The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17

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leaving the bodies lying where they fall
As soon as the eXecutioners retire the
vultures swOop down from the trees above
and the ground is soon black with them.
At night the panthers come and stink
away satiated before the dawn.
The pathway leading to this grove has
been worn broad and deep through years
| blood. Henry NJ. Stanley. who as a war
correspondent, accompanied Sir Garnett
| Wolseley's expedition to Coomassie in
LAS we drew near" says Stanley, "the
foul smells became so suffocating tnat
we were glad to produce our handker-
chiefs to prevent the ntoierable and al
most palpable odor from mounting into
the brain and overpowering us. After
some thirty PAGES we arrived before the
dreadful scene but il was almost impos-
sible TO stop longer than TO take a gen
eral view of the great GOlgOtha. We
saw some thirty or forty decapitated
bodies in the last stages of corruption,
and countless skulls which lay piled in
heaps and scattered over a wide extent.
The stoutest heart and most stoical mind
might have been appalled,
Several officers of the expedition, al
though 1t remained but two days at Coo
massie, made the trip to this awful spot
and subsequently described it as beyond
anything else in horror TO be seen ia the
world to-day.
"Under a huge tree" said one of these
gentlemen in a letter, 1.-THE skulls were
piled up SO high that they reached al
most to the lowest limbs. You could no.
where see the ground, as II was all COW
cred with bones and skulls. Here and
there could be seen a decomposing body.
THE vultures slowly rose from the
ground upon our approach, but several of
. them ROTReu human
that they could not rise and lay blinking
at us on the ground clumsily Tapping
their wings. The smell of the place was
something awful.
"A sailor who was in our party was
Overpowered by the stencil and had to be
carried from the grove. We had been
warned beforehand and had provided
ourselves with TASKS of brandy.
Il could not say how many human
skeletons were on the ground, but /
| should say there were several thousand
in sight. L was told that what we saw
was not One-half of the extent of the
Grove of Skulls. From what natives
say, the murders have been going on here
almost daily.
antee was generally present, but not al
ways. One man, who was recently exec
cuted, had painted the interior Of the
kings harem. Although he had COM
mitted no crime. he was doomed to exc
cution because his profane eyes had fallen
upon places and things reserved only for
1t was learned during this expedition,
which was the first Of any Importance
| to penetrate to the capital of Ashantee
| that the people of the country looked
upon human sacrifices almost as a mat
| ter of course, and that many regarded
/ such a death as honorable. This was
/ especially so upon the death of a king.
The King of Ashantee is opposed to
| progress, which he defies. He dislikes
| roads in his kingdom. When the British
/ under Sir Garnet Wellesley went to Coo
massie they had to cut their way through
the forest, leaving fine road behind
/ them.
The King of Ashantee, in the face Of
numerous pistols pointed a. him, agreed
/ to keep this road in good repair. He did
not say he would have It macadamized
or that signs of Keep Off the Grass"
/ would be placed along the side, but he
/ said he would keep it free from weeds,
which grow very quickly in Ashantee.
] But the king knew that the rainy sea-
son was a hand, that the British had to
hustle to get back to the coast before
/ the full torrent began, and he promised
I everything. This beautiful road made by
the English at such enormous expense
has since completely disappeared.
Instead of keeping it open SO that tour
lists could find their way to CoomasIe and
/ hicyclsts make century run to the coast
he Jet the weeds grow up. Thus the
/ British in the coming war Will have to
/ so all over the work again, for, so quick
| is vegetation in that part of Africa that
not even a trace of the original route re-
/ Coomase had to find its way to the cap
/ ital through a dense forest.
/ 1t Is IN TINS forest that the British
/ forces will be attacked by the warriors
/ OF the King of Ashantee, who are natural
bush fighters armed with the best of
! from being savages, ignorant of modern
warfare, and their religion makes them
brave to the point of recklessness.
The King of Ashantee rules through
| fear, He is surrounded by an enormous
/ retinue of servants, who stand ready at
| all times TO execute his commands. His
| 1888 wives live in two streets of Coomas-
sic, where no stranger ever penetrates
His palace is a large structure OF stone
/ and brick, with an interior courtyard
| and many stories. Here the king rules
| his nation by word of mouth. He con-
/ ducts affairs of state with much formali-
! ty.
The King of Ashantee is the only mon
/ arch who sits on a throne of solid gold
/ This throne is officially termed a Stool -
! The royal stool Is so heavy that it takes
| several men TO carry 1t. When the King
/ of Ashantee walks abroad to view the
/ things that are going on in his capitaI
/ he is followed by servants from the pal
ace bearing the golden stool, in case he
/ should decide to sit down to consider
weghty affairs of state
But even more curious than this is the
umbrella of state. Sir Garnet Wolselev
| captured the umbrella of state Of the Kine
/ Of Ashantee when he was in Coomasie in
/ 1874, but il was returned to the beaten mon
| arch before the invaders left
! This umbrella of state which keeps the
/ sun and rain of the head of the Kine
I of Ashantse, Is symbol of his authoritv
/ 1t is a sort of African sceptre beine -.
outward and visible sign Of the pew eel
1 which has descended to him 'by divine
/ right"
/ A King of Ashantee would as soon think
| of ruling without an umbrella as a Kino
/ OF England would think of ruling without
crown 1t IS as necessary part of the
/ regalia as is a Sword Of state'' to q
| European sovereign and far more useftI1
! The mbrella OF state in The Asbsrt.,
! government takes the place of the crov,.,'
/ The King of Ashantee long ago Discovers
| that crown is a dangerous thing i'm J.
country with rainy season as A. Il,
/ open at the top and likely to LET in tr rs
/ rain on the royal head al the
Therefore, II was that the umbrel1,
der Of lnleIlIgence on Tho nart OF ~ 49,.