National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1873-09-12
The Ashantees.
A Peculiar Tribe OF savagss.

Peculiar Tribe OF savages.
Winwood Reade writes to the Pal
Mall Gazette as follows: In former
letter / sketched the origin and pro-
gress OF our palaver with the Ashantees
"a dull topic, excused, I hope, by its
Importance and shall now give some
They belong to the same family OF
tribes as eur allies, the Fantees, and
their respective dialects differ only in q
slight degree. The genius OF two OF
three mobiles created the Ashantee ma
tion, founded its capital, Coomassie, de-
veloped the gold mines OF the country,
and finally spread its empire to the sea.
coast :, ON .the west and on the east ia
Buntookoo, q semi Moslem city, which
has never yet been reached by any
European. The King of Ashantee is 8
constitutional monarch, but with mucl
absolute power. On his accession he il
warned by his principal mobiles that il
he does not adhere to certain funda'
mental laws, he. will be dethroned but,
on the other hand, he can tyrannize
over individual persons. He and his
people are Pagan, though there is a
Moslem quarter in the capital, the Mo-
hammedans being traders from the
countries watered by the Niger. The
King is allowed to have 1888 wives, but
not to exceed that number. Some of
these ladies are merely slaves, who work
in the royal plantations and furnish the
Court with cassada and plantains ;
others reside in rooms luxuriously fur
nished, guarded by eunuchs, enjoying
the delights of tobacco and palm wine
in true Oriental style.
Intrigue with royal wife is punished
by death the executioners torture the
offender from sunrise to sunset, leading
him about the town and performing fan
tasias upon his body with knives before
houses of all noted -chieftains or stran-
gers of distinction. Finally, they lead
him to the presence Of the king, and
literally cut him to pieces before the
throne. This horrible method of exc
cution is only employed for the above
mentioned offense and for the crime of
murder. 1t is curious custom in
Ashantee that il the condemned man
cries out certain word or phrase he
cannot be killed, it gives him the right
of sanctuary; the executioners, there
fore, steal upon their victim from be-
hind, and commence proceedings by
passing dagger through both cheeks,
whereby the man is effectively gagged.
When the king dies, number Of lords
in-waiting kill themselves to serve as
his escort to the SHADOW Land. These
persons are called okras, or souls, and
wear peculiar gold badge which indi-
Gates their office. At that time also a
satulnalia of blood is celebrated hun
dreds of victims are sacrificed, and the
young men Of the royal house run about
the town shooting whom they please
even the higest personages of the land.
Thus the death of the king is national
misfortune, and that, perhaps, gives
the clue to the origin of these extra
ordinary customs.
The Ashantees believe in life after
death as we believe in the existence of
lands beyond the sea. Their Hades or
Scheol is situated underground there
this life is continued, and becomes eter-
nal. The King resumes his royalty,
and the slave remains slave. Death,
therefore, for them is only migration,
and they depart from life with equan-
unity. A woman slave, who was one of
those condemned to die, was stripped
according to custom, and knocked on
the head. Being only stunned by the
blow, she recovered her senses, and saw
herself surrounded by dead bodies.
She ran into the town, found the mobiles
sitting in council, told them she had
been to the land of the dead, and that
she had been sent back because she had
no clothes. They must dress her finely
and kill her over again, which accord
ingly was done. This happened in
small kingdom adjoining Ashantee, the
laws and customs Of which are the same.
The coast people have proverb, In
the Ashantee soup there is too much
salt, in allusion to the cruelties prac-
ticed by that people. am inclined to
believe from the accounts given by the
old voyagers that the coast tribes were
originally quite as barbarOus, but that
their manners have been improved by
contact with Europeans, who are never
slow to express their contempt for
witch-burnings, the torture OF prison
ers, and the like. But, as matters
stand, the Ashantees justify the prov
erb, and certainly surpass not only the
Fantees, but also the Dahomeans in
Coomassie. On gala days the chiefs
appear in the market place, their arms
so heavily loaded with nuggets that
they are forced to rest them on the
necks Of slaves. One noble, who had
committed some crime, offered large
ransom for his life, and finally his
weight in gold. But the king cut off
his head and also took possession OF his
gold, which just amounted in weight
to that OF the corpse. l have myself
seen a coast native of no great import
ance with fl, 200 worth of gold upon
him and most of that gold came from
the mines of Ashantee.
Finally, as to war. The Ashantee ar
my is the nation. When the order for
the march is given all able-bodied men
join their respective companies, and
leave the town, carrying with them
kind of meal as food. The women then
parade the streets, and il they detect
man skulking behind, beat him un-
In battle the generals oc-
cupy the rear, and cut down all those
who retreat. II the battle is lost, they
kill themselves. One suicide of this
kind Witnessed on the Volta. A bat
tie took place between our allies and
some allies of the Ashantees. The lat
ter were defeated, and the Ashantee
chief, who was present, threw the in.
sigma of his rank into the river, and
then, sitting on powder barrel, blew
himself into the air."
Franz Eggs, Swiss Of the Canton