, therefore, argued strenuously against sub
raission upon this point, and aUeged that they
could not comproraise the dignity of the great

306 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Fetish by yielding to a payment which must greatly
offend their god. They, moreover, insisted that the
Christians should be prevented frora returning to
their viUage and plantations as a raark of defer
ence to the Fetish, essential to avert his wrath from
the whole country.
Their arguraents were met by a firm assertion
of the principles of justice, which could not be
aUowed to trackle to their prejudices. They
were given to understand that the local govern
raent had established, and were determined to
raaintain, security and protection for aU ; not even
injustice arising frora theu- Fetish partiaUties could
be aUowed to form an exception to this rule.
Care was taken to explain to them that the
conduct of the Christians was disapproved of,
and that whUe the prejudices of the people led
thera to reverence their Fetish groves, the magis
trates would regard theu- wUfiU desecration in
the sarae Ught, in performing justice between
man and man, as they would the spoliation of
a missionary chapel. The fine iraposed upon
the Christians was an evidence of this impartial
•riew of the case. Such Insults were neither
dictated by a Christian spirit, nor calculated to
recoraraend Christianity to others. It was per
fectly possible for Christians and Fetish wor-

THE GOLD COAST. 307
shippers to live together in the same country,
vrithout mutually offending each other.
While the assessor insisted upon compensation
being made for the losses sustained, and thus
justified and explained the grounds of his decision,
and the principles upon which he acted, he, at
the sarae tirae, expressed his wiUingness to
raediate between them, in order to remove occa
sions of future quarrels. With this view, although
he would neither corapel nor sanction the abandon
ment of their plantations, merely to gratify the
superstitious feelings of the Fetish worshippers,
yet he would recoraraend the Christians to seU
them; and if the chiefs were sincere in their
desire to do honour to their Fetish, they would
not object to raake sorae sacrifice, to preserve the
inriolabUity of his abode.
Although these arguraents were neither satis
factory nor conrincing — for the assessor was
reasoning with them upon the only subject on
which they vriU not Usten to reason — yet they
established in the minds of the chiefs and people
the conviction that the governraent was pursuing
in this raatter the sarae system of impartial justice
which they had observed to characterise its general
conduct. They had the penetration to perceive
the inutUity of attempting to alter this policy.

308 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
and they sorrowfuUy submitted themselves to the
decision, saying: "If our master prefers these
ten Christians to the whole of the Fantee nation,
we cannot help it ; we are sorry, but we submit."
In this reraark we have an excellent iUustration
of their ideas of justice. It would never occur
to them to support a principle, in opposition to
such a numerical opposition. It impUed also a
partial disruption of the cordial ties which had
hitherto united them to the government, their
great attachraent to their Fetish rendering their
present subraission a severe stmggle between
the duty required of them by their faith, and
that imposed upon them by a governraent which
they loved and respected, and of whose power
to benefit them they were fuUy conscious.
Seeing no means of overcoming the assessor's
deterraination, Ottoo, chief of Abrah, and Am-
mooney, chief of Anaraaboe, becarae responsible
for the payment of the fine and compensation-
money on the morrow. Then they left the
fort, much dejected at the result of the investi
gation. It had been necessary to close the gates of the
fort, to exclude the retainers of the chiefs, who
were anxious to be present. About two hundred
of the principal men were aU that the haU could

THE GOLD COAST. 309
accommodate. The others took up a position
outside the gate, and waited with rauch Irapatience
the result of the trial. As soon as it was an
nounced to thera, they flew to their arras, which
had been deposited in the houses of their Ana
maboe friends, and in less than ten minutes Adoo
was surrounded by fuUy a thousand of adherents,
who raised hira upon their heads, and carried him
in defiant triumph through the town. It appeared
that these measures had all been previously ar
ranged by a party of the bush chiefs, without
the connivance or knowledge of the Anaraaboes
and Abrahs. Their object in obtaining a hearing
of the palaver at Anaraaboe, instead of Cape Coast,
had been to be out of reach of physical coercion,
which the presence of troops in garrison there
afforded. They beUeved it possible to awe the
assessor, unsupported as he was by any present
protection, into a compliance with their wishes
in the settlement of the case. FaUing in this,
they had resolved to withstand his authority, and
to brave his displeasure, and the manner in which
they now acted but too plainly erinced their
feelings. WhUe they paraded Adoo through the streets,
they sung the praises of the Fetish, proclaimed
the merits of the chief as its protecting hero, and

310 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
heaped insult and abuse upon the Christians and
their aiders and abettors. A few kegs of powder
were carried before Adoo during this progress, to
intimate that he was prepared to fight in defence
of his gods. An occasional shout to slay and
exterminate the Christians, was sometimes made.
The assessor, fearing that they might proceed to
extreraities, and having great reliance on his influ
ence over them, which had on many prerious
occasions been successfiiUy eraployed in like tu
multuous uproars, determined to go out and
endeavour to disperse them. He proceeded
directly to that part of the procession where
Adoo was elevated on the heads of his bearers.
He indignantly ordered him to descend and dis
miss his attendants. He carae down from his
palanquin accordingly ; but his retainers, thinking
that the assessor's object was to take him prisoner,
hurried hira off in another direction.
By this tirae raany of the Anaraaboes, getting
alarraed for the white raan's safety, hastened to
his protection, and ranging theraselves around him
with heavy sticks and cutlasses in their hands,
were eager to corae to blows with the bush people,
who seeing the turn which raatters were taking,
becarae alarraed, and took to flight in the direction
of their horaes. In two minutes there was not

THE GOLD COAST. 311
one of them to be seen in Anaraaboe. Nor did
they slacken their flight until they had put sorae
mUes between them and the town.
As soon as Ammooney heard that Adoo had
left the town, he began to have an unpleasant
sense of his responsibiUty for the payment of the
sums which had been decreed. He therefore
hastened after him, to endeavour to persuade him
to retum without his followers, and to wait the
final settlement of the palaver. He carae up with
hira at Great Corraantine, but he could make no
irapression upon hira of the kind which he desired.
On the contrary, Adoo revUed hira and Ottoo as
traitors to the Fetish, and to the covenant which
they had raade together to defend their coraraon
worship. He told him that he had only come
to Anamaboe to have the case heard, in the con
fidence that the Fantees were aU so firmly leagued
together on this point, that the white raen would
not dare to punish hira. But he had found thera
subraissive in everything to the assessor, and he
now meant to leave thera to make good the
UabUity which they had undertaken. Ammooney
returned home disconsolate, araidst the jeers and
execrations of the woraen in the viUages through
which he passed, who were all on the side df the
Fetish hero.

312 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
Many subsequent atterapts were made to induce
Adoo to submit to the authorities, and to come
to the castle; but he equaUy disregarded the
suramons of the governor, and the persuasions
of many of his countryraen. He prorided himself
with powder and lead, cut war-paths through the
bush, and raaintained hiraself for four months
in an attitude of armed defiance. He was sup
ported in his resistance by many of the Fantee
chiefs, who, asserabling in the neighbourhood of
the Fetish grove, kept watch and ward lest any
sudden attempt should be raade to seize Adoo,
or to destroy the sacred abode. During this
tirae, the more favourably-disposed chiefs endea
voured to mediate between hira and the governor,
and were wiUing to pay the fine. The amount
decreed to corapensate the losses of the Christians
was stIU a stumbUng-block for aU, although
Ammooney and Ottoo did not refiise to redeem
their responsibUity. A half-way submission of
this kind was deemed unsatisfactory, and the
authorities preferred to wait the progress of
events, rightly judging that the state of un
certainty in which Adoo and his friends were,
and the interruption which his hostUe attitude
was giving to coramercial intercourse, would soon
become intolerable to aU parties, and render them

THE GOLD COAST. 313
sincerely desirous of a settlement. It was also
prudent not to aggravate the feelings of the people
on the subject of their Fetish.
Adoo's was a holy warfare, and the sympathies
of the raasses were on his side. There would
have been difficulty in knowing whora to trust
in such an eraergency. It was not like the
AppoUonian carapaign, in which every one was
anxious to take a part. Their superstitious fears
would have paralyzed the courage of native auxi
liaries, if a sense of religious duty raight not even
have rendered them treacherous aUies. Under
these circumstances, it was necessary for the
governor to observe the greatest caution and
circumspection ; and it was only when raurraurs
of discontent throughout the country became
general and loud, and the natives were raade
fuUy sensible of the necessity of bringing Adoo
to obedience, that vigorous measures were resolved
upon. The king and head men of Cape Coast were
suraraoned to attend the governor and councU in
the castle, and being inforraed that it was the
intention of the governor to send an expeditionary
force against Adoo, were asked if they would give
their assistance. This question occasioned a good
deal of hesitation, and they retired to consult before

314 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
they would venture to give a decided answer. On
their return, they acknowledged Adoo's conduct to
be very bad, and also the necessity of reducing him
to obedience ; but they did not see how they could
go and fight against the Braffo Fetish. It was
true, the Cape Coast people were the soldiers of the
fort, and were ready, on aU ordinary occasions,, to
fight the battles of their EngUsh raasters; but the
governor raust make aUowances for them, if they
hesitated to engage in a war which so deeply impli
cated the religious feelings of the whole people.
They begged that he would defer his intention of
proceeding to hostUities for a week, to aUow them
to send a fresh deputation to Adoo and the people
with him ; hoping by their persuasions to influ
ence him to submit. If their remonstrances should
prove ineffectual, they would no longer vrithhold
their assistance, as they were convinced of the
necessity of supporting the authority of the govern
ment. The governor gladly accepted this condi
tional promise of their co-operation, and to ^ve
weight to the representations of the deputation,
active and ostentatious preparations were made for
war, in order that the pubUc rumour of them
might intimidate the recusant chief. The soldiers
were daily paraded and exercised at target practice,
and trained to the use ofthe rocket-guns and field-

THE GOLD COAST. 315
pieces, and other indications given of the earnest
intentions of the governor. The deputation, before
leaving, were anxious to receive assurances
that Adoo would not be imprisoned, but the
governor disdained to give any pledge of the kind.
The subraission, if made at aU, must be fuU and
entire. The insubordinate opposition of Adoo and
his abettors at length gave way before these raoving
arguraents. He accorapanied the deputation to
Cape Coast, attended by raost ofthe Fantee chiefs,
vrith a very nuraerous retinue of armed foUowers.
A bold attempt was made to induce the governor
to consent to have the palaver heard outside the
castle, upon the plea that there was no roora suffi
cient to contain such a numerous assembly. This
concession was firmly denied, and Adoo was cora
peUed to humble hiraself, and to submit to such
terms as the govemor chose to grant hira.
Upon the day appointed for receiring Adoo's
subraission, Cape Coast presented a scene of extra
ordinary bustle and excitement. All the streets
and thoroughfares were thronged with crowds of
eager groups talking over the great event of the
day, and speculating upon its probable terraination.
Some latent hopes stUl lurked in the minds ofthe
Fetish worshippers, that the governor would be
deterred by the display of their great numbers, frora
p 2

316 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
proceeding to extreraities against Adoo; but if
they ever conteraplated farther resistance, their
hopes of success must have been entirely destroyed
by the precautionary measures which were taken
to maintain the peace of the town. An officer and
a party of gunners were stationed in Fort William
Tower, Ajfhich completely coraraands the castie,
the town, and its approaches. The soldiers in
the garrison were under arras. The gates were
closed, and only a sraaU wicket left open for the
admission of the chiefs. The sentries were doubled,
and the officer in charge of the gate had orders to
admit only the principal men. By ten o'clock they
began to arrive, and to take up their seats in the
largest haU of the castle. It was nearly twelve
before Adoo made his appearance, escorted by the
Cape Coast deputation. He entered the castle with
great state and show, and seeraed offended that
his druramers and jhorn-blower were not aUowed
to attend him. He was dressed in a very rich
yeUow silk damask cloth. His wrists and ankles
were profusely decorated with golden ornaments,
whUe a string of valuable beads, interspersed vrith
luraps of rock-gold encircled his neck, and hung
down upon his breast. His air was altogether a
strange mixture of stately dignity, blustering
swagger, and stealthy apprehension. WhUe his

THE GOLD COAST. 317
pompous walk and assuraed unconcern revealed his
sense of the consequence attached to his position
on such an occasion, the quick fiirtive glances of
his unsteady eye, as it rested for an instant upon
the sraaU groups of soldiers sauntering in the yard,
and the lowering scowl of his bloated face, betrayed
the uneasiness ofhis mind. The traces of a long
debauch were strongly raarked on his countenance,
giring evidence that he had been seeking relief
from his fears in sensual indulgence during his pro
longed contumacy. He was preceded by several
sword-bearers, carrying his large gold-handled
swords of state, and his Unguist, vrith his sUver-
headed cane of office, and was foUowed by an
attendant vrith the royal stool and cushion.
As soon as he had taken his seat in the great
palaver haU, the governor received totice that the
chiefs were prepared to see hirru He accordingly
proceeded to join the asserably, accorapanied by his
councU, the magistrates, and several of the mUitary
officers of the garrison. When they had taken
their seats at the farther end of the room, and
had leisure to observe the whole appearance and
arrangements of this large congress, it was irapos
sible to avoid being rauch stmck with the strange
character of the scene. Fully six hundred of the
principal raen of the country were assembled within

318 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
the haU. They were seated on chairs and country
stools along the waUs, and on to the centre of the
wide floor, through which a small clear passage,
to admit of ingress or egress to the governor's
seat, was the only space left unoccupied. The rest
was one dense mass of liring men, so closely
packed together, that not a vestige of the floor was
visible. The great irregularity in the height of
their seats, some being on high chairs, others on
stools of aU sizes, and the sprinkling of attendants
who had been admitted, squatted on the bare floor,
stUl farther added to the grotesque appearance of
the assembly ; whUe the rich and variegated colours
of theu: robes, contrasting with the darkness of
their skins, the sheen of gold and sUver .which
glittered on many of their persons, the gold-
handled swords of state, which marked the position
of some principal chief, the switching of the
elephants' tails by the little pages, and the monkey
skull-caps of the chiefs' court-criers gave additional
variety to the scene. Add to these the grave de
portraent of the head raen, with their long dark or
grizzled beards, the eager upturned gaze of all eyes
in the direction of the white men, the soleran and
dignified bearing of the governor and magistrates,
the presence of a rainister ofthe Christian religion,
with a band of native converts deeply interested in

THE GOLD COAST. 319
the result of the question, and behind aU the martial
figures and bold raien of gaUant English officers,
in fuU miUtary equipments, and the reader has
before him a combination of features, which, taken
in connexion with the high moral and religious con
siderations involved in the stmggle, must deeply
impress him with the strange interest of the scene.
Great forraality is observed by the Fantees upon
occasions of this description. The business was
opened by the Cape Coast deputation coming up
to the governor's table, and relating through their
Unguist, the whole proceedings, from the tirae that
the governor had asked their assistance, untU
then- arrival vrith Adoo on the floor of the haU.
Haring finished their narration, they turned round
to this chief, and leading hira to the governor's
chair, retired to their seats. Adoo made a deep
obeisance to his exceUency, throvring his handker
chief at his feet, to indicate the humble and sub
missive position in which he placed himself. He
then bowed consecutively to the magistrates and
officers, and drew himself up in an attitude of
respectfiil attention before the governor.
Being required to explain his conduct, he
acknowledged his error, and craved raercy. He
did not regard the question much as his own,
as that of the whole Fantee nation, and he acted

320 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
in defence of his Fetish, on the strength of a
covenant which he had raade with his brother
chiefs. He was very wrong in having so long
resisted the governor's sumraons, but he was
afraid of the assessor, whora he regarded as his
personal eneray, as he had, on several previous
occasions, severly punished him. He protested
against the judgraent he had given in the present
case, and prayed the governor and raagistrates, in
conjunction with the Fantee chiefs, to give It a
rehearing, declaring hiraself perfectly wUUng to
abide by their decision. The assessor was quite
vrilling that his decision should be set aside, and
had no fears of subraitting his judgment to the
impartial consideration of the present assembly.
The sarae eridence was gone over which had been
adduced at Anaraaboe, and when the investigation
was finished, the governor, raagistrates, and prin
cipal chiefs, retired to consult upon it, without the
assessor. On their return to the haU, it was announced to
Adoo that they fuUy concurred in the decision
which had been given at Anaraaboe, and that he
raust now subrait to the payraent of the sums
decreed by the assessor. The governor, in con
sideration of the entreaties of the other chiefs, and
being satisfied that his authority had been fully vin-

THE GOXD COAST. 321
dicated vrithout any unworthy compromise, con
sented to forgive Adoo for his contumacy, and not
to inflict any additional punishment upon hira.
He insisted, however, on his depositing a security
of fifty ounces of gold-dust in the castle, as a
pledge that he would observe a perfect obedience
for the space of two years. The fine and the
corapensation to the Christians having been paid,
this troublesorae question was finally set at rest.
But the effects of this religious exciteraent
were not confined to the case in question. During
these four months of antagonism, the minds of
men had been directed to their system of Fetish
worship with a more intelligent and reasoning
scrutiny, than they had ever before exercised. The
defection of several of the priests, and the dis
closures which they did not hesitate to raake of
the tricks of the Fetishraen, had a tendency to
weaken the confidence of the natives generally.
Several of the chiefs, who had hitherto been blind
foUowers of the Fetishraen, were anxious that the
white men should institute an inquiry into their
proceedings, evidently prepared, if the investiga
tion should prove their pretensions to be founded
on lies and cheats, to throw off their grievous
yoke. The consequence of this infidel spirit was a
p 3

322 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
more determined and concentrated effort on the
part of the Fetishmen to prop up their tottering
power. This feeling, more than tbe insults of the
Assafa Christians, was the occasion of the councU
of Fantee chiefs upon the subject, and of Adoo's
outrageous act. They had observed, with a bitter
hate, the prevalence of new ideas destmctive of
their authority, and while they had yet influence
over the superstitiojis fears of ,the people, they in
stigated the Fantee chiefs to raake an united effort
to maintain the supremacy of the Fetish, It was
also the persuasions of the Fetishmen, founded
upon pretended communications vrith thfe great
Fetish, that kept Adoo so long firra in his
recusancy. He was confirmed in the coiirse which
they had compeUed him to adopt by frequent
messages from the deity.
The Fetishmen were daily inquiring of their
god, what was to be the result of the straggle, and
the responses which they pretended to receive
buoyed up Adoo with a superstitious confidence.
Upon the receipt of the governor's summons, he
never manifested the smaUest disrespect. On the
contrary, he always acknowledged the EngUsh as
his raasters, whom he was ready to obey, and ex
pressed his wiUingness to proceed to Cape Coast,
proyided the Fetish would give hira perraission.

THE GOLD COAST. 323
He invariably went up to inquire of the god, before
he presumed to give an answer, and his repeated
refusals were couched in the most respectful terms.
Even when the Cape Coast deputation went to
hira, he did not deriate frora this course. He
received the merabers of it vrith much kindness
and hospitaUty, and asked them to remain a few
days untU he could receive an answer from the
Fetish. He made sacrifices and inquired, and on
this occasion was answered that he might go
without fear. Many circumstances combined to
influence the Fetishmen to hold out no longer.
In the earUer stages of the contention, they had
hoped to be able to constrain the Fetish wor
shippers to rise as one man to assert Fetish supre
raacy ; but the defection of the chiefs of Anamaboe
and Abrah, gave alarming token of their waning
power. They did not, however, despair of being
able to recal them to their worship, and they con
tinued sending them threatening messages from
their god, with the view of effecting this purpose.
They seized upon every untoward cUcurastance
which occurred, and attributed it to the wrath of
the great Fetish. No rain had faUen during these
months, the countiy was parched with drought,
and the people suffered from a deficiency of water.
This, of course, was the work ofthe Fetish, a demon-

324 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
stration of his anger, which was not without its
effect upon the minds of the natives generaUy.
During the investigation at Anamaboe, Ottoo,
the chief of Abrah, fell down in a faint In the haU
of the fort, and died about two months afterwards,
whUe the excitement was stiU going on. This was
a still raore signal mark of the vengeance of the
Fetish, as he was a firm supporter of English
authority. We are not altogether without sus
picions, that his death ought to be attributed to
the agency of the Fetishmen. At aU events, the
sequel will show that they were very capable of
dealing vrith poison. Mr. George Blankson, a
native merchant in Anaraaboe, Mr. Hayfron, the
fort interpreter, and Mr. WUliam Parker and Mr.
Stanhope, office-bearers of the Wesleyan church,
and strong supporters of Christian religion, had
rendered themselves particularly obnoxious on
account of the active part which they were taking
in these proceedings. The Fetishmen believed, If
they could manage to cut these raen off, that it
would not be difficult to persuade their superstitious
dupes that the great Fetish had kUled them.
With this view, a councU of Fetishmen and Fetish
women was held in the dead of night, in a lonely
spot on the margin of a smaU salt lake, near
Anaraaboe.

THE GOLD COAST. 325
Here they concerted their diabolical plans, and
bound themselves by a great oath to secrecy. A
subscription was made for the purpose of engaging
the services of sorae Fetishraan, skiUed in poison,
who was to be hired to put them to death. WhUe
they were thus making their preparations to
estabUsh anew the authority of the great Fetish by
such unscrupulous measures, the growing discon
tent of the people, and the active preparations or
the governor, alarmed many of the Anamaboe
Fetishmen, who urged upon the Braffo priests the
necessity of aUowing Adoo to go to Cape Coast,
and of trusting to the chapter of accidents for the
re-establishraent of their authority. Many of
thera saw that their brethren at Mankassin had
overshot the mark, by counselling Adoo's continued
resistance, and they trembled for the entire over
throw of their power by a longer persistence.
The whole of the Fetish priests during this
time, were in a state of great excitement. Their
entire crafty system, by which they obtained a
raeans of livelihood, was in danger. Sorae of
thera, perceiving it to be a faUing cause, were
anxious to separate theraselves in tirae frora their
coraraunity, and thus to escape the punishraent
which seemed ineritable, whUe others pressed upon
he priests of the great Fetish the necessity of

326 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
lowering their pretensions, if they would not con
sent to see the whole of their privUeges over
thrown. These circumstances were privately communi
cated to the assessor, about the time of Adoo's
arrival at Cape Coast, by one of the Fetishraen,
named Cofee Coomah, who had been present at
the unholy councU near the salt pond at Anaraaboe.
He gave hira a Ust of the men and women who
had been present upon this occasion, and pro
vided hira vrith sufficient proofs of their guUt.
He moreover disclosed the whole clap-trap of the
Braffo Fetishmen, their practice of stationing their
accompUces in the leafy recesses of the sacred
grove, to utter in an unnatural voice the oracles of
the god, and of placing others araong the branches
of the trees over the heads of the supplicants to
receive the offerings which they presented vrith
downcast eyes and vrith their hands extended to
the heavens, and which they believed to be taken
up by the god.
The assessor's informant had no personal know
ledge of these facts, nor untU lately had it ever
occurred to him that the Braffo Fetish was not
possessed of supernatural power. He acknow
ledged that he had himself, as a Fetishraan, prac
tised tricks to deceive his dupes, but his fearfiil

THE GOLD COAST. 327
respect for the great Fetish would not aUow hira
to beUeve that the Braffo priests had recourse to
a system of trick and deception. The circum
stance which led to his conviction upon this point,
arose out of the violation of his wife by a brother
Fetishman. The woman, who had gone to consult
this Fetishman respecting the sickness of a child,
had been compeUed to subrait to the erabraces of
the priest. She informed her husband, who went
to expostulate -vrith the ravisher. The latter
accused the woraan of speaking falsely, and
asserted his innocence.
Upon this, Cofee Cooraah insisted that they
should both go to the great Fetish, and leam the
trath frora the Braffo priests. Whereupon he
was told that the great Fetish was no god, that
the Fetishmen there were as great rogues as thera
selves, that they only cheated the people with
tricks, and that he himself had frequently been
employed to assist them, and had often pronounced
the oracles which had previously been agreed upon
by the priests. He mentioned the name of this
man and several others, as persons who could reveal
the whole system of deception.
With the knowledge of these facts, the assessor
determined to expose the Fetishmen to the whole
of the people ; and when Adoo's affair was settled,

328 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
¦he startled the asserably by announcing that he
had now the intention of showing thera what kind
of people they had been supporting, alraost to the
verge of bringing utter destraction upon the
country. He charged the Fetishmen vrith a con
spiracy to comrait raurder, and stated that he had
proofs to lay before them of their guUt, as weU as
of the gross deceptions which they practised, and
he invited them to appear in the castle on the
morrow to be present at this Investigation.
This announcement was received by the chiefs
with a variety of eraotions. Sorae of them,
staunch supporters of the Fetish, shrank from an
exposure of the kind ; and others, and especiaUy the
Abrahs and Anaraaboes, whose faith was greatly
shaken, were anxious to have their doubts resolved,
and their consciences eased by the conviction of
the Fetish impostures. The chiefs were ordered
to brine- the Fetishraen of their several districts
into court, and the predoralnant desire to have the
raatter thoroughly sifted was evidenced by the
alacrity with which they sent for thera. Adoo's
case had sunk into perfect insignificance, before
the weightier considerations involved in the present
accusations. With reference to this point, it is sufficient to
state that the conspiracy to poison was fidly proved

THE GOLD COAST. 329
and acknowledged by the Fetishraen themselves.
Nineteen of them, men and women, were fuUy con
victed of this heinous crirae, and the assessor had
the satisfaction of gaining over the chiefs to their
punishraent. They were even wiUing to outvie
hira in severity, and pronounced the criminals
worthy of death. The raen were sentenced to be
pubUcly flogged, and to be iraprisoned and put
to hard labour for the space of five years. The
women, in consideration of their sex, got off vrith
two years imprisonment. The public whipping of
the dreaded Fetishmen was inflicted in the raarket-
place of Cape Coast, araidst the universal applause
of the people.
Upon the subject of the Fetishraen's tricks and
deceptions, no less curiosity was evinced. The
exposure of these struck at the very root of their
faith, and an eagerness proportioned to its im
portance was accordingly felt. For three long
days during which the investigation took place, the
large haU was as crowded as on the first day of
Adoo's trial ; and when conriction was at last
clearly brought home to the minds of the people,
it was curious to observe its effect upon different
minds. Some rejoiced, some grieved, sorae
laughed, and sorae were indignant. Several of
the Fetishraen's accompUces, who had been

330 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON
employed to speak the oracles, revealed their whole
proceedings, and gave proofs of the truth of their
statements, by mentioning the occasions on which
they had answered the supplicants, many of whom
were present.
Then might be seen an angry chief press forward,
to abuse these luckless accompUces, with such
taunts as these, " Were you the god that pro
nounced me guUty of perjury ?" " Was it you
that made me pay my money in vain to cure my
chUd's sickness ?" " Did you fix upon me the
guUt of vritchcraft ?" And as they lashed them
selves into a passion, with the thought of the tricks
which had been played upon them, they threatened
the culprits vrith vengeance and restitution. No
one was more enraged than AdoD. Here was
before him the self-acknowledged god, who had
prevented him from obeying the governor's sum
mons, fidly revealed in the very shabby person of
one of his own vassals. He taunted him vrith aU
the sufferings which he had caused him to endure,
and actuaUy wept at the bare imagination of
his foUy.
One venerable chief, when order was somewhat
restored, rose, and pointing to his long white beard,
said : " This teaches me that I am too
old to learn ; but it ought to give weight to the

THE GOLD COAST. 331
adrice which I now give to aU who are young, to
give up their Fetish and to go to school." It was
impossible to see their only stay and support,
thus radely shattered to pieces, without a feeling of
pity for their desolate condition, bereft of every
spiritual trast. Many of them left the castle
sorrowful and downcast, and were heard repeating
to each other, " What can we now do in sickness
and distress ?" " Whither can we fly for succour ?"
" Our gods have been proved to be no gods !"
" Our priests have deceived us !"
When the writer left the coast, the altar of the
great Fetish, who had been reverently worshipped
for ages, was entirely deserted, and the sacred
persons of the priests were no longer of any
account. Adoo, attributing his losses and mis
fortunes to them, had compeUed them to refund the
money which had been taken from him.
It is not intended to convey the impression, that
the conriction of the roguery of this, the principal
Fetish of the country, has eradicated the desire to
worship Fetishes. This desire wiU reraain, untU
their rainds have become enUghtened by a
knowledge of the Christian religion, for the in
troduction of which, this sapping of their forraer
faith has clearly paved the way. It speaks weU for
the docUe disposition of the people, that such a

332 EIGHTEEN YEARS ON THE GOLD COAST.
movement has been effected vrithout bloodshed.
At one tirae our power and influence trerabled in
the scale, and nothing but the calm and teraperate
measures of the govemment prevented a fearful
calamity.* * As this work was about to go to press, the author
received a letter from Mr. Freeman, from the Gold Coast,
which has been added in an appendix. The reader wiU
perceive that the effects of this exposure have even exceeded
the author's expectations.

APPENDIX.

Extract from a Letter of the Rev. T. B. Freeman, dated
Cape Coast, September 30, 1852.
" I have long felt desirous to write a few lines, giving
you a little information respecting the state of our work
here since you left us ; but whenever a vessel has been
sailing, I have been so hardly pressed with official duties,
that I have been compelled to forego that pleasure. I
cannot, however, allow this vessel to leav^ without con
veying to you a few lines from me.
" Since your departure from the coast, many deeply
interesting circumstances, indicating the growing ascend
ancy of Christian truth have occurred ; and the practical
results of the destruction of the pernicious influence of
the Grand Fetish are now being clearly developed. The
little church at Assafa* now contains upwards of eighty
* It was against this small body of Christians that Adoo went in
the cause ofthe Fetish; they then, I believe, numbered fourteen.

334 APPENDIX.
members. Fourteen candidates for Christian society have
sprung up in a village called Kuntu, about an hour's
journey from Assafa. The station at Salt Pond, abandoned
some time ago, has been reopened under very promising
circumstances. " Mankassim is to become a mission station in a few
days. Winnebah is also to be reoccupied with every pros
pect of future success. Adoo,* the Chief of Mankassim
engages to put fifteen children in the Mankassim school
from his own household, and shows the vast change his
mind has undergone on the great subject of Christianity, by
attending Divine worship in our chapel here, when he
comes to Cape Coast. What an extraordinary change !
Yamiki, the Chief of Abuadzi, has recently built a nice
little chapel entirely at his own expense. Throughout
the Abrah country there seems to be a great movement
in favour of Christianity. Dominassi, Abuadzi, Dunkwa,
Abakrampa and Akroful stations, are all under the happiest
influences. " A short time after your departure for England, we
received instructions from our committee in London, to
ordain Mr. Martin, our senior native brother, to the fuU
authority and responsibities of the ministerial office, and
the interesting event took place on Monday last, the 27th
instant. We had nearly three hundred Christian strangers
at Cape Coast to attend the special services connected with
the ordination of Mr. Martin.f The chapel was crowded
to excess, so much so, that we were obliged to set a watch
* This is the same chief who was so zealous in the Fetish cause ;
and the new school is estabUshed on the ruins of the Grand Fetish.
t This young preacher has been entirely educated in the country,
and is a very well-informed man.

APPENDIX. 335
at the steps of the gallery, to keep it from being over-filled
and broken down. It has been an exhibition of the growing
influence of Christianity quite unexampled in this country
since the commencement of our mission here, and it has
evidently made a deep impression on the public mind.
" Beulah stiU wears a pleasing aspect. I inclose you
a hastily taken copy of my report of it, addressed to the
Governor Ln February last. Perhaps you may be able
kindly to make some use of it to our advantage in a pecu
niary point of view ; there being, I think, many benevolent
persons, who though of a diflferent religious persuasion to
our own, would readUy aid us in such an enterprize as that
of Beulah.
"We all hope we shall soon have the pleasure of seeing
you safely retumed to Cape Coast again to exert your
extensive influence in favour of Christian civilization."

THE END.

LONDON :
Printed hy Schulze and Co, 13, Poland Street.

Just Published, in 2 vols.. Post 8vo., 21s. bound.
A TOUR OF INQUIRY
THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY,
ILLUSTRATING THEIR PRESENT
SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS CONDITION.
BY EDMUND SPENCER, ESQ.,
Author of "Travels in European Turkey," "Circassia," &c.

" Mr. Spencer is favourably known to the public as the author of several works
describing the land of the Osmanli, the Greek, the Albanian, and the Slavonian ;
and in the two volumes before us he has given the results of a Tour of Inquiry
through France and Italy, which, commencing at Boulogne, includes visits to
Paris, to the important towns in the centre and sduth of France, to Leghorn,
Rome, and Piedmont. As a careful observer of the actual condition of the people
in both countries, the results of his inquiries cannot fail to be read with much
interest and instruction. Mr. Spencer has made himself thoroughly conversant
with the present social, political, and religious condition of the people of France
and Italy, describing at one time that curious class the vagrants of Paris; next the
modern miracles hy which the parti pretre in France are endeavouring to stimulate
the superstitious feelings of the peasantry; and then the hostility of the Papal
Church to intellectual progress, the pohtical condition of Turin, the insurrection
at Rome, &c. — topics which at the present moment excite the deepest interest in
this country. It must not be supposed that Mr. Spencer's work is made up of
mere dry political or religious disquisitions, however valuable they may be in
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tone of his narrative is altogether so animated and cheerful that we defy the
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" These clever and comprehensive volumes contain much valuable information
and much close reasoning." — Britannia.
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN, 13, GREAT MARLBniinrKTi CTi.iri7,T.

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