THE ASHANTEE AT HOME.

Dunstan Times, Issue 618, 20 February 1874, Page 3

THE ASHANTEE AT HOME.

The following is an extract from a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette, from Mr. Winwood Reade:— *

“The King is allowed to have 3,333 wives, ,but not to exceed that ' number. Some of these ladies are merely slaves, who work in the Royal plantations, and furnish the Court with cassado and plantains ; others reside in rooms luxuriously furnished, guarded by eunuchs, enjoying the delights of tobacco and palm wine in true Oriental style. Intrigue with a Royal wife is punished by death. The executioners torture the offender from sunrise to sunset, leading him about the town, and performing fantasias upon his body With knives before the houses of all the noted chieftains or strangers of distinction. Finally they* lead the' offender to the presence of the King, and literally cut hitn to pieces before the throne. This horrid method of execution is only employed for the abovenamed offence and for the crime of murder. It is a curious custom in Ashantee that if the condemned man cries cut a certain word orphrase ne cannot be killed—it gives him a right to sanctuary; the cxecntii uers therefore steal upon th'ir victim fr,,m behind, and begin proceedings by passing, a dagger through both cheeks, whereby the man is effectively gagged. “When the King dies, a number of lords in waiting kill .themselves to serve as his escort to Shadow Land. '1 lese persons are called souls, and wear a peculiar gold badge which indicates their office. At that time also a saturnalia of blood is celebrated ; .hundreds of victims are sacrificed, and the young men of tho Royal house run about the streets shooting whom they please, even the highest perse nages of the land. Thus tho death of the King is a national misfortune, and that, peihaps-, gives tho only clue to, the origin of their extraordinary customs. Tho Ashantees'be’ievo in life after death as wo believe in tho lands beyond the sea. Their Hades or Sheol is situate underground; tin-re this life is continued, and becomes eternal. The King resumes his royalty, and the slave remains a slave. J)e alh, therefore, for tin m is only a migration, and they depart from life with equanimity. A woman slave, who was one of those condemned to die-, was stripped according to custom, and knocked on tho head. Being only.''stunned by the blow, she recovered her censes, and saw herself surrounded by dead bodies. She ran into town, found the nobles sitting in Council, told them she had been to the hud of tho dead, and that she had been sent back because she had no clothes. They must dress her finely and hill her over again, which accordingly was done. This happened in a small kingdom adjoining Ashantee, the laws and customs of which are tho same.

“One noble' who had committed some crime offered a large ransom for his life, and finally his weight in gold But tho King cut 'df his head, and also took possession of his gold, which just amounted in weight to that of tho corpse. I have myself seen a coast native with a thousand pounds worth of gold upon him, and most of that gold came from the mines of Ashanteo.

“ Finally, as fo war. The Ashanteo army is the nation. When the order for the march is given, all the able-bodied men join their respective companies and leave carrying with them a kind of meal as food. The women then parade the streets, and if they detect a man skulking beat him unmercifully. In the battles the generals occupy the rear, and cut down all who retreat. If the battle is lost they kill themselves. One suicide of this kind I witnessed on the Volta. A battle took place between our allies and some allies of the Ashantecs, The latter were defeated, and the A.-hant<e chief, who was present, threw the iu-ignia of his rank into the river, and then sitting on the top of a powder barrel, blew himself into the air,”