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It is evident that we are in for some tough fighting, and shall have all our work cut out for us." "There can be no doubt of that," the commissioner said, gravely. "The difficulties have been greatly increased by the erection of these stockades, a new feature in these Ashanti wars.
On the British side five officers and the King of Annamaboe were wounded, and fifty-two of the men. None were killed, the distance from the bush to the ground held by the English being too far for the Ashanti slugs to inflict mortal wounds.
Among the loot were the king of the Kokofu's iron boxes, containing much official correspondence; union jacks, elephant tails, and other symbols of royalty, together with gold ornaments, gold dust, and two hundred pounds of English money; numbers of brass-nailed, vellum-backed chairs, part of the Ashanti chief's regalia; robes, guns, ammunition, drums, and horns, and also sheep and poultry.
In 1828 we aided the Fantis to defeat the Ashantis in a decisive battle, the consequence of which was the signature of a treaty, by which the King of Ashanti recognized the independence of all the Fanti tribes.
The following anecdote will show how limited is the power of these 'kings. He of Apollonia wished to sell this southern patch of ground, worked by the natives, it being, in fact, the terminal tail of the Izrah reef and the key of the property. But one Etié, head-man of Kikam, bluntly refused. Presently this chieflet agreed to sell to Mr. Grant the whole tract, a length of one thousand fathoms from north to south, the breadth being left undetermined. But Etié was deep in Messieurs Swanzy's books, and he wanted ready money. The tempter came in the shape of Mr. Dawson, a native missionary whom I met a score of years ago at Agbóme, and whose name appears in all narratives of the last Ashanti war. Although an employé of the Tákwá or French mine, he bought for himself, paying 200l., the best part of the reef (100 fathoms), leaving the butt-end, of inferior value, to Mr. Grant. This was a direct breach of contract, and might be brought into the local law-courts. I advised, however, an arrangement
In 1869 the conduct of King John of Abyssinia, in unlawfully imprisoning English subjects, compelled us to send an expedition to rescue them, which it successfully accomplished; and in 1873 we were obliged to send another expedition against King Koffee of Ashanti, on the West African coast, who attacked our allies.
His habit was to suck a large nut that looked like a big cigar, and as he sat there with it in his mouth it gave his face a strangely idiotic expression. The whole Ashanti court had assembled at the theatre of human sacrifice.
In these states and in later years in Benin the whole character of west-coast culture seems to change. In place of the Yoruban culture, with its city democracy, its elevated religious ideas, its finely organized industry, and its noble art, came Ashanti and Dahomey.
The Ashantis were gradually driven out of the village and wood, a great many being killed by the English fire. Having accomplished this, the British force rested for an hour and then moved on, first setting fire to Essarman, which was a very large village. A great quantity of the Ashanti powder was stored there, and each explosion excited yells of rage among the Ashantis.
Jars and vases filled with water and wine, braziers full of sweet-smelling leaves, and plates of food were placed beside each, offerings for the use of the dead. Omar told me that when an Ashanti king died, he was buried in an ordinary coffin for a time, but afterwards the body was invariably disinterred, and the joints of the skeleton articulated with gold bands and wire.
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