Agriculture has made little progress here, probably owing to the want of horses, which cannot live more than a few weeks, and from the indolence of the natives. Stock sufficient for the consumption of the garrisons along the coast might be raised with a little care and exertion. The number of troops along the whole of the west coast is at present very small. Were their numbers doubled, there would not be too many, and they might be employed alternately in cultivating the farms and mounting guard in the forts. Yams, manioc, Indian corn, rice, and all sorts of vegetables, for the garrison and ships of war cruising on the coast, might in this way be easily obtained, and much expense avoided. This would also be useful as a pattern to the natives. The troops are paying at present one shilling per pound for meat, which could easily be raised at one-fourth, and the cattle might be employed on the farm instead of horses. An establishment of this sort would be very beneficial here, and I have no doubt would answer the purpose well. Unfortunately at present there seems to be no European at Cape Coast who either knows or interests himself in anything relating to agriculture. With the exception of Mr. Hutton, not a single English merchant at Cape Coast has even a garden, although the progress of vegetation is incredibly rapid. Some seeds of the vegetable marrow and water melon, given to me by Dr. Lindley of the Horticultural Society in London, which were sown on my arrival at Cape Coast, had grown to the extent of twenty-four feet in two months, and the fruit of the water melon was as large as a man’s head.
The heat of the month of November is excessive. On the 8th, the quicksilver in the thermometer, in my bedroom, which is considered to be cool, stood at 88°; and in the sun it rose to 115°; yet, thank God! I was so well accustomed to it, that I felt very little inconvenience, though generally out the whole day, and exposed to the sun. I was then daily expecting a messenger from Ashantee, for one of the soldiers from the fort had been despatched by the governor, to ask whether the King would allow me to pass beyond his kingdom towards the Kong Mountains. During the interval I was engaged in laying out the ground for Mr. Hutton’s model farm.
The breed of cattle here is very handsome though small, but it might be greatly improved, and this would repay the expense very well, as the price of meat is so extremely high. Gold dust, unfortunately, seems to be the only thing thought of on the coast.
Schools of industry and agriculture are wanted on this coast more than any thing else. As land can be got for nothing anywhere on the coast,—land capable of growing any thing,—a few hundred pounds expended on a farm of three hundred acres would be very profitably laid out. There are plenty of men who can read and write, begging for employment; and ten times their number, from the bush, such as might be deemed capable of learning, might be apprenticed to different kinds of trades for four or five years.
It is worthy of remark, that on the whole coast, from Cape Palmas to Accra, there is not a single shoemaker, although no trade seems to be so much wanted. Even the natives in the interior complain much of the want of shoes. Nor is there a tailor, a cabinet-maker, a wheelwright, or a blacksmith who can weld a piece of iron with any neatness in the whole settlement. Such articles, if manufactured on the coast, would draw trade from the interior, and excite the natives to industry; and thus British manufactures would be soon in great demand in the interior also. This would greatly reduce the Slave trade, as the minds of the people would be directed to agriculture and manufactures, particularly as it is well known that even in the Ashantee country the population is not on the increase. The Ashantees have indeed, for the last two months, been at war with the tribes to the north of them, bordering on the Kong Mountains, and have lost a great number of men, as their enemies, who have no fire-arms, no doubt did also.
The merchants of Cape Coast, Annamaboe, and Accra, experience great loss and inconvenience, in consequence of the trade being stopped between Ashantee and the coast. This was occasioned by the murder of an Ashantee woman by a Fantee, on her return from a trading journey to the coast. She had occasion to stop a little behind her companions, and was then robbed and murdered by this Fantee who overtook her. Her companions missing her, went back, and found her with her head nearly severed from her body. This took place in the Fantee country, between Cape Coast and Ashantee. The murderer, however, was seized and brought part of the way back to Cape Coast by a soldier from thence, on his way with the letter to the King of Ashantee, from Governor Hill, which I mentioned above.
Mr. Chapman, who had resided as missionary at Coomassie, the capital of Ashantee, for the last twelve months, arrived at Annamaboe on the 26th of November, 1844, with the intelligence that all the King required was that the murderer should be punished according to the English law. The King at that time expressed a great desire to see me in Ashantee, and promised me complete protection in his country; but said nothing about allowing me to go further.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] Fetish is corrupted from the Portuguese feitiço, witchcraft, conjuring.
[3] His Majesty had served several years on board a British man-of-war, previously to attaining his sovereignty.