The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-04-17
AMONG THE AsHANTEES.
Writing on Jan. % from Fomana
about forty miles from Coomassie),

| Writing on Jan. % from Fomana
about forty miles from Coomassie),
the Times correspondent says:
81 left Prahsu on the 10Th, and In
three Journeys reached Quisa, the
first Ashantee Villsge. The Adausi
or Moinsey hills from the frontier !;
they rise to the height of 1850 #.
above the level of the sea. There
is decent on the north side, bnt
far inferior to the ascent, SO that
| AshRntee must be considered a
plateau. From Prah to Adansi is
about thirty miles; the country is
fat, aud covered with primitive
forest. 1t belongs properly to
ASSN. In the beginning of the cen.
fury the path we travelled by was
| lined with neat villages; but first
the Assins were subjugated by the
Ashantees, and afterwards so much
oppressed that they migrated
across the Prah toward the South.
Since then the country has been
but thinly inhabited, for the Asian
tees do not COLOMBO the countries
which they desolate by taxes or
war. A large camp is being
established here as at Prahsu; the
forest is being CONCERTED into q
plain. Major Home and his vigor-
GUS assistants Captain Buckle and
Lieutenant Bell, are having as usu-
a, hard at work. A redoubt is In
process of construction, and the la.
borers are all ready making q road |
in advance. The native troops |
march on tomorrow two miles and |
a half to another village; they are |
encamped in huts, but the Rifles |
and seamen are regularly housed. |
Sir Garnet has taken up his abode !
in the Kings palace, which is more |
than large enough for him and his |
staff. The traveller Bowdich has /
often been accused of using too .
much color in his descriptions of
this country, but l do not think
that he has exaggerated the merits |
of Ashantee architecture. 1t has |
more of the old Egyptian than of
the Arab character. An Ashantee |
mansion is composed of courtyards
which are thoroughfares leading in !
to one another; each courtyard is
square in shape, with often tree
planted in the midst.
Round the yard arc rooms or al.
coves raised above the ground, and
matched overhead. The front of
the alcove looks on the yard, and a
drop curtain of mat-work obtains
seclusion for its inmates. The dais
or platform which forms the floor
of each alcove is painted with q
coating of clay, in color a deep
Etruscan red, with q beautiful pol
ish. The walls are washed with
white clay, which the natives of the
Gold Coast often take as a medicine
in water or chew as sWeetmeat.
The walls are also decorated with
strange and tasteful designs. Gut
tiers on the ground and wooden
pipes between the sloping matched |
roofs are neatly arranged for carry
ing rain water away. L cannot say
much about the furniture, as the
people of Fomana took off their
valnables with them; but they left
good many stools, curved in the
seat, and with the legs handsomely
carved, some rudely-made tables,
some clay pots and calabashes.
These, with some old pipe-heads,
some stone instruments, and some
unmusical instruments, are all the
booty obtained III Fomana. Stone
implements appear to abound on
the Gold Coast; in 1901 brought
home large number from the hills
behind Accra. Sir John Lubbock
described them, and Mr.. Franks
placed some of them in the British /
Museum. They belong to a past
age, and in the rainy season, when
the upper part of the soil is washed /
away, they are found by the natives
lying on the surface of the ground.
1t is, perhaps, OH account of their
being found after storms that they
are supposed by the natives to be
thunderbolts. Ashantees and Fam |
tees regard them as fetish, and use |
them as medicine, scraping the dust |
into water, and laying them in
places which are sacred to the |
gods