Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-10-17
Ashantee Land.

THE Ashantee nation is great African
power. 1t numbers about 3 100000 souls
of whom some 100000 are warriors-wel
made, muscular, war-loving barbarians
their chief and upper classes are distin
| guished by cleanliness, handsome attire
and something like civilization, except in
regard to their worse than Dahomeyan
cruelties. Every twenty-one days they
hold an 0daS, or "blood CUSTOM" at which
rum and palm wine having been drank
like water, skulls are carried in process
sion to the sound of drums made with
human skin and most horrible massacres
and debaucheries 90 forward. At the an
nual "Yam festival" just now coming on,
| they celebrate still bloodier carnival OF
death, and whenever a cabOOceer Or free.
man dies, slaves are killed to "wet his
| grave" They eat the heart and drink the
blood of conquered enemy, and weal
the teeth and finger bones as ornaments
When the King dies, thousands OF
wretched slaves and attendants are
slaughtered over his tomb; in word, ii
is land of murder. 1t was meant by ma.
ture to be land of peace and plenty, for
beyond the thick forests which lie along
the coasts, stretches fertile and healthy
country of rich black soil, growing two
or three crops yearly, and full of vegeta-
BILE wonders and glories as yet unnamed
The fruits and flowers of .Ashantee-land
are said to be perfectly marvellous; il
boasts an entirely new citron, and tall
tree bearing magnificent goblet-shaped
blossoms, while the sugar-cane grows
wild. Curious animals, such as the bird
called "pookoe," and the huge corpse-eat-
ing "arompo'' rat, are found in
the woods and clearings. Reptiles
are horribly plentiful, including enor-
nous boas; peculiar puff-adder,
whose bite is certain death; scorpions as
big as cray-fsh, and toads so large that
Bosnian took the first he saw for a land
tortoise. The possible productions of
such region are vast and numerous
but its fertility is drowned in blood
shed, and gold is the chief article export
ed. In that metal Ashantee-land must be
fabulously rich; the chiefs wear golden
breastplates and golden or golded war
caps. The carbooceers go about with
Jumps of virgin gold hung about their
necks and wrists, some weighing, it is
said, four pounds and more; and Bow
ditch has described golden window-frames
in the Kings palace at Coomassie, as well
as an almost universal use of cloths en-
broidered with gold thread, and adorned
with thin plates of the precious metal
After the battle of Accra, in 1862, the
Ashantee King sent in as "peace money"
5000 ounces of dust and nuggets; and the
swords, muskets, and elephanttail fans
are described as being profusely enriched
with goldsmith's work. The people are,
however, very cunning at debasing the
ingots-so much so as to equal European
chemistry in this respect. The govern
ment is despotic monarchy; the religion
Fetishism, modified by African Islamism
the effect Of Mahometon neighbors on
the north. They believe in a Great Spirit,
who, they say, created six white and six
black people, and gave the latter the first
choice between calabash and sealed
paper. The blacks took the calabash,
which contained gold, iron, maize,
and all the wealth of nature; and the
whites got the scroll, which contained in
structions in the right use of all these por-
ducts. Thus the whites are forever supe-
rior, as the Ashantees have found out in
many sharp trial, and latterly at Elmina
AS for Coomassie, the capital, accounts
differ; one statement making it out a poor,
struggling place of mean butts; and an
other, a. really fine and imposing city, for
Africa. Bowditch, who went there in
1917, paints it as a remarkable place. He
speaks of population Of 100000 souls
L0pd0p Telegraph,