The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1900-06-29
CARNIVAL OF BLOOD.
THE FEARFUL RITES THAT USED TO
OBTAIN IN AFRICA.

| Human SACRIFICES Were of C0mRsm
Occurrence - The Execution BOWL
and the IpHIcttQn of the Death
Penalty ON the Victims.
Ashanti. in westspa Africa, s@hRsss
| about 10000 English square miles In
area, and its population has been varisas-
~ estimated from 100000 to 3,000,0 900.
The country proper is one continuous for.
est, and this is traversed by narrow,
winding paths which are broad enough
| for pedestrians and chair and burden car
riers. but not for vehicles. Despite the
dense woods there is 4 remarkab Bile abb
sence of animal life, and men who have
penetrated into the deepest parts Of the
woods have wondered at the absence OF
bird and beast. When the land has been
cultivated, it has been found extremely
fertile and productive of large crops OF
grain, vegetables. yams and fruits. Gold
| is also found in large quantities, and the
| principal exports are gold dust and palm
| oil. For many years it was one of the
greatest slave shipping points. Twenty
| five forts were built upon the coast in the
| course of as many years. and in these the
| European merchants carried on their
slave trade.
In this barbaric country polygamy ran
| riot to the extent that kings regular al
lowance of wives was 1888, and the GUS
| tom of human sacrifice was so well estab-
lished that a ruler could have his subjects
| or prisoners killed for no reason further
than that he wished it done. The SYSTEM
of human sacrifice was founded to some
extent on the idea of piety toward par
| ents and superiors. 1t is the popular be-
| lief that ones standing in the next world
depends on the number Of attendants
sent after him. Several times every year
| the king visited the places where his
| predecessors we're kept. These were not
buried, but they sat in state, their bones
held together by links Of precious metal.
There the prisoners Of war were brought
before the king and executed in ways to
suit his fancy.
In q sketch written by Colonel George
Baden-POwell In 1886, when he was a
major Of the Thirteenth hussars. that Of
| 6cer had this to say Of the practice Of hu.
man sacrifice: "'Kumassi' means tho
| death place. One town possessed no less
than three places Of execution. One, for
private execution, was at the palace; q
second, for public decapitatious, was on
the parade ground; third, for fetch
| D..N
.,,; A., ...,.. 49,, l..
| said: TT is a large basin of brass, some
| five feet in diameter. ornamented with
four small lions and a number OF round
knobs all around its rim, except at one
| part. where there 10 q space for the vic.
| TINS neck to rest on the edge. The blood
| of the victims was allowed to putrefy in
the bowl. and, leaves and certain herbs
| being added, II was considered n very
| valuable fetch medicine,
| "Any great function was seized upon
| m an excuse for human sacrifices. The
| king went every quarter to pay his devo-
lions to the shades of his ancestors at
| Bantama, and this demanded the death
of 20 men over the great bowl, On the
| death Of any pfeat Dersonage two of the
| household slaves were at once killed ON
/ the threshold of the door In order to at
1 tend their master Immediately In his new
| life, and his grave was afterward lined
with the bodies of more slaves, who were
l to form his retinue in the spirit world. It
| was thought all the better il. during the
| burial, one of the attendant mourners
could be stunned with q club and drop
ped. still breathing, into the grave before
1t was filled in. In the case Of a great
1 lady dying slave girls were the victims"
Then there was a death penalty for the
| iufractiop of laws. For instance, any
body who found a nugget of gold and who
did not send it at once to the king was
1 liable TO deca IMITATION: so also was any
| ono who n;ckad mn ANYTHING ~ volue w.
| ine on the narade pround' or who sat
| down in the shade of the fetch tree. 1t il
said that the king of Bantama, one Of the
provinces. preferred a richer color in the
red stucco ON the walls of his palace and
| that for this purpose the blood of 400 vir-
| gins was used.
When once a man had been selected
| and seized for execution, there were only
/ two WAYS by which he could eyade it.
1 One was to repeat the "king's OATH" q
| certain formula Of words, before they
| coud gag him. The other was to break
loose from his captors and run as far as
the Bantama- Kumassi crossroads. II he
could reach this point before being over
taken, he was allowed to 20 free. In or
der 70 guard against their prisoners get
ting off by either of these methods the
| cxecutioners used to spring on the intend
ed victim from behind, and while enc
bound his hands behind his back another
drove knife through both his cheeks,
| which effectually prevented him from
| openinr his mouth to speak, and in this
1 horrible CONDITION he laQ TO await MS
turn for execution. When the time came.
the executioners, mad with blood, would
/ make n rush for him and force him upop
| the bowl. Then one of them, using a
large kind of a butchers knife, would
cut into the spine and so carve the head
sf, AT great executions torture was re-
sorted 10 In order TO please the specta-
,ors. IL certainly seems that the people
had by FREQUENT Indulgence become Inn
bued with a kind OF blood lust and that
l 10 them an execution was as attractive
an antertsInmeat a. In n huIl6eht to 4
| Snanisrd or a football match ia an Eng.
lisbman'
L aud tn EngIish voyevcment In 1874 corr
tanned q clause which provided for the
abolition Of the custom, but sacrifices
1 were made until the sxpedition Of 1895
w.. urdartston Tho obiecta of this ex-
ned;,ion we're hes;de. uniting an end TO
amman sacrifice to vine out slaye trading
i and raiding. to insure peace and security
/ for the neiebbor,pg tribes and to settle
the country ana nrotect the development