His Majesty received me with all the politeness of an English courtier. After being seated, he asked me many important questions—when, at his request, I performed the cavalry sword-exercise in his presence, he noticed the differences arising from the late alterations in that exercise, supposing that I had made some mistakes.[3] He talked a good deal about the King of Ashantee, and reprobated much their horrid practice of sacrificing human beings. He seemed to have obtained a very correct idea of railroads, and to be strongly impressed with a sense of the advantages and disadvantages derived from them by the English nation. He can read and write well, and is, as I before observed, a clever, intelligent old man. The King’s house is furnished in the European style, plain though pretty good.
It is to be lamented that the English Government should have neglected so good a man as Agray, while much is lavished on such a villain as the King of Ashantee, who in fact is only led by it to suppose that the British Government fears him.
On my road yesterday for several miles through the wood, in search of birds and plants, of which there is abundance, I passed several fetish houses or temples, in the form of a long grotto, formed by a vast number of running and creeping plants, at the farther extremity of which is sometimes found a large mass of stone or granite rock, which they say is related to some other fetish not far distant; and they even assert that, early in the mornings, this very stone may be seen in a human shape, going to visit his wife (a similar block of stone). They are also superstitious about our copper money; they call an Irish halfpenny a devil’s coin, on account of the harp upon it, which they call the devil; and they will not on any account take it in payment of anything.
Their funerals much resemble the Irish wake. As soon as the party is dead, the body is washed, and dressed in all its best clothes, which are very few. A party of the most intimate friends of the deceased is then invited. A goat, sheep, or dog is sacrificed, human sacrifices being now prohibited by the British authorities as well as by King Agray. After drinking a good deal of rum, the company begins to cry or howl hideously, and wishing a good journey and plenty of servants in the other world to the deceased (who is always seated in the circle as one of the party, being fixed in a rude sort of arm chair), the corpse is lowered into the grave, which is always under the floor in the centre of their dwelling. They also pretend to bury with him a quantity of rum as well as all his trinkets. The rum, however, is generally well diluted with water.
Though they seem to have no parental or filial affection, they have a strong attachment to the house in which they were born, and can rarely be persuaded to leave it. Were they not prevented by our laws, parents would very readily sell you any of their children, or even husbands their wives. A woman, who is considered as very respectable, and keeps a stall in the market, was repeatedly offered to me for sale by her husband, and was herself very anxious for such a change, so as actually to take possession of my bed one night when I was absent. I ordered my servant to turn her out, and also sent her affectionate husband an intimation that if he hawked his wife to me any more, I should certainly punish him; this ended the affair.
The yam custom, or holiday, is another annual ceremony, kept up to prevent people from using yams before they are ripe, as they are then deemed unwholesome; and also to compel the people to use all the old ones, in order to guard against the consequences of failure in the yam crop of the following year. On this occasion all differences are settled and crimes punished; but no sacrifices are offered up here, as at Ashantee. The propensity for thieving is found in all the natives, high and low; they are also, generally, void of all gratitude, and deem it part of their duty to rob white men whenever they can. In the market they invariably ask you four times as much as they will take. If your servant is unwilling to connive at their swindling tricks, they open a full battery of abuse upon him; but servants in this country seldom put them to that test.
Of all the African tribes I have met with, I consider the Fantees the worst. It is remarkable that one-eighth of the population is either actually crippled or suffering from a loathsome disease called craw-craw, which bears some resemblance to the mange in dogs or horses. In appearance and personal strength they are much inferior to most other Africans; probably from their great indolence and want of exercise. The wives are treated with great harshness by their husbands, in case they offend them.
They have no ingenuity, but a considerable power of imitation. Some of our British manufactured articles in wood or gold they can imitate very fairly, but when closely examined, their work will always be found to be defective. They seem never to improve by their own ingenuity, but always remain stationary in any art or trade which they have learnt. They seem to have no idea of a straight line, and cannot build a wall straight, or make a hedge in a direct line; nor in the whole neighbourhood of Cape Coast is there a footpath in a straight line for the distance of twenty yards, although the ground is quite level. They certainly possess many strange ideas.
There are in the neighbourhood of Cape Coast some strange animals, among which is the Patakoo, a very large species of wolf. These are so ravenous as frequently to come down into the town and carry away pigs, sheep, and goats. They pay nightly visits to the beach, and seize on dead bodies which have been buried in the sand. As their slaves have no relations in the town or neighbourhood, as soon as they die their corpses are tied up in a coarse grass mat and thrown into a hole in the sand, without any ceremony; but on the same or following night, they are snatched up by the Patakoos, for whom they make a glorious feast. This beast has great strength, its size considered. When Governor Hill’s horse died, the officers of the First West India Regiment, stationed at Cape Coast, determined to leave part of its carcase on the beach, in order to attract the Patakoos, and it could not have lain there more than an hour before it was removed by a single Patakoo, though it was two men’s work to carry it.
There is plenty of excellent granite and sandstone at Cape Coast; yet nearly all the houses are built of clay, as the people are too lazy to fetch the stone. Elmina, which is only eight miles distant, is a much superior settlement, and has likewise plenty of excellent sandstone, of which a great number of its houses are built. This place belongs to the Dutch, and carries on much trade, both with the interior and along the coast. It has a fine lake, connected with the sea by a narrow channel, which might with very little trouble be converted into a convenient harbour, which would be important, as the swell along the Gold Coast is always very heavy, and great difficulty is experienced in shipping and unshipping goods. I visited several of the most influential merchants at Elmina, and found them, as well as the governor, very hospitable. The abundance of new plants in this country would give plenty of employment to a botanist. A small shrub of the laurel tribe, bearing a white delicate flower, shaped like the blossom of the pea, grows here very plentifully, as also beautiful jasmines and honeysuckles, and several sorts of sensitive plants. Some very fine grasses, also in this neighbourhood struck me, but I did not observe many small annuals.