National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-10-10
Peculiarities Of the Ashantees.
The Army Onice,s, the Court ANA th'
Umbrella.

The Army Oaice,s, The Court ANA the
Umbrella.
Now that the English-Ashantee wal
Is attracting attention, anything rela'
ting to the lntter people is OF interest.
A letter writer says:---
The post OF general OF the Ashantee
army il not always desirable one.
When the army is dispatched the gen
eral is told 10 carry ott certain opela'
tions, with the intimation that II he
fails to do 40 and returns he will be be.
headed. This promise is generally re-
( ligiously kept ii he fails TO carry out his
orders, and produces great activity and
viyor among the Ashantee generals. III
most cases, when an Ashantee army II
about to invade n country, before taking
any active steps. the general III com
mand sends n list of his demands to the
enemy, and two sticks, one short, the
other long. This signifies that II his
requests are complied with, the war will
be short, and he will return, but that IL
they refuse il will be long aud bloody.
! This occurred in the last Ashantee war,
when Governor Pine commanded at
] ttDt OOtSI.
Comnassic is the capital of Ashantee,
although not the most populons III the
kings renlms. 1t liz well built town,
with wide streets. The kings palace,
which is built Of quarried stone, is n
large and capacious editice. 1t il two
stories high, some OF the rooms III 1T are
of great size, and all are very lofty.
Attached to the kings palace is the
great court yard, where he holds his
councils OF the mobiles. The king sits
on IL low throne, and the chiefs sitrouhd
those OF the highest rank being near
est to the king. A space in front OF the
king is always kept clear Tor the speak
ers, and whoever is addressing the
assembly takes his stand there.
The Palace aid the Bantammah are
the two principal public Buildings IN
Commassle. The two chief streets, or
squares as they are called, are Market
square and Cannon square, the latter
taking it's name from n trophy Of
European cannon in it. They were
taken from the Dutch many years ago.
In 1t the king sits in state and gives
public audiences to his subjects. The
population of Commassie is about 40
900. The most populous town in the
Ashantee dominions is Salaga, the cap
ital of the principality of Jabon. 1t is
famous for its breed of horses, and is
situated on the upper Volta, about 200
miles from Commassle.
The Ashantee army, when in the
field, carries few banners or flags, and
but little importance or honor is at
tached to them. What hold with the
Ashantees the position which standards
/ occupy with otherarmies are the umbrel-
las of the king and the chiefs. When
the king of Ashantee takes the field his
presence is denoted by his State nm
brella, which is always carried near
him or over him by one of the mobiles
Of his household, the Kings umbrella
bearer being always man of very high
rank. The kings umbrella is of great
size. 1t is constructed of alternate
triangles OF red and black velvet, and is
splendidly ornamented with gold. 70
give an idea Of the value of these UNI
brellas, the umbrella of chief not of
the first rank often costs f20O. When
the king takes the field his State dre.s
consists OF light tunic of Grim Son
NtINtb VI udilluSh, IehCLlHg IIOIu uis
neck nearly to his arms, of loose trous-
ers of some similar material, and he
wears u cap of crimson velvet, or at
times cloth of the same color wound
round his head as turban, with pro-
fusion of gold ornaments about his per-
son.
The loss of the kings umbrella in
battle would be considered the greatest
disgrace and defeat an Ashantee army
could meet with; and in like manner
for chief to loose his umbrella in bat
tie is great dishonor to him. The
chiefs all carry umbrellas varying in
splendor and costliness according to the
rank of their owner, but no Ashantee
chief may have an ambrella as large as
the kings, or with the same arrange
ment of flowers, which are specially re-
served for royalty.
When the Ashantee army take the
field their arms consist of long musket,
the barrel of which alone is five feet
long. They are called buccaneers, and
they wear in their girdles n large spear
headed knife, which at close quarters
is very formidable weapon indeed.
They carry their powder in sort oi
leather case, and their bullets in n bag
Of native mating. A certain portion of
the army, about one fourth, are armed
with short carbines or blunderbusses,
which are loaded with several bullets at
a time, and with pixies about six feet
long.
The Ashantee army is raised in a
manner not altogether unlike the man
- yrh,,h JaI rn,.al
in Europe formerly. Each of the great
chiefs commands n body consisting OF
his own class or feudal vassals. In the
regiment or division, if it may be so
called, the companies or regiments, az
the case may be, consist of the men
brought in by the subordinate chiefs,
each commanding his own body of re-
tainers, and all the men in each of them
owe :eudal allegiance to the chief who |
it. Several of such clans or
regiments are placed under the COM
mand of one of the greater chiefs. The |
regiments and divisions are distinguish |
ed by the different colors of their tunics |
and caps. Each chief is supposed to !
provide for the commissar.at of his own |
men but the king, whose revenues are
very large, generally brings supplies of
food for the common use to supplement
private resources.
The kings revenues are derived prin-
cipally from the gold mines, nearly all |
the most valuable mines being his own
private property; and all nuggets
found, no matter where, belong to him,
while the gold dust belongs to the find
ars.
The crown of Ashantee descends in
the female line, the sons of the kings