Frank wanted to know if the king went out to walk often, and took his family along.
"Probably not," replied Fred, "as the wives of the king are really laborers on his plantations, or at least the most of them are. During the working season they are scattered where their work is needed, but at other times they occupy two streets in the capital city, where they are secluded from the gaze of all except the king and his female slaves. Any man who looks upon one of them even by accident must suffer death.
FANTEE GENTLEMAN AND SOLDIER.
"Until the slave-trade was suppressed on the coast of Western Africa, Ashantee had a thriving business in selling prisoners of war or disposing of its surplus population, but of late years this commerce has been cut off, and the country has been restricted to dealings in gold and other products of the land. It is separated from the coast by the country of the Fantees, who are hostile to the Ashantees, and frequently at war with them. On two occasions, when the English have supported the Fantees in hostilities against the Ashantees, the latter have marched large armies to the coast and threatened the safety of Cape Coast Castle and Elmina. Once they actually compelled the British governor to make terms of peace, and in 1824 they defeated a British army, and killed the commander and nearly all his officers.
THE BURNING OF COOMASSIE.
"Things went on in a very unsatisfactory way till 1873, when the Dutch fort of Elmina and the surrounding possessions were ceded to the English. The Dutch had paid the King of Ashantee a tribute of £500 a year, which the English discontinued. Thereupon the king sent an army to collect it, but he was defeated, though not driven back. In 1874 Sir Garnet Wolseley was sent there with two thousand English troops. To these he added a large force of Fantees, with which he invaded Ashantee and burned Coomassie, its capital city. Two severe battles were fought, and in the second of them the king commanded in person, and only retreated after a fight of six hours.