What follows seems to apply to the rude state of society in the country around. Each division has its badge or device; so that we have[48] the tribe, or clan, of the leopard, the cat, the dog, the hawk, the parrot, &c. On certain days there are certain festivals and processions, when the chief is carried in a long basket on the heads of two men, with umbrellas above him, and attendants around proportionate to his rank. When in distress, the Fanti has a claim upon the good offices of his tribe.
When a Fanti government becomes extensive enough to require organization, we find absolute monarchs with satraps (caboceers) under them; under these the heads of the different villages or towns, and under these captains of hundreds, fifties, and tens—an organization which is, perhaps, of military rather than social origin. The Ashanti kingdom gives us the best measure of extent to which a branch of the Fanti stock has developed itself into a political influence. As for the Constitution, it is a simple and unmitigated despotism; of which the most remarkable point is the law of succession. This follows the female lines, so that the heir-apparent is the eldest son of the reigning king's eldest sister. The same applies to the caboceers; except that, in cases of mental or physical incapacity, the rightful heir is set aside, and a path opened to the ambition of private adventurers.
Slavery is what we expect; and on the coast of Guinea it meets us at every turn, though not[49] in the worst forms of the Trade. This flourishes in Dahomey, and along the whole of the Bight of Benin. In the Fanti countries, however, the milder form of domestic servitude preponderates; and along with it a chronic state of warfare. These two evils are connected with one another, as cause and effect. The conquest supplies the slaves; the slaves provoke the conquest.
Besides this there is a sort of temporary servitude, which reminds us of the Nexi of the Romans. This occurs when "a person, in order to raise a particular sum of money, voluntarily sells himself for a certain period, or until such time as he is enabled to pay the amount so borrowed, together with whatever interest may have been agreed upon. This is called the system of pawning, and the people so sold, pawns. Thus a native, in order to make a great display on any particular occasion, as on his marriage, or to have a grand 'custom' for a deceased relative, will forfeit his labour for a definite time, or give one of his slaves for a period agreed upon. Neither these pawns, however, nor the domestic slaves, entertain any feeling of disgrace, but on the contrary are happy and contented."[14]
Everything connected with the administration of justice is rude and savage; the severity of the punishment upon detection being the chief preventive.[50] The awards, of course, depend much upon the individual character of the chiefs; and there are but few who have not exhibited horrible proofs of cruelty. These, however, are no measures of the temper of the people at large. The legitimate, normal, established, and familiar forms of torture give us this. It may just be a shade or two better than that of the autocrats—though bad at best. I still draw upon the writer already quoted. "The most common mode of torture is what is termed tying Guinea-fashion. In this the arms are closely drawn together behind the back, by means of a cord tied tightly round them, about midway between the elbows and shoulders. A piece of wood to act as a rack, having been previously introduced, is then used so as to tighten the cord, and so intense is the agony that one application is generally sufficient to occasion the wretch so tortured to confess to anything that is required of him. There are various other modes of torture in common use among the natives of Guinea. One is tying the head, feet, and hands, in such a way that by turning the body backwards, they may be drawn together by the cords employed. Another is securing a wrist or ankle to a block of wood by an iron staple. By means of a hammer any degree of pressure may thus be applied, while the suffering so produced is continuous, only being relieved by[51] the wood being split, and the staples removed, but this may not be done until a crime has been confessed by a person who never committed it, and even then his limb has generally been destroyed. It would not be interesting to here enumerate the various tortures employed by a barbarous people, but when we recollect the refinement of the art of torture in our own country in the days of the maiden, the boot, and thumb-screws, we will cease to wonder that substitutes for these should be used in a country where civilization has not yet begun to elevate a people who are generally allowed to be the lowest of the human race.
"There are some superstitious rites employed by Fetish-men for the detection of crime; and whether it is that these people really possess such powerful influence over their wretched dupes, as to frighten into confession of his guilt the perpetrator of crime, or whether it is that they manage by their numerous spies to obtain a clue sufficient in most cases to lead to the detection of the person, is more than I can venture to assert; but, be the means employed what they may, a Fetish-man will assuredly very often bring a crime home to the right person, even after the most patient investigation in the ordinary way has failed to elicit the slightest clue.[52]
"There is also what is called Trial by Dhoom. This consists in whoever are suspected of having committed a crime being made to swallow a decoction of dhoom wood of the country, and it is believed that whoever is innocent will immediately eject the deleterious draught, but the guilty person will die. This, however, is not much to be depended upon; for while it causes death in one instance, it may do so in all who partake of it; or on the other hand, from some accident in its preparation, it may be productive of no effect either upon the guilty or the innocent.
"The Rice test, although practised in this part of Africa, is, I believe, not peculiar to it, being also employed in the West Indies, and South America. Although no doubt originally introduced by a people in a low state of civilization, it is interesting in so far that it exemplifies the powerful influence which the mind possesses over the corporeal functions, and as it appears to have been in use among the blacks for centuries, we may give them the credit of having been practically aware that 'conscience doth make cowards of us all,' long before the Bard of Avon chronicled the fact. In the employment of this test in Guinea, those who are suspected of having committed a crime are assembled, and to each[53] a small portion of rice is given, which they are required to masticate, and afterwards produce on the hand; and it is invariably the case that while all but the real culprit will produce their rice in a soft pulpy mass, his will be as dry as if ground in a mill, the salivary glands having, under the influence exerted upon the nervous system by fear, refused to perform their ordinary functions."
Something like this is common in many savage countries. In the shape of the dhoom test, it re-appears in Old Calabar, and, probably, elsewhere. There, the "king and chief inhabitants ordinarily constitute a court of justice, in which all country disputes are adjusted, and to which every prisoner suspected of capital offences is brought, to undergo examination and judgment. If found guilty, they are usually forced to swallow a deadly potion made from the poisonous seeds of an aquatic leguminous plant, which rapidly destroys life. This poison is obtained by pounding the seeds, and macerating them in water, which acquires a white milky colour. The condemned person, after swallowing a certain portion of the liquid, is ordered to walk about, until its effects become palpable. If, however, after the lapse of a definite period, the accused should be so fortunate as to throw the poison from off his stomach, he is considered as[54] innocent, and allowed to depart unmolested. In native parlance this ordeal is designated as 'chopping nut.'"[15]
The hardest workers amongst the Fantis are the fishers, who use a canoe of wood of the bombax, from ten to twelve feet in length, and strengthened by cross timbers. The net—a casting net—is made from the fibres of the aloe or the pine-apple, and is about twenty feet in diameter (?).